Multi-party communication system, terminal device, multi-party communication method, program and recording medium

Abstract

The present invention provides a multi-party communication system in which the speaking party can be identified aurally and the speech contents can be accurately transmitted to the party at the receiving terminal. A multi-party communication server and a plurality of terminal devices with a communication function make up the multi-party communication system. Each terminal device with the communication function includes a speech right management unit, a speaking party name output unit and a buffer unit. The speaking party name output unit outputs the voice data of the speaking party identification information such as the name of the speaking party. The buffer unit accumulates the speech voice of the user as voice data. The speech right management unit controls the buffer unit to produce an output after the speaking party output unit. The speech right management unit issues a request to cancel the right to speak after completion of the output of the speech voice data.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a multi-party communication system;

FIG. 2 is a function block diagram showing the configuration of a terminal device;

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the terminal device;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of the speaking party name output unit of the terminal device; and

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of the speaking party name output unit of the terminal device.

Claims

1. A multi-party communication system comprising: a plurality of terminal devices;a multi-party communication server that controls a speech right acquisition request from a plurality of terminal devices; andwherein the terminal devices each includean identification information output section that outputs identification information of a speaking party as voice data,a speech content accumulation section that accumulates contents of talk as data converted from voice, anda speech right management section that makes a request to acquire a right to speak and a request to cancel the right to speak, andwherein the speech right management section controls timing of: output from the identification information output section; accumulation by the speech content accumulation section; and the request to cancel the right to speak.

2. The multi-party communication system according to claim 1, wherein the speech right management section performs a control operation in such a manner that after a permission to obtain the right to speak is given from the multi-party communication server, the identification information output section outputs the identification information and the speech content accumulation section accumulates speech contents, while after completing the output by the identification information output section, the speech content accumulation section outputs the accumulated speech contents following the identification information output.

3. The multi-party communication system according to claim 1, wherein the speech right management section, after completion of output by the speech content accumulation section, requests the multi-party communication server to cancel the right to speak acquired.

4. The multi-party communication system according to claim 1, wherein the terminal devices each include voice data synthesizing section that synthesizes the voice data of the identification information output by the identification information output section with the voice data of the speech contents accumulated by the speech content accumulation section.

5. A terminal device communicating with other terminal devices and obtaining a right to speak from a multi-party communication server, comprising: an identification information output section that outputs identification information of a speaking party as voice data;a speech content accumulation section that accumulates contents of talk as data converted from voice; anda speech right management section that makes a request to acquire the right to speak and a request to cancel the acquired right to speak;wherein the speech right management section controls timing of: output from the identification information output section; accumulation by the speech content accumulation section; and a request to cancel the right to speak.

6. The terminal device according to claim 5, wherein the speech right management section performs a control operation in such a manner that after a permission to acquire the right to speak is granted from the multi-party communication server, the identification information output section outputs the identification information and the speech content accumulation section accumulates the speech contents, while after completing output by the identification information output section, the speech content accumulation section outputs the accumulated speech contents following the identification information output.

7. The terminal device according to claim 5, wherein the speech right management section, after completion of output by the speech content accumulation section, requests the multi-party communication server to cancel the right to speak acquired.

8. The terminal device according to claim 5, wherein the terminal devices each include voice data synthesizing section that synthesizes the voice data of the identification information output by the identification information output section with the voice data of the speech contents accumulated by the speech content accumulation section.

9. A multi-party communication method for a multi-party communication system including a multi-party communication server for controlling a speech right acquisition request from a terminal device and a plurality of the terminal devices for carrying out the multi-party communication with a permission to acquire a right to speak from the multi-party communication server, the method comprising: an identification information output step of outputting the identification information on a speaking party as voice data;a speech content accumulation step of accumulating contents of talk as data converted from voice; anda speech right management step of requesting acquisition of the right to speak, and cancellation of the right to speak;wherein the speech right management step controls timing of: output of the identification information output step; accumulation in the speech content accumulation step; and the speech right cancel request.

10. The multi-party communication method according to claim 9, wherein the control operation is performed in the speech right management step in such a manner that after a permission to acquire the right to speak is granted from the multi-party communication server, the identification information is output in the identification information output step and the contents of talk are accumulated in the speech content accumulation step, while after completing output in the identification information output step, the contents are output in the speech content accumulation step following the identification information output.

11. The multi-party communication method according to claim 9, wherein after completion of the output in the speech content accumulation step, the multi-party communication server is requested to cancel the right to speak in the speech right management step.

12. The multi-party communication method according to claim 9, further comprising a voice data synthesizing step of synthesizing the voice data of the identification information output by the identification information output step with the voice data of the contents accumulated in the speech content accumulation step.

13. A computer program causing terminal devices to perform the multi-party communication method described in claim 9.

14. A recording medium recording the computer program described in claim 13.

15. A computer program causing terminal devices to perform the multi-party communication method described in claim 10.

16. A computer program causing terminal devices to perform the multi-party communication method described in claim 11.

17. A computer program causing terminal devices to perform the multi-party communication method described in claim 12.