JPH02192385A - Video telephone terminal equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To display a picture supplied from an external part by providing a switching means to display video supplied through an external video input terminal on a picture display means. CONSTITUTION:An external video input terminal Tin is provided on a terminal main body 4, and a video signal is inputted through the terminal Tin to an input terminal I1 of a switcher 25. When a external input is designated by a coordinate input device 13, a controller 30 sends a control signal C4 to the switcher 25, the video signal is supplied from the switcher 25 through a picture- in-picture circuit 27 to a CRT monitor 28, and the video signal is sent through a CODEC 20 to the other side terminal by the switcher 25.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] "Industrial Application Field" The present invention is capable of communicating with each other through a digital telephone line network and transmitting and receiving moving or still images of people, calligraphy, etc. This invention relates to a videophone terminal device that can be used.

"Prior Art" In recent years, various videophone terminal devices have been developed that are equipped with a video and still image transmission function in addition to the voice transmission function of a normal telephone. In this case, the videophone terminal device includes, in addition to audio signal circuits such as the handset and voice control device used for audio input and output during calls, a camera for taking self-portraits, and documents placed on the table. The document camera that takes the document image, the other party's image transmitted from the other party's terminal (the other party's videophone terminal device), and each image taken by the person camera and document camera of the own terminal (your videophone terminal device). A video signal system circuit consisting of a display CRT monitor, etc. is provided, and a transmission system circuit compresses and encodes the video signal, multiplexes it with audio signals and various data, and transmits it to the digital telephone line network. A cooperating device or the like is provided for transmitting the data to the other party's terminal via the terminal. This allows both parties to talk while looking at the other party's face displayed on their own terminal's monitor screen, making the conversation feel as if they were actually talking face-to-face with the other party.

"Problems to be Solved by the Invention" By the way, in the conventional video telephone terminal device described above, for example, the video played back by the video tape recorder cannot be displayed on the CRT monitor.
It was also not possible to transmit this video to the other party.

This invention was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a videophone terminal device that can display images supplied from the outside and can also transmit the images to the other party. There is.

"Means for Solving the Problems" The present invention provides a television that transmits an image photographed by an imaging means provided in its own terminal to a partner terminal, and displays the image transmitted from the partner terminal on an image display means. In a telephone terminal device, an external video input terminal to which a video signal is supplied from the outside, and an image based on the video signal supplied via the external video input terminal in place of the image transmitted from the other party's terminal. The apparatus is characterized by comprising a switching means for displaying the image on the image display means, and a transmission means for transmitting the video signal supplied via the external video input terminal to the other party's terminal.

"Operation" According to the above-described configuration, by inputting a video signal reproduced by, for example, a video tape recorder to the external video input terminal, the reproduced image is displayed by the image display means, and the video signal is also transmitted to the other party. Transmitted to the terminal.

"Embodiments" Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of a video telephone terminal device l according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In this figure, a videophone terminal device 1 is connected to a videophone terminal device 3 on the other party's side via a digital line network 2 . For convenience of explanation, one's own videophone terminal device 1 will be abbreviated as the own terminal, and the other party's videophone terminal device 3 will be abbreviated as the other party's terminal.

Here, the external configurations of the own terminal l and the other party terminal 3 are as follows:
As shown in the figure, 4 is a terminal device body, 5 is a handset, 6 is a portrait camera, 7 is a document camera, and 8 is an operation board.

The handset 5 corresponds to a receiver of a general telephone, and is placed on the operation board 8 when not talking. It is used to output human voice during a call, and as shown in FIG. 1, it is provided with a microphone 9, a speaker 10, and a hook switch 1. The person camera 6 is for taking a self-portrait of the person making the call, and is attached to the upper end of the terminal device main body 4. The document camera 7 is for taking images of documents, drawings, etc. placed on the table, and is attached to the side of the terminal device main body 4 and supported via an arm mechanism 12 so as to be vertically movable. . Both the portrait camera 6 and the document camera 7 are small C
It is composed of an OD camera. The operation board 8 is
This is a coordinate input device with a display function, and is a transparent plate-shaped see-through type coordinate input device that outputs coordinate data corresponding to the pressed position based on the change in capacitance of the pressed part with the tip of the pen 15. (Tablet) 10 and LCD display +1
are provided in a state where they are superimposed on each other.

Next, in the terminal device body 4 (Fig. 1), 2° compresses and encodes the analog video signal and audio signal, multiplexes them with various data, converts them into a 64 kbps digital signal, and converts the data into a digital signal. It is a copier that transmits to the other party's terminal 3 via the telephone line network 2, and has the function of decoding the digital signal transmitted from the other party's terminal 3 into the original analog video signal and audio signal, and converting moving images into one.
It also has the function of storing a screen portion and transmitting it as a still image, and these functions are controlled by a control signal CI.

Reference numeral 21 denotes an audio control circuit that switches input/output combinations of various audio signals based on the control signal C1, and connects the microphone 9 and speaker 10 in the handset 5, the hands-free microphone 22 and speaker 23, and the co-op 20. Audio signals related to phone calls are exchanged between the two, and audio signals related to general television broadcasting supplied from a TV tuner 24 (described later) to a monitor speaker 24a are also input.

The television tuner 24 receives general television broadcasts supplied via a coaxial cable of a CATV (cable television) network, and outputs audio and video signals of the reception channel specified by the control signal C3. .

25 is an input terminal thereof based on the control signal C4! 1~
The various video signals supplied to I7 are output from output terminals 01 to 01.
This is a switcher that distributes and outputs to each of O. In this case, the input terminal! , a video image signal is input manually through the external video input terminal Tin, a document image signal outputted from the document camera 7 is inputted to the input terminal ■, and a document image signal outputted from the portrait camera 6 is inputted to the input terminal ■. A composite video signal output from a superimpose circuit 29, which will be described later, is input to the input terminal 4.
A decoded video signal output from the copier 20 and transmitted from the other party's terminal 3 is manually input to the input terminal I, and a reproduced video signal output from the image recording and reproducing device 26, which will be described later, is input to the input terminal I6. A television video signal output from the television tuner 24 is input to the input terminal (7). Also, output terminal 0. The video signal output from the output terminals O7 and O0 is supplied to the video output terminal Tout, the video signal output from the output terminals O7 and O0 is supplied to the picture-in-picture circuit 27, and the video signal output from the output terminals O7 and O0 is supplied to the picture-in-picture circuit 27. The video signal output from 0. is supplied to the superimpose circuit 29, and output terminal 0. The video signal output from the output terminal 06 is supplied to the copier 20, and the video signal output from the output terminal 06 is supplied to the image recording/reproducing device 26.

The image recording/reproducing device 26 performs recording/reproducing according to the control signal C5.
It is composed of a rewritable optical disk device whose playback operation is controlled. During recording, the supplied analog video signal for one screen is sequentially converted into digital image data and written to a designated area on the optical disc, and during playback, the analog video signal for one screen is sequentially converted into digital image data, and during playback, One screen worth of image data read from the area is converted into the original analog video signal and output. In this case, the area on the optical disk where image data is written and the area from which it is read can be arbitrarily designated by the control signal C6.

The picture-in-picture circuit 27 is connected to the CRT monitor 2
This is a circuit for simultaneously displaying two large and small screens on the display screen of No. 8, and a small screen 28b is fitted into a part of the large screen 28a and displayed. The CRT monitor 28 is for displaying the other party's image transmitted from the other party's terminal 3 and the self-portrait and document image taken by the person camera 6 and document camera 7 of the own terminal 1. The superimpose circuit 29 is a circuit for synthesizing the computer video signal output from the controller 30 and various video signals supplied via the switcher 25, and the composite video output from the superimpose circuit 29 The signal is from the operation board 8
The signal is supplied to the liquid crystal display device 14 provided in the switcher 25 and the input terminal (2) of the switcher 25.

The controller 30 controls the operation of each part of the terminal device, and includes a CPU (central processing unit), a memory that stores various programs used by the CPU, a memory used as a work area, and image data for multiple sides. A VRAM (video RAM) 31 that stores
It consists of a computer system consisting of a display controller that outputs computer video signals based on image data read from AM31, various human interfaces, etc., and control signals 01 to C7 are sent to each of the above-mentioned parts. Supply each.

Furthermore, in the figure, the reference numeral 32 is a handwriting input recognition device, and the tip of the ben 15 (FIG. 2) is used as a coordinate input device! 3
When a character is written in the upper handwriting area and coordinate data corresponding to the character is sequentially supplied to the controller 30, the input character is recognized based on the coordinate data output from the controller 30. The character code is output to the controller 30.

Next, the operation of the video telephone terminal device according to the embodiment described above will be explained with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 and the liquid crystal display screens shown in FIGS. 5 to 7.

First, when the power is turned on, the controller 30
After initial setting of each part is performed in step SPI shown in the figure, the process proceeds to step SP2, and the menu screen Gl shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the display screen of the liquid crystal display device 14 of the operation board 8. In this case, the controller 30 supplies a computer video signal for displaying the menu screen Gl to the liquid crystal display device 14 via the superimpose circuit 29.

Here, if any of the various operation modes of "Telephone", "Telephone Book", "Drawing/Word Processing" and "Television" displayed at the upper left corner of the menu screen GL is pressed with the tip of the Ben 15, Coordinate data of the pressed part or coordinate input device 1
3 to the controller 30, and each operation mode is designated. That is, if "Telephone" is pressed, the process advances from step SP3 to step SP4 and enters the videophone mode for making a videophone call with the other party's terminal 3. If "Phonebook" is pressed, the process advances from step SP5 to step SP6.
The phone book mode is entered to create, change, search, etc. the phone book, and the phone book mode continues until it is determined in the next step SP7 that "menu" shown outside the liquid crystal display screen has been pressed. Ru. If “Drawing/Word Processing” is pressed, the process advances from step SP8 to step SP9.
The mode enters a drawing/word processing mode in which drawing by handwriting input operations and document creation and searching using the handwriting input identification device 32 are performed, and the drawing/word processing mode continues until it is determined that "menu" has been pressed in the next step 5 PIO. Word processing mode continues. If “TV” is pressed, step 5P
Proceed to step 5P12 from II, enter the TV reception mode for receiving general TV broadcasts, and proceed to the next step 5P13.
The television reception mode continues until it is determined that ``CLEAR'' or ``MENU'' has been pressed. If none of these operating modes is specified, the process returns from step 5Pt4 to step SP2 unless the power is turned off.

Here, the operation in the videophone mode in step SP4 will be explained. In this case, it is assumed that a button (not shown) has been pressed and a line between the own terminal 1 and the other party's terminal 3 has been secured.

In this state, the controller 30 executes each process shown in FIG. 4. That is, in step 5P20, the co-op 20 is initialized, and then in step 5P21, the switcher 25 is switched in order to make a person-to-person call, which is a normal videophone call. In this case, a video signal of a self-portrait photographed by the person camera 6 is supplied to one input terminal of the copier 20 and the picture-in-picture circuit 27, while a video signal of the other party's image (transmitted from the other party's terminal 3) decoded by the copier 20 is image)
The switcher 25 is switched so that the video signal is supplied to the other input terminal of the picture-in-picture circuit 27. As a result, the other party's image is displayed on the large screen 28a of the CRT monitor 28, and a part of the small screen 2 of this large screen 28a is displayed.
A self-portrait is displayed at 8b. Next, step 5P22
In this case, the controller 30 executes each process in the drawing/word processing mode, and as a result, the drawing screen G2 shown in FIG. 6 is displayed on the display screen of the liquid crystal display device 14.

Here, operation marks M1-M7 which are pressed when instructing various operations in the videophone mode are shown outside both sides of the liquid crystal display on the left side of the coordinate human-powered device 13 shown in FIG.

The operation mark M1 is pressed when making a call using the handset 5, and when this mark M1 is pressed, the microphone 9 and the speaker 10 in the handset 5 become effective. The operation mark M2 is for activating the microphone 22 and speaker 23 for the hand-free phone.
3 is for specifying a person-to-person call in step 5P21.

Further, the operation mark M4 is for specifying a calligraphy call, and when this is pressed, the process proceeds from step 5P23 to step 5P24 shown in FIG. 4, and the switcher 25 is switched in order to make a call.

In this case, the controller 30 supplies the video signal of the document or drawing on the table taken by the document camera 7 to the superimpose circuit 29, and the video signal of the other party's image decoded by the copier 20 and the superimpose circuit 29.
A switcher is provided so that the composite video signal output from the superimpose circuit 29 is supplied to two input terminals of the picture-in-picture circuit 27, and the composite video signal output from the superimpose circuit 29 is supplied to the copier 20. 2
Switch 5. Also picture-in-picture circuit 2
7, the size relationship of the composite screen is swapped,
Images such as documents and drawings are displayed on the large screen 2 of the CRT monitor 28.
8a, a part of the small screen 28 of this large screen 28a
The other party's image is displayed in b.

Next, the operation mark M5 is for specifying a still image call, and when this is pressed, step 5P25 shown in FIG.
The process then proceeds to step 5P26, in which an instruction to create a still image is given to the copier 20 and the switcher 25 is switched in order to perform a still image call. In this case, the still image created by the cooperative 20 is
and the picture-in-picture circuit 27
is supplied to one input end of the copier 20.
The switcher 25 is switched so that the video signal of the other party's image decoded by is supplied to the other input terminal of the picture-in-picture circuit 27. As a result, the other party's image is displayed on the large screen 28a of the CRT monitor 28, and the still image is displayed on the small screen 28b.

Furthermore, when the mark M6 is pressed, the self-portrait is temporarily displayed on the large screen 28a, and when the mark M7 is pressed, the small screen 28b is erased, the large screen 28a and the small screen 28b are replaced, etc.

Next, symbols E, to E I+ shown in FIG. 6 are icons that are pressed when instructing various drawing processes and changing the mode in the drawing/word processing mode.

These have the following functions. Icon E1~
E7 is used to specify a drawing method such as pointillist mode (freehand mode), diagonal line mode, empty square mode, and to specify line thickness and color.

Also, icon E is pressed to specify the word processing mode, icon E is pressed to specify the file processing mode, icon Ego is pressed to specify the television reception mode, and icon E is pressed to specify the television reception mode.
l is pressed when transferring drawing data to the partner terminal 3.

Here, when the icon E1° is pressed, the process advances from step 5P27 to step 5P2B shown in FIG. 4, and the television reception mode is entered. In the TV reception mode, the controller 30 starts the TV tuner 24, displays the video of some TV broadcasts received by the TV tuner 24 on the Cr(T monitor 28), and outputs the audio from the monitor speaker 24a. , the reception channel selection screen G3 shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the display screen of the liquid crystal display device 14.
Display. Furthermore, the switcher 25 is switched so that the video signal and audio signal of these general television broadcasts are sent to the other party's terminal 3 via the copier 20. Also, when the icon EtO displayed as "external input" on this reception channel selection screen G3 is pressed, the video image signal input manually via the external video input terminal Tin is transmitted via the picture-in-picture circuit 27. The switcher 25 is switched so that the signal is fed to the CRT monitor 28 and sent to the other party's terminal 3 via the copier 20.

The above are the main operations in the videophone mode, and when the call ends in this mode, the process returns from step 5P29 shown in FIG. 4 to step SP2 shown in FIG. 3, and the display screen of the liquid crystal display device 14 is changed as shown in FIG. Menu screen G
It becomes 1.

"Effects of the Invention" As explained above, according to the present invention, the image display means for displaying the image transmitted from the other party's terminal is supplied with, for example, an image reproduced by a video tape recorder from the outside. This provides the advantage of being able to display an image and transmitting this image to the other party with a simple operation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the external configuration of the embodiment, and FIG.
5 and 4 are flowcharts for explaining the operation of the embodiment, and FIGS. 5 to 7 are diagrams showing display examples of the liquid crystal display device 14 according to the embodiment. ■・・・・・・Your videophone terminal device (own terminal),
2...Digital telephone line network, 3...
The other party's videophone terminal device (other party's terminal), 7...
・Portrait camera (imaging means), 20...Copic (transmission means), 25...Switcher (switching means), 28...CRT monitor (display means),
Tin...External video input terminal. Figure 7

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] In a videophone terminal device that transmits an image taken by an imaging means provided on its own terminal to a partner terminal and displays an image transmitted from the partner terminal on an image display means, an external video input terminal to which a video signal is supplied, and causing the image display means to display an image based on the video signal supplied via the external video input terminal instead of the image transmitted from the other party's terminal. A video telephone terminal device comprising: a switching means; and a transmission means for transmitting a video signal supplied through the external video input terminal to a destination terminal.