JP2774204B2 - Video phone - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system in which an image pickup apparatus and a telephone are integrated, and more particularly, to a system transmitted from a partner telephone according to a distance from the telephone to a speaker of the telephone. The present invention relates to a video phone that changes the amplification factor of an incoming audio signal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, telephones are generally provided with a switch for adjusting the volume, so that the volume of a speaker can be arbitrarily set by a user himself / herself.

[0003] Such a function has recently been offered to the market,
The same applies to videophones that are becoming popular.

[0004] During a telephone call, a video telephone captures the image of a speaker using, for example, a CCD camera integrated with the telephone.
The image data is transmitted together with the audio signal to the videophone of the other party, and the display screen of the videophone of the other party is displayed on the display screen of the other party talking on the phone. Also,
A speaker of a videophone usually speaks into a microphone in a hands-free state without picking up the receiver, and listens to the voice of the other speaker transmitted from a built-in speaker.

[0005]

As described above, since the videophone is hands-free, it is possible to take a picture with a CCD camera even if the user is not near the videophone, and If the distance of the voice of the speaker of the videophone reaches the microphone and the distance of the voice of the other party's speaker transmitted from the speaker can be heard, the user can freely talk and talk.

However, since the volume control switch provided on the telephone as described above must be operated by the user himself, usually, when the volume is adjusted to an arbitrary level, the user rarely operates thereafter. It is.

Therefore, if the user of the videophone sets the volume adjustment switch to the normal level,
When the user is away from the telephone during a call, there is a problem that the voice of the other party's speaker transmitted from the speaker becomes low, making it difficult to hear.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to increase the amplification factor of an audio signal transmitted from the other party's telephone according to the distance from the present television telephone to the speaker of the present television telephone. Is to provide a video telephone in which the volume of the speaker is increased to make it easier to hear the voice of the other party when the speaker is away from the video telephone.

[0009]

In order to solve the above problems, a video telephone according to the present invention is a system in which an imaging device and a telephone are integrated, and a speaker of the telephone photographed by the imaging device. A contour extracting unit for extracting a contour of the speaker based on the image data of the speaker, a determining unit for determining the size of the face of the speaker from the contour data of the speaker extracted by the contour extracting unit, Talk based on the judgment result of the part
The smaller the size of the person's face, the higher the amplification
Thus, an amplification factor determining unit that determines the amplification factor of the audio signal sent from the other party's telephone, and the amplification of the audio signal sent from the other party's phone with the amplification factor determined by the amplification factor determining unit. And an audio amplification unit for outputting to a speaker.

[0010]

During a call, the image of the speaker of the present videophone is photographed by an imaging device installed on the telephone side, and the photographed image data is output to the contour extraction unit. In the contour extraction unit,
The given image data is analyzed (for example, a change point of the spectrum is searched using a fast Fourier transform or the like) to extract the contour of the speaker, and the contour data is output to the determination unit.

The determination section recognizes the speaker's face from the given contour data and determines the size of the face.
The result of the determination is output to the amplification factor determining unit. The amplification factor determination unit refers to a table stored in advance, determines an amplification factor corresponding to the given determination result, and outputs this to the audio amplification unit. That is, the table shows the size of the speaker's face
Corresponds to increase the amplification factor as the size becomes smaller
Data is stored, and the speaker moves away from the telephone.
The higher the gain, the higher the amplification factor.

The audio amplification unit amplifies the audio signal of the other speaker transmitted through the telephone line with the amplification factor determined by the amplification factor determination unit, and outputs the amplified audio signal to the speaker. Output as audio.

Thus, when the speaker of the present video telephone is away from the present telephone, the volume of the speaker is increased and the voice of the other speaker becomes easier to hear.

[0014]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the videophone of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the output of a CCD camera 11 for photographing a figure of a speaker installed on the side of a telephone is guided to an A / D converter 12 for converting an analog signal into a digital signal. The output of the D converter 12 is
Is led to.

The contour extraction unit 13 is a block for extracting a speaker's contour from digitized image data supplied from the A / D converter 12, and is usually a fast Fourier transform (FF).
The contour is extracted by searching for a change point of the spectrum using T) or the like.

The output of the contour extracting unit 13 is guided to a determining unit 14, and the output of the determining unit 14 is guided to an amplification factor determining unit 15.

The determination section 14 is a block for recognizing a speaker's face based on the contour data supplied from the contour extraction section 13 and determining the size of the face.

The amplification factor determination unit 15 internally stores a table indicating the correspondence between the size of the speaker's face and the PAD value (digital amplification value). The optimum PAD value is determined based on the PAD value. Here, the relationship between the data indicating the size of the speaker's face and the PAD value shown in the table is set such that the smaller the speaker's face, the larger the PAD value indicating the amplification factor. That is, the further the speaker is away from the telephone, the greater the amplification factor.

The output of the amplification factor determining unit 15 is a D / A converter 16 for converting a digital signal into an analog signal.
Is output from the D / A converter 16 to the multiplier 1
7 to one input.

On the other hand, the other input of the multiplier 17 is provided with a speech circuit 19 for performing 2-wire to 4-wire conversion and adjusting the transmission / reception talk level.
, And the output of the multiplier 17 is guided to a speaker 18 built in the telephone.

The communication circuit 19 is connected to a telephone line via a hook switch (not shown).

Next, the operation of the videophone having the above configuration will be described.

The operation of detecting an incoming call from the other party and shifting to a telephone call and the operation of calling from this telephone and shifting to a telephone call are the same as those of a normal telephone. The description will be omitted, and the description will be given from the point where the communication state is established.

When a call is made, the CCD camera 11
The image of the speaker of this telephone is photographed and converted into an electric signal.
It is given to the D converter 12. The A / D converter 12 converts the applied analog signal into a digital signal and supplies the digital signal to the contour extraction unit 13.

The contour extraction unit 13 extracts the speaker's contour from the digitized image data by searching for a change point in the spectrum using, for example, the fast Fourier transform, as described above, and determines the contour data. Give to 14.

The judging section 14 recognizes the speaker's face based on the contour data provided from the contour extracting section 13, judges its size, and supplies the judgment result to the amplification factor determining section 15.

The amplification factor determining unit 15 determines a PAD value corresponding to the determination result given from the determining unit 14 with reference to the internal table, and converts the PAD value to an analog value by the next D / A converter. After the conversion, it is given to the multiplier 17.

Since the voice signal of the other party sent through the telephone line is guided to the multiplier 17 through the communication circuit 19, the multiplier 17 converts the voice signal into a D / A signal. The audio signal is amplified by multiplying by an analog value indicating the amplification factor given from the converter 16, and the amplified audio signal is transmitted from the speaker 18 as audio.

Accordingly, when the speaker is away from the telephone, the sound output from the speaker 18 becomes large and easy to hear, and as the speaker approaches the telephone, the sound output from the speaker 18 is normally increased. It will gradually decrease to the volume of the hour. Therefore, the speaker of the present videophone can hear the voice of the other party in a good condition regardless of the distance from the telephone.

[0032]

According to the videophone of the present invention, a contour extracting section for extracting a contour of a speaker of the present telephone based on image data of the speaker of the telephone photographed by the imaging device, and the contour extracting section extracts the contour. A determining unit that determines the size of the speaker's face from the contour data of the speaker; and a determination result of the determining unit.
The smaller the size of the speaker's face, the higher the amplification rate
An amplification factor determining unit that determines the amplification factor of the audio signal sent from the other party's telephone, and an audio signal sent from the other party's telephone with the amplification factor determined by the amplification factor determining unit. The video phone has a configuration that includes an audio amplifier that amplifies and outputs the signal to the speaker, so that the speaker of this video phone can be at each position from the speaker regardless of whether the speaker is near or away from the video phone. The sound of the other party's speaker is output at a corresponding volume, and the effect of being able to listen to the sound of the other party's speaker in a good condition even when making a phone call while moving around the room.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 11 CCD camera (imaging device) 12 A / D converter 13 Contour extraction unit 14 Judgment unit 15 Amplification rate setting unit 16 D / A converter 17 Multiplier 18 Speaker

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A system in which an imaging device and a telephone are integrated, wherein a contour extraction unit extracts a contour of the speaker based on image data of a speaker of the telephone photographed by the imaging device. , a determination unit the size of the face of the speaker from the contour data of the speaker extracted by the contour extraction unit, small size of the speaker's face by the determination result of the determination section
An amplification factor determining unit that determines the amplification factor of the audio signal sent from the other party's telephone so that the amplification factor becomes larger, and transmitted from the other party's telephone with the amplification factor determined by the amplification factor determining unit. A video phone, comprising: an audio amplifier that amplifies an incoming audio signal and outputs the amplified audio signal to a speaker.