JP2558764B2 - Telephone terminal equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a telephone terminal device such as a video telephone for transmitting and receiving video and audio through a telephone line.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, there is a telephone telephone that transmits and receives voice and still images through a telephone line, but in recent years, an apparatus of this kind has attracted attention as the amount of information increases.

However, the applicant added the answering machine function because he / she cannot receive a message from the other party even if an incoming call occurs when he is absent, that is, it cannot automatically receive the message. Then, we proposed a still picture TV phone that automatically stores the audio and video signals from the other party and can output the stored information from the audio output unit and the video display unit.

Hereinafter, a still image videophone, which is an example of a telephone terminal device proposed by the applicant, will be described.

The configuration of the video phone proposed by the applicant was as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, for example.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an image input unit composed of a CCD (Charge Coupled Device), an image pickup tube and the like, 2 an image display unit composed of a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), a liquid crystal display panel, etc. An image transmission button 5 operated when transmitting the image captured by the input unit 1 to the other party via the telephone line is a cassette tape deck for storing the received audio signal and video signal on the cassette tape 6.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration,
In the figure, 7 is a telephone line, 8 is a line interface section, and 9 is a flow of signals coming through the telephone line on the audio side (A)
And an audio signal / video signal switch for switching to the video side (B), 10 is sent from the other side via the telephone line 7 when the audio signal / video signal switch 9 is connected to the audio side (A). This is a video signal discriminating unit that detects whether or not there is a video signal in the incoming signal, and when there is a video signal, sends a signal indicating this to the audio signal / video signal changeover switch 9. Reference numeral 11 is a voice output unit such as a speaker, 12 is a voice input unit such as a microphone, 13 is a video signal modulation unit that modulates the video signal captured by the video input unit 1 into a signal that can be transmitted through a telephone line, and 14 is A video signal demodulation unit that demodulates the modulated video signal sent through the telephone line, 15 and 16 are a first video memory and a second video memory, respectively, and 17 is a video telephone unit and an answering machine unit manually. This is an answering machine function switch that is selectively switched. It is connected to the (D) side in the on state and (C) in the off state.
Connected to the side. 18 is an incoming call detection unit that detects a call signal coming from a telephone line, 19 is a response message storage unit that includes a voice synthesis IC and a memory IC, and 20 is a response message transmission unit that transmits the response message stored in the response message storage unit , 21 and 22 are the cassette tape deck 5
The received message storage unit and the received message reproduction unit using the are the response message storage switches 23 that are operated when the response message storage unit 19 stores the response message. Further, in the figure, the part surrounded by a broken line 24 is a voice communication part, the part surrounded by 25 is a video communication part, and the part surrounded by 26 is an answering machine part.

Next, the operation of the still image videophone configured as described above will be described. In the following description, it is assumed that a plurality of video telephones having the configuration shown in FIG.

First, at home, the answering machine function switch 17 is set to the (C) side, the audio signal / video signal changeover switch 9 is connected to the audio side (A), and the response message storage switch 23 is turned off, that is, connected to the (E) side. . In this state, when a call is made or an incoming call is made, the caller and the called party are connected via the telephone line 7, and thereafter normal voice communication is performed mutually by the voice output unit 11 and the voice input unit 12. .

Also, if you want to send the video to the other party from yourself, by pressing the image sending button 4, the audio signal / video signal switching switch 9 operates, and the signal flow is switched from the audio side (A) to the video side (B). The video information taken into the first video memory 15 by the video input unit 1 is the video signal modulation unit.
The signal is modulated by 13 to a signal that can be sent through the telephone line, and the modulated video signal is added to the beginning with a signal for switching between audio and video and sent from the line interface unit 8 to the other party via the telephone line 7. To be done. On the other hand, in the other party's telephone terminal device, the video signal discrimination unit 10
The video switching signal is detected, the audio signal / video signal switching switch 9 is operated, the signal flow is switched from the audio side (A) to the video side (B), and the video signal is demodulated by the video signal demodulation unit 14 to obtain the second video. It is stored in the memory 16 and displayed on the video display unit 2.

After the video transmission is completed, the audio signal / video signal changeover switch 9 automatically returns to the audio side (A).

Also, when the other party sends out a video, the same processing as described above is performed, and the received video is displayed on the video display unit 2 on the own side.

When the user is absent, the answering machine function switch 17 is turned on, that is, set to the (D) side. When a call signal arrives from the telephone line 7 in this state, the call signal is detected by the incoming call detection unit 18, and after the telephone line is automatically closed, the response message transmission unit 20 is driven and the response message storage unit is previously stored.
The response message stored in 19 is sent to the telephone line. When the sending of the response message is completed, the audio signal sent from the calling side via the telephone line 7 and the video signal modulated into a signal that can be sent out via the telephone line are stored in the received message storage unit 21 in the cassette tape 6 Remember. In this way, an incoming call which is on the absence is automatically answered, and a voice signal and a video signal from the other party are stored.

Next, when the operator operates the received message reproducing unit 22 after returning home to start reproducing the received message stored in the cassette tape 6 while he / she is away, the voice message in the reproduced signal is a voice output unit which is a voice output unit. The audio / video switching signal added to the beginning of the video signal is detected by the video signal discriminating unit 10 and the audio / video signal switching switch 9 is switched to the video side (B) to demodulate the video signal. It is stored in the second video memory 16 via the unit 14 and reproduced on the video display unit 2 which is a video display unit. When the output of the video signal is completed, the audio signal / video signal switch 9 is switched to the audio side (A).

When storing the response message, the response message storage switch 23 is turned on, that is, turned to the (F) side, so that the response message can be stored. Then, a voice storage operation by the voice input unit 12 is started by a switch operation (not shown), and if the image sending button 4 is operated during the voice storage, the voice recording by the voice input unit 12 is temporarily stopped and the voice signal is output. The video signal selector switch 9 is switched to the video side (B), and the video captured by the video input unit 1 is the first
Is taken into the video memory 15 and modulated by the video signal modulating unit 13, and the audio / video switching signal is added to the head of the video signal and stored in the response message storage unit 19.
When the storage operation of the video signal is completed, the audio signal / video signal switch 9 is switched to the audio side (A).
To end the operation of storing the response message by voice and image, the response message storage switch 23 is turned off, that is, (E).
The storage operation is completed when the switch is turned to the side.

FIG. 6, FIG. 7, and FIG. 8 are flow charts showing a state in which the answering machine function switch 17 is set to the ON side (D) and the answering machine function is operating, a received message playing state, and a response message storing operation state. Is.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the above configuration, when a signal including a video signal is stored as a response message, the video signal is transmitted even if the calling side is not a telephone terminal device capable of communicating the video signal. There is a problem in that a response message including the above is sent and the calling party is uncomfortable.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the present invention first sends a response message by a voice signal in an answering machine function operating state, and a video signal detection unit detects a video signal from a calling side. Then, after the reception of the video signal for one screen is completed, the storage operation by the reception message storage unit is temporarily stopped, the response message including the video signal is sent to the telephone line, the response message including the video signal is sent, and then the reception is performed. The storage operation by the message storage unit is restarted.

With this configuration, the response message by the video signal is not sent unless the video signal is sent from the calling side,
When the calling side is a telephone terminal device capable of communicating only a normal voice signal, it is possible to send only a response message by a voice signal.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a still picture television telephone according to an embodiment of the present invention.
And 20b are the first response message sending unit and the second, respectively.
It is a response message sending unit of. Reference numeral 27 is a video signal detection unit that detects reception of a video message from the calling side.

In this embodiment, the same parts as those in the above-mentioned conventional example are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

The operation of the videophone configured as described above will be described below.

The normal operation at home and the operation for reproducing the received message are the same as those in the conventional example, and therefore their explanations are omitted.

When storing the response message, the response message storage switch 23 is turned on, that is, turned to the (F) side, so that the storage of the first response message is started first, and the response message storage unit 19 outputs the voice signal from the voice input unit 12. It is stored so that even when the image sending button 4 is pressed during the storage of the first response message, the video signal captured by the video input unit 1 is not stored. After the storage of the first response message is completed, the storage of the second response message is continuously started,
In the second response message storage state, the audio signal from the audio input unit 12 and the video signal from the video input unit 1 are stored as in the conventional example.

In the present embodiment, the second response message stored in the response message storage unit 19 is an audio signal and a video signal, but only the video signal may be stored. In that case, the second button is triggered by the image sending button 4. It is possible to construct a telephone terminal device that is easier to use by performing control so that the storage operation of the response message is started.

When you are absent, turn on the answering machine function switch 17, that is, (D)
The answering machine works by setting it to the side. This will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When a call signal arrives from the telephone line 7 in this state (step.a), the call signal is detected by the incoming call detection unit 18, and the telephone line is automatically closed in (step.b). Proceeding to (step c), the first response message sending unit 20a is driven and the first response message by the voice signal stored in advance in the response message storage unit 19 is sent to the telephone line. When the sending of the first response message is completed, the process proceeds from (step.d) to (step.e), and the voice signal sent from the calling side via the telephone line is received by the received message storage unit 21 in the cassette tape. Store in 6. In this state, when the calling side sends a video signal modulated into a signal that can be sent out through the telephone line, the video signal detecting section 27 detects the signal (step f). As a result, after shifting from (step.f) to (step.i) and storing one screen of video signal, the storage operation of the received message by the received message storage unit 21 is temporarily stopped (step.j) The response message sending unit 20b is driven and the second reply message based on the audio signal and the video signal stored in the reply message storage unit 19 in advance is sent to the telephone line (step .k). When the transmission of the second response message is completed, (step.l) to (step.m)
Then, the operation of storing the received message by the received message storage unit 21 is restarted again, and the voice signal sent from the calling side and the video signal modulated into a signal that can be sent out through the telephone line are stored. When it is detected that the calling side has released the line in (step.n), it goes into the standby state again after (step.h). Also, if the calling party opens the line without detecting the video signal in (step.f), (step.
From (g), the process goes to (step.h) and goes into the standby state.

As described above, according to the present invention, in the case of the telephone terminal device in which the calling side can communicate only the normal voice signal in the absence answering machine operating state, only the response message by the voice signal is transmitted and an unnecessary signal is transmitted. Is sent to the caller, and when the video signal from the calling side is confirmed, it is judged that the telephone terminal device on the calling side also has the function of receiving the video signal. After the reception of the video signal of the above, the storage operation by the reception message storage unit is temporarily stopped, and the response message including the video signal stored in advance can be sent, which is very effective in practice. It will be.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a still picture videophone which is a telephone terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a flow of operation of the embodiment,
FIG. 4 and FIG. 4 are perspective views of a still picture television telephone which is a conventional telephone terminal apparatus, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a still picture television telephone which is a conventional telephone terminal apparatus.
FIG. 7, FIG. 8 and FIG. 8 are flowcharts showing the flow of the operation of the conventional example. 1 ... video input section 2 ... video display section 3 ... device body 4 ... image transmission button 5 ... cassette tape deck 6 ... cassette tape 7 ... telephone line 8 ... line interface section 9 ... audio signal・ Video signal switch 10 …… Video signal discriminating unit 11 …… Sound output unit 12 …… Sound input unit 13 …… Video signal modulating unit 14 …… Video signal demodulating unit 15 …… First video memory 16 …… First 2 video memory 17 ... Answering machine function switch 18 ... Incoming call detection section 19 ... Response message storage section 20 ... Response message sending section 20a ... First response message sending section 20b ... Second response message sending section 21 …… Received message storage section 22 …… Received message playback section 23 …… Response message storage switch 24 …… Voice communication section 25 …… Video communication section 26 …… Answering machine section 27 …… Video signal detection section

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kazumi Kawano 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP 62-179288 (JP, A) JP 59- 30351 (JP, A) Actually opened 54-138514 (JP, U)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A voice communication unit including a voice input unit and a voice output unit; a video communication unit including a video input unit and a video display unit; and a first response message by a voice signal and a video signal. A response message storage unit that stores the second response message, a video signal detection unit that detects whether or not a video signal is present in the signal coming from the calling side via the telephone line, and an incoming call that detects an incoming call. A detection unit; and a first response message transmission unit for reproducing the first response message stored in the response message storage unit and transmitting the first response message to a telephone line after detecting an incoming call by the incoming call detection unit, When the video signal is detected by the video signal detection unit, the second
Second response message sending means for playing back the reply message of No. 1 and sending it to the telephone line, a received message storage unit for storing voice signals and video signals coming through the telephone line, and playing back the received message from the received message storage unit. And a connection means for connecting a circuit so as to supply the received message reproduced by the received message reproduction section to the audio output section and the video display section, the video signal detection section When the video signal is detected at, the storage operation by the received message storage unit is temporarily stopped after the reception of the video signal for one screen is completed, and the second response message sending means sends the second response message to the telephone line. And transmitting the second response message, and restarting the storage operation by the received message storage unit. A telephone terminal device.