JPH0614317A - Videophone - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] The imaging unit can be separated from the telephone body, and even if the telephone body is fixed, any image can be taken without limiting the imaging range, and the separation unit can be separated. When used, the obtained image is displayed on the display unit as a real image rather than a mirror image. [Structure] A separation unit 15 that is equipped with an image pickup device 31 and is detachably attached to the telephone body 11, and a separation switch 35 that detects whether or not the separation unit 15 is attached to the telephone body 11. In the state where the separating unit 15 is mounted on the telephone body 11 according to a signal from the separation switch 35, the image obtained from the image pickup device 31 is a mirror image obtained by horizontally reversing and is mounted on the telephone body 11. When not in use, the image obtained from the image pickup device 31 is a real image of the telephone body 11
It is displayed on the display unit 28 provided in the.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a videophone that transmits and receives still images.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, a large number of still image videophones have been commercialized, which are used together with voice transmission / reception to transmit / receive still images. Usually, in this type of videophone, an image pickup device is fixed in the vicinity of the display unit so as to pick up an image of a user located in front of the telephone.

[0003]

However, when an image of the user located in front of the telephone is picked up by the above-mentioned image pickup device and the image thereof is once displayed on the display section, the displayed image is as if it were a mirror. As you can see, the image is a mirror image of the left and right sides reversed. Such a "mirror image" does not cause any uncomfortable feeling when displaying a person image, and there is no problem, but when displaying characters, numbers, drawings, etc., the left and right sides are reversed, which makes it difficult to see. There was a drawback that it would end up.

Further, since the image pickup device is fixedly mounted on the telephone as described above, the image pickup range is limited. For example, a map or a drawing placed near the telephone is picked up. In that case, the image pickup device must be opposed to the map or the drawing by lifting the telephone body.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object thereof is to make an image pickup portion separable from a telephone body, and to limit an image pickup range even if the telephone body is fixed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a videophone capable of picking up an image of an arbitrary object and displaying an image obtained when the separating section is used by separating it, not as a mirror image but as a real image on the display section.

[0006]

Means and Actions for Solving the Problems

(1) An image pickup device, a detachable portion detachably attached to the telephone body, and a detachment switch for detecting whether or not the detachable portion is attached to the telephone body. A mirror image obtained by horizontally reversing the image obtained from the image pickup device when the separation unit is attached to the telephone body according to a signal from the separation switch, and from the image pickup device when not attached to the telephone body. The obtained image is displayed as a real image on the display unit provided on the main body of the telephone.

(2) An image taken by the image pickup device of the separation unit, which includes a telephone unit having a display unit and a separation unit electrically detachably provided on the telephone unit and having an image pickup device. Is sent to the telephone main body and is displayed on the display unit, the image pickup unit can be separated from the telephone main body, and even if the telephone main body is fixed, the imaging range is not limited and any image can be taken. It will be possible.

[0009]

[First Embodiment] A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the external configuration.

In the figure, 11 is a telephone body, the upper surface of which is
The handset 12 is placed at the left end. Further, a push button 13, a display unit 14, and an imaging unit 15 are provided on the upper surface. The display unit 14 is attached to the image pickup unit 15 so as to be tiltable, and is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display panel, and its angle can be adjusted according to the position of the user who uses this telephone. .

The image pickup section 15 has a CCD image pickup device and circuits for controlling the CCD image pickup element, and can be separated from the display section 14 and the telephone body 11 as shown in FIG. The image pickup unit 15 is connected to the telephone body 11 by, for example, a curl cord 16, and a separation switch for detecting a separation state is provided at a lower portion of the image pickup unit 15 not shown. When it is detected by this separation switch that the image pickup unit 15 is separated from the display unit 14 and the telephone body 11 as shown in FIG. 2, the image obtained by the image pickup unit 15 is normally reversed right and left. The image is displayed on the display unit 14 as a real image instead of a mirror image.

Next, FIG. 3 shows the internal circuit configuration of the telephone main body 11, the display unit 14 and the image pickup unit 15, wherein 21 is a telephone line, 22 is a still image TV telephone modem, and a still image TV telephone modem. A telephone 23 for transmitting and receiving normal voice is connected to 22. The still image TV telephone modem 22 is also connected to a microcomputer 24 for transmitting and receiving still image video.

The microcomputer 24 writes / reads still image video data to / from the memory 25, and the display unit 14 is operated in accordance with the video data sent from the still image TV telephone modem 22 or the controller 29 on the side of the imaging unit 15. The segment driver 26 and the common driver 27 in the inside are driven and controlled to display the still image of the other party on the liquid crystal display panel 28, while the image data of the still image sent from the controller 29 is used for the still image TV telephone. The data is output to the modem 22, the data is processed according to the standard still image format, and then the data is sent to the other party via the telephone line 21.

The controller 29 is for performing image pickup control in the image pickup section 15. In the image pickup unit 15, the image formed on the CCD image pickup device 31 by the lens 30 is C
It is photoelectrically converted under the control of the CD controller 32 and is sent to the A / D converter 33 as an electric signal. The A / D converter 33 digitizes the signal from the CCD image pickup device 31 according to the sampling clock from the CCD controller 32 to obtain image data, and the obtained image data is sequentially sent to the controller 29.

The controller 29 sets the image data sequentially sent from the A / D converter 33 in an address order suitable for a mirror image / real image according to the open / close state of the above-mentioned separation switch 35 provided under the image pickup section 15. After the image is once written in the image memory 34, it is read out when one screen is prepared and sent to the microcomputer 24.

The main power source 36 serves as a power source for supplying power to the circuits on the telephone body 11 and the display section 14 side, and the sub power source serves as a power source for supplying power to the circuits on the imaging section 15 side.
37 is provided.

Next, FIG. 4 shows a detailed circuit configuration of the controller 29 for controlling the operation of each circuit on the image pickup section 15 side. In the figure, the image is picked up by the CCD image pickup device 31, and the A / D
Video data digitized by the converter 33 (in the figure, "CC
"D input") is first input to the input / output control circuit 29a in the controller 29.

The input / output control circuit 29a controls the column address counter 29b and the row address counter 29c to address the image memory 34, while outputting the input video data to the image memory 34 for writing. .

At this time, the input / output control circuit 29a controls the row address counter 29c depending on whether the separation switch 35 is opened or closed, that is, whether the image pickup section 15 is separated from the telephone body 11.
Sends an up-count / down-count instruction to.
This is done by a 1-bit control signal,
When the control signal is "1", the row address counter 29 is used as it is.
When it is sent to the up-count terminal of c, it is up-counted, and when it is "0", it is inverted by the inverter 29d to become "1", and when it is sent to the down-count terminal of the row address counter 29c, it is down-counted.

In this way, the video data written in the image memory 34 is read by the address designation of the column address counter 29b and the row address counter 29c under the control of the input / output control circuit 29a at the time when one screen is prepared in the same manner as above. , To the input / output control circuit 29a. At this time, the row address counter 29c always counts up regardless of the state of the separation switch 35 by the control signal of the input / output control circuit 29a. The video data read by the input / output control circuit 29a is sent to the microcomputer 24 on the telephone body 11 side as it is.

In the above-mentioned structure, when the image pickup section 15 is mounted on the telephone body 11 and the display section 14 as shown in FIG. 1, photoelectric conversion is performed by the CCD image pickup element 31, and the A / D converter is used. The video data digitized by 33 is the controller
In the image memory 29, the image memory is temporarily
Written in 34.

At this time, the input / output control circuit 29a sets the control signal to the row address counter 29c to "0" and operates the row address counter 29c as a down counter. Therefore, the video data written in the image memory 34 is mirror-image video data with left and right reversed. When the writing of one screen of this video data is completed, the input / output control circuit 29a next reads this video data.

At this time, the input / output control circuit 29a sets the control signal to the row address counter 29c to "1" and operates the row address counter 29c as an up counter. The read video data is sent from the controller 29 to the microcomputer 24 of the telephone main body 11 and temporarily held in the memory 25.

The microcomputer 24 drives and controls the segment driver 26 and the common driver 27 according to the video data stored in the memory 25 to display a video on the liquid crystal display panel 28. In this case, the video data will be displayed as a mirror image. The microcomputer 24 reads this video data from the memory 25 according to a user's instruction, and a still image TV
The call is sent to the other party via the telephone modem 22 and the telephone line 21.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the image pickup unit 15 is separated from the telephone body 11 and the display unit 14, the image is photoelectrically converted by the CCD image pickup device 31 and digitized by the A / D converter 33. The data is input / output control circuit in the controller 29.
It is once written in the image memory 34 by the instruction of 29a. At this time, the input / output control circuit 29a sets the control signal to the row address counter 29c to "1" and operates the row address counter 29c as an up counter. Therefore, the image memory
The video data written in 34 becomes real-image video data.
When the writing of one screen of this video data is completed, the input / output control circuit 29a next reads this video data. At this time, the input / output control circuit 29a sets the control signal to the row address counter 29c to "1" as it is, and the row address counter 29c
As an up counter. The read video data is sent from the controller 29 to the microcomputer 24 of the telephone main body 11 and temporarily held in the memory 25. The microcomputer 24 drives and controls the segment driver 26 and the common driver 27 according to the video data stored in the memory 25 to display the video on the liquid crystal display panel 28. In this case, the video data will be displayed as a real image. The microcomputer 24 reads out this video data from the memory 25 according to a user's instruction, and the still image TV telephone modem 22,
It is sent to the other party via the telephone line 21.

The input / output control circuit 29a is a CCD
When writing the image data sent from the image pickup device 31 through the A / D converter 33 into the image memory 34, the row address counter 29c is counted up / down according to the state of the separation switch 35 to obtain a real image / mirror image. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the row address counter 29c is always incremented when writing to the image memory 34 and the row address counter 29c is incremented according to the state of the separation switch 35 when reading. The address counter 29c may be counted up / down and read, and the real image / mirror image of the video data may be switched and controlled. [Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 shows its external structure.

In the figure, 41 is a telephone body, the upper surface of which is
The handset 42 is placed at the left end. A push button 43, a display unit 44, and an image pickup unit 45 are provided on the upper surface. The display unit 44 can be separated from the telephone body 11 together with the image pickup unit 45. The display unit 44 itself is, for example, a liquid crystal display panel.
46 and its drive circuit.

The image pickup section 45 has a CCD image pickup element 47 provided on the same surface as the liquid crystal display panel of the display section 44 and each circuit for controlling the CCD image pickup element 47, and an image pickup switch for instructing the image pickup on the lower surface thereof. Equipped with 48. Display unit 44 of imaging unit 45
The side surface portion connected to the display unit 44 has a structure that is rotatable with respect to the display unit 44 as indicated by an arrow A in the figure, and in a state where the display unit 44 and the image pickup unit 45 are separated from the telephone body 41, FIG. As shown in, the CCD image pickup device 47 of the image pickup unit 45 and the liquid crystal display panel 46 of the display unit 44 can be opposed to each other in completely different directions.

In FIG. 6, the facing direction of the CCD image pickup device 47 of the image pickup unit 45 and the facing direction of the liquid crystal display panel 46 of the display unit 44 are 18
The case where the image pickup switch 48 is located on the upper surface of the image pickup switch 48 by 0 ° is shown. A connector 49 is provided below the display unit 44,
The connector 49 electrically connects the display unit 44 and the telephone body 41.

Next, FIG. 7 shows the telephone body 41 and the display section 44.
Also, the internal circuit configuration of the image pickup unit 45 is shown. Reference numeral 51 is a telephone line, 52 is a still image TV telephone modem, and a telephone 53 for transmitting and receiving normal voice is connected to the still image TV telephone modem 52. To be done. The still image TV telephone modem 52 is also connected to a microcomputer 54 for transmitting and receiving still image video.

The microcomputer 54 writes / reads still picture image data to / from the memory 55, and
The controller 56 controls transmission and reception of video data between the V-telephone modem 52 and the controller 56 on the imaging unit 45 side.
Video data sent from is a still image modem for videophone
After being data-processed at 52 according to the standard still image format, the data is sent to the other party via the telephone line 21.

The controller 56 is for performing display control on the display section 44 and image pickup control on the image pickup section 45.
In the image pickup unit 45, a CCD 57
The image formed on 47 is photoelectrically converted under the control of the CCD controller 58 and sent to the A / D converter 59 as an electric signal.

The A / D converter 59 digitizes the signal from the CCD image pickup device 47 in accordance with the sampling clock from the CCD controller 58 to obtain image data, and the obtained image data is sequentially sent to the controller 56. To be

Whether the controller 56 writes the video data sequentially sent from the A / D converter 59 once in the image memory 60, then reads it when one screen is prepared, and sends it to the microcomputer 54. Alternatively, the segment driver 61 and the common driver 62 in the display unit 44 are drive-controlled in accordance with the video data, and the liquid crystal display panel 46 displays them.

The main power source 63 serves as a power source for supplying power to each circuit on the telephone body 41 side, and the sub power source serves as a power source for supplying power to each circuit on the display section 44 and the imaging section 45 side.
64 are provided. The sub power supply 64 is composed of, for example, a rechargeable battery, and is charged by the main power supply 63 in a state where the normal display unit 44 and the image pickup unit 45 are connected to the telephone body 41, and the display unit 44 and the image pickup unit 45 are connected to each other. The electric power is supplied to each circuit of the display unit 44 and the image pickup unit 45 in a state of being separated from the telephone body 41.

Although not described in detail here, the controller 56 is the controller 29 shown in FIG. 4 of the first embodiment.
In addition to the internal circuits, a liquid crystal controller for driving and controlling the segment driver 61 and the common driver 62 is provided.

In the above-described structure, when the image pickup switch 48 is operated with the display section 44 and the image pickup section 45 separated from the telephone body 41 as shown in FIG. 5, the controller is operated in response to the operation. An instruction is sent from 56 to the CCD controller 58, and photoelectric conversion in the CCD image pickup device 47 is executed. The image formed on the CCD image pickup device 47 by the lens 57 is photoelectrically converted, digitized by the A / D converter 59, and then temporarily stored in the image memory 60 by the controller 56.
Are written in sequence.

When the writing of one screen of this video data is completed, the controller 56 then reads this video data,
The segment driver 61 and the common driver 62 are drive-controlled according to the contents, and an image is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 46.

Therefore, the user is in charge of the display unit 44 and the image pickup unit.
An arbitrary drawing, map, etc. to be transferred using the 45 can be picked up by the CCD image pickup device 47 by operating the image pickup switch 48 and displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 46.

When the desired image is obtained, the user mounts the display unit 44 and the image pickup unit 45 on the telephone body 41. Display
When the transfer of the video data stored in the image memory 60 and being displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 46 is instructed with the 44 and the imaging unit 45 attached to the telephone body 41, the image memory 60 is written according to the instruction. The embedded video data is read again by the controller 56 and sent to the microcomputer 54 on the telephone body 41 side.

The microcomputer 54 temporarily stores the video data in the memory 55, and then the still image TV telephone modem.
Data is processed according to the standard still image format at 52,
It is sent to the other party via the telephone line 21.

The display unit 44 and the image pickup unit 45 are connected to the telephone body.
When video data of a still image is sent via the telephone line 51 in a state where the video data is attached to 41, the video data is once stored in the memory 55 by the microcomputer 54 and then sent to the controller 56. The controller 56 sequentially writes the video data in the image memory 60, reads the video data, and drives and controls the segment driver 61 and the common driver 62 to display them on the liquid crystal display panel 46.

[0043]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention,

(1) An image pickup device, a detachable portion detachably attached to the telephone body, and a detach switch for detecting whether or not the detachable portion is attached to the telephone body, A mirror image obtained by horizontally reversing the image obtained from the image pickup device when the separation unit is attached to the telephone body according to a signal from the separation switch, and from the image pickup device when not attached to the telephone body. The obtained image is displayed as a real image on the display unit provided on the main body of the telephone.

(2) A telephone main body having a display unit, and a separating unit electrically detachably provided on the telephone main body and having an image pickup device, and an image picked up by the image pickup device of the separating unit. Sent to the phone body and displayed on the display unit

Therefore, the image pickup section can be separated from the telephone body, and even if the telephone body is fixed, the image pickup range is not limited, and any image can be picked up. It is possible to provide a videophone capable of displaying the obtained image on the display unit as a real image instead of a mirror image.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external configuration of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a specific usage state of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an overall circuit configuration according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a detailed circuit configuration in the controller of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an external configuration of a second embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a perspective view showing a state in which the display unit and the image pickup unit in FIG. 5 are separated.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the overall circuit configuration according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

11, 41 ... Telephone main body, 12, 42 ... Telephone receiver, 13, 43 ... Push button, 14, 44 ... Display section, 15, 45 ... Imaging section, 16 ... Curl code, 21, 51 ... Telephone line, 22, 52 ... Still image TV phone modem, 23, 53 ... Telephone, 24, 54 ... Microcomputer, 25, 55 ... Memory, 26, 61 ... Segment driver,
27, 62 ... Common driver, 28,46 ... Liquid crystal display panel, 2
9, 56 ... Controller, 29a ... Input / output control circuit, 29b ...
Column address counter, 29c ... Row address counter, 29d
... Inverter, 30, 57 ... Lens, 31, 47 ... CCD image pickup device, 32, 58 ... CCD controller, 33, 59 ... A / D converter, 34, 60 ... Image memory, 35 ... Separation switch, 36, 63 ...
Main power supply, 37, 64 ... Sub power supply, 48 ... Imaging switch, 49
…connector.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A separating unit that includes an image pickup device and is detachably attached to a telephone body, a detecting unit that detects whether the separating unit is attached to the telephone body, and the telephone body. In a state where the display unit provided and the separating unit according to the detecting means are mounted on the telephone body, a mirror image obtained by horizontally reversing an image obtained from the image pickup device, and not mounted on the telephone body. Then, a videophone comprising a display control means for displaying an image obtained from the image pickup device as a real image on the display section. 2. A telephone main body having a display unit, and a separation unit electrically detachably mounted on the telephone main body and having an image pickup device, wherein an image picked up by the image pickup device of the separation unit is displayed. A videophone which is sent to the telephone body and is displayed on the display unit.