JPH01160275A - Video telephone system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To monitor the communication mode applying transmission and reception of voice and picture data and to monitor the inside of a terminal station by providing a monitor television camera, a monitor microphone and a monitor speaker for the application of monitoring. CONSTITUTION:With a mode changeover switch 21 set to the talking mode, the said television system acts like a conventional video telephone system. Furthermore, with the mode changeover switch 21 set to the monitor mode, a picture data picked up by the monitor television camera 18 is subject to moving picture display by the same method as the procedure of a conventional picture display in itself. For example, when the monitor television camera 18 is installed at the outside of a front door and the said mode changeover switch 21 is selected to the monitor mode in the event of the arrival of a visitor, the talking with the visitor is attained by hooking off a handset 1 or a hand-free switch (not shown).

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a still image videophone device, and particularly to an improvement of a still image videophone device that transmits and receives desired still images during a call using a telephone line. .

[Prior Art] There is a demand for a videophone that simultaneously transmits audio and images using a telephone communication line, but in reality, current telephone communication lines cannot continuously transmit dynamic images that require a huge amount of data. Since it is difficult to send and receive a still image to the other party during a call, still image videophones are being put into practical use.

This still image videophone allows you to
It is possible to temporarily interrupt this call and send a desired still image, such as the speaker's face, a photo screen or a picture depending on the content of the call.

Therefore, with such a still image videophone, it is possible to send and receive images over a telephone line, which was previously impossible, and the amount of data processing is limited because only one still image is sent each time. This had the advantage that it was easy to put videophones into practical use.

A videophone capable of transmitting such still images is shown, for example, in the October 1986 issue of Foreign Communication Technology.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of the simple still picture video telephone. In the figure, (1) is a handset, (2) is a microphone, (3) is an audio input/output circuit, (4) is an analog circuit, (5) is a matrix switch, and (6) is a telephone interface circuit (hereinafter referred to as telephone 1). /F circuit), (7) is the telephone line connection terminal, (8) is the speaker, (9) is the keypad, (10) is the input/output port, (11) is the CPU, (
12) is a program memory, (13) is a modulation/demodulation circuit, (
14) is a television camera, (15) is an image controller, (16) is an image memory, and (17) is a display.

Next, the operation of audio and image signal transmission of this conventional video telephone will be explained based on FIGS. 2 and 3.

In Figure 2, voice calls are made using the handset (1).
or from the microphone (2) to the audio input/output circuit (3),
The signal is sent to a telephone line connection terminal (7) via an analog circuit (4), a matrix switch (5), and a telephone 1/F circuit (6). Also, the audio signal from the other party is transmitted through the opposite signal path to the handset (1) or speaker (
8) is played.

When transmitting an image signal, as shown in Figure 3, in order to confirm whether the communication partner is a video phone capable of communicating image data in the same data format, the Performs sending. Then, after receiving the ID code returned from the other party and confirming that the other party has similar capabilities, the image data is transmitted.

That is, in FIG. 2, when the keypad (9) is used to instruct image transmission, the CPU (11) detects this via the input/output port (10), and the program memory (
12), the ID code is sent to the modulation/demodulation circuit (13) according to a program stored in advance. After modulating this ID code into an analog signal, it is sent out from the telephone line connection terminal (7) via the matrix switch (5).

The ID code from the communication partner passes through a path opposite to the above-mentioned signal path, and the CPU (11) confirms the code.

Meanwhile, the image captured by the television camera (14) during this period is quantized by the image controller (15), stored in the image memory (16), and sequentially derived and displayed on the display (17). The image is output from the image memory (16) to the telephone line connection terminal (7).

Also, when an ID code or image data is input from the other party, the matrix switch (5) uses the carrier signal received to send the destination to the telephone interface circuit (6).
The received signal from the analog circuit (4) is transferred from the modulation/demodulation circuit (
Switch to 13).

After the received signal is demodulated by the modulation/demodulation circuit (13), the CPU (11) returns the ID code or stores the data in the image memory (16), and the image controller (15) converts the self-image data and the other party's image data. It is derived one by one and displayed on the display (17).

Note that when the transmission and reception of images is completed and the carrier signal from the modulation/demodulation circuit (13) disappears, the matrix switch (5
) connects the telephone I/F circuit (6) and analog circuit (4) to restore voice communication.

As described above, in the conventional still image videophone communication system, since the data formats that can be communicated by the videophones used at both the transmitting and receiving ends are not necessarily the same, the ID code of the videophones at both the transmitting and receiving ends is changed each time transmission and reception are performed. It was necessary to confirm the capabilities of both types of filling machines through transmission and reception, and to select the appropriate type of image. The capabilities of the sending and receiving phones included in the above ID code indicate, for example, the pixel size of the sending and receiving screen, and these pixels are 48X48.64X.
It is divided into several types such as 64.96 x 96.128 x 128 pixels.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] Since the conventional videophone device had the above configuration,
The videophone device can only be applied to a telephone communication method that sends and receives audio via a normal telephone line, and to display images of the user taken with a television camera or images received via a telephone line. Ta.

Therefore, when monitoring multiple locations within a terminal station, another home automation system (hereinafter abbreviated as HA system) had to be used separately.

That is, there is a problem in that a means for converting images taken by each camera into image data and an image display means are required in a device for a videophone and a device for an HA system, respectively.

The videophone device according to the present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is a videophone device that has been expanded to integrate a videophone device that has conventionally been used alone with an HA system. The purpose is to provide

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the second object, the present invention provides a videophone device that transmits and receives desired images during a call using a telephone communication line, which is installed in a terminal station. a surveillance television camera, a surveillance microphone, and a surveillance speaker for monitoring, a call mode for transmitting and receiving audio and image data via a telephone line, and switching the television camera to the surveillance television camera; , mode switching means for switching to a monitoring mode for monitoring inside a terminal station, and in an on-hook state after switching to the monitoring mode by the switching means,
The present invention is characterized in that it includes a handset of a videophone device in a terminal station, and an audio switching means that enables a telephone conversation with a monitored object using the monitoring microphone and the speaker.

[Operations] Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to use a call mode in which audio and image data are transmitted and received via a normal telephone line, and to monitor the inside of the terminal station using a television camera installed inside the terminal station.

Furthermore, since a monitoring microphone and a monitoring speaker are installed, it is possible to talk to the monitored object using the video telephone device's (1) handset and the monitoring microphone and speaker.

[Example] Hereinafter, a preferred example of the present invention will be described based on FIG. 1.

Incidentally, the same parts as those in the conventional example shown in FIG.

FIG. 1 shows the block configuration of the videophone device according to this embodiment, in which (18) is a monitoring television camera installed in the terminal station, (19) is a monitoring microphone, and (2) is a monitoring television camera installed in a terminal station.
0) is a monitoring speaker.

The mode changeover switch (21) switches between a call mode in which audio and image data are transmitted and received via a telephone line, and a monitoring mode in which the television camera is switched to the television camera and the inside of the terminal station is monitored.

After switching to the monitoring mode with the changeover switch (21), when the videophone device is placed in an off-hook state, the handset (1) of the videophone device, the monitoring microphone (19), and the speaker (20) are used to monitor the monitored device. An audio switching circuit (22) is provided to enable communication with the target person.

Therefore, if the mode changeover switch (21) is set to the call mode, the television set operates as a normal video telephone set. In addition, if the mode changeover switch (21) is set to the surveillance mode, the surveillance television camera (18)
The image data taken by the camera is displayed as a moving image using the same method as the conventional self-image display procedure.

For example, a surveillance television camera (18) is installed outside the entrance, and when a visitor arrives, the mode selector switch (
21) to monitoring mode, the handset (1
) or a hands-free switch (not shown) to go off-hook, allowing conversation with visitors.

Furthermore, if the mode changeover switch (21) is linked to a door chime provided on the outside of the door to automatically switch the monitoring mode, the videophone device can be effectively used as a doorbell. play.

Further, in the above embodiment, an example was shown in which only one monitoring television camera (18) was provided, but the monitoring television camera (18) was provided.
18) and a selection switch for selecting a television camera, it becomes possible to monitor a plurality of locations at the location where the video telephone device is installed.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the videophone device according to the present invention has two modes: a call mode in which audio and image data are transmitted and received via a normal telephone line, and a monitoring mode in which the inside of a terminal station is monitored. It is possible to obtain a video telephone device that can be used in an HA system.

This allows expansion of various functions.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a videophone device according to a preferred embodiment of the videophone device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a conventional videophone device, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional videophone device. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a communication procedure. In the figure, (1) is a handset, (18) is a surveillance TV camera, (19) is a surveillance microphone (20) is a surveillance speaker, (21) is a mode changeover switch, (22) is a surveillance speaker, and (21) is a mode changeover switch.
) is an audio switching circuit. In addition, in the figures, the same reference numerals indicate the same or equivalent parts. Agent: Masuo Oiwa, patent attorney (and 2 others)

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a videophone device that converts images taken by a television camera into image data during a call and transmits and receives the data through a telephone line, a surveillance television camera, a surveillance microphone, and and a monitoring speaker, a mode switching means for switching between a call mode in which audio and image data are transmitted and received via a telephone line, and a monitoring mode in which a television camera is switched to the monitoring television camera and the terminal station is monitored. , audio switching that enables a telephone conversation with the monitored target using the handset of the videophone device in the terminal station, the monitoring microphone and the speaker when in an off-hook state after switching to the monitoring mode by the switching means; A videophone device comprising: means; (2) The monitoring television camera, the monitoring microphone, and the monitoring speaker are each provided on the outside of the door, and the mode switching means performs monitoring in conjunction with a door chime provided on the outside of the door. 2. The video telephone device according to claim 1, wherein the video telephone device automatically switches to the mode.