JP3184028B2 - People image display system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a person image display system, and more particularly, to processing a person image picked up by a television camera of a plurality of terminals according to a position in a three-dimensional virtual space constructed in a network. And displays the image on a display device of each terminal in a virtual space type person image display system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a video conference system has been realized as a system for holding a conference between remote places using audio information and video information. When a meeting is held between a plurality of points using the present system, a method of displaying the information on a plurality of display devices corresponding to the points, or dividing the screen of one display device and simultaneously displaying a plurality of screens there. A display method and the like are used.

[0003]

In the prior art as described above, it is not possible to obtain a sense of interacting at the same place.
There was a problem in that the number of connected points was limited. In addition, regardless of the size of the divided display screen, the number of pixels of the video screen transmitted from another point is constant, and there is a problem that the transmission path cannot be effectively used.

[0004] An object of the present invention is to make it possible to change the number of pixels of a video screen transmitted from a center device based on positional information in a virtual space transmitted from a plurality of terminals, thereby enabling effective use of a transmission path. It is an object of the present invention to provide a person image display system that enables each terminal to obtain a feeling of interacting at the same place in each terminal.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, in a person image display system according to the present invention, each terminal includes means for capturing a person image and input of position information of the person image in a virtual space. Means for transmitting image information and position information of the person image to a center device, means for receiving position information and image information of a user of another terminal from the center device, and generating a three-dimensional virtual space, Based on the received location information of the other terminal user, means for mapping the received video information of the other terminal user in the virtual space, and means for displaying the virtual space including the mapped video A center device, means for receiving video information and position information from each terminal, means for extracting a person image from the received video information, and, based on the received position information of each terminal, Terminal user Means for controlling the resolution of the object image, is characterized in that it has a means for distributing the video information and the position information of the person image of the terminal user that are controlled in the resolution to each terminal.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the center device grasps the positional relationship between the terminals based on the positional information in the virtual space sent from a plurality of terminals, and determines the number of pixels of the video screen to be transmitted to each terminal based on the positional relationship. change. Thereby, it is possible to transmit a screen having the number of pixels suitable for the size of the display screen of the terminal, and it is possible to effectively use the transmission path. Further, at each terminal, since each person is displayed in a size corresponding to the positional relationship in the virtual space, a feeling of interacting at the same place can be obtained.

[0007]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the embodiment, an example of four terminals is shown, but the system of the present invention does not limit the number of terminals.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a person image display system according to the present invention, wherein 1 is a center device, 2 is a communication network such as a private network or a public network, 31, 32, 33, and 34 are first and second. Terminals installed at the second, third and fourth points. Each of the terminals 31, 32, 33, and 34 generates a three-dimensional virtual space (virtual world model) and transmits and receives position information and video information to and from the center device 1 via the communication network 2. A person image is displayed according to the position of the user of each terminal.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing information transmitted between the terminals 31 to 34 and the center device 1. Each terminal 31-34
Transmits the position information (including the direction of the person) of the terminal user in the three-dimensional virtual space and the person image captured by the television camera. On the other hand, the center device 1
Manages all the position information from each terminal, finds the relative position and size of the person image of each terminal based on the position information, and sends to each of the terminals 31 to 34, The position information and the processed image information are transmitted. Each of the terminals 31 to 34 changes the three-dimensional virtual space screen based on each position information and each image information from the center device 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the center apparatus 1 according to the present invention. Terminals 31, 32, 3
3 and 34 from the data demultiplexer 1
1, 12, 13, and 14, which are separated into position information and video information, respectively. Each position information enters the control unit 15 through the input position information bus 17-1, and each image information enters the image processing unit 16 through the input image information bus 18-1. The control unit 15 manages the position of the user of each terminal in the three-dimensional virtual space, recalculates the positional relationship of each user based on the position information sent from each terminal, and controls the image processing unit 16. , An instruction to change the size of the personal image of each user is output. The control unit 15 distributes the received position information of each terminal to all the data demultiplexing units 11, 12, 13, and 14 via the output position information bus 17-2. On the other hand, the video processing unit 16 receives the video information sent from each of the terminals 31 to 34 and firstly,
1 extracts only the human image portion. There are various extraction methods. For example, if each terminal captures an image on a blue background, only a human image portion can be easily extracted by so-called chroma key processing. Based on an instruction from the control unit 15, the extracted each human image is converted by the resolution control unit 162 into a resolution corresponding to the size of the screen of each personal image displayed on the terminal for each terminal. Drawn. That is,
In the case where the person exists nearby in the three-dimensional virtual space, the resolution is increased in order to enlarge the display screen of the person image. Further, when the image is located far away in the three-dimensional virtual space, the resolution is reduced in order to reduce the display screen of the human image.
For example, processing is performed such that a screen having 100 × 100 pixels is changed to a screen having 50 × 50 or 25 × 25 pixels. The screen whose resolution is controlled is output to the human image distribution unit 163.
The data is further distributed to the data demultiplexing units 11, 12, 13, and 14 via the output video information bus 18-2. Each of the data demultiplexing units 11, 12, 13, and 14 multiplexes position information and video information of all terminals except the own terminal, and transmits the multiplexed information to the corresponding terminal.

FIG. 4 shows terminals 31, 32,
It is a block diagram which shows one Example of 33,34. The signal of the center device 1 enters the data demultiplexing unit 51 and is separated into position information and video information, respectively. Position information input unit 55
Is for controlling where in the virtual space to place itself. The virtual space generation unit 54 manages the virtual space, and updates the display screen of the virtual space according to an instruction from the position information input unit 55. The virtual space generation unit 54
Then, an object of another user in the virtual space is generated based on the position information of each other terminal user of the communication partner separated by the data demultiplexing unit 51. Video mapping unit 5
In step 2, each video information (person image) of another terminal received from the data demultiplexing unit 51 is mapped to the object of another user generated by the virtual space generation unit 54. The state of the person in the virtual space including the mapped video is
It is displayed on the display device 53 in a perspective. on the other hand,
The position information in the own virtual space input from the position information input unit 55 is transmitted to the center device 1 via the data demultiplexing unit 51. In addition, the own image captured by the television camera 56 is also transmitted to the center device 1 via the data demultiplexing unit 51.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a method of controlling the display screen based on the position of the user of each terminal in the virtual space. Here, the persons A, B, C, and D respectively correspond to the terminals 3
1, 32, 33, and 34 users. FIG. 5A shows the position of a person on the xy plane in the virtual space. This positional relationship is managed by the control unit 15 of the center device 1.
(2) and (3) of FIG. 5 show examples of screens on the display device of the user D of the terminal 34. Here, a case is shown where the user D is looking at the wall surface in the virtual space.

In FIG. 5A, when the user C of the terminal 33 comes to the position C ', the screen of the display device 53 of the user D of the terminal 34 changes from (2) to (3) in FIG. ).
In this case, for the person C, the center device 1 transmits a screen with a low resolution because the display screen is small in the case of (2) in FIG. 5, and the display screen is large in the case of (3) in FIG. Control to transmit a high-resolution screen is performed.

FIG. 5 shows only an example of the screen of the terminal 34. However, in the center device 1, the positional relationship of each user when the position of the user C comes to C 'for each terminal is actually shown. Each person screen of the corresponding size is generated and distributed to each terminal together with the respective position information.

When the display screen of a person is very small, that is, when a person is very far in the three-dimensional virtual space, only the position information is transmitted without transmitting the person image and the terminal image is transmitted. Then, the person can be displayed as a small icon.

In the above embodiment, the size of the display screen is controlled based on the position of the user of each terminal. For example, a partner on the display screen is instructed from the terminal, and the center device 1 uses the instruction information. It is also possible to change the size of the display screen and display it on the display device of the terminal. In the embodiment, the virtual space is managed and generated by each terminal. However, the virtual space can be managed by the center device 1 and distributed to each terminal.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The center device grasps the positional relationship between the terminals based on the positional information in the virtual space sent from the multiple terminals, and can change the number of pixels of the video screen transmitted from the center device to each terminal based on the positional relationship. It is possible to transmit a screen having the number of pixels suitable for the size of the display screen of the terminal.
Also, since only the screen data having the resolution that is actually displayed on the display device of the terminal needs to be transmitted, the effective use of the transmission path can be performed, and each terminal can have a sense of being in the same place at the same place. There is an advantage.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a person image display system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing information transmitted between a terminal and a center device.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of a center device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram illustrating an embodiment of a terminal according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a specific example of a transition of a display screen based on a position of a user of each terminal in a virtual space.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Center apparatus 2 Communication network 31-34 Terminal 11-14 Data demultiplexing part 15 Control part 16 Video processing part 161 Person image extraction part 162 Resolution control part 163 Person image distribution part 17 Video information bus 18 Position information bus 51 Data demultiplexing Unit 52 video mapping unit 53 display device 54 virtual space generation unit 55 position information input unit 56 television camera

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-344789 (JP, A) JP-A-5-241540 (JP, A) JP-A-63-78694 (JP, A) 242394 (JP, A) JP-A-4-25297 (JP, A) JP-A-63-194497 (JP, A) JP-A-6-54323 (JP, A) JP-A-3-36678 (JP, A) JP-A-2-195787 (JP, A) JP-A-5-85923 (JP, U) JP-A-4-504333 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 7/10 H04N 7/14-7/173 H04N 7/20-7/22

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A plurality of terminals connected to a center device via a communication line, wherein each terminal captures a person image; a unit that inputs position information of the person image in a virtual space; Means for transmitting the video information and the position information to the center device, means for receiving the position information and the video information of the user of the other terminal from the center device, and generating the three-dimensional virtual space and receiving the position of the user of the other terminal Based on the information, a means for mapping the video information of the other terminal user received in the virtual space, and a means for displaying a virtual space including the mapped video, the center device, from each terminal Means for receiving the video information and the position information, means for extracting a human image from the received video information, based on the received position information of each terminal,
Means for controlling the resolution of the extracted human image of each terminal user, and means for distributing video information and position information of the human image of each terminal user whose resolution is controlled to each terminal, Characterized image display system.