AU714263B2

AU714263B2 - Video telephone

Info

Publication number: AU714263B2
Application number: AU64426/96A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Frank Bergler; Uwe Kauffert
Original assignee: Alcatel NV
Current assignee: Alcatel Lucent NV
Priority date: 1995-09-16
Filing date: 1996-09-03
Publication date: 1999-12-23
Anticipated expiration: 2016-09-03
Also published as: AU6442696A; EP0763939A2; CA2185580A1; JPH09191451A; DE19534450A1; EP0763939A3

Description

P/00/011 28/5/91 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1 990 a a.

a. a a a a.

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE

SPECIFICATION

STANDARD

PATENT

Invention Title:, VIDEO TELEPHONE" The following statement is a full description of this Invention, Including the best method of Perfolnng It kniown to u~s:- This invention relates to video-telephone apparatus for transmitting and receiving video/audio signals.

In a prior-art video telephone, a video display unit, a camera, and a telephone unit are integrated in a concealable desk set. The camera is mounted behind a semitransparent mirror of the video display unit. A received picture is directed from a screen to the mirror, which deflects it to the user ("Telefonieren von Angesicht zu Angesicht, Kommunikationstechnik von SEL", SEL Alcatel Gruppe, pages 1 to 8).

It is also known to use a PC as a video communication terminal. Since one cannot imaginer a modern office without a personal computer, the latter, besides being used for conventional data processing, can also be employed for video communication, for example. In such a system, an additional camera is positioned on a conventional PC for taking pictures of a video-telephone user. Using an additional plug-in card in the PC, a picture thus taken is fed, for example, into a conventional telecommunications network and transmitted to another video-telephone subscriber. It is also possible, of course, to use an object camera for transmitting documents (Blitz, Littmann, Niemeier, "Der PC als Endgerat for die Videokommunikation", ntz Nachrichtentechnische Zeitschrift, Vol. 44 (1991), No.6, Berlin, Germany).

It is an object of the present invention to provide a video-telephone apparatus which can be implemented at a great number of locations by simple means.

It is another object of the invention to provide a PCMCIA card which is capable of implementing a video-telephone apparatus by simple means.

According to the invention, there is provided a video-telephone apparatus comprising: a video/audio pickup device; a data-processing device with a video/audio-reproducing device and a PCMCIA interface or a data interface and an adapter for simulating a PCMCIA interface; and a PCMCIA card having an interface providing the connection with the video/audio pickup device and a communications interface providing the connection with a communications network.

According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a PCMCIA card having an interface providing the connection with a video/audio pickup device and a communications interface providing the connection with a communications network, wherein video/audio signals are transmitted and received via the communications interface, wherein means are provided for compressing and transmitting the video/audio signals picked up by the video/audio pickup device, and wherein means are provided for receiving and decompressing the video/audio signals received via the communications interface.

The invention has the advantage that, by these means and further simple means, anyone who has a data-processing device both in the office and at home can implement a video telephone. To do this, no new interfaces need be provided at a data-processing device, but existing interfaces, such as the PCMCIA interface, can be :10 used to combine conventional video/audio pickup devices and the data-processing device into a video-telephone apparatus. Transmission over a mobile-radio network is also possible.

S 9 Preferably, an additional power supply is provided for the PCMCIA card if the *latter has an increased power requirement.

The invention will now be explained in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure l a shows a video-telephone apparatus in accordance with the invention; .Figure 1 b shows a further development of the video-telephone apparatus in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 is a schematic representation of the data interface with an adapter; and Figure 3 is a schematic representation of a connecting device for insertion as claimed in claim 4.

The invention will now be explained in more detail with reference to Figures 1 a and 1 b.

The video-telephone apparatus according to the invention comprises a dataprocessing device PC. This may be, for example, a conventional personal computer, a workstation of a mainframe, a laptop computer, or a so-called Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). The data-processing device PC includes a video/audio-reproducing D, L. This video/audio-reproducing device consists, for example, of a conventional video display device and a conventional loudspeaker. The data-processing device and a conventional loudspeaker. The data-processing device PC further includes a PCMCIA interface PCMCIA-S. PCMCIA stands for Personal Computer Memory Card International Association. Instead of the PCMCIA interface, a data interface, such as a V.24 interface or a printer interface, may be provided. Such a data interface is incorporated in all models of data-processing devices, also in older models. The data-processing device PC must than be provided with an adapter for simulating a PCMCIA interface.

The video-telephone apparatus further comprises a PCMCIA card CC, on which a further interface CAM-S is provided for connecting a video/audio pickup device 0:.l10 CAM. The card further contains a communications interface KOM-S which provides the connection with a communications network ISDN for transmitting and receiving °Zoo video/audio signals. The video-telephone apparatus further comprises the video/audio pickup device CAM, a special-purpose camera or a conventional camera, such as a camcorder.

In Figure la, a wire link has been established between the video-telephone apparatus and an integrated services digital network (ISDN). Links can, of course, also be established to other communications networks, such as a broadband ISDN (B- ISDN) or other broadband or narrow-band digital networks or analog networks.

Figure 1 b shows a video-telephone apparatus in which the communications interface KOM-S is used to establish a wireless link to a mobile-radio network, such as the GSM network, or to any other radio network, such as the DECT network.

The following gives a brief outline (without drawing) of a possible use of the claimed video-telephone apparatus. A subscriber A is, for example, at his or her office at a location I. He or she wishes to make a video-telephone call to a subscriber B at a location II. At the workplace of subscriber A, there is a personal computer. This personal computer is equipped with a PCMCIA interface. Furthermore, both subscriber A and subscriber B have a camera which is connected via a connecting line to a PCMCIA card. The card also contains an interface for interfacing to a telecommunications network. Subscriber A, who wants to make a call to subscriber B, inserts the PCMCIA card into the personal computer. By means of the keyboard of the personal computer, subscriber A establishes a connection to subscriber B. The latter responds to the call and puts his or her video-telephone apparatus at location II on standby. After the two video-telephone apparatuses at location I and location II have been switched to a standby state, the picture of subscriber A is taken by the camera, compressed by compressing means on the PCMCIA card, and ttransmitted over the link to the communications network to subscriber B at location II. At this location II, the received data is fed to the PCMCIA card, decompressed by decompressing means on the card, and presented on the display of the personal computer present there. At the same time, the picture of subscriber B is recorded by the camera at location II, compressed by means of the PCMCIA card, and ttransmitted ovedr the network to subscribner A, where it is decompressed by decompressing means on the PCMCIA oooo card, and presented on the display of the personal computer. The display may also show the subscriber's own picture.

Another possible use of such a camera is for the transmission of documents ("objedt camera"). Pictures of documents can be taken by the camera and transmitted to another subscriber B over the path just described.

'5 In the following it will be explained with the aid of an embodiment (without drawing) how a PCMCIA card as claimed in claim 5 operates.

A PCMCIA card CC contains an interface for connecting a video/audio pickup device, CAM, such as a camcorder.

This interface may also be so designed that a connecting cable is integrated therein, that the same video/audio pickup device must always be attached. The PCMCIA card CC further contains a communications interface KOM-S for interfacing to a communications network ISDN or a GSM network. Via this interface, video/audio signals are transmitted and received. Furthermore, the card contains means for compressing and sending video/audio signals. Reference is made to CCITT Recommendations H.221 and H.261, which describe how compression and transmission have to take place.

The PCMCIA card must also contain corresponding means for decompressing the received video/audio signals.

The following describes with the aid of Figure 2 how a video-telephone apparatus according to the invention operates if only a data interface is present., This data interface, a V.24 interface or a printer interface, is provided in any conventional data-processing device. Into the data interface provided in the PC, an adapter for simulating a PCMCIA interface is inserted. This adapter may have, in addition to a port for a video/audio pickup device and in addition to the communications interface KOM-S, a port for connecting the adapter to a power supply. This serves to make additional power available independently of the PC if a PCMCIA card should have an increased power requirement. This is particularly advantageous if the data-processing terminal is a laptop computer or a PDA.

Figure 3 shows the embodiment of the invention claimed in claim 4. To meet the aforementioned requirements, if the card has an increased power requirement, there is provided, in addition to the apparatus described so far, a o 10 connecting device Z for insertion into the PCMCIA interface PCMCIA-S and for reception of the PCMCIA card CC. The connecting device has an additional connection to a power supply, so that an increased power requirement can be covered.

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