Telewriting terminal system performing adding/deleting operation of an image based on control information

• US 5,745,688 A
• Filed: 01/23/1996
• Issued: 04/28/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Oka, Kouji
• Primary Examiner(s): ROGERS, SCOTT A
• Application Number:
  US08/590,332
• Time in Patent Office: 826 Days
• Field of Search: 358/468, 358/452, 358/453, 358/448, 358/434-436, 348/15, 348/13, 178/18, 379/158, 379/201-206, 379/93, 379/96, 379/100, 395/200.04, 395/329, 395/330, 395/792, 395/331, 395/332, 395/200.03, 395/712, 395/772, 395/617, 395/619, 345/1, 345/2, 370/270, 370/260
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/42 Systems for two-way working , e.g. conference systems H04N1/32 takes precedence

Abstract

A telewriting system has a plurality of telewriting terminals connected with a communication line, each of the telewriting terminals having a display unit so as to display an image thereon. The image displayed on the display unit is changed in accordance with instruction information transmitted via the communication line. A server unit is connected to each of the telewriting terminals by the communication line. The server unit communicates with the telewriting terminals, and has an image memory to store image information corresponding to the image displayed on the display unit. The image information to be stored in the image memory is changed, when the instruction information requesting a change of the image is received from the telewriting terminals, in accordance with the received instruction information. Differential information between the image information before the change and the image information after the change is extracted. The differential information is distributed to each of the telewriting terminals.

Claims

1. A telewriting system comprising:

a plurality of telewriting terminals connected with a communication line, each of said telewriting terminals having a display unit so as to display an image thereon, the image displayed on said display unit being changed in accordance with instruction information transmitted via the communication line; and

a server unit connected to each of said telewriting terminals by the communication line, said server unit comprising,

communication means for communicating the instruction information and image information with each of said telewriting terminals via the communication line,

an image memory for storing image information corresponding to an image displayed on said display unit at of each of said telewriting terminals,

change means for changing the image information to be stored in said image memory, when the instruction information requesting a change of the image is received from at least one of said telewriting terminals, in accordance with the received instruction information,

differential information extraction means for extracting differential information between the image information before the change and the image information after the change, and

distribution means for distributing the differential information to each of said plurality of telewriting terminals, wherein said plurality of telewriting terminals are configured to adjust said image displayed on said display unit based on said differential information provided from said distribution means.

2. The telewriting system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the image information comprises binary image data having a first value representing white and a second value representing black, said differential information extraction means comprises first extraction means and second extraction means, and said first extraction means extracting the binary image data changed from said first value to said second value to obtain first differential information, said second extraction means extracting the binary image information changed from said second value to said first value to obtain second differential information, said first differential data being distributed separately from said second differential information.

3. The telewriting system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said telewriting terminals comprises display control means for displaying the image which is being changed through the display unit thereof.

4. The telewriting system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said telewriting terminals comprises transmission request input means for inputting transmission request information for requesting transmission of the image information of the image displayed on the display unit of a remote telewriting terminal, and said server unit comprises lump transmission means for transmitting the whole image information stored in said image memory to at least one of said telewriting terminals when the transmission request information is received from said at least one of said telewriting terminals.

5. The telewriting system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said telewriting terminals comprises switch request input means for inputting switch request information for requesting switching of the image displayed on the display unit, said telewriting system further comprising:

a memory unit storing the image information to be displayed on the display unit of each of said telewriting terminals; and

switch control means for switching a first image being displayed on the display unit to a second image, a switching operation being performed after the image information corresponding to said first image is stored in said memory unit, the image information corresponding to said second image being retrieved from said memory unit.

6. The telewriting system as claimed in claim 5, wherein said memory unit and said switch control means are provided in said server unit.

7. The telewriting system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the image information stored in said memory unit is related to display instruction information including a reference number designating each image information, said switch control means switching the image displayed on the display unit by retrieving the image information from said memory unit by referring to the display instruction information.

8. The telewriting system as claimed in claim 5, wherein said switch control unit interrupts a switching operation performed in accordance with the switch request information when the instruction information is received from one of said telewriting terminals.

9. The telewriting system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said distribution means distributes the differential information in accordance with a receiving order of the instruction information so that the differential information corresponding to the instruction information received first is distributed first.

10. A telewriting system comprising:

a server unit connected with a communication line for transmitting an instruction information having a distribution means for distributing image differential information; and

a plurality of telewriting terminals, each of said telewriting terminals comprising,

a display unit configured to display an image thereon, the image displayed on said display unit being changed in accordance with instruction information transmitted from said server unit via the communication line,

communication means for communicating the instruction information and image information between each of said telewriting terminals via the communication line and said server unit, and

change means for changing the image information corresponding to the image displayed on the display unit when the instruction information requesting a change of the image is received, the instruction information including the differential information between the image information before the change and the image information after the change.

11. The telewriting system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the image information comprises binary image data having a first value representing white and a second value representing black, the differential information including first differential information obtained by extracting the binary image data changed from said first value to said second value and second differential information obtained by extracting the binary image data changed from said second value to said first value, and said change means comprises:

discrimination means for discriminating the differential information to be one of said first differential information and said second differential information; and

process means for processing the image information in accordance with a result of discrimination made by said discrimination means, a logical sum being performed on the image information with the differential information when the differential information is discriminated as the first differential information, a logical multiplication being performed on the image information with the differential information when the differential information is discriminated as the second differential information.

12. The telewriting system as claimed in claim 10, wherein each of said telewriting terminals comprises display control means for displaying the image which is being changed through the display unit thereof.

13. The telewriting system as claimed in claim 10, wherein each of said telewriting terminals comprises switch request input means for inputting switch request information for requesting switching of the image displayed on the display unit, said telewriting system further comprising:

a memory unit storing the image information to be displayed on the display unit of each of said telewriting terminals; and

switch control means for switching a first image being displayed on the display unit to a second image, a switching operation being performed after the image information corresponding to said first image is stored in said memory unit, the image information corresponding to said second image being retrieved from said memory unit.

14. The telewriting system as claimed in claim 13, wherein the image information stored in said memory unit is related to display instruction information including a reference number designating each image information, said switch control means switching the image displayed on the display unit by retrieving the image information from said memory unit by referring to the display instruction information.

15. The telewriting system as claimed in claim 13, wherein said switch control unit interrupts a switching operation performed in accordance with the switch request information when the instruction information is received from one of said telewriting terminals.