Multi-location control apparatus, television conference terminal unit, and multi-location television conference system
First Claim
1. A multi-location control apparatus for use with a multi-location television conference system that has a plurality of multi-location television conference terminal units disposed at at least three locations, each of said television conference terminal units for transmitting and receiving sound data and image data, said multi-location control apparatus for receiving the sound data and the image data from all of said television conference terminal units and for transmitting the sound data and the image data to said television conference terminal units, said multi-location control apparatus comprising:
- speaking location detecting means for detecting a speaking location corresponding to sound signals that are output from sound input means of each of said television conference terminal units;
image combining means for designing a layout of a display area corresponding to the number of speaking locations for each television conference terminal unit and generating the image data containing images of the speaking locations to be displayed in the designed display area of each television conference terminal unit when a plurality of speaking locations are detected by said speaking location detecting means; and
image distributing means for transmitting image data generated by said image combining means to each of said television conference terminal units for display on said each of said television conference terminal units.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In a multi-location television conference system that connects five locations A, B, C, D, and E, when speeches take place at the four locations A, B, C, and D at the same time, at a listening location E, images of all the speaking locations A, B, C, and D are displayed on one screen with four divided screen areas. On the other hand, at the speaking location A, images of the speaking locations B, c, and D and an image of the former speaking location E are displayed on one screen with four divided screen areas. In addition, when images of speaking locations are displayed, locations names thereof are also displayed. Thus, a television conference held at a plurality of locations at a time can be smoothly managed as with a real conventional conference.
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Citations
5 Claims
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1. A multi-location control apparatus for use with a multi-location television conference system that has a plurality of multi-location television conference terminal units disposed at at least three locations, each of said television conference terminal units for transmitting and receiving sound data and image data, said multi-location control apparatus for receiving the sound data and the image data from all of said television conference terminal units and for transmitting the sound data and the image data to said television conference terminal units, said multi-location control apparatus comprising:
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speaking location detecting means for detecting a speaking location corresponding to sound signals that are output from sound input means of each of said television conference terminal units; image combining means for designing a layout of a display area corresponding to the number of speaking locations for each television conference terminal unit and generating the image data containing images of the speaking locations to be displayed in the designed display area of each television conference terminal unit when a plurality of speaking locations are detected by said speaking location detecting means; and image distributing means for transmitting image data generated by said image combining means to each of said television conference terminal units for display on said each of said television conference terminal units. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A multi-location television conference system having a plurality of television conference terminal units and comprising:
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speaking location detecting means for detecting a speaking location corresponding to sound signals that are output from sound input means of each of said television conference terminal units; image combining means for designing a layout of a display area corresponding to the number of speaking locations for each television conference terminal unit and generating the image data containing images of the speaking locations to be displayed in the designed display area of each television conference terminal unit when a plurality of speaking locations are detected by said speaking location detecting means; and image distributing means for transmitting image data generated by said image combining means to each of said television conference terminal units for display on said each of said television conference terminal units. - View Dependent Claims (5)
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Specification