JP3330205B2 - Image communication terminal - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image communication terminal capable of performing so-called multimedia communication by simultaneously performing voice communication and image communication with a partner terminal via a communication line. Can be used as a communication terminal for a videophone, a communication terminal for a video conference device, or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When performing multimedia communication, it is considered to be an effective service to visually display the communication state of each medium constituting the multimedia.

Conventionally, in videophone communication as multimedia communication including voice communication and video communication, a mode setting in which only voice communication using voice media is performed and a voice mute performed for some reason during voice communication (for example, due to a secret story, etc.). Setting to temporarily prevent the sound from being transmitted to the partner terminal), or a mode setting for performing video communication, and a video mute for some reason during the video communication (for example,
If there is a screen that you do not want to show to the other party, temporarily prevent it from being transmitted to the other party's terminal) Settings and other operations are performed using separate operation keys, so When performing such a mode setting, there is a problem that it is troublesome to determine an operation key and operability is not good.

Conventionally, a state such as a transmission state, a transmission mute state, and an unused state (unused state) are set for each of audio media and video media. There is also a problem that there is no display means for identifying and displaying the status display, and the status display is not easy to use (lack of serviceability).

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and performs various operation mode settings.
To provide an image communication terminal that is easy to determine the operation keys for it, and easy to visually identify the set various operation modes, and is excellent in operability and service in these senses. With the goal.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided an image communication terminal capable of simultaneously performing voice communication and image communication with a partner terminal via a communication line.

[0007] As a mode of communication to be performed with the partner terminal,
Voice mode specifying means for specifying a voice communication mode, video phone mode specifying means for specifying a video phone communication mode,

[0008] When the voice mode designating means or the videophone mode designating means is operated, it is determined whether or not it has been operated during the calling operation. If it is a designated means, set a voice call, if it is a videophone mode designation means, set a videophone call,

If it has not been operated during the calling operation, it is further determined whether or not the apparatus is on standby. If not, it is further determined whether or not the voice mode designating means has been operated.
If yes, set audio transmission mute; if no, image
Setting control means for setting transmission mute.

In the above-mentioned image communication terminal, the voice mode designating means is provided with a voice mode display means, and the video phone mode designating means is provided with a video phone mode display means. When a telephone call is set, the voice mode display means is displayed in a first display mode such as lighting, and when the videophone call is set, the videophone mode display means is displayed as a first display such as lighting. When the audio transmission mute is set, the audio mode display means is displayed in a second display mode such as blinking, and when the image transmission mute is set, the videophone mode display is displayed. The means is displayed in the second display mode such as blinking.

[0011]

In the image communication terminal according to the present invention, all of the setting keys for the voice telephone mode and the video telephone mode which are operated at the time of the calling operation, and the transmission mute setting key which is performed during the calling, communicating and receiving calls are all provided. A common key can be used as well, and operability during setting can be improved. In addition, since the states such as transmission, transmission mute, and non-use can be visually displayed, the serviceability of the state display can be improved.

[0012]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a line control circuit (DSU), 2 is a multiplexing / demultiplexing circuit (specifically, the international standardization recommendation H.2).
A multiplexing / demultiplexing circuit that satisfies the specifications according to H.261, 3 is an image codec (specifically, a codec that satisfies the specifications according to International Standardization Recommendation H.261), 4 is an audio codec,
Reference numeral 5 denotes a power supply circuit for supplying power to each unit, 6 denotes a telephone control circuit, 7 denotes an audio analog circuit, and 8 denotes an image analog circuit.

In addition, 9 is a transmitter, 10 is a receiver, 1
1 is a speaker, 12 is a built-in LCD (liquid crystal display), 1
2 is a built-in camera, 14 is an LED (light emitting diode), 1
5 is an external audio output terminal, 16 is an operation key switch (including a volume), 17 is a hook switch, 18 is a speaker key, 19 is a voice key, and 20 is an image key.

When making a call from the image communication terminal, the handsets 9, 10 are lifted, the hook switch 17 is closed, and the telephone control circuit 6 operates to wait for dialing.
After the dial is temporarily stored by the dial button in the operation key switch 16, the dial key is also transmitted by operating the transmission key in the operation key switch 16. Make a call to. At this time, the other terminal is being called.
At this time, it is possible to instruct the image analog circuit 8 via the telephone control circuit 6 by a manual operation of the operation key switch 16 to display the face of the user on the terminal side captured by the built-in camera 12 on the built-in LCD 12.

When the communication starts in response to the other terminal, the operation key switch 16 is used to view the image received from the other terminal.
By instructing the image analog circuit 8 via the telephone control circuit 6 by switching the switches inside, the image received from the partner terminal is displayed on the built-in LCD 12. LED
Numeral 14 is for displaying the state of the line.

The multiplexing / demultiplexing circuit 2 separates the signal from the line control circuit 1 into an image signal and an audio signal at the time of reception, and passes the image signal to the image codec 3 and the audio signal to the audio codec 4, respectively. , A circuit that multiplexes a signal from the image codec 3 and an audio signal from the audio codec 4 and passes the multiplexed signal to the line control circuit 1. The multiplexing / demultiplexing circuit 2 exchanges control signals with the telephone control circuit 6 in connection with the exchange with the other terminal such as when receiving a call.

The image codec 3 encodes the image data from the image analog circuit 8 at the time of transmission and passes it to the multiplexing / demultiplexing circuit 2, and decodes the image data from the multiplexing / separating circuit 2 at the time of reception and decodes the image data. Hand over to 8. The audio codec 4 also performs similar processing on audio data.
The speaker 11 is for speaker communication, and the external audio output terminal 15 is for connecting another audio device or the like here.

Next, as a description of the operation directly related to the present invention, a description will be given in relation to the operation of the voice key 19 and the image key 20. The voice key 19 is a voice mode designating unit for designating a voice communication mode as a mode of communication to be performed with the partner terminal. The image key 20 is a video phone mode designating unit for designating a video phone communication mode.

When the voice key 19 or the image key 20 is operated, the telephone control circuit 6 determines whether or not the key is operated during the transmission operation. If the key is a voice key 19, a voice call is set. If the key is an image key 20, a video call is set.

If the telephone control circuit 6 determines that the voice key 19 or the image key 20 has not been operated during the transmission operation when the voice key 19 or the image key 20 is operated, the telephone control circuit 6 further sets the state at that time to standby. It is determined whether or not there is, and if it is not on standby, it is further determined whether or not the operated key is the voice key 19. If yes, mute of voice transmission is set, and if no, mute of image transmission is set.

Alternatively, the telephone control circuit 6 can control the voice key 1
When it is determined that the button 9 or the image key 20 has been operated during the transmission operation, it is further determined whether or not the state at that time is waiting. Determines whether the operated key is the image key 20, and if yes, sets the image transmission mute; if no, sets the audio transmission mute.

The operation flow of the telephone control circuit 6 at this time is shown in FIG. As described above,
In the image communication terminal according to the present invention, a key for setting a voice telephone mode and a key for setting a videophone mode operated during a call operation, and a key for setting a transmission mute during a call, during a communication, or during an incoming call are all common keys. Can be shared, and operability at the time of setting can be improved.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same components as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals. In addition, 19A is voice LE
D and 20A are image LEDs.

In FIG. 3, the audio key 19 has an audio LED 19A as an audio mode display means, and the image key 2
0 is an image LED 20 as a videophone mode display means.
A are provided correspondingly (preferably integrally). When the telephone call is set as described above, the telephone control circuit 6 turns on and displays the audio LED 19A.
D20A is lit, and the audio LED 19A flashes when the audio transmission mute is set as described above, and the image LED 20A flashes when the image transmission mute is set. The audio LED 19A is turned off when in use, and the image LED 20A is turned off when image communication is not used.

It is needless to say that if it is possible to identify whether the call is transmitted, transmission muted, or not used, the display mode on the display means is not limited to the above-described lighting, blinking, and extinguishing, but may be any display mode. . Further, if each operation key (the voice key 19 and the image key 20) is made of a transparent body and the LED is integrated with the transparent body, the structure can be more easily seen. Thus, in the image communication terminal according to the present invention,
Since the states such as transmission, transmission mute, and non-use can be visually displayed for each medium, the serviceability of the state display can be improved.

[0026]

As described above, in the image communication terminal according to the present invention, the setting key of the voice telephone mode and the setting key of the video telephone mode operated at the time of the outgoing operation are performed during the calling, the communication and the incoming call. There is an advantage that the common key can be used for all the transmission mute setting keys, and operability during setting during multimedia communication can be improved. In addition, since states such as transmission, transmission mute, and non-use can be visually displayed, there is an advantage that serviceability of the state display can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation flow of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... line control circuit (DSU), 2 ... multiplexing / demultiplexing circuit,
3 image codec 4 audio codec 5 power supply circuit 6 telephone control circuit 7 audio analog circuit 8
Image analog circuit, 9: transmitter, 10: receiver, 11 ...
Speaker, 12 ... Built-in LCD (liquid crystal display), 12 ...
Built-in camera, 14 ... LED (light emitting diode), 15 ...
External audio output terminal, 16: operation key switch, 17: hook switch, 18: speaker key, 19: voice key,
19A: Voice LED (light emitting diode), 20: Image key, 20A: Image LED (light emitting diode)

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-3-4654 (JP, A) JP-A-3-183288 (JP, A) JP-A-3-268689 (JP, A) JP-A-4-29456 (JP) JP-A-4-165585 (JP, A) JP-A-4-207253 (JP, A) JP-A-5-14524 (JP, A) JP-A-6-233009 (JP, A) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 7/14

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image communication terminal capable of simultaneously performing voice communication and image communication with a partner terminal via a communication line, comprising: a voice mode designating unit for designating a voice communication mode as a communication mode to be performed with the partner terminal. A videophone mode designating means for designating a videophone communication mode, and when the voice mode designating means or the videophone mode designating means is operated, it is determined whether or not it was operated during a calling operation, and during a calling operation. If it is operated by voice mode, it sets voice call if it is voice mode designation means, and it sets videophone call if it is video phone mode specification means. Determines whether the device is on standby and, if not, further sounds
Judge whether the mode designating means has been operated, and if yes, voice
Image communication terminal, characterized in that the mute of transmission, equipped with setting control means for setting the mute no if image transmission, a. 2. The image communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the audio mode designating means includes an audio mode display means.
The videophone mode designation means is provided with a videophone mode display means in correspondence with each other, and the setting control means sets a first display mode such that the voice mode display means is turned on when the voice telephone call is set. When the videophone call is set, the videophone mode display means is displayed in a first display mode such as lighting,
When the audio transmission mute is set, the audio mode display means is displayed in a second display mode such as blinking,
The image communication terminal, wherein when the image transmission mute is set, the videophone mode display means is displayed in a second display mode such as blinking.