Terminal for processing voice signals of a plurality of talkers, server apparatus, and program

The present invention relates to a technique for processing audio signals of a plurality of speakers.

There is a technology that enables conversations between people in different spaces. For example, in Patent Document 1, a user terminal arranged in different spaces and capable of transmitting a user's voice signal and a plurality of video cameras for capturing situations in different spaces are connected to each other via a video server. The system is disclosed. According to the system disclosed in Patent Document 1, a video signal indicating the situation in the space where the other user is present is transmitted to the user terminal used by one user via the video server, and at the same time, one of them is used. If the user so desires, the user's audio signal is transmitted to the other user's terminal device via the video server. As a result, one user in different spaces can offer a conversation while considering the current situation of the other user.<patcit num="1"><text>Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-200716</text></patcit>

<p> By the way, in society, people belong to multiple groups. For example, the same person may be a member of a different project within a company. And in each of those different projects, conversations between members may take place at the same time.</p><p> In the case of the system disclosed in Patent Document 1 above, although the state of a plurality of people in the same space can be grasped by an image, in the first place, like a conversation held in a different space or a conversation in a voice conference. It is not possible to grasp the state of conversation between speakers in different spaces. Therefore, for example, there is an inconvenience that a meaningful conversation is progressing between members of another project while participating in a conversation between members of a certain project, but the conversation is not noticed.</p><p> In view of the above situation, the present invention makes it possible for a user belonging to a plurality of groups to know what kind of conversation is taking place between members of another group while having a conversation with a member of one group. Provide the means to</p>

<p> In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has one terminal among the plurality of terminal groups including its own terminal device as a member in a situation where a plurality of terminal groups having one or more terminal devices as members are set. A conversation group designation means for designating a group as a conversation group, and one or more terminal groups from a terminal group including its own terminal device among the plurality of terminal groups as a member and not designated as the conversation group as a monitor group. The designated monitor group designation means, the voice signal input means for receiving the voice signal of the user of the own terminal device, and the voice signal received by the voice signal input means are transmitted to another terminal device which is a member of the conversation group. By the voice signal transmitting means to be transmitted first, the voice signal receiving means for receiving the voice signal originating from another terminal device that is a member of the conversation group or the monitor group, and the voice signal receiving means. According to the classification means for classifying the received voice signal into the voice groups corresponding to the terminal group according to which terminal group the terminal device from which the voice signal is transmitted is a member, and the classification means 1 At least one of the voice groups so that the sound image position of the voice signal divided into the voice groups of is different from the sound image position of the voice signal divided into another voice group different from the voice group of 1 by the classification means. The sound image position processing means for processing the audio signals classified into the above, and the processed audio signal for the audio signal processed by the sound image position processing means is output and processed by the sound image position processing means. The present invention provides a terminal device including an audio signal output means for outputting the unprocessed audio signal with respect to the unprocessed audio signal.</p><p> According to the terminal device having such a configuration, the user can listen to the conversation taking place in the other group while participating in the conversation of one of the plurality of groups to which the user belongs.</p><p> Further, in a preferred embodiment, the sound image position processing means of the terminal device is used when the sound image position of the voice signal divided into the voice groups corresponding to the conversation group by the classification means is not centered or substantially centered. The audio signal may be processed so that the sound image position is at the center or substantially at the center.</p><p> According to the terminal device having such a configuration, the user can more easily distinguish the conversation of the group in which he / she is participating in the conversation from the conversation of another group.</p><p> Further, in a preferred embodiment of the terminal device, when the terminal group designated as the conversation group is changed by the conversation group designating means, the sound image position processing means corresponds to the terminal group newly designated as the conversation group. The sound image position of the voice signal divided into the voice groups to be processed is processed so as to change with the passage of time from the sound image position of the voice signal after the processing before the change toward the center or substantially the center. Give.</p><p> According to the terminal device having such a configuration, the user can easily capture the conversation voice even if the sound image position of the conversation voice of the group in which he / she participates in the conversation changes.</p><p> Further, in the present invention, in a situation where a plurality of terminal groups having one or more terminal devices as members are set, one terminal group including its own terminal device as a member among the plurality of terminal groups is designated as a conversation group. A means for designating a conversation group to be used, and a means for designating a monitor group that includes one of the plurality of terminal groups as a member and specifies one or more terminal groups as a monitor group from a terminal group not designated as the conversation group. And the voice signal input means that receives the voice signal of the user of the own terminal device, An audio signal transmitting means that transmits an audio signal received by the audio signal input means to another terminal device that is a member of the conversation group, and a member of either the conversation group or the monitor group. The audio signal receiving means for receiving the audio signal originating from the terminal device of the above and the audio signal received by the audio signal receiving means, the terminal device of the source of the audio signal is a member of any terminal group. According to the above, the division means for dividing into the audio group corresponding to the terminal group and the frequency characteristics of the audio signals divided into one audio group by the classification means are different from the above 1 audio group by the division means. A frequency characteristic processing means for processing an audio signal divided into at least one of the audio groups so as to be different from the frequency characteristics of the audio signal divided into other different audio groups, and processing by the frequency characteristic processing means. An audio signal output means that outputs the processed audio signal for the processed audio signal and outputs the unprocessed audio signal for the audio signal that has not been processed by the frequency characteristic processing means. Provided is a terminal device characterized by providing the above.</p><p> Even with the terminal device having such a configuration, the user can listen to the conversation taking place in the other group while participating in the conversation of one of the plurality of groups to which the user belongs.</p><p> Further, in a preferred embodiment, the frequency characteristic processing means of the terminal device processes the voice signal classified into the voice group corresponding to the conversation group by the classification means to change the frequency characteristic of the voice signal. It may be configured not to be applied.</p><p> Even with the terminal device having such a configuration, the user can more easily distinguish the conversation of the group in which he / she is participating in the conversation from the conversation of another group.</p><p> Further, in a preferred embodiment of the terminal device, when the terminal group designated as the conversation group is changed by the conversation group designating means, the frequency characteristic processing means corresponds to the terminal group newly designated as the conversation group. The frequency characteristics of the audio signals divided into the audio groups to be processed change from the frequency characteristics of the audio signal after the processing before the change to the frequency characteristics of the audio signal not processed. Process so that it changes with it.</p><p> According to the terminal device having such a configuration, the user can easily capture the conversation voice even if the frequency characteristic of the conversation voice of the group in which he / she participates in the conversation changes.</p><p> In another preferred embodiment, the terminal device is divided into one voice group by the classification means, and the sound image position of the voice signal is divided into another voice group different from the one voice group by the classification means. It may be configured to further include a sound image position processing means for processing an audio signal divided into at least one audio group so as to be different from the sound image position of the audio signal.</p><p> According to the terminal device having such a configuration, the user can more easily discriminate the conversation voices of the plurality of groups.</p><p> Further, in another preferred embodiment, the voice signal transmitting means of the terminal device transmits a voice signal to the terminal device as a transmission destination via a server device that relays the voice signal in the communication network, and the voice signal is transmitted. The receiving means may be configured to receive an audio signal from a terminal device that is a transmission source via the server device.</p><p> In another preferred embodiment, the terminal device further includes operating means for the user to input data, and the conversation group designating means and the monitor group designating means respond to the user's operation on the operating means. Therefore, it may be configured to change the terminal group designated as the conversation group and the monitor group, respectively.</p><p> According to the terminal device having such a configuration, the user can switch between the conversation and the monitor at any time and participate in the conversation of the group being monitored.</p><p> Further, in another preferred embodiment, the terminal device is provided with a management data receiving means for receiving attribute data indicating an attribute of a member of the conversation group or another terminal device which is a member of the monitor group, and the management data receiving means. It may be further provided with a notification means for notifying the user of the attribute indicated by the received attribute data.</p><p> According to the terminal device having such a configuration, the user can know the status of other users in the group to which he / she belongs.</p><p> Further, in a preferred embodiment of the terminal device, the attribute data includes the connection status of the other terminal device, the state of the user of the other terminal device, and the terminal group designated as a conversation group in the other terminal device. And the data regarding at least one of the terminal groups designated as the monitor group in the other terminal device.</p><p> Further, in another preferred embodiment, the terminal device is further provided with a management data transmission means for transmitting request data requesting transmission of a voice signal of a user of the other terminal device to another terminal device as a transmission destination. It may be configured.</p><p> According to the terminal device having such a configuration, the user can request the participation of another user who has not participated in the conversation in the conversation.</p><p> Further, in a preferred embodiment of the terminal device, the terminal device further includes management data receiving means for receiving rejection data indicating that the terminal device does not respond to a user's voice signal transmission request, and the management data transmitting means is the management. The request data is transmitted only to the terminal device that is not the source of the rejected data received by the data receiving means, with the terminal device as the transmission destination.</p><p> According to the terminal device having such a configuration, another user can refuse the participation request to the conversation in advance, and there is no problem of inconvenience by making the participation request to the other user who is fetching, for example.</p><p> In another preferred embodiment, the terminal device further includes management data receiving means for receiving request data requesting transmission of the user's voice signal, and the conversation group designating means is received by the management data receiving means. The terminal group designated as the conversation group in the terminal device that transmits the request data may be configured to be designated as the conversation group.</p><p> According to the terminal device having such a configuration, the user can participate in the conversation in response to the participation request of another user in the group to which the user belongs.</p><p> Further, in a preferred embodiment of the terminal device, the terminal device inputs an operating means for the user to input data and input of consent data indicating acceptance of the request by the request data received by the management data receiving means. Further including a notification means for notifying the user, the conversation group designating means receives the consent data by the management data receiving means only when the user performs the input operation of the consent data to the operating means. The terminal group designated as the conversation group in the terminal device from which the requested data is transmitted is designated as the conversation group.</p><p> According to the terminal device having such a configuration, the user can select whether or not to participate in the conversation in response to the participation request.</p><p> In another preferred embodiment, the terminal device comprises a management data transmitting means for transmitting request data requesting permission to designate one terminal group as the conversation group, and consent indicating acceptance of the request by the request data. The management data receiving means for receiving data is further provided, and the conversation group designating means designates the terminal group of 1 as the conversation group only when the consent data is received by the management data receiving means. It may be configured.</p><p> According to the terminal device having such a configuration, the user can participate in the conversation with the consent of other users in the group to which the user belongs.</p><p> In another preferred embodiment, the terminal device receives an operating means for the user to input data and request data requesting permission to designate one terminal group as a conversation group in another terminal device. The management data receiving means, the notification means for notifying the user to input the consent data indicating the acceptance of the request by the request data received by the management data receiving means, and the input operation of the consent data by the user. When performed on the operating means, it may be configured to further include a management data transmitting means for transmitting the consent data.</p><p> According to the terminal device having such a configuration, when another user in the group to which the user belongs wants to participate in the conversation, he / she can select whether or not to allow the participation.</p><p> Further, in a preferred embodiment of the terminal device, the management data receiving means receives prohibited data prohibiting permission to designate one terminal group as a conversation group in another terminal device, and the management data transmitting means. Transmits the consent data only when the prohibited data has not been received by the management data receiving means at the time when the input operation of the consent data is performed by the user to the operation means.</p><p> According to the terminal device having such a configuration, when it is not desirable for a new member to join the conversation in the middle, it is possible to exclude the member who has not participated in the conversation from participating in the conversation.</p><p> Further, in the present invention, the member data indicating the terminal devices that are members of the group for each of the plurality of groups and the terminal device of 1 among the groups including 1 terminal device as members are designated as conversation groups. A storage means for storing conversation group data indicating a group and monitor group data indicating a group designated as a monitor group by the terminal device 1 and a terminal device that is a member of any of the plurality of groups are transmitted. A group in which the voice signal receiving means for receiving the original voice signal and a terminal device for transmitting the voice signal received by the voice signal receiving means are shown by the conversation group data and the group shown by the monitor group data. When any of the members, the server device is provided, which includes a voice signal transmitting means for transmitting the voice signal to the terminal device of the above 1 as a transmission destination.</p><p> According to the server device having such a configuration, the user can listen to the contents of the conversation being held in the other group while participating in the conversation of one group to which the user belongs by using the above terminal device. ..</p><p> The present invention also provides a program that causes a computer to execute a process performed by the terminal device or the server device.</p><p> According to such a program, the user can realize the terminal device or the server device by a computer.</p>

[Embodiment]

[1. Audio system configuration]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of the voice system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. The voice system 1 is a terminal device 11-k used by a user 19-k (k = 1 to n, where n is an arbitrary natural number; the same applies hereinafter) using the voice system 1 to monitor conversation and voice. , A keyboard 12 for the user 19-k to perform various operations on the terminal device 11-k, a display 13 for the terminal device 11-k to perform various notifications to the user 19-k by characters, and the user 19. A microphone 14 that collects the sound of -k and converts it into a monaural sound signal, and speakers 15-L and 15-R that convert the sound signal input from the terminal device 11-k into sound and produce it in stereo. And a server device 16 that relays voice signals and various management data transmitted and received between different terminal devices 11. The keyboard 12, the display 13, the microphone 14 and the speaker 15 are connected to the terminal device 11-k. Further, the terminal device 11-k and the server device 16 can communicate with each other via the network 10. The network 10 may connect the terminal device 11-k and the server device 16 to each other by wire, or may connect a part or all of the connection path wirelessly.

The terminal device 11-k (hereinafter referred to as "terminal device 11" when it is not necessary to distinguish between different terminal devices 11-k) is a control unit 111 that controls the processing of each component of the terminal device 11 and a server. A transmission unit 112 that transmits various data to the device 16, a reception unit 113 that receives various data from the server device 16, and a division unit that divides the voice signal received by the reception unit 113 into a plurality of groups based on the transmission source. It has 114.

Further, the terminal device 11 includes a frequency characteristic processing unit 115 that processes each audio signal so that the audio signals included in each group have different frequency characteristics for each group. Various methods are conceivable for making a plurality of audio signals have different frequency characteristics from each other, but in the present embodiment, as an example, processing by a parametric equalizer having a different center frequency is performed on the audio signals of each group. .. The terminal device 11 further includes a sound image position processing unit 116 that processes each audio signal so that the sound image positions of the audio signals included in each group are different for each group, and a plurality of sounds from the sound image position processing unit 116. It includes a mixer 117 that receives signals and mixes them, and a storage unit 118 that stores various data used by a program for instructing control processing of the control unit 111 and each component unit.

A terminal ID (Identifier) for identifying the terminal device 11-k in the network 10 is assigned to the terminal device 11-k in advance, and is stored in the storage unit 118. Similar to the terminal device 11-k, the server device 16 is also assigned a server ID for identifying the server device 16 in the network 10 in advance. The terminal device 11 and the server device 16 send data to the network 10 to which a terminal ID or a server ID is added as information for identifying a destination. Each network node included in the network 10 sequentially transfers data to the destination terminal device 11 or server device 16 based on the terminal ID or server ID added to the data. Since the mechanism by which the network 10 delivers the data to the destination based on the ID added to the data is the same as the conventional technology, the explanation will not be given.

The transmission unit 112 transmits an audio signal indicating the audio of the user 19-k (hereinafter referred to as user 19 when it is not necessary to distinguish between different users 19-k) output from the microphone 14 to the server device 16. It is provided with an audio signal transmission unit 1121 to perform the operation, and a management data transmission unit 1122 to transmit various management data generated by the control unit 111 to the server device 16. Further, the receiving unit 113 receives various management data from the server device 16 and the voice signal receiving unit 1131 that receives the voice signal originating from the other terminal device 11 from the server device 16 and delivers it to the division unit 114. The management data receiving unit 1132 to be handed over to the control unit 111 is provided.

The storage unit 118 stores the group DB 1181 (hereinafter, "database" is abbreviated as "DB") and the user DB 1182. User 19-k belongs to one of a plurality of pre-registered groups. However, since the voice system 1 cannot directly recognize the user 19-k, the terminal device 11-k used by the user 19-k is grouped and managed. Group DB1181 is the DB for that purpose. Hereinafter, the terminal device 11 belonging to a specific group is referred to as a "member". However, for convenience of explanation, the user 19 using the terminal device 11 belonging to a specific group may be referred to as a "member" in the following.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the data of group DB1181. Group DB1181 includes "group name", "user name", "online", "user status", "administrative member", "participation request authority type", "participation permission authority type", "lock authority type", and "lock". Stores multiple group data consisting of fields. "Group name" indicates the name of the group. The same group name cannot be used more than once in group DB1181. Hereinafter, for example, group data whose "group name" is "Iroha group" is referred to as group data "Iroha group".

The "user name" indicates the user name of the user 19 belonging to the group, and the number may be plural. Further, the order of the user names shown in the "user name" column indicates the priority used when determining the leader of the group described later. "Online" indicates "Yes" indicating that each of the terminal devices 11 indicated by "Terminal ID" currently establishes a communication connection with the server device 16, or "Yes" indicating that a communication connection has not been established. It is one of "No". "User status" indicates that user 19 with the user name shown in the "User name" column is currently being imported and cannot receive a request to participate in the conversation. It is either "away", which indicates that you are not participating in or monitoring conversations, or "normal", which indicates that you are neither being captured nor leaving. The management member is either Yes indicating that each of the terminal devices 11 indicated by the terminal ID is a management member in the group, or No indicating that the terminal device 11 is not a management member.

"Participation request authority type" indicates a member who has the authority to request participation when he / she wants to request a member of the group who has not participated in the conversation to participate in the conversation. Specifically, the "participation request authority type" is "all" indicating that all members of the group have participation request authority, "leader" indicating that only the group leader has participation request authority, and group management. It is either an "administrative member" indicating that only the member has the participation request authority, or "impossible" indicating that neither member of the group has the participation request authority.

"Participation permission authority type" indicates a member who has the authority to permit participation when a person who has not participated in the conversation among the members of the group wants to participate in the conversation. Specifically, the "participation permission authority type" is either "leader" indicating that only the leader of the group has the participation permission authority, or "administrative member" indicating that the management member of the group has the participation permission authority alone. "One person", "All members" indicating that the consent of all members of the group who are participating in the conversation is required in order to be permitted to participate, All members of the group have the authority to permit participation independently It is either "any one" indicating that it has, or "free participation allowed" that is allowed to participate unconditionally.

The "lock authority type" indicates a member who has the authority to start and release a state in which a new application for participation in a group conversation is not accepted (hereinafter referred to as "lock state"). Specifically, it is one of "everyone", "leader", "administrative member", and "impossible", and their meanings are the same as those described for "participation request authority type". "Locked" is either "Yes" to indicate that the group is locked or "No" to indicate that the group is not locked.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the data of the user DB1182. User DB1182 is a DB that stores data indicating various attributes of user 19-k and terminal device 11-k, and is a DB that stores "user name", "password", "online", "terminal ID", "affiliation group name", It stores multiple user data consisting of fields of "conversation group name", "monitor group name", and "user status". "User name" indicates the user name of user 19-k. The same user name cannot be used more than once in user DB1182. Hereinafter, for example, user data whose "user name" is "K.Imai" is referred to as user data "K.Imai".

"Password" indicates a character string used to authenticate that user 19-k is the correct user based on the combination with the user name. "Online" indicates "Yes" indicating that the user 19-k is communicating with the server device 16 using any of the terminal devices 11, or is not communicating. It is one of the indicated "No". "Terminal ID" indicates the terminal ID of the terminal device 11-k. Since the terminal device 11 used by the user 19-k differs from time to time, the "terminal ID" field is provided for the user 19 who is not using any of the terminal devices 11, that is, the user 19 whose "online" is "No". Is blank.

"Affiliation group name" indicates the group name of the group to which user 19-k belongs as a member, and the number may be plural. In voice system 1, user 19-k is a member of the specified group by designating one of the groups indicated by the "affiliation group name" as a conversation mode group (hereinafter referred to as "conversation group"). Can have a conversation with. "Conversation group name" indicates the group name of the conversation group. In addition, user 19-k specifies one of the groups indicated by the "affiliation group name" as a monitor mode group (hereinafter referred to as "monitor group"), and thus among other members of the specified group. You can monitor the conversations taking place at.

"Monitor group name" indicates the group name of the monitor group. User 19-k can specify multiple groups as monitor groups at the same time. Therefore, the "monitor group name" may include a plurality of group names. The "user status" indicates the current status of the user 19-k, and is either "importing", "leaving", or "normal" like the "user status" of the group data.

Returning to FIG. 1, the configuration of the server device 16 will be described subsequently. The server device 16 has a control unit 161 that controls the processing of each component of the server device 16, a receiving unit 162 that receives various data from each of the terminal devices 11, and a transmission that transmits various data to each of the terminal devices 11. Used by the unit 163, the selection unit 164 that selects the audio signal to be transmitted to the terminal device 11-k among the audio signals received by the receiving unit 162, and the program and each component unit that instruct the control processing of the control unit 161. It is provided with a storage unit 165 that stores various data to be stored. Further, as described above, the server device 16 is assigned a server ID for identifying the server device 16 in the network 10 in advance, and is stored in the storage unit 165.

The receiving unit 162 receives the audio signal receiving unit 1621 that receives the audio signal from each of the terminal devices 11 and delivers it to the selection unit 164, and the management data reception unit 162 that receives various management data from each of the terminal devices 11 and delivers them to the control unit 161. It has a part 1622. Further, the transmission unit 163 is generated by the voice signal transmission unit 1631 that transmits the voice signal selected to be transmitted to the terminal device 11-k by the selection unit 164 to the terminal device 11-k, and the control unit 161. It is provided with a management data transmission unit 1632 that transmits various management data to each of the terminal devices 11.

Group DB1651 and user DB1652 are stored in the storage unit 165 of the server device 16. The group DB 1651 and the user DB 1652 are DBs that store the same data as the group DB 1181 (see FIG. 2) and the user DB 1182 (see FIG. 3) stored in the storage unit 118 of the terminal device 11-k, respectively. As will be described later, when the data contained in the group DB1181 or the user DB1182 is updated in the terminal device 11-k, the update is requested to be reflected in the group DB1181 or the user DB1182 stored in the other terminal device 11. The update request data is transmitted from the terminal device 11-k to another terminal device 11 via the server device 16. The server device 16 updates the group DB 1651 or the user DB 1652 stored in the storage unit 165 when relaying the transmission / reception of update request data between the terminal devices 11. As a result, the group DB 1181 and the user DB 1182 stored in the terminal device 11 that establishes the communication connection with the server device 16 and the group DB 1651 and the user DB 1652 stored in the server device 16 always maintain the same contents. Will be done.

[2. Operation of voice system]

Subsequently, the operation of the voice system 1 will be described by taking the case where the user 19-1 uses the voice system 1 as an example. User 19-1 has been notified in advance of the user name "K.Imai" and password "c4HAh &amp;" from the administrator of voice system 1, and the terminal device 11-1 used by user 19-1 has the terminal ID "0103". "Is assumed to be assigned. Unless otherwise specified in the following description, the contents of the group DB1181 and the group DB1651 are illustrated in FIG. 2, and the contents of the user DB1182 and the user DB1652 are illustrated in FIG.

First, when using the voice system 1, the user 19-1 inputs the user name "K.Imai" and the password "c4HAh &amp;" to the terminal device 11-1 by using the keyboard 12 of the terminal device 11-1. The control unit 111 generates authentication data including the user name and password entered by the user, and the management data transmission unit 1122 transmits the authentication data to the server device 16. The management data receiving unit 1622 of the server device 16 receives the authentication data and hands it over to the control unit 161. The control unit 161 searches the user DB 1652 (see FIG. 3) for user data including the user name included in the authentication data. If the search is successful, the control unit 161 determines whether or not the "password" of the searched user data matches the password included in the authentication data, and if they match, the control unit 161 determines the user 19-1. Judge as the correct user. In that case, the server device 16 establishes a communication connection with the terminal device 11-1 for transmitting and receiving voice signals. In this case, since the user data "K.Imai" includes the password "c4HAh &amp;", the control unit 161 succeeds in the above authentication. At this point, the "terminal ID" of the user data "K.Imai" is blank, and the "online" is "No".

On the other hand, if the control unit 161 fails in the above search, or if the "password" of the searched user data does not match the password included in the authentication data, the control unit 161 determines that the user 19-1 is an incorrect user. In that case, the control unit 161 displays a message or the like prompting the user to re-enter the password on the display 13, and does not perform the following processing.

When the control unit 161 of the server device 16 succeeds in authenticating the user 19-1 and establishes a communication connection for transmitting and receiving a voice signal to and from the terminal device 11-1, the terminal device 11-1 to the terminal Acquire the terminal ID "0103" of device 11-1. When the control unit 161 acquires the terminal ID, it updates the "terminal ID" of the user data "K.Imai" included in the user DB1652 to "0103" and "online" to "Yes". In addition, the control unit 161 extracts the group data including "K.Imai" in the "user name" from the group data included in the group DB1651 (see FIG. 2), and the "online" included in the extracted group data. Update the data corresponding to "K.Imai" to "Yes".

When the control unit 161 updates the group DB 1651 or the user DB 1652 as described above, the control unit 161 generates update request data including the updated data, and the management data transmission unit 1632 uses the generated update request data for all terminal devices 11. Send to. In each of the terminal devices 11, the management data receiving unit 1132 receives the update request data, and the control unit 111 updates the data included in the group DB 1181 or the user DB 1182 according to the received update request data.

When the authentication process of user 19-1 and the establishment of the communication connection between the terminal device 11-1 and the server device 16 are completed as described above, the control unit 111 of the terminal device 11-1 displays the operation screen on the display 13. Let me. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an operation screen. On the operation screen, various information for the user 19-1 to talk or monitor is displayed for each of the "Iroha group", "ABC group", and "Kou Otsu group", which are groups including the user 19-1 as a member. In addition to displaying, operation panels 131-1 to 3 1 including an operator for accepting various operations by the user 19-1 are included.

In addition, on the operation screen, an option button 142 for selecting a method for separating the voices of conversations taking place in each of the "Iroha group", "ABC group", and "Kou Otsu group" for each group, and the user It includes a display window 143 that displays the status of the members of the group selected by 19-1, and an option button 144 that gives instructions to change the status of user 19-1. Further, the operation screen has a button 145 for requesting the member selected by the user 19-1 in the display window 143 to participate in the conversation, and an online state among the members displayed in the display window 143. Whether to force button 146 to request all members who are not in conversation and not to be captured to participate in the conversation, and to request participation in the conversation using button 145 or button 146. Contains a check box 147 for selecting.

The control unit 111 extracts group data and user data including "K.Imai" in the "user name" from the group DB 1181 and the user DB 1182, and generates the above-mentioned operation screen display data based on the extracted data. To do.

The displays and controls included in the operation panel 131 will be described below. Label 132 displays the group name corresponding to the operation panel 131. Label 133 is not specified in either "Conversation Mode", which indicates that this group is designated as a conversation group, "Monitor Mode", which indicates that this group is designated as a monitor group, or Conversation Group or Monitor Group. Displays one of "Off" indicating. Label 134 indicates either "Yes" to indicate that this group is locked or "No" to indicate that it is not locked.

Button 135 is a button for user 19-1 to specify this group as a conversation group, or to cancel it if it has already been specified. If this group has already been designated as a conversation group, button 135 will display "Conversation Off", and if it has not been designated as a conversation group, button 135 will display "Conversation On". Button 136 is a button for user 19-1 to specify this group as a monitor group, or to cancel it if it has already been specified. If this group has already been designated as a monitor group, button 136 will display "Monitor Off", and if it has not been designated as a monitor group, button 136 will display "Monitor On".

The slider 137 is a slider for the user 19-1 to adjust the volume of the conversational voice or the monitor voice in this group. The selector lever 138 is a lever for the user 19-1 to change the center frequency of the parametric equalizer processing to be applied to the conversational voice or the monitor voice in this group. The selector lever 138 also serves as a button for switching the parametric equalizer processing on and off. That is, when the user 19-1 presses the selector lever 138, the parametric equalizer processing for the conversation voice or the monitor voice in this group is canceled / started. When the parametric equalizer processing is canceled, the knob of the selector lever 138 is not displayed.

The selector lever 139 is a lever for the user 19-1 to change the sound image position of the conversation voice or the monitor voice in this group. The slider 137, selector lever 138, and selector lever 139 are not displayed if this group is not designated as either a conversation group or a monitor group. When "only frequency characteristics" is selected as the audio separation method for each group by the option button 142, the selector lever 138 for changing the frequency characteristics is not displayed on any of the operation panels 131-1 to 13. Further, when "sound image position only" is selected as the sound separation method of each group by the option button 142, the selector lever 139 regarding the change of the sound image position is not displayed on any of the operation panels 131-1 to 13.

By the way, the position of the knob of the slider 137 can be continuously changed by the operation of the user 19-1, and the volume of the conversation voice or the monitor voice of the corresponding group changes continuously according to the position of the knob. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, as an example, the selector lever 138 and the selector lever 139 can be selected by the user 19-1 from a plurality of predetermined locations. The number of positions that user 19-1 can select on selector lever 138 and selector lever 139 matches the number of groups to which user 19-1 belongs.

For example, according to the example in FIG. 4, since user 19-1 belongs to three groups, user 19-1 uses the selector lever 138 to select three options as the center frequency (hereinafter, those options are "low"). , "Medium" and "High") can be selected. In addition, the user 19-1 can select one of three options (hereinafter, these options are "left", "center", and "right") as the sound image position by the selector lever 139. .. According to the example of FIG. 4, the conversational voice of the Iroha group is subjected to parametric equalizer processing at the center frequency medium and is selected to be pronounced at the sound image position medium. In addition, the monitor sound of the "ABC group" is subjected to parametric equalizer processing with a center frequency of "low" and is selected to be sounded at the sound image position "right".

Button 140 is a button used by user 19-1 to display the status of the members of this group on the display window 143. Button 141 is a button for user 19-1 to start and unlock the locked state of this group. As already mentioned, the person who has the authority to start and release the locked state is specified by the "lock authority type" of the group data. Therefore, button 141 is displayed only if user 19-1 has lock authority. The above are the displays and controls included in the operation panel 131.

In the display window 143, "user name", "online", and "in conversation" are displayed based on user data for each member of the group corresponding to the operation panel 131 in which the user 19-1 presses the button 140. And "User status" is displayed. However, in "in conversation", "Yes" indicating that the member is participating in the conversation of this group or "No" indicating that the member is not participating is displayed. For example, when the status of a member of "Iroha group" is displayed in the display window 143, when "Iroha group" is specified in the "conversation group name" in the user data, "in conversation" of the display window 143 is "in conversation". "Yes" is displayed, otherwise "No" is displayed.

As already mentioned, the person who has the authority to request participation to the members who have not participated in the conversation is specified by the "participation request authority type" of the group data. Therefore, button 145, button 146 and check box 147 are displayed only if user 19-1 has the participation request authority.

When user 19-1 changes or selects a parameter corresponding to each operator using the slider 137, selector lever 138, selector lever 139, option button 142 and check box 147, the changed or selected parameter is memorized. It is temporarily stored in the unit 118 and used in the processing of the division unit 114 and the like, which will be described later.

In the situation where the operation screen shown in FIG. 4 is displayed, the user 19-1 can have a conversation with a member of the "Iroha group" and also with other members of the "ABC group". You can monitor the conversation you are having. At that time, the voice of the conversation in the "Iroha group" and the voice of the conversation in the "ABC group" are processed and pronounced so that at least one of the frequency characteristics and the sound image position is different from each other. It is possible to identify which group the member made the statement.

Therefore, the user 19-1 confirms what kind of image is being broadcast on another channel while watching the image of one channel in the multi-screen television capable of displaying multiple screens at the same time, and displays the image of the favorite channel. As in the case of selection, it is possible to listen to the contents of the conversation being held in another group while having a conversation in one group, and to switch the group to participate in the conversation as needed. The processing of the voice system 1 performed for that purpose will be described in detail below.

When the user 19-1 speaks into the microphone 14, the voice signal of the user 19-1 is passed from the microphone 14 to the voice signal transmission unit 1121, and the voice signal transmission unit 1121 transmits the received voice signal to the terminal device 11-. It is sent to the server device 16 together with the terminal ID of 1. When the voice signal receiving unit 1621 of the server device 16 receives the voice signal from the terminal device 11-1, the selection unit 164 uses the terminal ID added to the received voice signal as a search key and uses the user data "K.Imai" from the user DB 1652. , And acquire the group names "Iroha group", "ABC group" and "Kou Otsu group" included in the "Affiliation group name" of the user data "K.Imai". From the user DB 1652, the selection unit 164 includes either "Iroha group", "ABC group" or "Kou Otsu group" in "Conversation group name" or "Monitor group name", and "Online" is "Yes". Extract some user data. The terminal device 11 corresponding to the user data extracted in this way is a terminal device 11 that requires the voice signal received by the server device 16 from the terminal device 11-1 for conversation or monitoring. The selection unit 164 adds the "terminal ID" included in the group data extracted as described above to the audio signal received from the terminal device 11-1 and delivers it to the audio signal transmission unit 1631. The audio signal transmission unit 1631 transmits the audio signal received from the selection unit 164 to each of the terminal devices 11 specified by the attached terminal ID.

By the way, the selection unit 164 receives an audio signal from each of the terminal devices 11 and selects the terminal device 11 to which the received audio signal is transmitted as described above, but the procedure is not limited to the above. For example, the selection unit 164 can obtain the same result as described above by the following procedure. The selection unit 164 acquires the group name included in the "conversation group name" or "monitor group name" of the user data "K.Imai" from the user DB 1652, and includes either of the acquired group names in the "affiliation group name". And, the user data whose "online" is "Yes" is extracted from the group DB1651. The user data extracted in this way indicates the terminal device 11 that is the source of the audio signal to be transmitted to the terminal device 11-1. Therefore, when the selection unit 164 receives the audio signal to which the terminal ID indicated by the "terminal ID" of the user data extracted as described above is added from the audio signal receiving unit 1621, it is used as the terminal ID of the transmission destination of the audio signal. Add the terminal ID "0103" of the terminal device 11-1 and deliver it to the audio signal transmitter 1631.

As described above, the voice signal originating from the terminal device 11-1 is transmitted via the server device 16 to all the terminal devices 11 that require the voice signal of the user 19-1 for conversation or monitoring. The terminal device 11-1 receives an audio signal from the terminal device 11 of the member of the "Iroha group" and the member of the "ABC group" via the server device 16.

When the audio signal receiving unit 1131 of the terminal device 11-1 receives the audio signal from the server device 16, the received audio signal is delivered to the division unit 114. The division unit 114 searches the user data from the user DB 1182 using the terminal ID of the transmission source terminal device 11 added to the voice signal received from the voice signal reception unit 1131 as a search key. The division unit 114 adds the content of the affiliation group name of the searched user data to the voice signal received from the voice signal receiving unit 1131 and hands it over to the frequency characteristic processing unit 115.

When the operation screen illustrated in FIG. 4 is displayed, the conversation voice of the "Iroha group" needs to be subjected to the parametric equalizer processing of the center frequency "medium". Therefore, when the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 receives an audio signal to which the group name "Iroha group" is added from the division unit 114, the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 has, for example, 1.0 kHz as the center frequency of the audio signal, and is a parametric equalizer with Q = 1.5, for example. Apply processing. On the other hand, when the operation screen illustrated in FIG. 4 is displayed, the conversation voice of the "ABC group" needs to be subjected to parametric equalizer processing with a center frequency of "low". Therefore, when the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 receives an audio signal to which the group name "ABC group" is added from the division unit 114, the audio signal is processed with a parametric equalizer of, for example, Q = 1.5, with 160 Hz as the center frequency. To give. The frequency characteristic processing unit 115 delivers the audio signal subjected to the parametric equalizer processing as described above to the sound image position processing unit 116.

By the way, in FIG. 4, when the knob of the selector lever 138 of the operation panel 131-1 is not displayed by the operation by the user 19-1 or the processing of the control unit 111, it is parametric with respect to the conversation voice of the "Iroha group". Indicates that equalizer treatment should not be applied. Therefore, when the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 receives the audio signal to which the group name "Iroha group" is added from the division unit 114, the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 delivers the audio signal to the sound image position processing unit 116 without performing any processing on the audio signal. In addition, when the separation method "sound image position only" is selected in the option button 142, it indicates that the parametric equalizer processing should not be applied to the conversation voice or the monitor voice of any group. .. Therefore, the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 delivers all the audio signals received from the division unit 114 to the sound image position processing unit 116 as they are.

When the operation screen illustrated in FIG. 4 is displayed, it is necessary to adjust the sound image position so that the conversation voice of the "Iroha group" has the sound image position "center". Here, the audio signal received by the sound image position processing unit 116 from the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 is monaural. Therefore, when the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 receives the audio signal to which the group name "Iroha group" is added from the division unit 114, the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 duplicates two sets of audio signals having the same gain from the audio signal, and sets one set. Is the left audio signal, and the other set is the right audio signal. The two sets of voice signals generated by the sound image position processing unit 116 in this way are stereo voice signals indicating the conversation voice of the "Iroha group" in stereo, and the sound image position is at the center. The sound image position processing unit 116 delivers the stereo audio signal generated in this way to the mixer 117.

Further, when the operation screen illustrated in FIG. 4 is displayed, it is necessary to adjust the sound image position so that the conversation voice of the "ABC group" has the sound image position "right". Therefore, when the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 receives the audio signal to which the group name "ABC group" is added from the division unit 114, the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 duplicates two sets of audio signals having the same gain from the audio signal, and sets one set. Is the left audio signal, and the other set is the right audio signal. Subsequently, the sound image position processing unit 116 performs a process of reducing the gain of the left audio signal by, for example, 30%, and a process of amplifying the gain of the right audio signal by 30%. The two sets of audio signals generated by the sound image position processing unit 116 in this way are stereo audio signals indicating the monitor audio of the "ABC group" in stereo, and the audio image position is on the right. The sound image position processing unit 116 delivers the stereo audio signal generated in this way to the mixer 117.

By the way, when the separation method "frequency only" is selected in the option button 142 included in the operation screen of FIG. 4, the sound image position is adjusted for the conversation voice or the monitor voice of any group. Indicates that it should not be. Therefore, the sound image position processing unit 116 only performs processing for converting all the monaural audio signals received from the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 into stereo audio signals, and delivers them to the sound image position processing unit 116 without performing gain adjustment processing.

In the present embodiment, the sound image position processing unit 116 receives a monaural audio signal from the frequency characteristic processing unit 115. However, for example, when the microphone 14 generates a stereo audio signal, the sound image position processing unit 116 Receives a stereo audio signal from the frequency characteristic processing unit 115. In such a case, the sound image position processing unit 116 may receive the stereo audio signal to which the group name Iroha group is added from the division unit 114, and deliver the received stereo audio signal to the mixer 117 as it is. This is because the sound image position of the stereo audio signal received from the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 by the sound image position processing unit 116 is already in the center. Further, when the sound image position processing unit 116 receives the stereo audio signal to which the group name "ABC group" is added from the division unit 114, it is not necessary to convert the monaural audio signal into the stereo audio signal, so that the received stereo audio signal However, the above-mentioned gain adjustment processing may be performed.

As described above, the mixer 117 receives the stereo audio signal of the Iroha group conversation voice and the ABC group monitor voice that have been subjected to frequency characteristic and sound image position adjustment processing from the sound image position processing unit 116. The mixer 117 performs a gain adjustment process on the received stereo audio signals so that the volume becomes the volume indicated by the sliders 137 of the operation panels 131-1 and 2. The mixer 117 mixes the gain-adjusted stereo audio signal for each of the left audio signal and the right audio signal, and outputs the resulting audio signal to the speakers 15-L and R, respectively. Speakers 15-L and R convert the audio signal input from the mixer 117 into audio and pronounce it. As a result, the user 19-1 can listen to the sound of the member of the "Iroha group" at the center sound image position with the bass and treble components cut off. In addition, user 19-1 can listen to the sound of the members of the "ABC group" at the sound image position shifted to the right with the mid-range and high-range components cut off.

Summarizing the results of the above processing by the voice system 1, the remarks of the user 19-1 are transmitted to the members of the "Iroha group", and the remarks of the other members of the "Iroha group" are transmitted to the user 19-1. Therefore, user 19-1 can have a conversation with other members of the "Iroha group". In addition, since the remarks of other members of the "ABC group" are transmitted to the user 19-1, the user 19-1 can know the contents of the conversation in the "ABC group". As mentioned above, user 19-1 will listen to the voices of the conversations taking place in each of the "Iroha group" and "ABC group" at the same time, but those voices have different frequency characteristics and sound image positions for each group. Since it is processed so as to have, the user 19-1 can easily identify which remark is a remark of a member belonging to which group.

By the way, the user 19-1 can join or leave the conversation by pressing the button 135 using the keyboard 12 on the operation screen (see FIG. 4). For example, when the button 135 of the operation panel 131-1 is pressed on the operation screen shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 111 updates the user data so that the "conversation group name" of the user data "K.Imai" becomes blank. I do.

When the user data is updated as described above, the control unit 111 performs processing such as hiding the slider 137 of the operation panel 131-1 and generates update request data including the updated data. The management data transmission unit 1122 transmits the update request data generated by the control unit 111 to the server device 16. When the management data receiving unit 1622 of the server device 16 receives the update request data from the terminal device 11-1, the control unit 161 updates the user DB 1652 according to the received update request data. Further, the control unit 161 transfers update request data to all the terminal devices 11 other than the terminal device 11-1 which is in the online state via the management data transmission unit 1632.

In the terminal device 11 that has received the update request data from the server device 16 by the management data receiving unit 1132, the control unit 111 updates the user DB 1182 according to the received update request data. As a result, the contents of the user DB 1182 and the user DB 1652 are maintained the same in all the terminal devices 11 and the server devices 16 in the online state. When the user DB1182 and the group DB1181 are updated according to the user's operation, the same update process as above is performed, and therefore the description thereof will not be repeated below.

As a result of updating user DB1182 and user DB1652 as described above, the voice of user 19-1 is no longer transmitted to other users 19, and the conversation of "Iroha group" is transmitted to user 19-1. It will never happen. That is, user 19-1 can leave the conversation of "Iroha group".

In addition, when the button 135 is pressed by the user 19-1 while the display of the button 135 on the operation panel 131-1 is "conversation On", the control unit 111 first receives the "participation permission authority" of the group data "Iroha group". Check the "Type", and if the content is "Free participation", update the user data so that the "Conversation group name" of the user data "K.Imai" included in the user DB1182 becomes "Iroha group". ..

On the other hand, when the "participation permission type" of the group data "Iroha group" is other than "free participation allowed", the control unit 111 is a member having the participation permission authority and the terminal of the member whose "online" is "Yes". Generate participation application data to device 11 as the transmission destination. According to the data example shown in Fig. 2, the "participation permission authority type" of the group data "Iroha group" is "leader". "Leader" indicates the leader of a group, and in principle, it is the member registered at the top of the group data. However, if the leader so determined is offline, fetching, or absent, that member cannot act as a leader, so the next member in the group data will act as the leader. To do. If the acting leader is offline, fetching, or leaving, a member of the next rank will act for the leader.

By the way, in this case, since the leader of the "Iroha group" is a member of the user name "K.Imai" and the leader himself applies for participation in the conversation, the control unit 111 does not send the participation application data. Update the user data so that the "conversation group name" of the user data "K.Imai" becomes "Iroha group".

When the participation application data is generated by the control unit 111, the management data transmission unit 1122 transmits the generated participation application data to the server device 16, and the participation application data is sent to the member who has the participation permission authority via the server device 16. Received by the terminal device 11. In the terminal device 11 that has received the participation application data, the control unit 111 confirms the acceptance of the participation permission on the display 13 such as "K.Imai wants to participate in the conversation of the Iroha group. Do you allow it?" Display a prompting message. When the user 19 performs the consent operation in response to the message, the control unit 111 generates the participation consent data, and the management data transmission unit 1122 sends the generated participation consent data to the terminal device 11-1 as the transmission destination. Send to server device 16.

When the "participation permission authority type" is "leader", "any one of the management members", or "any one", the terminal device 11-1 receives the participation consent data from one terminal device 11. I got permission to participate in. If the "participation permission authority type" is "unanimous", the terminal device 11-1 obtains the participation permission when the participation consent data is received from all of the terminal devices 11 designated as the transmission destinations of the participation application data. It means that. When the terminal device 11-1 obtains permission to participate, the terminal device 11-1 updates the user data so that the "conversation group name" of the user data "K.Imai" becomes "Iroha group". As a result, user 19-1 can participate in the "Iroha group" conversation.

Further, in the state shown in FIG. 4, when the user 19-1 presses, for example, the button 135 of the operation panel 131-2, the above-mentioned processing related to the participation application and the participation approval is performed, and when the participation approval is made, the participation approval is performed. The control unit 111 of the terminal device 11-1 updates the user data so that the "conversation group name" of the user data "K.Imai" becomes the "ABC group" and the "monitor group name" becomes blank. As a result, user 19-1 will leave the conversation of the "Iroha group" and join the conversation of the "ABC group" at the same time.

As described above, when the conversation group is changed, the control unit 111 uses the "ABC group" so that the conversation voice of the "ABC group" newly designated as the conversation group can be more easily discriminated by the user 19-1. The parameters stored in the storage unit 118 regarding the volume, frequency characteristics, and sound image position of the sound of the sound are updated. Specifically, the control unit 111 sets, for example, the audio volume parameter of the "ABC group" to "loud", the processing processing parameter by the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 to "none", and the sound image position parameter to "center". To.

When the parameters stored in the storage unit 118 are updated as described above, the frequency characteristic processing unit 115, the sound image position processing unit 116, and the mixer 117 take a predetermined time from the state before the update to the state after the update. The Q value of the parametric equalizer processing, the rate of increase / decrease of the left and right gains, and the rate of increase / decrease of the overall gain are changed so as to gradually change. As a result, the volume of the conversational voice of the "ABC group" gradually increases, its frequency characteristics gradually become flat, and its sound image position gradually moves from the right to the center. After that, when a predetermined time elapses, the voice of the "ABC group" is pronounced loudly in the center with a flat sound quality in which the frequency characteristics are not adjusted. Therefore, the user 19-1 can easily know that the voice is a conversational voice. Further, since the sound image position of the sound of the "ABC group" changes continuously as described above, the user 19-1 can easily capture the sound of the "ABC group".

By the way, a volume, frequency characteristic and sound image position different from the above may be assigned to the voice of the group newly designated as the conversation group. For example, the volume of the voice of the newly formed conversation group may not be changed, but may be changed so that the center frequency is high and the sound image position is center. The choice of those parameters is optional.

If the frequency characteristic or sound image position assigned to the voice of the group newly designated as the conversation group matches the frequency characteristic or sound image position already assigned to the voice of another group, the control unit 111 performs the same. Allocate frequency characteristics or sound image positions that are not assigned to the audio of any group to the audio of other groups such as. In that case, as for the voices of the other groups, the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 and the sound image position so that the frequency characteristics or the sound image position gradually change over a predetermined time, as in the case of the voices of the newly established conversation group. Processing is performed by the processing unit 116. As a result, the user 19-1 can easily capture the voice of a group other than the conversation group whose frequency characteristic or sound image position is changed.

When, for example, the button 136 of the operation panel 131-1 is pressed by the user 19-1, the "conversation group name" of the user data "K.Imai" becomes blank in the control unit 111 of the terminal device 11-1, and the "monitor" is displayed. Update user data so that "Group Name" includes "ABC Group" and "Iroha Group". As a result, the voice of user 19-1 will not be transmitted to other users 19, and the conversations of other members of the "Iroha group" will be processed and then transmitted to user 19-1. .. That is, user 19-1 will be able to monitor the conversation of the "Iroha group".

Further, when the slider 137 of the operation panel 131-1 is operated by the user 19-1, for example, the mixer 117 of the terminal device 11-1 adjusts the gain of the audio signal of the member of the "Iroha group" according to the operation. Do. Further, when the selector lever 138 of the operation panel 131-1 is operated by the user 19-1, for example, the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 of the terminal device 11-1 responds to the operation by the voice signal of the member of the "Iroha group". The center frequency of the parametric equalizer processing for is changed. Further, when the selector lever 139 of the operation panel 131-1 is operated by the user 19-1, for example, the sound image position processing unit 116 of the terminal device 11-1 responds to the operation by the voice signal of the member of the "Iroha group". The left and right gain ratios in the gain adjustment process for the above are changed. Even when the user 19-1 gives an instruction to change the frequency characteristic or sound image position of the conversation voice or monitor voice, the frequency characteristic or sound image position of the voice to be pronounced is the same as when the above-mentioned instruction to change the conversation group is given. Is processed by the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 and the sound image position processing unit 116 so that is gradually changed over a predetermined time.

Further, when the button 140 of the operation panel 131-2 is pressed by the user 19-1, the control unit 111 displays the display window 143 based on the group DB 1181 and the user DB 1182 to indicate the status of the member of the "ABC group". Change to.

Further, when the button 141 of the operation panel 131-1 is pressed by the user 19-1, the control unit 111 updates the group data so that the "lock" of the group data "Iroha group" becomes "Yes". .. As a result of this update being reflected in the group DB1651 of the server device 16 and the group DB1181 of all other terminal devices 11 that are online, in the terminal device 11 used by the user 19 who is a member of the "Iroha group", " When the display of the button 135 of the operation panel 131 corresponding to the "Iroha group" is "conversation On", the button 135 cannot be pressed. That is, members who have already participated in the "Iroha Group" conversation can continue to participate in or leave the conversation, but members who have not participated in the conversation cannot newly participate in the conversation.

Further, when the selection in the option button 144 is changed by the user 19-1, the control unit 111 searches for the group data or the user data in which "K.Imai" is included in the "user name" of the group DB 1181 and the user DB 1182, and searches. The "user status" of the created data (for group data, the data corresponding to "K.Imai" included in the "user status") is updated to be the data indicating the selected user status. Further, when "Importing" is selected by the user 19-1 on the option button 144, the user 19-1 is automatically removed from the conversation of the group designated as the conversation group at that time. That is, the control unit 111 updates the user data so that the "conversation group name" of the user data "K.Imai" is blank. In addition, when "Away" is selected by the user 19-1 on the option button 144, the user 19-1 is automatically removed from the conversation of the group designated as the conversation group at that time, and at that time. The monitor of the group specified as the monitor group in is also stopped. That is, the control unit 111 updates the user data so that both the "conversation group name" and the "monitor group name" of the user data "K.Imai" are blank.

In addition, when button 145 and button 146 are displayed on the operation screen, user 19-1 has "Yes" for "online" and "No" for "in conversation" among the members displayed in the display window 143. In addition, one or more members whose user status is "normal" can be selected, and the selected members can be requested to participate in the conversation. Members whose "online" is "No" in the display window 143 cannot participate in the conversation and cannot be selected. In addition, members whose "in conversation" is "Yes" cannot be selected because they have already participated in the conversation. In addition, a member whose user status is "normal" or "leaving" cannot be selected because the user 19 has previously stated that he / she cannot receive the request to participate in the conversation.

When any of the members displayed in the display window 143 is selected by the user 19-1 and the button 145 is pressed, the control unit 111 uses the user name of the selected member as a search key to input user data from the user DB 1182. Search and generate participation request data with the terminal device 11 specified by the "terminal ID" of the searched user data as the transmission destination. At that time, if the check box 147 is checked, the control unit 111 includes the data indicating forced participation in the participation request data. The participation request data thus generated is transmitted from the management data transmission unit 1122 to the terminal device 11 of the user 19 selected by the user 19-1 via the server device 16.

When the participation request data includes data indicating forced participation, the control unit 111 of the terminal device 11 that has received the participation request data has the "conversation group name" of the user data corresponding to the own machine of the user DB1182 being "Iroha group". The user data is updated so as to become. As a result, the user 19 requested to participate by the user 19-1 will participate in the conversation of the "Iroha group".

On the other hand, if the participation request data does not include data indicating forced participation, the control unit 111 of the terminal device 11 that has received the participation request data displays, for example, "A request to participate in the conversation of the Iroha group has come. Display a message prompting you to confirm your consent to participate, such as "Do you want to participate?" The control unit 111 updates the above-mentioned user data only when the user 19 performs the consent operation in response to the message. As a result, the user 19 requested to participate by the user 19-1 will participate in the conversation of the "Iroha group". If the user 19 who has been requested to participate performs an operation of refusing participation or does not perform an operation of consent within a predetermined time, the user data is not updated and the user 19 who has been requested to participate by user 19-1. Does not participate in the "Iroha Group" conversation.

In addition, the user 19-1 presses the button 146 to set "Online" to "Yes", "Conversation" to "No", and the user status to "Normal" among the members displayed in the display window 143. It is possible to request all members who have become to participate in the conversation. At that time, the processing performed in the voice system 1 is the same as the processing when the button 145 is pressed, but the user 19-1 needs to select all the members who can request participation in the conversation one by one. It is convenient because there is no such thing.

As described above, according to the voice system 1, the user can participate in the conversation of the group to which he / she belongs and monitor the conversation taking place in the other group to which he / she belongs. At that time, the voice of the conversation in each group is processed and pronounced so as to have different frequency characteristics for each group, or processed and pronounced so as to have a different sound image position for each group, or those. As a result of both processing and pronunciation, the user can easily identify which statement belongs to which group. In addition, the user can easily participate in the conversation being monitored. As a result, it is expected that more free conversation opportunities will be created among users.

By the way, in the above description, the processing of the audio signal is performed by the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 and the sound image position processing unit 116 provided in each terminal device 11, but the division unit 114 and the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 And the sound image position processing unit 116 is provided in the server device 16, and the server device 16 performs processing processing for each voice signal so that the listener can separate the voice for each group, and then transmits the sound image to each of the terminal devices 11. It may be. Further, although the division unit 114 is provided in the server device 16, the frequency characteristic processing unit 115 and the sound image position processing unit 116 are provided in the terminal device 11, and the audio signal is divided into audio groups corresponding to each group in the server device 16. Later, those audio signals may be transmitted to the terminal device 11.

Further, in the above description, the division of the audio signal by the division unit 114 is performed based on the terminal ID of the source terminal device 11, but for example, the attribute data of the source terminal device 11 is added to the audio signal. Then, in the terminal device 11 that has received the audio signal, the audio signal may be classified based on the added attribute data.

Further, in the above description, the data between the terminal devices 11 is assumed to be performed via the server device 16, but each of the terminal devices 11 has a selection unit 164, and the selection unit 164 of the terminal device 11 is the group DB 1181. And the terminal device 11 to which the voice signal of the user of the own machine should be transmitted may be selected based on the user DB1182. In that case, the terminal device 11 can directly transmit the voice signal and the management data to the other terminal device 11 without going through the server device 16, and the server device 16 becomes unnecessary.

Further, in the above description, the notification from the terminal device 11 to the user 19 is based on the display on the display 13, but the notification may be performed by sound.

Further, the terminal device 11 and the server device 16 may be realized by causing a computer to perform processing according to an application program, or may be realized by dedicated hardware.

<figref num="1">It is a block diagram which showed the whole structure of the voice system 1 which concerns on embodiment of this invention.</figref><figref num="2">It is a figure which showed the structure of the group DB which concerns on embodiment of this invention.</figref><figref num="3">It is a figure which showed the structure of the user DB which concerns on embodiment of this invention.</figref><figref num="4">It is a figure which showed the operation screen which concerns on embodiment of this invention.</figref>

Code description

1 ... Voice system, 10 ... Network, 11 ... Terminal device, 12 ... Keyboard, 13 ... Display, 14 ... Microphone, 15 ... Speaker, 16 ... Server device , 111/161 ... control unit, 112/163 ... transmitter unit, 113/162 ... receiver unit, 114 ... division unit, 115 ... frequency characteristic processing unit, 116 ... sound image position Processing unit, 117 ... mixer, 118 165 ... storage unit, 164 ... selection unit, 1121 1631 ... voice signal transmission unit, 1122 1632 ... management data transmission unit, 1131 1621 ... Voice signal receiver, 1132/1622 ... Management data receiver, 1181/1651 ... Group DB, 1182/1652 ... User DB.