JPH07274147A - Image communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an image communication equipment which can easily register individual information, can transmit individual information without deteriorating the resolution of a character and can store individual information with less storage capacity. CONSTITUTION:A character identification part 7 recognizing the character from image data which is read from a scanner 4 as a character code is provided. At the time of registering individual information, a system control part 6 stores the character code given from the character identification part 7 in an individual information storage part 11. At the time of calling an opposite terminal from an image communication terminal 100, the system control part 6 retrieves desired individual information from individual information stored in the individual information storage part 11, stores retrieved individual information in an inter-user information area in transmission data and transmits it to the opposite terminal by the character code.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image communication device having a function of registering and displaying personal information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, image communication apparatuses have exchanged visual information such as characters and figures in real time with the other party by using a display device or the like in addition to the voice communication means used in conventional telephones. It has come to be developed as a means to gain. In such an image communication device, ISDN (Int) is used instead of the conventional analog telephone network.
integrated Service Digital N
A digital communication network represented by "work: integrated service digital network" is used. As a result, it has become possible to use image communication such as a videophone.

In addition, ISDN can utilize additional services such as caller ID notification and information transfer between users, which have not been provided in the conventional analog telephone network. Using these additional services, a device that displays the caller's information received on its own telephone when responding, a device that makes a call by the name of the other party without using the telephone number, a business card of the other party in advance, etc. There has been proposed a device for reading an image related to an individual with a scanner or the like and displaying the image during a call or a call.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of a conventional image communication terminal. The image communication terminal 200 in FIG. 5 includes an image codec 10, a system control unit 6, a data communication interface 12, a called number identification unit 9, a line interface 8 and a personal information storage unit 11. The image codec 10
A camera 1 for taking a self-portrait or a document or the like and a display device 2 for displaying a self-portrait or a partner image are connected. The system controller 6 is connected to a key input device 3 for operating the image communication terminal 200 and a scanner 4 for reading an image from a document. Data communication interface 12
A data terminal 5 is connected to. The line interface 8 is connected to the communication network 13.

The image codec 10 compresses the image data given from the camera 1 and the image data given from the scanner 4 and gives the compressed data to the system control unit 6, and the image data given from the communication network 13 via the system control unit 6. Is expanded and output to the display device 2. System control unit 6
Controls each part based on a command given from the key input device 3. The data communication interface 12 controls communication with the data terminal 5. The called number identification unit 9 recognizes the telephone number transmitted as an information element from the partner terminal. The personal information storage unit 11 stores personal information.

First, the operation of registering personal information in the image communication terminal 200 of FIG. 5 will be described. The user inputs his / her name, telephone number, company name, department name, etc. from the key input device 3 as personal information to be registered. The system control unit 6 stores the input personal information in the personal information storage unit 11. Further, the user uses the scanner 4 to read a display such as a business card as personal information as image data. Accordingly, the system control unit 6 additionally stores the read image data in the personal information storage unit 11 in association with the previously input name, telephone number, company name, department name, and the like.

Next, the transmission operation in the image communication terminal 200 of FIG. 5 will be described. When the user operates the key input device 3 and inputs the number or name of the desired partner terminal,
The system control unit 6 first reads a summary list of personal information including a name and a telephone number from the personal information storage unit 11 and displays it on the display device 2. The user selects desired personal information from the summary list of personal information displayed on the display device 2. If further detailed personal information needs to be confirmed, the key input device 3 is operated again to instruct the system control unit 6. As a result, the system control unit 6 reads the corresponding detailed personal information from the personal information storage unit 11 and displays it on the display device 2.

When the user finishes checking the detailed personal information, the user operates the key input device 3 to give an instruction for a calling operation. When the system control unit 6 receives the instruction of the calling operation from the key input device 3, the system control unit 6 recognizes the telephone number based on the personal information selected by the user and the other party's terminal is a voice-only telephone or an image communication terminal. It recognizes the communication type indicating that or not and sends the telephone number and the communication type to the line interface 8. The line interface 8 makes a call to the communication network 13 based on the telephone number and communication type instructed by the system control unit 6.

When the other party terminal receives the incoming call, the data communication by the data terminal 5 or the image communication by the camera 1 and the display device 2 is started according to the communication type.

Here, when the other party's terminal is an image communication terminal, the user of the other party's terminal utilizes the tone signal or the inter-user information area in the data to be transmitted, and the system of the image communication terminal 200 on the originating side is used. It is possible to instruct the control unit 6 to transmit the personal information. Here, the inter-user information area is an area provided for the user in the data structure defined in CCITT Recommendation (Q.931), and the user sends this data area to the other terminal during communication. You can write the message you want to send.

In this case, the system control unit 6 of the image communication terminal 200 on the transmission side reads out the relevant personal information from the personal information storage unit 11, compresses the data with the image codec 10, and then the other side via the line interface 8. Send to the terminal. At the other party's terminal, the received data is decompressed by the image codec, and then personal information is extracted from the data and displayed on the display device. Similarly, the user of the image communication terminal 200 on the transmitting side can send personal information as image data from the image communication terminal 200 on the transmitting side to the terminal on the other side.

[0012]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional image communication terminal 200, in order to register personal information such as name, telephone number, company name, and department name for each individual, characters such as alphabets and katakana are used. It is necessary to operate the key input device 3 to input. If the key input device 3 having keys of letters such as alphabets is used, the characters can be directly input from the key input device 3, so that the operability is good, but normally the key input device 3 provided in this kind of image communication terminal is provided.
Requires the troublesome work of displaying characters such as alphabets and katakana on the screen and allowing the user to select and input the characters one by one using a cursor or the like on the screen.

Further, since the personal information read by the scanner 4 such as a business card is transmitted as image data, if the personal information contains characters, the image codec 1
The compression and decompression at 0 deteriorates the resolution of characters, making it difficult to distinguish displayed characters.

Further, when storing the personal information, the display of a business card or the like is read as image data by the camera 1 or the scanner 4 for each individual and stored as image data in the personal information storage unit 11, so that the personal information is stored. There has been a problem that the personal information storage unit 11 requires a large storage capacity.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and provides an image communication device capable of easily registering personal information and storing the personal information with a small storage capacity. To aim.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an image communication apparatus capable of transmitting personal information without deteriorating the resolution of characters.

[0017]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

(1) First Invention An image communication apparatus according to the first invention is an image communication apparatus connected to a communication network, and includes personal information storage means, character identification means, personal information search means, and display means.

The personal information storage means stores personal information in a character code. The character identification means identifies a character from the image data, converts the identified character into a character code, and supplies the character code to the personal information storage means. The personal information retrieval means retrieves desired personal information from the personal information stored in the personal information storage means. The display means displays the personal information retrieved by the personal information retrieval means.

(2) Second invention An image communication apparatus according to a second invention is the image communication apparatus according to the first invention, wherein the telephone number included in the personal information retrieved by the personal information retrieval means is used. It further comprises transmitting means for transmitting to another terminal device connected to the communication network based on the transmission means.

(3) Third Aspect of the Invention An image communication apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention is the image communication apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention, in which the personal information retrieved by the personal information retrieval means is specified in the transmission data. And a data sending means for sending the data to the communication network.

(4) Fourth invention An image communication apparatus according to a fourth invention is the image communication apparatus according to the first invention, in which an image is read from a document,
Image data input means for providing the read image as image data to the character identification means is further provided.

(5) Fifth Invention An image communication apparatus according to a fifth invention is, in the configuration of the image communication apparatus according to the first invention, personal information connected to a data terminal and retrieved by personal information retrieval means. And a transfer means for transferring the personal information transferred from the data terminal to the personal information storage means.

[0023]

In the image communication apparatus according to the first to fifth aspects of the invention, the personal information is stored in the personal information storage means as a character code. When registering the personal information, the character is identified from the image data, and the identified character code is stored in the personal information storage means as the personal information. When referring to personal information, desired personal information is retrieved from the personal information stored in the personal information storage means and displayed.

As described above, since the personal information can be registered from the image data, the work of registering the personal information becomes easy. Also, because personal information is stored in character codes,
Personal information can be stored with a small storage capacity.

In the image communication apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, when making a call to another terminal device connected to the communication network, the call is made based on the telephone number contained in the retrieved personal information. Therefore, it becomes easy to make a call to another terminal device.

In the image communication apparatus according to the third aspect of the invention, when the personal information is transmitted to another terminal device connected to the communication network, the personal information consisting of a character code is stored in a predetermined area of the transmission data. Sent to the communication network. Therefore, since the personal information is transmitted by the character code, the image deterioration due to the image compression is avoided and the character resolution is improved.

In the image communication apparatus according to the fourth aspect of the invention, the personal information can be read from the document and stored in the personal information storage means when the personal information is registered. Therefore, the registration work of the personal information becomes easy.

In the image communication apparatus according to the fifth aspect of the invention, the personal information stored in the data terminal can be used when the personal information is registered. Therefore, the registration work of the personal information becomes easy. Further, the personal information stored in the personal information storage means can be used in the data terminal.

[0029]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an image communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 and 5, the same or corresponding parts are designated by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

The image communication terminal 100 shown in FIG. 1 differs from the image communication terminal 200 shown in FIG. 5 in that the character identification unit 7 that recognizes characters from the image data read by the scanner 4 and extracts only the characters as a character code. It is a point that is further provided.

In this embodiment, the personal information storage section 11 constitutes personal information storage means, and the character identification section 7 constitutes character identification means. Further, the system control unit 6 constitutes personal information retrieval means, transmission means and data transmission means. The camera 1 and the scanner 4 compose image data input means, and the display device 2 composes display means. Further, the data communication interface 12 constitutes a transfer means.

First, the registration operation in the image communication terminal 100 of FIG. 1 will be described. When using the key input device 3 connected to the image communication terminal 100 to register personal information,
The user operates the key input device 3 to directly input personal information such as name, telephone number, company name, and department name to the system control unit 6. If personal information data registered in advance in the recording medium of the data terminal 5 exists, the personal information data is transferred from the data terminal 5 to the system control unit 6 via the data communication interface 12. System control unit 6
Stores the given personal information in the personal information storage unit 11 via the bus.

When personal information is registered by displaying a document such as a business card, the user uses the key input device 3 to scan the scanner 4
2, the display of the document 300a such as a business card is photographed as an image, and then the obtained image data is transferred to the character identification unit 7. The character identification unit 7 recognizes and extracts characters from the image data, and the name 301 and the telephone number 30
2. The system control unit 6 converts the personal information 300b such as the FAX number 303, the address / affiliated company 304, etc. into a character code.
Give to. The system control unit 6 stores the personal information 300b in the character code in the personal information storage unit 11 via the bus.

Next, a transmission operation in the image communication terminal 100 of FIG. 1 will be described. When the user operates the key input device 3 and inputs the number or name of the desired partner terminal,
As shown in FIG. 3, the system control unit 6 first reads a personal information summary list 400 including a registration order number 401, a name 402 and a telephone number 403 from the personal information storage unit 11 and displays it on the display device 2. . Then, the user uses the summary list 40 of the personal information displayed on the display device 2.
The desired personal information is selected from 0 using the cursor 404.

If more detailed confirmation of personal information is required, the key input device 3 is used to instruct the system control unit 6 again. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 3, the system control unit 6 reads the detailed personal information 500 from the personal information storage unit 11 and displays it on the display device 2.

When the confirmation of the detailed personal information 500 is completed, the user instructs the calling operation by the key input device 3. When the system control unit 6 receives the instruction of the calling operation from the key input device 3, the system control unit 6 recognizes the telephone number based on the personal information selected by the user, and the partner terminal is a voice-only telephone or an image communication terminal. It recognizes the communication type indicating whether there is any, and sends the telephone number and the communication type to the line interface 8. The line interface 8 makes a call to the communication network 13 based on the telephone number and communication type given by the system control unit 6.

When the user transfers personal information to the other party's terminal at the time of data communication, data to be transmitted by the system control unit 6 from the personal information storage unit 11 according to an instruction from the key input device 3 is transmitted. Write in the character code in the user information area in. Then, the system control unit 6 transmits the personal information as a character code to the partner terminal via the communication network 13. The partner terminal that has received the personal information can read the personal information from the inter-user information area in the received data and display the read personal information.

Further, the personal information registered in the personal information storage section 11 of the image communication terminal 100 can be transferred to the data terminal 5 connected to the image data communication terminal 100 via the data communication interface 12. The data terminal 5 records the transferred personal information on a recording medium.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4, when another image communication terminal 100a having the same function as the image communication terminal 100 of this embodiment is connected to the data terminal 5, the data terminal 5
The personal information recorded on the recording medium of the image communication terminal 100
can be read into a. Thereby, the personal information recorded in the data terminal 5 can be easily used when the personal information is registered in the image communication terminal 100a.

According to the above embodiment, personal information can be input as an image from the display of a document such as a business card.
The personal information can be easily registered as compared with the case of inputting the personal information in characters.

Moreover, since the registered personal information is stored not as image data but as a character code, the storage capacity can be reduced as compared with the case where the personal information is stored as image data.

Also, when the personal information is transmitted to the other party's terminal, the personal information is transmitted as a character code, so that image deterioration due to image compression can be avoided and the user's character discrimination becomes easy.

[0043]

As described above, according to the first to fifth inventions, the personal information can be registered from the image data, so that the personal information registration operation becomes easy. Further, since the personal information is stored in the character code, the personal information can be stored with a small storage capacity and the data processing can be standardized.

In particular, according to the second invention, since the call is made based on the telephone number included in the retrieved personal information, it is easy to make the call to the other terminal devices connected to the communication network.

Further, according to the third aspect of the invention, since the personal information is transmitted by the character code, the image deterioration due to the image compression is avoided and the character resolution is improved. Therefore, the user can easily distinguish the characters.

Further, according to the fourth aspect of the invention, the personal information can be read from the document and stored in the personal information storage means, so that the personal information can be easily registered.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, since the personal information stored in the data terminal can be used when the personal information is registered, the personal information registration work becomes easy.
Also, the personal information stored in the personal information storage means can be used in the data terminal.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an image communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an operation of registering personal information from a business card in the image communication terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a display for selecting personal information from a screen on the image communication terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of using personal information recorded in a data terminal by an image communication terminal in another embodiment of the present invention in another image communication terminal.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of a conventional image communication terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Camera 2 Display Device 3 Key Input Device 4 Scanner 5 Data Terminal 6 System Control Section 7 Character Identification Section 8 Line Interface 9 Called Number Identification Section 10 Image Codec 11 Personal Information Storage Section 12 Data Communication Interface 13 Communication Network 100 Image Communication Terminal

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image communication apparatus connected to a communication network, comprising: personal information storage means for storing personal information in a character code; and identifying a character from image data, and converting the identified character into a character code. Character identification means provided to personal information storage means, personal information search means for searching desired personal information from the personal information stored in the personal information storage means, and personal information searched by the personal information search means are displayed. An image communication device comprising a display means. 2. The transmitting device according to claim 1, further comprising a transmitting device for transmitting to another terminal device connected to the communication network based on a telephone number included in the personal information retrieved by the personal information retrieval device. Image communication device. 3. The image communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a data transmission means for storing the personal information retrieved by the personal information retrieval means in a predetermined area in transmission data and transmitting it to the communication network. 4. The image communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising image data input means for reading an image from a document and giving the read image as image data to the character identifying means. 5. Transfer means connected to a data terminal for transferring the personal information searched by the personal information searching means to the data terminal and for giving the personal information transferred from the data terminal to the personal information storing means. The image communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: