JP2006270887A - Tv telephone apparatus and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a TV telephone apparatus which can replace backgrounds with other images by simple processing. <P>SOLUTION: A person that is an object to be photographed 2 stands in front of a background screen 1, the substantially entirety of which has a single color, and an object to be photographed 301 in this state is photographed by a camera 302. A transparent processing function 303 performs transparent processing on a key color area in the photographed image (the area of the background screen 1), in which a single color of the background screen 1 is the key color, to make the background transparent. An image compositing processing function 304 composites a background image which is reproduced with a background image stored in a background image storage apparatus 305 by an image reproduction function 306 with the image the background of which is transparent. The composited image is subjected to specified processing in a TV telephone processing function 307 and a communication processing function 309, respectively, and then transmitted from an antenna 310. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a TV phone device and a program used in the TV phone device.

  With the rapid development of TV mobile phones, it has become possible to easily make TV calls on mobile phones. However, in a TV phone device such as a TV mobile phone, since the caller makes a call toward the camera provided in the device, the background of the caller is naturally taken and the call partner sees this. This means that the number of videophone calls has increased in unintended situations, such as situations where it is not desired to see a cluttered room.

Conventionally, a technique has been proposed in which an accompanying image prepared in advance is overwritten on a captured image when the other party does not want to see the background when making a videophone call (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In addition, a technique has been proposed in which a subject area and a background area are separated from a captured image, and the background area is subjected to transparent processing (see, for example, Patent Document 2). Conventionally, a simple photo studio that can be folded has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 3).
JP 2000-175166 A JP 2005-5960 A JP 2004-145023 A

However, the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a problem that the background is not always completely erased. Further, the technique of Patent Document 2 needs to perform a complicated process of extracting facial features such as eyes, nose, and mouth when the subject is a person, for example, to extract the subject region. Further, Patent Document 3 has not been assumed from the beginning to be used to hide the background portion.
An object of the present invention is to make it possible to replace a background portion with another image by a simple process.

  The invention described in claim 1 is a photographing means, a transparency processing means for transparentizing a photographed image having substantially a single background color photographed by the photographing means using the single color as a key color, and the transparency processing. And communication means for processing the transmitted image and transmitting it from the antenna.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided holding means for holding a background image, and image combining means for combining the held background image with a transparent portion of the transparentized image and supplying the synthesized background image to the communication means. It is characterized by having.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the key color includes a plurality of colors, and key color selection means for selecting one of them is provided.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects, the holding unit has a background selecting unit that holds a plurality of the background images and selects one of them. It is characterized by that.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the photographed image in which the substantially entire surface of the background is a single color has the substantially entire surface as the background of the single color background. The subject is a photograph of a subject.

  The invention described in claim 6 is a photographing process, a transparency process for making a photographed image in which substantially the entire background photographed in the photographing process is a single color transparent with the single color as a key color, and the transparency process. This is a program for causing a computer to execute communication processing for processing an image and transmitting it from an antenna.

  According to a seventh aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer for executing a synthesizing process for synthesizing a background image prepared in advance in a transparent portion of the transparentized image and a communication process for transmitting the synthesized image from an antenna. Item 7. The program according to item 6.

  The invention according to claim 8 is the program according to claim 6 or 7, which causes a computer to execute key color selection processing for selecting one of the plurality of key colors.

  The invention according to claim 9 is the program according to any one of claims 6 to 8, which causes a computer to execute background selection processing for selecting one of the plurality of background images.

According to the first and sixth aspects of the invention, an image obtained by making the background of the photographed image transparent is transmitted, so that even if you do not want to see the background, you can talk while photographing with the TV phone device without worrying about it. It can be performed.
According to the second and seventh aspects of the invention, since the transparent portion of the photographed image is replaced with the background image, a natural image can be transmitted to the other party.

According to the third and eighth aspects of the invention, it is possible to perform a transparency process that matches the background color of the captured image.
According to the fourth and ninth aspects of the invention, an image in which the background is replaced with a favorite image can be transmitted.
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to easily erase the actual background and replace it with another image by photographing using a single color background screen.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 2A shows the background screen 1 used at the time of videophone photographing, and FIG. 2B shows the subject 2, which is a person here. When the TV phone is not used, the background screen 1 is folded and stored like a foldable umbrella and stored in a bag or the like, and is used when the background screen 1 does not want to show the background during a TV phone call. The configuration of the background screen 1 may be as simple as using a screen on a foldable frame. The background screen 1 has a single color on substantially the entire surface.

  FIG. 3 shows the state of the subject 2 at the time of videophone photographing. The person of the subject 2 wears the developed background screen 1 on his body.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a part related to image processing of a videophone apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 1, a subject 301 (the subject 2 in FIGS. 2 and 3 with the background screen 1 attached) is photographed by the camera 302. This photographed image signal is sent to the key color transparency processing function unit 303. The key color transparency processing function unit 303 uses the single color of the background screen 1 as a key color, and transparentizes the key color region (region of the background screen 1) in the captured image of the subject 301 to make the background transparent. .

  One or more arbitrary background images are stored in the background image storage device 305, and one of the background images is selected by the operation unit 311 and reproduced by the image reproduction function unit 306. The image composition processing function unit 304 composes the reproduced background image and the image with the background made transparent. The synthesized image is subjected to processing such as image compression necessary for TV phone communication in the TV phone processing function unit 307. The processed composite image is subjected to processing such as modulation by the communication processing function unit 309 and then transmitted from the antenna 310. In addition, the display device 308 displays the self-portrait (which may be the composite image or the original image) and the received videophone image. The CPU 312 performs overall control of each unit. The ROM 13 stores a program executed by the CPU 312.

In this embodiment, the background portion of the photographed image is replaced with another background image, but the image with the transparent background may be replaced with a color different from the key color. The image with the background made transparent may be transmitted as it is.
Alternatively, a plurality of key colors may be prepared so that the user can select from the operation unit 311 according to the color of the background screen 1 to be used.

  According to the present embodiment, almost the entire surface uses the background screen, so that the background of the photographed image can be erased and easily combined with another image. You can talk while shooting without being conscious of the state.

  Note that the program stored in the ROM 313 for the CPU 312 to execute the processing shown in FIG. 3 constitutes a program according to the present invention. As a recording medium for recording the program, a semiconductor storage device, an optical and / or magnetic storage device, or the like can be used. By using such a program and recording medium in a system or the like having a configuration different from that of the above-described embodiment and causing the CPU to execute the program, substantially the same effects as those of the present invention can be obtained.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the part regarding the image processing of the video telephone apparatus by embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows a background screen and a to-be-photographed object. It is a block diagram which shows the state which the subject person mounted | wore with the background screen.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Background screen 2 Subject 301 Subject consisting of background screen and human subject 302 Camera 303 Key color transparency processing function unit 304 Image composition processing function unit 305 Background image storage device 306 Image playback function unit 307 TV phone processing function unit 309 Communication processing Function unit 310 Antenna 311 Operation unit 312 CPU
313 ROM

Claims (9)

Photographing means;
A transparency processing means for transparentizing a photographed image of substantially a single color of the background photographed by the photographing means using the single color as a key color;
And a communication means for processing the transparent image and transmitting it from an antenna. Holding means for holding a background image;
An image composition unit comprising: an image composition unit that combines the held background image with the transparent portion of the image subjected to the transparency process and supplies the synthesized image to the communication unit.   3. The videophone apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising key color selection means for selecting one of the plurality of key colors.   4. The videophone device according to claim 1, wherein the holding unit includes a background selection unit that holds a plurality of the background images and selects one of the background images. 5.   5. The image according to claim 1, wherein the photographed image in which substantially the entire background has a single color is a photograph of a subject whose substantially entire surface is the background screen of the single color. 6. TV phone device. Shooting process,
A transparency process for transparentizing a single color of a captured image of substantially the entire background imaged by the imaging process using the single color as a key color;
A program for causing a computer to execute communication processing for processing the transparentized image and transmitting the image from an antenna. A synthesis process for synthesizing a background image prepared in advance in a transparent portion of the transparentized image;
The program according to claim 6, which causes a computer to execute communication processing for transmitting the composite image from an antenna.   The program according to claim 6 or 7, which causes a computer to execute key color selection processing for selecting one of the plurality of key colors.   The program according to any one of claims 6 to 8, which causes a computer to execute background selection processing for selecting one of the plurality of background images.

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