JPH0447789A - video phone system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To display a pattern with information added thereto onto a display device of a television telephone set and to attain automatic dialing through the use of the added information by storing one frame in a moving picture during talking as a still picture and adding the information to recognize the opposite party to the still picture. CONSTITUTION:A moving picture data is inputted from a color data output line 6 via a frame memory bus 12 and a picture data by one frame is stored in a frame memory 8. Upon the input of additional information such as a telephone number the name of an opposite party by using an operation key 15, a control section 11 reads a data in the frame memory 8 via the frame memory bus 12 and the entered additional information is added to the data and the result is recorded on a magnetic disk device 13. In this case, plural picture data such as faces of opposite parties being preceding talking parties are displayed simultaneously on a display device of the television telephone set and automatic dialing is attained by selecting a party from them. Thus, the television telephone set offering operation convenience is realized in which the picture data of the preceding talking parties is utilized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a chimpan telephone system that performs automatic dialing using pre-stored image information of a specific calling party.

[Conventional technology]

A conventional videophone that communicates video and audio at the same time is described, for example, in Video Information (I) (September 1988), pages 49 to 54. The configuration of this videophone will be explained using FIG. 5. The basic components of the videophone include a video section 106 for handling moving images, an audio section 116 for handling audio, and operation keys 120 for making calls and controlling video and audio.

The video unit 105 includes a camera 101 that photographs the face of the caller.
and a display 109 for displaying the image sent from the other party are respectively a video signal 102 and a display signal 1.
26. A receiver 110 for inputting and outputting audio is connected to the audio section 116 via an audio signal 115. In addition, in order to talk while leaving the handset on, a speaker 111 and a microphone 112 are connected to the audio section 1, respectively.
16 is connected to an audio signal 114 and an audio signal 115.

Since the videophone communicates through the 15DI line 108, which has a limited data transmission rate, it is not possible to send video and audio simultaneously unless the amount of data to be transmitted is reduced.

Therefore, the video unit 103 includes the video encoding/decoding unit 10.
5 is connected by the decoded video signal 104, and the audio section 1
16 is the audio signal 1 decoded by the audio encoding/decoding unit 118.
17. Video encoding/decoding section 10
5 encodes the video signal data to generate encoded video signal 1.
061, l5DI communication line interface 10
Enter 7. The audio encoding/decoding unit 118 encodes the audio signal and outputs the encoded audio signal 119,
I input to the communication line interface 107. The operation keys 120 are used to specify various operations such as making a call, displaying a video, inputting and outputting audio, etc., and are inputted to the control unit 122 via a key output signal 121.
To control the line, a video control signal 125 is input to the video encoding/decoding unit 105, an audio control signal 124 is input to the audio encoding/decoding unit 118, and a line control signal 123 is input to the audio encoding/decoding unit 118.
Input to QISDN communication circuit interface 107.

l5DI (The communication line interface 107 multiplexes the encoded video signal 106, encoded audio signal 119, and line control signal 125tl and outputs it to the l5DI line 108. On the other hand, at the time of reception, the multiplexed signal input from the l5DI line 108 is l5DI communication line interface 10
7, the encoded video signal 106 and encoded audio signal 119 are separated, the video encoder/decoder 105 decodes the encoded video signal and outputs the decoded video signal 104t-, and the video unit 105 outputs a display signal. Display 10 on 1261
9 and display the moving image on the display 109. On the other hand, in the audio encoding/decoding section 118, the encoded audio signal 1
19 and outputs a decoded audio signal 117, and the audio section 116 outputs the input decoded audio signal 117 to the receiver 1.
10 or a speaker 111 via an audio signal 115 and an audio signal 114.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the above-mentioned conventional technology, the image data is only displayed on the display during the call, and there is no consideration of using it after the call ends.The present invention stores one frame of the video image during the call as a still image. Furthermore, by adding information for recognizing all the other parties to the memorized screen, displaying the screen with the added information on the display of the videophone anytime later, and further using the added information. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a videophone system capable of automatic dialing. Furthermore, the present invention displays a screen with a plurality of different information added on one display, and by selecting one of them,
The purpose is to automatically dial in response to the selected screen. A further object of the present invention is to enable the user to memorize which frame of still image to memorize from among the moving images during a call without the user having to be conscious of it. A further object of the present invention is to make it possible to store screens corresponding to more call parties.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention provides: - a first storage means for storing an image of a frame; a means for instructing the timing of storing the image in the first storage means; means for adding corresponding information; second storage means for storing a plurality of screens to which information has been added; means for reading out the plurality of screens stored in the second storage means and displaying them simultaneously on a display; The system is provided with means for selecting one of a plurality of screens displayed on the display, and means for automatically dialing using additional information corresponding to the selected screen.

Also, a still image of one frame from the video during a call can be displayed.
In order to automatically store data in ji', means is provided for automatically generating the timing for storing data in the first storage means such that one frame immediately before the end of the call is stored.

In addition, in order to be able to store screens corresponding to more call parties, the second storage means stores compressed data using means for compressing screen data, and the compressed screen data is stored in the second storage means. The device is provided with means for decompressing the data read from the second storage means for display on the display. Further, in order to achieve this objective, only the luminance data of the color data is used as one frame of image data to be stored in the first storage means, and only the monochrome data is stored.

[Effect]

Since the first storage means can store one frame as a still image from a moving image of the other party during a call, the stored data can be used even after the call ends. The means for instructing the timing to store in the first storage means selects which one of the moving images of the other party during the call.
The user can arbitrarily decide whether to store the frame as a still image. By adding information corresponding to the screen stored in the first storage means, the stored still images can be classified and searched later using the information, and furthermore, can be used as data for automatic dialing. . Since the second storage means can store a plurality of screens to which information has been added, it becomes a database for displaying the plurality of screens on the display after searching for the plurality of screen data. By reading the plurality of screens stored in the second storage means and displaying them simultaneously on the display, the plurality of screens can be viewed simultaneously on one display.

The means for selecting one from a plurality of screens displayed on the display allows the user to arbitrarily select a screen corresponding to one destination. By means of automatic dialing using additional information corresponding to the selected screen, the user can automatically dial a specific destination simply by selecting the screen.

In addition, the timing for storing in the first storage means is automatically generated so as to store one frame immediately before the end of the call, so that the user can freeze one frame from the video image of the other party during the call. A still image of the other party can be automatically stored in the first storage means at the end of a call without specifying the timing for storing the image.

Further, by means of compressing the screen data stored in the second storage means, more screen data can be stored in the second storage means. Furthermore, the compressed screen data can be expanded to the original still image data and displayed on the display by the means for decompressing the data read from the second storage means. In addition, by using only the luminance data of the color data as one frame of image data to be stored in the first storage means, the amount of data to be stored is reduced compared to the color data. Since the amount of data stored per screen is also reduced, more screens can be stored.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. C.O.
An image photographed by the D camera 1 is input to a video circuit 3 via a video signal 2.

The video circuit 5 and the 15DN communication line interface 4 are connected to the image data line 5. A color data output line 6 output from the video circuit 3 is input to a display control section 7 and a frame memory 8. Display data 9 output from the display control section 7 is input to the display 10. The frame memory 8 and the control section 11 are connected to a frame memory bus 12. The magnetic disk device 13 is connected to the control section 11 by a magnetic disk bus 14 . The operation key 15 is connected to the control unit 11 by the operation signal 16.
A display control signal 17 outputted from the display control section 1 is connected to the display control section 7 . The handset 18 is connected to the telephone circuit 2 via a call signal 19.
Telephone control signal 2 output from the control unit 11 connected to
1 is connected to the telephone circuit 20. A dial signal 23 output from the dial key 22 is connected to a telephone circuit 20. Telephone circuit 20 and I5I)N communication line interface 4 are connected to telephone signal line 24 . The l5DN communication circuit interface 4 is connected to the l5DN communication line 25. Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. dial key 2
The dial information input from 2 is input to the telephone circuit 20 via the dial signal 25.

Voice input from the receiver 18 is manually input to the telephone circuit 20 via the call signal 19. The telephone circuit 20 encodes the voice input from the call signal 19 and converts it into a dial signal 2.
The dial information input from 6 and the encoded voice are input to the 15DN communication line interface 4 via the telephone signal line 24t-.

On the other hand, a video image taken by the COD camera 1 is output as a video signal 2 and input to a video circuit 5.

The video circuit 5 compresses and encodes the video data input from the video signal 2, and inputs the encoded image data to the rsDN communication line interface 4 via the image data line 5. The l5DN communication line interface 4 multiplexes the dial information and encoded voice input from the telephone signal line 24, and the encoded image data manually input from the image data line 5, and sends them to the l5DN communication line 25. , the encoded voice and encoded image data are sent from the other party via the l5DN communication line 25 to the l5DN.
It is input to the communication line interface 4. The l5DN communication line interface 4 separates audio and image data,
The encoded voice is output to the telephone signal line 24, and the encoded image data is output to the image data line 5. The encoded δ voice input to the telephone signal line 24 is decoded by the telephone circuit 20, becomes a voice signal, and passes through the call signal 19.
It is output to the receiver 18. On the other hand, encoded image data inputted to the image data line 5 is decoded and expanded by the video circuit 5, and moving image data is outputted to the color data output line 6. When an operation is performed using the operation key 15 to indicate that the moving image of the other party is to be displayed on the display 10, the control unit 11 is activated by the operation signal 16, and the control unit 11 outputs the color data input to the display control 7 through the color data output line 6. Display control signal 17t- for displaying video data.
It is output to the display control section 7 via the display control section 7. When the display control unit 7 receives a signal from the display control signal 17, it outputs the moving image data input to the color data output line 6 as display data 9 as video data. The display 10 displays the video data input from the display data 9 to display a moving image from the other side.

Next, an operation for storing a moving image of the other party as a still image will be explained. When the timing for storing the frame of the moving image of the other side is inputted using the operation key 15, the timing signal is inputted to the control unit 11 via the operation signal 16. In the control section 11, a write control signal and a frame memory address signal are applied to the frame memory 8 via the frame memory bus 12. At this time, moving image data is input from the color data output line 6 via the frame memory bus 12, and image data for -frames is stored in the frame memory 8. Next, when additional information such as the telephone number 1 and name of the other party is input using the operation key 15, the control unit 11 reads the data from the frame memory 8 via the frame memory bus 12 and adds all of the input additional information. % is stored in the magnetic disk device 13 via the magnetic disk bus.

The magnetic disk 15 used has a capacity sufficient to store a plurality of pieces of image data to which additional information has been added.

Next, the operation of displaying a plurality of images on the display 10 using data stored in the magnetic disk 13 and automatically dialing by selecting one from the plurality of images will be described. When an operation is performed using the operation key 15 to display a plurality of screens of a plurality of parties previously saved on the display 10, the control unit 11 adds a plurality of pieces of additional information from the magnetic disk device 15 via the magnetic disk bus 14. Read the image data. Next, the control section 11 outputs the plurality of image data to the display control section 7 via the display control signal 17 and a signal indicating that the plurality of image data are to be displayed simultaneously on the display 10. The display control unit 7 outputs display data 9 by converting the plurality of input image data into video data, thereby displaying the buisu play 1.
A plurality of still images are displayed on the display screen 0 Next, when an operation is performed using the operation key 15 to select one of the plurality of still images displayed on the viseplay 10, the control unit 11
Then, dialing information for the other party is generated using additional information corresponding to the selected image, and automatic dialing is performed by outputting the dialing information to the telephone circuit 20 via the telephone control signal 21.

According to this embodiment, by using the image information and additional information of the other party stored in the magnetic disk device 13, it is possible to automatically dial by simply selecting the other party's screen displayed on the display 10. You can check the face of the other party before making a videophone call. Furthermore, by inputting search information using the operation keys 15, image information can be read from the magnetic disk 15 based on the search information, so information from a plurality of parties can be managed. Further, the magnetic disk 13 of this embodiment may be any non-volatile storage device that retains information even after a videophone call is ended, for example.

An optical disk, an IC card, or a floppy disk device may be used. By using a portable storage medium such as an IC card or a floppy disk, destination information can be managed individually for each user. Further, the operation keys 15 may be anything that can be used as a means for selecting the information input means 1, such as a manual key, a mouse, a light pen, or a trackball. Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, additional information added to the screens of the other parties may be displayed on the screen that displays a plurality of screens of the other parties on the display 10. Further, the additional information and the other party's screen may be displayed in combination.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described using FIG. 2. In addition to the first embodiment of the present invention, the 15DN communication line 4 outputs a call end signal 28 and inputs it to the control unit 11. The video data input to the frame memory 8 is connected to the color data output line 6 output from the video circuit 3 to the delay circuit 2.
In this embodiment, at the end of a call, a signal delayed by l5 is provided via delayed color data line 27.
A call end signal 28 informing that the call has ended is input from the DN communication line interface 4 to the control unit 11. When the call end signal 28 is input, the control unit 11 sends the frame memory bus 12 to the frame memory 8. Give address and write signals through. At this time, the data to be written into the frame memory 8 is supplied with delayed color data outputted from the delay circuit 26 from the delayed color data line 27.

When the call ends, the input of image data from the other party also ends, but since the data on the color data output line 6 is delayed by the delay circuit 26, the data is not stored until the control unit 11 outputs the write signal to the frame memory 8. - In order to retain the time, the frame memory 8 can store the screen immediately before the end of the call. According to this embodiment, the user can automatically store the destination screen without having to input any operation keys to determine the timing for storing the destination screen.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described using FIG. 3. In FIG. 5, the same components as in FIG. 1 are indicated by the same numbers. In this embodiment, the control section 11 and the magnetic disk device 15 were connected by the magnetic disk bus 14 in the first embodiment of the present invention, whereas the control section 11 and the magnetic disk device 13 are connected by compression/expansion. A circuit 29 is provided, and the compression/expansion circuit 29 and the control section 11 are connected to the magnetic disk bus 14a.
and connect the compression/expansion circuit 29 and the magnetic disk device 13.
In this embodiment, a plurality of pieces of image data stored in the magnetic disk device 15 are data compressed by a compression/expansion circuit 29. In addition, the display 101C magnetic disk device 1
When reading data from the magnetic disk device 13 by the control unit 11 when displaying a plurality of screens stored in the computer 3, the compressed image data is transferred to the compression/decompression circuit 29.
Decompress the data and restore it to the original uncompressed data.

According to this embodiment, the data stored in the magnetic disk device 15 is compressed data, so that more data can be stored than in the first embodiment of the present invention, which stores uncompressed data. Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, in contrast to the first embodiment of the present invention, the video data input to the frame memory 8 is output from the video circuit 5 through the color data output line 6't--instead of being manually outputted from the video circuit 3. A luminance signal line 60 that outputs only the luminance signal of the color data
is input to the frame memory 8 as data to be written into the frame memory 8. According to this embodiment, the amount of data stored in the frame memory is monochrome data, whereas it is color data in the first embodiment, and the amount of data is small, so the capacity of the frame memory 8 is reduced. be able to. In addition, since the image data stored in the magnetic disk device 15 is not monochrome data, the amount of data corresponding to one destination is small compared to the first embodiment, and the data of a larger number of destinations can be stored. can do.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, a plurality of 0iiS data such as the face of a callee with whom you have called in the past are simultaneously displayed on the display of the videophone, and automatic dialing can be performed by selecting them. It is possible to provide a videophone system that is easy to use. In addition, the timing at which the image data of the called party is stored in the storage means can be controlled so that the screen immediately before the end of the call is stored, so the screen of the called party is automatically displayed without any specific instructions from the user during communication. Can be memorized.

Furthermore, the amount of data to be stored can be reduced by means of compressing and storing the data when storing it in a storage means that can store a plurality of screens of one call destination, or by storing only the brightness data of the color data. This allows you to store data for more call destinations.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment of the invention. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a conventional TV phone system. 3...Video circuit 4...15DN communication line interface 7...Display control unit 8...Frame memory 10...Display 11...Control unit 15...Magnetic disk device 15...Operation Key 20...Telephone circuit 21...Telephone control signal 26...Delay circuit Fig.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A videophone equipped with a television camera for transmitting an image of the caller's face, etc. as a moving image at the same time as audio, and a display for displaying the moving image sent from the other party, It has a first storage means for storing an image of one frame of the other party's screen during a call, and a storage timing instruction means,
It stores one frame's worth of images at a designated timing in the first storage means, has means for adding information corresponding to the stored screen, and stores a plurality of screens to which the information has been added by the adding means. a second storage means for storing the screen to which the information has been added, reads out a plurality of screens to which the information has been added from the second storage means, and displays the screen on the display. has means for displaying a plurality of screens at the same time, has means for selecting one from the plurality of displayed screens, and uses additional information corresponding to the screen selected by the selecting means when making a telephone call. A videophone system characterized by automatic dialing. 2. The videophone system according to claim 1, wherein the timing for storing one frame of image is automatically generated so that one frame immediately before the end of the call is stored. 3. Claim 1, further comprising means for compressing screen data stored in said second storage means, said second storage means storing compressed screen data, and further comprising: a means for compressing screen data stored in said second storage means; A videophone system that has means for decompressing read data. 4. The video telephone system according to claim 1, wherein only luminance data of color data is used as one frame of image data to be stored in said first storage means, and only monochrome data is stored.