JP2688864B2 - Videophone equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video telephone apparatus for transmitting and receiving voice information and image information via a digital communication line (general public telephone line or other communication network), and more particularly, to a condition of a subject. The present invention relates to a function of adjusting the number of pixels and the depth of field.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A subject is imaged by a television camera, and the image is captured before transmission to perform a certain process. However, in a conventional videophone device, an operator adjusts the number of pixel components of the captured image. It was supposed to be done manually according to the movement, the difference in planes and solids.

The depth of field (resolution in the depth direction)
Is adjusted by the auto iris mechanism built into the camera, etc., but in the conventional videophone device, adjustment of the depth of field according to the movement of the subject, the plane, the difference in three-dimensional, etc. Had to be manually operated by the operator.

Adjustment of the number of pixels of an image and the depth of field is
Generally, it is recommended to do as follows.

For example, assuming a situation where some kind of meeting is being held using a videophone device, a person (especially a person's face), a document or other object can be considered as the type of subject.

When a person who is performing a certain action or talking and other moving objects are objects, the action should be prioritized. Therefore, in this case, if anything, the number of pixel components of the image does not need to be very large, but rather the depth of field needs to be deep (the resolution in the depth direction must be high).

Further, even if a stationary subject is a three-dimensional object, the stereoscopic effect should be emphasized. In this case, the depth of field needs to be deepened.

As described above, in the case of a moving subject or a three-dimensional object, the operator manually adjusts the number of pixel components to the smaller side, or sets the camera aperture to a deep depth of field. You have to adjust it manually.

On the other hand, in the case of a stationary, flat object such as a document placed on a desk, it is not necessary to make the depth of field particularly deep, but rather a flat resolution is required. It is necessary to increase the number of pixel configurations of the captured image. Therefore, in the case of a stationary and flat object such as a document, the operator should manually adjust the number of pixel components to be larger.

[0010]

However, the operator must manually and appropriately adjust the number of pixels and the depth of field in accordance with the movement of the subject and the difference in planes and solids as described above. Is unrealistic, and if such an operation is chased one by one, it may become a factor that meetings and the like do not proceed smoothly.

The present invention was devised in view of such circumstances, and anyone can always adjust the number of pixel components and the depth of field according to the movement of a subject, the difference in plane, three-dimensional, or the like. The purpose is to be able to do.

[0012]

A first videophone apparatus according to the present invention detects a movement of a subject, measures a distance from a camera to the subject, and detects the subject based on the distance information. A means for determining whether the object is planar or not, and when the presence of motion of the subject is detected, the number of pixel components of the image to be captured is decreased, while when it is determined that the object is planar without motion, the number of pixel components is increased. And means for controlling.

A second videophone device according to the present invention is a videophone device according to the first videophone device, wherein when the object is determined to be moving or when the object is not moving but is not flat, the object is photographed. It is equipped with means for controlling the depth of field.

Further, the third video telephone apparatus according to the present invention has a means for detecting the movement of the object, a means for measuring the distance from the camera to the object, and a planar object for the object based on the distance information. Means for determining whether or not there is motion of the subject, and when detecting the presence of motion of the subject, the number of pixel components of the image to be captured is reduced and the depth of field is controlled to be deep, and the absence of motion is detected and is flat. When it is judged that the number of pixels is increased, it is controlled to increase the number of pixels, and when it is judged not to be planar, it is controlled to increase the depth of field. Is.

[0015]

In the case of the first videophone apparatus, the control for decreasing the number of pixel configurations when there is motion and the control for increasing the number of pixel configurations when there is no motion and being planar are automatically performed together.

Further, in the case of the second videophone device, control for deepening the depth of field is automatically performed when there is motion and when there is no motion and the image is not planar.

Further, in the case of the third videophone apparatus, control for decreasing the number of pixel configurations when there is motion and deepening the depth of field, and control for increasing the number of pixel configurations when there is no motion and is flat. , And the control for increasing the depth of field when there is no movement and not planar are automatically performed together.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the electrical construction of a videophone device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is a line interface,
2 is a system control circuit, 3 is a television camera, 4 is a distance sensor, 5 is an image processing circuit, 6 is a display, 7 is a call
A voice processing circuit, 8 is a handset, 9 is an operating unit, 10 is a subject determining unit, and 11 is a motion detecting circuit.

The image of the subject captured by the television camera 3 is input to the image processing circuit 5 and the motion detection circuit 11.

The motion detection circuit 11 detects the presence or absence of motion of the subject, and outputs it as an output signal S1 to the subject determining section 10.
When it detects that there is motion, it outputs the "H" level, and when it detects that there is no motion, it outputs the "L" level.

The subject judging section 10 counts the "H" level period and the "L" level period of the input signal S1,
A predetermined time is set as a unit time, and the longer counting period within the unit time is adopted. When the "H" level counting period is longer, the "L" level is determined as the determination signal S3 that should be output to the system control circuit 2 in order to determine that the subject has significant motion and reduce the number of pixel components. Is output.

The system control circuit 2 includes a subject determination unit 10
When the determination signal S3 of "L" level (moving) is input from the control signal S4, the control signal S4 is given to the image processing circuit 5 so as to reduce the number of pixel components of the image to be captured by the television camera 3 and the television camera Increase the depth of field for the aperture of 3 (increase the resolution in the depth direction)
Control signal S5 is applied. When this videophone device has two modes of high resolution and low resolution with respect to the number of pixel components, when the "L" level is input as the determination signal S3 from the subject determination unit 10, the low resolution is selected. The image processing circuit 5 is instructed to do so.

On the other hand, the subject judging section 10 does not move the subject when the count period of the "L" level of the signal S1 input from the motion detecting circuit 11 is longer, or
It is determined that there is a movement, but it is not a significant movement. In this case, the distance from the distance sensor 4 to the subject is determined in order to determine whether the subject is two-dimensional or three-dimensional. The information S2 of is also adopted as the determination material.

To conclude the conclusion in this case, as a result of the determination based on the distance information S2, when the subject is a planar object, an "H" level is output as the determination signal S3 to the system control circuit 2. If the subject is not a two-dimensional object, that is, a three-dimensional object, "L" level is output as the determination signal S3.

When the "H" level (flat without movement) is input as the determination signal S3 from the subject determination section 10, the system control circuit 2 instructs the image processing circuit 5 of the image to be captured by the television camera 3. The control signal S4 is given so as to increase the number of pixel components, that is, to select high resolution. In this case, it is not necessary to control the aperture of the TV camera 3.

Further, the system control circuit 2 uses the judgment signal S
When "L" level (stereoscopic without motion) is input as 3, the depth of field should be deepened (the resolution in the depth direction should be increased) with respect to the aperture of the TV camera 3 as in the case of motion. To the control signal S5. In this case, the current number of pixels may be maintained.

The above control operation is shown in the flow chart of FIG.

At step n1, it is judged whether or not there is a motion in the subject, and if there is motion, the process proceeds to step n2 to adjust the aperture so as to deepen the depth of field, and then step n.
In 3, the pixel configuration number is set to low resolution. If there is no movement in the determination in step n1, the process proceeds to step n4 to determine whether or not the subject is flat, and if it is flat, step n
In step 5, the pixel configuration number is set to a high resolution, and when it is three-dimensional, the process proceeds to step n6 to adjust the aperture so as to deepen the depth of field. Then, the above operation is repeatedly executed.

Next, how to determine whether the object is two-dimensional or three-dimensional based on the distance information S2 from the distance sensor 4 will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 3 shows how the distance sensor 4 measures the distance while scanning one straight line on the object m. Let L ₁ be the distance between the point b on the object m in the direction rotated by the angle θ ₁ from the center axis Y of the distance sensor 4 and the emission point O of the distance sensor 4, and the distance on the object m in the direction rotated by the angle θ ₂ . Assuming that the distance between the point a and the emission point O is L ₂ , the angle θ formed by the line segment between the points a and b on the subject m with respect to the direction of the tangential axis X orthogonal to the central axis Y is calculated as follows. It is represented by a formula.

[0032]

(Equation 1)

This angle θ is sequentially obtained along with scanning, such as between points b and c and between points c and d. If the respective angles θ are the same, the object on the scan plane is obtained. It can be seen that the scan line on m is a straight line. Such a scan is performed by changing the scan directions several times as shown in FIG. 4, and if the angles θ obtained in the respective directions are the same, it can be determined that the subject m is a plane. In other cases, it can be determined that the subject m is not planar, that is, stereoscopic. This determination is the distance information S
The subject determination unit 10 performs the determination based on 2.

The call / speech processing circuit 7 carries out processing for calling and receiving calls for line connection, and the operation unit 9 inputs the dial number at the time of calling.

Then, the image signal processed by the image processing circuit 5 and the transmitter of the handset 8 from the call / voice processing circuit 7
The system control circuit 2 synthesizes the voice signal input to the device 1 and sends it to the digital communication line via the line interface 1 and sends it to the videophone device of the other party.

Further, the voice / image composite information signal sent from the other party's videophone device is taken into the system control circuit 2 through the line interface 1 and separated into a voice signal and an image signal, and the voice signal is transmitted. The signal is emitted from the handset 8 of the handset 8 via the call / voice processing circuit 7, and the video signal is displayed on the display 6 via the image processing circuit 5.
It is projected on.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to appropriately and automatically adjust the number of pixels and the depth of field in accordance with the presence or absence of movement of an object and the difference in plane or stereoscopic shape.
For the operator, it is possible to provide a screen that is always easy to see without paying attention to the transmission image quality due to the difference in subject. Therefore, as the operator, even if the condition of the subject changes, there is no need for manual operation, and the burden on the operator can be greatly reduced. The user of the videophone device can smoothly proceed with meetings without interruption.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a videophone device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a method of determining whether or not a subject is flat in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a method of determining whether or not a subject is planar in the embodiment, similar to FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 system control circuit 3 TV camera 4 distance sensor 5 image processing circuit 6 display 8 handset 10 subject determination unit 11 motion detection circuit

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A means for detecting the movement of an object, a means for measuring the distance from a camera to the object, a means for judging whether or not the object is planar based on the distance information, and a movement of the object. A videophone device comprising means for controlling so as to decrease the number of pixel configurations of an image to be captured when it is detected to exist, and to increase the number of pixel configurations when it is determined to be planar without movement. 2. The videophone according to claim 1, further comprising means for controlling the depth of field to be deep when it is determined that the subject is moving and when the subject is not moving but is not flat. apparatus. 3. A means for detecting the movement of the subject, a means for measuring the distance from the camera to the subject, a means for determining whether or not the subject is planar based on the distance information, and a movement of the subject. When the presence is detected, the number of pixel configurations of the image to be captured is reduced and the depth of field is controlled to be deep, and when no motion is detected and it is determined that the image is flat, the number of pixel configurations is increased. However, the video telephone apparatus is provided with means for detecting no motion and controlling the depth of field to be deep when it is determined that the movement is not planar.