JPH1093940A - Video telephone system for remote monitoring - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To remotely adjust a camera through the dial tone signal of a remote video telephone set and to monitor the situation of a room by providing the camera and a controller controlling the movement and the photographing operation of the camera in accordance with a signal received from the remote video telephone set in a video telephone system for remote monitoring. SOLUTION: A user makes a call to a place whose situation of the room is to be monitored by using the remote video telephone set. A network connection part 11 sends the signal received from the remote video telephone set to a multiplex/inverse multiplex part 12 and a DTMF detection part 13. The DTMF detection part 13 detects a number corrpsponding to the dial tone signal from it in the inputted signal. A camera control part 14 decides camera operation data adjusted to the inputted dial tone signal. The camera control part 14 outputs a control signal adjusting the photographing operation of the camera 15. The camera 15 converts a photographing direction, a photographing state and the like in accordance with the control signal.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image telephone system, and more particularly to an image telephone system for remote monitoring that can monitor a room through a camera of the image telephone system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the development of multimedia, an image telephone system has been proposed which allows a user to talk while watching not only voice but also the face of a connected party. In general, an image telephone system includes a camera that captures an image of a caller and a monitor that displays an image of the other party. In addition, it includes a microphone for inputting the voice of the caller and a speaker for outputting the voice of the other party. The video and audio signals are compressed through a video codec 17 and an audio codec 19, are formed from a bit string in a multiplexing unit (MUX), and are transmitted to a video telephone on the other side via a modem.

As described above, the general image telephone system is used only for facilitating communication between callers. It is difficult for this existing visual telephone system to monitor the surroundings of the caller.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been devised to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has as its object to remotely control a camera through a dial tone signal of a remote image telephone to monitor the indoor situation. It is to provide an image telephone system for remote monitoring that can be monitored.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a feature of the present invention is to provide a video telephone system for remote monitoring, wherein the camera and the camera are responsive to a signal received from a remote video telephone. And a controller for controlling the moving and photographing operations of the mobile phone.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an image telephone system for remote monitoring according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The configuration of the image telephone system for remote monitoring shown in the figure will be briefly described. Referring to FIG. 1, the video telephone system for remote monitoring includes a network connection unit 11 for connecting to a remote video telephone via a telephone line. The multiplexing / demultiplexing unit 12 is connected to the network connection unit 11. The multiplexing / demultiplexing unit 12 multiplexes the video signal and the audio signal encoded by the video codec 17 and the audio codec 19. The multiplexing / demultiplexing unit 12 demultiplexes the multiplexed bit string transmitted from the connected remote video telephone and separates the multiplexed bit stream into a video signal and an audio signal. The video codec 17 encodes a video signal input from the camera 15 and encodes a video signal input from the remote image telephone. The audio codec 19 encodes and decodes an audio signal input from a microphone and an audio signal input from a remote image telephone, respectively.
The image telephone system includes a DTMF detection unit 13. The DTMF detection unit 13 generates a tone signal (DTMF; Dial Tone Monitor) generated by pressing a dial button of the visual telephone.
A ring frequency is detected, and is connected to the output terminal of the network connection unit 11. The camera control unit 14 is connected to the DTMF detection unit 13. The camera control section 14 sets and stores in advance camera operation data individually corresponding to another dial tone signal (DTMF signal). Here, the camera operation data is the panning of the camera 15 (pann
ing), tilting, zoom in / out (Zoom I
N / OUT) data. Therefore, the camera control unit 14 detects the DTMF detected by the DTMF detection unit 13.
Camera operation data corresponding to the signal is calculated, and a corresponding control signal is output to the camera 15.

[0007] The operation of the above-configured video telephone system capable of remote monitoring according to the present invention will be described in detail. The user uses a visual telephone at a remote place to make a call to a place where the indoor condition is to be monitored. When a DTMF signal is received from a remote visual telephone, the network connection unit 11 sends the signal received from the remote visual telephone to the multiplexing / demultiplexing unit 12 and the DTMF detecting unit 13. DT
The MF detector 13 detects a number corresponding to the dial tone signal (DTMF signal) from the input signals. The camera control unit 14 determines camera operation data corresponding to the input dial tone signal (DTMF signal). The camera control unit 14 outputs a control signal for adjusting the shooting operation of the camera 15 based on the determined camera operation data. The camera 15 converts a shooting direction, a shooting state, and the like according to the control signal. That is, the camera 15 pans,
The shooting direction and the shooting state are converted according to a control signal for controlling tilt, zoom-in / out, and the like. The video codec 17 encodes a video signal captured by the camera 15. The audio codec 19 encodes an audio signal input from the microphone. The multiplexing / demultiplexing unit 12 multiplexes the encoded video signal and audio signal. The network connection unit 11 transmits the multiplexed signal to a remote video telephone.

[0008]

As described above, the present invention relates to an image telephone system for remote monitoring, and can monitor a room at a remote place through a camera used for photographing a caller. In addition, since the photographing operation of the camera can be remotely adjusted via the image telephone at a remote place and the room can be monitored, crime prevention and disaster prevention can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an image telephone system for remote monitoring applied to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 11 network connection unit 12 multiplexing / demultiplexing unit 13 DTMF detection unit 14 camera control unit 15 camera 17 video codec 19 audio codec

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image telephony system for remote monitoring, comprising: a camera; and a controller for controlling a movement and a photographing operation of the camera in response to a signal received from a remote image telephone. Picture telephone system. 2. The video telephone system for remote monitoring according to claim 1, wherein the controller controls the camera in accordance with a dial tone signal from the remote video telephone. 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the controller includes a DTMF detection unit for detecting a dial tone signal, and a camera control unit for generating a camera control signal corresponding to the detected dial tone signal. Visual telephone system for remote monitoring. 4. The image telephone system for remote monitoring according to claim 3, wherein the camera control unit stores preset camera operation data corresponding to each of the other dial tone signals. 5. The video telephone system for remote monitoring according to claim 4, wherein the camera operation data is data for panning, tilting, zooming in / out, and the like.