JP2001352539A - TV door phone equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] When the operation specifications of a slave unit or a master unit are changed due to redesign, etc., it is possible to easily maintain the compatibility of the interface specifications between the slave unit and the master unit. To provide a simple TV doorphone device. SOLUTION: This is a television intercom apparatus provided with a master unit 33 and a slave unit 34, wherein notifying means 21, 22, 4, 10,.
20 and adjusting means 19 are provided. The notifying means notifies the slave of the operation specification data of the slave from the slave to the master. The adjusting unit changes the operating condition of the master unit based on the operation specification data of the slave unit notified by the notifying unit.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a television intercom apparatus, and more particularly, to a television intercom apparatus capable of easily ensuring compatibility of interface specifications between a slave unit and a master unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a TV door phone apparatus including an outdoor slave unit with a camera installed outdoors (hereinafter referred to as a slave unit) and an indoor master unit with a TV monitor installed indoors (hereinafter referred to as a master unit). Have been. In such a TV door phone apparatus, a two-wire TV door phone apparatus that connects a master unit and a slave unit by two transmission lines is mainly used. In a two-wire television doorphone device, it is necessary to transfer a video signal from a child device to a parent device using only two lines and to transmit an audio signal in both directions between the child device and the parent device. Further, it is necessary to superimpose a power supply current supplied from the master unit to the slave unit on the video signal and the audio signal. Also, since the frequency band of the video signal and the audio signal partially overlap, in order to simultaneously transmit the audio signal and the video signal over two transmission lines, the video signal and the audio signal must be At least one of them needs to be modulated.

At present, two-wire television intercom systems have two systems: one is a system in which a video signal is FM-modulated and an audio signal is transmitted in baseband, and the other is a system in which an audio signal is FM-modulated and the video signal is transmitted in baseband. Generally adopted.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a conventional two-wire television door phone apparatus. The television intercom apparatus shown in FIG. 6 employs a method in which a video signal is FM-modulated while an audio signal is transmitted in baseband. Hereinafter, the TV intercom apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.

[0005] Referring to FIG. 6, the TV intercom apparatus includes a master unit 133 and a slave unit 134. Parent machine 133 and child machine 1
34 is connected by two transmission lines 131 and 132. Between the master unit 133 and the slave unit 134, the master unit 133 transmits the slave unit 13 via two transmission lines 131 and 132.
Power supply, slave unit 134, and master unit 133
An audio signal transmitted in both directions and a video FM carrier which is a video signal transmitted from the slave unit 134 to the master unit 133 are superimposed and transmitted. Here, the video FM carrier is obtained by FM-modulating a video signal.

As the video FM carrier, it is preferable that the frequency band of the audio signal does not overlap with that of the audio signal.
A carrier suitable for FM-modulating a video signal of 4 MHz is used. As the center frequency of the video FM carrier, for example, a value of 6 MHz is used.

The slave unit 134 includes a lens 101, an imaging circuit,
Video processing circuit 102, FM modulation circuit 103, impedance conversion circuit 104, power supply circuit 105, speaker 10
8, a speaker circuit 106, a microphone 109, and a microphone circuit 107. The parent device 133 includes a monitor 113, a video processing circuit / display circuit 112, an FM demodulation circuit 111, a control circuit 119, a power supply circuit 114, an impedance conversion circuit 110, a speaker circuit 115, a speaker 117, a microphone circuit 116, and a microphone 118.

In the slave unit 134, the optical signal passing through the lens 101 is converted into a video signal by the imaging circuit / video processing circuit 102. This video signal is transmitted to the FM modulation circuit 10
3 is input. Then, the video signal is FM-modulated by the FM modulation circuit 103 to obtain a video FM carrier. As a result, the video FM carrier is output to the transmission lines 131 and 132 via the impedance conversion circuit 104. In this way, the child device 134 transmits the parent device 133
The video FM carrier is transmitted.

[0009] The video FM carrier supplied from slave unit 134 to master unit 133 is input to FM demodulation circuit 111 via transmission lines 131 and 132 and impedance conversion circuit 110. In the FM demodulation circuit 111, the video F
The video signal is restored by demodulating the M carriers. This video signal is input to the video processing circuit / display circuit 112. The video processing circuit
By controlling the monitor 113 by the display circuit 112, an image captured from the lens 101 of the slave unit 134 is displayed on the monitor 113. CRT as monitor 113
Alternatively, a display device such as a liquid crystal display device can be used.

[0010] Further, the microphone circuit 1
07 is input to the master unit 133 via the impedance conversion circuit 104 and the transmission lines 131 and 132.
Transmitted to. This audio signal is supplied to the speaker circuit 115 via the impedance conversion circuit 110.
Then, according to this audio signal, the speaker circuit 115
Controls the speaker 117, so that a sound corresponding to the sound signal input via the microphone 109 of the slave unit 134 is generated in the speaker 117.

The audio signal input to the microphone circuit 116 via the microphone 118 of the master unit 133 is transmitted to the slave unit 134 via the impedance conversion circuit 110 and the transmission lines 131 and 132. From the parent device 133 to the child device 13
4 is transmitted to the impedance conversion circuit 1
04 to the speaker circuit 106. According to this audio signal, the speaker circuit 106
08, the microphone 118 of the base unit 133 is controlled.
A sound corresponding to the sound signal input through the speaker 108 is generated in the speaker 108.

In this manner, the slave unit 134 and the master unit 1
A call can be made bi-directionally with the C.33.

The impedance conversion circuits 104, 1
Numeral 10 is for setting the power supply circuits 105 and 114 to low impedance and setting the transmission lines 131 and 132 to high impedance. In the child device 134, the power supply circuit 105
1 and 132 and the power supply current supplied through the impedance conversion circuit 104 to the imaging circuit / video processing circuit 10.
2. Supply to the FM modulation circuit 103, the speaker circuit 106, and the microphone circuit 107. In the parent device 133, the power supply circuit 114 includes a video processing circuit / display circuit 112, an FM demodulation circuit 111, a speaker circuit 115, and a microphone circuit 116.
Power supply.

When a call is started between the master unit 133 and the slave unit 134, the control circuit 119 of the master unit 133 controls the power supply circuit 114 so that the power supply current supplied to the slave unit 134 is reduced. The signal is output from the circuit 114 to the transmission lines 131 and 132 via the impedance conversion circuit 110. The power supply current supplied to the impedance conversion circuit 104 via the transmission lines 131 and 132 is transmitted to the power supply circuit 105 as described above.

[0015]

In the television intercom apparatus shown in FIG. 6, attention is paid to the interface specification between the master unit 133 and the slave unit 134. The main items of the interface specifications include a supply voltage and a supply current value (power supply specification) of a power supply supplied to the slave unit 134 when the slave unit 134 is in a standby state and when the slave unit 134 is operating, and a baseband signal. As for the bidirectional audio level and the FM modulation, a carrier frequency, a carrier level deviation, a modulation signal (video signal) level, and the like are given.

When the current product is used for the parent device 133, while the child device 134 is redesigned as a new product, the redesigned child device maintains compatibility with the parent device 133 with respect to the above interface specifications. (Conventional slave unit 1
34).
For example, consider a video signal converted from an optical signal in the imaging circuit / video processing circuit 102. Regarding a video signal when the same subject is imaged under the same illumination condition, not only the signal level but also the signal waveform needs to be the same as the conventional one. This is because when the waveform of the video signal is different, the waveform of the video signal demodulated by the FM demodulation circuit 111 is different, and as a result, the video displayed on the monitor 113 is also different in appearance. .

Also, from the viewpoint of ensuring the compatibility of the interface specifications, even when the slave unit 134 is used as the current product and the master unit 133 is newly redesigned as a new product, the redesign is performed. It was necessary to maintain the compatibility of the interface specifications between the parent device and the current child device.

For this reason, it has been difficult for the television intercom apparatus to make a significant design change for either the slave unit or the master unit for the purpose of cost reduction or the like. For example, to reduce power consumption,
When trying to reduce the power supply to the outdoor child unit, the master unit 1
It is difficult to change the power supply specification of the slave unit 134 because it is necessary to maintain compatibility of the interface specification with the slave unit 134.

When redesigning slave unit 134,
For example, consider a case where the imaging circuit / video processing circuit 102 is redesigned. At this time, video signals supplied from the imaging circuit / video processing circuit 102 to the FM modulation circuit 103 when the same subject is imaged under the same illumination conditions in the conventional slave unit and the redesigned slave unit. It is difficult to set exactly the same waveform. For this reason, while maintaining the compatibility of the interface specifications between the slave unit and the master unit,
It was difficult to redesign either the slave unit or the master unit.

In the case where a plurality of variations are to be prepared for the slave unit, such as a slave unit 134 in which the captured image is changed to a black-and-white image and a color image, or a low-cost version and a high-performance version, The necessity of ensuring the compatibility of the interface specifications between the device 133 and the child device 134 has hindered the development of such variations. Furthermore, a configuration of a TV door phone device in which a plurality of slave units 134 are connected to the master unit 133 is also conceivable, but in this case, the operation specifications of the plurality of slave units 134 all basically need to be the same. Therefore, a plurality of slave units 134 having different functions are connected to one master unit 133.
It has conventionally been difficult to connect to a computer.

[0021] The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and one object of the present invention is to provide:
By providing a TV door phone device that can easily maintain the compatibility of the interface specifications between the slave unit and the master unit when the operation specifications of the slave unit or the master unit are changed due to redesign, etc. is there.

[0022]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A television intercom apparatus according to the present invention is a television intercom apparatus including a master unit and a slave unit, and includes a notification unit and an adjustment unit. The notifying means notifies the slave of the operation specification data of the slave from the slave to the master. The adjusting unit changes the operating condition of the master unit based on the operation specification data of the slave unit notified by the notifying unit.

In this way, when the operation specifications of the slave unit are changed due to reasons such as a redesign of the slave unit, the operating conditions are changed in the master unit so as to correspond to the new operation specification data of the slave unit. Therefore, the compatibility of the interface between the slave unit and the master unit can be easily maintained.

In the TV intercom apparatus according to the present invention,
It is preferable to include a transmission unit that transmits a notification unit control signal for controlling the operation of the notification unit from the parent device to the child device.

In this case, the notification timing of the operation specification data from the slave unit to the master unit can be arbitrarily changed by the notification unit control signal.

In the TV intercom apparatus according to the present invention,
The notification means control signal may include an authentication signal. The authentication signal indicates that the master unit has received the operation specification data of the slave unit. It is preferable that the notifying unit is controlled so as not to perform an operation of notifying the operation specification data of the slave unit from the slave unit to the master unit after the slave unit receives the authentication signal.

Once the slave unit is notified of the operation specification data of the slave unit to the master unit, and after the operating condition of the master unit is changed based on the operation specification data of the slave unit, the slave unit basically transmits the data. There is no need to notify the machine of the operation specification data again. For this reason, when the operating condition of the master unit is changed as described above, the notification unit control signal including the authentication signal is transmitted to the slave unit, and the transmission of the operation specification data from the slave unit to the master unit is stopped. Thus, unnecessary notification operation of the operation specification data can be omitted. When notifying the parent device of the operation specification data of the child device every time the child device is started, the time (rise time) from the activation of the child device until the child device becomes usable due to the notification operation of the operation specification data becomes long. However, since the notification operation can be omitted as described above, the rise time of the slave unit can be reduced.

In the TV intercom apparatus according to the present invention,
The slave unit may include a storage unit that stores the notification unit control signal.

In this case, the notification means control signal once transmitted to the slave unit can be held in the storage means. Then, if the operation of the notifying means is controlled in accordance with the notifying means control signal held in the storage means in the slave unit, when the same operation is repeated in the notifying means, the notifying means control signal is transmitted from the master unit to the slave unit every time The operation of transmitting can be omitted. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the problem that the operation speeds of the slave unit and the master unit are reduced due to the transmission operation of the notification unit control signal.

In the TV intercom apparatus according to the present invention,
The notifying means control signal preferably includes a request signal requesting that the operation specification data of the slave unit be notified from the slave unit to the master unit, and the notifying unit, when the request signal is received by the slave unit,
It is preferable to perform an operation of notifying the parent device of the operation specification data of the child device.

In this case, by transmitting the notification means control signal from the master unit to the slave unit, the master unit can obtain the operation specification data of the slave unit at an arbitrary timing. Therefore, when the operating condition of the parent device changes for some reason in the TV intercom apparatus, the operating condition of the parent device can be easily reset based on the operation specification data of the child device.
As a result, when an operation failure occurs due to a change in the operation condition of the parent device, the TV door phone device can be easily restored to a normal state.

In the TV intercom apparatus according to the present invention,
The transmission means may transmit the request signal to the slave unit when the power of the master unit is turned on.

In this case, each time the power supply of the master unit is turned on, the operation specification data of the slave unit is transmitted from the slave unit to the master unit, and the operation conditions of the master unit can be reset based on the operation specification data of the slave unit. The operating conditions of the master unit can be surely matched with the operation specification data of the slave unit. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent a failure such as incompatibility of interface specifications between the slave unit and the master unit.

In the TV intercom apparatus according to the present invention,
The parent device and the child device may be connected by a transmission path. The notifying unit is a slave unit control circuit for generating operation specification data in the slave unit, a slave unit transmission circuit for transmitting the operation specification data to the master unit via the transmission path, and receiving the operation specification data in the master unit. Preferably, the transmission unit includes a master unit control circuit for generating a notification unit control signal in the master unit, and a transmission unit for transmitting the notification unit control signal to the slave unit via a transmission path. It is preferable to include a master unit transmitting circuit and a slave unit receiving circuit for receiving the notification unit control signal in the slave unit.

[0035] In this way, the television door phone apparatus according to the present invention can be easily realized. In the television door phone apparatus according to the present invention, the operation specification data preferably includes a signal for identifying the product type of the slave unit, and the master unit includes means for obtaining the operation specification data from the signal for identifying the product type of the slave unit. Is preferred.

In this case, if a signal for identifying the product type of the slave unit is transmitted from the slave unit to the master unit, the master unit can know the operation specification data of the slave unit. That is, the amount of data transmitted from the child device to the parent device can be reduced. As a result, the data transmission time from the slave unit to the master unit can be shortened, so that the operation delay of the TV intercom device occurs due to waiting for the transmission of the operation specification data from the slave unit to the master unit. Occurrence can be prevented.

[0037]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following drawings, the same or corresponding portions have the same reference characters allotted, and description thereof will not be repeated.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a television door phone apparatus according to the present invention. The television door phone apparatus shown in FIG. 1 employs a system in which a video signal is FM-modulated and an audio signal is transmitted in a baseband. Hereinafter, the TV intercom apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.

Referring to FIG. 1, the TV intercom apparatus includes a master unit 33 and a slave unit 34. The master unit 33 and the slave unit 34 are connected by two transmission lines 31 and 32. Between the master unit 33 and the slave unit 34, operation specification data of the slave unit 34 and a control signal as a notification unit control signal, and supply from the master unit 33 to the slave unit 34 via two transmission lines 31 and 32. Power supply, an audio signal transmitted bi-directionally between the child device 34 and the parent device 33 and a video FM carrier which is a video signal transmitted from the child device 34 to the parent device 33 are superimposed and transmitted. I have.

The slave unit 34 includes a lens 1, an image pickup circuit / video processing circuit 2, an FM modulation circuit 3, an impedance conversion circuit 4, a power supply circuit 5, a control circuit 22 as a slave unit control circuit,
Control signal transmitting / receiving circuit 21 acting as a slave unit transmitting circuit and a slave unit receiving circuit, EEPROM 2 as storage means
3, a speaker 8, a speaker circuit 6, a microphone 9, and a microphone circuit 7. The base unit 33 includes a monitor 13, a video processing circuit / display circuit 12, an FM demodulation circuit 11, a control circuit 19 as a base unit control circuit, a power supply circuit 14, an impedance conversion circuit 10, a base unit reception circuit and a base unit transmission circuit. The control signal transmitting / receiving circuit 20 which operates, E as a storage means
An EPROM 24, a speaker circuit 15, a speaker 17, a microphone circuit 16, and a microphone 18 are provided.

The operation of the television intercom apparatus according to the present invention will be briefly described. First, by operating the call button of the slave unit 34 or the monitor button of the master unit 33, the master unit 33
Is started (the slave unit 34 is started from the standby state to be in the operating state). At this time, the slave unit 34 transmits a control signal as operation specification data to the master unit 33. That is, first, a control signal as operation specification data is formed in the control circuit 22 as the slave unit control circuit of the slave unit 34. The control signal is transmitted from the control signal transmission / reception circuit 21 as the slave unit transmission circuit to the master unit 33 via the impedance conversion circuit 4 and the transmission lines 31 and 32.

In the base unit 33, the control signal is received by the control signal transmitting / receiving circuit 20 acting as a base unit receiving circuit via the impedance conversion circuit 10. In this manner, the master unit 33 can obtain the operation specification data of the slave unit 34. In the base unit 33, a control signal including operation specification data of the slave unit 34 is transmitted from the control signal transmission / reception circuit 20 to the control circuit 19. A control circuit 22, control signal transmission / reception circuits 20, 21 and an impedance conversion circuit 4,
Reference numeral 10 indicates the operation specification data of the child device 34 from the child device 34 to the parent device 3.
3 as notification means.

The control circuit 19 as the adjusting means includes the master unit 3
Monitor 13, video processing / display circuit 12, FM demodulation circuit 11, power supply circuit 14, impedance conversion circuit 1
0, speaker circuit 15, speaker 17, microphone circuit 16
By controlling the microphone 18, the operation conditions of the parent device 33 are changed based on the operation specifications of the child device 34.

In this manner, the compatibility of the interface conditions between the slave unit 34 and the master unit 33 can be ensured. Therefore, the child device 3 is re-designed because the child device 34 is redesigned.
4 is changed, the operating conditions can be changed in the master unit 33 so as to correspond to the new operating specification data of the slave unit 34. Therefore, the slave unit 34 and the master unit 3 can be easily changed.
3 can maintain interface compatibility.

In the television door phone apparatus shown in FIG. 1, control signals such as an operation specification request signal for requesting transmission of operation specification data and an acknowledge signal indicating that master unit 33 has received the operation specification data are transmitted. , Can be transmitted from the master unit 33 to the slave unit 34. The control signal as the notification means control signal is transmitted from the control circuit 19 of the master unit 33 to the slave unit 34 via the control signal transmission / reception circuit 20, the impedance conversion circuit 10, and the transmission lines 31 and 32. In the slave unit 34, the control signal is transmitted to the control circuit 2 via the impedance conversion circuit 4 and the control signal transmitting / receiving circuit 21.
It is conveyed to 2. The control circuit 19, the control signal transmission / reception circuits 20, 21 and the impedance conversion circuits 10, 4 function as transmission means.

When an acknowledgment signal as an authentication signal is transmitted from the master unit 33 to the slave unit 34, the master unit 33 already has the operation specification data of the slave unit 34. Does not perform the operation of transmitting the operation specification data to the master unit 33 thereafter. This is basically because once the operation specification data of the child device 34 is transmitted from the child device 34 to the parent device 33 and the operation condition of the parent device 33 is changed based on the operation specification data of the child device 34, Cordless handset 34
This is because there is no need to retransmit the operation specification data from the to the base unit 33.

Therefore, when the change of the operating condition of the master unit is completed, the transmission of the operating specification data from the slave unit 34 to the master unit 33 by the transmission of the acknowledge signal is stopped, so that the unnecessary operating specification data is notified. Operation can be omitted. When notifying the parent device 33 of the operation specification data of the child device 34 every time the child device 34 is activated, the time from the activation of the child device 34 until the child device 34 becomes usable (rise time) due to the notification of the operation specification data. However, since the retransmission of the operation specification data can be omitted, the rise time of the slave unit 34 can be shortened.

Further, in the television intercom apparatus shown in FIG. 1, as described above, the parent device 33 and the child device 34 are non-volatile memories as storage means for storing control signals, for example, E.
EPROM 23, 24 (Erasable and Programmable Re
ad Only Memory).

In this case, the control signals once received by the slave unit 34 and the master unit 33 can be stored in the EEPROMs 23 and 24. Specifically, for example, at the time of the first activation of the child device 34, the operation specification data is transmitted from the child device 34 to the parent device 33. After changing the operating conditions, the master unit 33 that has received the operation specification data transmits an acknowledge signal to the slave unit 34. In this way, the interface conditions between the slave unit 34 and the master unit 33 can be confirmed. The slave unit 34 outputs an acknowledgment signal, and the master unit 33 outputs the slave unit 3.
4 are stored in the EEPROMs 23 and 2 respectively.
Hold at 4.

When the slave unit 34 holds the acknowledge signal in the EEPROM 23, the slave unit 34 does not transmit the operation specification data to the master unit 33 at the time of startup until a new operation specification request signal is received from the master unit 33. On the other hand, the master unit 33
The operation conditions of the master unit 33 can be changed based on the operation specification data stored in the ROM 24.

Therefore, every time the slave unit 34 is started, the master unit 3
The operation of transmitting the operation specification data and the acknowledgment signal between the slave unit 3 and the slave unit 34 every time can be omitted. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a problem that the rise time of the slave unit and the master unit becomes longer or the operation speed becomes slower due to the transmission operation of the control signal. The present invention is particularly effective when the operation specification data included in the control signal has a large data amount, since the above-described problem is likely to occur.

When the operation specification request signal as a request signal is transmitted from the parent device 33 to the child device 34, the operation specification data is transmitted from the child device 34 to the parent device 33. The parent device 33 that has received the operation specification data transmits an acknowledge signal to the child device 34.

In this case, by transmitting the operation specification request signal from the master unit 33 to the slave unit 34, the master unit 33 can obtain the operation specification data of the slave unit 34 at an arbitrary timing. Therefore, when the operating condition of the base unit 33 is changed for some reason in the TV intercom apparatus, the operation specification request signal is transmitted to the slave unit
Can acquire the operation specification data of the slave unit 34 again. Then, the master unit 33 can reset the operating conditions of the master unit 33 based on the operation specification data of the slave unit 34. Therefore, when an operation failure occurs due to a change in the operation condition of the base unit 33, the TV door phone device can be easily restored to a normal state.

When the parent device 33 is not replaced and only the child device 34 is replaced with a new child device 34 having another operation specification, the new child device 34 has the operation specification data of the child device 34. Is not held (the acknowledgment signal is not stored in a storage device or the like corresponding to the EEPROM 23). for that reason,
When the new slave unit 34 does not hold the acknowledge signal, the control signal including the operation specification data is transmitted to the master unit 33.
, The new slave unit 34 transmits a control signal including the operation specification data to the master unit 33, and waits for transmission of an acknowledge signal from the master unit 33. On the other hand, when the master unit 33 transmits the acknowledge signal and then receives the control signal including the operation specification data from the slave unit 34 again, the master unit 33 recognizes that the slave unit 34 has been replaced, and based on the newly received operation specification data. To change the operating conditions. Then, the master unit 33 transmits the acknowledge signal to the new slave unit 34 again. In this way,
When the slave unit 34 is replaced, compatibility of the interface conditions between the slave unit 34 and the master unit 33 can be ensured.

When only the master unit 33 is replaced with a new master unit 33 while the slave unit 34 remains as it is, the slave unit 34 has already received the acknowledge signal. Do not send to 33. On the other hand, since the new master unit 33 has not received the operation specification data from the slave unit 34 (does not hold the operation specification data in the storage means corresponding to the EEPROM 24), the new master unit 33 includes the operation specification request signal when the power is turned on. A control signal is transmitted to the slave unit 34. The slave unit 34 that has received the operation specification request signal transmits a control signal including the operation specification data to the master unit 33. After that, the operation condition is changed in the master unit 33 as described above. In this way, when the base unit 33 is replaced,
The compatibility of the interface conditions between the slave unit 34 and the master unit 33 can be ensured.

Further, in the television door phone apparatus shown in FIG. 1, when the power of the parent device 33 is turned on or when the child device 34 is first started after the power of the parent device 33 is turned on, the operation specification request from the parent device 33 is issued. The signal may be set to be transmitted to the slave unit 34.

In this case, each time the user turns on the power to the parent device 33, the child device 34
And the operating condition of the base unit 33 can be reset based on the operating specification data of the slave unit 34, so that the operation condition of the master unit 33 is It can be surely matched with the operation specification data of the machine 34.

When the operation of the TV intercom apparatus is delayed due to the transmission and reception of control signals including operation specification data between the slave unit 34 and the master unit 33 (for example, when Output or image display may not be performed immediately, that is, the rise may be delayed). Therefore, in order to prevent a delay in the operation of the TV intercom apparatus, the operation specification data may include a signal for identifying the product type of the slave unit 34. As the signal for identifying the product type, for example, a serial number defined for each product type can be used. In this case, master unit 3
3, the signal identifying the product type of the slave unit 34 is
It is preferable to prepare a means for obtaining the operation specification data of item 4, for example, a correspondence data table in which a signal for identifying the product type of the child device 34 and the operation specification data for each product type of the child device 34 are associated. The parent device 33 can obtain necessary operation specification data from the signal for identifying the product type of the child device 34 using the correspondence data table.

In this case, since the data amount of the signal for identifying the product type can be smaller than that of the operation specification data having a plurality of data items, the data amount transmitted from the slave unit 34 to the master unit 33 can be reduced. As a result, the data transmission time from the slave unit 34 to the master unit 33 can be reduced. Therefore, even if the control signal is transmitted to the master unit 33 every time the slave unit 34 is activated, the operation delay of the video doorphone device occurs due to the transmission processing of the operation specification data from the slave unit 34 to the master unit 33. Can be prevented. In this way, the control signal including the operation specification data is transmitted to the master unit 33 every time the slave unit 34 is activated, and the master unit 33 sets the operating condition each time. ,
There is no need to install the EEPROMs 23 and 24 in the master unit 33. In this case, the control signal transmitting / receiving circuit 21
As for the slave 20, it is sufficient that the control signal transmission / reception circuit 21 of the slave 34 has only a transmission function.
In 3, the control signal transmission / reception circuit 20 only needs to have a reception function. Therefore, the structures of the child device 34 and the parent device 33 can be simplified.

In the correspondence data table, a signal for identifying the product type of the slave unit 34 may correspond to the operation specification data of the master unit 33 corresponding to the product type of the slave unit 34.
In this case, the master unit 33 is the master unit 33 corresponding to the slave unit 34.
The operation conditions are changed based on the operation specification data.

The operation of the television intercom apparatus shown in FIG. 1 other than the above-described parts is basically the same as the operation of the television intercom apparatus shown in FIG. 6, as described below.
That is, in the slave unit 34, the optical signal that has passed through the lens 1 is converted into a video signal by the imaging circuit / video processing circuit 2. This video signal is input to the FM modulation circuit 3.
Then, the video signal is FM-modulated in the FM modulation circuit 3 to obtain a video FM carrier. As a result, the video FM carrier is output to the transmission lines 31 and 32 via the impedance conversion circuit 4. The video FM carrier is input to the FM demodulation circuit 11 via the transmission lines 31 and 32 and the impedance conversion circuit 10. In the FM demodulation circuit 11, the video signal is restored by demodulating the video FM carrier. This video signal is input to the video processing circuit / display circuit 12. By controlling the monitor 13 by the video processing / display circuit 12 according to the video signal, the video captured from the lens 1 of the slave unit 34 is displayed on the monitor 13. CR as the monitor 13
A display device such as a T or a liquid crystal display device can be used.

The audio signal input to the microphone circuit 7 via the microphone 9 is transmitted to the parent device 33 via the impedance conversion circuit 4 and the transmission lines 31 and 32. This audio signal is supplied to the speaker circuit 15 via the impedance conversion circuit 10. Then, the speaker circuit 15 controls the speaker 17 according to the audio signal, so that a sound corresponding to the audio signal input via the microphone 9 of the slave unit 34 is generated in the speaker 17.

The audio signal input to the microphone circuit 16 via the microphone 18 of the master unit 33 is transmitted to the slave unit 34 via the impedance conversion circuit 10 and the transmission lines 31 and 32. The audio signal supplied from the parent device 33 to the child device 34 is supplied to the speaker circuit 6 via the impedance conversion circuit 4. The speaker circuit 6 controls the speaker 8 in accordance with the audio signal, so that the parent device 33
A sound corresponding to the sound signal input through the microphone 18 is generated in the speaker 8. In this way, a two-way call can be made between the slave unit 34 and the master unit 33.

Child unit 3 transmitted from child unit 34 to parent unit 33
The control signal No. 4 includes, for example, data as shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining a control signal transmitted from the child device to the parent device.

Referring to FIG. 2, the operation specification data includes a 2-bit block C representing a control signal type and blocks A1 to A5 representing a set value signal.

Block C is data indicating the type of control signal. For example, the control signal is "00" when the control signal is operation specification data, "01" when the control signal is an acknowledge signal, and the control signal is "01". If the signal is an operation specification request signal, "10" is set.

The block A1 includes an FM demodulation circuit 11 (FIG. 1).
) (Set value to the FM demodulation circuit 11). Block A2 is a set value related to the video processing circuit / display circuit 12 (set value for the video processing circuit / display circuit 12). Block A3 is a set value related to the power supply circuit 14 (set value for the power supply circuit 14). Block A4 is a set value related to the speaker circuit 15 (set value for the speaker circuit 15). Block A5 is a setting value related to the microphone circuit 16 (setting value to the microphone circuit 16).
It is. As shown in FIG. 3, the waveform of the control signal is, for example, 40 to facilitate transmission on the transmission lines 31 and 32.
It has a burst wave configuration of kHz. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining a control signal transmitted from the child device to the parent device. As shown in FIG. 2, the setting values of each data item to be set in the master unit 33 in accordance with the operation specifications of the slave unit 34 are transmitted from the slave unit 34 to the master unit 33 as operation specification data. Alternatively, the operation specification of the slave unit may be directly transmitted to the master unit 33 as the operation specification data. In this case, master unit 3
It is preferable that each control data item of the parent device 33 be determined by the control circuit 19 of the third device from the operation specification data of the child device 34.

When the master unit 33 receives a control signal including operation specification data reflecting the operation specifications of the slave unit 34 as shown in FIG. 2, the operation conditions of the master unit 33 are changed as described above.

Specifically, the level and video frequency characteristics of the video signal after demodulation in the FM demodulation circuit 11 are set using the set value of the block A1. In this case, for example, by changing the video frequency characteristic, it becomes possible to emphasize the high frequency range of the video data component. In this way, an image with a clear outline (a so-called tight image) can be obtained.

When the high frequency range of the video data component is excessively emphasized by the slave unit 34, the spectrum band of the image FM carrier FM-modulated by the FM modulation circuit 3 is widened. If the transmission lines 31 and 32 do not support high band data transfer, such high band data is attenuated in the transmission lines 31 and 32, so that the quality of the image obtained by the master unit 33 is deteriorated. Will be. Therefore, the slave unit 34 may not be able to emphasize the high frequency of the video data component much. In such a case, in the FM demodulation circuit 11 of the base unit 33,
If sufficient high-frequency emphasis is set, an image with a clear outline and excellent image quality can be obtained.

Also, if the demodulation center frequency of the FM demodulation circuit 11 is also included in the set value set in the block A1, if the frequency of the video FM carrier is changed for some reason when the slave unit 34 is redesigned, The operating conditions such as the demodulation center frequency of the FM demodulation circuit 11 can be changed so as to match the video FM carrier. In this way, when there is a relatively important change in the video FM carrier frequency among the interface conditions between the slave unit 34 and the master unit 33, the interface between the slave unit 34 and the master unit 33 can be easily changed. Compatibility of conditions can be maintained.

Using the set value of the block A2, the operating conditions of the video processing circuit / display circuit 12, such as the gamma value of output data with respect to input data and the respective levels of RGB with respect to color video, can be changed. By changing the gamma value, when backlighting is performed in the slave unit 34, the gain of a relatively black portion of the image is increased, and the display image on the monitor 13 can be more easily viewed. However, if the gain of the black portion is excessively increased, the white portion of the display image on the monitor 13 may be saturated, which makes it difficult to see the image when the sub unit 34 performs normal light imaging. Further, by changing the RGB level of the color image, the color of the display image on the monitor 13 such as a reddish image or a bluish image can be changed.

The gamma value and the RGB level largely depend on the user's preference for video, and are usually determined from the display performance of the parent device 33 and the imaging performance of the child device 34. Therefore, gamma values and RGB levels are often not specified as interface specifications. For this reason, conventionally, when the slave unit 34 is redesigned, unless the imaging characteristics of the slave unit 34 are the same as those of the slave unit 34 before the redesign up to the fine points, the monitor 13 in the master unit 33 is not used.
It was difficult to make the image quality of the displayed video the same as before. Further, when it is difficult to finely adjust the imaging characteristics of the slave unit 34, it is necessary to reset the gamma value and the RGB level of the video processing circuit / display circuit 12 in the master unit 33. In the TV intercom apparatus according to the present invention, the operation specification data of the slave unit 34 is transmitted to the master unit 33 by the control signal as described above, and the operating conditions of the master unit 33 can be easily adjusted. The image quality can be kept high.

The voltage of the power supply to the slave unit 34 in the power supply circuit 14 is set using the set value of the block A3. By doing so, when the power supply voltage of the child device 34 becomes low when redesigning the child device 34,
The setting can be easily changed so as to lower the voltage of the power supply supplied from. In the past, since it was difficult to change the voltage of the power supply, the voltage of the power supply of the handset 34 to be redesigned sometimes remained unnecessarily high. However, in the present invention, since the voltage of the power supply can be easily reduced, the power consumption of the TV door phone device can be reduced.

The gains of the speaker circuit 15 and the microphone circuit 16 are set using the set values of the blocks A4 and A5. Since the audio signal is transmitted in the baseband, the sound may wrap around between the speaker 8 and the microphone 9 of the slave unit 34, and howling may become a problem depending on the cabinet structure of the slave unit 34. is there.
On the other hand, the base unit 33 often uses a handset,
In this case, the wraparound of the sound is not a problem in the base unit 33.

Here, when redesigning slave unit 34,
In the new slave unit 34, howling may be increased due to its structure. In this case, it is necessary to reduce the total gain of the speaker circuit 6 and the microphone circuit 7 as a countermeasure. However, for example, when the gain of the microphone circuit 7 is reduced, in the conventional TV door phone device,
As a result, the audio level generated by the speaker 17 of the third unit is reduced, and as a result, the
A problem arises in that it is difficult to hear the voice from the user. On the other hand, in the TV door phone device according to the present invention, in such a case, the gain of the speaker circuit 15 can be set to be increased, so that the above-described problem can be prevented from occurring.

An example of the operation of the television door phone apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the master unit in the TV doorphone device according to the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the slave unit in the TV doorphone device according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, a master unit 33 has a slave unit 34.
Of the power supply to the slave unit (turn on the power of the slave unit (S
1)). Next, a step (S2) of checking whether operation specification data (signal indicating operation specification) has already been received from the slave unit 34 is performed. Until a predetermined time elapses (until the time is up), the reception of the operation specification data is waited (S3). Waiting time is a predetermined time (time-up time)
(S3), a step (S7) of setting the operating condition (operating state) inside the base unit 33 to be the same as the previous condition is performed. Thereafter, the operation of master device 33 is started (S
8).

On the other hand, in the step (S2) of confirming whether the operation specification data has already been received from the slave unit 34, if the master unit 33 has received the operation specification data from the slave unit 34,
A step of confirming whether the operation specification data is a signal (product type table data) for identifying the product type (S
Perform 4). If the operation specification data is not a signal for identifying a product type, for example, data as shown in FIG. 2, a step (S5) of transmitting an acknowledgment signal to the slave unit 34 is performed. A step (S6) of updating the operating condition (operating state) is performed. If the operation specification data is a signal for identifying the product type, the data necessary for setting the base unit 33 is obtained from a correspondence data table between the signal for identifying the product type of the slave unit of the base unit 33 and the operation specification data. Take out. Based on this data, the operation condition of the master unit 33 is updated (S6). In this way,
The compatibility of the interface conditions between the parent device 33 and the child device 34 is maintained. Next, the operation of the base unit 33 is started by starting the video display and the call operation in the base unit 33 (S8). When the predetermined call operation is completed, the slave unit 34
The power supply to the slave unit 34 is stopped, and the power of the slave unit 34 is turned off (S9).

Referring to FIG. 5, child device 34 has parent device 33
Power from the slave unit 34
N (S1). Next, a step (S10) of determining whether or not the slave unit 34 has a signal (product type table data) for identifying the product type is performed. If it has the product type table data, the product type table data is transmitted to the base unit 33 as operation specification data (S1).
2). Thereafter, the imaging operation and the call operation are started (S
14).

If the child device 34 does not have a signal (product type table data) for identifying the product type, the child device 33
A step (S11) of confirming whether or not an acknowledgment signal has been received from the device is performed. If the acknowledgment signal has not been received, a step (S13) of transmitting operation specification data (signal indicating operation specification) to the master unit 33 is performed.
Thereafter, the imaging operation and the call operation are started (S1).
4). If the acknowledgment signal has already been received, the imaging operation and the call operation are started as they are (S1).
4).

Next, a step (S15) of confirming whether or not an operation specification request signal has been received from the master unit 33 is performed.
Here, when the operation specification request signal is received, the above steps (S10 to S14) are repeated.

If the operation specification request signal has not been received in the step (S15) of confirming whether the operation specification request signal has been received from the parent device 33, it is further confirmed whether an acknowledgment signal has been received from the parent device 33. Step (S1
Perform 6). If the acknowledgment signal has not been received from the master unit, the process returns to the step (S15) of confirming again whether the operation specification request signal has been received. On the other hand, when the acknowledgment signal is received, the fact that the acknowledgment signal is received is recorded in the EEPROM 24 (S17). Thereafter, the process returns to the above-described step (S15). In the slave unit 34, the power is ON.
, The imaging operation and the call operation are possible. When the supply of power from the master unit 33 stops, the slave unit 34
Is turned off.

As described above, the operation specification data is transmitted from the slave unit 34 to the master unit 33 (S12, S13), and the operation condition is changed by the master unit 33 based on the operation specification data. The compatibility of the interface conditions between the master device 34 and the master device 33 can be ensured.

The embodiments disclosed this time are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the embodiments described above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

[0086]

According to the present invention, when the operation specification of a slave unit or a master unit is changed due to redesign or the like, the slave unit notifies the master unit of the operation specification data and the notified operation. By changing the operating conditions of the master unit based on the specification data, it is possible to obtain a TV door phone device that can easily maintain the compatibility of the interface specifications between the slave unit and the master unit.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a television door phone apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining a control signal transmitted from a child device to a parent device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining a control signal transmitted from a child device to a parent device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a parent device in the television door phone apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the slave unit in the television door phone apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a conventional TV door phone apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 lens, 2 imaging circuit / video processing circuit, 3 FM modulation circuit, 4, 10 impedance conversion circuit, 5, 14
Power supply circuit, 6,15 speaker circuit, 7,16 microphone circuit, 8,17 speaker, 9,18 microphone, 11
FM demodulation circuit, 12 video processing circuit / display circuit, 13
Monitor, 19, 22 control circuit, 20, 21 control signal transmitting / receiving circuit, 23, 24 EEPROM, 31, 32
Transmission line, 33 indoor master unit, 34 indoor slave unit.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A television intercom apparatus including a master unit and a slave unit, comprising: a notifying unit for notifying operation specification data of the slave unit from the slave unit to the master unit; A TV intercom apparatus comprising: an adjustment unit configured to change an operation condition of the master unit based on operation specification data. 2. The television intercom apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a transmission unit configured to transmit a notification unit control signal for controlling an operation of the notification unit from the master unit to the slave unit. 3. The notifying unit control signal includes an authentication signal indicating that the master unit has received the operation specification data of the slave unit, and the notifying unit includes, after the slave unit receives the authentication signal, The television intercom apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the television intercom apparatus is controlled so as not to perform an operation of notifying the parent device of the operation specification data of the child device. 4. The television intercom apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the slave unit includes a storage unit that stores the notification unit control signal. 5. The notifying means control signal includes a request signal for requesting notification of operation specification data of the slave from the slave to the master, and the notifying means transmits the request signal to the slave. The device according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein when the device receives the operation, an operation of notifying the operation specification data of the child device to the parent device is performed from the child device.
Television doorphone device according to Item. 6. The television intercom apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the transmission unit transmits the request signal to the slave unit when the power of the master unit is turned on. 7. The master unit and the slave unit are connected by a transmission line, the notifying means includes: a slave unit control circuit for generating operation specification data in the slave unit; A slave unit transmitting circuit for transmitting data to the master unit; and a master unit receiving circuit for receiving the operation specification data in the master unit, wherein the transmission unit controls the notifying unit in the master unit. A base unit control circuit for generating a signal, a base unit transmission circuit for transmitting the notification unit control signal to the slave unit via the transmission line, and a unit for receiving the notification unit control signal in the slave unit. The television doorphone device according to any one of claims 2 to 6, further comprising a slave unit receiving circuit. 8. The operation specification data includes a signal for identifying a product type of the slave unit, and the master unit includes means for obtaining operation specification data from a signal for identifying a product type of the slave unit. Item 8. The television doorphone device according to any one of Items 1 to 7.