Horology: time measuring systems or devices – Combined with disparate device
Reexamination Certificate
1994-08-29
2001-03-20
Miska, Vit (Department: 2859)
Horology: time measuring systems or devices
Combined with disparate device
C368S028000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06205089
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication terminal apparatus and a communication conference system, which allow easy schedule adjustment between communication terminal apparatuses.
2. Related Background Art
Digital communication lines have been popular recently, and a great deal of attention has been given to a TV telephone/conference system using a digital line network. Standardization is a prerequisite for the popularization of a communication system. There are five recommendations as to video and voice communications, namely recommendation H. 221 specifying the frame structure of 64 kbit/s to 1,920 kbit/s channels; recommendation H. 230 specifying a control signal for frame synchronization and a notification signal; recommendation H. 242 specifying an interconnection procedure up to 2 Mbit/s; recommendation H. 261 specifying a video coding scheme for P×64 kbit/s (P=1 to 30); and recommendation H. 320 specifying the arrangement of a voice/video communication system.
FIG. 6
is a block diagram showing the schematic arrangement of a conventional TV conference terminal apparatus. Referring to
FIG. 6
, this apparatus includes a video camera
10
for photographing, e.g., participants in a conference at a self station, a monitor
12
for displaying images photographed at the self station and/or stations participating in a conference, a speaker
14
, a microphone
16
, an operation unit
18
for performing control, e.g., panning, tilting, and zooming, of a camera
10
in a self station and cameras in other stations, switching control of the cameras, and the like, input/output equipment terminals
20
including a keyboard of a computer, a still picture input device, a pointing device for inputting plotting pictures, such as a mouse or digitizer, a sub-monitor for displaying images from other auxiliary equipment, and a main body
22
of the TV conference system.
FIG. 7
shows the detailed arrangement of the main body
22
. Referring to
FIG. 7
, a video I/F
30
serves to connect the camera
10
and the monitor
12
to the main body
22
. The video I/F
30
has image processing functions of performing screen division, image synthesis, character synthesis, and the like. A video coder/decoder (CODEC)
32
codes a video signal from the video I/F
30
and decodes received coded video information.
A voice I/F
34
serves to connect the speaker
14
and the microphone
16
to the main body
22
, and has voice processing functions such as an echo cancel function. A voice coder/decoder (CODEC)
36
codes a voice signal from the voice I/F
30
and decodes the received coded voice information. A delay circuit
38
delays coded voice information obtained by the voice CODEC
36
and received coded voice information by a predetermined period. The delay circuit
38
serves to synchronize voice information to video information.
A computer
40
provides a TV conference function and a computer conference function. A still picture/plotting picture control circuit
42
controls the still picture input/output operation and plotting picture input/output operation of the auxiliary input/output equipment terminal
20
. A data port
46
performs data transfer between the main body
22
and the auxiliary input/output equipment terminal
20
via the computer
40
, the still picture/plotting picture control circuit
42
, and an auxiliary equipment control circuit
44
.
An interconnection procedure control circuit
48
controls interconnection with other TV conference terminals via a network. A network signal control circuit
50
performs end/end control to establish a common mode for communications between terminals. A communication control circuit
52
performs overall communication control by using the interconnection procedure control circuit
48
and the network signal control circuit
50
.
A multiplexing and demultiplexing circuit
54
performs multiplex transmission of data. A network I/F
56
serves to connect a communication network
58
to the main body
22
. An inter-multipoints control circuit
60
interconnects TV conference terminals at multiple points to allow a TV conference between the multiple points. An operation unit input I/F
62
receives various commands from the operation unit. An input control unit
64
outputs a command to each component of the self station in accordance with a designation of the operation unit input I/F
62
.
When a conference is to be held by using a communication conference system such as the TV conference system described above, schedule adjustment between communication terminals must be performed.
More specifically, the communication terminals negotiate with each other about the date of the conference and the time which can be spared for the conference, thereby performing schedule adjustment. If, however, an international conference is to be held, the working days and hours in each country participating in the conference, time differences, and the like must be considered. In this case, mistakes tend to occur. Especially when terminals belonging to a plurality of countries participate in a conference, communications for schedule adjustment alone cost a great deal.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a communication terminal apparatus and a communication conference system which can solve the above problems.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a communication terminal apparatus and a communication conference system which can easily perform schedule adjustment.
In order to achieve the above objects, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a communication terminal apparatus included in a plurality of communication terminal apparatuses for holding a communicating conference therebetween, characterized in that the communication terminal apparatus comprises generating means for generating date data corresponding to a self station, and transmitting means for transmitting the date data generated by the generating means to at least one of the plurality of communication terminal apparatuses.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a communication terminal apparatus and a communication conference system in which mistakes are not easily caused in performing communication schedule adjustment.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a communication terminal apparatus and a communication conference system which can reduce the communication cost required for communication schedule adjustment.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a communication terminal apparatus and a communication conference system which have novel functions.
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patent: 4774658 (1988-09-01), Lewin
patent: 4831552 (1989-05-01), Scully et al.
patent: 4882743 (1989-11-01), Mahmoud
patent: 4977529 (1990-12-01), McGaughey et al.
patent: 4987492 (1991-01-01), Stults et al.
patent: 4995071 (1991-02-01), Weber et al.
patent: 5062136 (1991-10-01), Gattis et al.
patent: 5375018 (1994-12-01), Klaussner et al.
patent: 5375104 (1994-12-01), Ishii et al.
patent: 5396269 (1995-03-01), Gotoh et al.
patent: 5402394 (1995-03-01), Turski
patent: 5455807 (1995-10-01), Neddle et al.
patent: 0349709 (1990-01-01), None
patent: 6225301 (1994-08-01), None
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Miska Vit
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