JPH07115632A - Video communication terminal system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the video communication terminal system for enabling video communication in a relaxed environment without violating privacy when performing the video communication including the picture of a speaker. CONSTITUTION:The hand set function of cordless speaking is provided at a remote controller 2 for function control so as to perform the video communication in the relaxed environment without limiting the action of the speaker 3 and without specifying the position of the speaker 3. Further, a function for transmitting the spatial position coordinate is provided at the remote controller 2 so as to always transmit a relative position coordinate (r) of the head of the speaker 3 under speaking to the side of a video communication terminal while using the remote controller 2. On the side of the video communication terminal, a picture projecting the picture of the speaker on a screen at all times can be inputted by receiving the position coordinate information and changing the optical axis direction and zoom ratio of an input camera 15 on the side of the video communication terminal 1 according to that information. Thus, privacy can be protected by enabling the communication of the high- resolution personal image at all times and limiting a background image.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to video communication, that is, T
The present invention relates to a video communication terminal system used for controlling a V telephone, a video conference, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a function control tool for a visual telephone, which is a conventional video communication terminal, use of a conventional personal computer, workstation keyboard, mouse or the like has been considered for communication in an intensive environment such as an office. It was

[0003]

However, in a function control tool such as a keyboard or a mouse, the position of the speaker is specified near the personal computer or workstation.
In a video communication terminal premised on home use, a call in a more relaxed environment, that is, working effectively in an environment that does not limit the behavior of the speaker and does not specify the position of the speaker, Moreover, it is desirable that the tool realizes an easy interface that can be operated by children. For that purpose, it is considered that a system capable of remote control using a remote control is suitable.

In order to establish video communication in a relaxed environment, it is required to always transmit a high quality video of the speaker regardless of the speaker position. When transmitting video regardless of the speaker position, a method using a wide-angle imaging method that projects the entire room of the speaker can be considered, but it is difficult to distinguish the facial expression because the image of the speaker is small. There is a problem that information in the speaker's room is also transmitted. From the viewpoint of privacy protection in personal video communication, it is desirable to avoid transmission of information in the room of the speaker.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to perform video communication including a video of a speaker in a relaxed environment without violating privacy. It is to provide a video communication terminal system that enables the above.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, in the video communication terminal system of the present invention, a video communication terminal equipped with a video input camera and a remote controller for remotely controlling the function of the video communication terminal are provided. The remote controller has a handset unit for voice communication and a unit for transmitting spatial coordinate information of the remote controller.
A means for the video communication terminal to receive the spatial coordinate information, and to determine the optical axis direction and the zoom ratio of the video input camera according to the received spatial coordinate information so that the video of the speaker during a call is always captured. It is characterized by having means for controlling the input camera.

[0007]

In the video communication terminal system of the present invention, the remote control for function control is provided with the cordless handset function for voice call, so that the behavior of the speaker is not restricted and the position of the speaker is not specified. It enables video communication under. Further, by providing the remote controller with the function of transmitting the spatial position coordinates, the hand position function is used to constantly transmit the head position coordinates of the talking speaker to the video communication terminal side. On the video communication terminal side, the position coordinate information is received, and by changing the optical axis direction and zoom ratio of the video input camera built in the video communication terminal side, the video of the speaker is always displayed on the screen. Enables video input to be captured. As a result, it is possible to always display the person image of the other party with high resolution, and it is possible to limit the display of the background image to protect the privacy.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1 and 2 show the system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of the present system viewed from above, and FIG. 2 is a diagram of a video communication terminal viewed from the front. This system comprises a video communication terminal 1 and a remote controller 2. Reference numeral 3 in FIG. 1 is a speaker.

As shown in FIG. 2, the video communication terminal 1 includes an audio signal transmitting / receiving unit 11 for transmitting / receiving an audio signal to / from the remote controller 2, an infrared light receiving unit 12 for receiving an infrared signal from the remote controller 2, and a remote controller 2. Ultrasonic wave receiving unit 13 that receives the ultrasonic waves of the other and detects the spatial coordinate information thereof, and monitor 14.
And an input camera 15 for photographing a speaker, and a video communication terminal main body 16 which is connected to each of the above parts and a public line to perform image communication and the like.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the video communication terminal 1. In the figure, 11, 12, and 13 are the audio signal transmitting / receiving unit, the infrared receiving unit, and the ultrasonic receiving unit described above, respectively. Here, the voice signal transmission / reception unit 11 includes an antenna 111 and a voice signal modulation / demodulation unit 112. Reference numeral 161 is a codec, 162 is a function control unit, 163 is a coordinate calculation unit, and 164 is a camera controller, which are housed in the video communication terminal main body 16 of FIG. The codec 161 is connected to the public line, receives the video signal from the input camera and the antenna 111, and receives the audio signal modulator / demodulator 11
The audio signal from the remote controller 2 demodulated in 2 is digitized and compressed to communicate with the other party through the public line, while the digital signal communicated from the other party is expanded to restore the video signal and the audio signal. The video signal is sent to the monitor 14 of FIG. 2 for display, and the audio signal is sent to the audio signal modulator / demodulator 112 to be modulated and sent from the antenna 111 to the remote controller 2. The detection signal of the infrared light receiving section 12 is sent to the function control section 162, and the function control section 162 uses the detection signal to detect the remote control 2
Decode the operation command of to control power on / off, volume increase / decrease, dial ring, etc. The spatial coordinate information detected by the ultrasonic wave reception unit 13 is sent to the coordinate calculation unit 163, and the coordinate calculation unit 163 calculates the upper body position of the speaker who is talking with the remote controller 2 according to the spatial coordinate information, The calculation result is sent to the camera controller 164. Based on the calculation result, the camera controller 164 controls the input camera 15 of FIG. 1 so that the input camera 15 can always capture the speaker regardless of the position of the speaker.

Next, the configuration of the remote controller 2 will be described. Figure 4
Is a block configuration diagram thereof. In the figure, reference numeral 21 denotes an ultrasonic wave oscillating unit for notifying the spatial coordinate information of the remote controller 2,
22 is a keypad, 23 is an infrared pulse generator, 24 is an infrared light emitting element, 25 is a microphone, 26 is a speaker, 27
Is a voice signal modulator / demodulator, and 28 is an antenna. The keypad 22 converts the operation of the speaker into an electric signal, which is converted into a pulse signal by the infrared pulse generator 23, converted into an infrared signal by the infrared light emitting element 24, and transmitted to the space. The voice of the speaker is picked up by the microphone 25, input to the voice signal modulator / demodulator 27, modulated, and transmitted from the antenna 28. On the other hand, the audio signal received from the antenna 28 from the video communication terminal 1 side is input to the audio signal modulator / demodulator 27, demodulated, and transmitted to the speaker through the speaker 26.

The operation and action of the embodiment configured as described above will be described.

The remote controller 2 uses the keypad 22, the infrared pulse generator 23, and the infrared light emitting element 24 to realize the power-on / off of the terminal, the volume control, the dial function and the like with the same functions as a normal infrared remote controller. Further, by including the microphone 25, the speaker 26, the voice signal modulation / demodulation unit 27, and the antenna 28, it has a handset function capable of performing cordless call. The speaker makes a voice call by bringing the remote controller 2 into close contact with the head. In this way, the remote controller 2 for function control
By having a cordless handset function for voice calls, it enables video communication in an environment that does not limit the actions of the speaker and does not specify the position of the speaker.

Further, in the present embodiment, the ultrasonic wave oscillating unit 21 of the remote controller 2 oscillates ultrasonic waves, and the ultrasonic wave oscillating unit 13 arranged near the optical axis center of the input camera 15 of the video communication terminal 1 produces the ultrasonic waves. By receiving, the relative position coordinates r (x, y, z) of the head of the speaker from the ultrasonic wave reception unit 13 are detected. As a method for acquiring the spatial position coordinates, there are a method using a magnetic field, a method using ultrasonic waves, and the like, but in the present embodiment, an ultrasonic method that is less affected by an electromagnetic field generated from the remote controller 2 and the video communication terminal 1 is used. It is adopted. The coordinate calculation unit 163 determines the direction cosine of the input camera 15 in the optical axis direction and the focal length of the camera based on the received and detected spatial position coordinate information, and transfers it to the camera controller 164. That is, assuming that the difference between the coordinates of the ultrasonic oscillator 21 of the remote controller 2 and the barycentric coordinates of the upper half of the speaker 3 is dr (dx, dy, 0), the optical axis direction of the camera is the vector l (x-dx, y-). d
y, z), and the direction cosine of the direction is l / | l | = (x-dx, y-dy, z) / √ {(x-
dx) ² + (y-dy) ² + Z ² }. The focal length of the input camera is f, the light receiving element (CC
When the vertical length of the light receiving unit in D) is d and the upper half of a general human is h, the input image is always set to the bust shot of the speaker by setting f = ld / h.

As described above, the remote controller 2 has the function of constantly transmitting the head position coordinates of the talking speaker using the handset function to the video communication terminal 1 side. , The input camera 15 built in the video communication terminal 1 side according to the position coordinate information received.
By changing the optical axis direction and the zoom ratio, it is possible to input an image such that the bust shot image of the speaker is always displayed on the screen. As a result, it is possible to always display the person image of the partner with high resolution, and to limit the display of the background image, thereby enabling protection of privacy.

[0017]

As is apparent from the above description, by using the video communication terminal system of the present invention, video communication in a relaxed environment can be performed without invasion of privacy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a configuration example of a video communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a video communication terminal in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a remote controller according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Video communication terminal 2 ... Remote control 3 ... Speaker 11 ... Audio signal transmitting / receiving part 12 ... Infrared light receiving part 13 ... Ultrasonic wave receiving part 14 ... Monitor 15 ... Input camera 21 ... Ultrasonic wave oscillating part 24 ... Infrared light emitting element 25 ... Microphone 26 ... Speaker 161 ... Codec 163 ... Coordinate calculation unit 164 ... Camera controller

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Toshiro Kita 1-1-6 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nihon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A system comprising a video communication terminal equipped with a video input camera and a remote controller for remotely controlling the function of the video communication terminal, wherein the remote controller is a handset means for voice communication, and the spatial coordinates of the remote controller. A means for transmitting information, a means for the video communication terminal to receive the spatial coordinate information, and an optical axis direction and a zoom ratio of the video input camera are determined according to the received spatial coordinate information to always talk during a call. An image communication terminal system comprising means for controlling the image input camera so as to capture an image of a person.