TERMINAL APPARATUS

• US 20130208136A1
• Filed: 01/30/2013
• Published: 08/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Mobile Communications Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: TAKATSUKA, Susumu, Ide, Yuji, Matsumoto, Yuji, Takanashi, Shin
• Granted Patent: US 9,148,586 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/211.99
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/45 for generating image signals from two or more image sensors being of different type or operating in different modes, e.g. with a CMOS sensor for moving images in combination with a charge-coupled device [CCD] for still images
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/61 based on recognised objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/611 where the recognised objects include parts of the human body
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/631 Graphical user interfaces [GUI] specially adapted for controlling image capture or setting capture parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/633 for displaying additional information relating to control or operation of the camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/667 Camera operation mode switching, e.g. between still and video, sport and normal or high- and low-resolution modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2621 Cameras specially adapted for the electronic generation of special effects during image pickup, e.g. digital cameras, camcorders, video cameras having integrated special effects capability

Abstract

A terminal apparatus including a display unit disposed on a case and is configured to display an image; a first camera disposed on a surface on which the display unit performs image display; a second camera disposed on a surface opposite the surface on which the first camera is disposed; a plurality of microphones disposed on the case; a sound processing unit that detects sound transmitted from a sound source on a side of the first camera with sound signals obtained by at least one of the plurality of microphones; and an image processing unit that combines a first image which is captured by the first camera or is stored in advance with a second image captured by the second camera on the basis of a result of the detection of sound transmitted from the sound source on the side of the first camera.

Claims

1. A terminal apparatus comprising:

a display unit that is disposed on a case and is configured to display an image;

a first camera disposed on a surface on which the display unit performs image display;

a second camera disposed on a surface opposite the surface on which the first camera is disposed;

a plurality of microphones disposed on the case;

a sound processing unit that detects sound transmitted from a sound source on a side of the first camera with sound signals obtained by at least one of the plurality of microphones; and

an image processing unit that combines a first image which is captured by the first camera or is stored in advance with a second image captured by the second camera on the basis of a result of the detection of sound transmitted from the sound source on the side of the first camera.

2. The terminal apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit, wherein the image processing unit performs face recognition processing on the basis of a captured image of a face of a user facing a side of the first camera and the control unit determines whether a mouth of the user has moved, and

the image processing unit automatically combines the first image with the second image when the control unit determines that there is a sound from the user obtained by at least one of the plurality of microphones and that the mouth of the user has moved.

3. The terminal apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the control unit determines that there is sound coming from the user when sound coming from a position of the user has a level equal to or higher than a threshold value.

4. The terminal apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first image is combined with the second image such that the first image has a smaller size than the second image and the first image overlaps a portion of the second image.

5. The terminal apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first image is combined with the second image such that the first image is displayed adjacent to the second image.

6. The terminal apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when there is no detection of sound transmitted from the sound source on the side of the first camera by the sound processing unit only the second image is displayed on the display unit.

7. The terminal apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sound processing unit is configured to perform sound effect processing on the sound source on the side of the first camera.

8. The terminal apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the sound effect processing is based on at least one of pitch and tempo settings set in advance.

9. The terminal apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first image stored in advance is an avatar image.

10. The terminal apparatus according to claim 9, wherein a mouth of a face included in the avatar image is configured to move in synchronization with a mouth of a user in the image captured by the first camera.

11. A method implemented by a terminal apparatus that includes a display unit that is disposed on a case and is configured to display an image, a first camera disposed on a surface on which the display unit performs image display, a second camera disposed on a surface opposite the surface on which the first camera is disposed, and a plurality of microphones disposed on the case, the method comprising:

detecting, by a sound processing unit, sound transmitted from a sound source on a side of the first camera with sound signals obtained by at least one of the plurality of microphones; and

combining, by an image processing unit, a first image which is captured by the first camera or is stored in advance with a second image captured by the second camera on the basis of a result of the detection of sound transmitted from the sound source on the side of the first camera.

12. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a program that when executed by a terminal apparatus that includes a display unit that is disposed on a case and is configured to display an image, a first camera disposed on a surface on which the display unit performs image display, a second camera disposed on a surface opposite the surface on which the first camera is disposed, and a plurality of microphones disposed on the case, causes the terminal apparatus to perform method comprising:

detecting, by a sound processing unit, sound transmitted from a sound source on a side of the first camera with sound signals obtained by at least one of the plurality of microphones; and

combining, by an image processing unit, a first image which is captured by the first camera or is stored in advance with a second image captured by the second camera on the basis of a result of the detection of sound transmitted from the sound source on the side of the first camera.