TV telephone terminal

A TV telephone apparatus for sending and receiving at least images, comprising:

• a public telephone including a telephone terminal;
• a fixed camera connected with said telephone terminal for sending images from said fixed camera;
• a movable camera installed at said public telephone for obtaining images of surrounding areas;
• automatic answering means for receiving a call from a calling terminal that requests transmission of said images of surrounding areas;
• and
• transmission switching means for connecting selectively one of (a) said fixed camera if there is an answer by a user to said call and (b) if there is no answer by a user to said call, connecting said movable camera for transmission of signals from said TV telephone apparatus, if there is no answer by a user to said call said transmission switching means switching a connection from said fixed camera and connecting said movable camera before a communication path is connected between said TV telephone apparatus and said calling terminal, in response to instructions initiated when said automatic answering means receives said call requesting transmission of images of surrounding areas from said calling terminal.

A TV telephone apparatus for sending and receiving images and sound, comprising:

• a public telephone including a telephone terminal;
• a fixed camera for producing image signals and a headset for producing audio signals;
• a movable camera installed at said public telephone for producing image signals of the surrounding area;
• a microphone associated with said movable camera for producing audio signals of the surrounding area;
• transmission switching means for normally transmitting said image and audio signals produced by said fixed camera and headset when an incoming call is answered by a user, and capable of being switched on instruction for transmitting said image and audio signals of surrounding area when said incoming call is not answered by a user;
• automatic answering means for automatically answering said incoming call that has not been answered by a user and before said telephone apparatus is connected to a calling terminal of said incoming call providing said instruction automatically to switch said transmission switching means to transmit said image and audio signals of surrounding area;
• and
• a signal circuit coupled to said automatic answering means for executing layer and layer control on incoming signal cells.

A method of controlling a public TV telephone apparatus having a movable camera and a movable microphone that can be remote-controlled by a calling side, comprising the steps of:

• receiving an incoming call at said apparatus:
• if there is no answer by a user, automatically answering the incoming call;
• when automatically answering the incoming call, at once activating the movable camera and movable microphone;
• connecting a communication path from said apparatus to said calling side;
• and
• transmitting moving image and audio signals of a surrounding area through the movable camera and movable microphone under remote-control of said calling side via said communication path.