JPH1093938A - Bidirectional image communication method, device, system and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bidirectional image communication device which efficiently performs bidirectional image communication by omitting unnecessary image communication processing in accordance with a processing state. SOLUTION: A control means 120 performs operation control of a device 100 so that it may omit unnecessary image processing and communication processing in accordance with a processing state during communication. In such cases, the means 120 discriminates whether or not a user can see display windows under a multi-window environment of a displaying means 111. Thereby, the means 120 recognizes the existence of the unnecessary image processing and communication processing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method, an apparatus, and a system for two-way image communication used for a videophone or a video conference, and a storage medium storing the communication processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, a so-called audio-visual (AV) service has been systematically and harmoniously realized by adding some image information to real-time voice communication such as a videophone, a video conference, an audiographic conference, and the like. Is underway. The AV communication is a multimedia communication using a digital communication network and adding various images such as a still image and a moving image in addition to audio, and there are various types of terminals depending on applications. Since these devices can face each other in any combination via a CPU or a network, it is necessary to enable interconnection between terminals of the same type as well as terminals of different types with a maximum function common to both terminals.

Therefore, in the above-described two-way image communication system used for AV communication or the like, since the terminals and communication paths used are dedicated to the system, the communication capabilities and communication paths of the terminals are fixed. Once an application starts operating, there is no need to change its operating environment during communication at all. In recent years, however, there has been a technology for performing bidirectional image communication on a standard personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer). Research has led to a wide variety of image compression and communication methods, and at the same time, similar applications have been run in the same environment.

[0004] However, in the environment described above,
CPU required for each application (Central
In some cases, the processing capacity of the processing unit and the amount of communication data may exceed the actual capacity.

[0005] Therefore, the above two-way image communication system includes:
For example, as shown in FIG. 8, and most distribute CPU power such as the application AP _F positioned at the forefront on windowing environment W3 as the most important application,
The remaining capacity is further distributed and used for other applications (not shown) so that as many applications as possible can share the CPU and the network.

[0006] Further, in the two-way image communication system, as shown by arrows A, B, and C in FIG. The application located in the section can be given priority (arrow A), or all applications can be treated equally (arrow C).

[0007]

In the case where the two-way image communication is performed by a personal computer or the like, unlike the case of performing the two-way image communication by a dedicated terminal, the two-way image communication shown in FIG. The display position of the window used for such two-way image communication is not fixed. That is, the user can arrange the window used for the two-way image communication at any place on the display screen, like the other windows. For this reason, for example, a window used for two-way image communication may be completely covered by another window, and may be located at a position that is completely invisible to the user. Alternatively, the application of the two-way image communication may be iconified.

However, in the conventional two-way image communication system, when a window used for two-way image communication exists at a position invisible to the user, or when a window used for two-way image communication is iconified. Also, processing required for image communication (image communication processing) has been continuously performed. Therefore, useless image communication processing is performed, and smooth two-way image communication cannot be performed. Further, the CPU capacity and the amount of communication data required for bidirectional image communication cannot be saved.

Therefore, the present invention has been made to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, and efficiently performs bidirectional image communication by omitting unnecessary image communication processing according to the processing situation. It is an object of the present invention to provide a two-way image communication method capable of performing the following. Another object of the present invention is to provide a two-way image communication device that performs efficient two-way image communication by omitting unnecessary image communication processing according to the processing situation. Another object of the present invention is to provide a two-way image communication system that performs efficient two-way image communication by omitting unnecessary image communication processing according to the processing situation. Further, the present invention provides a storage medium storing a two-way image communication process capable of efficiently performing a two-way image communication by omitting unnecessary image communication processes according to a processing situation. With the goal.

[0010]

A two-way image communication method according to the present invention is a two-way image communication method for performing two-way image communication, and omits unnecessary image communication processing according to the processing situation. Control processing is performed. Further, the control process is a process of performing a determination process of determining a processing status, and omitting unnecessary image communication processing according to a result of the determination process. Further, the control process performs a discriminating process for discriminating the processing status, transmits information indicating a result of the discriminating process to the other party, and upon receiving, according to the information indicating the received result of the discriminating process on the other party. And unnecessary image communication processing is omitted. Further, the determination process is a process of determining whether a display window of image communication is visible to a user in a multi-window environment. Further, the determination process is a process of determining whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is iconified. Further, the determination process is a process of determining whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window. There is a feature. A two-way image communication method according to the present invention performs an image reception process including a plurality of processing steps on received image data and transmits image data by an image transmission process including a plurality of processing steps. When image data is received from the other party, a determination process for determining a processing state is performed, and a processing step according to a result of the determination process is omitted from the image reception process. . Further, the determination process is a process of determining whether a display window of image communication is visible to a user in a multi-window environment. Further, the determination process is a process of determining whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is iconified.
Further, the determination process is a process of determining whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window. There is a feature. A two-way image communication method according to the present invention performs an image reception process including a plurality of processing steps on received image data and transmits image data by an image transmission process including a plurality of processing steps. Performs a determination process for determining the processing status, transmits information of the result of the determination process, and when data from the other party is received, the result of the determination process on the other party included in the received data. Is omitted from the image transmission processing. Further, the determination process is a process of determining whether a display window of image communication is visible to a user in a multi-window environment. Further, the determination process is a process of determining whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is iconified. Also,
The determination process is a process of determining whether the display window is visible to a user by determining whether the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window. It is characterized by. A two-way image communication apparatus according to the present invention is a two-way image communication apparatus that performs two-way image communication, and includes a control unit that skips unnecessary image communication processing according to a processing situation. . Further, the control means includes a judgment means for judging a processing situation, and unnecessary image communication processing is omitted according to the result of the judgment means. Further, the control means includes a discriminating means for discriminating the processing status, transmits information indicating a result of the discriminating means to the other party, and upon receiving, according to the information indicating the received result of the discriminating means on the other party. And unnecessary image communication processing is omitted. In addition, a display unit having a multi-window environment is provided, and the determination unit determines whether a display window of image communication is visible to a user under a multi-window environment of the display unit. Further, the determining means determines whether or not the display window is iconified,
It is characterized in that it is determined whether or not the display window is visible to the user. Further, the determining means determines whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window. Features. The two-way image communication device according to the present invention includes: an image reception processing unit that performs an image reception process including a plurality of processing steps on received image data; and an image that transmits image data by an image transmission process including a plurality of processing steps. A bidirectional image communication apparatus comprising: a transmission processing unit; a determination unit configured to determine a processing status when image data is received from the other party by the image reception processing unit; Control means for controlling the image reception processing means so as to operate by omitting the processing steps from the image reception processing. In addition, a display unit having a multi-window environment is provided, and the determination unit determines whether a display window of image communication is visible to a user under a multi-window environment of the display unit. Further, the determination means determines whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is iconified.
Further, the determining means determines whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window. Features. The two-way image communication device according to the present invention includes: an image reception processing unit that performs an image reception process including a plurality of processing steps on received image data; and an image that transmits image data by an image transmission process including a plurality of processing steps. A two-way image communication device comprising: a transmission processing unit; a determination unit configured to determine a processing status; and information of a result of the determination unit is transmitted, and data from a partner side is received by the image reception processing unit. Control means for controlling the image transmission processing means so as to operate by omitting processing steps according to the result of the determination means on the other party included in the received data from the image transmission processing. Features. In addition, a display unit having a multi-window environment is provided, and the determination unit determines whether a display window of image communication is visible to a user under a multi-window environment of the display unit. Further, the determination means determines whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is iconified.
Further, the determining means determines whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window. Features. A two-way image communication system according to the present invention is a two-way image communication system including two-way image communication means for performing two-way image communication, wherein the two-way image communication means is unnecessary depending on processing conditions. It is characterized by comprising control means for omitting image communication processing. Further, the control means includes a judgment means for judging a processing situation, and unnecessary image communication processing is omitted according to the result of the judgment means. Further, the control means includes a determination means for determining the processing status, transmits information indicating a result of the determination means to the two-way image communication means on the other side, and upon reception, receives the information of the determination means on the other side received. Unnecessary image communication processing is omitted according to the information indicating the result. Further, the two-way image communication unit includes a display unit having a multi-window environment, and the determination unit determines whether a display window of image communication is visible to a user under a multi-window environment of the display unit. It is characterized by the following. Further, the determination means determines whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is iconified. Further, the determining means determines whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window. Features. A two-way image communication system according to the present invention includes two-way image communication means for performing two-way image communication, and the two-way image communication means performs image reception processing including a plurality of processing steps on received image data. A bidirectional image communication system comprising: an image reception processing unit that performs image transmission; and an image transmission processing unit that transmits image data by performing an image transmission process including a plurality of processing steps. Discriminating means for discriminating a processing state when image data is received, and control means for controlling the image receiving processing means to operate by omitting a processing step corresponding to a result of the discriminating means from the image receiving processing And characterized in that: Further, the two-way image communication unit includes a display unit having a multi-window environment, and the determination unit determines whether a display window of image communication is visible to a user under a multi-window environment of the display unit. It is characterized by the following. Further, the determination means determines whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is iconified. Further, the determining means determines whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window. Features. A two-way image communication system according to the present invention includes two-way image communication means for performing two-way image communication, and the two-way image communication means performs image reception processing including a plurality of processing steps on received image data. A bidirectional image communication system comprising: an image reception processing unit for performing image reception; and an image transmission processing unit for transmitting image data by an image transmission process including a plurality of processing steps. Determining means, and transmitting the information of the result of the determining means to the two-way image communication means of the other party, and when data from the other party is received by the image receiving processing means, it is included in the received data. Control for controlling the image transmission processing means so as to operate by omitting a processing step corresponding to the result of the determination means of the other party's bidirectional image communication means from the image transmission processing Characterized in that it comprises a stage. Further, the two-way image communication means includes a display means having a multi-window environment, and the determination means, under a multi-window environment of the display means,
It is characterized in that it is determined whether or not the display window of the image communication is visible to the user. Further, the determination means determines whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is iconified. Further, the determining means determines whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window. Features. The storage medium according to the present invention is a storage medium in which processing steps of two-way image communication for performing two-way image communication are stored so as to be readable by a computer, and unnecessary image communication processing is omitted according to the processing situation. A control processing step is stored. Further, the control processing step includes a determination processing step of determining a processing state, and is a processing step in which unnecessary image communication processing is omitted according to the result of the determination processing step. Further, the control processing step includes a determination processing step of determining a processing state,
A process step of transmitting information indicating the result of the discrimination processing step to the other party, and omitting unnecessary image communication processing according to the received information indicating the result of the discrimination processing step at the other party. It is characterized by. Further, the determination processing step includes a processing step of determining whether a display window for image communication is visible to a user in a multi-window environment. Further, the determination processing step includes a processing step of determining whether the display window is visible to a user by determining whether the display window is iconified. Further, the determining processing step determines whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window. It is characterized by including a step. The storage medium according to the present invention performs an image receiving process including a plurality of processing steps on received image data, and performs a process step of bidirectional image communication for transmitting image data by an image transmitting process including a plurality of processing steps. A storage medium readable by a computer, wherein when receiving image data from a partner, a determination processing step of determining a processing state; and a processing step corresponding to a result of the determination processing step include the image reception processing. A control processing step to be omitted from the processing is stored. Further, the determination processing step includes a processing step of determining whether a display window for image communication is visible to a user in a multi-window environment. Further, the determination processing step includes a processing step of determining whether the display window is visible to a user by determining whether the display window is iconified. Further, the determining processing step determines whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window. It is characterized by including a step. The storage medium according to the present invention performs an image receiving process including a plurality of processing steps on received image data, and performs a process step of bidirectional image communication for transmitting image data by an image transmitting process including a plurality of processing steps. A storage medium readable by a computer, wherein a determination processing step of determining a processing status, information of a result of the determination processing step is transmitted, and when data is received from a partner, the received data is And a control processing step for omitting a processing step according to the result of the discrimination processing step on the partner side included in the image transmission processing from the image transmission processing. Further, the determination processing step includes a processing step of determining whether a display window for image communication is visible to a user in a multi-window environment. Further, the determination processing step includes a processing step of determining whether the display window is visible to a user by determining whether the display window is iconified. Further, the determining processing step determines whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window. It is characterized by including a step.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, unnecessary image processing and communication processing are omitted according to the processing status during communication. According to the second aspect, whether or not there is useless image processing and communication processing during communication is always checked, and when it is determined that the processing is useless, the useless processing is omitted. According to the third invention, the other party is notified of the existence of the useless processing. On the other hand, at the time of reception, useless image processing and communication processing are omitted according to the received information, that is, information indicating whether or not there is the useless processing obtained in the same manner on the partner side. According to the fourth aspect, upon receiving image data from the other party, it is determined whether or not there is useless image processing and communication processing. Based on the determination result, it is determined that there is useless processing. In this case, the processing steps corresponding to the useless processing are omitted from the image receiving processing. According to the fifth aspect, it is determined whether or not there is useless image processing and communication processing, and the determination result is transmitted to the other party. As a result, the above determination results are transmitted to each other, and it is possible to recognize whether or not there is useless processing on the partner side. On the other hand, when data is received from the other party, if there is any useless processing on the other party based on the information of the determination result included in the received data, a processing step corresponding to the useless processing is transmitted to the image transmission. Omitted from processing. According to the sixth aspect, in a multi-window environment, whether or not the display window is visible to the user is determined, thereby recognizing the existence of the useless processing.
According to the seventh aspect, it is determined whether or not the display window is iconified, and whether or not the display window is visible to the user is recognized, thereby recognizing the existence of the useless processing. According to the eighth invention, it is determined whether or not the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window, and whether or not the display window is visible to the user is determined. , Recognize the existence of the useless processing. According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the control means is configured to:
The operation of the apparatus is controlled so as to omit useless image processing and communication processing. According to the tenth aspect, the control means always checks whether or not there is useless image processing and communication processing during communication by the determination means, and when it determines that the processing is useless, The operation of the apparatus is controlled so that useless processing is omitted. According to the eleventh aspect, the control means notifies the other party of the presence of the useless processing by controlling the operation of the apparatus so that the information indicating the result of the determination means is transmitted to the other party. . In addition, at the time of reception, the control unit determines whether or not there is an unnecessary image according to the received information, that is, the information indicating whether or not there is the useless processing obtained by performing the same determination by the determination unit of the other party. The operation of the apparatus is controlled so that the processing and the communication processing are omitted. According to the twelfth aspect, when the image reception processing unit receives the image data from the other party, the determination unit determines whether there is any useless image processing and communication processing. When the control means determines that there is useless processing based on the result of the determination means, the image reception processing means operates such that processing steps corresponding to the useless processing are omitted from the image reception processing. Control. According to the thirteenth aspect, the determining means determines whether there is any useless image processing and communication processing. The control means controls the image transmission processing means to transmit information indicating the result of the determination means to the other party. As a result, the results of the determination means are transmitted to each other, and it is possible to recognize whether or not there is useless processing on the partner side. Further, the control means may be configured such that, when data from the other party is received by the image reception processing means, if there is useless processing on the other party based on the information of the result of the determination means included in the received data. The image transmission processing means is controlled so that processing steps corresponding to the useless processing are omitted from the image transmission processing. According to the fourteenth aspect, the determination means determines whether or not the display window is visible to the user in a multi-window environment of the display means.
Thereby, the control unit recognizes the presence of the useless process. According to the fifteenth aspect, the determining means determines whether the display window is iconified, and determines whether the display window is visible to the user. Thereby, the control unit recognizes the presence of the useless process. According to the sixteenth aspect, the determining means determines whether the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window, and determines whether the display window is visible to a user. Is determined. Thereby, the control unit recognizes the presence of the useless process. According to the seventeenth aspect of the present invention, in the two-way image communication means, the control means operates the two-way image communication means so as to omit useless image processing and communication processing according to the processing status during communication. Perform control. First
According to the eighth aspect, the control means includes:
It is always checked whether or not there is useless image processing and communication processing during communication, and when it is determined that the processing is useless, the operation of the bidirectional image communication means is performed so as to omit the useless processing. Perform control. According to the nineteenth aspect, the control means controls the operation of the two-way image communication means so as to transmit the information indicating the result of the determination means to the other party, thereby enabling the two-way image of the other party to be transmitted. The communication means is notified of the existence of the useless processing. In addition, at the time of reception, the control means transmits the received information, that is, information indicating whether or not there is the useless processing obtained by similarly discriminating by the discriminating means of the two-way image communication means of the other party. Accordingly, operation control is performed to omit useless image processing and communication processing. Second
According to the present invention, in the bidirectional image communication means, when image data is received from the other party by the image reception processing means, the determination means determines whether or not there is useless image processing and communication processing. Determine. When the control means determines that there is useless processing based on the result of the determination means, the image reception processing means operates such that processing steps corresponding to the useless processing are omitted from the image reception processing. Control. According to the twenty-first aspect, in the bidirectional image communication means, the determination means determines whether there is any useless image processing and communication processing. The control means controls the image transmission processing means so as to transmit the information indicating the result of the determination means to the two-way image communication means on the other side. With this, the information indicating the result of the determination means is transmitted to each other between the two-way image communication means, and it is recognized whether or not there is useless processing in the two-way image communication means of the other party. Can be. Further, when the image reception processing means receives data from the other party, the control means transmits the data to the other party's bidirectional image communication means by using information indicating the result of the discrimination means included in the received data. If there is a useless process, the image transmission processing means is controlled so as to operate by omitting the process steps corresponding to the useless process from the image transmission process. According to a twenty-second aspect, in the multi-window environment of the display means,
Determine whether the display window is visible to the user. Thereby, the control unit recognizes the presence of the useless process. According to the twenty-third aspect, the determining means determines whether or not the display window is iconified, and determines whether or not the display window is visible to the user. Thereby, the control unit recognizes the presence of the useless process. According to the twenty-fourth aspect, the determining means determines whether the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window, and determines whether the display window is visible to a user. Is determined. Thereby, the control unit recognizes the presence of the useless process. According to the twenty-fifth aspect,
The computer reads the processing steps stored in the storage medium and performs operation control according to the read processing steps. Thus, useless image processing and communication processing are omitted according to the processing status during communication. According to the twenty-sixth aspect, whether or not there is useless image processing and communication processing during communication is always investigated by the operation control of the computer, and when it is determined that the processing is useless, Processing is omitted. According to the twenty-seventh aspect, the existence of the useless process is notified to the other party by the operation control of the computer. On the other hand, at the time of reception, useless image processing and communication processing are omitted according to the received information, that is, information indicating whether or not the useless processing is obtained in the same manner on the partner side. . According to the twenty-eighth aspect, the computer reads the processing steps stored in the storage medium and performs operation control according to the read processing steps. Accordingly, when image data is received from the other party, it is determined whether or not there is useless image processing and communication processing. If the determination result indicates that useless processing exists, The processing steps corresponding to the useless processing are omitted from the image receiving processing. Second
According to the ninth aspect, the computer reads the processing steps stored in the storage medium, and performs operation control according to the read processing steps. As a result, it is determined whether or not there is useless image processing and communication processing, and the determination result is transmitted to the other party. Therefore, the above determination results are transmitted to each other, and it is possible to recognize whether or not there is useless processing on the partner side. On the other hand, when data is received from the other party, if there is any useless processing on the other party based on the information of the determination result included in the received data, a processing step corresponding to the useless processing is executed by the image processing apparatus. Omitted from transmission processing. According to the thirtieth aspect, it is determined by the operation control of the computer whether or not the display window is visible to the user in a multi-window environment. Thereby, the existence of the useless processing is recognized. According to the thirty-first aspect, by the operation control of the computer, it is determined whether or not the display window is iconified, thereby determining whether or not the display window is visible to the user.
Thereby, the existence of the useless processing is recognized. Third
According to the second aspect, the operation control of the computer determines whether or not the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window, so that the display window is visible to the user. Is determined. Thereby, the existence of the useless processing is recognized.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described.

The two-way image communication method according to the present invention is applied to, for example, a two-way image communication apparatus 100 as shown in FIG.

The two-way image communication apparatus 100 is mounted on, for example, an operating system using a normal window system. As shown in FIG.
Image decoding processing unit 110 and image coding processing unit 140
Image decoding processing unit 110 and image coding processing unit 14
0, and the network control circuits 13 similarly connected to the image decoding processing unit 110 and the image coding processing unit 140, respectively.
0. The image decoding processing unit 110 includes a receiving circuit 11 to which an output of the network control circuit 130 is supplied.
3 and the decoding circuit 1 to which the output of the receiving circuit 113 is supplied.
12 and the display 1 to which the output of the decoding circuit 112 is supplied
11 and the receiving circuit 113 and the decoding circuit 1
Reference numerals 12 are controlled by the encoding control circuit 120, respectively. The image encoding processing unit 140 includes an input circuit 141, an encoding circuit 142 to which an output of the input circuit 141 is supplied, and a transmission circuit 143 to which an output of the encoding circuit 142 is supplied. The encoding circuit 142 is controlled by the encoding processing control circuit 120, and the output of the transmission circuit 143 is supplied to the network control circuit 130.

A two-way image communication apparatus 100 as described above
Adopts a multitasking process that performs a plurality of processes at the same time, and the decoding process in the image decoding unit 110 and the encoding process in the image encoding unit 140 are performed simultaneously. ing.

First, a series of operations of the bidirectional image communication device 100 will be described.

The input circuit 141 inputs an image to be transmitted to the other party. The encoding circuit 142 compresses the image input by the input circuit 141 by performing a predetermined encoding process in order to transmit the image to the other party. The transmission circuit 143
The image data obtained by compression by the encoding circuit 142 is converted into a predetermined data format that can be interpreted by the other party.
At this time, the encoding control circuit 120 determines the importance of bidirectional image communication in the environment where the device is operating, and controls the encoding circuit 142 and the transmission circuit 143 so that appropriate image processing is performed. Control. Network control circuit 13
“0” transmits the image data converted into a predetermined data format by the transmission circuit 143 to the other party.

The network control circuit 130 receives image data sent from the other party. The receiving circuit 113 performs data conversion processing so that the image data received by the network control circuit 130 can be decompressed by the decoding circuit 112 at the subsequent stage. The decoding circuit 112 expands the image data converted by the receiving circuit 113 by performing a predetermined decoding process. Also at this time, the encoding processing control circuit 120 determines the importance of bidirectional image communication in the environment where the device is operating, and performs the decoding circuit 112 and the receiving circuit 113 so that appropriate image processing is performed.
Control. The display 111 displays an image based on the image data expanded by the decoding circuit 112 on a screen.

Next, the encoding control circuit 120 will be specifically described.

As described above, the encoding processing control circuit 120 determines the importance of bidirectional image communication in an environment where the apparatus is operating, and performs image decoding so that appropriate image processing is performed. Processing unit 110 and image encoding processing unit 14
0 is controlled.

Here, for the sake of simplicity, only the operation control processing of the image decoding processing unit 110 will be described below.

That is, the encoding control circuit 120
It controls the image decoding processing unit 110 so that the operation according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 is performed.

The operation will be described with reference to FIG.
First, one screen of image data is received by the network control circuit 130. Then, the encoding control circuit 120
, The receiving circuit 113 removes a header or the like added to the received image data for one screen, and extracts only image data to be actually decoded by the decoding circuit 112 at the subsequent stage (step S21).

Next, the encoding control circuit 120 determines whether or not the display window for bidirectional image communication is iconified in this device (step S2).
2).

Here, the two-way image communication device 100
Is installed in an operating system using a normal window system, as described above, and the operating system provides an API for determining whether or not a specific window is iconified. For example, "Microsoft Windows
"ws", a function such as "isiconic ()" is prepared.

Therefore, in step S22, it is determined whether or not the display window for the two-way image communication is iconified by the API as described above.

If the result of this determination is that the display window for bidirectional image communication has been iconified, the encoding processing control circuit 120 skips the processing of steps S22 and subsequent steps, returns to step S21, and returns to step S21. The receiving circuit 113 is controlled so that processing is performed on the image data of the screen.

Thus, in the two-way image communication apparatus 100, while the display window for two-way image communication is iconified, image data from the other party is received. The processing steps of the conversion processing and the display processing are not executed at all.

On the other hand, if the display window of the bidirectional image communication is not iconized, the encoding processing control circuit 1
20 judges whether the display window is visible to the user (step S23).

This determination process is performed to determine whether the display window of the two-way image communication is completely covered by another window existing on the display screen of the display device 111 and is not visible to the user. It is performed by judging.

For example, as shown in FIG.
If the window w and the window w ′ of the two applications exist on the display screen (in the multi-window environment W3), the coordinates (x, y) of the window w
= (A ', b'), (c ', d') and the window w '
Having coordinates (x, y) = (a, b) and (c, d), (a> = a ') &&(b> = b') && (c <= c ') && (d < = D ') ... Conditional expression (1) When the following condition is satisfied, it is determined that the window w completely covers the window w'.

(A ', b') indicates the coordinates of one of the four corners of the window w, and (c ', d') indicates
One of the four corners located at a position facing (a ′, b ′). (A, b) and (c, d) are (a ', b'), (c ', d') of the four corners of the window w '.
Each point corresponds to (c ′, d ′).

Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the coordinates (a, b) of the display window r for bidirectional image communication,
(C, d) is (40, 20), (80, 40),
The coordinates (a ′, b ′), (c ′,
When d ′) is (10, 30) and (60, 60), when each coordinate value is applied to the conditional expression (1), b <b ′, c> c ′, and the conditional expression Does not satisfy (1). Therefore,
In this case, it is determined that the display window r of the bidirectional image communication is not covered by another window w.

On the other hand, the coordinates (a ″,
b "), (c", d ") are (30, 10), (90, 4).
In the case of 5), the above conditional expression (1) is satisfied, and therefore, the display window r of the bidirectional image communication is satisfied.
Is determined to be completely covered by another window q.

As described above, the encoding control circuit 1
A step 20 determines whether or not the above-mentioned conditional expression (1) is satisfied for all windows positioned higher than the display window of the bidirectional image communication. This allows
It is determined whether the display window of the two-way image communication is completely covered by another window or by a plurality of other windows.

If the result of this determination is that the display window for bidirectional image communication is not visible to the user, the encoding processing control circuit 120 omits the processing from step S23 onward, and skips step S21. Then, the receiving circuit 113 is controlled so that the processing for the image data of the next screen is performed.

On the other hand, when the display window of the bidirectional image communication is completely visible from the user, the encoding control circuit 120 decodes the image data obtained by the receiving circuit 113 so as to decode the image data. The control circuit 112 is controlled (step S24).

The image data decoded by the decoding circuit 112 by the processing of step S24 is displayed on the display 11
1 and is displayed on the screen using a display window for bidirectional image communication (step S25).

As described above, the two-way image communication apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment does not perform the decoding process and the display process when the display window for the two-way image communication is not completely visible to the user. As a result, useless processing is omitted, so that the CPU capacity can be distributed to other applications. That is, when an application for bidirectional image communication is operating in coexistence with another application, an appropriate operating environment can always be obtained by changing processing according to the necessity of the application. Therefore, the two-way image communication device 100 can efficiently perform two-way image communication, and the performance of the device can be improved.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

The two-way image communication method according to the present invention is, for example, a two-way image communication apparatus 100 as shown in FIG.
It is adapted to.

The configuration of the bidirectional image communication apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment described above, but the processing performed by the encoding control circuit 120 is the same as that of the first embodiment. This is different from the first embodiment described above.

That is, the two-way image communication apparatus 100 in this embodiment uses two types of flags, a visible flag and an encoding flag, and controls the encoding process control circuit 120 to send the visible flag to the other party. This is transmitted to inform the other party of the state of the own terminal, and the encoding process is performed based on the set value of the encoding process flag.

The two-way image communication device 100 according to the second embodiment has the same configuration as the two-way image communication device 100 according to the first embodiment described above. Description is omitted, and only different points will be described below. Here, it is assumed that both communication devices that perform image communication with each other have the same configuration as bidirectional image communication device 100.

First, the visible flag and the encoding flag used in the bidirectional image communication device 100 will be described.
Value flag.

The visible flag indicates whether or not the display window for bidirectional image communication is visible to the user. Although the initial setting of the visible flag is ON, it is turned OFF when the user cannot see the display window for the two-way image communication so that the user can see the window for the two-way image communication again. Then, it returns to ON. Such a change state of the visible flag is transmitted to the other party.

On the other hand, the encoding processing flag is used to determine whether or not the encoding processing is necessary in the encoding processing unit 140, and is changed so as to be toggled by the visible flag from the other party. It has been done. That is, the encoding process flag is initially set to ON as in the case of the visible flag, but is switched to OFF when information indicating that the visible flag has been changed is sent from the other party in the ON state. ing.

Next, the encoding control circuit 120 will be described.

The encoding processing control circuit 120 uses the visible flag and the encoding flag as described above so that the operation according to the flowchart shown in FIG. It controls the conversion processing unit 140.

The operation will be described with reference to FIG.
First, the encoding control circuit 120 determines whether or not the encoding flag is ON (step S411).

If the result of this determination is that the encoding processing flag is ON, the encoding control circuit 120 controls the input circuit 141 to input an image to be transmitted to the other party (step S412). .

Next, the image input by the input circuit 141 in the processing of step S 412 is
Is compressed by the encoding circuit 142 (step S413), and transmitted from the network control circuit 130 to the other party via the transmission circuit 143 (step S41).
4).

After the processing in step S414, the process proceeds to step S415, which will be described later.

Also, as a result of the above-described determination processing in step S411, when the encoding processing flag is OFF,
It proceeds to the process of step S415. That is, in this case, the encoding process and the transmission process in steps S412 to S414 are not performed, and the process proceeds to step S415.

Here, the visible flag is set to ON or OFF by the visible flag setting process in step S409 described later in the image decoding processing unit 110.

Therefore, in step S415, the encoding control circuit 120 determines whether or not the visible flag has changed from the previous state (step S416).

If the result of this determination is that the visible flag has changed from the previous state, the encoding processing control circuit 120
Controls the transmitting circuit 143 so that data for notifying that the visible flag has changed is transmitted to the other party.
As a result, the transmission circuit 143 sets the information indicating the change state of the visible flag to the data to be transmitted to the other party, and the network control circuit 130 transmits the data to the other party.

A detailed description will be given later of the process of transmitting the information indicating the change state of the visible flag.

Then, after the processing in step S416, the encoding processing control circuit 120 returns to step S411, and performs the encoding processing flag determination processing.

If the result of the determination processing in step S416 indicates that the visible flag has not changed from the previous state, the encoding processing control circuit 120 determines in step S416
Without performing the transmission process, the process returns to step S411 to determine the encoding process flag.

As described above, the encoding processing control circuit 120
Determines whether or not encoding processing is necessary in the encoding processing unit 140 based on the encoding processing flag.
Only in the case of N, the encoding processing unit 1 performs the encoding process.
40 is controlled.

On the other hand, in the decoding processing in the decoding processing unit 110, first, the image data for one screen is received by the network control circuit 130. Then, under the control of the encoding processing control circuit 120, the receiving circuit 113 removes a header or the like added to the received image data for one screen, and the image to be actually decoded by the decoding circuit 112 at the subsequent stage. Only data is extracted (step S401).

Next, the encoding processing control circuit 120 determines whether or not the encoding processing flag needs to be set based on the received data (step S402). That is, when the data indicating that the visible flag has changed is included in the received data, it is determined that the setting process of the encoding process flag is necessary.

As a result of this judgment processing, when setting processing of the encoding processing flag is necessary, the encoding processing flag is set to ON.
Alternatively, it is reset to OFF (step S403). The encoding processing flag reset to ON or OFF in this manner is used in the above-described determination processing in step S411.

After the processing of step S403, the encoding processing control circuit 120 controls the decoding circuit 112 so as to decode the image data obtained by the receiving circuit 113 (step S404).

If it is determined in step S402 that the encoding flag has not been set, the encoding processing control circuit 120 determines in step S403
The processing of step S404 is performed without performing the setting processing of.

After the processing of step S404, the image data decoded by the decoding circuit 112
And displayed on the screen using the display window of the two-way image communication (step S405).

Next, the code processing control circuit 120 confirms the state of the display window for bidirectional image communication on the display device 111.

That is, the code processing control circuit 120 first determines whether or not the display window for the bidirectional image communication is iconified in its own terminal in the same manner as in the first embodiment described above ( Step S406).

If the result of this determination is that the display window for bidirectional image communication is not iconified, the encoding processing control circuit 120 then proceeds to the own terminal in the same manner as in the first embodiment. It is determined whether or not the display window of the two-way image communication is visible to the user (step S407).

If the result of this determination is that the display window for bidirectional image communication is not visible to the user, the encoding processing control circuit 120 determines the result of the previous processing in steps S406 and S407 and the current processing. It is determined whether or not the result of the determination in steps S406 and S407 is different, that is, whether or not the state of the own terminal is different from the previous state (step S408).

If the result of the determination processing in step S406 indicates that the display window for bidirectional image communication has been converted to an icon, the encoding processing control circuit 120 skips step S407 and proceeds to step S408.
Is determined.

As a result of the judgment processing in step S408, if the state of the own terminal is different from the previous state, the encoding processing control circuit 120 resets the visible flag (step S40).
9). The visible flag set in step S409 is used in the above-described determination processing in step S415,
If it is determined in this determination process that the visible flag has changed, data indicating that the visible flag has changed is transmitted to the other party in the next step S416.

After the processing in step S408, the code processing control circuit 120 returns to step S401 to control the receiving circuit 113 so that the processing for the image data of the next screen is performed.

Further, as a result of the above-described determination processing in step S407, the encoding processing control circuit 120 determines that the display window for bidirectional image communication is visible to the user or that the determination processing in step S408 described above has been performed. As a result, if the state of the own terminal is the same as the previous state, the process proceeds to step S407 or S408, and the process returns to step S401 to perform processing on the image data of the next screen. The circuit 113 is controlled.

As described above, the code processing control circuit 120
Depends on whether the display window of the two-way image communication is visible to the user in the own terminal, and whether the state of the own terminal is different from the previous state based on the determination result. Is set to a visible flag for notifying the other party of the notification.

Next, a process for transmitting the change state of the visible flag set as described above to the other party will be described.

Here, the two-way image communication apparatus 100 is, for example, as described in Recommendation H.264. 221 is adopted.

In this communication system (recommendation H.221), F
AS (Frame Algnment SignaL) code, BAS (Bi
trate Allocation Signal) The data including the code and the like is transmitted.

In the BAS code, a capability code and a command code for selecting an audio encoding mode, a video encoding mode, a transfer rate, and a data rate are defined.
That is, the BAS code is composed of the first three bits (b ₀ , b
₁ , b ₂ ) to represent the attribute, and the remaining 5 bits (b ₃ ,
b ₄ , b ₅ , b ₆ , b ₇ ) represent attribute values.

For the attribute represented by 3 bits, see FIG.
(B ₀ , b ₁ , b ₂ ) = (000) is an “audio coding command”, (b ₀ , b ₁ , b ₂ ) = (001) is a “transfer rate command”, and (b) ₀ , b ₁ , b ₂ ) = (010) is “video and other commands”, (b ₀ , b ₁ , b ₂ ) = (011) is “data command”, (b ₀ , b ₁ , b ₂₎ ) = (100) is “terminal capability 1”, (b ₀ , b ₁ , b ₂ ) = (101) is “terminal capability 2”, and (b ₀ , b ₁ , b ₂ ) = (110) is “not available”. Definition ”, (b ₀ , b ₁ , b ₂ ) = (111) means“ escape ”, respectively.

Therefore, the two-way image communication apparatus 100 sets the change state of the visible flag to the data to be transmitted as a part of the category of “video and other commands” (010) of the BAS code as described above. Transmission circuit 14
3 is controlled.

Thus, in the flowchart shown in FIG. 5, if the result of the determination processing in step S415 indicates that the visible flag has changed from the previous state, the transmission circuit 1
Reference numeral 43 indicates that information indicating that the visible flag has changed is set in the BAS code of the data transmitted to the other party. Then, the network control circuit 130 transmits data to which information indicating that the visible flag has changed is transmitted to the other party, and the other party performs an encoding process based on the value of the BAS code of the transmitted data. Flag setting processing is performed.

As described above, the two-way image communication apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment transmits the change state of the visible flag to the other party so that the display window for the two-way image communication of its own terminal can be changed by the user. The other party is informed whether or not it is in a position visible to the other party, while the information on the change state of the visible flag transmitted from the other party allows the other party's terminal to display a window for bidirectional image communication for the user. When it is not located at a visible position, the encoding processing is not performed by the encoding processing unit 140, so that unnecessary processing is omitted.
Capability can be distributed to other applications.
Also, in this case, since the data transmission process is not performed,
Network traffic will not be overwhelmed. Therefore, the two-way image communication device 100 can efficiently perform two-way image communication, and the performance of the device can be improved.

For example, recommendation H. Encoding according to H.261 /
In the decoding method, the CPU capability required for the encoding process requires nearly three times the CPU capability required for the decoding process. Such an encoding / decoding method that requires a large amount of CPU capability for encoding processing is described in the bidirectional image communication apparatus 10.
When 0 is adopted, the effect as described above is remarkable.

In the above-described second embodiment, the information on the change state of the visible flag is transmitted to the other party as a part of the BAS code. As shown in FIG. 7A, when the data S to be transmitted is divided into a header part _SH and an actual data part _SD , and the data to be transmitted is image data, the data S shown in FIG.
As shown in, set the value X indicating the image data in the header portion S _H, when the data to be transmitted is visible flag, the value Y indicating the visible flag to the header portion S _H It may be set and transmitted to the other party.
Thus, the value of the header portion S _H of the data transmitted, whether the image data to the actual data portion S _D following the header portion S _H is set, or whether the information indicating the state of change in the visible flag You can judge. Then, when information indicating a change state of the visible flag is set in the transmitted data, the visible flag is ON (= 1: visible) or OFF (= 0: invisible) according to the information.
, It is possible to grasp the state of the display window of the two-way image communication on the other side.

The two-way image communication device 100 according to the present invention is applied to the two-way image communication device 100 according to the first embodiment and the two-way image communication device 100 according to the second embodiment. It was done.

Further, the bidirectional image communication device 100 according to the first embodiment or the bidirectional image communication device 100 according to the second embodiment may be configured as a system including a plurality of devices such as a host computer and an interface device. May be applied. It goes without saying that such a system is included in the interactive video communication system according to the present invention.

Also, by being connected to various devices, a CPU or MPU (Microprocess) in an apparatus or system that operates the above various devices.
or Unit), by supplying a program code of software for realizing the processing executed by the encoding processing control circuit 120 as described above, that is, the processing shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. Is also good. In this case, the computer stores the supplied program code in an internal memory and operates the various devices according to the program code. Such a system is also included in the interactive video communication system according to the present invention.

In this case, the program code itself of the software realizes the above-described functions. Therefore, the program code itself and the means for supplying the program code to the computer, for example, the memory storing the program code are included in the storage medium according to the present invention.

[0092] As a storage medium for storing the program code, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM and the like can be used.

Further, the above-mentioned program code may realize the above-mentioned function in cooperation with an OS (Operating System) running on a computer or other application software. Again,
It goes without saying that the program code itself and the memory storing the program code are included in the storage medium according to the present invention.

After the program code to be supplied to the computer is stored in a memory provided in a function expansion board of the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the program code is stored in accordance with the instructions of the stored program code. A CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit may perform a part or all of the actual processing, and the above-described function may be realized by the processing. Needless to say, such a system is also included in the interactive video communication system according to the present invention.

[0095]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is always checked whether or not there is useless image processing or communication processing during communication. With the configuration in which the processing is omitted, smoother two-way image communication can be performed. Therefore, two-way image communication can be performed efficiently. Further, in order to recognize the presence of the useless process, it is configured to determine whether or not the display window of the image communication is visible to the user, so that the useless process can be performed based on the necessity for the user. You can judge. Thus, the useless processing can be omitted in a natural state. Therefore, two-way image communication can be performed more efficiently. Further, in order to recognize the existence of the useless processing, it is configured to determine whether or not the display window is iconified, so that when the user does not need the two-way image communication, By explicitly iconifying the display window, it is possible to reduce the capacity such as the CPU capacity required for bidirectional image communication and the amount of data communication. Therefore, two-way image communication can be performed more efficiently. Further, in order to recognize the existence of the useless processing, it is configured to determine whether or not the display window is covered by another window coexisting with the display window. At the point in time when it becomes invisible, it is possible to save the capacity such as the CPU capacity necessary for the two-way image communication and the data communication amount. Therefore,
Further, two-way image communication can be performed more efficiently.
In addition, the configuration in which the existence of the useless processing is transmitted to the other party can also transmit the processing status of the own terminal to each other. As a result, the other party can also save the capacity such as the CPU capacity required for bidirectional image communication and the amount of data communication. Therefore, two-way image communication can be performed more efficiently.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a two-way image communication device to which a two-way image communication device according to the present invention is applied in a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of the bidirectional image communication device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a calculation process of a window positional relationship.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an example in which a display window for bidirectional image communication is covered by another window.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation of the bidirectional image communication device in the second embodiment.

FIG. 221 is a diagram for describing a process of transmitting information on a change state of a visible flag when 221 is used. FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a process of transmitting information on a change state of a visible flag when another protocol is used.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a state of a display window of a conventional interactive video communication system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 Bidirectional image communication device 110 Decoding processing unit 111 Display 112 Decoding circuit 113 Receiving circuit 120 Encoding processing control circuit 130 Network control circuit 140 Encoding processing unit 141 Input circuit 142 Encoding circuit 143 Transmission circuit

Claims (32)

[Claims] 1. A two-way image communication method for performing two-way image communication, wherein a control process for omitting unnecessary image communication processes is performed according to a processing situation. 2. The control process according to claim 1, wherein the control process is a process of performing a determination process for determining a processing status, and omitting unnecessary image communication processing according to a result of the determination process. Two-way image communication method. 3. The control process performs a discriminating process for discriminating the processing status, transmits information indicating the result of the discriminating process to the other party, and when receiving, indicates the received result of the discriminating process on the other party. 2. The two-way image communication method according to claim 1, wherein unnecessary image communication processing is omitted according to the information. 4. A two-way image communication method for performing image reception processing including a plurality of processing steps on received image data and transmitting image data by image transmission processing including a plurality of processing steps. A bidirectional image communication method comprising: performing a determination process of determining a processing state when image data is received from a computer; and omitting a processing step corresponding to a result of the determination process from the image reception process. 5. A two-way image communication method for performing image reception processing including a plurality of processing steps on received image data and transmitting image data by image transmission processing including a plurality of processing steps. When the data from the other party is received, a processing step according to the result of the determination process on the other party included in the received data is performed. A two-way image communication method, wherein the method is omitted from the image transmission processing. 6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the determination process is a process of determining whether a display window for image communication is visible to a user in a multi-window environment. Two-way image communication method. 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determination process is a process of determining whether the display window is visible to a user by determining whether the display window is iconified. 7. The bidirectional image communication method according to 6. 8. The discriminating process discriminates whether or not the display window is visible to a user by discriminating whether or not the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window. 7. The two-way image communication method according to claim 6, wherein the processing is performed. 9. A two-way image communication apparatus for performing two-way image communication, characterized by comprising control means for omitting unnecessary image communication processing in accordance with a processing situation. 10. The bidirectional image according to claim 9, wherein said control means includes a discriminating means for discriminating a processing situation, and omits unnecessary image communication processing according to a result of said discriminating means. Communication method. 11. The control means includes a discriminating means for discriminating the processing status, transmits information indicating the result of the discriminating means to the other party, and when receiving, indicates the received result of the discriminating means on the other party. 10. The two-way image communication apparatus according to claim 9, wherein unnecessary image communication processing is omitted according to the information. 12. An image reception processing means for performing image reception processing comprising a plurality of processing steps on received image data, and an image transmission processing means for transmitting image data by image transmission processing comprising a plurality of processing steps. A bidirectional image communication device, comprising: a determination unit configured to determine a processing state when image data is received from the other party by the image reception processing unit; and a processing step corresponding to a result of the determination unit. A bidirectional image communication device comprising: a control unit that controls the image reception processing unit so as to operate by omitting the reception processing. 13. An image receiving apparatus comprising: an image receiving unit configured to perform an image receiving process including a plurality of processing steps on received image data; and an image transmitting unit configured to transmit image data by an image transmitting process including a plurality of processing steps. A bidirectional image communication device, comprising: a determination unit for determining a processing status; transmitting information of a result of the determination unit; and receiving data from the other party when the image reception processing unit receives data. Control means for controlling the image transmission processing means so as to operate by omitting a processing step corresponding to the result of the discrimination means on the other party included in the data from the image transmission processing. Communication device. 14. A display unit having a multi-window environment, wherein the determination unit determines whether a display window for image communication is visible to a user under a multi-window environment of the display unit. Claims 10-13
The two-way image communication device according to any one of the above. 15. The discriminating means discriminates whether the display window is iconified or not,
15. The two-way image communication device according to claim 14, wherein it is determined whether the display window is visible to a user. 16. The determination means determines whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window. The two-way image communication device according to claim 14, wherein: 17. A two-way image communication system including two-way image communication means for performing two-way image communication, wherein said two-way image communication means omits unnecessary image communication processing according to a processing situation. A two-way image communication system comprising control means. 18. The bidirectional image according to claim 17, wherein said control means includes a discriminating means for discriminating a processing situation, and omits unnecessary image communication processing according to a result of said discriminating means. Communications system. 19. The control means includes a discriminating means for discriminating a processing situation, transmits information indicating a result of the discriminating means to a two-way image communication means on the other party, and upon reception, receives the information on the other party on the other party. 18. An image communication apparatus according to claim 17, wherein unnecessary image communication processing is omitted according to the information indicating the result of the determination unit.
A two-way image communication system as described. 20. Bidirectional image communication means for performing bidirectional image communication, wherein said bidirectional image communication means performs image reception processing comprising a plurality of processing steps on received image data. An image transmission processing means for transmitting image data by image transmission processing comprising a plurality of processing steps, wherein the bidirectional image communication means receives image data from a partner. And a control means for controlling the image reception processing means to operate by omitting a processing step corresponding to a result of the determination means from the image reception processing. Interactive communication system. 21. Bidirectional image communication means for performing bidirectional image communication, wherein the bidirectional image communication means performs image reception processing comprising a plurality of processing steps on received image data. An image transmission processing unit for transmitting image data by an image transmission process including a plurality of processing steps, wherein the bidirectional image communication unit includes: a determination unit configured to determine a processing state; The information of the result of the determination means is transmitted to the two-way image communication means of the other party, and when data from the other party is received by the image reception processing means, the two-way image of the other party included in the received data Control means for controlling the image transmission processing means so as to operate by omitting processing steps according to the result of the determination means of the communication means from the image transmission processing. Bidirectional image communication system according to symptoms. 22. The two-way image communication means includes display means having a multi-window environment, and the determination means determines whether or not a display window for image communication is visible to a user in a multi-window environment of the display means. 22. The method according to claim 18, wherein
The two-way image communication system according to any one of the above. 23. The determining means determines whether or not the display window is iconified, thereby determining
23. The interactive video communication system according to claim 22, wherein it is determined whether the display window is visible to a user. 24. The determination means determines whether or not the display window is visible to a user by determining whether or not the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window. 23. The two-way image communication system according to claim 22, wherein: 25. A storage medium in which processing steps of bidirectional image communication for performing bidirectional image communication are stored so as to be readable by a computer, and a control processing step for omitting unnecessary image communication processing according to a processing situation. A storage medium characterized by storing therein. 26. The control processing step includes a discrimination processing step of discriminating a processing status, and omitting unnecessary image communication processing according to a result of the discrimination processing step. Item 29. The storage medium according to Item 25. 27. The control processing step includes a discrimination processing step of discriminating a processing situation, transmitting information indicating a result of the discrimination processing step to the other party, and receiving the received information. 26. The storage device according to claim 25, wherein the storage step is a processing step of omitting unnecessary image communication processing according to the information indicating the result of (1). 28. A computer reads out a processing step of bidirectional image communication for performing image reception processing including a plurality of processing steps on received image data and transmitting image data by image transmission processing including a plurality of processing steps. A discriminating processing step of discriminating a processing state when receiving image data from a partner, and a processing step according to a result of the discriminating processing step being omitted from the image receiving processing. A storage medium storing a control processing step of performing the following. 29. A computer reads out processing steps of bidirectional image communication for performing image reception processing comprising a plurality of processing steps on received image data and transmitting image data by image transmission processing comprising a plurality of processing steps. A discriminating process step of discriminating a processing situation; transmitting information of the result of the discriminating process step; and receiving data from a partner, the data being included in the received data. A storage medium storing a control processing step for omitting a processing step according to a result of a discrimination processing step on the partner side from the image transmission processing. 30. The method according to claim 26, wherein the determination processing step includes a processing step of determining whether a display window of image communication is visible to a user in a multi-window environment. The storage medium according to the above. 31. The determining step includes determining whether the display window is visible to a user by determining whether the display window is iconified. Claim 3
0 storage medium. 32. The determining step includes determining whether or not the display window is completely visible by a user by determining whether or not the display window is completely covered by another window coexisting with the display window. 31. The storage medium according to claim 30, including a processing step of determining.