JPH04154290A - Video telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to confirm that a caller sets up a hold mode by providing a television telephone set with the function that until the hold mode is released the control circuit supplies an opposite party's video telephone set with a video signal based on image data in the memory through communication circuit. CONSTITUTION:Under the control of control circuit 10, video information processing circuit 6 converts into data to be stored in memory 7 or outputs to video monitor 3 video information input thereto from video information input section 1 or video information input thereto from an opposite party's video telephone set via telephone line K or communication line 9. Further, based on the instruction by operating section 8, under the control of the control circuit 10, video information input section 1 or sound information input section 4 supplies video monitor 3 or sound monitor 4 with a caller's or the opposite party's video or sound information, respectively, or, video information or sound information taken out from memory 7 is supplied thereto. Thereby, by hold instruction from the sender the receiving side can be informed of the current state through video information.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (a) Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to a video telephone device that transmits image information using a telephone line, and has an auxiliary function for smoothing the original communication, that is, a hold function. It is an object of the present invention to provide a videophone device having a function of notifying the other party of the instruction mode using image information when specifying the instruction mode. This video telephone device can be used in a video conference system.

(B) Conventional technology In the video conference system, the video telephone devices of conference participants are connected to the telephone line after the telephone line, so that the conference participants can exchange audio information and image information with each other. This video telephone device can be used not only for such a conference system but also for communication between two specific parties.

Conventionally, when audio information and image information are multiplexed and communicated simultaneously, there is a method to temporarily suspend communication by repeatedly transmitting a melody unique to the terminal as audio information, but this method is not possible for image information. There's nothing to send.

In addition, as a conventional example of a video telephone device, for example, a still image video telephone (product number: TDA
-1) is introduced.

(c) Problems to be Solved by the Invention In general videophone devices, there is a problem in that when it becomes necessary to temporarily suspend communication during a call, audio information can be suspended but image information cannot be suspended. Ta. The present invention
The purpose is to solve this problem.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made in view of solving the above problems, and uses a telephone line to multiplex and transmit audio information and image information to the other party's videophone device. A videophone device used in a communication system that uses an image information input section that inputs image information, a memory that stores image data, a hold instruction section that specifies a hold instruction mode, and a hold instruction section that specifies cancellation of this hold instruction mode. an operating section having a release section; a communication circuit coupled to a telephone line for transmitting and receiving data between the telephone line; and a communication circuit coupled to the image information input section, the memory, the operating section, and the communication circuit, respectively; further comprising a control circuit that organically operates the image in the memory when the hold instruction section of the operation section is operated, until the hold release section is subsequently operated. The apparatus is characterized in that it is configured to output an image signal based on data to the telephone line through the communication circuit.

(Hon Function) In the videophone device of the present invention, when the hold instruction section is operated to set the device to the hold instruction mode, the control circuit remains in operation until the hold release section is operated next and the hold instruction mode is canceled. Since the image signal based on the image data in the memory is supplied to the other party's video telephone device through the communication circuit, the user of the other party's video telephone device can set the caller to hold instruction mode. This can be recognized from the displayed image on the display device of the monitor.

(F) Embodiment An embodiment of the videophone apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a television 1lt talking device according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, T is a video telephone device, which is
This videophone device T is configured to be able to communicate with a partner videophone device having substantially the same configuration through a telephone line K.

This videophone device T includes an image information input section 1 for inputting image information such as a video camera, an audio information input section 2 for inputting audio information such as a microphone, an image monitor 3 such as a CRT, and an audio input section 3 for inputting audio information such as a speaker. A monitor 4, an audio information processing circuit 5, an image information processing circuit 6, a memo I77 for storing image data and audio data, a hold instruction section for specifying a hold instruction mode, and a cancellation of this hold instruction mode. an operating section 8 having a hold release section; a communication circuit 9 coupled to the telephone line K for transmitting and receiving data to and from the telephone line; and a control circuit coupled to each of the above components and operating them organically. 10.

Audio end? 41 processing circuit 5 inputs audio information from audio information input section 2 or audio information from the other party's videophone device input via telephone line K and communication circuit 9, and controls control circuit 1o. Based on this, the audio information is converted into data to be stored in the memory 7 or output to the audio monitor 4.

Image information path 8! The circuit 6 inputs the image information from the image information processing circuit 1 or the image information from the other party's videophone device input via the telephone line K and the communication circuit 9, and processes the image information based on the control of the control circuit 1o. If desired, the image information is converted into data to be stored in the memory 7 or output to the image monitor 3.

Based on the instructions from the operation unit 8, the control circuit 1° supplies the image information input unit 1 and the audio information input unit 4 to the image monitor 3 and the audio monitor 4, respectively, from the own or the other party's videophone device. The image information or audio information that has been read or taken out from the memory 7 is supplied.

The above configuration (excluding the configuration related to hold) is commonly used in a normal videophone system, and the feature of the present invention is its use as a videophone device for configuring such a system. The goal is to improve the hold mode to improve performance.

In this embodiment, the memory 7 is used when an operation related to the hold mode of the operation unit 8 is instructed, as shown in FIG.
The image shown in (B) has been recorded in advance, and this image and the image shown in FIG.
A case in which (a) and (b) are used in combination will be described below using these drawings and the flowchart in FIG.

Incidentally, the image may be recorded in advance in the memory 7 (image information may be arbitrarily created by the operator using a video camera, VTR, etc.) from the image information input section 1.

With the start of mutual communication of audio and 9 images by the videophone device, the process enters step SO and enters a communication state (step S
l). The videophone device that has entered the communication state periodically confirms the communication termination instruction and the hold instruction. Confirmation of the communication termination instruction is performed in step S2, and if found, the process proceeds to step S3 to terminate the communication, and if not, the process proceeds to step S4 to confirm the hold instruction. In the confirmation of the hold instruction in step S4, if there is a hold instruction from the operator (operation of the hold instruction unit provided in the operation unit 8), the process advances to the next step S3, and if there is no hold instruction, the process returns to step S1 to continue communication.

From step S5 onwards, the pending image stored in the memory 7 is transmitted instead of the input image from the camera that has been transmitted so far. First, in step S5, the image shown in FIG. 3(a) is transmitted for several seconds. This image means that the image communication is on hold.

After a certain period of time has elapsed, the process advances to the next step S6 and the image shown in Figure 4 (a) is transmitted, followed by the image shown in Figure 4 (b) in step S7.
Send. These two images are hold screens created independently by the operator, and are used to notify the operator on the other end of the communication that the communication is currently on hold.

Next, in step S8, a check is made for a hold release instruction, and if not, the process returns to step S6. S7 is repeated until a hold release instruction is issued by operating the hold release unit of the operation unit 8. If there is an instruction to release the hold, the process advances to step S9, and the hold release screen shown in Figure i3 (b) is transmitted for several seconds. From this screen, the operator on the other end of the communication knows that communication will be restarted soon, and can respond without panic. After the hold is released, it returns to the state before the hold (
Step St).

In this embodiment, step S6. Two held images were used in S7, but by repeatedly transmitting multiple screens as in this example, the movement of the images was ensured even during hold, indicating that the hold state was not due to a malfunction of the videophone device, but was caused by an artificial hold. You can know that.

Further, in the above embodiment, the hold is performed during the communication, but the hold can also be performed at the start of the communication. for example,
When there is an incoming call from a videophone device, it may be inconvenient to send the current situation displayed on the monitor of the videophone device as is. In such a case, the operator issues an instruction to hold the image communication before responding. When the operator responds and communication is started, arbitrary pending image information stored in the memory of the videophone device is transmitted to the terminal of the communication partner instead of the input image from the camera. During this time, the operator performs a CR before transmitting the own device image input from the camera of the videophone device and displayed on the CRT to the communication partner.
It can be prepared and confirmed using T. After that, the transmission of the image on the own device side is started in response to an instruction from the operator to release the hold.

(g) Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, when the hold instruction section of the operation section is operated, the image signal based on the image data in the memory is maintained until the hold release section is subsequently operated. Since it is configured so that the information is output to the telephone line through the communication circuit, the status can be notified to the receiving side in the form of image information in response to a hold instruction from the sending side, and the usability of the videophone device can be improved. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a video telephone device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart explaining the operation of this device. FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) and FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b) are diagrams illustrating images handled by this apparatus. T...TV telephone device, K...telephone line, l...
Image information input section, 2... Audio information input section, 3... Image monitor, 4... Audio monitor, 5... Audio information processing circuit, 6... Image information processing circuit, 7... memory, 8
...Operation unit, 9...Communication circuit, 10...Control circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a videophone device used in a communication system that multiplexes and transmits audio information and image information to the other party's videophone device using a telephone line, an image information input section that inputs image information and an image data input section are provided. an operation section having a memory for storing the hold instruction mode, a hold instruction section for specifying a hold instruction mode, and a hold release section for specifying release of the hold instruction mode, and the operation section is connected to a telephone line and performs transmission and reception between the telephone line and the telephone line. a communication circuit, the image information input section, the memory, the operation section,
and a control circuit that is coupled to each of the communication circuits and organically operates the communication circuits, and when the hold instruction section of the operation section is operated, the hold release section is subsequently operated. A video telephone apparatus characterized in that the video telephone apparatus is configured to output an image signal based on the image data in the memory to the telephone line through the communication circuit.