JP2827213B2 - Communication method - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a communication method.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an example of a communication device, there is a videophone system using a telephone line. In such a system, when transmitting an image, an analog image signal is converted into a digital signal, temporarily stored in a digital memory, and the stored data is modulated into a telephone line band of 300 to 3,400 Hz, and the analog transmission is performed. Was. On the other hand, in the case of reception, a received analog signal is demodulated, converted into digital data and stored in a digital memory, and the stored image data is converted into, for example, a television signal and supplied to a TV monitor device. I do. When image data is not transmitted or received, a voice call is made as in a conventional telephone.

With respect to such a video telephone, a function similar to the answering machine function of a conventional voice-only telephone is desired.
In a telephone using only voice, for example, a message at the time of absent reception is recorded in a semiconductor memory or a magnetic tape, and a message from the other party is recorded in the semiconductor memory or a magnetic tape. Also, for telephones that can use a PIN,
Only when a password is received from outside, the recorded message is reproduced and transmitted.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, conventional messages are either voice messages or image messages. Therefore,
A message suitable for various communication partners is transmitted, such as a communication partner who needs only a basic message with a small amount of voice and a communication partner who also needs a detailed message using an image with a large amount of data. I couldn't do that.

An object of the present invention is to provide a communication method that solves such a problem.

[Means for solving the problem]

A communication method according to the present invention detects an incoming call from a communication partner device, transmits a basic message including a voice signal stored in a storage medium to the communication partner device in response to the detection of the incoming call, and And transmitting the data to the communication partner device when the authentication data is received and the data including at least the image signal corresponding to the authentication data is retrieved from the storage medium. .

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 10 is a video camera, 12 is an amplifier,
14 is an A / D converter for digitizing the output (analog signal) of the amplifier 12, 16 is a serial / parallel (S / P) converter for converting the serial output of the A / D converter 14 to a parallel signal, 1
8 is a memory for temporarily storing data, 20 is a memory control circuit for controlling writing and reading of the memory 18, and 22 is a memory
Address counter that generates 18 address signals, 28
Is a P / S converter for serializing parallel image data from the memory 18 via the memory control circuit 20, and 30 is a P / S converter
A D / A converter 28 converts the output into an analog signal, 32 a video buffer, and 34 a video monitor device.

36 is a modulator that modulates the analog signal of the D / A converter to a frequency of 300 to 3,400 Hz suitable for telephone lines, 38 is an NCU (Network Control Unit), 39 is a conventional voice telephone, and 40 is a telephone A connection terminal for connecting to a line, 42 is a demodulator for demodulating a signal input from a telephone line, 44 is an A / D converter for digitizing the output of the demodulator 42, 46 is a serial output of the A / converter 44 This is an S / P converter for parallelizing.

48 is capable of recording images and sounds, for example, still and
A magnetic sheet 50 such as a video floppy is used to store image data in the memory 18 input through the memory control circuit 20.
A data recording circuit that adds a predetermined code and converts it to a signal format compatible with the recording format of the magnetic sheet 48, 52 performs time axis compression and FM modulation on the audio signal from the telephone line,
This is a voice recording circuit for converting the recording format of the magnetic sheet 48. 54 is the output of the data recording circuit 50 and the audio recording circuit
A selection switch for selecting one of the outputs 52, a recording amplifier 56, a switch 58 connected to the contact A side when recording on the magnetic sheet 48, and a switch connected to the contact B during reproduction, and 60 a recording / reproducing head is there. 62 is a motor for rotating the magnetic sheet 48, 64 is a servo circuit for keeping the rotation of the motor 62 constant, and 66 is a head drive circuit for driving the recording / reproducing head 60 to a designated track position on the magnetic sheet 48.

68 is a reproduction amplifier, 70 is a discrimination circuit for discriminating whether a reproduction signal from the magnetic sheet 48 is an audio signal or data, 72 is an audio processing circuit, 74 is a data processing circuit, and 76 and 78 are outputs of the reproduction amplifier 68. Circuit 70, audio processing circuit 72, and data processing circuit
A changeover switch for applying to any of 74, 79 is a speaker, 80 is an operation member including a switch group for instructing each desired operation, 82 is a display device for performing various visual displays, 84 is a microphone, 86 is a microphone An amplifier 88 is a DTMF detector that detects and decodes an external DTMF signal, and 90 is a CPU that controls the entire system.

Next, the operation of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described. When used as a normal video telephone, the image signal of the video camera 10 is supplied to a P / S converter 28 via an amplifier 12, an A / D converter 14, an S / P converter 16 and a memory control circuit 20. Supplied to The output of the P / S converter 28 is applied to a video monitor device 34 via a D / A converter 30 and a video buffer 32. As a result, the video image of the video camera 10 is displayed on the video monitor device 34.

When making a call, the other party is called by the telephone 39. The call signal is sent to the exchange via the NCU 38 and the telephone line, and a connection with the other party is established.

When transmitting an image, a predetermined instruction signal is input from the operation member 80 to the CPU 90. This instruction is sent to the memory control circuit 20 via the CPU 90, and the memory control circuit 20
The image signal of the camera 10 is temporarily stored in the memory 18.
At this time, of course, the memory control circuit 20 causes the address counter 22 to output a corresponding write address signal. When the writing to the memory 18 is completed, the memory control circuit 20 causes the data stored in the memory 18 to be sequentially read out. Memory 18
Is supplied to a video monitor device 34 via a P / S converter 28, a D / A converter 30, and a video buffer 32. As a result, in the video monitor device 34, the image captured by the video camera 10 is displayed as a still image.

The CPU 90 outputs a command indicating image data to the output memory control circuit 20 before transmitting the image data. After this command, the memory control circuit 20
The output image data is added to the P / S converter 28. The signal serialized by the P / S converter 28 is a D / A converter 30
Is applied to the modulator 36, where the amplitude and phase are modulated. The output of modulator 36 is sent to the telephone line via NCU 38 and terminal 40.

Assuming that the video telephone on the receiving side has the same configuration as that of FIG. 1, on the receiving side, the command and the image data input from the telephone line are input from the terminal 40 to the NCU 38, and the NCU 38
Applies it to the demodulator 42. The signal demodulated by the demodulator 42 is applied to the memory control circuit 20 via the A / D converter 44 and the S / P converter 46, and the memory control circuit 20 sends a command to the CPU 90.
Transfer to In accordance with the command, the CPU 90 controls the NCU 38 to disconnect the signal connection between the telephone line and the telephone 39. This prevents the image data from changing to unpleasant sounds. The CPU 90 also controls the memory control circuit 20 to store the received image data in the memory 18. When the received image data is stored in the memory 18 in this way, the memory control circuit 20 reads it out and supplies it to the P / S converter 28. P / S
The output of the converter 28 is a D / A converter 30 and a video buffer 32.
Is applied to the video monitor device 34 via the. This allows
The image of the other party is displayed on the video monitor device. After the image reception is completed, the NCU 38 disconnects the telephone line from the telephone 3
Connect to 9. As a result, communication with the other party becomes possible again.

Next, the operation in the absence mode will be described. For the absence mode, it is necessary to previously record an image and a voice message for response at the time of absence reception on the magnetic sheet 48. Operation members
At 20, the recording operation is instructed. In accordance with this instruction, the CPU 90 causes the head drive circuit 66 to position the head 60 on an empty track. Next, an image to be recorded, for example, one's own face, is input by the video camera 10. The image captured by the video camera is written to the memory 18. Servo circuit
64 rotates the motor 62 at a constant speed in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 90. The CPU 90 supplies the data recording circuit 50 with an identification number (for example, a four-digit number) specifying the data stored in the memory 18 and the number of the recording track of the voice message corresponding to the stored data. The stored data of 18 is transferred to the data recording circuit 50 via the memory control circuit 20. The data recording circuit 50 outputs these signals in a predetermined format. The output of the data recording circuit 50 is applied to the recording / reproducing head 60 via the switch 54, the recording amplifier 56, and the switch 58, and is recorded on the magnetic sheet 48.

After the recording of the image data is completed, the head 60 moves to the next empty track, and the motor 62 is rotated by the servo circuit 64 at the speed for audio recording. The voice message input from the microphone 84 is subjected to processing such as time axis compression and modulation and a predetermined format in a voice recording circuit 52, and is applied to a recording / reproducing head 60 via a switch 54, a recording amplifier 56, and a switch 58. Is recorded on the magnetic sheet 48.

In this way, the image and the voice message are recorded for an assumed number of persons, and the answering machine magnetic sheet is obtained.
In the present embodiment, the message is transmitted to the other party only when a special password is input.Therefore, at the time of absence reception, first, it is presently absent, and it is necessary to transmit a specific password. Such basic information is transmitted by voice to the other party. This basic message is recorded at a predetermined location on the magnetic sheet 48.

Next, the receiving operation in the absence mode will be described with reference to FIG. First, the answering mode is set by the operation member 80 (S1), and a call from outside is waited for (S2). When the call detector in the NCU 38 detects that a call has been received, it notifies the CPU 90. The CPU 90 instructs the servo circuit 64 to rotate the magnetic sheet 48 at a constant speed, and the head driving circuit 66
Moves the head 60 to the recording track of the basic message. The switch 76 is connected to the B side, and the output of the head 60 is applied to the discriminating circuit 70 via the switch 58, a reproduction amplifier, and the switch 76. Since the output of the head 60 is an audio signal, the CPU 90 connects the switch 76 to the A side and the switch 78 to the B side according to the result of the determination by the determination circuit 70. As a result, the reproduced signal is applied to the audio processing circuit 72. The audio processing circuit 72 performs known processing such as time axis expansion and demodulation,
Outputs normal audio signal. The output of the audio processing circuit 72 is
The data is sent to the telephone line via the NCU 38 (S3).

Next, it waits for the reception of a password (S4), and if the correct password is not transmitted after waiting for a predetermined time, the line connection is cut off (S5, 6).

Upon receiving the password, the DTMF detector 88 decrypts the
Apply to U90. The CPU 90 sequentially moves the head 60 to each track and searches for a message corresponding to the received password. That is, the head 60 is sequentially moved to the track where the image data is recorded (S9), and the output of the head 60 is supplied to the data processing circuit 74. The data processing circuit 74 performs demodulation and the like, and first, an identification number added to the head of the image signal,
The recording track number of the corresponding voice message is extracted and applied to the CPU 90 (S10). The CPU 90 compares the identification number with the received personal identification number, and when they do not match, causes the head 60 to sequentially access another track, and searches all tracks until they match (S11). If all the tracks do not match, for example, a warning is sent out of the telephone line to cut off the line connection.

If image data matching the received password is found, the image data output from the data processing circuit 74 is temporarily stored in the memory 18 via the memory control circuit 20 (S1).
2) Read out again, memory control circuit 20, P / S converter 2
8. The data is transmitted to the telephone line via the D / A converter 30, the modulator 36 and the NCU 36 (S13). After that, the head 60 is moved to the recording track of the corresponding voice message (S14), the track is reproduced, and the voice processing circuit 72 returns to a normal voice signal by time extension, demodulation, etc., and the telephone line via the NCU 38. (S15). After sending the voice message, disconnect the line connection and wait for the next call (S
2).

According to this embodiment, when transmitting to the other party, the image data is transmitted first, so that the receiving side listens to the sound while watching the previously received image, which is convenient.

If the search for all tracks is completed without a track with a matching password, cancel the absence mode (S
8,17), normal telephone operation.

In this embodiment, the image is digitally recorded on the recording medium, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, an image may be recorded in an analog form, and a personal identification number may be recorded in an ID record added to the image.

In the present embodiment, the disk-shaped recording medium is used as the storage means. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a solid-state memory such as a semiconductor memory may be used.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to report a minimum amount of information by transmitting a basic message using a voice signal having a small data amount to a receiving party, and after transmitting the basic message, If the authentication data also stored in is received, it is regarded as a specific communication partner, and at least the data including the image signal having a large data amount according to the authentication data is transmitted. And the specific communication partner for which the authentication data is received and detected can be provided with data including an image signal that can visually provide various information at the maximum in data amount. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart in the absence mode of FIG. 16,46 …… Serial / parallel converter, 18 …… Memory, 2
0 ... Memory control circuit, 34 ... Video monitor device, 39 ...
... telephone, 46 ... serial / parallel converter, 48 ... magnetic sheet, 60 ... recording / reproducing head, 62 ... motor, 64 ...
… Servo circuit, 66… Head drive circuit, 79 …… Speaker

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An incoming call from a communication partner device is detected, and a basic message including a voice signal stored in a storage medium is transmitted to the communication partner device in response to the detection of the incoming call. And transmitting the data to the communication partner device when authentication data is received and data including at least an image signal corresponding to the authentication data is retrieved from a storage medium.