JPH08317357A - Video telephony equipment provided with automatic answering function and recording method for image message for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To record many messages while reducing an image memory by recording only a partial image, which is required for recognizing a party, together with a voice message at the time of image recording. CONSTITUTION: It is discriminated whether a received message image is a dynamic image or a still image and when it is the still image, that still image is recorded and image recording is finished. When it is a dynamic image, on the other hand, it is discriminated whether prescribed time passes from the start of message recording or not and when the prescribed time passes, image recording is finished. In this case, even after image recording is finished, voice recording is continued. Afterwards, when there is a line disconnecting operation from a transmitter, a line is opened and recording is finished. Thus, dynamic images 100 for time (t) (for prescribed frames), voice messages for time T or one still picture 200 and voice message for the time T are recorded in a hard disk 24 at the time of partial image recording.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a videophone device capable of telephone communication by voice and image, and more particularly to a videophone device having an answering machine, and a method for recording a message message image transmitted from a partner terminal. There are features.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a videophone device capable of communicating by voice and image has an answering machine function, and an answering message by image and voice is transmitted to the other party who makes a videophone call while the user is away. The message message with the image and voice transmitted from the other terminal in response to is recorded until the line is disconnected. Then, by later reproducing the recorded message message, the recognition and requirements of the other party can be known.

[0003]

In such a video telephone apparatus, the image of the message is mainly used for recognizing the other party, so if the other party can recognize it, no other recorded image is necessary. Generally, the amount of image information data is enormous even if compressed, and an enormous recording area is used for this extra image. Therefore, it is desired to eliminate this useless recording area.

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problem The means of the present invention is, in a videophone apparatus having an answering machine, a response message transmitting means for transmitting a response message in response to an incoming call from a partner terminal, and a response message transmitting means for responding to the response message. Receiving means for receiving the image message message sent from the other terminal, the image recording means for recording the image of the received message message, and a part of the image of the received message message for the image recording means. Control means for controlling the recording.

Further, the control means may be controlled so as to record the received image for a predetermined period, or may be controlled so as to record the received still image.

Further, the control means has an instruction signal receiving means for receiving an instruction signal from the partner terminal for instructing whether to record all images or partial images, and the control means receives the instruction signal by this instruction signal receiving means. Based on the instruction signal, it may be controlled to switch between recording of all the images or recording of partial images among the images of the received message message.

[0007]

With the above arrangement, the present invention records a part of the image message message received from the receiving terminal by the receiving means, so that the recording area for the image can be greatly reduced. .

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the external appearance of the videophone device of this embodiment, and FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the overall configuration. CPU 12, clock unit 14, program ROM 1 on system bus 10
6, interface unit 18, RAM 20, disk controller 22, IC card I / O 26, image processing unit 3
0, the voice processing unit 38, and the wireless unit 40 are connected.

The interface unit 18 is an interface between the video telephone device and the telephone line 52 (for example, ISDN line), and image information and voice information are transmitted and received through the interface unit 18 during the line connection of the video telephone. Typically, the image (self-portrait) captured by the camera unit 32 is output from the interface unit 18 to the telephone line 52 as transmission image data via the image processing unit 30 and the multiplexing unit 48.

The voice input from the handset 44 passes through the voice processing unit 38 via the radio units 42 and 40, is then multiplexed with the image by the multiplexing unit 48, and is transmitted from the interface unit 18 as voice data to be transmitted through the telephone line. It is output to 52.

On the other hand, the image data received from the telephone line 52 is separated through the multiplexing unit 50, decoded by the image processing unit 30, and typically displayed on the display unit 34. Further, the voice data received from the telephone line 52 is separated from the interface unit 18 through the multiplexing unit 50, and the voice processing unit 3
8 and is typically reproduced from the speaker of the handset 44 via the wireless units 42 and 40.

In FIG. 1, the handset 44 is a so-called cordless telephone, and in addition to the transmitter and the receiver, a keyboard (disposed on the surface hidden and not visible in FIG. 1).
And a wireless unit 42 connected to these elements, a wireless unit 42
Has a built-in antenna connected to. Signal transmission / reception between the cordless telephone 44 and the main body is performed wirelessly between the built-in antenna of the cordless telephone 44 and the antenna 41 of the main body.

The disk controller 22 connected to the outside of the main body (FIG. 1) of the videophone device is composed of a hard disk driver for driving the hard disk 24. The hard disk 24 is used as a storage medium for various databases and received data and fixed transmission data.
The disk controller 22 is connected to the image processing unit 30 and the audio processing unit 38, and can read and write image data and audio data to the hard disk 24.

According to this embodiment, the present videophone apparatus has an answering machine communication function using images and voice. In particular,
The present videophone device can appropriately select a response message including an image and a voice to be transmitted to the caller in the videophone answering machine mode according to the situation.

The IC card I / O 26 is an IC card 28.
The IC card 28 can store image data and audio data.

In the embodiment described below, when recording a message message from the other party in the TV answering machine mode, if the image transmitted is a moving image, only the first few seconds (predetermined frame) are recorded and transmitted. If the received image is a still image, only that still image is recorded and the other images are not recorded.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the operation of this embodiment. In this embodiment, only the operation in the answering machine, which is a characteristic part, is shown. CPU 12 is a program ROM
16 programs are executed to achieve the operations shown. The user sets the videophone device in the answering machine mode in advance. When there is an incoming call (incoming call) in the answering machine (step S1), a line is connected with the caller (step S3), and it is determined whether the telephone communication is an ordinary telephone or a videophone. (Step S5). In the case of a normal telephone call, the CPU 2 starts transmission of a voice-only response message (step S7). Then, when the transmission of the response message is completed (step S9), the recording of the received message (message message) is started (step S1).
1). In this way, the received message is recorded. After that, when the line disconnection operation (on-hook operation) from the caller is detected (step S13), the recording of the received message is ended (step S15).

On the other hand, when the communication is a videophone, the preset image and voice response message data are read from the hard disk 24 and the transmission is started (step S17). When the transmission of the response message is completed (step S19), recording of the received message (message message) in the form of image and voice on the hard disk 24 is started (step S21). At this time, it is determined whether the recording code in the header added to the beginning of the message is the whole image or the partial image (step S23). If this recording code is all images, all message messages are recorded until the line is disconnected in step S31. On the other hand, if it is a partial image, a part of the message message image is recorded.

That is, it is determined whether the received message message image is a moving image or a still image (step S2).
5) If the image is a still image, the still image is recorded and the image recording is ended (step S29). On the other hand, if it is a moving image, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed from the start of recording the message (step S27). In addition,
Sound recording continues even after image recording is completed.

After that, when the caller operates to disconnect the line (step S31), the line is released and the recording is ended (step S33).

As a result, when recording a partial image on the hard disk 24, a moving image 100 of t time (predetermined frame) and a voice message message of T time as shown in FIG. A still image 20
Voice message messages of 0 and T time are recorded.

Next, the operation at the time of reproduction is shown in the flowchart of FIG. When the user performs a reproduction operation with a predetermined key of the keyboard 46, the CPU 12 extracts a part (1 frame) of the recorded image from each message message recorded in the hard disk 24 and creates a multi-screen by each image. Then, it is displayed on the display unit 34 (step S51). At this time, the voice-only message message is displayed to that effect on the multi-screen.

When a predetermined image in the multi-screen is selected by the key of the keyboard 46 (step S53), the reproduction of the image and voice of the message corresponding to the image is started (step S55). Next, the message form (composite of image + sound or only sound) of the message message that started playing is determined, and if the message form is only sound,
The reproduction of the voice message is started, and the reproduction of the voice is continued until the reproduced voice ends (step S65).
On the other hand, if it is determined in step S56 that the message form of the message is complex, the reproduction of voice is started and it is determined whether the image to be reproduced is a still image (step S56).
57). If it judges that the image to be played back is a still image,
The still image is read from the hard disk 24 and displayed on the display unit 34, and the display of the still image is held (step S59). Then, the audio reproduction is continued until the reproduced sound ends, and the still image is kept held. If it is determined in step S57 that the reproduced image is not a still image, the reproduced image is a moving image and is reproduced until the recorded image ends, and when the recorded image ends, the reproduced image starts from the beginning until the reproduced sound ends. The reproduction is repeated (steps S61 and S63). Then, when the reproduced voice ends, it is determined whether the reproduction of the message message has ended (step S67). When the reproduction of the next message message is instructed by the key of the keyboard 46, the process is executed again from step S51. When the end is instructed by the key of the keyboard 46, the reproduction process is ended.

In the answering machine mode, it is possible to specify whether the image recorded by the other party is a full image or a partial image. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and partial images may be recorded for all image message messages.

Further, in the above embodiment, the image of the head portion of the received image is recorded, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the image of the intermediate portion or at the end may be recorded. For this purpose, all the images may be recorded in the work memory for the time being, and only the intermediate part or the image at the end may be taken out after the line is disconnected and recorded in the recording area.

[0026]

As described in detail above, in the videophone having the answering machine, the recorded image is omitted at the time of recording the image, so that the image memory can be reduced and many message messages can be recorded. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a videophone device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a videophone device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart illustrating an operation of an answering machine function of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a form of a recorded image message of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an operation flowchart illustrating a reproduction operation of a recorded message according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 12 CPU 16 Program ROM 200, 300 Recording part image message

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. In a videophone device having an answering machine function, a response message transmitting means for transmitting a response message in response to an incoming call from a partner terminal, and an image message transmitted from the partner terminal in response to the response message. Receiving means for receiving the message, image recording means for recording the image of the received message message, and control means for controlling so as to record a part of the image of the received message message in the image recording means. A videophone device having an answering machine, comprising: 2. The videophone device having an answering machine according to claim 1, wherein the control means controls so as to record a received image for a predetermined period. 3. The videophone device having an answering machine according to claim 1, wherein said control means controls so as to record the received still image. 4. An instruction signal receiving means for receiving an instruction signal for instructing whether to record an entire image or a partial image from the partner terminal, wherein the control means receives the instruction signal by the instruction signal receiving means. 2. The answering machine function according to claim 1, wherein the answering machine function is controlled so as to switch and record all images or partial images among the images of the received message message based on the instruction signal. Videophone device having. 5. A method for recording an image message message of a videophone device having an answering machine function, wherein a part of the received image message message is recorded, and the recording of the image message message of the videophone device having an answering machine function. Method.