JP2012142679A - Video telephone apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a video telephone apparatus which is capable of editing and working data such as a received image etc. and further transmitting the edited and worked data to the opposite side of the telephone-call.SOLUTION: The video telephone apparatus allows transmission of an image to the opposite side of the telephone call via a communication line 101, allows display control means 114 to display, in a mode displayable on a display 150, the image data received from the opposite side via the communication line 101, and allows image editing means 115 to edit the received image data on the basis of an instruction from an input part 160. Moreover, the image data edited by the image editing means 115 can be transmitted again to the opposite party.

Description

  The present invention relates to a videophone apparatus that is connected to an IP telephone network or the like and transmits and receives audio and video, and in particular, edits and processes image data transmitted from a videophone apparatus of a call partner during a call, The present invention relates to a videophone device capable of replying.

  In recent years, with the development of communication infrastructure, various additional services related to communication have come into wide use. For example, telephone devices that can receive various services such as a data communication service by connecting to a wide-area communication network such as an IP telephone network or the Internet in addition to a general telephone line are widely used.

  As a service for such a telephone device, a videophone service has been put into practical use. A user of a videophone service can make a voice call while transmitting and receiving a captured video by connecting a videophone device having a camera function and an image transmission function to a communication line.

  In addition to such photographed video, a videophone device capable of transmitting other image data to a call partner has been developed. For example, the following Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228805) acquires specific image data related to a conversation during a videophone call over a network or the like by multitasking simultaneously with the conversation. A videophone function capable of transmitting image data to a partner station during a call is disclosed.

  This videophone function includes videophone function means, data communication function means, and multi-access function means. The videophone function means transmits the video taken by the imaging unit during a call to the other station by the videophone function means and receives the video transmitted from the other station and outputs it to the display unit. The data communication function means connects to a predetermined homepage or the like and performs data communication for acquiring display information of characters and images. The multi-access function means is for operating the videophone function means and the data communication function means simultaneously. Display information acquired by data communication is transmitted to the partner station together with video and audio, and displayed at the partner station.

JP 2004-228805 A

  The videophone function disclosed in Patent Document 1 can transmit data such as images during a call in addition to transmitting captured video, but the other party refers to the received data such as images. Even if they were able to do so, they could not edit or process it further, and could not send the edited / modified image back to the caller again.

  If data such as images received during a call can be edited / processed and sent back, the callers can communicate with each other more fully and can have a clear and error-free conversation. .

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to edit and process data such as received images in addition to performing transmission and reception of data such as captured video and images during a call in a videophone device. Is to provide a function for further transmitting to the other party.

  In order to solve the above problems, a videophone device according to the present invention includes a display unit, an input unit, a microphone, a speaker, a camera, communication control means for controlling transmission / reception in a communication line, and input from the microphone. Audio signal processing means for converting audio into a data format for communication line transmission and converting an audio signal received from the communication line and outputting it to the speaker, image data and / or video captured by the camera, An image / video signal processing means for converting the image data and / or video signal received from the communication line into a data format for communication line transmission and outputting to the display control means, the video signal and the image data Display control means for converting to a form that can be displayed on the display unit and displaying on the display unit, editing the image data based on an instruction from the input unit And a control unit having an image editing unit, wherein the image editing unit receives image data received from the communication partner via a communication line based on an instruction from the input unit. It is characterized by editing.

  According to another aspect of the videophone device of the present invention, the image data received via the communication line is edited by the image editing unit based on an instruction from the input unit, and then the instruction from the input unit is received. And transmitting to the other party via the communication line.

  According to another aspect of the videophone apparatus of the present invention, the image editing unit draws a predetermined figure and / or character on the image data based on an instruction from an input unit.

  In one aspect of the videophone apparatus of the present invention, the display control means has a display configuration in which the display unit displays the video and the image data simultaneously.

  According to another aspect of the videophone apparatus of the present invention, the display control unit displays the display unit on the first area for displaying the image data being edited and the image data received from the other party. And a second area for displaying the display area.

  The present invention exhibits the excellent effects described below. In other words, the videophone device of the present invention converts audio input from a microphone, video captured by a camera, and image data edited by this device into a data format for communication line transmission, and transmits the data to the other party. can do. In addition, an audio signal transmitted from the other party can be output from the speaker, and video and image data can be displayed on the display means. Further, since the videophone device of the present invention includes the image editing means, it is possible to edit the image data received from the call partner and displayed on the display means based on an instruction from the input unit.

  Further, according to one aspect of the videophone device of the present invention, an image received via a communication line is edited based on an instruction from the input unit, and then the image edited based on the instruction from the input unit is called. Can be sent to the other party. As a result, the image received from the call partner can be edited and transmitted again to the call partner, so that the callers can share the same edited image data. As a result, it is possible to have a clearer and less error-free conversation between the callers, and to achieve sufficient communication.

  In addition, according to one aspect of the videophone device of the present invention, it is possible to input a predetermined figure or character to the image data to be edited, so that the user can easily edit.

  In addition, according to one aspect of the videophone device of the present invention, it is possible to simultaneously display image data to be edited and video received from a call partner. As a result, it is possible to edit the received video, for example, image data while looking at the face of the other party, which is helpful for sufficient communication.

  Further, according to one aspect of the videophone device of the present invention, it is possible to simultaneously display image data being edited and image data received from the other party. This makes it possible to perform editing and talking while comparing each other's image data.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the communication system containing the video telephone apparatus of this invention. It is an internal block diagram which shows the structure of the video telephone apparatus based on the Example of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement in the image transmission / reception process based on the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen at the time of receiving image data in the video telephone apparatus which concerns on the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen at the time of displaying the menu screen in the video telephone apparatus which concerns on the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the edit screen at the time of editing image data in the video telephone apparatus which concerns on the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the state which edited the image data in the edit screen of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen which displays the received image data and the image data in editing in the video telephone apparatus based on the Example of this invention.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples and drawings. However, the following embodiments are described by exemplifying a videophone device for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and are not intended to specify the present invention as this videophone device. The present invention is equally applicable to other videophone devices without departing from the technical idea described in the claims.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a communication system 1 including a videophone device according to the present invention. The system includes at least a video phone device 100, a wired LAN 101, an IP phone router 102, a broadband router 103, a gateway 104, an IP phone network 105, the Internet 106, a PSTN network 107 (= Public Switched Telephone Network), and It is configured to include a subscriber telephone device 108.

  The videophone device 100 of the present invention is connected to a wired LAN 101, which is connected to an IP telephone network 105 via an IP telephone router 102, an Internet 106 via a broadband router 103, and a PSTN network 107 via a gateway 104. Communication is possible by connecting each. The details of the internal structure of the videophone device 1 will be described later.

  Examples of physical means constituting the wired LAN 101 include 10BASE-T (standardized as IEEE802.3i) and 100BASE-TX (standardized as IEEE802.3u) using a twisted pair cable.

  The IP telephone router 102 and the broadband router 103 are network relay devices for interconnecting a plurality of IP networks. Specifically, a part of the protocol of the network layer (third layer) and the transport layer (fourth layer) in the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) reference model is analyzed and transferred.

  In this example, the IP telephone router 102 has a role of connecting two IP networks of the wired LAN 101 and the IP telephone network 105 to each other. The broadband router 103 has a role of connecting two IP networks of the wired LAN 101 and the Internet 106 to each other.

  The gateway 104 is a protocol converter for interconnecting networks having different protocol systems. For example, the gateway 104 connects the wired LAN 101 and the PSTN network 107 and performs signal conversion using a signaling protocol such as SIP, thereby enabling communication between both networks.

  The IP telephone network 105 is a communication network using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology for part or all of the telephone network, and FTTH (Fiber To The Home) and ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) are used as communication lines. A so-called broadband line is used. Note that a plurality of videophone devices 100 ′ are connected to the IP telephone network 105, but only one unit is depicted in FIG. 1 for simplicity.

  Note that VoIP is a technique in which voice is compressed by various encoding methods, divided into packets, and transmitted in real time over an IP network. As a result, the IP telephone network 105 can provide a videophone service for transmitting and receiving images in addition to a voice call service.

  The Internet 106 is a wide area communication network constructed by interconnecting networks based on communication protocols. An international communication network is constructed by interconnecting large and small computer networks. As a communication protocol, TCP / IP is mainly adopted as a standard protocol.

  The PSTN network 107 is a general subscriber telephone line network. A subscriber telephone device 108 is connected to the terminal, and is used to make a voice call by connecting to a communication partner by a circuit switching method. The subscriber telephone device 108 uses the PSTN network 107 to allow the telephone subscriber to make a voice call with another subscriber telephone device connected to the PSTN network or with a videophone device connected to the wired LAN 101 or the IP telephone network 105. Telephone equipment.

  Next, the videophone device 100 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is an internal block diagram showing the configuration of the videophone device 100 according to the present embodiment. The videophone device 100 includes a control unit 110, a microphone 120, a speaker 130, a camera 140, a display unit 150, an input unit 160, and a memory 170.

  The control unit 110 is a microprocessor that includes a CPU, a RAM, and a ROM. The CPU executes a control program stored in the RAM or ROM, thereby controlling and supervising operations of each unit described below. To do.

  The control unit 110 includes a communication control unit 111, an audio signal processing unit 112, an image / video signal processing unit 113, a display control unit 114, an image editing unit 115, a data control unit 116, and a time control unit 117.

  The communication control means 111 is for performing communication control when the videophone device 100 communicates with another videophone device 100 ′. This includes control related to signaling and data transmission / reception. Signaling includes the creation, establishment and disconnection of communication sessions. Specifically, when the user operates the input unit 160 to input a telephone number or the like, the video telephone device of the other party of the call is connected to a SIP server (not shown) connected to the IP telephone network 105 or the like. 100 'location information is acquired, the other party's videophone device 100' is called, a communication path is established when the other party answers, and a session disconnect message or the like is transmitted when the call ends. To end the session.

  For control related to data transmission / reception, IP packetization for dividing audio data, video data, and image data into packets, transmission of IP packets, packets received via the wired LAN 101 are rearranged in the correct order and Receiving and assembling IP packets that extract and assemble the data portion.

  When transmitting data as a packet, a header indicating the transmission source, destination, order, transmission time, and usage (IP phone audio data, video data, image data) is added to each data divided into predetermined data lengths. . The received packet is assembled in the correct order for each of the audio, video, and image by referring to the header portion, and is output to the audio signal processing means 112 and the image / video signal processing means 113.

  The audio signal processing unit 112 performs A / D conversion on the audio input from the microphone 120, and then compresses the audio using the audio codec, and outputs the compressed data to the communication control unit 111. Also, the audio data assembled in the communication control unit 111 is decompressed by the audio codec, and then D / A converted and output from the speaker 130.

  The image / video signal processing unit 113 includes a video codec, compresses the video captured by the camera 140, and outputs the compressed data to the communication control unit 111. Further, the video data assembled by the communication control unit 111 is expanded and output to the display control unit 114. The image / video signal processing unit 113 includes an image codec, expands the image data assembled by the communication control unit 111, and expands the image data in a memory (RAM of the control unit 110).

  The display control unit 114 converts the video data output from the camera 140 and the image / video signal processing unit 113 and the image data developed in the memory (RAM of the control unit 110) into a predetermined mode that can be displayed on the display unit 150. (Enlargement, reduction, arranging images side-by-side, etc.) are developed on a video memory (not shown) of the display unit 150 and displayed on the display unit 150. For example, the display control unit 114 divides the display screen of the display unit 150 into two vertically as shown in FIG. 4 and displays the video captured by the camera 140 and the video transmitted from the other party on the upper side. The images are displayed side by side on the unit 150, and an image transmitted from the other party is displayed on the lower side. Note that the display method is not limited to the above, and various modes may be used.

  The image editing unit 115 edits image data according to the operation of the input unit 160. Editing image data includes drawing lines, inserting characters, inputting by handwriting, and inserting figures.

  The data control unit 116 determines that an image has been received from the video telephone device 100 ′ of the communication partner by monitoring the reception data of the communication control unit 111. When the image data is received, the data control unit 116 Image data expanded in the memory (RAM of the control unit 110), image data taken from the memory 170 and expanded in the memory (RAM of the control unit 110), or image data expanded in the memory (RAM of the control unit 110) Is transmitted to the other party, or when a printer is connected to the videophone device 100, an output instruction to the printer is performed, or storage in the memory 170 is performed.

  When the communication control unit 111 divides each data into packets, the time control unit 117 adjusts the timing at which each data is divided, for example, by 20 mS to 60 mS, or assembles each packet at a predetermined time when the received packet is assembled. For adjusting the timing so that is reproduced.

  The sound collected by the microphone 120 is converted into an audio signal and output to the audio signal processing means 112. Also, the audio signal output from the audio signal processing means 112 is converted into audio at the speaker 130 and output. The microphone 120 and the speaker 130 may be fixedly provided on the videophone device 100, but may be a headset.

  The camera 140 is for photographing a subject in front of the videophone device 100 during a call. Normally, the user is positioned in front of the videophone device 100, and therefore the user is photographed as an object by the camera 140. The captured video is output to the image / video signal processing means 113.

  The display unit 150 is a liquid crystal display unit, and displays video and images developed on the video memory of the display unit 150 by the display control unit 114.

  The input unit 160 takes the form of a touch panel formed integrally with the display unit 150. The user performs an input operation by touching the part of the input icon displayed on the display unit 150. For example, when making a call, a numeric keypad for inputting a telephone number is displayed on the input unit 160, and the user can input the number by pressing a corresponding part of the numeric keypad with a finger. Note that the input unit 160 is not limited to the above, and may be a key or button formed in a part of a casing constituting the videophone device 100.

  The memory 170 is a flash memory or the like, and the data control unit 116 reads the image data recorded in the memory 170, develops it in the memory (RAM of the control unit 110), edits it, and transmits it to the other party. The image data received from the other party is stored in the memory 170.

  Next, image data transmission / reception processing in the videophone device 100 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation in the image data transmission / reception processing according to the embodiment of the present invention. 4 to 8 are diagrams illustrating display screens when image data transmission / reception processing and editing are performed in the videophone device 100 according to the embodiment. In the following description, a case where the user uses the videophone device 100 and the other party is using the videophone device 100 ′ connected to the IP telephone network 105 will be described as an example.

  In step S <b> 301, the user operates the input unit 160 of the videophone device 100 to input the telephone number of the videophone device 100 ′ that is a call partner connected to the IP telephone network 105. The communication control unit 111 searches for the other party on the basis of the input telephone number, calls the video telephone apparatus 100 ′ of the other party, and if the other party answers, a communication session is established and a call is started. . Alternatively, the video-phone device 100 ′ as a call partner calls the video-phone device 100, and when the user responds to the call, a communication session is established and a call is started.

  In step S302, audio and video are transmitted and received between the videophone device 100 and the videophone device 100 'of the other party. Specifically, the voice input from the microphone 120 is A / D converted by the voice signal processing means 112 and then compressed by the voice codec. The video shot by the camera 140 is displayed on the display unit 150 by the display control unit 114 and is compressed by a video codec included in the image / video signal processing unit 113. Further, the compressed audio data and video data are each divided into IP packets by the communication control means 111 and transmitted to the wired LAN 101, and the transmitted audio data and video data are reproduced on the videophone device 100 ′ of the call partner. ,Is displayed.

  On the other hand, when receiving the audio data and video data transmitted as IP packets from the videophone device 100 ′ of the other party of communication, the communication control means 111 divides the IP packets for each type of audio data, video data, etc. The actual data portions are extracted from the packets that have been processed and assembled in order. Next, the audio data is decompressed by the audio codec of the audio signal processing means 112, then D / A converted, output to the speaker 130, and output as audio. The video data is expanded by a video codec included in the image / video signal processing unit 113, output to the display control unit 114, and edited and displayed in a form that can be displayed on the display unit 150.

  In step S <b> 303, the communication control unit 111 determines whether or not the user ends the call based on the operation of the input unit 160 or based on a session disconnection notification from the videophone device 100 ′ as the call partner. If it is determined that the call is to be terminated, the functions of the microphone 120, the speaker 130, and the camera 140 are stopped, and the call process is terminated.

  If it is determined in step S303 that the call is not terminated, the process proceeds to the next step S304, where the data control unit 116 receives the image data from the video telephone device 100 ′ of the other party of the call by monitoring the received data in the communication control unit 111. It is determined whether or not.

  If it is determined that the image data has been received, the process proceeds to step S305, where the received image data is expanded by the image codec included in the image / video signal processing unit 113, and the data control unit 116 stores the expanded image data in the memory. The image data is developed on the RAM of the control unit 110, and the received image data is displayed on the display unit 150 together with the video being displayed by the display control unit 114. The state at this time is shown in FIG.

  FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a display screen when image data is received in the videophone device 100 according to the embodiment. The display screen 400 includes a video area 410 and an image data area 420. In FIG. 4, the video area 420 is provided above the display screen 400, and the image data area 420 is provided below the display screen 400. These regions may be provided by being divided in the vertical direction as shown in FIG. 4, but may be provided by being divided into left and right.

  The video area 410 is provided with a local station video area 411 for displaying a video captured by the videophone device 100 and a remote station video area 412 for displaying a video captured by the videophone device 100 ′ as a call partner. . In FIG. 4, the face of the user who is making a call using the videophone device 100 is displayed in the own station video area 411, and the other party videophone apparatus 100 ′ is used in the partner station video area 412. The face of the person you are talking to is displayed.

  In the image data area 420, the image data 421 received from the videophone device 100 'of the other party is displayed. In FIG. 4, the image data is a map image. After the image data is displayed on the display unit 150, when the user selects and operates the image data 421 portion as shown in FIG. 4, the display control unit 114 displays the menu screen of FIG. 5 and proceeds to step S308.

  If it is determined in step S304 that image data is not received from the videophone device 100 ′ of the other party, the process proceeds to step S306, and the data control unit 116 receives an instruction from the input unit 160 to read the image data from the memory 170. It is determined whether or not there was. If there is no instruction to read image data, the process returns to step S302. If there is an instruction to read image data, the process proceeds to step S307, where the data control unit 116 reads the image data from the memory 170 and develops it in the RAM of the control unit 110, and the process proceeds to step S308. Even when image data is read from the memory 170, the image data 421 is displayed in the image data area 420 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, when the user selects and operates the image data 421 portion, the display control unit 114 displays the menu screen of FIG. 5, and the process proceeds to step S308.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of a display screen when the menu screen is displayed. The menu screen includes a partner station video area 412 provided at the upper right, image data 421 displayed at the upper side, and various menu icons 510 provided on the right side of the screen. The menu icon 510 includes an “edit” icon 511, a “send” icon 512, a “save” icon 513, and a “print” 514 icon.

  In step S308, the data control unit 116 determines whether there is an instruction to edit the image data from the input unit 160. This is performed when the data control unit 116 determines whether or not the user has selected the “edit” icon 511 based on the input from the input unit 160.

  If it is determined that there is no image data editing instruction, the process proceeds to step S310. If it is determined that there is an image data editing instruction, the process proceeds to step S309. That is, in FIG. 5, when the user selects the “edit” icon 511 displayed on the display unit 150, the display control unit 114 displays an edit screen as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of an editing screen when editing image data. Similar to FIG. 5, the variant screen is composed of a partner station video area 412 provided at the upper right, image data 421 displayed at the upper side, various menu icons 510 provided at the right side of the screen, and an edit menu icon 610 displayed at the lower side. Composed.

  The edit menu icon 610 includes a “line” icon for drawing a line, a “character” icon for inputting a character, a “color” icon for changing the color of the input line and character, and freehand drawing. A “handwriting” icon for performing, a “graphic” icon for inserting a graphic, a “display” icon for performing full-screen display, and split display as shown in FIG.

  In step S <b> 309, the image editing unit 115 edits the image developed in the RAM of the control unit 110 in accordance with an instruction from the input unit 160. Specifically, the user selects an editing method by selecting and operating an editing menu icon displayed on the editing screen in FIG. 6, and then touches the image data 421 with a finger, thereby making a line, a freehand figure, Draw graphics. When the “character” icon is selected, an input icon such as a keyboard is displayed to accept the user's character input.

  As shown in FIG. 6, when the user selects and operates the “handwriting” icon, the user can draw a freehand line by tracing the image data 421 with a finger. FIG. 7 shows an editing screen edited by the user tracing the image data 421 with a finger. In FIG. 7, image data 422 after editing in which the user has added a designated location, a route, and necessary information to the map image data is displayed.

  In subsequent step S <b> 310, the data control unit 116 determines whether there is an instruction to transmit image data from the input unit 160. In FIG. 5 to FIG. 7, the data control unit 116 determines whether or not the user has selected the “Send” icon 512 based on the input from the input unit 160.

  If there is no instruction to transmit image data, the process returns to step S302. When there is an instruction to transmit image data, the image / video signal processing unit 113 compresses the image to be transmitted (the image data in FIGS. 5 and 6 or the edited image data in FIG. 7) by the image codec, Next, the communication control unit 111 divides the compressed image data into IP packets, and transmits the IP packets to the videophone device 100 ′ as a call partner via the wired LAN 101. When the transmission process is completed, the process returns to step S302, and the user continues the call with the other party.

  By the way, in FIG. 6 or FIG. 7, when the user selects the “display” icon, a copy of the image data received from the other party in the memory (RAM of the control unit 110) is created and stored in the memory ( The data is expanded in the RAM of the control unit 110. Further, the display control means 114 divides the display screen into two as shown in FIG. 8, and the first display area is set as the local station image data area 810 and the second display area is set as the counterpart station image data area 820. The local station image data area 810 displays the image data 422 being edited, and the partner station image data area 820 displays the image data received from the other party.

  In the display screen shown in FIG. 8, a menu icon 830 composed of a “switch display” icon and a “return” icon is provided above, and when the user selects the “switch display” icon, the local image data area 810 is displayed. Alternatively, the partner station image data area is displayed in full screen. Each time this “switch display” icon is selected and operated, a divided display screen consisting of the local station image data area 810 and the partner station image data area 820, a full screen display of the host station image data area 810, and the partner station image data area 820 are displayed. The full screen display may be switched and displayed.

  5 to 7, when the user selects and operates the “save” icon 513, the data control unit 116 saves the image data developed in the memory (RAM of the control unit 110) in the memory 170. . When the user selects and operates the “print” icon 514, the data control unit 116 outputs the image developed in the memory (RAM of the control unit 110) to a printer connected to the videophone device 100 for printing. I do.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the image data received from the call partner can be edited and processed, and the edited and processed image data can be further transmitted to the call partner. On the other hand, the received image data can be further edited / processed and returned at the other party. Thereby, it is possible to share image data by transmitting image data to each other while making a call. Based on these image data, it is possible to communicate more clearly and to have a clearer conversation with less errors.

  In the above, the map image was illustrated as image data. Data such as maps are likely to be misunderstood, even if each other sees the same map, even if information is conveyed verbally. According to the present invention, such misunderstanding can be prevented and information can be shared more accurately.

  In addition, in a medical field or the like, information can be provided more accurately than verbally by allowing callers to add to each other while viewing image data such as an X-ray photograph.

100 Videophone device 101 Wired LAN
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 102 IP telephone router 103 Broadband router 104 Gateway 105 IP telephone network 106 Internet 107 PSTN network 108 Subscriber telephone 110 Control part 111 Communication control means 112 Audio | voice signal processing means 113 Image | video signal processing means 114 Display control means 115 Image editing means 116 Data control means 117 Time control means 120 Microphone 130 Speaker 140 Camera 150 Display unit 160 Input unit 170 Memory

Claims (5)

A display unit, an input unit, a microphone, a speaker, a camera,
Communication control means for controlling transmission / reception in a communication line, audio that is input from the microphone and converted into a data format for communication line transmission, and audio that is received from the communication line and output to the speaker Signal processing means, image data and / or video captured by the camera are converted into a data format for communication line transmission, and image data and / or video signals received from the communication line are converted into display control means. Image / video signal processing means for outputting, display control means for converting the video signal and the image data into a form that can be displayed on the display section and displaying the display section on the display section, and instructions for the image data from the input section A video telephone device comprising: a control unit having an image editing means for editing based on
The video telephone apparatus, wherein the image editing means edits image data received from the call partner via a communication line based on an instruction from the input unit.   The image data received via the communication line is edited by the image editing unit based on an instruction from the input unit, and then transmitted to a call partner via the communication line based on the instruction from the input unit. The videophone apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:   3. The videophone apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image editing unit draws a predetermined figure and / or character on the image data based on an instruction from the input unit.   The videophone apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit has a display configuration in which the display unit displays the video and the image data simultaneously.   The display control unit includes a display configuration in which the display unit includes a first area for displaying the image data being edited and a second area for displaying the image data received from the communication partner. The videophone apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

Images