JPH03143152A - Video telephone system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To stop the transmission of voice during the transmission of image and to transmit and receive the good image by performing a radio communication between a slave equipment for performing a voice speech and a slave equipment for performing an image communication and a master equipment connected to a public telephone line. CONSTITUTION:Voice speech is performed by a radio communication between a master equipment 2 and a first slave equipment 3 similarly to a conventional cordless telephone. When an image is transmitted from a second slave equipment 4, a carrier sensing is performed between the master equipment 2 and it. After a free channel is recognized and an ID code is checked, a communication path is formed. When the master equipment 2 receives radio wave from the second slave equipment 4, it transmits a transmission stop signal for stopping the transmission of voice from the slave equipment 3. Thus, the first slave equipment 3 stops the transmission of a voice signal.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a video telephone device that wirelessly transmits and receives audio and images via a base unit connected to a single line.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a conventional video telephone device described, for example, in the September 1989 issue of TV Technology "Details of the TTC Taimei Video Telephone". In the figure, (4) is a line terminal for connecting to a public line; (5) is a telephone terminal for connecting an external telephone, (8) is an AC adapter terminal, (
37) is an operation section of the videophone device, (38) is a central control section that controls the entire system, (: (9) is an image control section that controls image information according to commands from the central control section (38), (40) ) is a monitor that displays images, (41) is a video camera, (42) is an image memory unit that stores images, (43) is a demodulation timing creation unit that creates a timing clock for demodulation, and (44) is the TTC standard. A modulation/demodulation unit (4S) that modulates and demodulates image information based on
) is the power supply section.

In addition, FIGS. 9 and 10 are for example electronics E
This is a diagram showing the main configuration of the base unit (Figure 9) and slave unit (Figure 10) of the conventional cordless telephone shown in the December 1987 issue. In Figure 2, (1) is the telephone line; (10) )
2 interfaces between the wireless communication system and the wired communication system.
A station line interface section consisting of a 4-wire conversion circuit, a balance circuit, etc., (11) and (21) are transmitting/receiving AF sections, (12) and (22) are transmitting sections, (13) and (
23) is a receiving section, (14) and (24) are synthesizer sections that oscillate signals corresponding to the transmitting and receiving frequencies, (15) and (25) are transmitting/receiving common sections that share the transmitting and receiving antenna, (16) ) and (26) are antennas,
(17) and (28) are a power supply section, (1111) and (29) are a control section, (20a) and (20b) are a transmitter and a receiver, and (27) is an atyle section.

Next, the operation of the video telephone device shown in FIG. 8 will be explained. Connect a public telephone line to the line terminal (4) and an external telephone to the telephone terminal (5). A voice call is sent from the external telephone to the line terminal (4) via the telephone terminal (5) and the network control section (45). Furthermore, the voice signal from the iTt conversation partner is sent to the external telephone via the line terminal (4), network control section (45), and telephone terminal (5) in the reverse path to that used for transmission. On the other hand, when transmitting one image signal, connect a commercial power source to the AC adapter terminal (6) via an AC adapter, and operate the operation section (37) to supply the necessary power to each block from the power supply section 46). supply Then, the operation section (3
When an instruction is given to send out an image through the operation 7), the central control unit (38) detects this and sends the image data stored in the one-image memory unit (4z) to the modulation/demodulation unit (44), and performs network control. The signal is sent to the line terminal (4) via the section (45).

In addition, when receiving one image signal, the signals from the four lines enter the line terminal (4), are synchronously detected and demodulated by the modulation/demodulation section (44) and the demodulation timing generation section (43), and then sent to the central control section (38). , the image memory section (via the image control section (39)
42), the image data of the other party is stored and then displayed on the monitor.

In addition, images taken with a video camera (4I) are A/I
) After being converted, the image is stored in the image memory section (42) via the two-image control section (39) and displayed on the monitor (41) one after another.

Note that when the transmission and reception of one image is completed, the network control unit (45) restores voice communication.

Next, the operation of the cordless telephone will be explained based on FIG. 9 and FIG. 10. When an outgoing or incoming call is made, carrier sense is performed between the parent Ja (FIG. 9) and the handset (FIG. 1G). As a result, an empty channel is confirmed, an ID code is verified, and then a communication path is established. The voice signal of the other party from the public telephone line (1) passes through the office line interface section (10), the transmitting/receiving AF section (11), and then to the transmitting section (12).
The fundamental frequency of the synthesizer section (14) is FM-modulated in the transmitting section (12) to produce a transmission wave, and the transmitted wave is transmitted from the antenna (16) to the handset via the transmitting/receiving section (15). The handset uses an antenna (26
), the received wave is input to the receiving section (23) via the transmitting/receiving section (25), the receiving section (23) demodulates the received signal of the frequency set by the synthesizer section (24), and transmitting/receiving. The sound is heard from the receiver (20b) via the AF section (21). The audio signal from the transmitter (20a) is transmitted/received AF
The signal is input to the transmitting section (22) via the transmitting section (21), and the transmitting section (
22) converts the fundamental frequency from the synthesizer section (24) to F.
M modulates. The modulated wave is transmitted from the antenna (26) to the base unit via the transmitting/receiving unit (25). In the base unit, the transmitted wave from the slave unit is received by the antenna (I6), and the received wave is input to the receiving unit (13) via the transmitting/receiving unit (■5). The received signal of the frequency set in > is FM demodulated and sent to the public telephone line (1) via the transmitting/receiving AF section (11) and the central office line interface section (10). Power is supplied to each block, and the entire block is controlled by a control unit (18).In addition, in the handset, the destination is specified with the dial (27), and power is supplied to each block by the power unit (28). The entire system is controlled by a control section (29).

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Conventional videophone equipment and cordless telephones are configured as described above, so the videophone equipment requires connection to a public line and a regular telephone, and a cordless telephone is used instead of a regular telephone. In some cases, there was a problem in that the movement range of the handset was significantly restricted due to the connection between the videophone device and the base unit of the cordless telephone.This invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems. It can be transferred to white meat and used,
The purpose of the present invention is to obtain a video telephone device capable of transmitting and receiving high-quality images.

[Means to solve the problem]

The videophone device according to the present invention includes a base unit connected to a public telephone line, a first slave unit that transmits and receives control signals such as dial signals and audio signals to and from the base unit wirelessly, and and a second slave unit that transmits and receives image signals, and controls the first slave unit to stop transmitting while the base unit is receiving signals from the second slave unit. It is something.

[Effect]

The video telephone device of the present invention wirelessly transmits and receives control signals such as dial signals and transmits and receives voice signals to and from a base unit and a first handset connected to a public telephone line. Main unit and second unit
Image signals are transmitted and received wirelessly between the second slave unit, and while the second slave unit is transmitting image signals, the base unit sends a control signal to stop the audio signal to the first slave unit. This signal causes the handset to stop transmitting audio signals. Then, upon detecting the end of image signal transmission from the second slave unit, the base unit transmits a control signal to resume transmission to the first slave unit.

〔Example〕

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the system configuration of the videophone device according to the first invention, and in Fig. 2, (1) is a public telephone line, and (2) is a fixed part connected to the public telephone line (1). The base unit (3) is a first slave unit that is a mobile unit that transmits and receives control signals such as dial signals and audio signals wirelessly with the base unit (2), and (4) is the first handset that transmits and receives control signals such as dial signals and audio signals wirelessly with the base unit (2). This is a second handset which is a portable unit that transmits and receives image signals.

Figures 2 and 3 show the main unit (2) and first child R (3) in Figure 1.
) is a diagram showing details of. In the figure, (50) is a handset control unit that controls the transmission of the audio signal of the first handset; (
51) is a control unit that controls the entire base unit including control of the slave unit control unit (50); (52) is a transmission control unit provided in the slave unit (3) that controls the transmission of audio signals; (53) ) is a control unit that controls the entire first slave unit (3) including control of the transmission control unit (52). In FIGS. 2 and 3, parts that are the same as or corresponding to those in the prior art are denoted by the same reference numerals, and explanations thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing details of the handset (4) in FIG. 2 of FIG. 1. In FIG. 34) is a synthesizer section, (35) is a transmitting/receiving common section, (36) is an antenna, (54) is a control section, and (55) is a power supply section. (3
7) and (39) to (44) are the same as the conventional technique, so their explanation will be omitted.

Further, FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing control when the base unit (2) receives an image signal from the second child fi (4). FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram thereof. Next, Figure 1~
Parents explaining the operation based on Figure 6! (2) The first handset (3) and the second handset (4) have the same identification code (hereinafter referred to as ID code) for identification. Voice calls are carried out by wireless communication between the base unit (2) and the first handset (3), similar to conventional cordless telephones. When transmitting an image from the second child 4ffi (4), first turn on the power using the operation unit (37), and first the parent R (
2), a communication path is established after carrier sensing is performed to confirm an empty channel and ID code verification is performed.

When an instruction is given to send an image from the operation unit (37), the control unit (37)
54) detects this and sends the image data stored in the image memory section (42) to the modulation/demodulation section (44) via the image control section (39) to obtain one image signal. This image signal passes through the transmitter/receiver AF section (3), then goes to the transmitter (32), where the synthesizer section (34) performs FM modulation (this oscillation wave is FM-modulated, and the transmitter/receiver common section (
35) and is transmitted from the antenna. In the base unit (2), radio waves from the second slave unit (4) are received by an antenna (I6), and are input to the receiving unit (I3) via the transmitting/receiving unit (15). When input to the receiving section (13), the control section (5
1) In order to stop audio transmission, the operation is performed according to the flowchart shown in Fig. 5 and the sequence shown in Fig. 6. When it is determined that the received wave is an image signal (step
The control unit (51) operates the handset control unit (50) (
Step 2), the transmitter (12) sends a transmission stop signal (100) to stop the audio transmission of the first child a (3);
It is transmitted from the antenna (I6) via the transmitting/receiving unit (15) (step 3). On the other hand, the second
The transmitted wave from the handset (4) is demodulated by the signal from the synthesizer section (14) at the receiving section (13) and becomes an image signal (step 4). This image signal is sent to a public telephone line (1) via a transmission/reception AF section (11) and a central office line interface section (10). When the control unit (51) detects the end of receiving the image signal from the second child a (4) (step 5),
Instructs the handset control unit (50) to transmit a transmission double-open signal (101).

The handset controller (50) transmits a transmission start signal (+01) (step 6), and stops the operation of the handset controller (50) (step 7).

On the other hand, when the control unit (53) detects that the first child R (3) has received the transmission stop signal 'W (100) from the base unit (2), it sends the transmission stop signal 'W' (100) to the transmission control unit (52). -Give instructions.

As a result, the transmission control unit (52) operates and the first slave unit (
3) stops transmitting the audio signal. In addition, the second handset (
4) finishes transmitting the image, a transmission start signal (lot) is transmitted from the base unit (2), so the first slave unit (3) receives this transmission start signal (101) and controls the control unit (53). ), the control unit (53) instructs the transmission control unit (52) to resume transmission. Based on this instruction, the transmission control unit (52)
is activated and □Voice transmission can be resumed.

Next, a case will be described in which an image signal is received from the public telephone line (1). The image signal from the public telephone 4-wire (1) is sent to the 1-station line interface section (10), the transmission/reception AF section (II
), the transmitter (I2) then FM-modulates the synthesizer part (14) with the main oscillation wave to create a transmission wave, and sends it to the transmitter/receiver unit (
I5) and is transmitted from the antenna (16). This transmitted wave is received by the antenna (36) of the second handset (4), passes through the transmitting/receiving unit (35), and is converted into an image signal by the main oscillation wave of the synthesizer unit (34) at the receiving unit (33). demodulated. This image signal is further inputted to a modulation/demodulation section (44) via a transmission/reception AF section (31). In the modulation/demodulation unit 04), synchronous detection is performed using the timing clock extracted from the image signal by the demodulation timing generation unit (43), and image data is obtained. This image data is stored in the image memory section (42) via the control section (54)]1+i image control section (39), then read out by the 1 image control section (39) and displayed on the monitor (40).
will be displayed.

In addition, the image taken by the camera (41) is transferred to the image control unit (
After being processed in step 39), the image is stored in the one-image memory section (42), and is sequentially read out and displayed on the monitor (40).

In addition, in the embodiment described in -, the base unit detects the transmission from the second slave unit, transmits an instruction to stop transmission from the base unit to the first slave unit, and stops the audio transmission of the first slave unit. However, the first handset directly receives the signal from the second handset and stops transmitting the audio signal, and then detects that the signal from the second handset is gone. Alternatively, the first slave device may be caused to restart transmission. In addition, reception control is configured to provide a difference in radio frequency between the first handset and the second handset, and to stop receiving the signal from the first handset when the base unit receives the signal from the second handset. Alternatively, a section may be provided to stop reception, detect that the signal from the second handset is lost, and then receive the signal from the first handset. Further, FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an embodiment according to the second invention, and is a block diagram when the functions of the first handset and the second handset of the first invention are combined into one housing. It is something.

In the figure, (60) is a control unit that controls image transmission and reception and controls control signals such as dial signals. The same reference numerals as in the first invention indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Next, the operation will be explained. Assume that sound signals are now being sent and received with the base unit (2). send f5 1'
The 7-voice signal is sent/received by the A/F section (23) and the transmission control section (52).
, the transmitting section (32), and the transmitting/receiving common section (35), and are then transmitted from the antenna (36) to the base unit (2). In addition, the main unit (2
) is received by the antenna (36), passes through the transmitting/receiving unit (35) and the receiving unit (33), and is sent to the transmitting/receiving unit (AF unit).
23). During this time, when the operation unit (37) is operated and an instruction to transmit an image is generated, the control unit (60) detects this and operates the transmission control unit (52) to send an audio signal to the transmission unit (32). stop. Then, the control section (
60) reads out the image data stored in the image memory section (42) via the image control section (39) and transmits it to the modulation/demodulation section (4).
Send to 0. The modulated image signal is sent from the antenna (36) to the base unit (2) via the transmitting unit (32) and the transmitting/receiving unit (35).
sent to. Further, the control unit (60) detects the end of the image data and sends a transmission restart signal to the transmission control unit (52), and upon receiving this, the transmission control unit (52) stops its operation and sends/receives the AF unit (23). ) is sent to the transmitter (32).

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the first invention, the handset that performs voice calls and the handset that performs image communication communicate wirelessly with the base unit connected to the public telephone exit line, so the handset is placed in the mouth. It is possible to communicate while moving, and since the transmission of the sound P is stopped when transmitting one image, it is possible to transmit and receive good images.

Further, according to the second invention, the functions of the handset for transmitting and receiving images and the handset for transmitting and receiving audio are combined into one handset, which has the effect of making movement even more noticeable.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the system configuration of a cordless video telephone device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the base unit of the device, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the first child of the device for voice communication. Figure 4 is a block diagram of the device, Figure 4 is a diagram of the second slave unit that performs image communication, Figure 5 is a flowchart showing the control of the parent unit during image communication, and Figure 6 is a flowchart showing the control of the base unit during image communication. 7 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the second invention, FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a conventional video telephone device, FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a base unit of a conventional cordless telephone device, and FIG. is a block diagram of a slave unit of the same device. (1)...Public telephone line, (2)...Base phone, (3)
...First slave unit, (4)...Second slave unit, (10)
...Station line interface section, (11), (21)
, (31)...transmission/reception AF section, (12), (22
), (32)...transmission section, (13), (23),
(33)...receiving section, (14), (24). (34).../Synthesizer section, (15), (25)
, (35)...Sending/receiving common part, (16), (26),
(36)...Antenna, (37)...Operation unit (3
9)...Image control unit, (40)...Monitor, (
41)...Camera (42)...Both image memory section, (
43)... Demodulation timing creation section, (44)...
Modulation/demodulation section, (17), (2g), (55)...power supply section. (20a)...Telephone receiver, (20b)...Telephone receiver,
(27)...dial part, (51), (53),
(54), (60)...Control unit, (10G)...
Transmission stop signal, (101)...Transmission restart signal.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a videophone device connected to a public telephone line and transmitting and receiving audio and images, a base unit connected to the public telephone line,
It consists of a first handset that transmits and receives dial signals and audio to the base unit wirelessly, and a second slave unit that transmits and receives images to and from the base unit wirelessly, and the base unit is the second slave unit. 1. A video telephone device, characterized in that the video telephone device performs control to stop audio transmission from the first handset while receiving a signal from the first handset. (2) The videophone device according to claim 1, wherein the functions of the first handset and the second handset are housed in the same housing.