JPH04310086A - Video telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To extract a picture desired to be sent from an image picked up by a camera together with a surrounding scene, to synthesize the picture desired to be sent onto a background picture registered in advance and to send the synthesized picture. CONSTITUTION:A background picture is registered in a background picture memory 5 in advance, the picked-up surrounding scene is stored in a 1st memory 6 in advance and a picture pick-up including a picture desired to be sent is stored in a 2nd memory 7. Contents of the 1st and 2nd memories are outputted to an arithmetic circuit 9 and compared therein, an unequal part is used as a data and the equal part is discriminated to be the surrouding scene. The part of the surrouding scene is replaced with the content of the background picture memory 5 to form a synthesis picture and it is outputted from the arithmetic circuit 9, an interface circuit applies the conversion to the picture in a form suitable for the transmission and the result is sent.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video telephone device having a function of transmitting and receiving audio and images, and relates to an image display that appears during a call.

0002

[Background Art] Advances in image information compression technology and communication technology have led to the practical use of videophone devices that combine a telephone, which has traditionally been used for transmitting voice, with a television capable of displaying image information. It's starting to look like this. In a conventional video telephone device, a camera is set at a position where it can take a picture of a space containing image information that a caller or the like wants to transmit, and the image information that is desired to be transmitted is transmitted together with the surrounding scene using this camera.

0003

By the way, in the conventional video telephone device described above, in addition to the image information to be transmitted, images of the surroundings, such as the interior of the room, are also photographed and transmitted to the receiving side. For this reason, measures are taken to prevent scenes that you do not want to be transmitted from being captured, such as pointing the camera toward the wall or placing a screen, and when using a videophone call, always be aware of what will be captured. I had to. There was also a risk that the photographed image would be transmitted without being able to take measures against sudden reception.

[0004] The present invention has been developed in view of the above points, and is capable of distinguishing, for example, a person image that is desired to be transmitted from photographed images, and transmitting a background image that is not desired to be transmitted by replacing it with a background image that has been registered in advance. The purpose is to provide a videophone device.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, in the present invention, an image to be used as a background is registered and held in a background image memory in advance in a video telephone device that transmits and receives audio and images. The captured image is stored in a first memory, the captured image including the image to be transmitted during the call period is stored in a second memory, and the contents of the first memory and the second memory are compared by an arithmetic circuit to form matching information. Then, the matching information area is determined to be a background that is not desired to be transmitted, and is replaced with data from the background image memory, a signal combined with the data of the non-matching information area is output from the arithmetic circuit, and this output is converted into a predetermined code by the interface circuit. It is converted into and sent.

[0006]

[Operation] With this configuration, it is possible to extract only the background from the captured video and replace it with another background image registered in advance, so that it can be used in any background image without any hindrance, regardless of where the camera is installed. It is possible to include and transmit the image that you want to transmit.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the main parts of a videophone device, in which a camera 1 for taking images is provided, the image information captured by the camera 1 is converted into a digital signal by an A/D conversion circuit 2, and the switching Transferred to memory via a switch and stored. This embodiment is configured with three types of memories.

First, a background image memory 5 connected to the A/D conversion circuit 2 via a first changeover switch 3 is provided. This background image memory 5 is a memory in which a background image that does not interfere with transmission is registered in advance regardless of the location where the videophone is used.When the hook switch 14 (described later) is turned off, the first changeover switch 3 is moved to the contact a side (image registration) and take a photo of the background image you want to register with camera 1. A video signal photographed by the camera 1 is converted into digital image data by the A/D conversion circuit 2, and is input to the background image memory 5 through contact a and registered. By providing the background image memory 5 with a capacity capable of registering a plurality of screens, it is possible to select and use a background image according to the other party or the situation. In such a design that allows registration of multiple screens, a memory mechanism is configured that allows selective reading of memory areas. The video read out from the background image memory 5 is sent to the other party and becomes a background image when the videophone is used.

Next, contact b of the first changeover switch 3
A second changeover switch 4 is connected to the contact a side of the second changeover switch 4, and a first memory 6 that stores an image of the surrounding scene photographed at the location where the videophone is installed is connected to the contact a side of the second changeover switch 4. A second storage device for storing photographed images including images.
Memory 7 is connected. The first memory 6 and the second memory 7 are two memories each having the same storage capacity, and update images taken at predetermined time intervals and store them sequentially and alternately. That is, before the call starts, image information taken by operating the camera 1 while the handset is placed on the phone body and the call has not started is stored in the first memory 6 as a surrounding scene of the videophone installation. do. This writing of the surrounding scene is executed, for example, at intervals of one minute,
Newly photographed image data is written into the two first memories 6 while alternately updating the previous contents. This is done in order to update the stored image at regular intervals even if the surrounding scene changes slightly. However, hook switch 1
Once 4 is turned on, scene updating stops until the next time it is turned off.

Next, the hook switch 14 is turned on in conjunction with the operation of picking up the receiver and starting a call, and a call start command is input to the control circuit 13, and the second changeover switch 4 is turned on.
connection status can be switched. The image taken by the camera 1 in this state is stored in the second memory 7 side. The photographed image after the start of the call includes the data to be transmitted in the surrounding scene, and the photographed image is written into the second memory 7. Two memories with the same capacity are provided for the second memory 7, and when data writing to one memory is completed, the data is switched to the other memory and data is written in the same way. This is because time is required to write and read data, so while data is being read from one memory, the captured data is being written to the other memory. 2 shows an image registered and held in the background image memory 5, and FIG. 3 shows a photographed video including an image written in the second memory 7 and desired to be transmitted.

The image data stored in the background image memory 5, the first memory 6, and the second memory 7 are respectively read out to the arithmetic circuit 9 by a command signal from the control circuit 13.
A comparison of the contents of memory 6 and second memory 7 is performed. Here, since the surrounding scene of the videophone device hardly changes during a relatively short period of time such as the call time, the data in both memories are compared, and the area where the data matches is judged to be the surrounding scene, and the area where the data does not match is judged as the surrounding scene. Determine that the area contains the data you want to transmit. Based on the comparison result, the arithmetic circuit 9 extracts as data the portions of the data in the second memory 7 containing the image information to be transmitted that do not match the data in the first memory 6, which is the surrounding scene image, and The parts are recognized as peripheral scenes. For this matching peripheral scene portion, a background image previously registered in the background image memory 5 is read out and replaced. The image synthesized by the arithmetic circuit 9 is transferred to the third memory 8 and stored therein. Therefore, in the third memory 8,
Data including the image to be transmitted is written against a background of an image different from the surrounding scene captured by the camera 1. FIG. 4 shows a composite image transmitted to the other party.

The contents of the third memory 8 are encoded in a predetermined manner by an encoder 10 and then output to a communication line via an ISDN interface 11. In the figure, reference numeral 12 denotes a decoding circuit that performs predetermined signal processing on a signal transmitted via a communication line from the transmitting side. The arithmetic circuit 9 compares the stored contents of the first memory 6 and the second memory 7 with 8×8 dots in consideration of the characteristics of the encoder 10 that performs the encoding process, and in order to improve the efficiency of data compression. If you execute each block, you can efficiently achieve your goal.

At the time of reception, the camera 1 starts to take a picture of the background along with the notification of the ringing tone, and stores this in advance in the first memory 5 to form an image of the surrounding scene. Execute the same extraction of the image you want to transmit. In order to transmit a television image signal as a videophone device, it is necessary to process the luminance signal and color signal separately in memory, as is done in televisions, but the processing details are the same as in the above embodiment. be.

[0014]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, when using a videophone, it is possible to extract and transmit an image to be transmitted from a photographed video signal without worrying about the surrounding scene. Images can be transmitted, restrictions on installation locations are eased, the drawbacks of videophones are improved, and the use of videophones can be expanded.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing images stored in the background image memory of the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing images stored in the second memory of the same embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a composite screen stored in the third memory of the same embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Camera 3, 4 Selector switch 5 Background image memory 6 First memory 7 Second memory 9 Arithmetic circuit 11 ISDN interface 13 Control circuit third memory

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A videophone device that transmits and receives audio and images, comprising: a background image memory that registers and holds a background image in advance; a first memory that stores images photographed in advance; and a second memory that stores images photographed during a call period. Comparing the contents of the memory, the first memory and the second memory to form matching information, extracting the matching information area and replacing it with the data of the background image memory, and composing the data of the mismatching information area. 1. A video telephone device comprising: a circuit; and an interface circuit that converts the output of the arithmetic circuit into a predetermined code and transmits the converted code.