Patent ID: 9031855
Filing Date: 2015-05-12
Classification: G06Q,H04L,H04M,H04N

Abstract:
1. A teleconference support system used for establishing a teleconference among a plurality of conference rooms, comprising: a plurality of teleconference apparatuses, each of which is disposed in each of the conference rooms and provided with an image capture device configured to take visual information in each of the conference room, a sound capture device configured to take audio and sound information in each of the conference room, a display, and an audio output; and a connection server configured to selectively connect two or more of the teleconference apparatuses so that visual information, taken by the image capture device, and audio information, taken by the sound capture device, provided for a first teleconference apparatus in a first teleconference room, are respectively output to the display and the audio output provided for a second teleconference apparatus disposed in a second teleconference room, each of the teleconference apparatus including a person identification information acquisition unit implemented by first processing circuitry and configured to obtain person identification information identifying each individual present in each of the conference rooms, the connection server including: a conference venue information storage configured to store conference information including a teleconference participant condition for each of the plurality of conference rooms included in the teleconference and expected person identification information of expected participants assigned to each conference room for the teleconference to be held; a conference start judgment unit implemented by second processing circuitry and configured to determine whether the teleconference satisfies a conference start condition based on the participant condition and a comparison of the expected person identification information included in the conference information and the person identification information obtained by the person identification information acquisition unit from each conference room, wherein the conference start judgment unit is further configured to determine that the conference start condition has been satisfied in response to the participant condition for each of the plurality of conference rooms being satisfied, and at a conference start time, to determine whether another conference room satisfies the participant condition in place of a conference room in the teleconference that does not satisfy conditions for participation in the teleconference; and a teleconference apparatus connection unit implemented by the second processing circuitry and configured to connect teleconference apparatuses used for the teleconference when the teleconference is determined to satisfy the conference start condition, wherein the participant condition for each of the plurality of conference rooms includes one of 1) a condition which is satisfied when each person in the expected person identification information included in the conference information is matched to each person in the person identification information obtained by the person identification information acquisition unit, 2) a condition which is satisfied when at least one person in the expected person identification information included in the conference information is matched to persons in the person identification information obtained by the person identification information acquisition unit, and 3) a condition which is satisfied when an expected number of, or a proportion of the expect number of, persons in the expected person identification information included in the conference information is matched to persons in the person identification information obtained by the person identification information acquisition unit, and wherein the participant condition is individually set for each of the plurality of conference rooms.