Television – Two-way video and voice communication – Conferencing
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-22
2001-10-09
Kuntz, Curtis (Department: 2643)
Television
Two-way video and voice communication
Conferencing
C348S014090, C710S001000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06300972
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card-shaped processing apparatus used by mounted in a personal computer or the like, more particularly relates to a video card capable of suitably carrying out an input/output, encoding/decoding, and communication processing of video data, and to a video card communication apparatus suitable for carrying out a video conference and constituted using the video card.
2. Description of the Related Art
Advances made in image processing technology and communication technology are leading to the realization of television telephone systems and television conference systems.
On the other hand, advances in semiconductor technology have resulted in rapid progress in the improvement of performance and reduction of size of data processing apparatuses. High performance personal computers having performances comparable to a conventional mainframe computers and smaller notebook type personal computers (notebook type PCs) etc. have been developed and have spread widely. Further, even the peripherals connected to such personal computers are being made in the form of cards. Cards are in particular now becoming one of the main means for adding functions to notebook type PCs. Further, these cards have been improved in function from memory cards containing a memory and just functioning as recording medium to IC cards having specific processing functions.
Almost all of the above conventional television telephone systems and television conference systems have been large in size of hardware and high in price and therefore have not been systems which can be easily utilized by the general public. In order to realize such functions, further, real time processing of pictures, particularly moving pictures, becomes necessary, but this kind of processing involves an enormous amount of data and demands high speeds. For this reason, even though progress has been made in improvement of performance, the load thereof is not small by any means even in the computer devices as mentioned above. Usually, such functions are realized by dedicated image memories, dedicated processors, or dedicated processing apparatuses having DSPs or the like.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a video card capable of carrying out processing in the transmission and reception of video data such as handling of images, encoding/decoding, and communication simultaneously for both of the transmission and reception in real time and capable of providing an environment where a television telephone system, a television conference system, etc. can be suitably realized together with an information processing apparatus when mounted in the information processing apparatus.
Further, another object of the present invention is to provide a video data communication apparatus capable of suitably carrying out processing accompanying real time bi-directional communication of video data by a simple configuration, that is, an inexpensive configuration, and thereby capable of realizing a television telephone system, a television conference system, etc.
To attain the above objects, according to a first aspect o the present invention, there is provided a video card comprises a semiconductor memory, a camera signal inputting means to which a camera is connected and for converting video signals input from the camera to an intended format and recording the same in the memory, an encoding means for encoding the input video signals and recording the encoded video signals in the memory, a first transmitting means for transmitting the encoded video signals to the host controller, a receiving means for receiving the encoded video signals transmitted from the host controller and recording the same in the memory, a decoding means for decoding the encoded video signals and recording the decoded video signals in the memory, a second transmitting means for transmitting the decoded video signals to the host controller, a third transmitting means for transmitting the video signals before encoding input from the camera to the host controller, and a controlling means for making predetermined means valid based on a control signal input from the host controller to make them carry out the intended processings, and the encoding means and the decoding means are constituted substantially by one signal processing means such as a programmable DSP, and the first to third transmitting means and the receiving means are constituted substantially by one interface means according to the PCMCIA standard.
Preferably, the signals in the video card operate independently from the host controller in synchronization with an internal television synchronization signal.
Further preferably, the memory is constituted so as to be able to record the video signals input from the camera, the encoded video signals, the encoded video signals input from the host controller, and the decoded video signals in predetermined regions and carry out the read/write of the data to and from the regions substantially independently by a memory control circuit having a plurality of address counters.
Specifically, the controlling means defines the internal state of the video card by variables such as the operation mode and flag and uses these to carry out the control. Namely, it is constituted by a register recording these variables, a logic circuit carrying out operations under easy conditions etc. based on this, and a signal processing means carrying out signal processing according to a predetermined procedure based on the same.
Also preferably, the controlling means simultaneously makes the camera signal inputting means and the encoding means valid according to need so as to enable simultaneous recording of the video signals input from the camera device in the memory means and the encoding of the video signals.
Further preferably, the controlling means simultaneously makes the second transmitting means and the third transmitting means valid, and the interface means transmits the decoded video signals and the input video signals to the host controller substantially by one transmission processing.
Furthermore preferably, the controlling means makes the first transmitting means valid simultaneously with the camera signal inputting means, the encoding means, and the decoding means according to need, and the first transmitting means reads the encoded video signals from the memory means in horizontal and vertical blanking periods of the video signals when the means carry out the reading and recording with respect to the memory means and transmits the same to the host controller.
Further preferably, the controlling means makes the receiving means valid simultaneously with the camera signal inputting means, the encoding means, and the decoding means according to need, and the receiving means receives the encoded video signals transmitted from the host control device in horizontal and vertical blanking periods of the video signals when the means carry out the reading and recording with respect to the memory means and records the same in the memory.
Further specifically, the interface means is a means for carrying out communication with the host control device based on the PCMCIA standard and has a basic inputting/outputting means for carrying out the transmission of video signals input from the camera signal input unit and encoded and the reception of the encoded video signals, a format converting means for converting the video signals input from the camera signal input unit and the video signals received at the receiving means and decoded at the decoding means to a format which can be immediately displayed on a display device of the host control device, and a ZV port outputting means for transmitting the format-converted video signals.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a video data communication apparatus comprising the video card and a control device, which comprises transmission use video signal acquiring means on which the video card is mounted and for acquiring
Frommer William S.
Frommer Lawrence & Haug LLP.
Kuntz Curtis
Polito Bruno
Remakrishnaiah Melur
LandOfFree
Video card and video data communication apparatus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Video card and video data communication apparatus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Video card and video data communication apparatus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2551813