JPH01160283A - Still picture video telephone system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To always attain proper monitor display by selecting mirror display in the case of picking up a portrait and non-mirror display in case of picking up a character pattern. CONSTITUTION:A changeover button 18 selecting mirror/non-mirror is provided and a picture obtained by a television camera 14 is displayed on a display device 7 in the mirror state or the non-mirror state by operating properly the changeover button 18. The scanning direction of the television camera 14 is opposite to the case with the normal state. Thus, the signal obtained by the television camera 14 is displayed as it is to apply the display of the mirror state. In the case of displaying a character or the like, the character once subject to digital conversion is read in the opposite direction and displayed on the display device 17.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a still image videophone device using a telephone line;
In particular, it relates to improving the display of self-image monitors.

[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 collocation, or the like.

Therefore, with such a still image videophone, it is possible to send and receive real 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. 3 is a circuit diagram of the simple still image 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, (6) is a telephone interface circuit, and (7) is a is the telephone line connection terminal, (8) is the speaker, (9) is the keypad, (10) is the input/output board, (11) is the CPU, (12) is the program memory, (
13) is a modulation/demodulation circuit, (14) is a television camera, (15)
) is the image controller, (16) is the image memory, (
17) is a display.

Next, the operation of audio and image signal transmission of this conventional video telephone will be explained based on FIGS. 3 and 4.

In Figure 3, a voice call is made from a handset (1) or a microphone (2) to a telephone line via an audio input/output circuit (3), an analog circuit (4), a matrix switch (5), and a telephone interface circuit (6). Connection terminal (7)
sent to. Further, an audio signal from the other party is reproduced by the handset (1) or the speaker (8) via a path opposite to the above-mentioned signal path.

Here, when transmitting an image signal, as shown in Figure 5, in order to confirm whether the communication partner is a video phone that has the ability to communicate image data in the same data format, an ID code containing data about the ability, etc. will be sent. 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. 4, 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, etc.

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) according to instructions from the CPU (11). The image is output from the image memory (16) to the telephone line connection terminal (7).

When an ID code or image data is input from the other party, the matrix switch (5) uses the received carrier signal to transfer the received signal from the telephone interface circuit (6) to the modulation/demodulation circuit (1) from the analog circuit (4).
Switch to 3).

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) sends the mortar image data and the other party's image data. are sequentially derived 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
) is the telephone interface circuit (6) and the analog circuit (4).
) to restore voice calls.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In such a conventional videophone device, the television camera (14) scans in a direction opposite to the normal direction and supplies an image obtained to the image controller (15). It has become. Therefore, the self-image displayed on the display (17) becomes a mirror state in which the left and right sides are reversed. This is because mirror display feels more natural when the caller sees his or her own image. In this way, mirror display is more convenient when displaying one's own face, etc., but there is a problem that when characters, figures, etc. are displayed on the display (17), they are reflected in the opposite direction and difficult to distinguish. Ta.

The present invention has been made to solve these conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a still image videophone device that can switch between mirror display and non-mirror display as appropriate by switching a switch. .

[Means for Solving the Problems] The still image videophone device of the present invention stores data regarding images obtained by a television camera in a first register, and stores data stored in the first register in one register. The data stored in the first register is transferred line by line to the second register so that the data stored in the first register can be output. can be output in the opposite data order, and the data output from the first register or the second register can be selected by using a changeover switch. It is characterized by displaying the data as an image on the display.

[Operation] Data about the images obtained by the television camera are supplied to and stored in the first register. The data stored in this first register is then output for display on a display. Further, the data stored in the first register is transferred line by line to the second register and stored there. The data for one line stored in the second register is output in a data arrangement opposite to the data arrangement output from the first register.

One of the pair of data having opposite data arrangement for one line obtained in this manner is selected by a changeover switch. Since the selected data is displayed as an image on the display, switching between a mirror state and a non-mirror state can be performed using a changeover switch. Therefore, it is possible to appropriately switch between the mirror state when displaying a self-portrait and the non-mirror state when displaying characters and the like.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

In FIG. 1, (1) to (17) are the same components as in the conventional example shown in FIG. 3, and their explanation will be omitted.

A feature of this embodiment is that a switch button (18) for switching between mirror/non-mirror is provided. By appropriately operating this switching button (18), the image obtained by the television camera (14) can be displayed on the display (17) in a mirror state or a non-mirror state.

In order to make this possible, the image controller (15) has a configuration as shown in FIG.

That is, an A/D converter (20) converts an image signal, which is an analog signal obtained by a television camera (14), into a digital signal, and the image data converted into a digital signal is converted into a digital signal for one line of a display (17). A first register (21) for storing data, and a second register (21) l for receiving data for one line every time data for one line is stored and storing it as is.
2), a signal line (23) that reads the data stored in the first register (21) as is, and a second register (22).
) A signal line (24) that reversely reads out the data stored in
, a changeover switch (25) for selecting either of these signal lines (23) or (24), and this changeover switch (
It has a D/A converter (26) that converts the digital signal supplied from 25) into an analog signal and supplies it to the disk ray (17).

In such a device, a television camera (14) outputs its image signal, but the scanning direction of this television camera (14) is opposite to that in the normal case. Therefore, the mirror state can be displayed by displaying the signal obtained by this television camera (14) as it is.

In this way, the image signal obtained by the television camera (14) is an analog signal, which is converted into a digital signal by the A/D converter (20). Here, the analog signal of the image obtained by the television camera (14) can also be directly supplied to the display (17) and displayed. However, in a still image videophone device, what is transmitted to the communication partner is a digitized image. For this reason, the image that has been normally digitally converted is again converted into analog to make the image quality of the transmitted image and the image displayed on its own display (17) the same.

Also, if you do this, your own display (17)
Another effect is that the brightness of the image can be digitally adjusted.

The data converted into digital signals by the A/D converter (20) is stored in the first register (21) one line at a time on the display (17), for example, data corresponding to 966 pixels on a screen with 96 x 96 pixels. - memorized temporally. Then, the data is output to the signal line (23) in the order in which it was input to the first register (21). Therefore, when the data output from this first register is displayed on the display (17), the display is in a mirror state.

Furthermore, when one line of data is stored in the first register (21), the contents are output in parallel and input in parallel to the second register (22).

Therefore, in the TS2 register (22), the first
When one line of data is input to the register (21), one line of data is input at once. The data stored in the second register (22) is then read out in the opposite direction to that of the first register, as shown by the arrow in the figure. Therefore, the data supplied from the signal line (24) is line-by-line data arranged in the opposite direction to the data supplied from the signal line (23).

Here, the first register (21) is read out sequentially from the data input first, and the output from the second register (22) is after one line of data is input to the first register and this is input in parallel. Therefore, the data output from the signal line (24) has the reverse data order and is delayed by one line from the data output from the signal line (23).

Note that if the image data for one pixel indicates, for example, 16 or 32 levels of brightness, the first and second registers (21) and (22) will have 4 levels of brightness for each pixel.
Or it would require 5 bits of memory.

In this way, data in the opposite data order is obtained on the signal lines (23) and (24), respectively.

Therefore, select either the signal line (23) or (24) with the changeover switch (25), and D/A conversion 2W (26
) to the display (17), the state selected by the changeover switch (25), that is, the mirror state if the signal line (23) is selected, and the signal line (24)
If you select , the non-mirrored state will be displayed on the display (
17).

In this example, the mirror/non-mirror selection command, that is, the selection at the changeover switch (25), indicates that the operator has operated the changeover button (18) at the input/output port (
10), the CPU (11) takes in and generates the data. In addition, the A/D converter (20), the first and second
Register (23), (24), TV camera (14)
A timing signal for synchronizing the display (17) is generated within the image controller (15).

In addition, in the above example, data is reversely read from the second register (22), but the first register (21)
The data arrangement may be reversed when transferring the desetter from the first register to the second register (22).

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the still image videophone device according to the present invention, when displaying on its own display, mirror display is used when moving a person, and non-mirror display is used when moving characters and figures. Switching is possible, and the optimal monitor display can always be achieved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a still screen video telephone device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing details of an image controller (15) of the same embodiment.
sS is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional still image videophone device, and FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an image transmission procedure of the conventional videophone device. In the figure, (1) is the handset, (9) is the send button,
(11) is the CPU, (14) is the TV camera, (17)
is a display, (18) is a changeover button, (21) is a second register, (22) is a second register, and (25) is a changeover switch. In addition, in the figures, the same reference numerals indicate the same or equivalent parts. Figure 4

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) a television camera; a first register for storing data regarding images obtained by the television camera; means for outputting data stored in the first register; and a means for outputting data stored in the first register; a second register for receiving and storing the above-mentioned data one line at a time; and means for outputting one line of data stored in the second register in a data arrangement opposite to the data arrangement output from the first register. a changeover switch that selects either the data output from the first register or the data output from the second register; a display that receives the data selected by the changeover switch and displays it as an image; A still image videophone device characterized by having the following. (2) When the first register receives data for one line, it stores the data as it is in the second register,
2. The videophone apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the output means from the second register reads out the data in the second register in reverse.