JP7453576B2 - Information processing system, its control method and program. - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing system, a control method thereof, and a program.

2. Description of the Related Art There are increasing opportunities to use a remote conference system in which information (media data) such as audio or images is transmitted and received between multiple client terminals in a virtual conference room called a room. Teleconferencing systems are increasingly being used for seminars, and in these cases, users of client terminals in the same room may need to be divided into groups to conduct discussions with each other. There is.

For example, the remote conference system described in Patent Document 1 below has a group management function that groups users in the same room. In this remote conference system, information corresponding to the group to which the user belongs is transmitted to client terminals of users who have been grouped in advance.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-155315

The group management function in the remote conference system described in Patent Document 1 requires the user to register groups in advance or create groups during the meeting, which saves the user's time and effort. It takes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system, a control method, and a program for the information processing system that can perform grouping appropriate for transmitting and receiving information without requiring much effort on the part of the user.

In order to achieve the above object, an information processing system according to the present invention is an information processing system in which a plurality of client terminals used by a first type of user and a second type of user are communicably connected,
Grouping means for dividing a plurality of client terminals related to the second type of user into a plurality of groups;
Distribution information acquisition means for acquiring distribution information to be distributed to client terminals in the same group as the client terminal that transmitted the transmission information, based on the transmission information transmitted from the client terminal;
The first type of user is displayed on the client terminal of the second type of user, and the grouping is performed by the grouping means, so that the second type of user in the same group as the user of the client terminal is displayed. a display control means for controlling to display a user;
It is characterized by having the following.

Further, a control method for an information processing system according to the present invention is a control method for an information processing system capable of transmitting and receiving information between a plurality of client terminals in a virtual conference room, the user attribute indicating the attribute of the user of the client terminal. an attribute information acquisition step for acquiring information from a client terminal; a group generation step for dividing multiple client terminals into multiple groups based on the user attribute information acquired in the attribute information acquisition step; and a group generation step for dividing multiple client terminals into multiple groups. a distribution information acquisition step of acquiring distribution information, which is information to be distributed to a destination client terminal, based on transmission information, which is information that is transmitted, and the distribution information acquisition step is performed when the groups divided in the group generation step are the same Between the client terminals in the same group, distribution information to the destination client terminal in the same group is acquired based on the transmission information from the source client terminal in the same group.

Further, the program for the information processing system according to the present invention is a program for the information processing system that is capable of transmitting and receiving information between a plurality of client terminals in a virtual meeting room, an attribute information acquisition means for acquiring user attribute information from a client terminal; a group generation means for dividing a plurality of client terminals into a plurality of groups based on the user attribute information acquired by the attribute information acquisition means; and a transmission source client terminal. The distribution information acquisition means functions as a distribution information acquisition means for acquiring distribution information, which is information to be distributed to a destination client terminal, based on transmission information, which is information transmitted from a group generation means. Between client terminals in the same group that have the same information, distribution information to a destination client terminal in the same group is obtained based on information sent from the source client terminal in the same group.

In the information processing system, its control method, and program according to the present invention, a plurality of client terminals are divided into a plurality of groups based on user attribute information of the client terminals. Therefore, appropriate grouping based on user attributes can be performed without the user having to take the trouble of registering groups in advance. Then, based on the transmission information from the transmission source client terminal within the same group, distribution information to the transmission destination client terminal within the same group is acquired. As a result, it becomes possible to send and receive information within the same appropriately divided group. As described above, appropriate grouping for transmitting and receiving information can be performed without requiring much effort on the part of the user.

Further, the information processing system according to the present invention includes room entry processing means for processing an entry request requesting to enter the virtual conference room from a client terminal, the room entry request includes user attribute information, and the attribute information acquisition means , the user attribute information may be acquired based on the room entry request processed by the room entry processing means. In this case, user attribute information is acquired based on processing of a room entry request from a client terminal. Therefore, user attribute information can be automatically acquired in response to a room entry request and grouping can be performed without the user performing any special user operations to acquire user attribute information.

Further, the attribute information acquisition means may acquire user attribute information by receiving user attribute information transmitted from a client terminal. In this case, the user attribute information is acquired by the attribute information acquisition means as the user attribute information is transmitted from the client terminal. Therefore, grouping can be easily performed based on the user attribute information transmitted from the client terminal.

Further, the user attribute information may be OS language information indicating the language of the OS of the client terminal. In this case, grouping is performed based on the OS language information of the client terminal. Therefore, for example, client terminals with the same OS language can be grouped together, and within the same group, client terminals with the same OS language can appropriately send and receive information.

Further, the user attribute information may be the number of times the transmission information is transmitted from the transmission source client terminal. In this case, grouping is performed based on the number of times transmission information is transmitted from the transmission source client terminal. Therefore, for example, grouping can be performed so that there is no bias in the number of transmissions in each group.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an information processing system, a control method thereof, and a program that can perform grouping appropriate for transmitting and receiving information without requiring a user's effort.

1 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a remote conference system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of various devices in the remote conference system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a remote conference system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a database of information stored by the room entry processing unit. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a database showing group information stored by a group generation unit. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the flow of room entry processing. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the flow of grouping execution processing. 8 is a flowchart showing details of the content acquisition process in FIG. 7. FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the flow of processing after grouping is canceled. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a conference screen displayed on a chair user's client terminal before grouping is performed. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a conference screen displayed on a chair user's client terminal after grouping is executed. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a conference screen displayed on a general user's client terminal before grouping is performed. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a conference screen displayed on a general user's client terminal after grouping is executed. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a remote conference system according to a second embodiment. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the flow of grouping execution processing according to the second embodiment.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, in the explanation, the same elements or elements with the same function will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and duplicates will be avoided.

(First embodiment)
The remote conference system according to the present embodiment is an information processing system that allows information to be sent and received between multiple client terminals in a virtual conference room (hereinafter referred to as a "room") for using a web conference, a TV conference, etc. It is a system. The remote conference system according to this embodiment can hold multiple conferences by setting multiple rooms.

The remote conference system according to this embodiment is assumed to be used for seminars, for example. In this remote conference system, among multiple client terminals that have entered the same room, the user of one client terminal is selected as the chairperson user, and the users of the other client terminals are general users other than the chairperson (seminar participants). ).

First, with reference to FIG. 1, a schematic configuration of a remote conference system according to the present embodiment will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1, a remote conference system 1 (web conference system) includes a plurality of client terminals 10 (10X, 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D) to which personal computers can be applied, and each client terminal 10. A remote conference server 20 (server device) that enables the use of a remote conference system is provided. Each client terminal 10 and the remote conference server 20 are connected to each other via a wireless or wired network N so that they can communicate with each other.

The client terminal 10 may employ various personal computers, such as a desktop PC (client terminal 10X), a notebook PC (client terminals 10A, 10B), or a tablet PC (client terminals 10C, 10D). In this embodiment, for example, the user of the client terminal 10X is selected as the chairman user, and the users of the other client terminals 10A to 10D are selected as general users.

The client terminal 10 includes a display and displays a conference screen (interface) provided from the remote conference server 20 on the display. The conference screen is a screen of a conference in which the user participates. The client terminal 10 displays the conference image or designated image provided from the remote conference server 20 on the conference screen.

The conference image is a captured image that is captured by the camera function of the client terminal 10 into which the ID of a user participating in the conference is input, and is transmitted to the remote conference server 20. The conference image is, for example, an image of the user's own face.

The designated image is an image transmitted from the client terminal 10 to the remote conference server 20, whose designation has been received via the input unit of the client terminal 10 in response to a user operation. The remote conference server 20 transmits the designated image to the client terminals 10 of other users participating in the same conference as the user of the client terminal 10 that is the source of the designated image.

The client terminal 10 has a camera function, a microphone function, and a speaker function.

Specifically, the client terminal 10X includes a camera 100, a microphone 101, and a speaker 102. Camera 100, microphone 101, and speaker 102 are communicably connected to client terminal 10X.

The camera 100 is a web camera or the like that is a video device for transmitting its own moving image during a remote conference. The microphone 101 is an audio device for collecting the voice emitted by the user. The speaker 102 is an audio device for listening to the other party's voice.

Each device, such as the camera 100, the microphone 101, and the speaker 102, may be provided in separate housings, or may be provided in the hardware of the same housing. For example, the device may be configured as a device having a camera function and a microphone function, a device having a microphone function and a speaker function, or a device having all of these functions.

The client terminals 10A to 10D include an in-camera (not shown) (a camera installed on the side where the display is installed), a built-in microphone, and a built-in speaker.

The client terminal 10 outputs content (distribution information) distributed from the remote conference server 20. The content distributed from the remote conference server 20 to the client terminal 10 is information based on media data (image data or audio data) acquired by the camera function or microphone function of the client terminal 10. For example, the client terminal 10 displays image data in a predetermined display area (conference screen). Further, the client terminal 10 outputs audio data distributed from the remote conference server 20 using a speaker function.

A web browser and a dedicated module for accessing the remote conference server 20 are installed in the client terminal 10. Note that this dedicated module is, for example, an ActiveX component downloaded from the remote conference server 20 via a web browser.

The remote conference server 20 is a server for realizing a remote conference using a web browser. The remote conference system 1 accesses the remote conference server 20 to obtain a conference screen (interface) for the user to use the remote conference.

The remote conference server 20 accumulates media data transmitted from the client terminal 10 and distributes content based on the media data to the client terminal 10 connected to the remote conference server 20. The client terminal 10 outputs content distributed from the remote conference server 20.

Note that in the remote conference system 1, screen sharing may be performed between the client terminals 10. That is, the screen of the client terminal 10 that is the source may be displayed on the display screen of the client terminal 10 that is the destination and shared. The screen to be shared can be specified by the client terminal 10, and may be the screen of a specified application or the entire desktop screen.

Next, an example of the hardware configuration of various devices in the remote conference system 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of various devices in the remote conference system 1.

In FIG. 2, 201 is a CPU that centrally controls each device and controller connected to the system bus 204. In addition, the ROM 202 or external memory 211 contains a BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) which is a control program for the CPU 201, an operating system program (hereinafter referred to as OS), or a program for realizing functions executed by each server or each PC. Various necessary programs, which will be described later, are stored.

A RAM 203 functions as the main memory or work area of the CPU 201. The CPU 201 loads programs necessary for execution of processing from the ROM 202 or the external memory 211 into the RAM 203, and executes the loaded programs to realize various operations.

Further, an input controller 205 controls input from an input device 209 such as a keyboard (KB) or a pointing device such as a mouse (not shown).

A video controller 206 controls display on a display device such as a display device 210 that is a CRT display. Note that the display device is not limited to a CRT display, and may be another display device such as a liquid crystal display.

Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, it is assumed that the display devices 210 of the client terminals 10C and 10D, which are tablet PCs, have a touch panel function. When the display device 210 has a touch panel function, the display device 210 also functions as an input device, and transmits information on a touch operation detected by the touch panel function (received by the display) to the input controller as input information. In other words, the input controller 205 controls input from the display device 210.

207 is a memory controller. The memory controller 107 controls access to a hard disk (HD), flexible disk (FD), or external memory 211. The hard disk stores boot programs, various applications, font data, user files, editing files, various data, and the like. The external memory is, for example, a CompactFlash (registered trademark) memory that is connected to a PCMCIA card slot via an adapter.

A communication I/F controller 208 connects and communicates with external devices via a network (for example, network N shown in FIG. 1), and executes communication control processing in the network. For example, communication using TCP/IP is possible.

Note that the CPU 201 enables display on the display device 210 by, for example, executing an outline font development (rasterization) process in a display information area in the RAM 203. Further, the CPU 201 allows the user to give instructions using a mouse cursor (not shown) on the display device 210.

Various programs to be described later for realizing the present invention are recorded in the external memory 211, and are executed by the CPU 201 by being loaded into the RAM 203 as necessary. Further, definition files and various information tables used when executing the above program are also stored in the external memory 211, and detailed explanations thereof will be given later. The above is a description of an example of the hardware configuration of various devices in the remote conference system 1.

Next, an example of the functional configuration of the remote conference system 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the remote conference system 1. As shown in FIG. Each of the functional units 11 to 16 shown in FIG. 3 is a functional unit included in a remote conference application (client application) installed in the client terminal 10. Further, each of the functional units 21 to 27 shown in FIG. 3 is a functional unit included in the remote conference application (server application) installed in the remote conference server 20.

First, the functional configuration of the client terminal 10 will be explained. The client terminal 10 functionally includes an entry request section 11, a group generation request section 12, a transmission data storage section 13, a transmission control section 14, a content reception control section 15, and an output section 16. . Note that the group generation requesting unit 12 may be provided only in the client terminal 10X of the chairman user, and may not be provided in the client terminals 10A to 10D of other general users.

The room entry request unit 11 transmits a room entry request by the user of the client terminal 10 to the room entry processing unit 21 of the remote conference server 20 . The room entry request is a request to enter a room in which the user wants to participate. The room entry requesting unit 11 receives a room entry request based on a user operation, for example.

Specifically, when the user successfully logs in to the remote conference server 20 using the user ID, a menu screen including a "meeting room reservation" button is displayed on the display screen of the client terminal 10. When the press of the "Meeting Room Reservation" button on the menu screen is accepted, a participant selection screen for selecting the conference to participate in (the room to enter where the conference to participate in will be held) is displayed on the display screen. Ru. When the selection of a conference to participate in is accepted by a user operation on this participant selection screen, the room entry requesting section 11 transmits an entry request for the selected meeting (room) to the room entry processing section 21 .

The room entry request transmitted by the room entry requesting unit 11 includes user ID information, OS language information, and a chairperson flag. User ID information is information indicating a user's ID. The OS language information is information indicating the language of the OS of the client terminal 10. The language of the OS is, for example, various languages such as Japanese or English.

The chairperson flag is a flag indicating whether or not the user is the chairperson user. For example, if the user is the chairperson user, it is indicated by the number "1", and if the user is a general user other than the chairperson user, it is indicated by the number "0". It will be done. Whether or not a user is a chairperson user is set in advance, for example, at the time of room reservation.

The group generation request unit 12 transmits a grouping request to the attribute information acquisition unit 22 of the remote conference server 20. The grouping request is a request to group client terminals 10A to 10D of general users within the same room. The group generation request unit 12 receives a grouping request, for example, based on a user operation by the chairman user (pressing the grouping start button 30 shown in FIG. 10). Note that the grouping request may be accepted based on an operation by a general user.

Further, the group generation requesting unit 12 transmits a grouping cancellation request to the group generating unit 23 of the remote conference server 20. The grouping cancellation request is a request for canceling the grouping of the grouped client terminals 10A to 10D. The group generation requesting unit 12 receives a grouping cancellation request, for example, based on a user operation by the chairman user (pressing the grouping cancellation button 32 shown in FIG. 11). Note that the grouping cancellation request may be accepted based on an operation by a general user.

The transmission data storage section 13 is a storage section (queue) that stores the same information as the information transmitted by the transmission control section 14. The transmission data storage unit 13 includes, for example, an audio cue and an image cue. The audio queue is a queue for audio information collected by the microphone function of the client terminal 10. In the audio queue, audio information intermittently collected by the microphone function of the client terminal 10 is sequentially stored.

The image queue includes an image queue for captured images (conference images) captured by the camera function of the client terminal 10, and an image queue for designated images specified by user operations (such as images on the desktop screen of the client terminal 10). is included.

The captured images are sequentially stored in the image queue for captured images. The camera function of the client terminal 10 intermittently performs imaging processing (imaging a video and inputting the video to the client terminal 10). Therefore, in the image queue for captured images, a plurality of images constituting a moving image are sequentially stored for each frame in the moving image.

In the image queue for designated images, designated images are stored at predetermined intervals. The desktop images displayed on the desktop screen of the client terminal 10 are sequentially stored in the designated image image queue, for example, every 0.2 seconds. Each designated image stored is, for example, one frame of a video that is played back by connecting desktop images.

The transmission control unit 14 transmits media data (transmission information) to be transmitted from the source client terminal 10 to the destination client terminal 10 in a remote conference to the reception control unit 26 of the remote conference server 20 . Media data includes, for example, audio collected by the microphone function, images (video) captured by the camera function, or specified images specified as images to be shared by user operations (the entire desktop or the screen of a specified application). image).

The content reception control unit 15 requests the distribution control unit 25 of the remote conference server 20 to start communication. Specifically, the content reception control unit 15 stores information on users in the same room notified by the room entry processing unit 21, which will be described later. The content reception control unit 15 opens a socket necessary for distributing content from the remote conference server 20 to the client terminal 10 based on the stored user information in the same room. The content reception control unit 15 receives the content output from the distribution control unit 25 by requesting the distribution control unit 25 to start communication by opening a socket. The content reception control unit 15 outputs the received content to the output unit 16.

The output unit 16 outputs the content output from the content reception control unit 15. Specifically, image data as content is displayed on a conference screen, or audio data as content is output by a speaker function. The output unit 16 switches the display of the conference screen based on the grouping execution result from the group generation unit 23 of the remote conference server 20. When the room entry processing section 21 notifies that a user has entered the room, the output section 16 may perform an output to notify that fact.

Next, the functional configuration of the remote conference server 20 will be explained. The remote conference server 20 functionally includes an entry processing section 21 (room entry processing means), an attribute information acquisition section 22 (attribute information acquisition means), a group generation section 23 (group generation means), and a distribution information acquisition section. 24 (distribution information acquisition means), a distribution control section 25, a reception control section 26, and a reception data storage section 27.

When the room entry processing unit 21 receives the room entry request transmitted from the room entry requesting unit 11 of the client terminal 10, it executes room entry processing. The room entry process is a process for allowing a user to enter a requested room, and is, for example, a process for storing which room, which user, and from which client terminal 10 have entered the room. In this embodiment, as part of the room entry process, user ID information, OS language information, and chairperson flag included in the room entry request are stored.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a database of information stored by the room entry processing unit 21. The database shown in FIG. 4 stores the user ID indicated by the user ID information, the OS language indicated by the OS language information, and the number indicated by the chairman flag. As shown in FIG. 4, the room entry processing unit 21 stores the OS language and the chairman flag in association with the user ID. The room entry processing unit 21 manages a database as shown in FIG. 4 for each room.

The user whose user ID is "user X" shown in FIG. 4 corresponds to the user of the client terminal 10X. The users whose user IDs are "User A," "User B," "User C," and "User D" shown in FIG. 4 correspond to the users of the client terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D.

When the room entry processing unit 21 performs room entry processing for one user, it notifies other users in the room where the room entry processing was performed that the one user has entered the room. For example, the room entry processing unit 21 transmits information indicating that one user has entered the room to the output unit 16 of the client terminal 10 of another user.

The room entry processing unit 21 sends the content reception control unit 15 of the client terminal 10 of the user who performed the room entry process information about other users in the room where the room entry process was performed (hereinafter referred to as "user information in the same room"). (also known as). User information in the same room is information indicating which other users are in the same room, and is used, for example, to open a socket necessary for content distribution.

The attribute information acquisition unit 22 acquires user attribute information of the client terminal 10 from the client terminal 10. User attribute information is information indicating user attributes, and in this embodiment, is OS language information.

The attribute information acquisition unit 22 extracts and acquires user attribute information for each user from the information stored by the room entry processing unit 21. The attribute information acquisition unit 22 acquires user attribute information, for example, at the timing when a grouping request is sent from the group generation request unit 12 of the client terminal 10.

Specifically, the attribute information acquisition unit 22 obtains from the database shown in FIG. OS language information indicating that the OS language of each user who is "X", "User C", and "User D" is "Japanese" is acquired. The attribute information acquisition unit 22 outputs the acquired OS language information (user attribute information) to the group generation unit 23.

The group generation unit 23 divides the multiple client terminals 10 into multiple groups based on the OS language information acquired by the attribute information acquisition unit 22. The group generation unit 23 generates groups for the client terminals 10A to 10D of general users other than the chairman user.

Specifically, the group generation unit 23 generates groups for the client terminals 10A to 10D based on the OS language information output from the attribute information acquisition unit 22 so that users with the same OS language belong to the same group. That is, the group generation unit 23 sets the client terminals 10A and 10B of "User A" and "User B" whose OS language is "English" as "Group 1", and sets the "User A" and "User B" client terminals 10A and 10B whose OS language is "Japanese" as "Group 1". The client terminals 10C and 10D of "User C" and "User D" are set as "Group 2" and grouping is executed.

The group generation unit 23 stores group information indicating the generated group. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a database showing group information stored by the group generation unit 23. The database shown in FIG. 5 stores group IDs for identifying groups and user IDs. As shown in FIG. 5, the group generation unit 23 stores the group ID and user ID in association with each other.

When the group generation request unit 12 sends a group cancellation request, the group generation unit 23 cancels the grouping of each of the client terminals 10A to 10E.

The group generation unit 23 outputs the result of grouping execution (the result of performing grouping or the result of canceling grouping) to the distribution information acquisition unit 24. Furthermore, the group generation unit 23 notifies the output unit 16 of each client terminal 10 of the results of the grouping execution.

The distribution information acquisition unit 24 acquires content (distribution information) that is information to be distributed to each destination client terminal 10 by the distribution control unit 25. The content is acquired based on the media data stored in the received data storage section 27. The distribution information acquisition unit 24 outputs the acquired content to the distribution control unit 25.

When the group generation unit 23 outputs the results of the grouping execution, the distribution information acquisition unit 24 acquires the content based on the output results. If the grouping by the group generating unit 23 has not been performed (if the grouping has been canceled), the distribution information acquisition unit 24 extracts the content based on the media data from all the client terminals 10 in the same room. get.

For example, the distribution information acquisition unit 24 acquires content to be distributed to the client terminal 10X based on media data from all client terminals 10A to 10D other than the client terminal 10X.

Note that when the media data is audio, information obtained by combining (mixing) media data from each of the client terminals 10A to 10D may be obtained as the content. The distribution information acquisition unit 24 similarly acquires content to be distributed to all client terminals 10 in the same room.

Furthermore, when the group generation unit 23 performs grouping, the distribution information acquisition unit 24 acquires the content based on the groups divided by the group generation unit 23.

Specifically, the distribution information acquisition unit 24 acquires content between client terminals 10 within the same group (groups divided by the group generation unit 23 are the same). The distribution information acquisition unit 24 acquires content for a destination client terminal 10 within the same group based on media data from a source client terminal 10 within the same group.

For example, the distribution information acquisition unit 24 acquires media data from the client terminal 10B belonging to the same "Group 1" as the content to be distributed to the client terminal 10A belonging to the "Group 1". Furthermore, the distribution information acquisition unit 24 acquires media data from the client terminal 10A belonging to the same "Group 1" as the content to be distributed to the client terminal 10B belonging to the "Group 1".

Note that if there are other client terminals belonging to "Group 1" in addition to the terminals 10A and 10B, media data from the other client terminals is also acquired as content to be distributed to each client terminal 10A and 10B. Furthermore, media data from the chair user's client terminal 10X may also be acquired as content to be distributed to each client terminal 10A, 10B.

The distribution information acquisition unit 24 also acquires content to be distributed for the client terminals 10C and 10D belonging to "Group 2" in the same manner as for the client terminals 10A and 10B belonging to "Group 1".

Note that the distribution information acquisition section 24 may acquire the content to be distributed to the client terminal 10X of the chairman user, regardless of whether or not the group generation section 23 executes grouping. For example, even if the group generation unit 23 executes the grouping, the distribution information acquisition unit 24 may select content other than the client terminal 10X as the content to be distributed to the client terminal 10X, as in the case where the grouping is not executed. Media data from all client terminals 10A to 10D may be acquired.

The distribution control unit 25 outputs the content output from the distribution information acquisition unit 24 to the content reception control unit 15 of each client terminal 10 that is a request source requesting distribution.

The reception control unit 26 receives media data transmitted from the transmission control unit 14 of the client terminal 10. The reception control unit 26 outputs the received media data to the reception data storage unit 27.

The received data storage section 27 stores media data received by the reception control section 26. The received data storage section 27 has an audio cue and an image cue.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9, the processes and operations performed by the remote conference system 1 having the above configuration, that is, the control method of the remote conference system 1 will be described.

In the following explanation of the flowchart, among the processes in the remote conference system 1, the room entry process, the grouping execution process, and the process after grouping is canceled will be explained with particular attention. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of room entry processing. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of grouping execution processing. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing details of the content acquisition process in FIG. 7. FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the flow of processing after grouping is canceled.

In the example shown in FIG. 6, a case where there is an entry request from the client terminal 10A will be described as an example.

As shown in FIG. 6, first, when the room entry request unit 11 of the client terminal 10A transmits a room entry request (step S301), the room entry processing unit 21 of the remote conference server 20 receives the room entry request (step S302). ). Subsequently, the room entry processing unit 21 executes room entry processing (step S303). Specifically, the room entry processing unit 21 analyzes the parameters of the room entry request and obtains user ID information, OS language information, and chairperson flag.

Subsequently, the room entry processing unit 21 performs a process of storing the acquired user ID information, OS language information, and chairperson flag for the room for which the room entry request has been made (step S304). Subsequently, the room entry processing unit 21 outputs the fact that the user of the client terminal 10A has entered the room from the other client terminals 10 (client terminals 10X, 10B to 10E) that have entered the room where the entry processing was performed. 16 is notified (step S305).

Next, the room entry processing unit 21 notifies the content reception control unit 15 of the client terminal 10A that made the entry request of user information in the same room (which other users have entered the same room). (Step S306).

Subsequently, the content reception control unit 15 of the client terminal 10A stores the user information in the same room notified by the room entry processing unit 21 (step S307).

Subsequently, the content reception control unit 15 of the client terminal 10A requests the distribution control unit 25 of the remote conference server 20 to start communication (step S308). Specifically, the content reception control unit 15 opens a necessary number of sockets and requests the start of communication based on the user information in the same room notified by the room entry processing unit 21. Note that the number of sockets required is, for example, one for audio and the number of other users for video. The socket may be opened from the remote conference server 20 side.

Subsequently, the distribution control unit 25 of the remote conference server 20 starts distributing the content in response to the communication start request from the client terminal 10A (step S309).

Next, the grouping execution process will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 and the conference screens shown in FIGS. 10 to 13. In the example shown in FIG. 7, an example will be described in which grouping is executed by the client terminal 10X of the chairman user.

10 and 11 are diagrams showing conference screens displayed on the chair user's client terminal 10X. FIG. 10 shows the conference screen before grouping, and FIG. 11 shows the conference screen after grouping. 12 and 13 are diagrams showing conference screens displayed on the general user's client terminal 10A. FIG. 12 shows a conference screen before grouping, and FIG. 13 shows a conference screen after grouping.

As shown in FIG. 7, first, a grouping request is sent from the group generation request unit 12 of the client terminal 10X to the attribute information acquisition unit 22 of the remote conference server 20 (step S401).

The group generation requesting unit 12 receives a grouping request by accepting a user's press of the grouping start button 30 on the conference screen before grouping shown in FIG. 10, for example. As shown in FIG. 10, each user (user A, user B, user C, user D) in the same room is displayed in the conference window 31 on the chair user's conference screen before grouping is executed. There is.

Subsequently, the attribute information acquisition unit 22 of the remote conference server 20 receives a grouping request from the group generation request unit 12 of the client terminal 10X (step S402). Subsequently, the attribute information acquisition unit 22 acquires OS language information for each user other than the chairman user from the information stored by the room entry processing unit 21 in step S304 (step S403). The OS language information acquired by the attribute information acquisition unit 22 is output from the attribute information acquisition unit 22 to the group generation unit 23.

Next, the group generation unit 23 divides the client terminals 10A to 10D into a plurality of groups based on the OS language information acquired in step S403 (step S404). Specifically, the client terminals 10A and 10B of users whose OS language is "English" (user A, user B) are set as "group 1", and the client terminals 10A and 10B of users whose OS language is "Japanese" (users C, 10B) are grouped into "group 1". The client terminals 10C and 10D of user D) are defined as "group 2."

Subsequently, the group generation unit 23 notifies each client terminal 10 of the grouping execution results (step S405). Specifically, information indicating the results of the grouping execution is transmitted from the group generation unit 23 to the output unit 16 of each client terminal 10.

The output unit 16 switches and displays the conference screen based on the grouping execution result notified in step S405 (step S406).

For example, on the chair user's conference screen after grouping is performed, frame images 41 and 42 surrounding the users in each group are displayed in the conference window 31, as shown in FIG. That is, it is shown that grouping has been executed on the conference screen. Furthermore, in place of the grouping start button 30, a grouping cancel button 32 is displayed on the chairperson user's conference screen after the grouping is executed.

As shown in FIG. 12, the chairperson user is displayed in the conference window 31 of the conference screen of user A before the grouping is executed. As shown in FIG. 13, user B in the same group is displayed in the conference window 31 of the conference screen of user A after the grouping is executed. That is, the conference screen for user A is switched from displaying the chairperson user to displaying user B in the same group by executing grouping. Similarly, the conference screen for user B is switched from displaying the chairperson user to displaying user A within the same group by performing grouping.

Similarly, the conference screen for user C is switched from displaying the chairperson user to displaying user D within the same group by performing grouping. Similarly, the conference screen for user D is switched from displaying the chairperson user to displaying user C within the same group by performing grouping.

Following step S406, the transmission control unit 14 of each client terminal 10 transmits the media data to the reception control unit 26 of the remote conference server 20 (step S407). Subsequently, the reception control unit 26 of the remote conference server 20 receives the media data transmitted in step S407 (step S408). Media data received by the reception control unit 26 is stored in the reception data storage unit 27.

Subsequently, the distribution information acquisition unit 24 acquires content to be distributed to general users based on the group (step S409). Specifically, the distribution information acquisition unit 24 transmits data between client terminals 10 in the same group based on the media data of the client terminals 10 in the same group among the media data stored in the received data storage unit 27. The content is retrieved. Note that the content to be distributed to the chairman user is acquired based on the media data of all the client terminals 10A to 10B.

With reference to FIG. 8, the group-based content acquisition process in step S409 will be described using an example in which the media data is audio data. Note that in the process shown in FIG. 8, it is assumed that there are other users who belong to "Group 1" in addition to User A and User B, and there are other users who belong to "Group 2" in addition to User C and User D. The following explanation assumes that there are 2 users.

The process shown in FIG. 8 is repeated, for example, for all users in the same room until the content is acquired. For example, in the process of acquiring content to be distributed to user A, first, the audio queues of users belonging to the same group as user A, which are stored in the received data storage unit 27, are referred to (S4091). Next, audio data of users belonging to the same group (user B and other users belonging to "group 1") is acquired from the referenced audio queue (S4092).

Subsequently, the acquired audio data of each user is synthesized (mixed), and the synthesized result is acquired as content (S4093). Subsequently, the content (synthesized audio data) acquired in S4093 is output to the distribution control unit 25 (S4094). When the above processes S4091 to S4094 are repeated for all users, the content acquisition process for audio data ends, and the process of step S409 ends. Note that if there are no other users belonging to the same group, or if the media data is an image, the above-described combining process in step S4093 is omitted.

When the content is acquired in step S409 shown in FIG. 7, the content is distributed to each client terminal 10 by the distribution control unit 25 (step S410). With the above steps, the grouping execution process ends.

Next, processing after grouping is canceled will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 9 and the conference screens shown in FIGS. 10 to 13. In the example shown in FIG. 9, an example in which grouping is canceled by the client terminal 10X of the chairman user will be described.

As shown in FIG. 9, first, a grouping cancellation request is transmitted by the group generation requesting unit 12 of the client terminal 10X to the group generating unit 23 of the remote conference server 20 (step S501). The group generation requesting unit 12 receives a grouping cancellation request by accepting a user's press of the grouping cancellation button 32 on the post-grouping conference screen shown in FIG. 11, for example.

Subsequently, the group generation unit 23 receives the grouping release request transmitted in step S501 (step S502). Subsequently, the group generation unit 23 notifies each client terminal 10 of the result of canceling the grouping (step S503). Specifically, information indicating the result of canceling the grouping is transmitted from the group generation unit 23 to the output unit 16 of each client terminal 10.

Subsequently, the output unit 16 changes the display of the conference screen based on the cancellation result notified in step S503 (step S504). That is, it is shown on the conference screen that the grouping has been canceled.

For example, the conference screen of the chairman user is switched from the conference screen of FIG. 11 to the conference screen of FIG. 10 by canceling the grouping. On the chairperson user's conference screen, the frame images 41 and 42 displayed in the conference window 31 disappear, and the grouping start button 30 is displayed in place of the grouping cancel button 32.

User A's conference screen switches from the conference screen in FIG. 13 to the conference screen in FIG. 12 by canceling the grouping. That is, the user displayed in the conference window 31 changes from user B to the chairperson user. Similarly, regarding the conference screen of user B, the user displayed in the conference window 31 changes from user A to the chairperson user by canceling the grouping. The display of the conference screens for users C and D is also switched in the same manner.

Following step S504, the transmission control unit 14 of each client terminal 10 transmits the media data to the reception control unit 26 of the remote conference server 20 (step S505). Subsequently, the reception control unit 26 of the remote conference server 20 receives the media data transmitted in step S505 (step S506). Media data received by the reception control unit 26 is stored in the reception data storage unit 27.

Subsequently, the distribution information acquisition unit 24 reacquires the content to be distributed to users other than the chairperson (step S507). For example, content to be distributed to the client terminal 10A is acquired based on media data from all client terminals 10X, 10B to 10D other than the client terminal 10A. The distribution information acquisition unit 24 outputs the reacquired content to the distribution control unit 25.

Subsequently, the content re-acquired in step S507 is distributed to each client terminal 10 by the distribution control unit 25 (S508). With the above steps, the processing after grouping is canceled is completed.

The processing described above may be realized as a program that causes the remote conference system 1 to function as each of the functional units described above.

As described above, according to the remote conference system 1, its control method, and program according to the present embodiment, a plurality of client terminals 10 are divided into a plurality of groups based on the OS user attribute information of the client terminal 10. Therefore, appropriate grouping based on user attributes can be performed without the user having to take the trouble of registering groups in advance. Then, based on the media data from the source client terminal 10 within the same group, content for the destination client terminal 10 within the same group is acquired. As a result, it becomes possible to send and receive information within the same appropriately divided group. As described above, appropriate grouping for transmitting and receiving information can be performed without requiring much effort on the part of the user.

Further, according to the remote conference system 1, user attribute information is acquired based on the room entry processing unit 21 processing the room entry request from the client terminal 10. Therefore, user attribute information can be automatically acquired in response to a room entry request and grouping can be performed without the user performing any special user operations to acquire user attribute information.

Further, according to the remote conference system 1, grouping is performed based on the OS language information of the client terminal 10. Therefore, for example, client terminals 10 with the same OS language can be grouped together, and within the same group, client terminals 10 with the same OS language can appropriately send and receive information.

(Second embodiment)
Next, a remote conference system according to a second embodiment will be described. The remote conference system according to the second embodiment includes the same elements and structure as the remote conference system 1 according to the first embodiment. Therefore, elements and structures similar to those of the remote conference system 1 according to the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals, detailed explanations are omitted, and parts different from the first embodiment will be explained.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a remote conference system according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 14, in the second embodiment, the client terminal 10 includes an entry request section 11, a group generation request section 12, a transmission data storage section 13, a transmission control section 14, a content reception control section 15, and an output section. 16, an attribute information transmitter 17 (attribute information transmitter) is provided. Note that the client terminal 10X of the chairman user does not need to include the attribute information transmitter 17.

The attribute information transmitter 17 transmits user attribute information from each client terminal 10A to 10D of a general user to the attribute information acquirer 22 of the remote conference server 20. That is, in this embodiment, user attribute information is transmitted separately from the room entry request transmitted by the room entry requesting section 11.

The attribute information transmitting unit 17 may transmit user attribute information instead of the user attribute information included in the room entry request transmitted by the room entry requesting unit 11, and in addition to the user attribute information included in the room entry request, User attribute information may also be sent.

In this embodiment, the number of transmissions of transmission information from the source client terminals 10A to 10D (hereinafter also referred to as "the number of transmissions from the client terminals 10A to 10D") is used as the user attribute information, instead of the OS language information. More specifically, the user attribute information is the number of times a user speaks during a conference.

The number of times of transmission by the client terminals 10A to 10D is stored for each of the client terminals 10A to 10D, for example, in the transmission data storage section 13. Attribute information transmitting section 17 transmits the number of transmissions of each client terminal 10A to 10D stored in transmission data storage section 13 to attribute information acquiring section 22 at a predetermined timing. That is, the attribute information transmitter 17 transmits the number of times of transmission by each client terminal 10A to 10D within a predetermined period to the attribute information acquirer 22.

The timing at which the attribute information transmitting unit 17 transmits the number of transmissions of each client terminal 10A to 10D is, for example, the timing at which the grouping request is received by the attribute information acquiring unit 22 while a conference is being held in the room. It is. When the attribute information transmitter 17 receives information indicating that the grouping request has been received from the attribute information acquirer 22, the attribute information transmitter 17 transmits the number of times each client terminal 10A to 10D has transmitted.

Upon receiving the grouping request from the group generation requesting section 12, the attribute information acquiring section 22 notifies the attribute information transmitting section 17 of the general user's client terminals 10A to 10D that the grouping request has been received.

The attribute information acquisition section 22 receives the number of transmissions of each client terminal 10A to 10D transmitted from the attribute information transmission section 17. Thereby, the attribute information acquisition unit 22 acquires the number of times of transmission from each client terminal 10A to 10D as user attribute information. The attribute information acquisition unit 22 outputs the acquired number of transmissions of each client terminal 10A to 10D to the group generation unit 23.

The group generation unit 23 divides the plurality of client terminals 10A to 10D into a plurality of groups based on the number of transmissions of each client terminal 10A to 10D output from the attribute information acquisition unit 22. For example, the group generation unit 23 generates groups so that the total number of transmissions of each of the client terminals 10A to 10D within the same group (hereinafter also referred to as "total number of transmissions within a group") is not too uneven for each group. do. More specifically, the group generation unit 23 performs grouping so that the difference between groups in the total number of transmissions within a group is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold.

Next, the grouping execution process in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 15. FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the flow of grouping execution processing according to the second embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 15, first, a grouping request is sent by the group generation request unit 12 of the client terminal 10X of the chair user to the attribute information acquisition unit 22 of the remote conference server 20 (step S601), and The attribute information acquisition unit 22 of the client terminal 10X receives a grouping request from the group generation request unit 12 of the client terminal 10X (step S602).

When the grouping request is received in step S602, the attribute information acquisition unit 22 of the remote conference server 20 notifies the attribute information transmitting unit 17 of each client terminal 10A to 10D that there is a grouping request ( Step S603). Subsequently, the attribute information transmitting unit 17 receives information indicating that a grouping request has been made (step S604). Subsequently, the attribute information transmitting unit 17 transmits the number of times of transmission by each client terminal 10A to 10D to the attribute information acquiring unit 22 of the remote conference server 20 (step S605).

Subsequently, the attribute information acquisition unit 22 receives the number of transmissions from each client terminal 10A to 10D transmitted in step S605 (step S606). The number of transmissions from each client terminal 10A to 10D received by the attribute information acquisition unit 22 is output from the attribute information acquisition unit 22 to the group generation unit 23.

Next, the group generation unit 23 divides the client terminals 10A to 10D into a plurality of groups based on the number of transmissions from each of the client terminals 10A to 10D received in step S606 (step S607).

The subsequent processing is similar to the processing in steps S405 to S410 shown in FIG. 7, and therefore the description thereof will be omitted.

As described above, according to the remote conference system of the present embodiment, as the attribute information transmitter 17 transmits user attribute information from the client terminal 10, the attribute information acquirer 22 acquires user attribute information. Therefore, grouping can be easily performed based on user attribute information transmitted from the client terminal 10.

Further, according to the present embodiment, grouping is performed based on the number of times each client terminal 10 transmits. Therefore, for example, grouping can be performed so that there is no bias in the number of transmissions in each group.

Although various embodiments of the present embodiment have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various changes can be made without departing from the gist thereof.

In the above embodiment, an example in which the room entry request includes user attribute information has been described, but the room entry request does not need to include user attribute information.

In the above embodiment, an example has been described in which grouping is performed based on either the OS language information of each client terminal 10 or the number of transmissions, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the grouping may be performed based on the OS language information of each client terminal 10, and at a predetermined timing, the grouping may be re-performed based on the number of transmissions of each client terminal 10.

User attribute information is not limited to the examples described in the above embodiments, and includes, for example, screen information shared on the conference screen of each client terminal 10, file information opened on each client terminal, or user of each client terminal. identification information (such as gender or age). When using shared screen information as user attribute information, the shared information may be obtained instead of obtaining the OS language information in step S403, and grouping may be performed based on it. Even when using open file information or user identification information (gender, age, etc.), each piece of information may be acquired in step S403 and grouping may be performed based on that information. Furthermore, it goes without saying that it is possible to perform grouping using a plurality of pieces of user attribute information.

In the above embodiment, the remote conference server 20 may include each of the functional units included in the client terminal 10, and the client terminal 10 may include each of the functional units included in the remote conference server 20.

In the above embodiment, a remote conference system including the client terminal 10 and the remote conference server 20 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. The information processing system according to the present invention may be a server itself including the above-described functional units, or may be a client terminal itself including the above-described functional units.

The present invention can be implemented as, for example, a system, an apparatus, a method, a program, a storage medium, etc., and specifically, it may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices, or one It may also be applied to a device consisting of two pieces of equipment.

Note that the present invention includes a system or device in which a software program that implements the functions of the embodiments described above is supplied directly or remotely. The present invention also includes cases where the present invention is achieved by the computer of the system or device reading and executing the supplied program code.

Therefore, in order to realize (execute) the functional processing of the present invention on a computer, the program code itself installed in the computer also realizes the present invention. That is, the present invention also includes the computer program itself for realizing the functional processing of the present invention.

In that case, as long as it has the functionality of a program, it may be in the form of an object code, a program executed by an interpreter, or script data supplied to the OS.

Examples of recording media for supplying programs include flexible disks, hard disks, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, MOs, CD-ROMs, CD-Rs, and CD-RWs. There are also magnetic tapes, nonvolatile memory cards, ROMs, and DVDs (DVD-ROM, DVD-R).

Another method of supplying the program is to connect to an Internet home page using a browser on a client computer. It can also be supplied by downloading the computer program of the present invention itself or a compressed file containing an automatic installation function from the homepage to a recording medium such as a hard disk.

It can also be realized by dividing the program code constituting the program of the present invention into a plurality of files and downloading each file from a different homepage. That is, the present invention also includes a WWW server that allows a plurality of users to download a program file for realizing the functional processing of the present invention on a computer.

Additionally, the program of the present invention can be encrypted, stored on a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, and distributed to users, and users who meet certain conditions can download the key information for decryption from a homepage via the Internet. let It is also possible to execute the encrypted program by using the downloaded key information and install it on the computer.

Further, the functions of the embodiments described above are realized by the computer executing the read program. In addition, based on instructions from the program, an OS running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the embodiments described above can also be realized by this processing.

Furthermore, the program read from the recording medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer. Thereafter, based on the instructions of the program, the CPU included in the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are also realized by this processing.

The embodiments described above are merely examples of implementation of the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention should not be construed as limited by these embodiments. That is, the present invention can be implemented in various forms without departing from its technical idea or main features.

1 Remote conference system (information processing system)
10 Client terminal 21 Room entry processing unit (room entry processing means)
22 Attribute information acquisition unit (attribute information acquisition means)
23 Group generation unit (group generation means)
24 Distribution information acquisition unit (distribution information acquisition means)

Claims (10)

An information processing system in which a plurality of client terminals used by a first type of user and a second type of user are communicably connected,
Grouping means for dividing a plurality of client terminals related to the second type of user into a plurality of groups;
Distribution information acquisition means for acquiring distribution information to be distributed to client terminals in the same group as the client terminal that transmitted the transmission information, based on the transmission information transmitted from the client terminal;
The first type of user is displayed on the client terminal of the second type of user, and the grouping means executes grouping, thereby displaying the second type of user in the same group as the user of the second type of user. a display control means for controlling to display a user;
An information processing system comprising: The display control means displays the first type of users without displaying the second type of users before the grouping by the grouping means is performed, and the display control means displays the first type of users without displaying the second type of users before the grouping by the grouping means is performed. 2. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the information processing system controls to display a second type of user in the same group as the user associated with the client terminal. When the grouping by the grouping means is performed, the display control means does not display the first type of user that was displayed before the grouping was performed, and the display control means does not display the first type of user who is the same as the user related to the client terminal. The information processing system according to claim 2, wherein the information processing system is controlled to display the second type of user within the group. 4. The grouping means does not group client terminals associated with the first type of user, but divides a plurality of client terminals associated with the second type of user into a plurality of groups. The information processing system described in any one of the following. Displaying the second type of users on a client terminal related to the first type of users, and identifying and displaying the second type of users for each group by performing grouping by the grouping means. The information processing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising display control means for controlling the information processing system. 6. The information processing system according to claim 5, wherein the display control means performs control so that users of the second type within the same group are displayed for identification by surrounding them with a thick frame. Entry processing means for processing an entry request from the client terminal to the virtual conference room;
Equipped with
The room entry request includes a flag for identifying user type, and the flag identifies whether the user associated with the client terminal is a first type of user or a second type of user. 7. The information processing system according to any one of 1 to 6. 8. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the first type of user is a chairperson user, and the second type of user is a general user. A method for controlling an information processing system in which a plurality of client terminals used by a first type of user and a second type of user are communicably connected,
a grouping step of dividing a plurality of client terminals related to the second type of users into a plurality of groups;
a distribution information acquisition step of acquiring distribution information to be distributed to client terminals in the same group as the client terminal that transmitted the transmission information, based on the transmission information transmitted from the client terminal;
The first type of user is displayed on the client terminal of the second type of user, and the grouping is executed by the grouping step , so that the second type of user in the same group as the user of the client terminal is displayed. a display control step for controlling the user to display;
A method for controlling an information processing system, comprising: A program for causing a computer to function as each means according to any one of claims 1 to 8 .

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