program

Abstract

This makes it possible to accurately identify the parts of the meeting where changes occurred. [Solution] The program causes the computer to perform the following actions: monitor the status of multiple users participating in a web conference; identify a period during which a predetermined first state persists for the multiple users; identify the period as the first period if its length is greater than or equal to a threshold; and display the first period and other periods within the period during which the web conference was held in a way that allows for distinction.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a program for grasping the states of a plurality of users participating in a web conference.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, techniques for grasping the states of participants in a web conference have been known. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for acquiring, as time-series information, information regarding the presence or absence of speech, information obtained by quantifying personal feelings, and information indicating the degree of activation of a discussion. Patent Document 2 discloses a control program for calculating the degree of activation of a conference based on the degree of activation of participants calculated for each time zone. Patent Document 3 discloses a technique for extracting, in time series, respective feature amounts of voice and / or video (and / or biological data, etc.) in which a conference is recorded, and calculating the degree of excitement of the conference as a time series along with the progress of the conference.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Patent Document 3

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, in any of the above-described conventional techniques, although each participant throughout the entire conference (or a selected part thereof) is evaluated, it is not known in which part of the entire conference a change has occurred. Therefore, a technique for grasping a part in which a change has occurred in the entire conference, for example, an exciting part (a sense of unity), is desired.

[0005] This disclosure provides a program that allows for the accurate identification of the parts of the conference where changes occurred, such as the most exciting moments. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] A program according to one embodiment of this disclosure is a program that causes a computer to perform operations including monitoring the status of multiple users participating in a web conference, identifying a period during which a predetermined first state persists for the multiple users, identifying the period as the first period if the length of the period is greater than or equal to a threshold, and displaying the first period and other periods within the period during which the web conference was held in a distinguishable manner. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to one embodiment of this disclosure, it becomes possible to accurately grasp the parts of the meeting in which changes occur, such as the parts that become more exciting (observation of a sense of unity). Furthermore, once it becomes possible to observe this sense of unity, it becomes possible to provide feedback on the control timing and control effects for fostering that sense of unity. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] [Figure 1] This is a block diagram illustrating this disclosure. [Figure 2] This is a flowchart illustrating an example of how the program works. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009] The embodiments will be described below.

[0010] As shown in Figure 1, the system 1 according to this embodiment comprises a terminal device 10 and a server 20. The terminal device 10 is a computer such as a PC (Personal Computer), smartphone, or tablet terminal. The system 1 may have any number of terminal devices 10. The server 20 includes one or multiple computers that can communicate with each other. Each terminal device 10 and the server 20 can communicate via a network 30, such as the Internet. The system 1 according to this embodiment functions as a system that provides web conferencing. In one example, a user can participate in a web conference using the terminal device 10. The server 20 can start a web conference and allow each user who has requested to participate using the terminal device 10 to join the web conference.

[0011] A program according to one embodiment of this disclosure is a program that causes a server 20 to perform operations including monitoring the status of multiple users participating in a web conference, identifying a period during which a predetermined first state persists for the multiple users, identifying the period as the first period if the length of the period is greater than or equal to a threshold, and displaying the first period and other periods within the period during which the web conference was held in a distinguishable manner. The program of this disclosure may also assign an identifier to the first period.

[0012] First, the program in this disclosure includes causing the server 20 to monitor the status of multiple users participating in a web conference and to identify the period during which a predetermined first state persists for the multiple users. Here, the first state can be defined as a state in which the score calculated from the state of discussion in the web conference is above a predetermined threshold. This is because it allows for accurate identification of the parts of the meeting in which changes have occurred. The threshold may be predetermined from past data or determined from data measured in real time during the meeting. Furthermore, if the duration of the period during which this first state persists is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold (time), the aforementioned period is designated as the first period.

[0013] The score is an evaluation value indicating the degree of integration, and may be an evaluation value calculated based on at least one of elements (parameters) such as the expression, emotion, speaking time, or speaking frequency of each user.

[0014] The score is calculated, for example, every predetermined time (e.g., every minute). Any method can be adopted for calculating the score. For example, when conditions such as the number of speakers being equal to or more than a predetermined threshold (e.g., half), the speaking time being longer than a predetermined standard, the change in expression or emotion being more significant than a predetermined standard, or the number of speakers or the number of speaking times being more than a predetermined standard are satisfied, the score may be determined to be higher compared to other cases.

[0015] Also, the threshold value of the score for determining the first state may be arbitrarily determined. For a specific example, the threshold value may be determined to be higher than the score when only one of the above four conditions is satisfied and lower than the score when two or more conditions are satisfied.

[0016] In addition, the program in the present disclosure may further include a step of displaying the identifier on a seek bar indicating the reproduction position of the video or audio on a screen for reproducing the video or audio of a web conference, for example.

[0017] Next, the configuration of each element included in the system 1 will be described in detail.

[0018] As shown in FIG. 1, the terminal device 10 includes a communication unit 11, an imaging unit 12, an audio collection unit 13, an input / output unit 14, a storage unit 15, and a control unit 16.

[0019] The communication unit 11 includes one or more communication interfaces for connecting to the network 30. The communication interface corresponds to a mobile communication standard such as 4G (4th Generation) or 5G (5th Generation), for example, but is not limited thereto and may correspond to any communication standard. In the present embodiment, the terminal device 10 communicates with the server 20 via the communication unit 11 and the network 30. Further, the communication unit 11 may further include a communication interface corresponding to a short-range wireless communication standard such as infrared communication or Bluetooth (registered trademark).

[0020] The imaging unit 12 includes one or more input interfaces, and such input interfaces include a camera for capturing an imaging image.

[0021] The voice collection unit 13 includes one or more input interfaces, and such input interfaces include a microphone for receiving voice input.

[0022] The input / output unit 14 includes one or more input devices for inputting information and one or more output devices for outputting information. The input devices are, for example, physical keys, capacitive keys, mice, touch panels, touch screens, etc., but are not limited thereto. The output devices are, for example, a display for outputting information as video, or a speaker for outputting information as sound, etc., but are not limited thereto. Alternatively, the input / output unit 14 may include an interface for connecting an external input device or output device.

[0023] The storage unit 15 includes one or more memories. The memories are, for example, semiconductor memories, magnetic memories, or optical memories, but are not limited to these. Each memory included in the storage unit 15 may function as, for example, a main memory, an auxiliary memory, or a cache memory. The storage unit 15 stores any information used for the operation of the terminal device 10. For example, the storage unit 15 may store system programs and application programs. In this embodiment, the storage unit 15 can further store data collected by monitoring the status of multiple users participating in a web conference, data that distinguishes and displays the first period and other periods, such as the identifier.

[0024] The control unit 16 includes one or more processors, one or more programmable circuits, one or more dedicated circuits, or a combination thereof. The processor is a general-purpose processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), or a dedicated processor specialized for a specific process, but is not limited to these. The programmable circuit is an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), but is not limited to this. The dedicated circuit is an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), but is not limited to this. The control unit 16 controls the operation of the entire terminal device 10.

[0025] As shown in Figure 1, the server 20 comprises a communication unit 21, a storage unit 22, and a control unit 23.

[0026] The communication unit 21 includes one or more communication interfaces connected to the network 30. These communication interfaces may support, for example, mobile communication standards, wired LAN (Local Area Network) standards, or wireless LAN standards, but are not limited to these and may support any communication standard. In this embodiment, the server 20 communicates with the communication unit 11 of the terminal device 10 via the communication unit 21 and the network 30.

[0027] The storage unit 22 includes one or more memories. Each memory included in the storage unit 22 may function as, for example, a main memory, an auxiliary memory, or a cache memory. The storage unit 22 stores any information used for the operation of the server 20. For example, the storage unit 22 may store system programs, application programs, embedded software, and databases. In this embodiment, the storage unit 22 can also store data collected by monitoring the status of multiple users participating in a web conference, data that distinguishes and displays the first period from other periods, such as the identifier.

[0028] The control unit 23 includes one or more processors, one or more programmable circuits, one or more dedicated circuits, or a combination thereof. The control unit 23 controls the operation of the entire server 20.

[0029] Next, the operation of the program according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Figure 2.

[0030] Figure 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of program operation in this embodiment. Each step is executed by the control unit 23 of the server 20, based on instructions (which may be automatically repeated) from a terminal device 10 operated by an operator.

[0031] In S100, the control unit 23 monitors the status of multiple users participating in the web conference. The monitored data is collected using at least one of the imaging unit 12 or the sound collection unit 13 of the terminal device 10.

[0032] In S101, the control unit 23 uses the monitored data to determine the duration of the first state.

[0033] In S102, the control unit 23 determines whether the length of the specified duration is greater than or equal to a threshold. If it is determined to be greater than or equal to the threshold (S102-Yes), the process proceeds to S103. On the other hand, if it is determined that the length of the specified duration is less than the threshold (S102-No), the process terminates.

[0034] In S103, if it is determined in S102 that the value is above the threshold (S102-Yes), the control unit 23 identifies the specified duration as the first period.

[0035] In S104, the control unit 23 displays the first period in a way that distinguishes it from other periods within the period during which the web conference was held. This distinguished first period is displayed on the terminal device 10, for example, using the input / output unit 14 of the terminal device 10.

[0036] In S105, the control unit 23 can assign an identifier to the first period. The data to which such an identifier is assigned is displayed on the terminal device 10 together with the seek bar, for example, using the input / output unit 14 of the terminal device 10.

[0037] As described above, embodiments of this disclosure have been explained based on the drawings and examples, but the configuration of the terminal device 10 and server 20 used in this disclosure, as shown in Figure 1, can be used without any particular problems with known configurations up to now. In other words, a person skilled in the art can easily make various modifications and alterations, including such configurations, based on the entirety of this disclosure. Therefore, it should be noted that these modifications and alterations are included in the scope of this disclosure. For example, the functions, etc., included in each means, each step, etc., can be rearranged in a way that is not logically contradictory, and multiple means, steps, etc., can be combined into one or divided as appropriate.

[0038] Furthermore, it is also possible to use a general-purpose computer as the server 20 according to the above-described embodiment. Specifically, a program describing the processing content that realizes each function of the server 20 according to the above-described embodiment is stored in the memory of the general-purpose computer, and the processor reads and executes the program. Therefore, this disclosure can also be realized as a program that can be executed by a processor, or as a non-temporary computer-readable medium that stores said program. [Explanation of symbols]

[0039] 1. Information Processing System 10 Terminal devices 11 Communications Department 12 Imaging Unit 13. Sound Collection Unit 14 Input / output section 15 Storage section 16 Control Unit 20 servers 21 Communications Department 22 Memory section 23 Control Unit 30 Networks

Claims

1. Monitoring the status of multiple users participating in a web conference. To identify the period during which a predetermined first state persists for the aforementioned multiple users, If the length of the aforementioned period is greater than or equal to a threshold, the aforementioned period is designated as the first period, and The period during which the aforementioned web conference was held should be clearly distinguishable between the first period and other periods. A program that causes a computer to perform an action that includes [a specific action].

2. The program according to claim 1, wherein the first state is a state in which the score of the discussion in the web conference is equal to or greater than a threshold.

3. The program according to claim 2, wherein the score is an evaluation value indicating the degree of unity, and is calculated based on at least one element (parameter) from each user's facial expression, emotion, speaking time, or speaking frequency.

4. Furthermore, an identifier is assigned to the first period. The program according to claim 1, which causes a computer to execute the following.

Images