Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd

Sony Corporation

Takashi Orime

Tsukasa Nakano

Yasushi Miyajima

Yasuo Takahashi

Hiroyuki Yoshida

Yuichiro Takeuchi

Hiroyuki Yajima

Kenji Hirosawa

Junichi Rekimoto

Hiroki Matsumoto

When a user viewing an image of a conversation partner displayed on a display moves, a displayed image is more easily switched to an image reflecting a position of the user after the movement. When an image of a first user is displayed on a display of a second user, the image of the first user taken by an imaging device and an image of a background taken by the imaging device are acquired, and the acquired images are composited with each other, thereby displaying on the display a composite image in which the first user is positioned in front of the background. Moreover, when a movement of the face of the second user with respect to the display is detected, transition processing of causing the composite image displayed on the display to transition from a state before the detection of the movement of the face is carried out.

Image display system and image display method

In an image display system for viewing, by a user in a first space, an image of a second space remote from the first space, image data indicating an image acquired by an imaging device placed in the second space is received from the imaging device. A partial image of the image indicated by the received image data is displayed on a display screen in the first space, the partial image having a display size corresponding to the size of the display screen. At least one of the position, the facial direction, the visual line, or the facial position of the user in the first space is detected by a detector. When a detection result of the detector changes while the partial image is being displayed, it is determined which partial image of the image indicated by the image data is to be displayed on the display screen.

In a conversation communication system, a facial image of the communicator is stored, a distance between the communicator and a display and the direction of the face of the communicator are detected. It is determined whether or not the conversation communication is to be continued according to the detected distance and the detected facial direction. When the detected facial direction is a direction facing the display from the front, the conversation communication is to be continued. On the other hand, in a case where the detected facial direction is different, when the detected distance increases afterward, if any of the following conditions (1) and (2) is satisfied, the conversation communication is terminated: (1) the distance is undetectable; and (2) the detected facial direction is, for equal to or longer than a preset period of time, maintained at the direction different from the direction facing the display from the front.

Conversation communication system and conversation communication method

A communication unit prevents a malfunction which initiates communication against a user's will when communication for the purpose of remote dialog, without requiring a complex operation on the part of the user. This communication unit, used when a sender transmits his or her image or speech information to a recipient, comprises: a device that acquires image and speech information; a home server that transmits communication data indicating the information acquired by the information acquisition device to a device possessed by the recipient; and a detection unit that detects an object to be detected which is generated or changed by an action of the sender. The detection unit detects mutually different types of the objects each to be detected. Then, the home server starts transmitting the communication data when each detection result from each of two or more types of the detection units satisfies a predetermined condition.

Communication unit

A system and method are provided to hold a dialog between communicators while the communicators are viewing their images each other and which prevents the presence of an image display screen from being noticeable in a non-communication state. A first unit for the communicator generates and transmits first data indicating the image of the communicator. A second unit for the communication partner expands the first data received via a communication line to display the image of the communicator on the display screen, and generates and transmits second data indicating the image of the communication partner in front of the display screen. A human sensor is configured to detect that the communication partner is at a predetermined position in a home. Only during the period of the human sensor detecting that the communication partner is at the predetermined position, the display-cum-mirror forms a display screen, and otherwise, a mirror.

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Osaka, Japan

Takashi Orime