Video telephone with automatic answering function

• US 6,509,924 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2001
• Issued: 01/21/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Honguu, Naoaki, Toda, Manabu
• Primary Examiner(s): CHAN, WING F
• Application Number:
  US09/847,312
• Publication Number:
  US 20020015091A1
• Time in Patent Office: 628 Days
• Field of Search: 348/14-1-, 348/14.11, 379/93.08, 379/93.09, 379/93.17, 379/93.23, 379/88.13, 379/88.11
• US Class Current: 348/14.06
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/576 associated with a pictorial or graphical representation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6505 storing speech in digital form
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/14 Systems for two-way working H04N7/12, H04N7/173 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/141 between two video terminals, e.g. videophone telephonic communication systems combined with television receiver for reception of entertainment or information matter H04M11/085

Abstract

The invention makes efficient use of the function of a video telephone to store incoming calls. A caller image is stored in a display storage portion during a call, and the display of the image with an image display portion is continued after the communication. When the user sees the display portion, the user can confirm with one glance from who a video telephone communication was received while the user was out. It is also possible to store caller images while successively increasing the number of partitions into which the screen of the image display portion is partitioned whenever an image is recorded, and successively increasing the empty display space.

Claims

1. A video telephone having an automatic answering function in which automatic answering is made in response to an incoming call and at least an image of a calling side is reproducibly stored, the video telephone comprising:

display storage means for storing image display information during automatic answering; and

display continuation means for controlling the display storage means such that image display is continued after a video telephone communication has been terminated.

2. The video telephone of claim 1, wherein the display continuation means controls the display storage means such that the display storage means stores and displays a received final image frame.

3. The video telephone of claim 1, wherein the video telephone further comprises display manipulation means for, in the case where a plurality of calls have been answered automatically and there is no empty display space for an image to be added to a continuous image display, in a storage space of the display storage means, producing available display space for the image to be added, in the display storage means by manipulating images received so far by automatic answering so as to reduce an information amount of the images, to store and display the image in the produced display space.

4. The video telephone of claim 3, wherein the display manipulation means reduces the information amount by directly culling image data stored in the display storage means.

5. The video telephone of claim 3, wherein the display manipulation means rearranges the displayed images after reducing the information amount thereof.

6. The video telephone of claim 5, wherein the images are rearranged in a chronological order.

7. The video telephone of claim 3, wherein the display manipulation means partitions the display space in a predetermined direction which is either a vertical direction or a horizontal direction into n partitions to display a plurality of m images, and in the case where a (m+1)^th image newly received by the automatic answering function is to be displayed, the display manipulation means compresses all of the plurality of images by n/(n+1) to partition the display space into n+1 partitions with respect to the predetermined direction to enable the (m+1)^th image to be displayed.

8. The video telephone of claim 3, wherein the display manipulation means partitions the display space in either a vertical direction or a horizontal direction into n partitions to display a plurality of m images, and in the case where a (m+₁)^th image newly received by the automatic answering function is to be displayed, the display manipulation means produces available display space for the (m+1)^th image in the display storage means by culling, with respect to the direction, one of n data points of each of the m images to compress the image in size to n/(n+1) in said direction, and partitioning the display space in that direction into (n+1) partitions, and compresses the (m+1)^th image to the same size as that of the m images compressed to n/(n+1) in size, to store and display the compressed (m+1)^th image in the available display space.

9. The video telephone of claim 8, wherein the display manipulation means partitions the display space into a preset maximum number of display partitions or less.

10. The video telephone of claim 8, wherein the display space is rectangular, with horizontal sides thereof being longer than vertical sides thereof, and the partitioning of the display space begins with partitioning in horizontal direction.

11. The video telephone of claim 10, wherein the partitioning of the display space is carried out in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction in alternation.