Information processing system, information processing device, information processing method, and program

Abstract

To provide an information processing system, an information processing device, an information processing method and a program for reducing an influence due to transmission delay of voice information.SOLUTION: In a facility 1 in an airport, an air traffic control system 1 includes a remote information transmission device having a packet data acquisition part for receiving a remote side 1PPS signal Pr and a remote side voice information Vr through an IP line 6, and an airport information transmission device including a voice information acquisition part for receiving airport side voice information Va through a 4W analog private line 7 being a 4-wire telephone line, and a delay adjustment part for controlling voice outputs so as to output a first voice corresponding to the remote side voice information Vr and a second voice corresponding to the airport side voice information Va delayed according to the remote side 1PPS signal Pr.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing system, an information processing device, an information processing method, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, in air traffic control, air traffic controllers and aircraft communicate by air radio through remote wireless communication devices. In this regard, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses an air traffic control system (remote control system) for remotely and appropriately controlling air traffic.

[0003] Air traffic controllers use radio devices with good sensitivity and low latency among those installed in various locations to control air traffic. To do this, controllers must select the appropriate radio device by listening to and comparing the voices corresponding to the voice information output from each silent device. Conventionally, communication between the voice output terminals used by air traffic controllers and the radio devices installed in various locations has been carried out via analog transmission lines.

[0004] On the other hand, digital transmission paths such as IP lines are also being used in air traffic control systems. For example, Non-Patent Document 1 discloses an air traffic control system using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] JP 2020-198024 A [Non-Patent Document 1] Kimio Nishigai, Takayuki Horikoshi, New Air Traffic Control Console System, OKI Technical Review, Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd., December 18, 2015, Vol. 82, No. 2, p. 24-27 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] Here, among the analog transmission paths used for transmitting the above-mentioned voice information, consideration is being given to switching the analog transmission path that transmits the voice information sent from a wireless device installed in a remote location to a digital transmission path.

[0007] The transmission of voice information through a digital transmission path may be delayed compared to the transmission of voice information through an analog transmission path, and therefore, when an air traffic controller listens to and compares the voice corresponding to the voice information transmitted through the analog transmission path and the voice corresponding to the voice information transmitted through the digital transmission path at the same time, it may be difficult for the air traffic controller to hear the voices.

[0008] Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved technology that can reduce the effects of transmission delays of audio information. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] In order to solve the above problem, according to one aspect of the present invention, an information processing system is provided, comprising: a first receiving unit that receives time information and first audio information through a digital transmission path; a second receiving unit that receives second audio information through an analog transmission path; and an output control unit that controls audio output so as to output a first audio corresponding to the first audio information and a second audio corresponding to the second audio information delayed according to the time information.

[0010] The information processing system may further include a delay information acquisition unit that acquires delay time information representing a delay time from a reference time of the time represented by the time information, and the output control unit may control the output of the audio to delay and output the second audio according to the delay time represented by the delay time information acquired by the delay information acquisition unit.

[0011] The information processing system may further include a buffer unit that accumulates the time information and the first audio information received by the first receiving unit and then outputs the information, and the delay information acquisition unit may acquire the delay time information using the time information output by the buffer unit.

[0012] The information processing system may further include a memory unit which is a circular buffer that stores the second audio information received by the second receiving unit in a memory area indicated by a pointer whose reference is circular, and the output control unit may delay the second audio by outputting, from among the multiple pieces of second audio information stored in the memory unit, second audio information which is stored in a past memory area a number of pieces corresponding to the delay time, counting from the current memory area indicated by the pointer.

[0013] The first audio information and the second audio information may be audio information representing the same sound, based on a signal wirelessly transmitted by the same aircraft.

[0014] The time indicated by the time information may be a time included in a signal received from a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) satellite.

[0015] The time indicated by the time information and the reference time may be indicated by a 1PPS (Pulse Per Second) signal based on a signal received from the GNSS satellite.

[0016] The output control unit may delay the second audio information according to the time information, based on an operation by a user of an output destination of the audio.

[0017] The information processing system may further include a plurality of audio output units that output the audio to a user to which the audio is to be output, and the audio output units may output each of the first audio and the second audio to different audio output units.

[0018] The audio output unit may output only the audio operated by the user out of the audio corresponding to the first audio information or the audio corresponding to the second audio information, based on an operation by the user.

[0019] In addition, according to another aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above problem, there is provided an information processing device comprising: a first receiving unit that receives time information and first audio information through a digital transmission path; a second receiving unit that receives second audio information through an analog transmission path; and an output control unit that controls audio output so as to output a first audio corresponding to the first audio information and a second audio corresponding to the second audio information delayed according to the time information.

[0020] In addition, according to another aspect of the present invention to solve the above problem, there is provided an information processing method executed by a computer, the method including: receiving time information and first audio information through a digital transmission path; receiving second audio information through an analog transmission path; and controlling audio output to output a first audio corresponding to the first audio information and a second audio corresponding to the second audio information delayed according to the time information.

[0021] In addition, according to another aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a program is provided that causes a computer to function as a first receiving unit that receives time information and first audio information through a digital transmission path, a second receiving unit that receives second audio information through an analog transmission path, and an output control unit that controls audio output so as to output a first audio corresponding to the first audio information and a second audio corresponding to the second audio information delayed according to the time information. Effect of the Invention

[0022] As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the influence of transmission delays of audio information. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0023] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a conventional air traffic control system. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a comparative example of an air traffic control system according to the present invention. [Diagram 3] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an air traffic control system 11 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] 2 is a block diagram for explaining an example of a functional configuration of a remote side wireless transmission device 42 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. [Diagram 5] 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of UDP packet data including remote side audio information Vr and a remote side 1PPS signal Pr. FIG. [Figure 6] 2 is a block diagram for explaining an example of a functional configuration of a remote information transmission device 12 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining an example of a functional configuration of an airport information transmission device 13 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8] 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of the structure of a memory 134. FIG. [Figure 9] 2 is a block diagram for explaining an example of a functional configuration of a control console 15 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. [Figure 10] 2 is a sequence diagram showing an example of an operation of the air traffic control system 11 according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 11] This figure shows the hardware configuration of an information processing device 900 as an example of a remote information transmission device 12, an airport information transmission device 13, a voice exchange device 14, a control console 15, a remote side wireless transmission device 42, and an airport side wireless transmission device 52 in an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0024] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this specification and the drawings, components having substantially the same functional configurations are designated by the same reference numerals, and duplicated explanations will be omitted.

[0025] <<0. Overview>> An outline of an embodiment of the present invention will be described below. First, a conventional air traffic control system will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a conventional air traffic control system.

[0026] 1, a conventional air traffic control system 711 is included in an airport facility 71. The airport facility 71 is connected to a remote government facility 72 via a 4W analog leased line 76.

[0027] The airport facility 71 further includes airport radio facility 75. The remote office facility 72 includes remote radio facility 74. The remote radio facility 74 includes a remote side radio 741 and a remote side radio transmission device 742. The remote side radio 741 receives a radio signal from an aircraft 78, converts the radio signal into voice information, and outputs the voice information to the remote side radio transmission device 742. The remote side radio transmission device 742 transmits the voice information to a remote information transmission device 712 of the air traffic control system 711 via a 4W analog dedicated line 76.

[0028] The airport wireless equipment 75 includes an airport wireless device 751 and an airport wireless transmission device 752. The airport wireless device 751 receives a wireless signal from an aircraft 78, converts the wireless signal into voice information, and outputs the voice information to the airport wireless transmission device 752. The airport wireless transmission device 752 transmits the voice information to an airport information transmission device 713 of the air traffic control system 711 via a 4W analog private line 77.

[0029] Here, a radio signal representing voice transmitted by an aircraft 78 is received at the remote side radio 741 and the airport side radio 751 at approximately the same time.

[0030] The air traffic control system 711 includes a remote information transmission device 712, an airport information transmission device 713, a voice switching device 714, a control desk 715, and a voice output terminal 716. The voice output terminal 716 is connected to the control desk 715, and outputs voice corresponding to each of the voice information transmitted from the remote wireless equipment 74 and the voice information transmitted from the airport-side wireless transmission device 752 via the remote information transmission device 712, the airport information transmission device 713, and the voice switching device 714. The output destination of the voice of the voice output terminal 716 is a voice output terminal such as headphones worn by a controller who is the user in this embodiment.

[0031] Since the airport side wireless transmission device 752, the 4W analog private line 77, and the airport information transmission device 713 are installed within the same site, the transmission delay time of voice information occurring between the airport side wireless transmission device 752 and the airport information transmission device 713 is extremely short. On the other hand, the remote side wireless transmission device 742 and the remote information transmission device 712 are installed remotely. Therefore, the transmission delay time of voice information transmitted through the 4W analog dedicated line 76 is larger than the transmission delay time of voice information transmitted through the 4W analog private line 77.

[0032] Here, when a controller simultaneously listens to the audio corresponding to the audio information transmitted through the 4W analog dedicated line 76 and the audio information transmitted through the 4W analog private line 77, the impact of the audio misalignment caused by the difference in transmission delay time is not enough to impede the controller's work.

[0033] Next, a comparative example to the air traffic control system of the present invention will be described with reference to Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a comparative example to the air traffic control system of the present invention.

[0034] As shown in Fig. 2, an air traffic control system 811 as a comparative example to the air traffic control system of the present invention is included in an airport facility 81. The airport facility 81 is connected to a remote government office facility 82 via an IP line 86. The air traffic control system 811 in this comparative example has substantially the same configuration as the example described using Fig. 1, except that voice information from the remote government office facility is transmitted over an IP line instead of a 4W analog dedicated line, and therefore detailed description of each component will be omitted.

[0035] As explained with reference to Fig. 1, the transmission delay time of voice information transmitted through the 4W analog private line 87 is extremely short. On the other hand, when voice information is transmitted through the IP line 86, a large transmission delay time of the voice information occurs. For example, this delay is a delay that occurs when passing through communication devices such as routers and modems that make up the network of the IP line 86. It also includes delays that occur in the buffers of each communication device when the network is congested. This transmission delay time is extremely long compared to the transmission delay time of voice information transmitted through the 4W analog leased line 76 in the example of Fig. 1.

[0036] Therefore, when an air traffic controller simultaneously listens to the audio corresponding to the audio information transmitted through the IP line 86 and the audio information transmitted through the 4W analog private line 87, the difference in the transmission delay time between them will have a large effect on the audio mismatch. This will cause a situation where it will be difficult for the air traffic controller to hear the audio, which is expected to hinder the air traffic controller's work.

[0037] In an embodiment of the present invention, an air traffic control system is proposed that is capable of correcting the difference in transmission delay time of a plurality of pieces of audio information and reducing the impact of the transmission delay time on the work of air traffic controllers.

[0038] <<1. Details of the embodiment of the present invention>> <1-1. Air traffic control system configuration> Next, details of the embodiment of the present invention will be described. First, a configuration example of an air traffic control system, which is an example of an information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention, will be described. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an air traffic control system 11 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[0039] 3, an air traffic control system 11 according to an embodiment of the present invention is provided in an airport facility 1. The airport facility 1 is connected to a remote government facility 2 of a remote government facility via an IP line 6.

[0040] The airport facility 1 further includes airport radio facility 5. The remote office facility 2 includes remote radio facility 4. Each radio facility (remote radio facility 4 and airport radio facility 5) receives radio signals transmitted by wireless communication from the aircraft 8, and transmits audio information converted from the radio signals to the air traffic control system 11. The aircraft 8 simultaneously transmits the same radio signal to each radio facility. The radio signal transmitted by the aircraft 8 is generated, for example, by converting the speech of the pilot of the aircraft 8 into AM waves by a radio device in the aircraft 8.

[0041] The remote radio equipment 4 includes a remote side radio 41, a remote side radio transmission device 42, and a remote side satellite signal receiver 43. The remote side radio 41 is a radio device that receives radio signals transmitted by wireless communication from the aircraft 8. The remote side radio 41 also outputs remote side audio information Vr, which is audio information obtained by converting the radio signals into electrical signals, to the remote side radio transmission device 42. The remote side audio information Vr is an example of first audio information.

[0042] The remote side satellite signal receiver 43 receives a GNSS signal received from a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) satellite such as a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite. The remote side satellite signal receiver 43 transmits a remote side 1PPS (Pulse Per Second) signal Pr to the remote side wireless transmission device 42. The remote side 1PPS signal Pr is a 1PPS signal generated based on a GNSS signal, and is an example of time information. Although described in detail later, the remote side 1PPS signal Pr is used to compare the transmission delay time between the remote side voice information Vr transmitted through the IP line 6 and the airport side voice information Va, which is voice information transmitted through the 4W analog private line 7. However, the method for comparing the transmission delay time is not limited to the method using the 1PPS signal described above. For example, when the time managed by the air traffic control system 11 and the time managed by the remote wireless equipment 4 are synchronized, the comparison of the transmission delay time can also be realized by the remote wireless equipment 4 transmitting information indicating the current time to the air traffic control system 11.

[0043] The remote side wireless transmission device 42 transmits the remote side voice information Vr and the 1PPS signal based on the wireless signal to the remote information transmission device 12 of the air traffic control system 11 through the IP line 6. The IP line 6 is an example of a digital transmission path, and is realized by connecting each device such as the remote side wireless transmission device 42 and the remote information transmission device 12 with Ethernet (registered trademark) and participating in the same network such as the Internet. Through the network, voice information is transmitted by using protocols such as UDP (User Datagram Protocol) and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). Note that a part of the communication in the network may be encrypted. In addition, the network may be a virtual network such as a VPN (Virtual Private Network).

[0044] The airport wireless equipment 5 includes an airport side wireless device 51 and an airport side wireless transmission device 52. The airport side wireless device 51 is a wireless device that receives a wireless signal transmitted by wireless communication from the aircraft 8. The timing at which the airport side wireless device 51 receives the wireless signal is substantially the same as the timing at which the remote side wireless device 41 receives the wireless signal.

[0045] The airport wireless device 51 outputs airport voice information Va, which is voice information obtained by converting the received wireless signal into an electrical signal, to the airport wireless transmission device 52. The airport voice information Va is an example of second voice information.

[0046] The airport side wireless transmission device 52 transmits the airport side voice information Va based on a wireless signal to the intra-airport information transmission device 13 of the air traffic control system 11 through the 4W analog private line 7. The 4W analog private line 7 is a four-wire telephone line, and is an analog transmission path for transmitting voice information such as the airport side voice information Va within the airport wireless equipment 5. The airport side wireless transmission device 52 may include an amplifier, and the received airport side voice information Va may be level-adjusted by the amplifier before being transmitted to the intra-airport information transmission device 13.

[0047] The air traffic control system 11 comprises a remote information transmission device 12, an airport information transmission device 13, a voice switching device 14, a control console 15, a voice output terminal 16, and an airport-side satellite signal receiver 17.

[0048] The airport satellite signal receiver 17 receives GNSS signals received from GNSS satellites such as GPS satellites. The airport satellite signal receiver 17 transmits an airport 1PPS signal Pa to the remote information transmission device 12. The airport 1PPS signal Pa is a 1PPS signal generated based on the GNSS signal, and is a time signal that indicates the reference time in the air traffic control system 11.

[0049] Since the satellite signals acquired by the remote satellite signal receiver 43 and the satellite signals acquired by the airport satellite signal receiver 17 are synchronized in advance, the airport 1PPS signal Pa and the remote 1PPS signal Pr indicate the same time at the timing of generation. When the airport 1PPS signal Pa and the remote 1PPS signal Pr are transmitted, the times indicated by each signal are delayed in accordance with the transmission delay time. Therefore, in the air traffic control system 11, the airport 1PPS signal Pa and the remote 1PPS signal Pr are used as signals indicating the transmission delay time.

[0050] The remote information transmission device 12 receives the remote side voice information Vr and the remote side 1PPS signal Pr from the remote side wireless transmission device 42 of the remote wireless equipment 4 through the IP line 6. Then, the remote information transmission device 12 transmits the remote side voice information Vr to the voice exchange device 14.

[0051] The remote information transmission device 12 also receives the airport 1PPS signal Pa from the airport satellite signal receiver 17. The remote information transmission device 12 then measures the delay time of the remote 1PPS signal Pr from the airport 1PPS signal Pa. The delay time measured here includes the transmission delay time of the remote 1PPS signal Pr transmitted through the IP line 6, with the airport 1PPS signal Pa as the reference. The remote information transmission device 12 transmits delay time information D indicating the measured delay time to the airport information transmission device 13.

[0052] The airport information transmission device 13 delays the airport side voice information Va in response to the remote side 1PPS signal Pr and outputs it to the voice switching device 14. More specifically, the airport information transmission device 13 delays the airport side voice information Va in response to delay time information D measured from the remote side 1PPS signal Pr and the airport side 1PPS signal Pa and transmits it to the voice switching device 14. For example, the airport information transmission device 13 delays the airport side voice information Va by the delay time represented by the delay time information D and transmits it to the voice switching device 14.

[0053] The voice switching device 14 simultaneously outputs the remote side voice information Vr received from the remote information transmission device 12 and the airport side voice information Va received from the airport information transmission device 13 to the control console 15.

[0054] The control console 15 is a terminal operated by an air traffic controller. The control console 15 is connected to the audio output terminal 16 and outputs audio information to the audio output terminal 16. The audio output terminal 16 is a terminal that outputs audio corresponding to the audio information input from the control console 15 to the air traffic controller. Although an example of the audio output terminal 16 being a headphone is shown in Fig. 3, the audio output terminal 16 may be, for example, an earphone or a speaker.

[0055] The voice output terminal 16 outputs the second voice corresponding to the airport side voice information Va and the first voice corresponding to the remote side voice information Vr, which are output from the voice switching device 14 to the control console 15.

[0056] The audio output terminal 16 may include a plurality of audio output units. In this case, among the plurality of audio output units, different audio output units may output different audio. The audio output from the plurality of audio output units of the audio output terminal 16 is controlled by the control console 15.

[0057] For example, in response to control by the control console 15, different audio output units among the multiple audio output units of the audio output terminal 16 may output audio corresponding to the airport side audio information Va and audio corresponding to the remote side audio information Vr, respectively.

[0058] More specifically, the audio output terminal 16 may be configured with separate left and right audio output units corresponding to the left and right ears of the air traffic controller. For example, one of the left and right audio output units of the audio output terminal 16 may output audio corresponding to the airport side audio information Va, and the other left and right audio output unit of the audio output terminal 16 may output audio corresponding to the remote side audio information Vr.

[0059] In addition, the audio output terminal 16 may output only the audio corresponding to the airport side audio information Va or the remote side audio information Vr designated by the air traffic controller by operating the control console 15 .

[0060] The air traffic controller performs air traffic control using one of the remote side radio 41 and the airport side radio 51, which has good sensitivity and little delay. Usually, the quality of the voice received by the radio is affected by the terrain, weather, the quality of the radio, and the radio wave condition using other frequencies, so the quality of the voice received by the remote side radio 41 and the airport side radio 51 differs. For example, depending on the communication conditions between the aircraft 8 and the remote side radio 41 and the airport side radio 51, the quality of the voice corresponding to the airport side voice information Va and the voice corresponding to the remote side voice information Vr may differ. Therefore, the air traffic controller may specify which of the remote side radio 41 and the airport side radio 51 is used to perform air traffic control by performing an operation on the air traffic control console 15 to specify that only the voice corresponding to the airport side voice information Va and the voice corresponding to the remote side voice information Vr, which is easier to hear, is to be output.

[0061] When different sounds, namely a sound corresponding to the airport side sound information Va and a sound corresponding to the remote side sound information Vr, are output from the left and right sound output sections of the sound output terminal 16, it is easy to recognize which of the two sounds is easier to hear.

[0062] According to the air traffic control system 11 of this embodiment, the airport side voice information Va is delayed by the transmission delay time of the remote side voice information Vr through the IP line 6 and output to the voice switching device 14, thereby reducing the delay in the voice output from the voice output terminal 16. Therefore, compared to the comparative example described using Fig. 2, it becomes easier for the air traffic controller to hear the voice corresponding to the voice information transmitted through different transmission paths.

[0063] The configuration of the air traffic control system 11 according to the embodiment of the present invention has been described above.

[0064] <1-2. Functional configuration of each device> (1-2-1. Functional configuration of the remote-side wireless transmission device 42) Next, the functional configuration of the main devices according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. First, an example of the functional configuration of the remote side wireless transmission device 42 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram for explaining an example of the functional configuration of the remote side wireless transmission device 42 according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the remote side wireless transmission device 42 has a voice information acquisition unit 421, a satellite signal acquisition unit 422, a buffer unit 423, and an IP communication unit 424.

[0065] (Audio information acquisition unit 421) The audio information acquisition unit 421 acquires the remote side audio information Vr from the remote side wireless device 41, and outputs it to the buffer unit 423. Here, the audio information acquisition unit 421 may include an amplifier, and the amplifier may adjust the signal level of the remote side audio information Vr.

[0066] Moreover, the audio information acquisition unit 421 includes an analog-digital converter, and converts the remote side audio information Vr from an analog signal to a digital signal, and then outputs it to the buffer unit 423. Here, in the conversion from the analog signal to the digital signal, an encoding method such as ITU-T G.711 may be adopted, and the sampling frequency may be, for example, 8 kHz. However, the encoding method and the sampling frequency are not particularly limited, and may be appropriately set according to the bandwidth of the transmission path and the required audio quality, etc. In this embodiment, an example will be mainly described in which the audio information acquisition unit 421 samples the remote side audio information Vr at a sampling frequency of 8 kHz according to ITU-T G.711, converts it to 8-bit data, and outputs it to the buffer unit 423.

[0067] (Satellite signal acquisition unit 422) The satellite signal acquisition unit 422 acquires the remote side 1PPS signal Pr from the remote side satellite signal receiver 43. The satellite signal acquisition unit 422 digitizes the remote side 1PPS signal Pr at the same sampling frequency as the sampling frequency of the analog-to-digital conversion by the audio information acquisition unit 421, and outputs the digitized signal to the buffer unit 423.

[0068] (Buffer unit 423) The buffer unit 423 manages and stores the remote side voice information Vr received from the voice information acquisition unit 421 and the remote side 1PPS signal Pr received from the satellite signal acquisition unit 422 in chronological order.

[0069] The buffer unit 423 outputs the accumulated remote side audio information Vr and remote side 1PPS signal Pr to the IP communication unit 424. Furthermore, the buffer unit 423 transmits a request signal to the IP communication unit 424 based on the accumulation of a predetermined period of the remote side audio information Vr and the remote side 1PPS signal Pr. The request signal is a signal that requests the IP communication unit 424 to transmit packet data through the IP line 6. The predetermined period coincides with the period of packet data transmission by the IP communication unit 424 to the IP line 6.

[0070] The predetermined period for transmitting the request signal may be set appropriately according to the bandwidth of the transmission path and the required voice quality. In this embodiment, an example in which the predetermined period is 2.5 ms will be described. Here, the remote side voice information Vr and the remote side 1PPS signal Pr stored in the buffer unit 423 are sampled and input at a sampling frequency of 8 kHz. Therefore, when the predetermined period is 2.5 ms, the buffer unit 423 outputs a request signal every time 20 samples of the remote side voice information Vr and the remote side 1PPS signal Pr are stored.

[0071] (IP communication unit 424) In response to the request signal output from the buffer unit 423, the IP communication unit 424 transmits the remote side audio information Vr and the remote side 1PPS signal Pr output from the buffer unit 423 to the remote information transmission device 12 via the IP line 6.

[0072] More specifically, the IP communication unit 424 generates packet data including the remote side audio information Vr and the remote side 1PPS signal Pr. The packet data is UDP (User Datagram Protocol) packet data. An example of the UDP packet data will be described with reference to FIG. 5.

[0073] 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of UDP packet data including remote side audio information Vr and remote side 1PPS signal Pr. As shown in FIG. 5, the UDP packet data U includes multiple header sections HD, multiple remote side 1PPS signals Pr (remote side 1PPS signal Pr0, remote side 1PPS signal Pr1,...), null data Em, and multiple remote side audio information Vr (remote side audio information Vr0, remote side audio information Vr1,...).

[0074] The header section HD is configured to include data indicating the version of the UDP packet data U, a sequence number, a time stamp, line information, and the like.

[0075] In the UDP packet data U, a plurality of remote side 1PPS signals Pr and a plurality of remote side audio information Vr are allocated in chronological order. In the example shown in Fig. 5, 2.5 ms worth of remote side 1PPS signals Pr, i.e., 20 samples of remote side audio information Vr, are allocated in chronological order to the UDP packet data U. The IP communication unit 424 transmits the remote side audio information Vr and the remote side 1PPS signals Pr to the remote information transmission device 12 by controlling the input of the generated UDP packet data U to the IP line 6.

[0076] (1-2-2. Functional configuration of remote information transmission device 12) Next, a functional configuration example of the remote information transmission device 12 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. Fig. 6 is a block diagram for explaining a functional configuration example of the remote information transmission device 12 according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 6, the remote information transmission device 12 includes an IP transmission unit 121 and a delay measurement unit 125.

[0077] (IP transmission unit 121) The IP transmission unit 121 receives UDP packet data U including the remote side 1PPS signal Pr and the remote side voice information Vr from the IP line 6, and transmits the remote side voice information Vr to the voice exchange device 14. As shown in FIG. 6, the IP transmission unit 121 has a packet data acquisition unit 122, a buffer unit 123, and an exchange communication unit 124.

[0078] (Packet data acquisition unit 122) The packet data acquisition unit 122 is an example of a first receiving unit that acquires UDP packet data U including the remote side 1PPS signal Pr and the remote side audio information Vr output by the remote side wireless transmission device 42 through the IP line 6. The packet data acquisition unit 122 extracts the remote side 1PPS signal Pr and the remote side audio information Vr from the UDP packet data U. The packet data acquisition unit 122 outputs the extracted remote side 1PPS signal Pr and remote side audio information Vr to the buffer unit 123. In this embodiment, 20 samples of the remote side 1PPS signal Pr and the remote side audio information Vr are extracted from one UDP packet data U.

[0079] (Buffer unit 123) The buffer unit 123 has a fluctuation absorbing buffer function that resolves fluctuations in data transmission occurring during network transmission of the IP line 6. More specifically, the buffer unit 123 acquires 20 samples of the remote side 1 PPS signal Pr and the remote side audio information Vr from the packet data acquisition unit 122. The buffer unit 123 has a built-in memory, and temporarily stores the remote side 1 PPS signal Pr and the remote side audio information Vr acquired from the packet data acquisition unit 122 in the memory in chronological order.

[0080] The buffer unit 123 outputs the stored data when the remote side 1PPS signal Pr and the remote side audio information Vr have been stored in the built-in memory for a predetermined period of time, or when a predetermined amount of the remote side 1PPS signal Pr and the remote side audio information Vr have been stored. This makes it possible to absorb fluctuations in data transmission even if such fluctuations occur on the IP line 6. In this embodiment, the buffer unit 123 outputs the remote side 1PPS signal Pr and the remote side audio information Vr stored in the built-in memory at a cycle of 8 kHz.

[0081] The buffer unit 123 outputs the remote side audio information Vr to the switch communication unit 124. The buffer unit 123 also outputs the remote side 1PPS signal Pr to the delay measurement unit 125. According to the jitter absorbing buffer function of the buffer unit 123, the remote side 1PPS signal Pr and the remote side audio information Vr output from the buffer unit 123 are output with a delay corresponding to the time it takes for the remote side 1PPS signal Pr and the remote side audio information Vr to be stored in the built-in memory.

[0082] (Switchboard communication unit 124) The exchange communication unit 124 outputs the remote side voice information Vr acquired from the buffer unit 123 to the voice exchange device 14. As described above, a delay occurs in the transmission of the remote side voice information Vr based on the airport side voice information Va transmitted through the 4W analog private line 7. The transmission delay time of this remote side voice information Vr includes the transmission delay time caused by passing through the IP line 6 and the transmission delay time caused by the buffer unit 123 absorbing fluctuations.

[0083] (Delay measurement unit 125) The delay measurement unit 125 measures the transmission delay time of the remote side voice information Vr. The delay measurement unit 125 has a satellite signal acquisition unit 126, a counting unit 127, and a delay output unit 128, as shown in FIG.

[0084] (Satellite signal acquisition unit 126) The satellite signal acquisition unit 126 acquires the airport side 1PPS signal Pa from the airport side satellite signal receiver 17. The satellite signal acquisition unit 126 digitizes the airport side 1PPS signal Pa at the same sampling frequency as the sampling frequency for analog-to-digital conversion of the remote side voice information Vr and the remote side 1PPS signal Pr by the remote side wireless transmission device 42, and outputs the digitized signal to the counting unit 127.

[0085] (Counter 127) The counting unit 127 acquires the airport side 1PPS signal Pa from the satellite signal acquisition unit 126. The counting unit 127 also acquires the remote side 1PPS signal Pr from the buffer unit 123. Then, based on the acquired airport side 1PPS signal Pa and remote side 1PPS signal Pr, the counting unit 127 measures the transmission delay time of the remote side voice information Vr transmitted through the IP line 6, using the airport side voice information Va transmitted through the 4W analog private line 7 as a reference.

[0086] The counting unit 127 calculates the difference between the transmission delay time of the airport side voice information Va transmitted through the 4W analog private line 7 and the transmission delay time of the remote side voice information Vr transmitted through the IP line 6 as the transmission delay time.

[0087] The transmission delay time of the airport side voice information Va transmitted through the 4W analog private line 7 is specifically the transmission delay time that occurs from the airport side radio 51 of the airport radio equipment 5 to the voice switching device 14 of the air traffic control system 11. Hereinafter, such a transmission delay time of the airport side voice information Va transmitted through the 4W analog private line 7 is also simply referred to as the "transmission delay time of the airport side voice information Va."

[0088] The transmission delay time of the remote side voice information Vr transmitted through the IP line 6 is specifically the transmission delay time that occurs from the remote side radio 41 of the remote radio equipment 4 to the voice switching device 14 of the air traffic control system 11. Hereinafter, such a transmission delay time of the remote side voice information Vr transmitted through the IP line 6 will also be simply referred to as the "transmission delay time of the remote side voice information Vr."

[0089] As described above, the airport side 1PPS signal Pa and the remote side 1PPS signal Pr are used to compare the transmission delay time of the remote side voice information Vr and the airport side voice information Va. Here, the transmission delay time of the airport side 1PPS signal Pa acquired by the counting unit 127 corresponds to the transmission delay time of the airport side voice information Va. Also, the transmission delay time of the remote side 1PPS signal Pr acquired by the counting unit 127 corresponds to the transmission delay time of the remote side voice information Vr. This point will be explained in detail.

[0090] There is a time difference between the transmission delay time of the airport side voice information Va and the transmission delay time of the airport side 1PPS signal Pa acquired by the counting unit 127, which is mainly due to the transmission delay associated with the input / output processing by the airport side wireless transmission device 52. For example, this time difference includes the transmission delay time when transmitting the airport side voice information Va over the 4W analog private line 7. However, since the transmission delay time associated with the input / output processing by the airport side wireless transmission device 52 is extremely short compared to the transmission delay time measured by the counting unit 127, it does not need to be taken into consideration. In other words, it can be said that the transmission delay time of the airport side voice information Va and the transmission delay time of the airport side 1PPS signal Pa acquired by the counting unit 127 are almost equal in this embodiment.

[0091] On the other hand, the transmission path of the remote side 1PPS signal Pr and the remote side audio information Vr to the voice exchange device 14 is the same transmission path after the remote side wireless transmission device 42. Also, since there is almost no transmission delay of the remote side 1PPS signal Pr and the remote side audio information Vr on the transmission path to the remote side wireless transmission device 42, it can be said that the transmission delay time of the remote side audio information Vr and the transmission delay time of the remote side 1PPS signal Pr acquired by the counting unit 127 are almost equal in this embodiment.

[0092] As described above, the counting unit 127 measures the transmission delay time of the remote side 1PPS signal Pr based on the airport side 1PPS signal Pa, thereby measuring the delay time of the remote side voice information Vr based on the airport side voice information Va.

[0093] Here, the transmission delay that occurs until the airport side 1PPS signal Pa and the remote side 1PPS signal Pr are acquired by the counting unit 127 will be summarized.

[0094] First, a transmission delay occurs due to input / output processing by the satellite signal acquisition unit 126 until the airport 1PPS signal Pa is acquired by the counting unit 127. This transmission delay time is extremely short and can be ignored in the air traffic control system 11.

[0095] Meanwhile, until the remote side 1PPS signal Pr is acquired by the counting unit 127, a transmission delay occurs due to input / output processing of the remote side wireless transmission device 42 and a transmission delay occurs due to input / output processing by the IP transmission unit 121. This transmission delay time mainly includes the transmission delay time of the remote side 1PPS signal Pr transmitted through the IP line 6 and a transmission delay time caused by the fluctuation absorption by the buffer unit 123.

[0096] From the above explanation, the transmission delay time difference between the airport side 1PPS signal Pa and the remote side 1PPS signal Pr occurring before being acquired by the counting unit 127 can be expressed as the delay time of the remote side 1PPS signal Pr based on the airport side 1PPS signal Pa acquired by the counting unit 127. Note that in this embodiment, it is assumed that the transmission delay time of the remote side 1PPS signal Pr acquired by the counting unit 127 is 1 second or less.

[0097] So far, we have explained the delay time measured by the counting unit 127. For example, the counting unit 127 starts counting with a built-in counter using the acquired airport side 1PPS signal Pa as a trigger to start measurement. Then, the counting unit 127 may measure the transmission delay time by ending the counting with the built-in counter using the acquired remote side 1PPS signal Pr as a trigger to end measurement.

[0098] The counting unit 127 measures the transmission delay time for each acquired airport side PPS signal Pa, i.e., every second. The counting unit 127 outputs delay time information D representing the measured transmission delay time to the delay output unit 128. The delay time information D may be expressed in units of seconds or milliseconds. The delay time information D may also be expressed as a count number with 1 millisecond being 1 count. Hereinafter, in this embodiment, an example in which the delay time information D is expressed as a count number with 1 millisecond being 1 count will be mainly described.

[0099] Although an example has been described in which the counting unit 127 measures the delay time every second, the measurement process may be performed based on the operation of the control console 15 by an air traffic controller. More specifically, the counting unit 127 may perform the measurement process based on an adjustment start signal that indicates an instruction to start delay adjustment and that the switching equipment communication unit 124 acquires from the control console 15 via the voice switching device 14.

[0100] (Delay output unit 128) The delay output unit 128 is connected to the intra-airport information transmission device 13 for communication, and transmits the delay time information D acquired from the counting unit 127 to the intra-airport information transmission device 13 .

[0101] (1-2-3. Functional configuration of the airport information transmission device 13) Next, an example of the functional configuration of the airport information transmission device 13 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. Fig. 7 is a block diagram for explaining an example of the functional configuration of the airport information transmission device 13 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 7, the airport information transmission device 13 has a voice information acquisition unit 131, a delay information acquisition unit 132, a delay adjustment unit 133, and a switch communication unit 135.

[0102] (Voice information acquisition unit 131) The voice information acquisition unit 131 is an example of a second receiving unit that acquires the airport side voice information Va from the airport side wireless transmission device 52 through the 4W analog private line 7. The voice information acquisition unit 131 includes an amplifier, and the amplifier adjusts the signal level of the airport side voice information Va.

[0103] Moreover, the voice information acquisition unit 131 includes an analog-digital converter, and converts the airport side voice information Va from an analog signal to a digital signal, and then outputs it to the delay adjustment unit 133. Here, in the conversion from the analog signal to the digital signal, an encoding method such as ITU-T G.711 may be adopted, and the sampling frequency may be, for example, 8 kHz. However, the encoding method and the sampling frequency are not particularly limited, and may be appropriately set according to the bandwidth of the transmission path and the required voice quality, etc. In this embodiment, an example will be mainly described in which the voice information acquisition unit 131 samples the airport side voice information Va at a sampling frequency of 8 kHz according to ITU-T G.711, converts it into 8-bit data, and outputs it to the delay adjustment unit 133.

[0104] (Delay information acquisition unit 132) The delay information acquisition unit 132 is connected for communication with the remote information transmission device 12, and acquires delay time information D from the remote information transmission device 12. The delay information acquisition unit 132 outputs the acquired delay time information D to the delay adjustment unit 133.

[0105] (Delay adjustment unit 133) The delay adjustment unit 133 delays the airport side voice information Va by the delay time represented by the delay time information D to adjust the voice misalignment caused by the transmission delay of the remote side voice information Vr, and outputs the delayed information to the switch communication unit 135. The delay adjustment unit 133 is an example of an output control unit that controls the output of the voice corresponding to the remote side voice information Vr and the voice corresponding to the airport side voice information Va.

[0106] The delay adjustment unit 133 is configured with a built-in memory 134, which is a storage unit. The delay adjustment unit 133 accumulates the airport side voice information Va for each 8 kHz sample in the memory 134 in chronological order. The delay adjustment unit 133 delays the airport side voice information Va stored in the memory 134 by the delay time indicated by the delay time information D, and outputs it to the exchange communication unit 135. This makes it possible to output the airport side voice information Va from the exchange communication unit 135 to the voice exchange device 14 in accordance with the remote side voice information Vr output from the exchange communication unit 124 of the remote information transmission device 12 to the voice exchange device 14. More specifically, it is possible to simultaneously output to the voice exchange device 14 each of the voice information converted from each of two wireless signals representing the same voice that are simultaneously emitted from the aircraft 8.

[0107] It should be noted that the transmission delay time indicated by the delay time information D does not include the time required for processing the airport side voice information Va in the voice information acquisition unit 131 and for storing the information in the memory 134. However, since the transmission delay time of the airport side voice information Va due to these processes is extremely short, it need not be taken into consideration.

[0108] Here, an example of a delay adjustment method using the memory 134 by the delay adjustment unit 133 will be described with reference to Fig. 8. Fig. 8 is an explanatory diagram that shows a schematic example of the structure of the memory 134.

[0109] The memory 134 has a structure capable of recording a plurality of pieces of airport side voice information Va. As shown in Fig. 8, the memory 134 may be a circular buffer capable of recording a plurality of pieces of airport side voice information Va. As an example, the memory 134 may have 8000 storage areas for storing the airport side voice information Va, thereby storing 8000 pieces of airport side voice information Va. Such memory 134 is capable of holding airport side voice information Va sampled at a sampling frequency of 8 kHz for one second. This allows the delay adjustment unit 133 to delay the airport side voice information Va in accordance with a transmission delay time of up to one second.

[0110] The memory 134 has a WR pointer 1341 and an RD pointer 1342. The WR pointer 1341 is a pointer that designates a storage area for storing the airport side voice information Va. The airport side voice information Va acquired from the voice information acquisition unit 131 is written to the storage area of ​​the memory 134 that is designated by the WR pointer 1341. In other words, it can be said that the WR pointer 1341 indicates the current storage area among a plurality of storage areas that the memory 134 has.

[0111] The WR pointer 1341 moves within the memory 134 by one data piece for each write operation in the WR pointer movement direction 1343. As a result, the airport side voice information Va is stored in the storage area in chronological order.

[0112] The RD pointer 1342 is a pointer that designates the airport side voice information Va to be read out to the exchange communication unit 135. The RD pointer 1342 is arranged so as to point to the airport side voice information Va that was recorded in the past (i.e., in a storage area shifted by ΔTd in the opposite direction to the WR pointer movement direction 1343) by the number of data pieces ΔTd corresponding to the delay time information D, counting from the WR pointer 1341. This makes it possible for the RD pointer 1342 to output the airport side voice information Va to the exchange communication unit 135 with a delay by the transmission delay time indicated by the delay time information D.

[0113] The number of data ΔTd is calculated by the delay adjustment unit 133 based on the delay time information D. In this embodiment, the delay time information D is expressed as a count number with 1 millisecond being 1 count, and the memory 134 stores the airport side voice information Va sampled at a sampling frequency of 8 kHz, so that the number of count numbers multiplied by 8 equals the number of data ΔTd. Therefore, in this embodiment, the number of data ΔTd by the delay adjustment unit 133 can be found by calculation between the sampling frequency and the unit time of the count number.

[0114] Here, the adjustment process by the RD pointer 1342 may be performed based on, for example, an air traffic controller's operation of the control console 15. More specifically, the RD pointer 1342 may execute the adjustment process based on an adjustment start signal indicating a command to start delay adjustment, which is input from the control console 15 to the delay adjustment unit 133 via the voice switching device 14 and the delay information acquisition unit 132 of the airport information transmission device 13.

[0115] In this case, when the adjustment start signal is input, the delay adjustment unit 133 may calculate the number of pieces of data ΔTd corresponding to the transmission delay time indicated by the delay time information D, and control the movement of the RD pointer 1342 so that the RD pointer 1342 is shifted toward the past data by ΔTd with respect to the WR pointer 1341. Note that the execution timing of the adjustment process of the RD pointer 1342 is not limited to this. For example, the adjustment process may be executed at predetermined time intervals, or may be executed when the position of the RD pointer 1342 has shifted by a predetermined number or more from the number of pieces of data ΔTd corresponding to the transmission delay time. In this embodiment, an example in which the adjustment process is executed based on the adjustment start signal will be mainly described.

[0116] When the adjustment process is completed, the RD pointer 1342 reads the airport side voice information Va from the memory 134 at intervals of 8 kHz and outputs it to the exchange communication unit 135. This enables the delay adjustment unit 133 to output the airport side voice information Va to the exchange communication unit 135 by imparting a transmission delay time that is substantially the same as the transmission delay time of the remote side voice information Vr.

[0117] (Switchboard communication section 135) The exchange communication unit 135 is connected to the voice exchange device 14 and outputs the airport side voice information Va delayed by the delay adjustment unit 133 to the voice exchange device 14. Note that the transmission delay time of the airport side voice information Va caused by the input / output processing of the airport side voice information Va by the exchange communication unit 135 is extremely short and does not need to be taken into consideration. Also, the transmission delay times of the airport side voice information Va and the remote side voice information Vr in the voice exchange processing by the exchange communication unit 135 are the same and do not need to be taken into consideration.

[0118] (1-2-4. Functional configuration of control console 15) Next, a functional configuration example of the control console 15 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. Fig. 9 is a block diagram for explaining a functional configuration example of the control console 15 according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 9, the control console 15 has a console operation unit 151, a delay time adjustment SW 152, a switchboard communication unit 153, a control unit 154, a right audio output unit 155, and a left audio output unit 156.

[0119] (Desk operation section 151) The console operation unit 151 accepts various operations input from an air traffic controller. For example, the console operation unit 151 may accept an output start operation to instruct the audio output terminal 16 to start outputting audio corresponding to the airport side audio information Va and audio corresponding to the remote side audio information Vr.

[0120] Furthermore, the console operation unit 151 may accept an operation to specify whether a voice corresponding to the airport side voice information Va (hereinafter also referred to as "airport side voice") or a voice corresponding to the remote side voice information Vr (hereinafter also referred to as "remote side voice") is to be output from the left and right voice output units of the voice output terminal 16. For example, when the left and right voice output units start outputting different voices out of the airport side voice and the remote side voice based on an output start operation, an operation to instruct that the voice which is easier to hear is to be output from both the left and right voice output units may be performed by the air traffic controller.

[0121] The console operation unit 151 may be configured to include switches, buttons, etc., and there is no particular limitation on the type of hardware by which the console operation unit 151 is realized.

[0122] (Delay time adjustment SW152) The delay time adjustment SW152 is a switch that accepts an instruction from the air traffic controller to start delay adjustment to delay the output of the airport side voice information Va. When the left and right voice output units start outputting different voices, the airport side voice and the remote side voice, and the remote side voice is delayed and each voice is difficult to hear, the air traffic controller can instruct the start of adjustment by pressing the delay time adjustment SW152.

[0123] When the delay time adjustment switch 152 is pressed, an adjustment start signal A is transmitted from a switch communication unit 153 (to be described later) to the voice switching device 14.

[0124] The transmission delay time of the remote side voice information Vr based on the airport side voice information Va changes based on the change in the communication situation. Therefore, even if the in-airport information transmission device 13 adjusts the transmission delay of the remote side voice signal Vr based on the pressing of the delay time adjustment SW 152, the airport side voice and the remote side voice may be output again out of sync due to the change in the transmission delay time. In such a case, the air traffic controller may press the delay time adjustment SW 152 again. As a result, the adjustment start signal A is transmitted again from the exchange communication unit 153 to the voice exchange device 14, so that the in-airport information transmission device 13 performs delay adjustment again.

[0125] (Switchboard communication unit 153) The exchange communication unit 153 is connected to the voice exchange device 14 and receives the airport side voice information Va and the remote side voice information Vr from the voice exchange device 14. The exchange communication unit 153 uses a time division multiplexing system for its interface, so it is possible to transmit the airport side voice information Va and the remote side voice information Vr sampled at 8 kHz. The transmission delay times due to the voice exchange processing of the airport side voice information Va and the remote side voice information Vr by the voice exchange device 14 are the same. Therefore, this transmission delay time does not cause a delay in the voices output from the left and right voice output units of the voice output terminal 16.

[0126] In addition, the exchange communication unit 153 transmits a signal indicating the operation accepted by the console operation unit 151 and an adjustment start signal A generated based on pressing the delay time adjustment SW 152 to the voice exchange device 14. The voice exchange device 14 outputs the adjustment start signal A to the airport information transmission device 13 by exchange processing.

[0127] (Control unit 154) The control unit 154 has a function of controlling the overall operation of the control console 15. The control unit 154 may be configured by dedicated hardware, or may be realized by a CPU built into the control console 15 expanding a program stored in a ROM into a RAM and executing the program.

[0128] (Right audio output unit 155, left audio output unit 156) The right audio output unit 155 and the left audio output unit 156 control the output of the remote side audio information Vr and the airport side audio information Va so that audio corresponding to the remote side audio information Vr and the airport side audio information Va received by the switchboard communication unit 153 is output from the audio output terminal 16. Although an example is shown in Fig. 9 in which the right audio output unit 155 outputs the remote side audio information Vr and the left audio output unit 156 outputs the airport side audio information Va to the audio output terminal 16, it is sufficient that audio corresponding to an operation on the console operation unit 151 is output.

[0129] The right audio output unit 155 and the left audio output unit 156 each include a digital-to-analog converter, and convert the airport side audio information Va and the remote side audio information Vr from a digital signal into an analog signal and output the analog signal to the audio output terminal 16 .

[0130] The right audio output unit 155 and the left audio output unit 156 may include amplifiers that adjust the signal levels of the analog-converted airport-side audio information Va and remote-side audio information Vr. The airport-side audio information Va and the remote-side audio information Vr have the same transmission delay time in the process from when the airport-side audio information Va or the remote-side audio information Vr is input to the right audio output unit 155 or the left audio output unit 156 until the audio is output from the left and right audio output units of the audio output terminal 16. Therefore, this transmission delay time does not cause a delay in the audio output from the left and right audio output units of the audio output terminal 16.

[0131] The air traffic controller performs air traffic control tasks by listening to different audio corresponding to the remote-side audio information Vr or the airport-side audio information Va from the left and right audio output units of the audio output terminal 16. In this embodiment, the airport-side audio information Va is delayed to match the transmission delay time of the remote-side audio information Vr, that is, the airport-side audio information Va is output to the audio output terminal 16 with the transmission delay time of the remote-side audio information Vr being made equal, thereby reducing the influence of audio misalignment due to differences in transmission delay time.

[0132] In addition, if the controller senses a discrepancy in the audio due to differences in transmission delay time, by pressing the delay time adjustment switch 152, the output of the airport side audio information Va is adjusted to match the transmission delay time measured in real time, thereby improving usability for the controller.

[0133] <1-3. Operation of Air Traffic Control System 11> Next, an example of the operation of the air traffic control system 11 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. Fig. 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the operation of the air traffic control system 11 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[0134] First, the voice information acquisition unit 421 of the remote side wireless transmission device 42 receives remote side voice information Vr based on the wireless signal emitted by the aircraft 8 from the remote side wireless set 41 (S101). The airport side wireless transmission device 52 receives airport side voice information Va based on the wireless signal emitted by the aircraft 8 from the airport side wireless set 51 (S102). The airport side voice information Va and the remote side voice information Vr are voice information representing the same voice, and the processes of S101 and S102 are performed simultaneously.

[0135] The airport side wireless transmission device 52 transmits the received airport side voice information Va to the airport intra-information transmission device 13 via the 4W analog private line 7 (S103).

[0136] The audio information acquisition unit 421 of the remote side wireless transmission device 42 acquires the remote side 1PPS signal Pr from the remote side satellite signal receiver 43. This process is executed simultaneously with the process of S101 (S104).

[0137] The IP communication unit 424 of the remote side wireless transmission device 42 generates packet data including the remote side audio information Vr and the remote side 1PPS signal Pr (S105). Then, the IP communication unit 424 transmits the generated packet data to the remote information transmission device 12 through the IP line 6 (S106).

[0138] The buffer unit 123 of the remote information transmission device 12 executes a buffering process to accumulate and then output the remote side voice information Vr and the remote side 1PPS signal Pr contained in the packet data received by the packet data acquisition unit 122 (S107).

[0139] The exchange communication unit 124 transmits the remote side voice information Vr output from the buffer unit 123 to the voice exchange device 14 (S108). The remote side voice information Vr acquired by the voice exchange device 14 is delayed in transmission from the remote side radio 41 of the remote radio equipment 4 to the voice exchange device 14. This transmission delay time includes the transmission delay time when the information is transmitted through the IP line 6 and the transmission delay time caused by the buffering process by the buffer unit 123.

[0140] The voice exchange device 14 outputs the remote side voice information Vr to the control console 15 (S109). As a result, the voice output terminal 16 connected to the control console 15 outputs voice corresponding to the remote side voice information Vr. The remote side voice information Vr is output with a delay of the transmission delay time.

[0141] Meanwhile, the satellite signal acquisition unit 126 of the remote information transmission device 12 acquires the airport 1PPS signal Pa (S110). The airport 1PPS signal Pa is time-synchronized in advance with the remote 1PPS signal Pr.

[0142] The counting unit 127 measures the transmission delay time of the remote side 1PPS signal Pr based on the airport side 1PPS signal Pa, thereby measuring the delay time of the remote side voice information Vr based on the airport side voice information Va (S111).

[0143] The delay output unit 128 transmits delay time information D indicating the delay time measured by the counting unit 127 to the airport information transmission device 13 (S112).

[0144] The delay adjustment unit 133 of the intra-airport information transmission device 13 judges whether or not the controller has pressed the delay time adjustment SW 152 of the control console 15 (S113). The delay adjustment unit 133 executes the judgment based on whether or not the switchboard communication unit 135 has received an adjustment start signal A, which indicates the pressing of the delay time adjustment SW 152, via the voice switching device 14.

[0145] When the pressing of the delay time adjustment switch 152 is not detected (S113 / NO), the process proceeds to S115.

[0146] When pressing of the delay time adjustment SW152 is detected (S113 / YES), the delay adjustment unit 133 controls the output of the airport side voice information Va so that the airport side voice information Va is output with a delay of the delay time indicated by the delay time information D acquired by the delay information acquisition unit 132 from the remote information transmission device 12 (S114).

[0147] Then, the exchange communication unit 135 outputs the airport side voice information Va to the voice exchange device 14 (S115). The voice exchange device 14 outputs the airport side voice information Va to the air traffic control console 15 (S116). As a result, the voice output terminal 16 connected to the air traffic control console 15 outputs voice corresponding to the airport side voice information Va. The processes of S110 to S115 are executed in parallel with the processes of S101 to S108, and the processes of S109 and S116 are executed simultaneously. That is, when the processes of S115 and S116 are executed after S114, the airport side voice information Va is output with a delay of the remote side voice information Vr based on the airport side voice information Va. Therefore, the influence of voice deviation due to the difference in transmission delay time is reduced, and the voice corresponding to the remote side voice information Vr and the voice corresponding to the airport side voice information Va are output to the voice output terminal 16.

[0148] <<2. Hardware configuration example>> Next, examples of the hardware configurations of the remote information transmission device 12, the airport information transmission device 13, the voice switching device 14, the control console 15, the remote side wireless transmission device 42, and the airport side wireless transmission device 52 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[0149] In the following, an example of the hardware configuration of the information processing device 900 will be described as an example of the hardware configuration of the remote information transmission device 12, the in-airport information transmission device 13, the voice switching device 14, the air traffic control desk 15, the remote side wireless transmission device 42, and the airport side wireless transmission device 52 according to the embodiment of the present invention. Note that the hardware configuration example of the information processing device 900 described below is merely an example of the hardware configuration of the remote information transmission device 12, the in-airport information transmission device 13, the voice switching device 14, the air traffic control desk 15, the remote side wireless transmission device 42, and the airport side wireless transmission device 52. Therefore, the hardware configuration of the remote information transmission device 12, the in-airport information transmission device 13, the voice switching device 14, the air traffic control desk 15, the remote side wireless transmission device 42, and the airport side wireless transmission device 52 may be such that unnecessary configurations are deleted from the hardware configuration of the information processing device 900 described below, or new configurations are added.

[0150] 11 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of an information processing device 900 as an example of the remote information transmission device 12, the in-airport information transmission device 13, the voice switching device 14, the control console 15, the remote side wireless transmission device 42, and the airport side wireless transmission device 52 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The information processing device 900 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 901, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 902, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 903, a host bus 904, a bridge 905, an external bus 906, an interface 907, an input device 908, an output device 909, a storage device 910, and a communication device 911.

[0151] The CPU 901 functions as an arithmetic processing device and control device, and controls the overall operation of the information processing device 900 in accordance with various programs. The CPU 901 may also be a microprocessor. The ROM 902 stores programs and arithmetic parameters used by the CPU 901. The RAM 903 temporarily stores programs used in the execution of the CPU 901 and parameters that change appropriately during the execution. These are connected to each other by a host bus 904 consisting of a CPU bus etc.

[0152] The host bus 904 is connected to an external bus 906, such as a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect / Interface) bus, via a bridge 905. It is not necessary to configure the host bus 904, bridge 905, and external bus 906 separately, and these functions may be implemented in a single bus.

[0153] The input device 908 is composed of input means such as a mouse, keyboard, touch panel, button, microphone, switch, and lever for the user to input information, and an input control circuit that generates an input signal based on the user's input and outputs it to the CPU 901. A user who operates the information processing device 900 can input various data to the information processing device 900 and instruct the information processing device 900 to perform processing operations by operating this input device 908.

[0154] The output device 909 includes, for example, a display device such as a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display device, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) device, an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) device, or a lamp, and an audio output device such as a speaker.

[0155] The storage device 910 is a device for storing data. The storage device 910 may include a storage medium, a recording device for recording data in the storage medium, a reading device for reading data from the storage medium, and a deleting device for deleting data recorded in the storage medium. The storage device 910 is configured, for example, with an HDD (Hard Disk Drive). This storage device 910 drives a hard disk and stores programs executed by the CPU 901 and various data.

[0156] The communication unit 911 is, for example, a communication interface configured with a communication device for connecting to a network, etc. Also, the communication unit 911 may be compatible with either wireless communication or wired communication.

[0157] The above describes examples of hardware configurations of the remote information transmission device 12, the airport information transmission device 13, the voice switching device 14, the control console 15, the remote side wireless transmission device 42, and the airport side wireless transmission device 52 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0158] <<3. Supplementary Information>> Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings, the present invention is not limited to such an example. It is clear that a person having ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention pertains can conceive of various modified or altered examples within the scope of the technical ideas described in the claims, and it is understood that these also naturally belong to the technical scope of the present invention.

[0159] For example, the above description mainly deals with a case where the system according to the embodiment of the present invention is an air traffic control system 11 that transmits voice information using an IP line 6 and a 4W analog private line 7. However, the system according to the embodiment of the present invention can be applied to any system that uses two or more lines in which a difference in transmission delay time occurs.

[0160] In the above, an example has been described in which a 1PPS signal is used as the time information and the information indicating the reference time. However, the time information and the information indicating the reference time are not limited to the 1PPS signal as long as they are synchronized in advance, and for example, information indicating the standard time may be used. The standard time may be, for example, a time acquired from the same PTP (Precision Time Protocol) server or NTP (Network Time Protocol) server. Note that it is more preferable to acquire the time from a PTP server, since the time acquired from a PTP server is guaranteed to be more accurate than the time acquired from an NTP server.

[0161] In addition, each of the devices described above as one device may be configured as a single device, or may be configured as separate devices. For example, the remote information transmission device 12 and the airport information transmission device 13 may be configured as a single information processing device.

[0162] It is also possible to create one or more computer programs for causing hardware such as a CPU, ROM, and RAM built into the remote information transmission device 12, the intra-airport information transmission device 13, the voice switching device 14, the control console 15, the remote side radio transmission device 42, or the airport side radio transmission device 52 to perform the functions of the remote information transmission device 12, the intra-airport information transmission device 13, the voice switching device 14, the control console 15, the remote side radio transmission device 42, or the airport side radio transmission device 52. Also provided is a computer-readable storage medium having the one or more computer programs stored therein. [Explanation of symbols]

[0163] 1. Airport facilities 11. Air Traffic Control System 12 Remote information transmission device 125 Delay measurement unit 13. Airport information transmission equipment 133 Delay Adjustment Unit 15 Control console 152 Delay time adjustment switch 155 Right audio output section 156 Left audio output section 16 Audio output terminal 17 Airport satellite signal receiver 2 Facilities in remote government offices 4 Remote Radio Equipment 41 Remote Radio 42 Remote radio transmission device 43 Remote satellite signal receiver 5 Airport radio equipment 6 IP lines 7 4W analog private line 8 aircraft

Claims

1. a first receiving unit that receives time information and first audio information through a digital transmission path; a second receiving unit that receives second audio information through an analog transmission path; an output control unit that controls an output of audio so as to output a first audio corresponding to the first audio information and a second audio corresponding to the second audio information delayed according to the time information; An information processing system comprising:

2. The information processing system further includes a delay information acquisition unit that acquires delay time information that indicates a delay time from a reference time to a time indicated by the time information, the output control unit controls an output of the audio so as to delay and output the second audio according to the delay time represented by the delay time information acquired by the delay information acquisition unit. The information processing system according to claim 1 .

3. The information processing system includes: a buffer unit that stores the time information and the first audio information received by the first receiving unit and then outputs the stored information, The delay information acquisition unit acquires the delay time information by using the time information output by the buffer unit. The information processing system according to claim 2 .

4. The information processing system further includes a storage unit that is a circular buffer that stores the second audio information received by the second receiving unit in a storage area indicated by a pointer whose reference destination is circular; the output control unit delays the second sound by outputting second sound information stored in a past storage area corresponding to the delay time, counting from the current storage area indicated by the pointer, out of the plurality of pieces of second sound information stored in the storage unit; The information processing system according to claim 3 .

5. the first audio information and the second audio information are audio information representing the same audio, the audio information being based on a signal wirelessly transmitted by the same aircraft; The information processing system according to claim 1 .

6. The time indicated by the time information is a time included in a signal received from a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) satellite. The information processing system according to claim 2 .

7. The time indicated by the time information and the reference time are indicated by a 1 PPS (Pulse Per Second) signal based on a signal received from the GNSS satellite.

7. The information processing system according to claim 6.

8. The output control unit delays the second audio information according to the time information based on an operation by a user of an output destination of the audio. The information processing system according to claim 1 .

9. The information processing system further includes a plurality of audio output units configured to output the audio to a user who is an output destination of the audio, The audio output unit outputs the first audio and the second audio to different audio output units. The information processing system according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. The information processing system according to claim 9 , wherein the audio output unit outputs only the audio operated by the user out of the audio corresponding to the first audio information or the audio corresponding to the second audio based on the operation by the user.

11. a first receiving unit that receives time information and first audio information through a digital transmission path; a second receiving unit that receives second audio information through an analog transmission path; an output control unit that controls an output of audio so as to output a first audio corresponding to the first audio information and a second audio corresponding to the second audio information delayed according to the time information; An information processing device comprising:

12. receiving time information and first audio information through a digital transmission path; receiving second audio information through an analog transmission path; controlling an output of audio so as to output a first audio corresponding to the first audio information and a second audio corresponding to the second audio information delayed according to the time information; An information processing method implemented by a computer.

13. Computer, a first receiving unit that receives time information and first audio information through a digital transmission path; a second receiving unit that receives second audio information through an analog transmission path; an output control unit that controls an output of audio so as to output a first audio corresponding to the first audio information and a second audio corresponding to the second audio information delayed according to the time information; A program that functions as a

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