JP2841389B2 - Telephone terminal device - Google Patents

Description

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

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is, for example, a video telephone which transmits and receives voice and still images through a telephone line.

This is equipped with a video input unit such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) camera and image pickup tube, and a video output unit such as a CRT (cathode ray tube) and a liquid crystal display. The video is exchanged by using the video output unit and the video output unit.

However, the videophone of the present invention has a problem that even if an incoming call occurs when the user is absent, no message can be received from the other party, that is, automatic reception of the message is impossible. People have added a voice mail function, automatically stored the voice signal and video signal from the other party, and proposed a still picture videophone configured to output the stored information from the voice output unit and the video display unit. .

Hereinafter, a still picture videophone as an example of a telephone terminal device proposed by the present applicant will be described.

The configuration of the videophone proposed by the inventor was, for example, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an image input unit constituted by a CCD camera or an image pickup tube, etc., 2 denotes an image display unit constituted by a CRT or a liquid crystal display panel, etc., 3 denotes an apparatus main body, and 4 denotes an image captured by the image input unit 1. An image transmission button 5 and an operation button 5 for transmitting the image data to the other party via the telephone line are 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 a signal arriving on the telephone line on the voice side (A).
And an audio / video signal changeover switch 10 for switching to the video side (B). An audio / video changeover signal 10 is included in a signal transmitted from the other party via the telephone line 7 or a signal reproduced by the cassette tape deck 5. This is a video signal discrimination unit that detects whether there is any audio signal or video signal. When there is an audio / video switching signal, it sends a signal to that effect to the audio / video signal switching switch 9. 11 is an audio output unit such as a speaker, 12 is an audio input unit such as a microphone,
13 is a video signal modulation unit for modulating the video signal captured by the video input unit 1 into a signal that can be transmitted through a telephone line;
Reference numeral 14 denotes a video signal demodulation unit for demodulating the modulated video signal sent through the telephone line 7, 15 and 16 denote a first video memory and a second video memory, respectively, and 17 denotes a video telephone unit and an answering machine manually. This is an answering machine function switch for selectively switching between the unit and the unit. The switch is connected to the (D) side in the on state and is connected to the (C) side in the off state. 18 is an incoming call detection unit for detecting a call signal coming from the telephone line 7, 21 is a response message sending unit comprising a voice synthesis IC and a voice storage memory IC,
22 and 23 are a received message storage unit and a received message reproducing unit using the cassette tape deck 5, 19 is a remote control signal discriminating unit for detecting a remote control signal coming from the telephone line 7, and 20 is the remote control signal discriminating unit. The control command is decoded from the detection signal from 19 and the response message sending unit 21 is decoded.
And a command decoding unit for sending a control signal to the received message reproducing unit 23. In the figure, a portion surrounded by a dashed line 24 indicates an audio communication portion, a portion surrounded by 25 indicates a video communication portion, and a portion surrounded by 26 indicates an answering machine.

Next, the operation of the still picture television telephone configured as described above will be described. In the following description, it is assumed that a plurality of still picture television telephones having the configuration shown in FIGS.

First, when at home, the answering machine function switch 17 is set to the (C) side, and the audio signal / video signal changeover switch 9 is connected to the audio side (A). When a call or an incoming call occurs in this state, the caller and the called party are connected via a telephone line,
Thereafter, normal voice communication is mutually performed by the voice output unit 11 and the voice input unit 12.

When the user wants to send a video to the other party, pressing the image transmission button 4 activates the audio / video signal switch 9 to switch the signal flow from the audio side (A) to the video side (B). The video information fetched into the first video memory 15 by the video input unit 1 is a video signal modulation unit.
13 modulates the signal into a signal that can be transmitted through a telephone line.
Thereafter, the modulated video signal is added with a signal for switching between audio and video at the beginning, and is transmitted from the line interface unit 8 to the other party via the telephone line 7. The audio / video switching signal is detected by the video signal discriminating unit 10 of the other party's telephone terminal device. ), The video signal is demodulated by the video signal demodulation unit 14, stored in the second video memory 16, and displayed on the video display unit 2.

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

On the other hand, when the other party sends the 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 not present, the answering machine function switch 17 is turned on, that is, set to the (D) side. In this state, when a call signal arrives from the telephone line 7, the call signal is detected by the incoming call detection unit 18, and after the telephone line is automatically closed, the response message sending unit 19 is driven and the voice storage memory IC is Is sent to the telephone line. When the transmission of the response message is completed, the audio signal transmitted from the calling side via the telephone line 7 and the video signal modulated into a signal transmittable on the telephone line are stored in the cassette tape 6 in the received message storage unit 20. To memorize. In this way, the automatic answering of the incoming call while being away from the telephone is performed, and the voice signal and the video signal from the other party are stored.

Next, when the operator operates the received message reproducing unit 21 after returning home and starts reproducing the received message stored in the cassette tape 6 while he is away, the voice message of the reproduced signal is output to the voice output unit which is the voice output unit. The video signal is reproduced from 11, and the audio / video switching signal added to the head of the video signal is detected by the video signal discrimination 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 section 14 and reproduced on the video display section 2. When the output of the video signal is completed, the audio signal / video signal switch 9
Is switched to the audio side (A).

Furthermore, when the operator calls the home videophone from the videophone while away from home and automatically instructs the reproduction of the received message by the DTMF signal by remote control while the telephone line is automatically closed and the response message is transmitted, the remote control signal Discriminator 19
Detects the remote control signal and is input to the command decoding unit 20. When the remote control signal is decoded by the command decoding unit 20 as a signal indicating a command to reproduce the received message, the command decoding unit 20 causes the response message sending unit 21 to immediately stop sending the response message. Out. Then, the response message sending section 21 rewinds the cassette tape 6 of the cassette tape deck 5 and reproduces the received message. On the other hand, the operator can reproduce the video and the message by receiving the reproduced received message arriving on the telephone line 7 with the still picture videophone.

However, in the above configuration, when the operator instructs to play a received message from a telephone that does not have a video communication function on the go, the message is reproduced and modulated in the transmitted message. When such a video signal appears, it has a problem that it is heard as a very unpleasant reproduction sound.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a video signal mute section for muting a video signal when a video signal is detected in a received message being reproduced so that the video signal is not transmitted to a line. Was.

Operation With this configuration, even if a video signal is present in the received message to be reproduced, the video signal is automatically muted and is not transmitted to the line, so that an operator who wants to remotely listen to the outside has annoying modulation. You do not have to listen to video signals.

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 videophone according to an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 27 denotes a video signal when a video signal mute command detection signal from the command decoding unit 20 is input. A video signal mute unit that is controlled by a signal indicating that the determination unit detects the audio / video switching signal.

In this embodiment, the same reference numerals are given to the same components as those in the conventional example described above, and the description is omitted.

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

The normal operation at home, the playback operation of the received message, and the answering machine function when absent can transmit and receive voice and video as in the conventional example, and the operator can use a remote control command from a telephone that does not have the video communication function on the go. The operation of playing a received message and listening to the message will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, when the operator goes out, the answering machine function switch is turned on, that is, set to the (D) side, to start the answering machine function (step .a). When a call signal arrives from the telephone line 7 in this state, the incoming call detector 18 detects it (step b), and the telephone line is automatically closed (step .c). Thereafter, the response message sending section 19 is driven to send a response message stored in the voice storage memory IC in advance (step .d). If the operator sends a remote control command using the DTMF tone while the response message is being sent, it is detected by the remote control signal discriminator 19 (step .e), and the received message is reproduced by the command decoder 20. Whether the command is a command is decoded (step .j). If it is a received message reproduction command, it is decoded whether or not there is a video signal mute command in the signal (step .k). When the video signal mute command is decoded in the signal, the command decoding unit outputs a video signal mute command detection signal to the video signal mute unit 27, and forcibly sends a response message to the response message sending unit. (Step .m), and further issues a command to rewind the tape to the cassette tape deck 5 and reproduce the received message (step .n). Then, the reproduction is started. When the video signal discriminating unit 10 detects the audio / video switching signal in the received message being reproduced during the reproduction of the received message (step .o), the video signal mute unit
27 outputs a video detection signal, and if the mute command detection signal has already been input (step .p), the playback signal is muted only during the video signal playback period (step .q), and the mute command detection signal is input. If not, the reproduced video signal is sent to the telephone line 7 as it is. When the reproduction of all the received messages is completed (step .r), the on-hook of the calling side is waited, and when the on-hook is detected, the process shifts from (step s) to (step t) to automatically close the line. It returns to step b and waits for the next call signal.

Effect of the Invention As described above, the present invention provides a video signal mute unit that mutes a video signal when a video signal is detected in a received message being reproduced so that the video signal is not transmitted to a line. When listening to a received message using a remote control command from a telephone that does not have a video communication function on the go, the video signal in the received received message is automatically muted and not sent to the line,
The effect is that the user trying to listen outside does not have to listen to the harsh modulated video signal,
It is very effective in practical use.

[Brief description of the 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. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation flow of the embodiment, and FIG.
FIGS. 4 and 5 are perspective views of a still picture videophone which is a conventional telephone terminal apparatus, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an open circuit configuration of a still picture videophone which is a conventional telephone terminal apparatus. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Video input part 2 ... Video display part 3 ... Main body 4 ... Image transmission button 5 ... Cassette tape deck 6 ... Cassette tape 7 ... Telephone line 8 ... Line interface part 9 ... Audio signal Video signal changeover switch 10 Video signal discriminating unit 11 Audio output unit 12 Audio input unit 13 Video signal modulation unit 14 Video signal demodulation unit 15 First video memory 16 2 video memory 17… Answering function switch 18… Incoming call detecting section 19 …… Remote operation command discriminating section 20 …… Command decoding section 21 …… Response message sending section 22 …… Received message reproducing section 23 …… Received message storage Unit 24 Voice communication unit 25 Video communication unit 26 Answering machine unit 27 Video signal mute unit

Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Kazumi Kawano 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-51-54312 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int .Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04N 7/14 H04M 11/00 H04M 1/64

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] An audio communication unit having an audio input unit and an audio output unit; a video signal discrimination unit for detecting a video signal; a video communication unit having a video input unit and a video output unit; A remote control signal discriminator for detecting an incoming remote control signal, and a command decoder for decoding a control command specified by the remote control signal from the remote control signal detected by the remote control signal discriminator and outputting a control signal to each unit. A response message transmitting unit for transmitting a response message to the telephone line, a received message storage unit for storing audio and video signals coming from the telephone line, and a received message reproducing unit for reproducing the stored received message. An answering machine, and if the command decoding unit detects a specific command, the video signal discriminating unit outputs a video signal during a received message being reproduced. Detect the telephone terminal device; and a video signal muting unit to not be transmitted to the line to mute the video signal. 2. The telephone terminal device according to claim 1, further comprising connection means for transmitting a reproduced signal from a received message reproducing unit to said audio output unit and video output unit.