JP2001211439A - Image communication unit and method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image communication unit and its method that can inform a communication opposite party about the end of automatic telephone answering recording without causing misunderstanding to the communication opposite party. SOLUTION: Upon receipt of an incoming call in an automatic telephone answering mode, the network is connected, a video phone transmits a reply image and voice data stored in advance in a memory 202 to the communication opposite party in order to inform the communication opposite party that the video phone is in an automatic telephone answering mode and receives first image data, and a communication time timer 203 starts counting time. When the timer 203 is monitored and the count exceeds 30 seconds, an image denoting an automatic telephone answering recording end message and audio data of an alarm tone are read from the memory 202 and the video phone transmits the data to the communication opposite party similarly to the above case with the transmission of the reply message (step S118). The video phone may measure a storable remaining time and transmit an end prediction message to the communication opposite party.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image communication apparatus and method, and more particularly to an image communication apparatus and method having an answering machine response function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) interface has been standardized by the CCITT (International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee) as a digital line comprising an information channel and a signal channel, and its practical use has been promoted. . A videophone device is a terminal (image communication device) that handles audio and video using this kind of ISDN service. Videophone devices can handle not only audio but also video (still images, moving images)
By providing a function of recording a voice message or a video message, a videophone device having an answering machine response function can be provided.

[0003] While a conventional answering machine only responds to voice, a videophone equipped with an answering machine can transmit both video and audio, so that a commercial video can be used for a response message. Thus, the message can be visually transmitted to the other party, and the message can be accurately and comfortably transmitted to the other party even when the user is not present.

By the way, in a conventional videophone device having an answering machine response function, at the time of answering machine answering, the received image data to be transmitted is directly recorded as answering machine recording reception data. In this case, when the answering time has elapsed when answering the answering machine, a warning sound is transmitted to the communication partner to notify the end of the answering machine. Further, in this type of conventional videophone apparatus, an answering machine response message image is stored as a moving image composed of a plurality of frames, and the moving image is transmitted to a communication partner when the answering machine responds.

[0005]

However, in the above-described conventional image communication apparatus such as a video telephone apparatus, the method of notifying the communication partner of the end of the answering machine by a warning sound is performed when the communication partner is not familiar with the apparatus. Cannot understand the meaning of the warning sound,
Sometimes misinterpreted.

[0006] It is an object of the present invention to provide an image communication apparatus and method capable of reporting the end of an answering machine without giving a misunderstanding to a communication partner.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, an image communication apparatus according to claim 1 automatically starts a response communication to an incoming communication and transmits a response message to a communication partner. An image communication device having a function of storing an image message and a voice message transmitted from the communication partner, wherein the time management unit manages a storage time of the voice message; and Transmitting means for transmitting a predetermined image message to a communication partner.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image communication apparatus according to the first aspect, the time management means determines whether or not the accumulation time of the voice message has exceeded a predetermined time. I do.

The image communication apparatus according to claim 3 automatically transmits a response to an incoming call and transmits a response message to a communication partner, and the remaining time until the end of the automatic response. Measuring means for measuring the remaining time, and the transmitting means transmits data indicating the remaining time measured by the measuring means to the communication partner.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the image communication apparatus according to the third aspect, further comprising storage means for storing information sent from the communication partner during the automatic response. Features.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image communication method, wherein a response communication is automatically started in response to an incoming call, a response message is transmitted to a communication partner, and an image message transmitted from the communication partner is transmitted. An image communication method for storing a voice message, comprising: a time management step of managing an accumulation time of the voice message; and a transmission step of transmitting a predetermined image message to a communication partner based on management by the time management step. It is characterized by having.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the image communication method according to the fifth aspect, the time management step determines whether or not the storage time of the voice message has exceeded a predetermined time. Features.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided the image communication method, wherein the transmitting step automatically responds to the incoming communication and transmits a response message to the communication partner, and the remaining time until the automatic response ends. And transmitting the data indicating the remaining time measured in the measuring step to the communication partner.

[0014] The image communication method according to claim 8 is the configuration according to claim 7, further comprising a storage step of storing information sent from the communication partner during the automatic response. Features.

[0015]

According to the present invention, the storage time of a voice message is managed, and a predetermined image message is transmitted to a communication partner based on the management.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

[Structure] FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the structure of a video telephone apparatus as an image communication apparatus according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 601 denotes a video telephone main body. A display 219 for displaying a received image is provided above the display 219 with a camera 205 for capturing the received image. An operation panel D is formed by extending a lower portion of the front surface of the videophone main body 601 forward, and a numeric keypad 604 is provided at the center of the operation panel D, and an answering machine mode setting button 605 for setting an answering machine mode on one side.
A playback button 606 for playing back the contents alternately received in the answering machine mode, a storage button 607 for storing a response message in the answering machine mode, and a freeze button 608 for the image are provided. Further, a speaker 220 is provided on the other side of the operation panel D.
And a handset 609 having a microphone 204 and a hook switch 610 on which the handset 609 is placed in an idle state. Handset 60
When 9 is placed on hook switch 610, hook switch 610 goes on-hook, and when the operator lifts handset 609, hook switch 610 goes off-hook.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a video telephone apparatus as an image communication apparatus according to the present embodiment. An output terminal of a microphone 204 for outputting an operator's voice signal is AD.
Through the converter 206, the CCITT recommendation G. 72
2 is connected to an audio encoding unit 209 which encodes transmission audio data according to the second encoding method. Also, the output terminal of the camera 205 is connected via an AD converter 207 to a transmission image frame memory 208 for temporarily storing a transmission image to be encoded in frame units. H. of the CCITT recommendation. 261
Is connected to an image encoding unit 210 that encodes transmission image data according to the above-mentioned encoding method. And the speech encoding unit 2
09 and the output terminal of the image encoding unit 210 are CCITT
Recommendation H. H.221 is connected to a multiplexing unit 211 for multiplexing audio data and image data according to the data multiplexing method of H.221, and an output terminal of the multiplexing unit 211 transmits multiplexed transmission data to an external communication line, It is connected to a communication control unit 212 that inputs multiplexed reception data received from the communication circuit to a separation unit 213 described later.

On the other hand, the output terminal on the receiving side of the communication control unit 212 is compliant with the CCITT recommended H.264 standard. H.221 is connected to a separation unit 213 that separates audio data and image data multiplexed according to the data multiplexing method of H.221. Image decoding unit 214 that decodes image data encoded according to the encoding method of H.261.
Connected to An output terminal of the image decoding unit 214 is connected to a received image frame memory 216 that temporarily stores the decoded image data in frame units.
The output terminal of the received image frame memory 216 is connected to the display 2 for displaying the received image via the DA converter 217.
19 is connected.

Further, the output terminal on the receiving side of the separation unit 213 is connected to the CC. 711 and G.R. The audio decoding unit 215 is connected to an audio decoding unit 215 that decodes audio data according to the decoding system 722. The output terminal of the audio decoding unit 215 is
It is connected to the speaker 220 via the converter 218.

In this embodiment, a timer 203 for measuring the communication time is provided, and this timer 203 is connected to an overall control unit 201 for controlling the overall operation. It is connected to a memory 208 and a memory 202 in which voice data and image data at the time of answering machine response are stored. The memory 202 is connected to a received image frame memory 216, and an output terminal of the memory 202 is connected to an audio decoding unit 223 for decoding audio data compressed to 32 kbps by the ADPCM method. The output terminal of the audio decoding unit 223 is connected to the speaker 220 and the microphone 204 via the DA converter 224. Further, the output terminals of the microphone 204 and the DA converter 218 are input via the AD converter 221 to the audio encoding unit 222 that compresses the audio data into data of 32 kbps by the ADPCM method, and the output terminal of the audio encoding unit 222 Is the memory 20
2

[Operation Mode] FIG. 7 is a state transition diagram of the operation mode of the videophone apparatus as the image communication apparatus according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 7, reference numeral 701 denotes an idle state. When the user 609 goes off-hook and dials the telephone number of the communication partner, the calling state 7
02, and when the caller is connected to the caller via the line, the call state 703 is set. In this case, before connecting to the caller,
When the operator goes on-hook, the system returns to the idle state, and also returns from the call state 703 to the idle state 701 when the operator goes on-hook.

When there is an incoming call in the idle state 701, a ring tone sounds and the state changes to a ring tone ringing state 704.
When the operator lifts the handset 609 and goes off-hook, the state changes to the talking state 703. If the communication partner disconnects communication before going off-hook, the state returns to the idle state 701.

On the other hand, when the operator turns on the answering machine mode setting button 605 in the idle state 701,
The system enters the answering machine mode state 705 and the answering machine mode state 70
5, the operator presses the answering machine mode setting button 605
When the F operation is performed, the state returns to the idle state 701. Further, in the idle state 701, when the operator turns on the play button 606 of the answering machine, the state changes to the answering machine recording / playing state 706 in which the answering machine message recorded in the answering machine mode state 705 is played.
Return to

Further, when the operator turns on the accumulation button 607 in the idle state 701, accumulation of the response message in the answering machine mode is started. The response message is first stored in response voice storage 707. If the freeze button 608 is turned on during voice storage, the response image storage 708 storing the image captured by the camera 205 as the response message image is stored. Done. When the accumulation is completed, the process returns to the response voice accumulation 707, and when the accumulation button 607 is turned off, the idle state 701 is set.
Return to

[Operation in Answering Machine Mode] FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation in the answering machine mode of this embodiment. In this operation, four parameters of n, m, T1, and Tsm are used, and a communication number is used for each. , Received image number, communication time timer, and time stamp. The communication number n is an incoming call order management number at the time of answering machine operation, and is 1, 2, 3,.
The received image number m is the storage order management number of the still images stored in the memory at the time of the answering machine response operation.
The first sheet at the start of communication is 0, and thereafter, each time the memory is stored, the numbers are numbered 1, 2, 3,.... The communication time timer T1 indicates a call time from the start of communication for each communication, and the time stamp Tsm indicates a time at which an image stored in the memory is received as a relative time from the start of communication, and is stored in one piece of stored image data. Is Ts1 and the second accumulated image data is Ts1.
Tsm is recorded in s2 and in the m-th accumulated image data.

The operation of the answering machine mode of the present embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG.

In the answering machine mode, step S103
Initialization of the parameters is performed, and initial values n = 1 and m =
0 and T1 = 0 are set, the answering machine mode is determined in step S104, and if the answer result is NO and the answering machine mode is released, the operation ends. Step S1
If the decision result in the step 04 is YES, the process proceeds to a step S105 to wait for an incoming call, and the judgments of the steps S104 and S105 are repeated until an incoming call occurs.

If there is an incoming call, the line is connected in step S106, and the response image shown in FIG. 5 is stored in the memory 202 in advance in order to notify the other party of the communication that the videophone device is in the answering machine mode. Is written in the transmission image frame memory 208, encoded by the image encoding unit 210, and transmitted to the communication partner via the multiplexing unit 211 and the communication control unit 212 (step S107). In this case, the image written in the transmission image frame memory 208 reads and encodes the same data many times, and thus appears to the communication partner as a still image. Thus, the self-portrait P of the operator shown in FIG.
Seconds are recorded. Press the freeze button and your image will be recorded. Is transmitted to the communication partner as a response image message.

At the same time as sending the response image message,
The voice data of the response message (separate from the message of the response image) previously stored in the memory 202 is read and decoded by the decoding unit 223, and the DA converter 224
The data is transmitted to the communication partner via the AD converter 206, the audio encoding unit 209, the multiplexing unit 211, and the communication control unit 212.

Further, at the same time when the response image message and the response voice message are transmitted, when the first received image data is all received and arranged in the received image frame memory 216, the data of one frame is converted into still image data.
The data is stored in the memory 202. At this time, as shown in FIG. 4B, a communication number n and a time stamp Ts0 are recorded at the head of the storage area of the image data.

Returning to FIG. 3, when the transmission of the response message is completed in step S107, the end of the communication is confirmed once in step S108, and when the communication partner ends the communication without transmitting the message, It is possible to cancel the answering machine response operation and return to the call waiting waiting state. If the decision result in the step S108 is NO, a step S108 is executed.
In step 109, the communication time timer 203 starts counting, and at the same time, the voice of the communication partner is data-compressed by the voice encoding unit 222 and stored in the memory 202 in real time. At this time, as shown in FIG. 4A, the communication number n is recorded at the head of the audio data storage area by the overall control unit 201. Then, the communication partner is provided with the CCITT recommendation H.264. BAB (bit rate assignment signal) indicated by reference numeral 221
By transmitting the "image update request command" defined in (1), a screen update request is made to the communication partner.

As described above, when the screen update request in step S109 is completed and the first received image in the INTRA mode (the INTRA mode will be described later) is arranged on the received image frame memory 216, the process proceeds to step S1.
At 10, the data of the frame is stored in the memory 202 as still image data. In this case, the image data 3
As the storage area of No. 17, the image area of Ts0 is overwritten using the image area of Ts0, and the image data of the time stamp Ts0 is updated. At this time, the value of Ts0 remains 0 second.

Next, in step S112, it is determined whether the communication partner has terminated the communication and the line has been disconnected. If the result of the determination is YES, step S119
The communication is disconnected in step S120, and the storage of the voice of the communication partner in the memory is stopped in step S120.
Then, 1 is added to the communication number n to update, and the process returns to the next incoming call waiting state.

If the result of the determination in step S112 is NO and the communication has not ended, the communication time timer 203 is monitored in step S113. If it has exceeded 30 seconds, the flow advances to step S118 to display the image of the answering machine end message. The data and the sound data of the alarm sound are read from the memory 202 and transmitted to the communication partner in the same manner as the transmission of the response message described above. Here, the reason why the communication time is limited to 30 seconds is to limit the upper limit of the memory free space required for the absence recording of one communication and to prevent overflow of writing to the memory. By the way, in this embodiment, the audio data is converted into 32 kbps data by the audio encoding unit 222.
The free space of the memory 202 for storing audio data of a maximum of 30 seconds without overflow is 120 Kbytes at the maximum.

If the decision result in the step S113 is NO, 3
If the time does not exceed 0 seconds, the process proceeds to step S114 to determine whether there is a freeze request from the communication partner. When a “screen freeze command” defined by the BAS 221 is received from the communication partner, it is determined that a freeze request has been issued. This freeze request is that the communication partner has instructed to record the image, as shown in the response message of FIG. 5, and when this request is made, first, in step S115, the received image signal m Is updated by adding 1 to the time stamp Tsm.
Write 1. Next, in step S117, the memory 20
2, the data of the received image in the received image frame memory 216 is written. For example, when the first freeze request is made 10 seconds after the start of communication, as shown in FIG.
10 is recorded in (315), and the following memory area 316
Is received image data. And. Step S1
If the storage of the received image data is completed in step S17, and if there is no freeze request in step S114,
Return to 112.

[Answering Record Playback Operation] Next, the answering machine recording and playback operation of the stored image data and the stored audio data will be described.

When the operator presses the play button 606 in the idle state 701, the mode changes to the answering machine recording / playback mode 706 for playing back the image data and the audio data stored in the memory 202 in the answering machine mode. In this reproduction, n = 1, 2, 3,... Are reproduced in the order of the communication number n. In the present embodiment, the number of recordings is one (n = 1), the communication time (voice recording time) is 20 seconds, and two images (Ts0 = 0 seconds, Ts1 =
15 seconds) will be described below.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the operation of the answer phone in the embodiment, and FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing the state of the answer phone data stored in the memory during the answer phone playback in the embodiment. In FIG. 9, reference numerals 901, 903, and 906 denote communication management numbers, which are all set to 1 in this embodiment because the number is one.
Reference numeral 902 denotes audio data, in which audio data converted to ADPCM is stored for 20 seconds (80 Kbytes).
Reference numeral 904 denotes a relative time Ts0 from the start of communication in which the first image is stored, which is 0 second in this embodiment. 905
Indicates the first image data accumulated when the relative time is 0 second. 907 is a relative time Ts at which the second image is accumulated
1 is 15 seconds in the present embodiment, and 908 indicates the second image data accumulated when the relative time is 15 seconds.

In the flowchart of FIG. 8, when the answering machine recording / reproducing mode is set, in step S803, a parameter n is initialized. This parameter n is a communication management number of the answering machine data to be processed in the answering machine reproducing routine.
The initial value is 1. Next, in step S804, the presence / absence of voice data is determined by searching for the presence / absence of voice data indicating the communication management number n = 1 in the memory 202. If this determination result is NO, there is no image data. The answering machine reproduction routine ends.

If the decision result in the step S804 is YES, a timer 203 is started in a step S805, and the process advances to a step S806 to start reproduction of the audio data 902 with the communication management number of n = 1. To reproduce the audio data, the audio data 902 on the memory 202 is read, decoded by the audio decoding unit 223, converted into an analog audio signal by the DA converter 224, and reproduced from the speaker 220 via the bus 255.

Next, in step S807, the parameter m is initialized. This parameter m is the stored image number of the image data in the communication management number n, and its initial value is 0. In the next step S808, the time stamp Ts
It is determined whether there is image data of “0”. If the determination result of step S808 is YES, the image data of the time stamp Ts0 is transferred from the memory 202 to the received image frame memory 216 in step S809. The image data transferred to the received image frame memory 216 is
The video signal is converted into an analog video signal at 17 and displayed on the display 21.
9 is displayed. Since the image data in the received image frame memory 216 is read many times until the next image data is transferred and updated, the reproduced image is a still image.

If the transfer of the image data is completed in step S809, or if there is no image data of the time stamp Ts0 in step S808, the value of the parameter m is updated by adding 1 to the value of the parameter m in step S810. In this embodiment,
As shown in FIG. 9B, there is no Ts0 image data in the accumulated data in the memory 202, and the image data is updated to m = 1 without being transferred. Next, in step S811, it is determined whether there is image data of the time stamp Ts1.
2 waits until the value of the timer 203 exceeds the value of the time stamp Ts1, that is, the relative time at which the image has been stored. If the relative time has exceeded, the image data of the time stamp Ts1 on the memory 202 is transferred to the received image at step S813. The data is transferred to the frame memory 216. The transferred image data is
It is converted to an analog video signal by the DA converter 217,
The time stamp Ts0 is displayed on the display 219.
Is updated when the image data of the time stamp Ts1 is transferred to the received image frame memory 216.

When the transfer of all the data of the time stamp Ts1 to the received image frame memory 216 is completed, step S
810, the parameter m is updated again, and m = 2
Update to Then, as in the case of Ts0, the image data of the time stamp Ts2 is transferred to the received image frame memory 216 in step S813 after the determinations in steps S811, S812. The image data thus transferred is converted into an analog video signal by the DA converter 217, displayed on the display 219, and returns to the updating of the parameter m again.

Then, although the updated parameter is m = 3, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9B, it is determined in step S811 that there is no image data of Ts3, and the flow advances to step S814. It is determined whether or not the reproduction of the audio data has been completed. If the determination result is YES, the process proceeds to step S815. In step S815,
The image data and audio data of the communication management number n = 1 reproduced in the above processing are deleted in step S815, and
02 is secured, the communication management number n is updated in step S816, and the process proceeds to the next step.

When a plurality of answering machines have been received, the value of n continues to be 2, 3, 4,...
Step S80 for each value of n = 2, 3, 4,...
4 to S816 are repeatedly executed. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9A, since the audio data is only n = 1, in the case of n = 2, the determination result of step S804 is NO, and the answering machine reproduction routine is ended.

[Operation of storing response message in memory]
As shown in FIG. 7, the storage of the answering machine message firstly
The process starts from the storage of the response voice 707, and when the storage button 607 of the response message is turned on, the storage of the response voice is started. The analog audio signal from the microphone 204 is AD-converted by the AD converter 221, converted into audio data of 32 kbps by the audio encoding unit 222, and stored in the memory 202. When the accumulation button 607 is turned off, the accumulation processing ends. Also, when the freeze button 603 is turned ON during the accumulation of the sound, the camera 2
The image captured in 05 is converted by the AD converter 207, and only one frame is stored in the transmission image frame memory 208. Then, the one-frame image data is stored in the memory 202 by the overall control unit 201.

[Image Encoding Mode] In this embodiment, the CI
Image data is transmitted and received in an image format called the F format. The signals in the CIF format are Y, Cb, and Cr.
X 288 vertical pixels, Cb signal, Cr signal frame is 1 horizontal
Each of the data has a data width of 8 bits with 76 × 144 pixels. In the CIF format image, one frame is composed of 12 blocks called GOB.
One GOB is composed of 33 blocks called macroblocks, and one macroblock is composed of six blocks. The processing is performed in the order of GOB 1 to 12, and within each GOB, macro blocks 1 to 33 are executed.
, And within each macroblock, Y blocks 1 to 4, Cb block, and Cr block are performed in this order.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory view showing the pixel configuration of the CIF format of the present embodiment. In the case of the Cb frame and the Cr frame, the frame size and the GOB size are 1
/ 2. In Y, a macroblock is composed of four blocks, but in Cb and Cr, there is no independent macroblock. A macroblock is composed of four blocks of Y and one block each of Cb and Cr, for a total of six blocks. Is configured.

In the present embodiment, the image encoding unit 210 has three modes I depending on the nature of the macroblock to be processed.
inter (Inter Frames), MC (Mot
ion Compensation), INTRA (I
The encoding operation is performed in accordance with the N.sub.frame.
These modes will be sequentially described below.

Inter is as shown in FIG.
This is an inter-frame difference encoding, and calculates a difference between a block Bp on the previous frame Fp and a processing block B at the same position,
This is a method of encoding the difference. In this Inter,
For an object that does not move between frames, the difference is 0, so that very high coding efficiency can be obtained.

MC is inter-frame differential coding with motion compensation. As shown in FIG. 11B, when an object has a motion between frames, a block to be coded at a position separated by the motion is used. Since there is a block Bn similar to Bp, the motion vector of the object is estimated from the previous image, the block Bn is obtained, and the difference between the block Bn and the processing block B is encoded. With this method, it is possible to compensate for the shortcomings of simple inter-frame differential coding.

In INTRA, as shown in FIG. 11C, encoding is performed using only data in a block without referring to a previous frame. This method is applied to a case where the motion of an object is too large, a case where there is little correlation with a previous image due to a scene change, or a first image of a communication without a previous frame to be referred to.

The image transmitted in this way is Inte
Which mode of r, MC or INTRA is used for encoding
H. CCITT Recommendations 261 is transmitted to the communication partner according to the MTYPE information. In this embodiment, the MTYPE information of the transmission image is created by the image encoding unit 210 and transmitted to the communication partner, and the MTYPE information of the reception image is determined by the image decoding unit 214 to perform the decoding process in each mode. It is carried out.

[Modification] In the above-described embodiment, the screen update request is made only in step S109 of FIG. 3, but after it is determined in step S114 that there is a freeze request,
Sends a screen update request signal to the communication partner, and
After entering the TRA mode, the processing from step S115 may be performed on the image data received in the INTRA mode. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the image message notifying the end of the accumulation is transmitted at the end of the accumulation. Will end. "
May be transmitted to the communication partner. According to this, for example, the communication partner can transmit the answering machine message while recognizing the remaining time for transmitting the requirement.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the transmission image frame memory 208 stores the digital video signal for each frame. Also, the received image frame memory 216 may be a memory for storing an analog video signal. In the above-described embodiment, the image data and the audio data are stored in the memory 202. It may be a memory.

[0057]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the storage time is managed and a predetermined image is transmitted,
For example, transmitting a predetermined image in response to the lapse of a predetermined time, or image data indicating the time until the end of the automatic response,
The message can be transmitted to the communication partner, whereby the end of the answering machine can be reported without giving a misunderstanding to the communication partner. By being able to inform the communication partner that the automatic response is about to end, the communication partner can transmit the answering machine message while recognizing the remaining time for transmitting the requirement.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a videophone device as an image communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an appearance of the videophone device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation in an answering machine mode;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a data accumulation state in a memory at the time of an answering machine operation;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an answering machine response image message.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an answering machine end message.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a transition state of an operation.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation of reproducing an answering machine message;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a data accumulation state of a memory at the time of answering machine reproduction;

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a pixel configuration in a CIF format.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of encoding modes of Inter, MC, and INTRA.

[Explanation of symbols]

 201 overall control unit (time management unit) 202 memory 203 timer (measurement unit) 204 microphone 205 camera 208 transmission image frame memory 209 audio encoding unit 210 image encoding unit 211 multiplexing unit 212 communication control unit (transmission unit) 213 separation Unit 214 image decoding unit 215 audio decoding unit 216 received image frame memory 219 display 220 speaker 222 audio encoding unit 223 audio decoding unit

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference)

Claims (8)

[Claims] The system has a function of automatically starting a response communication to an incoming communication, transmitting a response message to a communication partner, and storing an image message and a voice message transmitted from the communication partner. An image communication apparatus, comprising: time management means for managing the storage time of the voice message; and transmission means for transmitting a predetermined image message to a communication partner based on management by the time management means. Image communication device. 2. The image communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said time management means determines whether or not the accumulation time of said voice message has exceeded a predetermined time. 3. An automatic response to an incoming communication,
A transmitting unit that transmits a response message to a communication partner; and a measuring unit that measures a remaining time until the end of the automatic response. The transmitting unit includes data indicating the remaining time measured by the measuring unit. Image communication apparatus for transmitting the image data to the communication partner. 4. The image communication apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising storage means for storing information sent from said communication partner during said automatic response. 5. An image communication method for automatically starting a response communication to an incoming call, transmitting a response message to a communication partner, and storing an image message and a voice message transmitted from the communication partner. Image communication, comprising: a time management step of managing the storage time of the voice message; and a transmission step of transmitting a predetermined image message to a communication partner based on the management by the time management step. Method. 6. The image communication method according to claim 5, wherein said time management step determines whether or not the accumulation time of said voice message has exceeded a predetermined time. 7. An automatic response to an incoming communication,
A transmitting step of transmitting a response message to a communication partner; and a measuring step of measuring a remaining time until the end of the automatic response. The transmitting step includes data indicating the remaining time measured by the measuring step. Is transmitted to the communication partner. 8. The image communication method according to claim 7, further comprising a storage step of storing information sent from the communication partner during the automatic response.