JP2001245287A - Image recording system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image recording system that can relieve lord on a user by coping with visitor or a phone caller, depending on opposite party when the user is at home or absent and reduce the capacity of a memory. SOLUTION: The image recording system is provided with an image extract means 10, that extracts an image as to the aspect of the characteristics part of a person form transmitted image information, a storage means 11 that stores reference image information as to the aspect of the characteristics part of a specific reference person, an image information discrimination means 12 the compares the reference image information with the extracted image information to discriminate, whether or not they agree, and a video recording permission means 13 that permits an image recording means 14 to record regular image information by discriminating the transmitted image information as the regular image information, only when the reference image information and the extracted image information are in agreement.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus, and more particularly to a suitable image recording apparatus applied to an intercom apparatus having a camera function and a telephone apparatus having a videophone function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An intercom apparatus includes, for example, an intercom apparatus having a camera function, and a telephone apparatus includes a telephone apparatus having a videophone function. In the intercom device, the visitor information for identifying the face of the visitor photographed by the camera function of the slave unit in the outdoor unit is transmitted to the master unit on the indoor unit side so that the visitor can be identified on the master unit side. I have. In the telephone device, the image of the face of the sender is transmitted to the receiver so that the receiver can specify the sender. In these intercom devices and telephone devices, for example, by setting the answering machine mode on the master unit or the telephone side when absent, the presence or absence of a visitor or telephone call when returning home, The answering machine mode is canceled so that the recorded video can be reproduced.

[0003]

However, in the conventional image recording apparatus, for example, it is possible to discriminate between a case where a solicitor such as a salesman or a religion who does not want to visit frequently visits and a case where friends and siblings visit. It had no function. Therefore, when at home, it is necessary to deal with each visitor one by one, which is sometimes troublesome. Also, when you are away, most of the visitors are recorded in the answering machine function, which takes time during recording and playback, which makes it inconvenient to use, and the memory capacity at the time of recording is insufficient, so that all visitors may not be recorded, It was not possible to determine whether or not the call was of high importance.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide an image recording apparatus capable of responding to a visitor or a telephone caller at home or absent, thereby reducing the burden on the user.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an image recording apparatus capable of reducing a memory load at the time of reproduction by performing recording and reproduction only for a specific visitor or a specific telephone transmitter. It is in.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an image recording apparatus according to the present invention comprises: an image extracting means for extracting an image of a characteristic portion from transmitted image information; The storage means for storing the reference image information about the face portion of the subject, and the image extraction information obtained by extracting the target person's face portion from the reference image information and the image extraction means are compared to determine whether they match. Image information determining means for determining,
Only when the reference image information and the image extraction information match in the image information determining means, the transmitted image information is regarded as the regular image information, and the regular image information is recorded in the image recording means. Recording permission means for permitting the recording. In the present invention, the image information determining means compares the reference image information, which previously stores the face portion of a specific person in the storage means, with the image information extracted by the image extracting means, and determines whether or not they match. Only when the reference image information and the image extraction information match, the image information transmitted by the recording permission unit is regarded as the regular image information, and the recording of the regular image information into the image recording unit is permitted. I do. Thus, the image information is recorded in the image recording unit only when it is determined that the image information is legitimate image information. Therefore, the memory capacity of the image recording unit does not become insufficient, and the load on the memory is reduced. It can be significantly reduced.

The image recording apparatus of the present invention has image photographing means for acquiring image photographing information obtained by photographing the appearance of a characteristic portion of a visitor from a camera provided in the child machine in an outdoor child machine, Information on the appearance of the person to be visited is stored in the parent device in the room in advance, and the visitor storage means stores the information as person identification information; the person identification information stored in the visitor storage means; Means for comparing the image capturing information obtained by capturing the face portion of the target person from the means to determine whether or not they match each other; and, in the image information determining means, the person identifying information and the image capturing information. Recording permission means for permitting recording of the transmitted image information in the image recording means only, or entry permission means for permitting entry into the room, only when the information coincides. According to the present invention, the person identification information stored in the prospective visitor storage means in the image information determination means is compared with the image photographing information obtained by photographing the face portion of the target person from the image photographing means, and coincidence is obtained. Only when the permission is given, the image information transmitted by the permission means is regarded as the regular image information, and the recording of the regular image information in the image recording means is permitted, and the entry into the room is permitted. ing. As a result, the visitor is allowed to enter the room only when it is determined that the image information is legitimate image information, so that the user does not need to make individual determinations, which is convenient for use. Also, the face of the visitor is recorded in the image recording means only when the values match, so that the memory capacity of the image recording means does not run short and the load on the memory can be greatly reduced. it can.

In the image recording apparatus of the present invention, the entry permission means includes a chime generation permission means for permitting generation of a chime, and a door opening / closing for controlling opening / closing of an entrance door when the chime is generated by the chime generation permission means. Permission means. According to the present invention, when a chime is generated by the chime generation permission means, the opening and closing of the entrance door can be controlled by the door opening and closing permission means, so that a house or a company with many visitors can save labor.

In the image recording apparatus of the present invention, when the intercom which has been switched to the absence mode when going out is switched to the normal mode when returning home, the entry permitting means cancels the intercom function and switches to the mode for recording and reproducing image information. do. When the intercom is switched to the normal mode when returning home, the permission means of the present invention performs a process of releasing the intercom function and switching to a mode in which image information is recorded and played back. In this case, the recording and reproducing time of the user can be shortened, and the time can be reduced. Also, it is only necessary to record and play back the face part of the visitor only when they match,
Memory <Image Recording Means> The capacity of the memory can be reduced without running out of capacity, and the recording process can be performed with an inexpensive memory.

An image recording apparatus according to the present invention comprises: an image transmitting means for transmitting image photographing information obtained by photographing a face portion of a person making a telephone call according to a telephone flow chart; Information about the subject person stored in the intended caller storage means, and image capturing in which the face portion of the target person is transmitted from the image transmitting means. Image information determining means for comparing information to determine whether or not they match each other; and recording image information transmitted to the image recording means only when the person identification information and the image photographing information match in the image information determining means. Recording permitting means for permitting a call, or incoming call permitting means for permitting an incoming call. In the present invention, the image information determining means determines that the transmitted image information is valid image information only when the person identification information and the image photographing information match, and records the valid image information in the image recording means. And allow incoming calls. As a result, the incoming call is permitted only when it is determined that the image information is legitimate image information, so that the user does not need to make an individual determination, which is convenient for use. Also, only if they match,
Since the face of the other party of the call is recorded in the image recording means, the memory capacity is not short and the load on the memory can be greatly reduced.

[0011] In the image recording apparatus of the present invention, the incoming call permission means is a release permission command means for issuing a command to release the answering machine function. When setting as an answering machine, the image taking information about the other party of the call is compared with the person identification information stored in advance in the intended caller storage means,
Since the recording processing is performed only when they match, and the recording processing is not performed when they do not match, the time for recording and reproducing by the user when returning home can be shortened, and the time can be reduced. Also, the face part of the other party of the call is recorded only when they match, so that the memory <image recording means> does not run out of space and only the important image information can be recorded and played back. become.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An image recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the image recording apparatus according to the embodiment. The image recording device is an intercom device having a camera function or a telephone having a television camera. Note that the image recording apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, an image extracting means 10 extracts an image of a face portion as an appearance of a characteristic portion of a human from image information transmitted by an outdoor cordless handset or a telephone flow chart (not shown). The storage unit 11 stores reference image information on a specific person's face serving as a reference. The image information determination unit 12 compares the reference image information with image extraction information obtained by extracting a face portion of a target person from the image extraction unit and determines whether or not they match. Recording permission means 13
Only when the reference image information and the image extraction information match in the image information judging means 12, the transmitted image information is regarded as the regular image information, and the regular image information is recorded in the image recording means 14. I do.

Only when the reference image information and the image extraction information match in the image information judging means 12, the transmitted image information is regarded as the regular image information, and the regular image information is transmitted to the image recording means 14. Since the recording is performed, the memory capacity of the image recording means 14 is not insufficient, and the load on the memory can be greatly reduced.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to the second embodiment. In FIG. 2, the image photographing means 21 is attached to a slave unit (not shown) of the outdoor U. The face part (appearance) of the visitor from the image capturing means 21
The image capturing information obtained by capturing is transmitted. The following configuration is arranged in the room R. The visitor storage means 22 preliminarily stores information on the appearance of the person who is to visit in the parent device of the room R and stores the information as person identification information. The visitor storage means 22 corresponds to the storage means 11 of FIG. The image information determination means 23 is a visitor storage means 22
Is compared with image photographing information obtained by photographing the face of the target person from the image photographing means 21 to determine whether or not they match. The image information determining means 23 corresponds to the image information determining means 12 in FIG. The permission unit 24 determines that the transmitted image information is legitimate image information only when the person identification information matches the image photographing information in the image information determination unit 23, and stores the legitimate image information in the image recording unit. 25 is permitted to record and is allowed to enter the room. The permission unit 24 corresponds to the recording permission unit 13 shown in FIG. With the above configuration, the visitor is allowed to enter the room only when it is determined that the image information is legitimate image information, so that it is not necessary for the user to make an individual determination, which is convenient for use. In addition, since the face of the visitor is recorded in the image recording unit 25 only when they match, the memory capacity of the image recording unit 25 does not run short, and the load on the memory can be greatly reduced. Can be.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to a modification of the second embodiment. The permission means 24 includes a chime generation permission means 24a for permitting the generation of a chime, and a door opening / closing permission means 24b for controlling opening and closing of the entrance door when a chime is generated by the chime generation permission means 24a. is there. With this configuration, when a chime is generated by the chime generation permission unit 24a, the opening and closing of the entrance door can be controlled by the door opening / closing permission unit 24b. Can be omitted.

In FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the permission means 24
When switching the intercom which has been switched to the absence mode when going out to the normal mode when returning home, permission is given to switch to the mode for recording and reproducing image information by releasing the intercom function. When switching the intercom to the normal mode when returning home, the intercom function is canceled and the process of switching to the mode for recording and playing back image information is performed, and the time for recording and playback by the user when returning home can be shortened, and the time can be reduced. it can.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to the third embodiment. The image transmitting means 30 is composed of the other party's telephone and the telephone network N. Image transmission means 30
Transmits, via a telephone line, image photographing information obtained by photographing the face portion (appearance) of the person characteristic portion on the calling side.
The following configuration is arranged in the room R. Scheduled caller storage means 3
1 stores in advance information about the appearance of a person who is to make a call as person identification information. This corresponds to the storage unit 11 in FIG. Image information determination means 32
Compares the person identification information stored in the prospective caller storage unit 31 with the image photographing information transmitted from the image transmitting unit 30 to the face portion of the target person to determine whether or not they match. . The image information determining means 32 corresponds to the image information determining means 12 in FIG. The incoming call permitting unit 33 regards the image information transmitted only when the person identifying information and the image capturing information match in the image information determining unit 32 as the regular image information, and stores the regular image information in the image recording unit 34. And allow incoming calls. The incoming call permission means 33 corresponds to the recording permission means 13 in FIG.

In this embodiment, the image information determining means 32
, The image information transmitted only when the person identification information and the image photographing information match each other is regarded as the regular image information, and the incoming image permitting unit 33 records the regular image information on the image recording unit 34. And allow
Allow the incoming call. As a result, the incoming call is permitted only when it is determined that the image information is legitimate image information, so that the user does not need to make an individual determination, which is convenient for use. Further, since the face of the other party of the call is recorded in the image recording means 34 only when they match, the memory capacity of the image recording means 34 does not run short and the load on the memory is greatly reduced. be able to.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to a modification of the third embodiment. The incoming call permitting means 33 in FIG. 5 is different from the incoming call permitting means 33 in FIG. 4 in that the incoming call permitting means 33a is provided with a release permitting instruction means 33a for issuing a command to release the answering machine function. And
When setting as an answering machine, the image taking information on the caller regarding the other party of the call is compared with the person identification information stored in advance in the caller storage means 31, and if they match, the answering machine function is set. Is configured to be released.

FIG. 6 is a specific configuration diagram of the image recording apparatus according to the present invention. This embodiment shows an example in which the present invention is applied to an intercom system. The intercom system is used for home use and business use.

The handset 39 includes a camera 3 for photographing a visitor.
9a is built in. Handset 39 is intercom line N
1 is connected to the intercom master unit 41. Note that the slave unit 39 is arranged outside the room such as the entrance, and the intercom master unit 41 is arranged indoors. The intercom master unit 41 includes a display 41a, a numeric keypad 41b, a button unit 41c, and a handset 41d. The display 41a is provided with a time and date display section 41h. An answering machine mode switch 41e for switching from the normal mode to the answering machine mode, a still image button 41f,
A memory button 41g is provided.

The intercom device 41 is connected to the image scanner device 42 and the digital camera 43, reads the image data of the visitor displayed on the display 41a of the intercom with the image scanner device 42 and the digital camera 43, and reads the scanner information or the digital camera information. It can be stored as video information.

FIG. 7 is a specific configuration diagram of the intercom master unit in the embodiment shown in FIG. The intercom of the slave unit 39 is provided with a camera 39a, a push button 39b, and a talk section 39c. Intercom master unit 41
The video amplifying unit 44 and the audio amplifying unit 48 connected to the slave unit 39 via the telephone network N amplify the video or audio.
In the image scanner device 42, a signal conversion unit 51 and a digital camera 43 are connected to a signal conversion unit 52 to perform signal conversion. The video amplifier 44 is converted to a digital signal in the A / D converter 45, the video amplifier 48 is converted to a digital signal in the A / D converter 47, and the video amplifier 53 is converted to a digital signal in the A / D converter 47. Is done. A speaker terminal 49 and a microphone terminal 50 are connected to the output side of the video amplifier 48, so that a message of a visitor can be output from a speaker and a microphone (not shown).

The input side of the CPU 46 has an A / D converter 4
5. The digitized video and audio signals output from the A / D converter 47 and the A / D converter 54 are input. The image processing unit 55 performs image correction and the like, and the D / A conversion unit 5
The video signal converted into an analog signal again by the video amplifier 57
After the amplification, the image of the visitor's face is displayed on the monitor 58.

A control signal output from the CPU 46 activates the clock 59 and displays the date and time on the monitor 58. CP
From the output side of U46, in addition to the analog output of the D / A converter 60 being amplified by the video amplifier 57, a lock signal or a release signal for locking or unlocking a door (not shown) is output via the interface 61. I do. A memory unit 64 is connected to the CPU 46 via a bidirectional bus, and stores video information of the visitor and audio information of the visitor. This memory unit 6
4 is provided with a fixed memory area in which an image of a person to be visited is captured in advance by the scanner 42 or the digital camera 43 and stored, and an image memory area in which video information and audio information of the visitor are recorded. Note that the audio information input to the audio amplifier 66 is amplified from the speaker 67. An external control button 62 and an answering machine mode button 63 are arranged on the intercom master unit 41, and the CPU 46 can be operated via the video control unit 65.

In the embodiment described above, the CPU 46
Only when the person identification information stored in the memory unit 64 is compared with image photographing information obtained by photographing a face portion of the target person from the image photographing means, the transmitted image is It outputs a permission signal for permitting the information to be entered into the room as normal image information. This allows
Only when it is determined that the image information is legitimate, the visitor is allowed to enter the room, so that the user does not need to make an individual determination, which is convenient for use. Also, the visitor's face portion is recorded in the memory unit 64 only when they match, so that the memory capacity of the memory unit 64 does not run short and the load on the memory unit 64 can be greatly reduced. it can.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are views showing an example of the comparison processing in the comparison section (video comparison section) in the CPU shown in FIG. The comparison unit 46a compares the visitor image 100 captured by the camera 39a of the slave unit 39 in FIGS. 6 and 7 with the visitor expected images 101 to 103 previously captured in the memory unit 64 by the digital camera 43 or the like. . In the case shown in FIG. 8, since the visitor image 100 and the prospective visitor image 101 match, the answering machine mode recording 11
0, key release mode 10, character display 130, voice display 140
Control instruction.

In the case shown in FIG. 8, the comparing section 46a
Visitor image 100 and visitor expected image 1 previously captured in the memory unit 64 by the digital camera 43 or the like.
Compare with 01 to 103. At this time, the coincidence determination between the visitor image 200 and the prospective visitor images 101 to 103 is performed. In the case shown in FIG. 9, since the visitor image 200 is not registered in the memory unit 64, it is determined that there is a mismatch, and the non-answering mode recording 210 and the non-key opening mode 22
0, an instruction to control the suspicious person display 230 and the voice display 240 is issued.

In the embodiment described above, the CPU 46
In this case, the personal identification information stored in the memory unit 64 and the image capturing 101 to 10 obtained by capturing the target visitor image 100 or the visitor image 200 from the image capturing unit.
3 and outputs a permission signal for permitting the transmitted image information to enter the room as normal image information only when they match. This allows the visitor to enter the room only when it is determined that the image information is legitimate, so that it is not necessary for the user to make an individual determination, and the burden on the user can be reduced. it can. Also, in the absence mode, the face of the visitor is recorded in the memory unit 64 only when they match, so that the capacity of the memory unit 64 can be prevented from becoming insufficient.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a specific operation of the embodiment of FIG. 7 of the present invention. First, the flow of the preprocessing unit is started, and in step <hereinafter, referred to as ST> 50, the image scanner 42 shown in FIG.
To capture video from photos. Next, in ST51, the video form is converted into the same format as the camera video by the processing in the signal conversion unit 51. In step ST54, the A / D converter 54 converts the analog information into digital information. Next, in ST55, the CPU 46
Is processed as a memory video, and the video is stored in the memory unit 64. In ST52, a signal captured by the digital camera 43 shown in FIG. 7 is fetched, and the process proceeds to ST53, where the signal form is processed by the signal conversion section 52 to make the video form the same as the camera video. In step ST54, the A / D converter 54 converts the analog information into digital information. Next, in ST55, the CPU 46
May be processed as a memory video, and the video may be stored in the memory unit 64. As described above, ST56
, The video is stored in the memory unit 64. This is the preprocessing.

Next, the main flow will be described. First, the process starts, and in ST100, the answering machine mode is set by pressing the answering machine mode button 63 of the intercom master unit 41 in FIG. Next, ST1
At 10, the visitor <visitor> advances to the handset 39.
Then, the process proceeds to ST120, and when the call button 39b of the slave unit 39 is pressed, the image is transmitted to the intercom master unit 41 in ST130. In ST140, the video information is converted from an analog signal to a digital signal. Thus, when the process proceeds to ST150, the comparison unit 46a of the CPU 46 compares the image of the visitor with the image of the visitor stored in the memory unit 64, and compares the image of the visitor with the image of the visitor. Matching with the actual image of the person. If they match (YES), the memory address of the visitor is stored in the answering machine function in ST160.

Thus, whether or not the user has visited a plurality of times, the user of the apparatus can recognize the number of visits by reading the memory address when switching to the normal mode later. In this way, the video information of the visitor when switching to the answering machine mode in ST170 can be displayed on the monitor 58 shown in FIG. As described above, even when the absence mode is set, the visitor image 100 shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 or the image photographing 101 to 103 obtained by photographing the visitor image 200 are compared and coincide with each other. Can be determined. Since recording is performed in the memory unit 64 only when they match, it is less likely that an important visitor is missed because the memory capacity of the memory unit 64 is insufficient.

In the above embodiment, the case of the intercom system has been specifically described by way of example. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to the videophone system including the telephone having the television described above. it can.

[0035]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
Only when it is determined that the image information is genuine, transmission of image information on visitors who talk on the intercom or on the other side of the telephone need only be permitted, and the user does not need to make individual decisions. It becomes convenient. In addition, only when there is a match, the face of the visitor who speaks with the intercom or the face of the other party of the telephone need only be recorded, so that the memory capacity is not insufficient and the load on the memory can be greatly reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to a modified embodiment of the second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to a modification of the third embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a specific configuration diagram of an image recording apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a specific configuration diagram of the intercom master unit in the second embodiment shown in FIG.

8 is a diagram showing an example of a comparison process in a comparison unit in the CPU in FIG. 7;

9 is a diagram showing an example of a comparison process in a comparison unit in the CPU in FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a specific operation of the embodiment in FIG. 7 of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image extraction means 11 Storage means 12 Image information judgment means 13 Recording permission means 14 Image recording means 21 Image photographing means 22 Visiting visitor storage means 23 Image information judgment means 24 Permission means 25 Image recording means 24a Chime generation permission means 24b Door opening and closing Permission means 30 Image transmission means 31 Image information determination means 32 Incoming permission means 33a Release permission command means 34 Image recording means

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image extracting means for obtaining image extraction information obtained by extracting an image of the appearance of a characteristic portion from transmitted image information, and preliminarily storing reference image information on the appearance of the characteristic portion of a specific person as a reference. A storage unit, an image information determining unit that compares the reference image information with the image extraction information to determine whether they match, and the reference image information matches the image extraction information in the image information determining unit. And a recording permitting means for permitting the recording of the regular image information to the image recording unit only when the transmitted image information is the regular image information. . 2. An image capturing means for obtaining image capturing information obtained by capturing a face portion of a visitor from a camera provided in the child device inside the outdoor child device, and planning to visit the indoor parent device. Prospective visitor storage means for pre-fetching information about the face portion of the person who is doing and storing the information as person identification information; and image information determination for comparing the person identification information with the image photographing information to determine whether they match. A recording permission unit that permits the transmitted image information to be recorded in an image recording unit only when the person identification information and the image shooting information match in the image information determination unit; And a permission unit for permitting entry into the room. 3. The entrance permission unit includes: a chime generation permission unit that permits the generation of a chime; and a door opening / closing permission unit that controls opening and closing of a front door when a chime is generated by the chime generation permission unit. The image recording apparatus according to claim 2, comprising: 4. The entrance permission means, when switching the intercom which has been switched to the absence mode when going out, to the normal mode when returning home, cancels the intercom function and permits switching to the mode for recording and reproducing image information. The image recording device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein 5. An image transmitting means for transmitting image photographing information obtained by photographing a face portion of a person making a call using a telephone flow diagram, and information relating to the face portion of the person who is to make the call is stored in advance. An intended caller storage unit that stores the captured person identification information; an image information determination unit that compares the person identification information with the image shooting information to determine whether they match; Recording permission means for permitting recording of the transmitted image information in the image recording means only when specific information and the image photographing information match, or incoming call permission means for permitting an incoming call of the telephone. An image recording apparatus, comprising: 6. An image recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said incoming call permission means has a release permission command means for issuing a command to release the answering machine function.