JPH0983630A - Telephone equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Problem] In a conventional telephone, it is necessary to remember the telephone number of the other party and input a large number each time with a numeric keypad, etc., and to use a speed key with the telephone number of the other party registered. When using it, it is necessary to enter the name of the registered person. In addition, it is difficult to understand the name alone when moving in a car, and it is very difficult for children and other people who cannot read the text. SOLUTION: An image display device 13 that displays an image icon of a person who wants to make a call, a touch panel 14 that points to an image icon displayed on the image display device 13, and image data that represents a person who wants to make a call in advance. A storage unit 5 in which a table 5A in which the telephone numbers are associated with each other is created
Then, when the image icon representing the person who wants to make a call is designated by the touch panel 14, the table 5A in the storage section is displayed.
The control unit 6 searches for a telephone number by referring to and sends the telephone number of the other party on the telephone line.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a telephone device having a display screen, controlled by a computer, and used as a terminal of a personal computer or a videophone.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a telephone is desired to make a call, it is possible to input by any of the following methods and output a dial signal to a telephone line. (1) Directly enter the telephone number of the person you want to call using the numeric keypad. (2) Register the telephone number of the person you want to call in the speed key beforehand and press the speed dial. (3) The name and number of the person you want to call are registered in advance in the speed key, and by pressing the speed dial, the name and telephone number of the person you are calling are displayed on the screen and a call is made.

As described above, in the conventional telephone, the telephone number to be called can be directly input, or the telephone can be dialed by a previously registered speed key or the like.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned conventional telephones (1) to (3) have the following problems. (1) It is necessary to remember the telephone number of the other party and input a large number each time using the numeric keypad or the like. (2) It is necessary to enter the name of the registered person in the speed key in which the telephone number of the other party is registered. In addition, it is difficult to understand the name alone when moving in a car, and it is very difficult for children and other people who cannot read the text. By pressing the (3) button, the telephone number and the registered name of the other party are displayed, so that the user can call with peace of mind, but there is the same problem as in the above (2). (4) In the ordinary telephone, since the intention is not transmitted by the moving image or the still image only by the voice, the density and the enjoyment of the communication are reduced as compared with the videophone capable of displaying the moving image or the still image. (5) When there are a large number of registered parties, it is impossible to display the names of all the persons on one screen and assign the number keys for all the persons.

Therefore, the first to fourth aspects of the present invention are described.
The invention described in the above provides a telephone device that allows even a child who cannot read characters to easily make a call. Further, the invention described in claim 5 is such that the face of the other person is simulated even if it is not a videophone. Provided is a telephone device capable of displaying a portrait, and the invention according to claim 6 can make a telephone call without disturbing a driving operation even while moving or driving in a car. It is intended to provide a telephone device.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a telephone device according to claim 1 of the present invention is an image display means for displaying an image of a person who wants to make a call, and the image display means. The telephone displayed by the means for pointing the image displayed on the screen, the storage means in which the table in which the image data representing the person who wants to make a call is associated with the telephone number is created in advance, and the means for pointing the image. When an image representing the person to be called is specified, the telephone number is searched by referring to the table of the storage means, and the control means is provided for transmitting the telephone number of the other party on the telephone line. Is.

Here, the storage means is a semiconductor memory or
The unit is composed of a disc-shaped recording medium such as a hard disk or an optical disc, and the unit for pointing the image displayed on the image display unit is composed of a pointing device for operating with a mouse, a touch panel, or a remote controller.

With the above arrangement, when the user makes a telephone call, the other party's telephone number is sent to the telephone line by simply pointing the other person's image icon on the screen of the image display means by the pointing means. it can.

A telephone device according to a second aspect is the telephone device according to the first aspect, wherein the control means is a moving image input via a telephone line as image data representing a person who wants to make a call. Stores some of the data in the storage means,
This stored still image data is output to the image display means,
It is characterized by adding a function of expressing the other party as a still image.

With the above arrangement, when the telephone used is a videophone, the face of the other party is directly captured as a still image and stored as image data, and the other party to be called is designated on the screen of the image display means. Used as an image icon for. Therefore, it is not necessary to have an external device for capturing an image, and it is possible to easily create an image icon, and it is possible to intuitively recognize the other party and make a call easily without reading characters on the screen. .

Further, the telephone device according to claim 3 is the telephone device according to claim 1, wherein the control means is a moving image input via a telephone line as image data representing a person who wants to make a call. Data is reduced and compressed, moving image data showing the face and facial expression of the other party during the call is stored in the storage means, the stored moving image data is output to the image display means, and the other party is displayed on the screen and moves. The feature is that a function of expressing by an image icon is added.

With the above structure, the face of the other party who is receiving the videophone is directly captured as a moving image and stored as image data, and is used as the icon of the other party who makes a call and is displayed on the screen of the image display means. Therefore,
It is not necessary to have a device to capture moving images externally, you can easily create a moving image icon, and you can intuitively use the movement and facial expression of the other party who has communicated once with the videophone as an icon. You can recognize the other party and make a call easily, and you can make it a very familiar device.

The telephone device according to a fourth aspect is the telephone device according to the first aspect, in which the image data of the portraits of a plurality of parties are stored in the storage means as image data representing the parties to be called. It is characterized by adding a function of storing data, selecting the image data of the other party from the image data of these portraits, and registering it in a table in the control means.

With the above structure, some image data of a portrait of a person is prepared in advance and stored in the storage means, and the portrait that the user feels closest to the person to call is selected and stored as image data. And use it as an image icon. Therefore, it is possible to easily represent the person who wants to make a call, and it is possible to intuitively recognize the person and make a call easily, and it is possible to make the device very familiar.

A telephone device according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is the telephone device according to the first aspect of the present invention, in which image data of portraits representing several facial expressions are stored in the storage means and a telephone line is provided in the control means. Judgment of the emotion of the other party from the voice data of the other party inputted through, and based on this determination, the image data of the portrait is selected, or the image data of the portrait is selected at regular time intervals to the image display means. It is characterized by adding a function of outputting and artificially expressing the expression of the other party.

Here, the control means determines the emotion of the other party,
This is performed based on the analysis result of changes in the frequency band of audio data. With the above configuration, a portrait that expresses the state of the other party based on the judgment of the other party's emotion is selected and displayed on the screen, the facial expression is displayed according to the other party's emotional state, and the other party's emotion is not judged. In this case, the portraits are switched at regular time intervals, and a state in which the user is talking with the other party is represented as an animation. Therefore, even when the videophone is not used, it is possible to perform good communication that is very familiar and is like using the videophone.

A telephone device according to a sixth aspect is the telephone device according to the first aspect, wherein a voice recognition means and a voice synthesis means are provided, and the control means is a telephone of the other party by voice input by the voice recognition means. When the number and the name of the other party are recognized, the recognized telephone number and the selected party are output to the voice synthesizing means and output by voice, and the voice number is selected by the voice recognizing means. When the confirmation is recognized, the telephone number and the selected other party are registered in the storage means, and the function of transmitting the other party's telephone number on the telephone line is added.

With the above arrangement, the voice recognition means
The name or telephone number of the person trying to make a call is recognized, and in order to eliminate the mistake, the recognized person's name or telephone number is repeated by the voice synthesizer, and these confirmations are recognized by the voice recognizer. Then, it is registered in the table of the storage means and the telephone number of the other party is sent out on the telephone line. Therefore, it is not necessary to divert the line of sight even while driving a car, and it is possible to easily make a call or register a call partner.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a telephone device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a telephone line interface (hereinafter referred to as I / F) for transmitting / receiving a signal to / from a telephone line L.
This telephone line I / F1 is connected to the transmission / reception unit 4 via the communication path switching unit 2 and the transmission / reception unit I / F3, and is also connected to the control unit 6 described later. In response to a command from the control unit 6, the call path switching unit 2 sets the call path between the telephone line I / F1 and the handset unit I / F3, and the call path between the voice synthesis unit 7 and the handset unit I / F3. Switch to. Further, the transmission / reception unit I / F 3 transmits / receives a signal to / from the transmission / reception unit 4, and outputs the voice data input to the transmission / reception unit 4 to the voice recognition unit 8. The voice recognition unit 8 is a transmission / reception unit I / F.
It recognizes the voice data input via 3, and sets the telephone number, the name of the person to be called, the mode of the telephone device, etc., and outputs it to the control unit 6.

In FIG. 1, a display controller 9 is an image display device controlled by the control unit 6.
13 Display images and characters on top. Furthermore, the image display device 13
A mouse 10, a remote controller 11, and a touch panel 14 are provided as a pointing device for selecting the above image icon, and are connected to the control unit 6 via a pointing device I / F 12.

The control unit 6 is formed of a microcontroller and controls the entire telephone device of the present invention. The storage unit 5 connected to the control unit 6 will be described.

The storage unit 5 is composed of a semiconductor memory and a magnetic disk device or an optical disk device, and in addition to the program and data of the control unit 6, a table 5A for associating image icons and telephone numbers shown in FIG. The image data group 5B is stored.

As shown in FIG. 2, the table 5A for associating image icons with telephone numbers includes an icon number 19 managed by the control unit 6, a telephone number 20 corresponding to the icon number 19,
Corresponding partner name 21, corresponding image icon data 22
Is formed from. The image icon data 22 is formed of attributes of the image icon, that is, data 22A for distinguishing a portrait, a still image, and a moving image, which will be described later, and its icon data 22B.

Further, as the image data group 5B, main image data of a plurality of caricatures in which various human characteristics such as age, gender, and hairstyle are captured in advance as image icon data are stored. For each image data, a plurality of sub-image data of caricatures expressing facial expressions such as mouth movements and emotions of those people are stored.

When the table shown in FIG. 2 is formed, a person who is closest to the image of the other party is selected from the main image data of the sample of the image data group 5B and registered as the image icon data 22 for use. . In this way, by registering the portraits of several people and using the portrait that is closest to the image of the other party, the image icon data 22 representing the other party can be easily and quickly formed.

FIG. 3 shows a screen displayed on the image display device 13 of FIG. This screen is a screen when selecting a party to call. In FIG. 3, on the image display device 13, an image icon 15 representing the person to be called, which is registered in the table 5A, the current system mode 16, and a scroll button 17 for scrolling the page by scrolling the image icon 15 are displayed. , And a message window 18 displaying the message is displayed. The system mode 16 is shown in the telephone mode in the figure. A transparent touch panel 14 is laminated on the image display device 13.

FIG. 4 shows a screen displayed on the image display device 13 when the videophone is used. The image of the other party is displayed on this screen. In FIG. 4, on the image display device 13, a moving image 23 sent from the other side, the current system mode 24, a message for displaying a message,
A window 25, a still image capture button 26, and a moving image capture button 27 are displayed. Similarly, a transparent touch panel 14 is laminated on the image display device 13.

In the above structure, the image icon 15 of FIG.
The operation when "yuri picture"(attribute; moving image) is selected will be described. (Dialing) When the touch panel 14 is pressed, the pointing device I / F 12 outputs the position on the screen of the image display device 13 to the control unit 6.

From the detected position, the control unit 6 recognizes that the other party of the call is "Yuri-e", refers to the above table stored in the storage unit 5, and the icon number from the position of "Yuri-e" is displayed. "3", telephone number is "075-111-4"
444 ", it recognizes that the attribute of the image icon 15 is" moving image ", refers to the telephone number, and outputs it as a dial signal from the communication path switching unit 2 through the telephone line I / F1. Further, the other party's name "Yuri-e" is displayed in the message window 18 of FIG. 2 together with the telephone number to indicate that the call is being made.

As described above, since the person who wants to make a call can be designated by the image icon 15 on the image display device 13, it is very easy to understand and even a small child can easily recognize the person to make a call. In addition, since the user can dial only by selecting with the pointing device (touch panel 14 in the above description), a quick call can be made.

When the telephone is connected, the screen shown in FIG. 4 when a videophone is used is displayed on the image display device 13. (Still image capture) When the still image capture button 26 on the touch panel 14 is pressed during a call, the pointing device I / F 12 outputs the position on the screen of the image display device 13 to the control unit 6.

The control unit 6 recognizes from the detected position that the still image capture has been designated, and the telephone line I / F 1
The video input from is converted to digitized data, compressed and normalized to the icon size, and stored as icon data 22B in the image / icon correspondence table in the storage unit 5. The attribute data 22A of the image icon is "still image".

As described above, since the face of the person who is talking on the videophone displayed on the image display device 13 can be directly captured as a still image and registered as the image icon data 22, means for capturing an image specially. It is possible to easily and quickly create the image icon 15 representing the other party, without the need to prepare. (Video capture) When the video capture button 27 on the touch panel 14 is pressed during a call, the pointing device I / F 12 controls the position on the screen of the image display device 13 to the control unit 6.
Output to

From the detected position, the control unit 6 recognizes that the capturing of the moving image is designated, converts the image input from the telephone line I / F 1 into digitized moving image data, and compresses it. Then, the image data is normalized as the size of the icon and stored as the moving image data as the icon data 22B of the image icon correspondence table 5A in the storage unit 5, and the attribute data 22A of the image icon is set to the “moving image”.

As described above, since the face of the other party who is talking on the videophone displayed on the screen display device 13 can be directly captured as a moving image and registered as the image icon data 22, a special means for capturing a moving image is provided. It is not necessary to prepare, and it is possible to easily and quickly create a moving picture icon that represents the other party of the call, and by making the image icon a moving picture, it is possible to more easily express the person who makes the call.

Next, the operation when the "masashi"(attribute; portrait) of the image icon 15 of FIG. 3 is selected in the above-mentioned configuration will be described. The procedure up to (dialing) is the same as the above description, and the description is omitted.

When the telephone is connected, the control unit 6 uses the sub-image data of the portrait showing the facial expression of the image icon 15. (Use of portrait image sub-image data) The control unit 6 decomposes the voice data input from the telephone line I / F1 into a spectrum during a call with the other party, and analyzes the spectrum distribution of each frequency and the spectrum distribution. Judging the emotions of the opponent such as emotions and emotions from the changes, select the sub-image data of the caricature that expresses the facial expression corresponding to those emotions, and display it on the screen display device 13 instead of the main image data of "Masashi". Let When the frequency spectrum analysis of the audio data is not performed, the sub-image data is switched so that the mouth movement can be performed at regular intervals.

As described above, the facial expression of the other party is obtained by analyzing the frequency of the voice of the other party, or the period of a certain period of time is counted, and the analyzed facial expression or a portrait showing the facial expression according to the certain period of time is displayed on the image display device. Since it is displayed as an image of the other party on 13, it is possible to make a phone call while feeling the other party's facial expression without using a videophone, and to achieve more intimate and deep communication.

Next, the operation when the voice synthesizing means 7 and the voice recognizing means 8 are used while driving the vehicle will be described. (While driving a car) When the name and telephone number of the person to be called is instructed by voice, the voice recognition means 8 outputs the recognized name and telephone number of the person to the control unit 6.

The control unit 6 controls the voice synthesizing unit 7 to output the name and telephone number of the other party recognized by the voice recognizing means 8 by voice. Then, in order to control whether the speech output unit 7 controls the speech synthesis unit 7 to confirm whether or not the speech-outputted words are correct, for example, a message “Is this all right?” Is output by speech. In response to this voice inquiry, the voice recognition means 8 confirms "yes" or "no". If not correctly recognized by the voice recognition means 8, the above process is repeated. If correctly recognized, the control unit 6 sends the telephone number corresponding to the confirmed partner to the telephone line through the telephone line I / F1.
Further, the name and telephone number of the other party are registered in the table 5A.

Further, the table 5A of the storage unit 5 is searched to confirm whether or not the person or telephone number is already registered. If already registered, the image icon is displayed on the screen display means 13 as shown in FIG. You can also highlight 15 and also display the name and phone number of the person in the message window 18. After that, the control unit 6 confirms whether it is correct or incorrect by inputting it from the touch panel 14 through the pointing device I / F 12, and if it is correctly recognized, it is registered in the table 5A of the storage unit 5 and correctly recognized. If not, the above process is performed again.

As described above, when the person to be called is designated, the telephone number or name of the person can be designated by voice, and the result can be confirmed by voice or recognized on the screen so that there is no mistake. Is displayed, so you can make a call more easily and quickly. In particular, when it is difficult to divert the line of sight such as when driving a car, it is possible to make a safer and more reliable call. In addition, you can register the face of the other party displayed on the videophone as an image icon, or you can register it by voice when you register the phone number, so you can perform the registration operation even if you cannot keep your eyes or your hand. You can

[0044]

As described above, according to the telephone device of the first aspect, the person who wants to make a call can be designated by the image icon on the image display means. Can easily recognize the person to call, and can be dialed just by selecting with the pointing means,
You can call quickly.

According to another aspect of the telephone device of the present invention, when the telephone to be used is a videophone, the face of the receiving party is directly captured as a still image and stored as image data, and displayed on the screen of the image display means. By using it as an image icon to specify the person to call, you can easily create an image icon without having to have an external device to capture the image, and you do not need to read the characters on the screen. You can intuitively recognize the other party and call easily.

Further, according to the telephone device of claim 3,
A device that captures a moving image by externally capturing the face of the other party who is receiving in the videophone as a moving image and storing it as image data and using it as the icon of the other party who makes a call is displayed on the screen of the image display means. You don't have to have it, you can easily create a moving image icon, and you can use the movement and facial expression of the person you have communicated once with the videophone as an icon as it is,
You can intuitively recognize the other party and easily make a call, and you can make it a very familiar device.

According to the telephone device of the fourth aspect, some image data of a portrait of a person is prepared in advance and stored in the storage means, and the portrait that the user feels is closest to the person to call. By selecting and storing as image data and using it as an image icon, you can easily represent the person you want to call, so you can intuitively recognize the other party and make a call easily. It can be a very familiar device.

Further, according to the telephone device of claim 5,
If you select a portrait that expresses the state of the other person based on the judgment of the other party's emotion and display it on the screen, display the facial expression according to the other party's emotional state, and if you do not judge the other party's emotion, By switching portraits at regular time intervals and expressing the state of talking with the other party as an animation, you can call while feeling the other person's facial expression even when you are not using a videophone, You can communicate more closely and deeply like using a videophone.

According to the telephone device of the sixth aspect, the voice recognition means recognizes the name or telephone number of the person trying to make a call, and in order to eliminate the mistake, the voice recognition means recognizes the person's name or telephone number. The name and telephone number are repeated,
Furthermore, when these confirmations are recognized by the voice recognition means, they are registered in a table and the other party's telephone number is sent out on the telephone line, so that the line of sight can be seen even when the driver's line of sight or the hand cannot be released, such as when driving a car. You do not need to divert, you can call more easily, more quickly, more safely and securely, and you can register the other party.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a telephone device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a table diagram in which image icons stored in a storage unit of the telephone device are associated with telephone numbers.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a screen for designating a destination by an image icon displayed on the image display device of the telephone device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a screen displayed during a call by a videophone displayed on the image display device of the telephone device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Telephone line interface 2 Call path switching unit 3 Transmitting / receiving unit interface 4 Transmitting / receiving unit 5 Storage unit 5A Image icon-phone number table 5B Portrait image data group 6 Control unit 7 Voice synthesis unit 8 Speech recognition unit 9 Display controller 10 Mouse 11 Remote control 12 Pointing device interface 13 Image display device 14 Touch panel 15 Image icon 16, 24 System mode 17 Scroll button 18, 25 Message window 19 Icon number 20 Telephone number 21 Other party name 22 Image icon data 22a Icon attribute 22b Icon data 23 Video of the other party of the videophone 26 Still image capture button 27 Video capture button

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image display unit for displaying an image of a person who wants to make a call, a unit for pointing an image displayed on the image display unit, image data and a telephone number representing a person who wants to make a call in advance. When the image representing the person who wants to make a call is designated by the storage means in which a table corresponding to is created and the means for pointing the image, the telephone number is searched by referring to the table of the storage means. The telephone device is provided with a control means for transmitting the telephone number of the other party on the telephone line. 2. The control means stores a part of the moving image data input via a telephone line in the storage means as image data representing a person who wants to make a call, and the stored still image data is displayed as an image. 2. The telephone device according to claim 1, further comprising a function of outputting to the display means and expressing the other party as a still image. 3. A moving image showing the face and facial expression of the other party during a call by compressing and compressing data of a moving image input via a telephone line as image data representing the other party to call to the control means. The telephone according to claim 1, further comprising a function of storing data in a storage means, outputting the stored moving image data to an image display means, and expressing the other party by a moving image icon displayed on the screen. apparatus. 4. The storage means stores image data of caricatures of a plurality of faces of the other party as image data representing the other party to call, and the control means stores the image data of the other party from the image data of these caricatures. 2. The telephone device according to claim 1, further comprising a function of selecting and registering in a table. 5. The storage means stores image data of portraits representing several facial expressions, and the control means determines the other party's emotion based on the other party's voice data input via a telephone line, and based on this determination. The image data of the portrait is selected, or the image data of the portrait is selected and output to the image display means at regular time intervals, and a function of artificially expressing the facial expression of the partner is added. The telephone device according to claim 1. 6. A voice recognizing means and a voice synthesizing means are provided, and when the voice recognizing means recognizes the telephone number of the other party and the name of the other party in the control means, the recognized telephone number and The selected partner is output to the voice synthesizing means and output as a voice, and when the voice recognition means recognizes the confirmation of the telephone number and the selected partner, the telephone number and the selected partner are stored in the table of the storage means. 2. The telephone device according to claim 1, further comprising a function of registering and transmitting the telephone number of the other party on the telephone line.