MULTI-LOCATION COMMUNICATION CONFERENCE SYSTEM

• Main Author: IRIE KAZUNARI
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 11.05.2001
• Edition: 7
• Subjects: ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION; TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION; TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHICCOMMUNICATION

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a multi-location communication conference system which informs a person who participates in a multi-location communication conference in the middle of the conference of situations up to the participation time to enable the person to smoothly participate in the conference in the middle of the conference. SOLUTION: Picture and voice signals are composited by a signal compositing part 2-51, and users A, B, and C communicate with one another from the start of the conference. The signal compositing part 2-51 not only sends the composited signal to encoding parts 2-21 to 2-24 but also composites picture and voice signals of users A, B, and C to store them in a recording part 2-61. When a user D participates in the conference in the middle of the conference, the composited signal stored in the recording part 2-61 is converted to a fast forward signal by a fast forward processing part 2-71, is selected by a switching part 2-84 and is sent to the user D through the encoding part 2-24. When the fast forward signal transmitted to the user D catches up on the present time, the switching part 2-84 switches the signal to a real-time signal from the signal compositing part 2-51 to transmit it to the user D and then allows the user D to participate in the conference.