JPH01160191A - Picture communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow the reception side to discriminate a character accurately without deformation or blur by sending a memo not as image information but as character information. CONSTITUTION:The equipment is provided with a picture information storage means 3 storing picture information of a still picture, a high speed transmission means 6a at high speed transmitting/receiving picture information, an input means 7 receiving character information, a low speed transmission means 6b transmitting/receiving character information, a character information storage means 11 storing character information inputted from the input means 7 or character information received by a low speed transmission means 6a and a display means 12 displaying the character information stored in the character information storage means 11 or the still picture of the picture information stored in the picture information storage means 3. That is, the character information is sent not as image information but as character information by the low speed transmission means 6b different from the transmission means of the picture information. Thus, even a complicated character is sent accurately at a comparatively fast speed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] A) Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to an image communication device that transmits still images using a communication line such as a subscriber line, and in particular is capable of transmitting text information in addition to still images. The present invention relates to an image communication device.

(Example) Conventional technology Conventionally, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-20464,
It is said that it is possible to transmit text information using a telephone equipped with special keys.

Recently, video telephones that transmit still images as well as voice communications using subscriber lines have been put into practical use. In such videophones, still images are captured from a camera, so text information can be sent by capturing a memo with written text on it using the camera.

No. 1) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, since the quality of the images captured by the camera is not very good, there is a risk that fine details and complicated characters may not be legible. Further, even a simple memo requires a lot of transmission time to be transmitted as normal image information (still image).

2) Means for solving the problem of confusion The present invention provides image information storage means for storing image information of still images, high-speed transmission means for transmitting and receiving image information, input means for inputting character information, and character information. a low-speed transmission means for transmitting and receiving text; a character information storage means for storing character information input from the input means or character information received by the low-speed transmission means; The image communication apparatus includes display means for displaying a still image of image information stored in the image information storage means.

e) Operation Since character information is transmitted as character information rather than image information using a low-speed transmission means different from image information transmission means, even complex characters can be transmitted accurately and relatively quickly.

(f) Example 1 (2) is a general outline of the still image communication device according to the present invention.

fi+ is a COD camera that captures still images as image information, (2) is an interface that digitizes image information from BCan camera fi+ as a density value of 4 pits (16 gradations) per pixel, (31 is the interface 12)
14) is an OPU that controls the entire device, and uses the buffer memory area provided in 1 system memo 51. and the video memory (3
The data of 4 bits/pixel is read from 1 and then encoded into data of 1 line. (61 is a modem for modulating or demodulating encoded data, in high-speed mode (V29 or V27ter in AA engineering TT
, 2400 to 9600 bps) and a low speed modem (6b) that performs data transmission in low speed mode (v21.300 bpa in CA TT).

R7+ is a telephone that handles dial signals (MF double signals and voice signals), and the input/output of the ninth call signal on this telephone (7) and the information sent and received by modem +G+ is the subscriber line j
A network control circuit connected to 91 (controlled by 81).

101 is a key switch that allows multiple keys to issue various operation commands to cpa+4>, and tll+ is character information for a string of characters selected and input by the key switch +1α or the MAF signal from the telephone [7]. A character memory that stores character codes as characters, and includes a character generator for displaying character codes as characters. (121 is a CRT for displaying the contents of the video memory (31) or character memory (II).

The voice signal from the telephone set (7) is sent via the network control circuit (8) to the subscriber line +91 to subscriber 1. Road! The voice signal from 91 is sent to the telephone set (7) through the network control circuit (81) and a telephone call is made.

L Sagi still images can be transmitted using COD Camera Ro1.
The still image information is expanded to the video memory (31) and C!
When displayed on RTIJ21, i7c, 0PtH41
Since the information to be transmitted here is image information, the high-speed mode is selected as the transmission mode by 0PUt41, and the encoded image information is transmitted to the high-speed modem (
6a) and sent to the subscriber ff via the network control circuit @(8)
l[+1 is sent to J191. The image information sent from the subscriber i@+s+ is input to the modem (61) via the network arsenal circuit till 1.Since the reception is in high-speed mode, the received information is demodulated by the high-speed modem (6a). C
Video memory month 3 as density value information in Pt114+
) and displayed on ORTα2. Furthermore, CO
The image captured or transmitted by the D camera fi+ has a density value of 16 gradations represented by a 4-pit POM code, with each pixel as a halftone, and is organized into 90×90 pixels.

Normally, images captured from the acn camera il+ are displayed on OR'J'' (121) at any time. By pressing a specific key, fi, the current video memory +31 by OPU +41
The above image information is informally determined and displayed as a still image on the 0RTI 121. Then, each line of image information is encoded and the image information is transmitted to the other party. At this time, since the one-channel telephone line is burdened with the transmission of image information, voice communication is interrupted and communication becomes impossible.

Next, transmission of character information as a memo will be explained.

First, register a memo using a key switch (101) or a telephone (71) equipped with an fc specific switch (for example, °F" (
Enter the memo registration mode by inputting from the function key )) 0PUt41. Then, from among the many memos, press the 71 number button on the phone and select the 7th number. By doing this, J, cRTf121 will display the characters and memo contents that can be displayed as shown in Figure 2 (if not, it will be blank). is displayed. Move the cursor (12 &) using the number buttons from among the characters that can be displayed (for example, number buttons y "2n" upwards, "4" to the left, "6° to the right"). ,
“8” is the key to move the cursor downward)
, a key switch 111 or a specific switch C installed on the telephone (7) at an appropriate place, such as "P"
(Send) key), the character at the cursor position is set as a memo. By repeating this process, notes such as the story of the storm and the other party's phone number are registered. This memo is also used as a telephone directory.

Now, if you want to send a registered memo, press the key switch 101 or a specific switch (e.g. °M' (menu) key) provided on the Fi phone (7) K to select the menu selection mode. Furthermore, input the memo number of the memo you want to send using the number buttons. Memo number input settings (M
key), the contents are read out from the character memory 111) and displayed on CART02. Thereafter, for example, by pressing the S key mentioned above, the character information of the displayed memo contents is transmitted.

Character information is transmitted according to the communication seedance shown in FIG. After pressing the 8 key, the transmitting side sends out a transmission start signal consisting of a specific DTMF signal for a fixed period of time,
Since 0PUt41 is for transmitting character information, the transmission mode is low speed mode (modem 1G).
Select 6b). Then, the 0PU 141 reads the corresponding string of character information from the character memory ++0 and sends it to the subscriber line @ (91) via the network MJ H @ route 1g+ as packet data to the low-speed modem (61).Packet For example, the format is “00
After the start signal date OL of 0000000001', a distinction signal Pi indicating the type of information (if F1=i, data,
If it is Flo-o, then the command) and the line number LineN
o @ Character information delimiter reception 9Fz (=10TO),
8-bit character information OH.

Furthermore, Ill, C1, Fto-C1. And the end code at the end of the line]! Kick 1oIF (three or more consecutive BOLs).

On the receiving side, the low speed mode C low speed modem (6b returns to receive this information J, 0PU14) Since it is received by the Fi low speed modem (6b), after demodulating the received information, character memo I
Store in J Ill. Then, if there is no error in the received information, send a reception completion command 01” (AOK) to 80I.
, and I'H=0), then (s o t +IF
1+AOK) is sent back to the sending side, and if there is an error in the received information, receive error command '11' (NAC) Part 8
0L and? After 1 (=0), (S OI, +
IF1+NAO) and end the communication. The format is shown in Figure Fi@4.

On the receiving M side, a memo is displayed on ORτα2 according to the character information stored in the character memory tulK.

g) Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above description, in the present invention, a memo is sent as character information, so that the memo can be accurately read on the receiving side without the characters being distorted or distorted. Since character information is transmitted in a transmission mode different from that of image information (C image information), character information and image information are distinguished depending on the transmission mode. Since the character information is transmitted at a lower speed than the image information, the occurrence of errors is greatly reduced compared to the transmission of image information, and high reliability can be obtained. Furthermore, since character information is communicated by simply sending and receiving packet data and command signals, two different types of information, image information and character information, are transmitted in different modes: high speed and low speed. Therefore, efficient transmission becomes possible. For example, image information requires about 6 to 10 seconds, while character information is transmitted in about 2 to 4 seconds.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings also show an example of the present invention; Fig. 1 shows a schematic configuration, Fig. 2 shows an example of a display when registering a memo, Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a communication sequence, and Fig. 4 shows an example of communication data. This is the reason why format example 1 is shown. +1l-CC! D camera, (3) - video memory (picture information storage means), 141 - OPU, 15+ - system memory, (61 - modem, (6a) - high speed modem (
high-speed transmission means) (6b) - low-speed modem (low-speed transmission means), (7+- telephone [input means), Ig+- network control circuit, (9I- subscriber line, tlol- key switch, 1
111-character memory (character information 2 means), (I
2:l-0RT (display means).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) Image information storage means for storing image information of still images, high-speed transmission means for transmitting and receiving image information, input means for inputting character information, low-speed transmission means for transmitting and receiving character information, and said input means a character information storage means for storing character information input from the character information storage means or character information received by the low-speed transmission means; and character information stored in the character information storage means or image information stored in the image information storage means. An image communication device comprising display means for displaying a still image.