JP2004015158A - Mobile phone communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mobile phone whereby feeling, convenience and purpose or the like of a caller can be confirmed when called. <P>SOLUTION: When the mobile phone is dialed, the mobile phone reads an image selected by an image selection means is read from an image storage means, an image transmission means transmits the image to a speech destination, and upon receiving an image via the image transmission means when called, an image display means displays the received image before the mobile phone is hooked off. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a mobile phone communication system including a PHS.
[0002]
[Prior art]
When registering a phone number in a mobile phone, it is recorded in association with a face image taken by a digital camera or the like, and when an incoming call is received, the caller's face image is read out from the caller's phone number and displayed, 2. Description of the Related Art There is known a mobile telephone communication system that allows a caller to be easily confirmed (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-327232).
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in a conventional mobile telephone communication system, a face image recorded in advance is always displayed at the time of an incoming call, so that in reality, an image in which the caller is angry or sad but laughs is displayed. May be confused after responding.
[0004]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a mobile telephone communication system capable of confirming a caller's feelings, convenience, purpose, and the like when receiving a call.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
(1) The invention of claim 1 is applied to a mobile phone communication system in which a plurality of mobile phones each having a voice transmitting / receiving unit and an image transmitting / receiving unit are connected via a communication network.
Image storage means for storing an image; image display means for displaying an image; image selection means for selecting an image to be transmitted to a call destination from among the images stored in the image storage means; When the calling operation is performed, the image selected by the image selecting means is read out from the image storing means, transmitted to the destination by the image transmitting / receiving means, and the image is transmitted via the image transmitting / receiving means at the time of receiving a call. The mobile phone is provided with control means for displaying the received image on the image display means when receiving the mobile phone before the off-hook operation of the mobile phone is performed.
(2) The mobile phone communication system according to claim 2, wherein the image selection unit reads out the image stored in the image storage unit, displays the thumbnail on the image display unit, and displays the numbers 1 to 9 of the mobile phone. An image specified by a key operation is selected.
(3) In the mobile phone communication system according to claim 3, when the image storage means stores an image selected in advance for a specific call destination, and the image selecting means calls the specific call destination. Is to select an image corresponding to the call destination from the storage means.
(4) The mobile phone communication system according to claim 4, wherein an identification number is assigned to the image stored in the image storage unit, and when the control unit executes a calling operation of the mobile phone, the image selection is performed. Means for transmitting the identification number of the selected image instead of the image selected by the means to the destination, and receiving the identification number of the selected image when receiving a call, storing the image before the off-hook operation of the mobile phone is performed. An image corresponding to the identification number is read from the means and displayed on the image display means.
(5) The mobile telephone communication system according to claim 5, further comprising image storage means for storing an image in a repeater of a communication network, wherein the repeater of the communication network receives an identification number from the mobile phone in response to a call. Then, an image corresponding to the identification number of the caller's mobile phone number is read from the image storage means and transmitted to the call destination.
(6) In the mobile phone communication system according to the sixth aspect, the image transmitted to the call destination at the time of calling is an image of the caller's face representing the emotion, convenience, and purpose of the caller.
(7) The mobile telephone communication system according to claim 7, further comprising an image response operation member for performing a response by an image without responding to the incoming call on the mobile phone, wherein the control means controls the image response operation upon the incoming call. When the member is operated, the image selected by the image selection means is read from the image storage means and transmitted to the destination by the image transmission / reception means.
[0006]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
<< First Embodiment of the Invention >>
FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the mobile phone communication system according to the first embodiment. The mobile phone 1 communicates with another mobile phone 3 or a general subscriber telephone (not shown) via a number of repeaters 2a of the public telephone line network 2. In this figure, two mobile phones 1 and 3 are representatively shown. However, the mobile phone communication system according to one embodiment includes a large number of mobile phones (not shown) and a public telephone network 2. In the following, the mobile phone 1 will be described as a transmitting side and the mobile phone 3 will be described as a receiving side.
[0007]
FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the mobile phones 1 and 3. In this embodiment, for the sake of simplicity, the description will be made assuming that the mobile phone 1 on the transmitting side and the mobile phone 3 on the receiving side are of the same type. The mobile phones 1 and 3 transmit a user's voice via a voice transmission system including a microphone 11, a coding unit 12, a modulation unit 13, and a transmission unit 14. Also, the voice of the other party is reproduced through a voice receiving system including the receiving unit 15, the demodulating unit 16, the encoding unit 17, and the speaker 18. The switching unit 19 connects the transmitting unit 14 and the antenna 20 during transmission, and connects the receiving unit 15 and the antenna 20 during reception.
[0008]
The mobile phones 1 and 3 also include a small-sized CCD camera 21, and transmit images via an image transmission system including the camera 21, the image processing unit 22, the modulation unit 13, and the transmission unit 14. Further, an image is reproduced through an image receiving system including the receiving unit 15, the image generating unit 23, and the display 24. The image memory 25 records an image captured by the camera 21 and an image received via an image receiving system.
[0009]
The controller 26 includes a microcomputer (not shown) and peripheral components such as a RAM and a ROM, and controls the above-described transmission and reception system of voice and image based on an operation signal from the key input unit 27. The key input unit 27 includes operation members such as push buttons 0 to 9 and direction keys (not shown).
[0010]
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the transmission processing according to the first embodiment. In step 1, the caller inputs the telephone number of the call destination operated by the key input unit 27. In step 2 after reading the telephone number, the caller inputs the number of an image (hereinafter, referred to as an attached image) to be attached at the time of outgoing call selected by the key input unit 27. The attached image is an image representing the present emotion of the sender, and is captured by the camera 21 in advance and stored in the image memory 25 as the attached image.
[0011]
As the attached image, a face image of the caller, such as a normal expression of the caller, a happy expression, a sad expression, or an angry expression, which often expresses emotions and emotions, or an image of a pet, an idol, or an animation is used. Note that an image captured from an external device such as a personal computer or a scanner and stored in the image memory 25 may be used. Further, in this embodiment, description will be made assuming that an attached image representing "emotion" at the time of transmission of the caller is selected, but this "emotion" includes an emotion according to convenience and purpose at the time of transmission. For example, when a quick contact is desired, a face image with a rushed expression is selected to express the emotion at that time.
[0012]
When the mobile phones 1 and 3 are shipped from the factory, a default image representing emotions and emotions is stored in the image memory 25. The user may use the default image as it is as an attached image, or may take a self-portrait with the attached camera 21 and store and register it as an attached image. The attachment image registration is performed as follows, for example. When a self-portrait or the like is photographed by the camera 21 and the type of emotion is input from the key input unit 27 while this image is displayed on the display 24, this image is replaced with the default image stored in the image memory 25. Is stored in the image memory 25 and registered. Therefore, even before the camera 21 captures an image to be used as an attached image, the default image stored in the image memory 25 can be used as the attached image, and these default images can be used as individual self-portraits as necessary. It can be replaced.
[0013]
These attached images are displayed as thumbnails on the display 24 as shown in FIG. 4, and are selected by the caller using the directional keys or numeric keys of the key input unit 27. In the display example of the attached images shown in FIG. 4, an example is shown in which four attached images are displayed as thumbnails. However, the number of attached images may be any number, and they are sequentially added as necessary. For example, a total of nine attached images, three in length and three in width, are displayed as thumbnails on the display 24, and are selected by the push buttons 1 to 9 of the key input unit 27. Normally, the 1 to 9 push buttons of a mobile phone are arranged in three columns and three columns, so that the correspondence between the nine attached images and the nine push buttons becomes intuitive, and the current emotion Is easy to select.
[0014]
Note that the selection frequency of the attached image may be learned and displayed on the display 24 in descending order of the selection frequency. As a result, images that are frequently used are arranged in order, and selection becomes easy.
[0015]
After reading the number of the attached image input by the caller from the key input unit 27 following the telephone number of the call partner, in step 3, the attached image selected by the caller is read from the image memory 25, and the telephone number of the call destination is read. To send the attached image data. Then, in step 4, the system waits for a response from the called party. Note that the processing after the call waiting is not directly related to the present invention, so that the description is omitted.
[0016]
The attached image data is sent from the mobile phone 1 on the transmitting side to the mobile phone 3 on the receiving side via the public telephone network 2 and displayed on the display 24 of the mobile phone 3 on the receiving side as shown in FIG. In this example, a case is shown in which the caller selects a face image with a sad expression representing the current emotion, and the face image with the sad expression of the caller is displayed on the mobile phone 3 on the receiving side when a call is received.
[0017]
This allows the receiver to recognize that the caller is in a sad situation for some reason before operating the off-hook button of the key input unit 27 to respond. Therefore, even when the recipient cannot answer the telephone or is in a place or situation where it is difficult to answer the telephone, the receiver can answer the call with convenience or return to the telephone immediately. On the other hand, if the recipient is unable to answer the phone or is in a place or situation where it is difficult to answer, if the face image of the caller's normal expression is displayed along with the incoming call, answer until the call can be answered Can be put on hold. Further, when the face image of the expression of the anger of the caller is displayed together with the incoming call, it is possible to hold the response by judging that it is better to wait for a while rather than respond immediately.
[0018]
As described above, according to the first embodiment, the caller attaches a face image representing the current emotion and makes a call, so that the receiver can confirm the current emotion of the caller, It is possible to infer the purpose and the convenience of the sender. Then, it is possible to appropriately determine whether to answer or hold according to the place or situation at the time of receiving the call, and also to appropriately answer and answer according to the current emotion of the caller.
[0019]
<< Modification of First Embodiment >>
In the above-described embodiment, an example is described in which an image selected by a caller is attached and transmitted each time a call is made. However, each time an attached image is received on the receiving side, the image is stored in the image memory 25 and transmitted. A modification will be described in which an identification number (ID) designating an attached image is transmitted from the side instead of transmitting the attached image, and an image corresponding to the identification number is read out from the image memory 25 and displayed on the receiving side. . Note that the basic configuration of this modification is the same as the configuration shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and a description thereof will be omitted.
[0020]
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the transmission and reception processing of the modification. Steps for performing the same transmission processing as the processing shown in FIG. 3 will be described with the same step numbers assigned. The controller 26 of the calling side telephone 1 inputs the telephone number of the called party operated by the caller in step 1 and inputs the number of the attached image selected by the caller in step 2 which follows.
[0021]
In step 3A, the identification number of the attached image selected by the caller is read out from a memory (not shown), and a call is made to the telephone number of the called party to transmit the identification number of the attached image. The identification number is a predetermined number of digits following the telephone number of the called party. When the number of attached images prepared in advance is large, the number is two digits or more.
[0022]
The identification number of the attached image at the time of calling is transmitted from the mobile phone 1 on the calling side to the mobile phone 3 on the receiving side via the public telephone network 2. The controller 26 of the receiving telephone 3 receives the call in step 21 and receives the identification number of the attached image. At step 22, it is confirmed whether or not the attached image of the identification number is stored in the image memory 25. If the attached image is stored, the process proceeds to step 25, where the attached image corresponding to the identification number is read out from the image memory 25 and displayed on the display 24. To be displayed.
[0023]
Since the attached image sent from the calling side every time a call is made is sequentially stored in the image memory 25 on the receiving side, the attached image with the identification number sent from the calling side may not be stored. If the attached image with the identification number is not stored in the image memory 25, the process proceeds to step 23, where a request for transmitting the attached image is returned to the transmitting side. In addition, the necessary attached images may be collectively sent in advance to a call destination that frequently communicates.
[0024]
Upon receiving the request for transmitting the attached image from the receiving side in step 11, the controller 26 of the calling telephone 1 reads the attached image selected previously from the image memory 25 in step 12 and transmits it. Then, in step 4, the system waits for a response from the called party.
[0025]
The controller 26 of the receiving telephone 1 receives the attached image transmitted from the transmitting side in step 24, displays the attached image transmitted in step 25 on the display 24, and identifies the newly obtained attached image. It is stored in the image memory 25 in association with the number.
[0026]
According to this modification, each time the receiving side receives the attached image, it is stored in association with the identification number, and instead of transmitting the attached image from the transmitting side, the identification number designating the attached image is transmitted and received. The side reads and displays the image corresponding to the identification number, so there is no need to transmit and receive a large amount of image data each time an outgoing / incoming call is made, thereby reducing the processing time for outgoing / incoming calls and reducing communication costs. be able to.
[0027]
Usually, the telephone number of the other party who frequently calls is stored and registered in the telephone directory of the mobile phone. At this time, an attached image is selected for each call destination to be registered, stored in the image memory 25 in association with a telephone number as a default image, and the default image corresponding to the telephone number of the registration destination when calling the registration destination. The image may be read and transmitted. In this way, an appropriate attached image can be automatically selected according to the frequent caller, for example, a family member, a boss of a company, a colleague and a subordinate, a lover, etc., and the operability when transmitting the attached image is improved. In addition to being able to improve, it is possible to avoid sending an unsuitable image to the other party.
[0028]
<< Second Embodiment of the Invention >>
The caller's attached image displayed at the time of the incoming call is determined by determining whether or not to respond immediately, and if not responding immediately, an image indicating that the call cannot be answered (hereinafter referred to as a response image) is returned. A second embodiment will be described. The configuration of the second embodiment is basically the same as the configuration shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and a description thereof will be omitted.
[0029]
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a reply process according to the second embodiment. When there is an incoming call, the controller 26 of the receiving telephone 3 starts the reply process shown in FIG. At this time, the display 24 displays an attached image indicating the emotion, convenience, or situation of the caller. In step 31, it is confirmed whether or not the receiver is operating the off-hook button included in the key input section 27 of the receiving-side mobile phone 3. If the off-hook button is being operated, the process proceeds to step 32, where the voice transmission / reception system is switched. Activate to enable calls with callers.
[0030]
On the other hand, if the off-hook operation has not been performed at the time of calling, the process proceeds to step 33, where it is determined whether or not a response image has been selected by the key input unit 27. If the response image has not been selected, step 31 is performed. When the selection operation is performed, the process proceeds to step 34. In step 34, the response image selected by the receiver is read from the image memory 25 and transmitted to the mobile phone 1 on the sender side.
[0031]
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a reply using a response image. When an attached image of a joyful face photograph of the caller is displayed on the receiving telephone 3 at the time of receiving a call, the receiver cannot enter the telephone at work or in a meeting if he cannot answer the call immediately. By operating the image response button, a response image during work or during a meeting is selected using the arrow keys or numeric keys. The image response button of the key input unit 27 is an operation member operated to transmit a response image during work or a meeting to the caller to notify that the call cannot be answered immediately.
[0032]
As the response image, an image representing the situation and reason of the recipient who cannot immediately respond to the incoming call, for example, an image during work or during a meeting shown in FIG. 7 is captured in advance and stored in the image memory 25. When the image response button of the key input unit 27 is pressed at the time of receiving a call, the response image is read from the image memory 25 and displayed on the display 24 as a thumbnail. The receiver selects the response image by operating the directional keys or numeric keys of the key input unit 27.
[0033]
This response image is transmitted to the calling side telephone 1, and displayed on the display 24 of the calling side telephone 1. This allows the caller to confirm that the other party cannot immediately answer the call.
[0034]
In addition, handwritten characters and pictures are written on the attached image or response image using a device that writes characters and pictures, and the characters and pictures are superimposed on the image and the emotions and convenience of the sender or respondent, or the situation at that time etc. May be conveyed in an easy-to-understand manner. Further, the attached image may be modified by the image modifying device so that the emotion and convenience of the sender or the responder or the situation at that time can be confirmed at a glance.
[0035]
<< Third Embodiment of the Invention >>
In the above-described second embodiment, an example is described in which the attached image is stored in the image memory 25 of the receiving telephone 3 in association with the identification number, but the attached image is stored in the repeater 2a of the public telephone line network 2. A third embodiment will be described. Note that the configuration of the third embodiment is basically the same as the configuration shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and illustration thereof is omitted.
[0036]
FIG. 8 shows a method for transmitting an attached image according to the third embodiment. At the time of calling, only the identification number (ID) of the attached image selected by the caller is transmitted from the calling telephone 1 to the repeater 2a of the public telephone line network 2. The repeater 2a of the public telephone line network 2 is provided with a storage device 2b for storing image data of the user. When the identification number of the attached image is received from the calling telephone 1 in response to a call, the storage device 2b To retrieve the attached image corresponding to the telephone number and identification number of the calling telephone 1.
[0037]
If the attached image corresponding to the identification number of the caller's telephone number is not stored in the storage device 2b of the repeater 2a, a request is made to the transmitting side telephone 1 to transmit the attached image corresponding to the identification number. When there is a request to transmit an attached image from the repeater 2a of the public telephone line network 2, the calling telephone 1 reads out the image from the image memory 25 and transmits it. The repeater 2a of the public telephone network 2 stores the attached image requested to be transmitted in the storage device 2b in association with the caller telephone number and the identification number.
[0038]
On the other hand, the repeater 2a of the public telephone network 2 transmits the call signal and the identification number of the attached image to the receiving telephone 3 for the time being when the calling telephone 1 makes a call. The receiving telephone 3 searches for whether an attached image corresponding to the identification number is stored in the image memory 25 at the time of an incoming call, and transmits the attached image to the repeater 2a of the public telephone network 2 if not stored. Request. When the attached image corresponding to the identification number is stored in the image memory 25 of the receiving telephone 3, the attached image is displayed on the display 24.
[0039]
On the other hand, the repeater 2 a of the public telephone line network 2 that has received the request for transmitting the attached image from the receiving telephone 3 retrieves the attached image corresponding to the identification number from the storage device 2 b and transmits it to the receiving telephone 3. The receiving telephone 3 that has received the attached image displays it on the display 24.
[0040]
As described above, in the third embodiment, the attached image is stored in the storage device 2b installed in the repeater 2a of the public telephone line network 2, and the attached image with the identification number requested by the calling side at the time of calling is called. Is read from the storage device 2b and transmitted to the receiving side, the storage capacity of the image memory 25 of the transmitting side mobile phone 1 and the receiving side mobile phone 3 can be reduced, or the image memory 25 can be deleted. In addition, the communication load on the mobile phones 1 and 3 can be reduced, and the cost of the apparatus can be reduced.
[0041]
The correspondence between the components of the claims and the components of the embodiment is as follows. That is, the image memory 25 of the mobile phones 1 and 3 and the storage device 2b of the public telephone network 2 serve as image storage means, the display 24 serves as an image display means, the key input device 27 serves as an image selection means and an image response operation member, The controller 26 constitutes control means. Note that each component is not limited to the above configuration as long as the characteristic functions of the present invention are not impaired.
[0042]
In the above-described embodiment, a mobile phone connected via a public telephone line network has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to an Internet mobile phone using a wireless LAN or the like. Of the present invention can be applied to a mobile phone connected via any communication network, and the same effect as in the above-described embodiment can be obtained.
[0043]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to confirm the emotion, convenience, and purpose of a caller when receiving a call.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a mobile phone communication system according to a first embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a mobile phone.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a transmission process according to the first embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a display example of an attached image at the time of transmission according to the first embodiment;
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating transmission and reception processing according to a modification of the first embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a reply process according to the second embodiment.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a reply example using a response image according to the second embodiment;
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a method for transmitting an attached image according to the third embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 originating mobile phone 2 public telephone network 2a repeater 2b storage device 3 receiving mobile phone 11 microphone 12 encoding unit 13 modulation unit 14 transmission unit 15 reception unit 16 demodulation unit 17 decoding unit 18 speaker 19 switching unit 20 antenna 21 camera 22 image processing unit 23 image generation unit 24 display 25 image memory 26 controller 27 key input unit

Claims (7)

In a mobile phone communication system for connecting a plurality of mobile phones having a voice transmitting / receiving means and an image transmitting / receiving means via a communication network,
Image storage means for storing an image,
Image display means for displaying an image,
Image selection means for selecting an image to be transmitted to a call destination from among the images stored in the image storage means,
When the calling operation of the mobile phone is performed, the image selected by the image selecting means is read out from the image storing means, transmitted to the called party by the image transmitting / receiving means, and transmitted via the image transmitting / receiving means when receiving a call. And a control means for displaying the received image on the image display means when an off-hook operation of the mobile phone is performed when the mobile phone receives an image through the mobile phone. The mobile phone communication system according to claim 1,
The image selection means reads out the image stored in the image storage means, displays the image on the image display means as a thumbnail, and selects an image designated by operating the number keys 1 to 9 of the mobile phone. Mobile phone communication system. The mobile phone communication system according to claim 1,
The image storage means stores an image selected in advance for a specific call destination,
The mobile phone communication system according to claim 1, wherein the image selecting means selects an image corresponding to the call destination from the storage means when calling the specific call destination. The mobile phone communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Attach an identification number to the image stored in the image storage means,
The control means, when a call operation of the mobile phone is performed, transmits an identification number of the selected image to the call destination instead of the image selected by the image selection means, and at the time of receiving a call, the selected image Upon receiving the identification number, an image corresponding to the identification number is read from the image storage unit and displayed on the image display unit before an off-hook operation of the mobile phone is performed. The mobile phone communication system according to claim 4,
An image storage means for storing an image in a relay device of a communication network,
Upon receiving the identification number from the mobile phone in response to a call, the repeater of the communication network reads an image corresponding to the identification number of the mobile phone number of the caller from the image storage unit and transmits the image to the destination. A mobile telephone communication system characterized by the above-mentioned. The mobile telephone communication system according to claim 1,
A mobile telephone communication system, wherein an image transmitted to a call destination at the time of calling is an image of the caller's face indicating the emotion, convenience, and purpose of the caller. The mobile phone communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The mobile phone includes an image response operation member for sending a reply with an image without responding when receiving a call,
The control means reads out the image selected by the image selection means from the image storage means when the image response operation member is operated upon receiving a call, and transmits the image to the destination by the image transmission / reception means. Mobile phone communication system.

Images