JPH02168783A - Visual line coincident type television telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain communication with a sense rich in physical existence by picking up a figure of a talker with two image pickup elements arranged at a rear side of a liquid crystal display device and displaying the figure stereoscopically on a talking opposite party. CONSTITUTION:The figure of an object such as a talker is picked up by two image pickup elements 1 arranged at the rear side of a display panel 61 of a liquid crystal display device 31 at an equal interval to that of human eyes. In the case of displaying the picture picked up by the image pickup elements 1 arranged in this way onto a communication opposite party, a display device provided with a stereoscopic display function is provided, in which the image picked up by the image pickup elements at the left and right side toward the person to be picked up enters respectively the right and left eyes of the opposite party. When the talker looks at a face of the opposite party displayed on the display panel 61, since the two image pickup elements corresponding to both eyes of the opposite party exist at the rear side of the display panel in the direction of the visual line of the talker, the visual lines are made coincident with those of the opposite party.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Technical Field to which the Invention Pertains) The present invention relates to a line-of-sight videophone that allows callers displayed on a videophone to converse while maintaining eye contact with each other.

(Prior art) With a videophone, it is possible to have a conversation while looking at the face of the other party on the display, but it is not possible to have a conversation between two spatially separated points via electrical signals. For this reason, it is accompanied by various unnaturalness compared to when talking directly with the other person at close range.

As an example of unnaturalness, for example, even though the caller is talking while looking into the other party's eyes on the display of his/her own telephone, There is an unnaturalness in the mismatch in gaze, where the eyes are looking in a different direction than one's own.

In other words, in a normal videophone, the face of the person on the other end of the call is captured by an image sensor placed on either the left or right edge or the top or bottom edge of the display device, so the person on the other end of the phone image cannot see the face of the other party on the display. When looking at the surface, the user is looking in a direction different from that of the image sensor, causing the above-mentioned problem of line-of-sight mismatch.

Therefore, in order to have smoother communication using videophones, it is necessary to eliminate the unnaturalness of communication as described above and give the caller the feeling of actually having a conversation with the other party face-to-face. desirable. From this point of view, a line-of-sight matching video phone has been proposed that solves the above-mentioned problem of line-of-sight mismatch.

FIG. 2 shows a plan view of a conventionally proposed line-of-sight video telephone as seen from above. In FIG. 2, 1 is an image sensor, 2 is a lens that forms an image of a subject such as a person on the phone on the image sensor, 3 is a liquid crystal display device, 4 is a backlight for illuminating the display surface, 5 is a telephone receiver, and 6 is a liquid crystal display device. is the display surface of a liquid crystal display device.

This line-of-sight type videophone uses a liquid crystal display device 3 to utilize the transmissive mode of the liquid crystal to display images from the back side of the display surface 6.
The face of the person on the other end of the call is imaged with two image sensors 1. Therefore, when the caller looks at the face of the other party displayed on the liquid crystal display device 3, he or she simultaneously looks at the image sensor 1 installed on the back side of the display screen 6, and the line of sight reflected on the display screen of the other party is They look into the eyes of the person on the other end of the phone, making sure their gazes match.

These line-of-sight videophones are improving the unnaturalness of communication-based conversations, but they are still far from the feeling of actually having a conversation face-to-face with the other party. A major reason for this is that the image of the other party displayed on the liquid crystal display device 3 is flat and lacks a sense of physical reality.

(Objective of the Invention) The present invention provides -1-
21 The purpose is to improve the unnaturalness of communication and provide a line-of-sight videophone that has a rich sense of physical reality (as if the person on the other side of the call is actually there on the other side of the display screen). .

(Structure of the Invention) (Characteristics of the Invention and Differences from the Prior Art) In order to achieve the object described above, the present invention provides a method for installing a device close to the back side of the display surface of a liquid crystal display device at a distance equal to the distance between human eyes. Two image sensors are placed apart from each other, and images of the caller are captured simultaneously by these two image sensors. The camera is equipped with a stereoscopic display function so that when the captured image is displayed on the communication partner, the image captured by the image sensor on the right side and the image sensor on the left side when facing the person being imaged enters the right and left eyes of the communication partner, respectively. The most important feature is that a display device is used, and the imaging state can be switched at time intervals that do not affect the display state.

In contrast to the conventional technology, in the present invention, the effect of binocular parallax is produced, and the image displayed on the other party has line of sight and a three-dimensional effect, making it appear as if the other party is on the other side of the display screen. The difference is that it enhances the sense of physical reality, giving the caller the feeling of actually meeting and conversing with the other party.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a video telephone according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, ], is an image sensor, 2 is a lens that forms an image of a subject such as a caller on the image sensor, 4 is a backlight for illuminating the display surface, 5 is a receiver, and 61 is a stereoscopic image formed by a Fresnel lens. This is a display surface of a liquid crystal display device 31 having a display function. Note that in FIG. 1, normal telephone functions are omitted.

In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, two image sensors arranged on the back side of the display surface 61 of the liquid crystal display device 31 at a distance equal to the distance between human eyes are used to capture the image of a subject such as a caller. Take an image.

When the image captured by the image sensor 1 arranged in this manner is displayed on the communication partner, the images captured by the image sensor on the right side and the image sensor on the left side facing the person to be imaged enter the communication partner's right and left eyes, respectively. If a display device with such a stereoscopic display function is used, stereoscopic display becomes possible due to the effect of binocular parallax.

Using the above configuration, imaging and display are performed in the following manner in this embodiment. That is, a normal liquid crystal display device displays an image at a speed of about 30 frames per second, but in this embodiment, as in the line-of-sight videophone using the conventional liquid crystal display device, the display mode is set as the driving mode of the liquid crystal. In addition to , an imaging mode has been added.

That is, in the display mode, the image sent from the other party is displayed according to the normal display operation, but on the other hand, in the imaging mode, all pixels are set to the transmission mode 1-. Therefore, in the imaging mode, the face of the caller can be seen through the display screen 61 from the position of the surface imaging device 1, and imaging by the two imaging devices 1 becomes possible.

Several frames out of 30 frames per second are allocated as this imaging mode. In this embodiment, this is set to 5 frames. All remaining frames were used for display. Since the period of the imaging mode is extremely short, 1/30 seconds, the person to be photographed does not notice the existence of this imaging mode, and it appears that the image sent from the other party is always displayed on the display screen 61.

When the caller looks at the face of the other party displayed on the display screen 6, there are two image sensors corresponding to the other party's eyes on the back side of the display screen 61 in the line of sight of the caller. , you can make eye contact with the other party.

What is the display quality of the line-of-sight videophone according to this embodiment? It is desirable to turn off the bank light in the imaging mode to improve the image quality, but even if it is turned on, the entire screen feels bright, but display is possible. In this case, it is necessary to prevent the light from the backlight 4 from directly entering the image sensor 1.

Further, in order to improve display quality, it is preferable to place the butterfly lights 1 to 4 as close as possible to the back surface of the display surface 61, and therefore, it is desirable that the image sensor 1- is also installed near the back surface of the display surface 61. Therefore, in this embodiment as well, the two image sensors 1 and the plurality of backlights 4 are installed near the back surface of the display surface 61, as shown in FIG.

The above description is merely one embodiment of the present invention, and it goes without saying that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, although two image sensors were used in the above embodiment, if three or more image sensors are arranged at equal intervals with a distance equal to the distance between both eyes, it is possible to capture stereoscopic images viewed from various directions. becomes.

Further, there is no problem even if two optical systems are used with one image sensor and switched over time.

Further, there are no particular restrictions on the type of image sensor used in the present invention. In order to miniaturize telephones, it is desirable to use a compact image sensor using a solid-state image sensor such as a CCD type or MOS type, but it is also possible to use an image sensor using an image pickup tube, and the image sensor It is clear that any type can be used.

(Objective of the Invention) As explained below, in the line-of-sight videophone according to the present invention, the image of the person on the other end of the call is captured by two image sensors placed on the back side of the liquid crystal display device, so that the person on the other end of the conversation can see This makes it possible to display

As a result, it is possible to provide a line-of-sight videophone call that provides a sense of physical reality as if the other party is on the other side of the display device, and the feeling is similar to that of having a direct conversation with the other party at close range. You can communicate with.

Furthermore, the present invention does not require a special image sensor, but uses a normal image sensor, and has an extremely simple configuration of simply arranging two of them a few micrometers apart, making it easy to manufacture. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 2 is a top plan view of an embodiment of the present invention.
The figure is a top plan view of a conventional line-of-sight type videophone. 1 ・Image sensor, 2 3 Liquid crystal display device, Liquid crystal display device with function. [-15 Receiver, Display surface of device, 61 Imaging lens, 31 ... Stereoscopic display device 4 ... Hetsukuri 6 Liquid crystal display device Liquid with stereoscopic display function = 8 Display surface of high display device. Patent applicant: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation -1,0

Claims (1)

[Claims] A line-of-sight matching type video telephone comprising: a stereoscopic display means for performing display by switching between an imaging state and a display state; and a means for capturing a stereoscopic image of an observer from the back side of the display surface of the stereoscopic display means.