Television conference system including many television monitors and method for controlling the same

• US 4,961,211 A
• Filed: 06/30/1988
• Issued: 10/02/1990
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/1987
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Tsugane, Shuzo, Yasuda, Tooru
• Primary Examiner(s): Ng, Jin F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chan, Wing F.
• Application Number:
  US07/213,327
• Time in Patent Office: 824 Days
• Field of Search: 379/53, 379/54, 379/202, 379/206, 358/85, 455/5
• US Class Current: 348/14.08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

A television conference system includes, in a transmitting side, a plurality of TV cameras assigned with camera ID codes, and in a receiving side, a plurality of TV monitors assigned with monitor ID codes and frame memories for storing inputs to the TV monitors. In the transmitting side, a moving picture signal output from a TV camera selected by a camera ID number is encoded, and the encoded moving picture signal together with a monitor ID code of a TV monitor designated to display an output from the selected TV camera are transmitted to the receiving side. In the receiving side, writing is performed in a frame memory corresponding to the TV monitor designated by the monitor ID signal to display a moving picture on the TV monitor, writing in each of the frame memories corresponding to the other TV monitors is inhibited and the last frame of the latest moving picture displayed thereon is displayed as a still picture, and selection of the TV camera and designation of the TV monitor are arbitrarily performed.

Claims

1. A system for providing television conferencing from a transmit side to a receive side, the transmit side including a plurality of associated microphone-TV camera pairs, the microphones being for producing speaker-voice signals and the TV cameras being for producing speaker-moving picture signals, the receive side including a loudspeaker for broadcasting a selected one of the speaker-voice signals and a plurality of TV monitors for respectively displaying selected ones of either the speaker-moving picture signals or a still frame of such signals, each of the TV cameras and the TV monitors having a respective ID, the transmit and receive sides being interconnected by a transmission link, the system further comprising:

selection means for both predetermining according to ID a respective TV monitor for displaying a speaker-moving picture signal and a TV camera whose speaker-moving picture signal is to be transferred to the respective TV monitor via the transmission link;

the selection means comprising automatic selection means including (i) a plurality of detection means for detecting in the microphones a greater-than-threshold speaker-voice level in any microphone, wherein the TV camera associated with any such microphone is selected in the absence of another microphone having a greater-than-threshold voice level; and

(ii) priority means operative when more than one of said microphones has a greater-than-threshold voice level for selecting one of said more than one microphones in accordance with a predetermined priority order associated with said microphones.

2. The television conferencing system of claim 1, wherein the selector means further comprises override means for overriding the automatic selection means, the override means comprising a manual selection means for manually selecting a microphone whose associated TV camera is thereby selected.

3. The television conferencing system of claim 2, wherein the override means comprises a manual mode-selection switch.

4. The television conferencing system of claim 1, further comprising last-frame-display means for displaying on each of the non-predetermined TV monitors the last frame of the speaker-moving picture shown on the just-previously predetermined TV monitor.

5. The television conferencing system of claim 4, wherein the last-frame-display means comprises digital storage means.

6. The television conferencing system of claim 1, wherein the TV monitor-predetermining means comprises means to arrange the predetermined status according to a one-to-one correspondence between the TV cameras and the TV monitors.

7. The television conferencing system of claim 1, wherein the TV monitor-predetermining means comprises means to arrange the predetermined status according to an arbitrary correspondence between the TV cameras and the TV monitors.

8. A system for providing television conferencing from a transmit side to a receive side, the transmit side including a plurality of associated microphone-TV camera pairs, the microphones being for producing speaker-voice signals and the TV cameras being for producing speaker-moving picture signals, the receive side including a loudspeaker for broadcasting a selected one of the speaker-voice signals and a plurality of TV monitors for respectively displaying selected ones of either the speaker-moving picture signals or a still frame of such signals, each of the TV cameras and the TV monitors having a respective ID, the transmit and receive sides being interconnected by a transmission link, the system further comprising:

selection means for both predetermining according to ID a respective TV monitor for displaying a speaker-moving picture signal and a TV camera whose speaker-moving picture signal is to be transferred to the respective TV monitor via the transmission link;

the selection means including an automatic selection means and override means for overriding the automatic selection means, the override means comprising a manual selection means for manually selecting a microphone whose associated TV camera is thereby selected, the manual selection means including a manual mode-selection switch the manual selection means being effective for selecting a speaker regardless of a priority order.

9. The television conferencing system of claim 8, further comprising last-frame-display means for displaying on each of the non-predetermined TV monitors the last frame of the speaker-moving picture shown on the just-previously predetermined TV monitor.

10. The television conferencing system of claim 9, wherein the last-frame-display means comprises digital storage means.

11. The television conferencing system of claim 8, wherein the TV monitor-predetermining means comprises meant o arrange the predetermined status according to a one-to-one correspondence between the TV cameras and the TV monitors.

12. The television conferencing system of claim 8, wherein the TV monitor-predetermining means comprises means to arrange the predetermined status according to an arbitrary correspondence between the TV cameras and the TV monitors.