Patent Publication Number: US-2007097964-A1

Title: Communication device and communication system

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
      This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-318505, filed Nov. 1, 2005, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.  
     BACKGROUND  
      1. Field  
      One embodiment of the invention relates to a communication device and a communication system performing voice/video communications via an Internet protocol (IP) network.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      A personal computer (PC)/system performing the voice/video communications on an IP has prevailed and a headset, a USB handset, a Bluetooth (registered trademark) headset, etc., to be a user interface of voice communications have been enriched. A proposal to “switch a hands-free telephone conversation to/from a handset telephone conversation in use of an information terminal” is disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication 2004-320457. However, since these various sound devices defer in characteristics of audio and device drivers, if the sound device used by a user is switched, it is needed for achieving optimum voice communication setting to optimally change a voice parameter [voice volume, coder/decoder (hereinafter referred to as codec), voice frame length, the number of packets retaining in device driver, etc.]. As to a camera for video communications, along with enrichment of a USB camera, an IEEE 1394 camera, etc., connecting a plurality of cameras is a possible approach; however each camera differs in characteristic/performance, and if the user switches the camera to be used, it is needed for achieving optimum video communication setting to optimally change a video parameter (image size, frame rate, codec, etc.). 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS  
      A general architecture that implements the various feature of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. The drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate embodiments of the invention and not to limit the scope of the invention.  
       FIG. 1  is an exemplary view showing a schematic configuration of a business telephone system regarding an embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 2  is an exemplary block diagram showing a configuration of video telephone software (communication software) on a computer;  
       FIG. 3  is an exemplary view showing a voice parameter for each voice device;  
       FIG. 4  is an exemplary view showing a video parameter for each camera device;  
       FIG. 5  is an exemplary view showing a list of connection allowable devices;  
       FIG. 6  is an exemplary block diagram showing a configuration for performing device specifying, device authentication, and parameter storing/reading/updating on a computer;  
       FIG. 7  is an exemplary view showing configurations of a computer and a server for performing device specifying, device authentication, and parameter storing/reading/updating via a network; and  
       FIG. 8  is an exemplary flowchart showing a procedure of processing for performing device specifying, device authentication, and parameter storing/reading/updating. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
      Various embodiments according to the invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. In general, according to one embodiment of the invention, a communication apparatus which executes voice/video communications via an Internet protocol network, comprises a body which being to be connected to a plurality of sound devices/camera devices, transmission/reception volume setting storage which stores reception volume and transmission volume, communication software executed by the body, specifying section which specifies the connected sound devices/camera devices by device names and addresses, voice parameter storage which stores voice parameters corresponding to the plurality of the sound devices, the voice parameters having reception volume, transmission volume, and reception setting increased/decreased by the communication software, and transmission setting increased/decreased by the communication software, video parameter storage which stores video parameters corresponding to the plurality of the camera devices, reading out section which reads out voice parameters/video parameters when the voice parameter/video parameter corresponding to the specified sound devices/camera devices are stored in the voice parameter storage/the video parameter storage, saving section which saves the voice parameters/video parameters decided in response to executions of voice/video communications in the voice parameter storage/the video parameter storage when the voice parameters/video parameters corresponding to the specified sound devices/camera devices are not stored in the voice parameter storage/the video parameter storage, and adjusting section which adjusts reception setting increased/decreased by the communication software and transmission setting increased/decreased by the communication software when the read out reception volume setting and the transmission volume setting are different from the reception volume setting and the transmission volume setting stored in the transmission/reception volume setting section.  
      Explanations will be made by taking an example which follows. In the example, an IP communication device is configured by operating IP communication software (video telephone software) on a computer. A server  10 , as shown in  FIG. 1 , can house a public telephone network  11  and extension telephones  12 A and  12 B with a fixed telephone set  11 A connected thereto, and also can connect to an Internet protocol network (hereinafter referred to as the Internet)  13 , connect to a telephone (video telephone)  13 A on the Internet  13 , and connect to computers  14 A and  14 B, and an extension IP telephone (video telephone)  14 C with IP communication software on a LAN  14  through an IP operated thereon.  
      A configuration of video telephone software on a PC, which is an example of an embodiment of the present invention, will be shown in  FIG. 2 . Video telephone software  100  for a business telephone system consists of call control/transmission control  111 , voice input control  112 , voice output control  113 , camera input control  114 , video drawing control  115  and graphic user interface (GUI) control  116 .  
      The call control/transmission control  111  conducts connection control to video telephone software on an opponent party computer via a server  10  connected to a network through a network card  131 . A network driver  121  is a driver interfacing between the call control/transmission control  111  and the network card  131 .  
      The call control/transmission control  111  notifies codec used by itself and a voice frame length (length of voice packet. 20 msec means a transmission of a pack of voice becoming time length of 20 msec in reproducing as a packet) to an opponent party.  
      Regarding to a video, the call control/transmission control  111  notifies also an image size and a frame rate (the number of frames per one second) to the opponent party.  
      When a call is connected, the call control/transmission control  111  starts voice input control and voice output control while taking the number of packets retaining in a sound volume and a device driver into account [because sound break in reproduction is generated due to running out of packets in the device driver, it is needed to retain packets (pockets which have been transferred to device driver, but have not been reproduced by device driver deferred to as remaining packets) in the device driver; however, the number of retaining packets becomes too large results in a delay]. With taking the image size and the frame rate into account, the call control/transmission control  111  conducts camera input control and video drawing control. The GUI control  116  controls keys of a software phone, blinking an LED, character display on a LCD, etc.  
      On a lower stage of the voice input control  112  and the voice output control  113 , there are drivers such as a sound card driver  122 , a USB sound driver  123 , a Bluetooth driver, a headset profile (profile necessary to house Bluetooth headset)  124 .  
      A sound card  132 , a USB port  133 , and a Bluetooth  134  are connected to the computer. A microphone  141  and a loud-speaker  142  are connected to the sound card  132 . A Bluetooth headset  143  is connected to the Bluetooth  134 .  
      On a lower state of the camera input control  114 , a USB camera driver  125 , and an IEEE 1394 camera driver  126  is provided. The USB camera driver  125  conducts input control of a USB camera  144  connected to a USB port  135 . An IEEE 1394 camera driver  126  conducts input control of an IEEE 1394 camera  145  connected to the IEEE 1394 port  136 .  
       FIG. 3  shows voice parameters for each sound device.  FIG. 3  shows each parameter that is a sound volume, a codec, a frame length and the number of packets to be retained in a device driver for each device name and device address of the sound device (such unique addresses are assigned to Bluetooth).  
      As for the voice volume, a value of a voice volume of a computer itself and a value increasing/decreasing only a voice volume relating to the IP communication by the video telephone software on the computer are set, and a reception volume and a transmission volume are set. That is, four items of a reception/transmission of a PC itself and a reception/transmission to be increased/decreased through the video telephone software are prepared. The reception/transmission of the PC itself is indicated by a ratio when a maximum voice volume is set to one, and the reception/transmission to be increased/decreased through the video telephone software are indicated in decibels (dBs) by putting “+” for addition and “−” for subtraction, respectively.  
      As described above, the reason to distinguish the voice volume of the computer itself from the value possible to be increased/decreased by means of the video telephone software is that the reception volume (loud-speaker volume)/transmission volume (microphone volume) of the computer have possibilities to be varied by the setting of the computer, so that if current values of those volumes are different from read out values, the value to be increased/decreased is adjusted though the video telephone software to make the final voice volumes level same as stored values.  
       FIG. 4  shows the video parameters for each camera device. Each of the parameters that are the picture size, frame rate (the number of frames per one second) codecs are indicated for each device name of the camera device.  
       FIG. 5  shows the list of the devices allowed to be connected (hereinafter referred to as connection allowable device list). The list stores device names of the sound devices/camera devices to be allowed their connections and the device drivers [driver corresponding to profile in the case of device defied profile (profile to which communication function to be provided is defined)]. When the sound device/camera devices are connected, the communication device authenticates on the basis of the connection allowable device list and installs the device drivers only when the devices are authenticated.  
       FIG. 6  shows a configuration of a computer to perform locally specifying devices, authenticating devices, and storing/reading/updating parameters, and  FIG. 7  shows a configuration of a configuration on a PC and a configuration on a server to perform specifying the devices, authenticating the devices, and storing/reading/updating the parameters.  
      Hereinafter, operations of an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to  FIG. 6  while referring to the flowchart in  FIG. 8 .  
      When the sound device/camera devices are connected to the computer, the video telephone software acquires the device addresses of the sound devices/camera devices through a device address acquiring unit  201 . And/or the video telephone software obtains the device names by means of a device name acquiring unit  202  (step ST 11 ). If a connection allowable device list  204  in  FIG. 5  is not stored, a connection allowable device authentication unit  203  allows connections of all the devices. If the device list  204  is stored, the device authentication unit  203  determines whether the obtained device addresses/device names are present in the device list  204  (step ST 12 ). If they are present in the device list  204  (Yes, in Step ST 12 ), the device authentication unit  203  authenticates them (step ST 13 ). Next, the device authentication unit  203  determines whether or not the corresponding driver has been installed in a computer  200  (step ST 14 ). If the driver has not been installed (No, in step ST 14 ), the device authentication unit  203  installs the driver in the computer  200  (step ST 15 ).  
      Next to this, the device authentication unit  203  determines whether voice parameters/video parameters corresponding to the connected device addresses/device names are stored in a voice parameter  206  shown in  FIG. 3  and a video parameter  208  shown in  FIG. 4  (step ST 16 ).  
      If the voice parameters/video parameters corresponding to the device addresses/device names are stored (Yes, in step ST 16 ), a voice parameter reading out unit  205 /video parameter reading out unit  207  notifies voice/video codecs, voice frame lengths, image sizes and video frame rates used by itself to the call control/transmission control unit  111  (step ST 17 ). When performing connection control with the opponent party, the call control/transmission control  111  notifies the voice/video parameters  206 ,  208 .  
      As to the voice volume among the voice parameter  206 , the four items of reception/transmission of the PC itself, and reception/transmission increasing/decreasing through the video telephone software are set as shown in  FIG. 3 . For instance, if the device name of a sound device to be used is “BBB USB Audio” and the current value of a reception voice volume (loud-speaker volume) of the computer itself is “0.9”, and the current value of a transmission voice volume (microphone voice volume) is “1.0”, these values are different form the read out values of the reception volume and the transmission volume of the computer itself (“0.7”, and “0.8” each) (this occurs when user changes the volume setting of the computer for the purpose having no relation to the video telephone software). In this case, although the read out values of the values to be increased/decreased by the video telephone software in both reception/transmission have been +6 dB, the communication system changes each of these values into, for instance, +3 dB by the increased amounts of the reception/transmission volumes of the PC itself so as to make the final volumes level equal to the stored values (step ST 18 ). Wherein, the volume parameters of the four items can be stored by updating the values in  FIG. 3 .  
      After the call is connected, the communication system transfers the voice volume and the number of packets retaining in the device driver as initial values to the voice input control  112  and the voice output control  113 , and transfers the picture sizes and the frame rates to the camera input control  114  as initial values. With using these values as the initial values, the communication system can reproduce optimum voice communication setting/video communication setting for each sound device/camera device.  
      In the processing of the step ST 12 , if the connection allowable device list  204  is not present, if the voice parameter  206  and the video parameter  208  are not stored, or if the voice parameter/video parameter corresponding to the device addresses/device names are not stored (No, in step ST 16 ), a voice parameter reading out unit  205 /a video reading out unit  207  notify the specified values of the voice/video parameters (constant regardless of device) as the initial values to the call control/transmission control  111  (step ST 19 ).  
      In the voice/video communications after this procedure, the user changes these parameters by using a voice parameter setting unit  209 /video parameter setting unit  211  (step ST 20 ). The changed parameters update the voice parameter  206  and the video parameter  208  by means of a voice parameter setting unit  210 /video parameter updating unit  212  (step ST 21 ). And when the user does not perform voice/video communication, etc., if the user changes the connection allowable device list  204  by using a connection allowable device list setting unit  213 , a connection allowable device list updating unit  214  updates the connection allowable device list  204 .  
      When reproducing the optimum voice communication setting/video communication setting for each sound device/camera device like the manner given above, the communication system can make voice communications among a plurality of sound devices connected to one set of the IP communication device and one or more opponent party communication devices by simultaneously inputting/outputting voices to the connected plurality of sound devices after starting voice communications. And further, the communication system can also make video communications among a plurality of cameras connected to this communication device and to a display of one set of the IP communication device and one or more opponent party communication devices by simultaneously performing camera inputs from the connected plurality of camera devices to display video from one or more opponent parties.  
      Next, an example of an establishment system in the case in which the video telephone software on the PC with the devices connected thereto does not perform “specifying connected device”, “storing/reading/updating voice parameter/video parameter” and “authenticating device”, but the server on the communication system including this PC performs aforementioned communication system.  
      When the sound devices/camera devices are connected to a computer  300 , the video telephone software on the PC obtains the device addresses/device names by means of a device address acquiring unit  301 /device name acquiring unit  302  on the computer side to notify them to a server  400  by using a device address/device name notifying unit  303  therefor. The sever  400  receives them by using a device address receiving unit  401 /device name receiving unit  402  from the PC. When the connection allowable device list  404  in  FIG. 5  is stored in the server  400  (if connection allowable device list  404  show in  FIG. 5  is not stored, connections of all devices are allowable), a connection allowable device authentication unit  403  checks whether the devices are present in the connection allowable device list  404  or not through the device addresses/device names. If the devices are present in the connection allowable device list  404 , the connection allowable device authentication unit  403  authenticates the connections of the devices. The device authentication unit  403  inquires to the computer  300  if the relevant device drivers are installed, and if they are not installed, it instructs the computer  300  to install the device drivers.  
      Sequentially, when the voice parameters  406  shown in  FIG. 3  and the video parameter  408  shown in  FIG. 4  are stored in the server  400 , and the voice parameters/video parameters corresponding to the device addresses/device names are stored therein, the server  400  notifies the voice parameters and video parameters to the computer  200  by using a voice parameter notifying unit  409 /video parameter notifying unit  410  for the PC. The computer  200  receives the voice parameters and video parameters from the server  400  by using the voice parameter receiving unit  304 /video receiving unit  305  from the server  400  to transfer the voice/video codecs, voice frame lengths, image sizes and video frame rates used from itself to the call control/transmission control  111 . These parameters are notified to the opponent party in performing the connection control with the opponent party. As to the voice volume among the voice parameters, as shown in  FIG. 3 , the communication system prepares four items that are the reception/transmission of the computer itself and the reception/transmission increased/decreased through the video telephone software. For instance, if the device name of the sound device to be used is BBB USB Audio, and if the current value of the reception volume (loud-speaker volume) of the PC itself is “0.9” and the current value of the transmission volume (microphone volume) of the PC itself is “1.0”, these values are different from the read out values (“0.7” and “0.8” each) of the reception volume and transmission volume of the PC itself (this situation is generated when the user changes the volume setting of the PC for the purpose not relating to the video telephone software after storing these values). In such a case, although the read out values of the values increasing/decreasing by the video telephone software are +6 dB for both the reception/transmission, the system changes both the values to, for instance, +3 dB by the increased volumes of the reception/transmission volume of the PC itself to make the final volume levels equal to the stored values (wherein the changed voice parameters of the four items are stored by updating the list shown in  FIG. 2 ). When the call is connected, the communication system transfers the voice volume and the number of packets retaining in the device driver to the voice input control  112  and voice output control  113  as the initial values and transfers the image size and the frame rates to the camera input control  114  as initial values. With using these values as the initial values, the communication system can reproduce optimum voice communication setting/video communication setting for each sound device/camera device.  
      If the voice parameter  406 /video parameter  408  are not stored in the server  400 , or if the voice parameter  406 /video parameter  408  corresponding to the device address/device name are not stored therein, the server  400  notifies the specified values (constant regardless of device) of the voice parameter/video parameter to the computer  300  by using the voice parameter notifying unit  409 /video parameter notifying unit  410  for the PC. The computer  300  receives them from the server  400  by using the voice parameter receiving unit  304 /video parameter receiving unit  305  to transfer the specified values (constant regardless of device) of the voice parameter/video parameter to the call control/transmission control  111 , as the initial values.  
      In the voice/video communications after this, when the user changes the parameters by means of the voice parameter setting unit  306 /video parameter setting unit  308 , the communication system notifies the changed parameters to the server  400  by using a voice parameter notifying unit  307 /video parameter notifying unit  309  for the server  400 . The server  400  receives new voice parameters/video parameters by use of a voice parameter receiving unit  411 /a video parameter receiving unit  413 . A voice parameter updating unit  412 /a video parameter updating unit  414  updates the voice parameter  406  and the video parameter  408 . When the user does not perform video/video communication, if the user changes the connection allowable device list  404  by using the connection allowable device list setting unit  311 , the communication system notifies the fact to the server  400  by using the connection allowable device list notifying unit  312  for the server  400 . The server  400  receives the connection allowable device list  404  changed by a connection allowable device list updating unit  415 . A connection allowable device list updating unit  416  updates the connecting allowable device list  404 .  
      As mentioned above, when the communication system does not perform “specifying connected device”, “storing/reading/updating voice parameter/video parameter” and “authenticating device” through the video telephone software on the PC with the device connected thereto, but even when the server of the communication system including the PC performs the foregoing processing, the communication system reproduces the optimum voice communication setting/video communication setting for each sound device/camera device. And further, simultaneously inputs/outputs voices to the connected plurality of sound devices after starting the voice communications, then, the communication system performs the voice communications among the polarity of sound devices connected to the one set of the IP communication device and one or more opponent party communication devices. Further, the communication system can perform video communications among the plurality of cameras connected to the IP communication device the display of the one set of the IP communication device and this communication device and one or more opponent parties by simultaneously processing the camera inputs from the connected plurality of camera devices to display the video s from one or more opponent parties after starting the video communications.  
      While certain embodiments of the inventions have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel methods and systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the methods and systems described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.