JPH08130720A - Video telephone system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a video telephone system capable of simplifying the operation of making a telephone call to an opposite party who has been made the call. CONSTITUTION: At the time of being connected with an opposite side terminal, when a telephone number is not registered yet, an opposite telephone number is obtained from the D channel of an ISDN line, the data are stored in a memory means and the telephone number is registered (ST11 ans ST12). Then, the data of opposite pictures are stored in the memory means and the pictures are registered (ST13). Also, by the instruction of updating the pictures, the pictures are registered again and the pictures are updated (ST13 and ST14). By pressurizing a recording key, the registeration processing of the telephone number and a picture updating processing can be performed again (ST15, ST12 and ST13). Since the telephone number of the opposite party is obtained from the D channel and automatically registered, in the case of making the call from this side to the opposite party, the need of inputting the telephone number from a key operation part or the like is eliminated and execution is made possible by the simple operation of only selecting the telephone number of the opposite party from a telephone book displayed at a display means.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video telephone device suitable for use as, for example, a terminal device of a video conference system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a video telephone device used for a video conference terminal device or the like, the telephone number of the other party is registered in advance in a memory means as a telephone directory, and the contents of the telephone directory are stored when making a call. It has been proposed to display on a display unit and select any telephone number from the displayed contents to automatically dial the telephone number to connect to the other party.

[0003]

As described above, since the conventional videophone device does not have a function of acquiring and registering the telephone number of the other party when the call comes from the other party, the other party is called. When making a call, it was necessary to input a telephone number from a key operation unit or the like.

Further, in the conventional videophone device, when connecting to a plurality of parties in the case of a multipoint conference, it is necessary to select a plurality of telephone numbers from the display contents of the display, which is very troublesome. Met.

Further, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-316966, a videophone in which a telephone number and a partner image are displayed on a display and the telephone number can be selected by referring to the partner image as well. A device has been proposed, but it has a disadvantage that the partner image cannot be arbitrarily updated.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the operation for making a call to the called party can be simplified, and the operation for connecting to a plurality of parties in the case of a multipoint conference can be facilitated and further displayed. (EN) Provided is a videophone device capable of displaying a partner image together with a telephone number on a container and capable of arbitrarily updating the partner image.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a video telephone apparatus, wherein the video telephone apparatus is used by connecting to an ISDN line, and a memory means for storing a telephone number and a partner image as telephone directory contents. Display means for displaying the contents of the telephone directory stored in the memory means, and ISD
There is provided registration means for acquiring the telephone number of the other party from the D channel of the N line and storing it in the memory means together with the image of the other party.

A video telephone apparatus according to the invention of claim 2 is
A memory means for storing the telephone number and the partner image as the contents of the telephone book, a display means for displaying the contents of the telephone book stored in the memory means, and a partner image updating means for updating the partner image stored in the memory means. Be prepared.

A video telephone apparatus according to the invention of claim 3 is
Group registration means for creating a group including a plurality of telephone numbers and storing it in the memory means, group selection means for selecting one of the groups registered in the memory means, and group selected by this group selection means And a communication control means for controlling to connect to the parties of a plurality of telephone numbers included in.

[0010]

In the invention of claim 1, the D of the ISDN line is used.
It is equipped with registration means that acquires the telephone number of the other party from the channel and stores it in the memory means together with the other party's image, and when calling from here, the telephone number from the key operation unit etc. It is not necessary to input, and it can be performed by a simple operation of only selecting the telephone number of the other party from the display content of the display means.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the other party image updating means for updating the other party image stored in the memory means is provided, and the other party image stored together with the telephone number can be arbitrarily updated, thereby improving usability. Is possible.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when any one of the plurality of groups registered in the memory means is selected, the communication control means connects to the other parties having the plurality of telephone numbers included in the selected group. Therefore, by performing group registration, for example, in the case of a multipoint video conference, an operation for connecting to a plurality of parties becomes easy.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. This example is an example applied to a video conference terminal device.

In the figure, 100 indicates a video conference terminal device as a whole. The terminal device 100 includes a processor unit 1, a monitor TV 2, a video camera 3, a speaker 4, a microphone 5, and a remote control commander 6. In this case, ISDN (Intergrated Serv)
The image data and the audio data transmitted from the terminal device of the other party who is the call target via the ices Digital Network) line 7 are received and processed by the processor unit 1, and the video signal is supplied from the processor unit 1 to the monitor television 2. The partner image is displayed and an audio signal is supplied to the speaker 4 to output the partner voice. On the other hand, the video signal output from the video camera 3 and the microphone 5
The audio signal output from the processor unit 1 is supplied to the processor unit 1 for transmission processing. The image data and audio data output from the processor unit 1 are transferred to the ISDN line 7.
Is transmitted to the terminal device of the other party via the.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the processor unit 1. In the figure, the video signal (luminance signal, color difference signal) SV output from the video camera 3 is the image data processing unit 1.
1 is supplied. The operation of this image data processing unit 11 is as follows.
It is controlled by the CPU 12 which constitutes the system controller. In the image data processing unit 11, after the analog signal is converted into the digital signal, CCITT (Comite
Consultatif International Telegraphique et Teleph
onque), H. The data is compressed in the format defined by H.261 and the error correction code is added to form the image data DV.

Audio signal SA from the microphone 5
Is supplied to the audio data processing unit 13. The operation of the audio data processing unit 13 is controlled by the CPU 12. In the audio data processing unit 13, after being converted from an analog signal to a digital signal (linear PCM signal), CCITT, G.G. 711 and the like are data-compressed in a specified format to form audio data DA.

The image data DV output from the image data processing unit 11 and the audio data output from the audio data processing unit 13 are supplied to the demultiplexing unit 14. The operation of the demultiplexing unit 14 is controlled by the CPU 12. In the demultiplexing unit 14, the image data DV and the audio data DA are CCITT, H.264 and H.264. 221. Multiplexed data DMU that is multiplexed in the format defined in 221
Is formed. This multiplexed data DMU is transmitted via the line interface 15 and the ISDN line 7 to the terminal device of the other party as the communication target.

The multiplexed data DMU transmitted from the terminal device on the other side using the ISDN line 7 is supplied to the demultiplexing unit 14 via the line interface 15. The demultiplexing unit 14 correctly detects the bit boundary in each frame by the frame synchronization signal FAS, and based on this, the image data DV and the audio data DA are separated from the multiplexed data DMU. The bit rate allocation signal BAS is also separated from the multiplexed data DMU, and this bit rate allocation signal BAS is supplied to the CPU 12 and used for controlling the image data processing unit 11, the audio data processing unit 13, and the like.

Image data D separated by the demultiplexing unit 14
V is supplied to the image data processing unit 11 and subjected to decoding processing, error correction processing and the like to form the video signal SV.
Then, the video signal SV is supplied to the monitor television 2 and the partner image is displayed. Further, the audio data DA separated by the demultiplexing unit 14 is supplied to the audio data processing unit 13 and subjected to a decoding process or the like to form an audio signal SA. And this audio signal S
A is supplied to the speaker 4 and the other party's voice is output.

The CPU 12 is connected with a key operation section 16 and a remote control signal receiving section 17, and a memory 18 is also provided.
Is connected. In this example, the telephone number and the partner image can be registered in the telephone directory. In this case, the registration is performed by writing the telephone number and the data of the partner image in the memory 18.

When making a telephone call, the CPU 12 reads out the telephone number and the data of the partner image from the memory 18 based on the operation of the key operation unit 16 and the commander 6 and supplies them to the graphic generator 19 to generate the graphic. A video signal SVG for displaying a telephone directory including a telephone number and a partner image is supplied from the device 19 to the monitor television 2 via the image data processing unit 11, and the telephone directory is displayed on the screen of the monitor television 2. When the user operates the key operation unit 16 or the commander 6 to select any telephone number, the CPU 12 controls the line interface 15 and the telephone number is automatically dialed and connected to the partner terminal side. .

Now, the operation of starting a TV conference and the operation of registering a telephone number and a partner image in the one-to-one TV conference system as shown in FIG. 3 will be described.

The start operation of the TV conference is performed according to the flowchart of FIG. When the power is turned on, a partner selection screen is displayed on the monitor TV 2 in step ST1. That is, the data of the telephone number and the image of the other party are read from the memory 18 and supplied to the graphic generator 19, and the video signal SVG for displaying the telephone directory including the telephone number and the image of the other party is imaged from the graphic generator 19. Monitor TV 2 via data processor 11
The telephone directory is displayed on the screen of the monitor TV 2. FIG. 5 shows an example of the partner selection screen.

If the telephone directory displayed on the screen of the monitor TV 2 does not contain the telephone number of the person who is going to make a call, the telephone number is input by operating the key operation unit 16 or the commander 6 in step ST2. To be done. On the other hand, when the telephone directory displayed on the screen of the monitor TV 2 has the telephone number of the person who is going to make a call, in step ST3,
By operating the key operation unit 16 or the commander 6 and referring to the image of the other party, the telephone number of the other party is selected.

Then, by operating the key operation unit 16 or the commander 6, "call" is made on the screen of the monitor TV 2.
When it is instructed to make a call by hitting the icon of, the telephone number entered or selected in step ST4 is automatically dialed, whereby step ST4
At 5, the connection with the other terminal device is established.

Next, using the flowchart of FIG.
The registration operation of the telephone number and the partner image will be described.
When connected to the other terminal device, it is determined in step ST11 whether or not the telephone number has been registered. If the telephone number has not been registered, in step ST12 the ISDN line 7
The telephone number of the other party is acquired from the D channel, and the data of the telephone number is stored in the memory 18 to register the telephone number. Then, in step ST13, the image data processing unit 1
After the data of the partner image is stored in the memory 18 from 1 and the image is registered, the process proceeds to step ST14.

Step ST14 is followed by step ST11.
If you have already registered a phone number with, proceed. Step ST1
In 4, the confirmation image for confirming whether or not to update the partner image is displayed on a part of the screen of the monitor TV 2 (see FIG. 7). When the key operation unit 16 or the commander 6 gives an instruction to update the image, the process returns to step ST13, and the image data processing unit 11 overwrites and stores the data of the partner image in the memory 18 to update the image.
On the other hand, in step ST14, when the instruction not to update the image is issued, the process proceeds to step ST15.

At the same time when the process proceeds to step ST15, the display of the confirmation image on the screen of the monitor television 2 disappears. In step ST15, it is determined whether or not the recording key is pressed by the key operation unit 16 or the commander 6. When the record key is pressed, the process returns to step 11. Thus, if the telephone number of the other party cannot be obtained from the D channel of the ISDN line 7 in step 12 and the telephone number has not been registered yet, the telephone number registration process can be performed again in step ST12. Further, in step ST14, the image update can be instructed.

In step ST12, when the telephone number of the other party cannot be obtained from the D channel of the ISDN line 7 and the telephone number cannot be registered, the fact may be displayed on the screen of the monitor television 2. In this case, even if a call is made from here, the telephone number of the other party is input to the key operation unit 16
If it is input by the commander 6 or the commander 6, the input telephone number may be stored in the memory 18 and registered as a telephone number. If the telephone number cannot be registered in step ST12, only image registration will be performed in step ST13.

Next, the start operation of the video conference and the registration operation of the telephone number and the partner image in the multipoint video conference system as shown in FIG. 8 will be described. In the figure, 2
Reference numeral 00 is a multipoint control unit (MCU) interposed between a plurality of TV conference terminal devices 100.

The start operation of the TV conference is performed according to the flowchart of FIG. When the power is turned on, the partner selection screen is displayed on the monitor television 2 in step ST21. That is, the telephone number and the data of the partner image are read from the memory 18 and supplied to the graphic generator 19. Further, although not described above, in the multipoint TV conference system, the memory 18 also stores group registration data (data such as a group name and a plurality of telephone numbers included in the group). Therefore, when the group is registered, the data of the registered group name is also read from the memory 18 and supplied to the graphic generator 19.

From the graphic generator 19, a video signal SVG for displaying a telephone directory consisting of a telephone number and a partner image and a group name registered in a group is supplied to the monitor television 2 via the image data processing unit 11. , A telephone directory, a group name, etc. are displayed on the screen of the monitor TV 2.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a partner selection screen. When the power is turned on, for example, the telephone number included in the first group of the groups registered in the group is displayed together with the partner image when the power is turned on. . Therefore, nothing is displayed when the group is not registered. Further, as will be described later, when a predetermined group is selected by the key operation unit 16 or the commander 6, the telephone numbers included in the selected group are displayed together with the partner image.

If the telephone directory displayed on the screen of the monitor TV 2 does not contain the telephone number of the person who is trying to make a call, the telephone number is input by operating the key operation unit 16 or the commander 6 in step ST22. To be done. On the other hand, if the telephone directory displayed on the screen of the monitor TV 2 contains the telephone number of the person who is going to make a call, step ST23.
By operating the key operation unit 16 or the commander 6, the telephone number of the other party is selected while referring to the other party image.

Then, in step ST24, it is determined whether or not all the telephone numbers of the person who is going to make a call have been input or selected. Key operation unit 16 or commander 6
If it is instructed that not all by the operation of step ST
Returning to step 22, step ST22 or step ST2
In 3, it is possible to input or select the telephone number of the other party.
When it is instructed by the operation of the key operation unit 16 or the commander 6 that it is all, it is determined in step ST25 whether or not there are a plurality of opponents.

In step ST25, when there are not a plurality of opponents, the process proceeds to step ST26, and when there are a plurality of opponents, it is determined in step ST27 whether or not the group is registered. Further, in step ST27, if the group is registered, the process proceeds to step ST26, and if it is not registered, the process proceeds to step ST28 to determine whether or not the group is registered. When it is instructed not to perform group registration by operating the key operation unit 16 or the commander 6, the process proceeds to step ST26, while when it is instructed to perform group registration, the group registration data (group name, group (The telephone number data included in the above) is stored and the group is registered, and the process proceeds to step ST26.

If, in step ST30, any group is selected from the groups displayed on the screen of the monitor television 2, the process proceeds to step ST31. When a predetermined group is selected, the telephone number included in the selected group as the content of the group (see FIG. 10) is displayed on the screen of the monitor TV 2 together with the partner image. In step ST31, it is determined whether to change the group. When it is instructed not to change the group by operating the key operation unit 16 or the commander 6, the process proceeds to step ST26. On the other hand, when it is instructed to change the group, the group is changed in step ST32 and then to step ST26. move on.

In the group change in step ST32, the telephone number included in the selected group is added by inputting the telephone number by operating the key operation unit 16 or the commander 6, or the telephone number displayed in the telephone directory. This is performed by selecting and adding a predetermined telephone number, and further deleting the predetermined telephone number from the telephone numbers included in the selected group. In this case, not only the telephone number but also the other party image displayed accompanying the telephone number can be referred to change the group, and the group can be surely changed. An instruction to add or delete a telephone number is issued by operating the key operation unit 16 or the commander 6 to hit the "add" or "delete" icon on the screen of the monitor television 2.

At step ST26, when the "call" icon on the screen of the monitor TV 2 is hit by the operation of the key operation unit 16 or the commander 6 and an instruction to make a call is issued, the key operation unit 16 Alternatively, the telephone number input or selected by operating the commander 6 or the telephone number included in the group (including the group changed) selected by operating the key operation unit 16 or the commander 6 is automatically dialed, As a result, in step ST33, the connection state with the terminal device on the partner side is established.

Next, the registration operation of the telephone number and the partner image will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When connected to the other terminal device, step ST4
At 1, it is determined whether the telephone number has been registered. If the telephone number has not been registered, the telephone number of the other party is acquired from the D channel of the ISDN line 7 in step ST42, the data of the telephone number is stored in the memory 18, and the telephone number is registered. Subsequently, in step ST43, the image data processing unit 11 stores the data of the partner image in the memory 18 and registers the image, and then the process proceeds to step ST44.

The step ST44 is followed by the step ST41.
If you have already registered a phone number with, proceed. Step ST4
In 4, the confirmation image for confirming whether or not to update the partner image is displayed on a part of the screen of the monitor TV 2 (see FIG. 7). When an instruction to update the image is issued by the key operation unit 16 or the commander 6, the process returns to step ST43, and the image data processing unit 11 overwrites and stores the data of the partner image in the memory 18 to update the image.
On the other hand, if an instruction not to update the image is issued in step ST44, the process proceeds to step ST45.

Simultaneously with the step ST45, the display of the confirmation image on the screen of the monitor TV 2 disappears. In step ST45, it is determined whether or not the processing has been completed for all connected parties. If not all, the process proceeds to step ST41 to process the next partner. In this case, since the other party image displayed on the screen of the monitor television 2 is switched by the function of the MCU 200, for example, the processing of steps ST41 to ST44 is performed every time the other party image is switched. It is conceivable that the telephone number and the image of the other party will not be registered forever for the other party who does not speak. Therefore, in this example, the automatic operation of switching the other party's image with the switching of the above-described sound is canceled, and a plurality of other parties are forcibly switched sequentially to solve the problem.

When everything is completed in step ST45, the process proceeds to step ST46. In step ST46,
It is determined whether the recording key is pressed by the key operation unit 16 or the commander 6. When the record key is pressed, the process returns to step 41. This results in ISD in step 42.
If the telephone number of the other party cannot be obtained from the D channel of the N line 7 and the telephone number is not yet registered, the telephone number registration process can be performed again in step ST42. Further, in step ST44, the image update can be instructed.

If the telephone number of the other party cannot be obtained from the D channel of the ISDN line 7 in step ST42 and the telephone number cannot be registered, the fact may be displayed on the screen of the monitor television 2. In this case, even if a call is made from here, the telephone number of the other party is input to the key operation unit 16
If it is input by the commander 6 or the commander 6, the input telephone number may be stored in the memory 18 and registered as a telephone number. If the telephone number cannot be registered in step ST42, only image registration will be performed in step ST43.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the terminal device 100 of the other party is connected, the telephone number of the other party is acquired from the D channel of the ISDN line 7 and is stored and registered in the memory 18 together with the other party image. , When making a call from here to the called party, it is not necessary to input the telephone number by operating the key operation unit 16 or the commander 6, and the telephone directory displayed on the screen of the monitor TV 2 is displayed. This can be done by a simple operation of simply selecting the telephone number of the other party.

Further, since the partner image stored in the memory 18 can be arbitrarily updated, the usability can be improved. Also, when any one of the groups registered in the memory 18 is selected, the telephone number is automatically dialed so as to connect with the parties having the plurality of telephone numbers included in the group. By doing so, for example, in the case of a multipoint video conference, there is an advantage that the operation for connecting to a plurality of parties becomes easy.

In the above embodiment, the memory 18
Although it was explained that only the telephone number data is stored as text information in the above, other data such as company name, affiliation, past time, how many times and how long the connection was made are also stored at the same time. By displaying it on the screen of the monitor TV 2, it can be used as a reference when selecting the telephone number of the other party.

[0048]

According to the invention of claim 1, there is provided registration means for acquiring the telephone number of the other party from the D channel of the ISDN line and storing it in the memory means together with the image of the other party. On the other hand, when making a call from here, it is not necessary to input the telephone number from the key operation unit or the like, and it is possible to perform the simple operation by simply selecting the telephone number of the other party from the display content of the display means.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the other party image updating means for updating the other party image stored in the memory means is provided, and the telephone number and the stored other party image can be arbitrarily updated, thereby improving the usability. be able to.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when any one of the plurality of groups registered in the memory means is selected, the communication control means connects to the other parties having the plurality of telephone numbers included in the selected group. By performing group registration, for example, in the case of a multipoint video conference, an operation for connecting to a plurality of parties can be facilitated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a videophone device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a processor unit.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of a one-to-one TV conference system.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a start operation of a TV conference in the one-to-one TV conference system.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a partner selection screen in the one-to-one TV conference system.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a registration operation of a telephone number and a partner image in the 1: 1 TV conference system.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a display example of an image update confirmation image.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an outline of a multipoint video conference system.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a start operation of a video conference in the multipoint video conference system.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a partner selection screen in the multipoint video conference system.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a registration operation of a telephone number and a partner image in the multipoint video conference system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Processor Part 2 Monitor Television 3 Video Camera 4 Speaker 5 Microphone 6 Remote Commander 7 ISDN Line 11 Image Data Processing Unit 12 CPU 13 Audio Data Processing Unit 14 Demultiplexing Unit 15 Line Interface 16 Key Operation Unit 17 Remote Control Signal Receiving Unit 18 Memory 19 Graphic generator 100 Video conference terminal device 200 Multipoint control unit (MCU)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. In a videophone device connected to an ISDN line and used, memory means for storing a telephone number and a partner image as contents of a telephone directory, and display means for displaying the contents of the telephone directory stored in the memory means. And a registration means for acquiring the telephone number of the other party from the D channel of the ISDN line and storing the telephone number in the memory means together with the other party's image. 2. Memory means for storing a telephone number and a partner image as contents of a telephone book, display means for displaying contents of the telephone book stored in the memory means, and updating the partner image stored in the memory means. And a partner image updating means for performing the videophone device. 3. A group registration means for creating a group including a plurality of telephone numbers and storing it in a memory means, a group selection means for selecting one of the groups registered in the memory means, and this group selection. A videophone device, comprising: communication control means for controlling to connect with a partner having a plurality of telephone numbers included in the group selected by the means.