Video telecommunication system

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a video telecommunication system, which is capable of easily obtaining a background scene desired by a user by automatically changing a background scene into a different background scene. The system comprises a background scene separation means for separating an object to be transmitted and a background scene except for the object in a picture in a process of transmitting/receiving data including at least a picture; a background picture database for providing a background picture to be transmitted instead of the background scene; a background picture synthesis means for synthesizing the separated object and a new background picture which is selected from said background picture database; and a picture transmission means for transmitting a synthesized picture synthesized by the separated object and the new background picture.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A video telecommunication system comprising: 
 a background scene separation means for separating an object to be transmitted and a background scene except for the object in a picture in a process of transmitting/receiving data including at least a picture;    a background picture database for providing a background picture to be transmitted instead of the background scene;    a background picture synthesis means for synthesizing the separated object and a new background picture which is selected from said background picture database; and    a picture transmission means for transmitting a synthesized picture synthesized by the separated object and the new background picture.    
     
     
         2 . The video telecommunication system according to  claim 1 , further comprising a character input and synthesis means for enabling a video mail transmission by inserting characters into the synthesized picture synthesized with the new. background picture.  
     
     
         3 . The video telecommunication system according to  claim 1 , wherein said background scene separation means is included in a terminal for video telecommunication and said background scene synthesis means is included in a server for video telecommunication service.  
     
     
         4 . The video telecommunication system according to  claim 1 , further comprising a search means for searching the background picture stored in said background picture database on the basis of content.  
     
     
         5 . The video telecommunication system according to  claim 1 , wherein said background scene separation means includes: 
 an object extraction means for extracting an object to be transmitted from the picture;    a general region separation means for segmenting a homogeneous color or text region on the basis of color or text;    a region synthesis means for synthesizing regions to be determined as an interest region by using the information extracted by said object extraction means; and    a region track means for tracking the extracted object in order to extract the interest region in next frame.    
     
     
         6 . The video telecommunication system according to  claim 5 , wherein said object extraction means extracts a face region of human from the picture, and said region synthesis means synthesizes regions to be determined as a human region by using a position of the extracted face region of man.  
     
     
         7 . A video telecommunication system comprising: 
 a background scene separation means for separating an object to be transmitted and a background scene except for the object in a picture in a process of transmitting/receiving data including at least a picture;    a boundary region description means for describing a boundary region between the separated object and background scene;    a background picture database for providing a background picture to be transmitted instead of the separated background scene;    a background picture synthesis means for synthesizing the separated object and a new background picture from said background picture database by use of the information on the boundary region description; and    a picture transmission means for transmitting a synthesized picture synthesized by the separated object and. the new background picture.    
     
     
         8 . The video telecommunication system according to  claim 7 , wherein a character input and synthesis means for enabling a video mail transmission by inserting characters into the synthesized picture synthesized with the new background picture is included in a terminal for video telecommunication or a server for video telecommunication service.  
     
     
         9 . The video telecommunication system according to  claim 7 , wherein said background scene separation means is included in a terminal for video telecommunication and said background scene synthesis means is included in a server for video telecommunication service.  
     
     
         10 . The video telecommunication system according to  claim 7 , further comprising a search means for searching the background picture stored in said background picture database on the basis of content.  
     
     
         11 . The video telecommunication system according to  claim 7 , wherein said background scene separation means includes: 
 an object extraction means for extracting an object to be transmitted from the picture;    a general region separation means for segmenting a homogeneous color or text region on the basis of color or text;    a region synthesis means for synthesizing regions to be determined as an interest region by using the information extracted by said object extraction means; and    a region track means for tracking the extracted object in order to extract an interest region in next order.    
     
     
         12 . The video telecommunication system according to  claim 11 , wherein said object extraction means extracts a face region of man from the picture, and said region synthesis means synthesizes regions to be determined as a human region by using a position of the extracted face region of man.  
     
     
         13 . The video telecommunication system according to  claim 7 , wherein said boundary region description means holds original information for pixels corresponding to an interest region and assigns ‘NULL’ values to pixels corresponding to the background scene.  
     
     
         14  The video telecommunication system according to  claim 7 , wherein said boundary region description means expresses a contour of an interest region as a polygon and expresses the boundary information as successive pixel values corresponding to apexes of the polygon.  
     
     
         15 . A video telecommunication control method comprising the steps of: 
 separating an object and a background scene in a picture to be transmitted;    selecting a background scene to be transmitted instead of the separated background scene;    synthesizing the separated object and the selected new background; and    transmitting a synthesized picture synthesized by the separated object and the new background picture.    
     
     
         16 . The video telecommunication control method according to  claim 15 , wherein boundary information is described when the object and the background scene are separated, and synthesis of the new background scene and the object is performed by using the boundary information.  
     
     
         17 . The video telecommunication control method according to  claim 15 , further comprising a step of inputting and synthesizing character information for enabling a video mail transmission by inserting characters at the time of transmitting an object picture synthesized with the new background picture.  
     
     
         18 . The video telecommunication control method according to  claim 15 , wherein the separation of the object and the background scene includes detecting a face region of human and separating a human region and a background scene region except the human region.  
     
     
         19 . The video telecommunication control method according to  claim 18 , wherein a step of separating a human region and a background scene region includes the step of: 
 extracting a position of the face region;    segmenting a homogeneous color or text region on the basis of color or text;    synthesizing regions to be determined as the human region by using the motion information and the face position information; and    tracking the extracted position of the face region in order to extract a human region in next order.    
     
     
         20 . The video telecommunication control method according to  claim 19 , wherein the step of extracting a position of the face region includes the steps of: 
 extracting pixels corresponding to skin color regions from an inputted picture;    gridding a image formed by only the pixels corresponding to the skin color regions;    grouping connected grids into a single region;    setting face region candidates of the grid groups; and    confirming the face region for the set face region. candidates.    
     
     
         21 . The video telecommunication control method according to  claim 20 , wherein the step of setting face region candidates includes the steps of: 
 setting a minimal quadrangle including grids belonging to one group as a region;    determining whether a ratio of width to length of the set quadrangle is within a prescribed range; and    setting the face region candidates if it is determined that the ratio of width to length is within the prescribed range.    
     
     
         22 . The video telecommunication control method according to  claim 20 , wherein the step of confirming the face region includes the steps of: 
 constructing a face template by using a face region image collected in advance;    comparing the constructed face template and the face region candidates; and    deciding the face region candidates as the face region if it is determined that a similarity between the constructed face template and the face region candidates is above a prescribed threshold value as a result of the comparison.    
     
     
         23 . The video telecommunication control method according to  claim 19 , wherein the step of segmenting a homogeneous color or text region on the basis of color or text includes the steps of: 
 segmenting a color space into N partial regions;    smoothing an inputted picture;    qauntizing by mapping pixel values of the smoothed picture to one of segmented N colors;    grouping adjacent pixels having same quantized color values into one region; and    merging in an expansible manner regions having color similar to color of other adjacent regions if the grouped region is smaller than a prescribed value.