JP2603362B2 - Videophone device with transmission image confirmation function - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a videophone device for transmitting voice information and image information via a digital line, and in particular, can confirm a transmitted image during transmission of image information. In addition, the present invention relates to a videophone device with a transmission image confirmation function capable of stopping transmission of an image on an arbitrary screen according to an instruction from an operator.

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional videophone device, image information of a subject by a camera is sampled at a time interval required for image transmission to form image information. The data was transmitted to the other party's videophone device via the communication line without being discarded.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, in the image transmission in the conventional device, the image information sampled at each time interval required for the image transmission is transmitted every time regardless of the intention of the operator.
The operator cannot confirm the contents of the image being transmitted, and unnecessary images are also displayed on the partner device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a videophone apparatus with a transmission image confirming function that can confirm an image being transmitted at all times during image transmission and can interrupt transmission of an unnecessary image according to an instruction from an operator. It is in.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, it is connected to a digital line having a plurality of information channels and a control signal channel to transmit audio information and image information. In the videophone device, 1 is stored in the transmission buffer memory.
Means for temporarily storing image information for the screen and transmitting the image information to the partner terminal via the digital line, and displaying and confirming the temporarily stored image information during transmission processing on a monitor of the own terminal; Means for interrupting transmission processing of image information in the buffer memory by an instruction of an operator, displaying image information to be transmitted during a period in which image information is being transmitted while updating image information at regular intervals. In addition to the confirmation, the transmission of arbitrary image information can be interrupted to prevent image reproduction at the partner terminal.

[Operation] Images taken by the camera (self-images) are temporarily stored in the transmission memory and supplied to the display via the D / A conversion / video output unit. Thus, the transmission image can be monitored.

When a transmission stop command is input during the transmission, the transmission buffer memory control circuit attached to the transmission memory operates to stop the reading operation of the transmission buffer memory.

Therefore, even if an inconvenient or unnecessary image is sampled and transmitted to the partner device, the transmission of the image can be stopped halfway, and the image can be prevented from being reproduced and displayed on the partner device.

[Embodiment] Next, an embodiment of a videophone device with a transmission image confirmation function according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a videophone device with a transmission image confirmation function according to the present invention.

Voice information, image information, and call control information input and output from the videophone device are transmitted via a communication interface 2 to a communication line (for example, a digital communication line such as ISDN) 1
Is connected to and transmitted. In the communication interface 2, multiplexing / demultiplexing processing of two information channels B1 and B2 and one control signal channel D is performed.

First, in the voice processing unit 11 to which the transmitter 12 and the receiver 13 are connected, voice processing is performed while being controlled by the system control unit 3. That is, during a call, the D / D of the digital voice information signal
Processing such as A conversion is performed, and the converted analog audio signal is supplied to the receiver 13.

The analog audio signal from the transmitter 12 is subjected to processing such as A / D conversion, and then supplied to the communication interface 2 as an information channel signal under the control of the system controller 3 to be multiplexed. It is transmitted to the other party via the digital line 1.

On the other hand, in the image processing unit 4 to which the reception memory 5 and the transmission memory 10 are connected, compression / expansion and encoding / decoding of image information to be transmitted / received are controlled by the system control unit 3.

The image information received via the communication line 1 is separated at the communication interface 2 and then supplied to the image processing unit 4 under the control of the system control unit 3, where it is converted from serial digital information to parallel digital information. The compressed and transmitted image information (image data) is expanded, and then temporarily stored in the reception memory 5.

The image data stored in the reception memory 5 is output to the display 7 functioning as a monitor, so that the D / A conversion
After being converted into an analog video signal by the video output unit 6 and adjusted to an appropriate level, the video signal is supplied to the display 7 to display the partner image.

At the time of transmitting image information, the operator's image (self-image) converted into an analog video signal by the camera 8 is adjusted to an appropriate level by the video input / A / D converter 9 and is subjected to A / D conversion. Converted to digital data,
This is temporarily stored in the image transmission memory 10. Transmission memory
The image data stored in 10 is output from the D / A conversion / video output unit 6 to the display 7 under the control of the system control unit 3 to display its own image. After the efficiency coding process is performed and a digital image information signal is formed, the digital image information signal is supplied to the communication interface 2 as an information channel signal, multiplexed, and transmitted to the partner terminal device via the communication line 1.

Reference numeral 14 denotes an operation unit for inputting a dial number at the time of calling and for instructing transmission cancellation. An operation instruction signal is supplied to the system control unit 3, and a line connection is performed using a control signal channel. Outgoing / incoming call processing is performed.

Next, the image transmission operation of the transmission system / reception system in the terminal will be described with reference to the block diagram of the periphery of the reception / transmission memory shown in FIG.

First, the operation of the transmission system will be described focusing on the transmission memory 10.

The transmission memory 10 includes a transmission buffer memory 102 for temporarily storing digital image data obtained by A / D conversion of an input signal from the camera 8, and a transmission buffer memory 102 for transmitting the digital image data to the partner terminal device and displaying it on the display 7 of the own terminal. It comprises a transmission buffer memory control circuit 101 for controlling reading of the buffer memory 102 and the like. The transmission memory 101 operates under the control of the system control unit 3.

The transmission buffer memory control circuit 101 controls sampling of image data, reading to the image processing unit 4, and reading to the display 7, and each time required for image transmission (each time reading of the transmission buffer memory for one screen is completed).
Is sampled. While the image data transmission processing is being performed, the image being transmitted can be confirmed on the display 7, and during this time, the operator inputs an image transmission interruption instruction key (not shown) from the operation unit 14, thereby causing inconvenience or inconvenience. It is possible to stop sending a necessary image to the partner terminal. Further, if an LED (not shown) for indicating that the image is being sampled is blinked, the operator is notified of the transfer timing, which is a guide for the interruption instruction.

Next, the operation of the receiving system using the receiving memory 5 will be described.

The reception memory 5 includes a switch circuit 52 that switches alternately in units of one screen when the reception image memory is loaded, reception buffer memories 53 and 54 for storing image data, and reception buffer memories 53 and
It comprises a buffer memory control circuit 51 for controlling writing / reading of 54, and a switch circuit 55 for selecting one of the memories when displaying the reception screen.

The received image data is decoded by the image processing unit 4 and stored in the buffer memory. However, since the image data is serially transmitted, in the present invention, the operator is not shown how to store the data in the buffer memory. Two reception buffer memories 53 and 54 are prepared.

When the switch circuit 52 is set to the A side and the received image data is stored in the buffer memory 53, the switch circuit 55 is set to the B side so that the display image is read from the buffer memory 54. Then, when the received image in the buffer memory 53 is established, the switch circuits 52 and 55 are respectively switched, and the receiving buffer memory control under the control of the system control unit 3 is performed so as to alternately store the received image and read out the display image. Controlled by circuit 51. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, in the case where the image is received and accumulated in the reception buffer memory 53 and the image read out from the reception buffer memory 54 is displayed, and the image data being accumulated is interrupted halfway by the transmission interruption processing, The next image data is controlled so as to be stored again in the reception buffer memory 53 so that the operator does not see the previous image.

Here, reference numeral 56 denotes a switch circuit for switching the output to display the received image data and the transmitted image data on the display 7. In this example, the switch circuit 56 is used to switch between the self image and the partner image. The image may be combined with a part of the partner image and displayed on two screens.

These operations will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is an image transmission / image transition diagram of the terminal I / terminal B when an image transmission stop instruction is issued during image transmission in the terminal device A.

In the terminal device A, the image “I” is captured during the period a to b, the image capturing LED is turned on, and the image data is transmitted to the terminal device B using the communication line during the period b to c, and is also transmitted to the display 7. Display an image.

In the terminal device b, the reception data from the terminal device a is fetched into the reception buffer memory 54 during the period d to e, and the display surface / reception surface is switched at the time e when the reception of one screen is completed. During this time,
The image “A” transmitted before the image “I” is taken into the reception buffer memory 53, and the pattern “A” is displayed on the terminal device B.

The above processing is always repeatedly performed in both directions on both the terminal devices A and B.

Now, let us consider a case where the image “U” sampled in the period between c and f in the terminal device A is a video that does not conform to the operator of the terminal device A.

When the operator of the terminal device a confirms the screen on the display 7 and does not like the display image, and inputs an image transmission stop instruction from the operation unit 14 at the time point j, the system control unit 3 performs transmission buffer memory control. A re-capture instruction is given to the circuit 101 (step k).

Then, in the terminal device A, a new image “E” is taken in the period of g to h, and as a result, the transmission of the image “U” transmitted in the period of c to f is interrupted in the middle of data.

In the terminal device B, the data of the image “U” is once captured in the reception buffer memory 53 for a period of m to n (this is a period shorter than the period required to capture the image data of one screen). Since the new image “E” is transmitted in the middle of the process, the reception buffer memory 53 is not switched at time n, the capture address of the reception buffer memory 53 is initialized, and the image data of the image “E” is received. .

During this time, the image “i” established before the image “u” to be discarded is displayed on the terminal device B, and the image “u” to be discarded is not displayed.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, during image communication, an image being transmitted can always be confirmed on a monitor, and even when an inconvenient or unnecessary image is sampled and transmitted to a partner terminal, the Since the transmission of the image can be stopped halfway, there is an effect that an inconvenient or unnecessary image is not displayed on the partner terminal. Also, according to the embodiment, instead of the image whose transmission has been interrupted, the image received immediately before is continuously displayed as it is, so that nothing is displayed on the display due to the transmission interruption processing. No noise is shown.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of a videophone device with a transmission image confirmation function according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram showing the main parts of the videophone device, and FIG. FIG. 9 is a transition diagram illustrating an operation of the same device when the operation is stopped. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Digital line 2 ... Communication interface 3 ... System control unit 4 ... Image processing unit 5 ... Reception memory 6 ... D / A conversion / video output unit 7 ... Display 8 ... Camera 9 ... Video Input / A / D converter 10 Transmit memory 11 Audio processor 12 Transmitter 13 Receiver 14 Operation unit 51 Buffer memory control circuit 52, 55, 56 Switch circuit 53, 54: Receive buffer memory 101: Transmit buffer memory control circuit 102: Transmit buffer memory

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] In a video telephone apparatus connected to a digital line having a plurality of information channels and a control signal channel for transmitting audio information and image information, image data for one screen is temporarily stored in a transmission buffer memory. Means for storing and transmitting the image information temporarily stored during transmission processing on the monitor of the own terminal while transmitting the image information to the partner terminal via the digital line, and transmitting the image information in the transmission buffer memory Means for interrupting the process by an instruction of the operator, and during the period in which the image information is being transmitted while updating the image information at regular intervals, the image information to be transmitted is displayed and confirmed, and any image can be displayed. A videophone device with a transmission image confirmation function, wherein the transmission of information is interrupted to prevent image reproduction at a partner terminal.