Patent Application
20080256591
The present invention relates to a virtual webcam, and more particularly to a method enabling a computer user to play a video or graphic file stored in the computer by using a virtual webcam for an opposite party over the internet through the chatting tool during an online video chatting.
In recent years, digital imaging technology advances, and thus various different digital imaging devices (such as digital cameras, digital camcorders and webcam, etc) are developed rapidly, not only providing increasingly higher imaging quality and producing increasingly smaller products, but also lowering the price significantly. Therefore, digital imaging devices become more popular day after day, and thus are applied extensively in various different computer devices (such as digital personal assistants and notebook computers, etc) and communication devices (such as mobile phones and video phones, etc), so that when users connect with each other through computers or communication devices for online chatting, the real-time images captured by these digital imaging devices can be transmitted as well. In an online chatting process, any party can receive the real-time images and see the facial expressions of the opposite party, so as to enhance the real and warming feeling of chatting.
In a chatting process, facial expressions generally play a very important role, not only reflecting a person's attitude, but also expressing the person's true emotion through the expressions of laughter, anger, sorrow and joy. Therefore, online video chatting can be conducted through the online connection of a computer or a communication device, and such online video chatting is more attractive to users than conventional network non-video chatting. However, when existing computers or communication devices are used for conducting online video chatting, the images captured by the webcam include a user's face and other images irrelevant to the user's facial expressions such the images of the user's environment background and body. If the user's environment background is very private (such as a bedroom) or the user's clothing is not decent (such as wearing underwear only), then it will be inappropriate to conduct an online video chatting through the computer or communication device. In addition, the real-time images captured by a webcam occupy a larger data volume when an online video chatting is conducted, and thus a wider bandwidth is required for the network transmissions. As to users who carry out an online video chatting in a narrow bandwidth network. The video images usually cannot be transmitted real-time to the opposite party, and a delay of video transmission may occur. As a result, both parties cannot enjoy the true feeling and fun of online chatting.
Since the present network chatting tools such as Yahoo Messenger and MSN Messenger transmit video streams in a RGB format with the resolution of 320×240 (or 160×120) per frame, these chatting tools have no specific requirements on frame rate, but the general tools usually require a frame rate of 15 frames/sec or 30 frames/sec. On the other hand, the present webcams manufactured by major manufacturers come with different output formats of video signals. For instance, the Philips SPC 900 NC webcam has an image transmission format of 1420, IYUV or YUV2, and the resolution of each frame size is 160×120, 176×144, 320×240, 352×288 or 640×480, but the Microsoft VX6000 webcam has an image transmission format of RGB24 or 1420, and the resolution of each frame size is 160×120, 176×144, 320×240, 352×288, 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768 or 1280×1024. As a result, users may have an incompatible issue with the image transmission format of the webcams due to the limitation of computer performance and the difference of computer hardware configurations, when the users are using these chatting tools for online video chatting. Sometimes, the chatting tools cannot use the real-time video images captured by the real webcam normally or cannot transmit the video image to the opposite party real-time, so that if users conduct online video chatting, and many computer users have not installed a real webcam yet, users will have to face the monotonous video screen without any image, and thus it will greatly reduce the fun of instant chatting.
Therefore, it is an important objective for online video system designers and manufacturers to find a way of designing a virtual webcam, such that when users conduct an online video chatting regardless of whether or not they have installed a real webcam, the users can play a video or graphic file stored in a computer for the opposite party through the virtual webcam, or provide a video image captured by a real webcam to the opposite party through a chatting tool, after going through a special effect processing by the virtual webcam. The invention can avoid disclosing a user's personal chatting location or revealing the user's personal life and privacy.
In view of the incompatible image transmission format of a conventional webcam with a chatting tool, and the issue of disclosing a user's personal chatting location or revealing the user's personal life and privacy in accordance with the prior art, the inventor of the present invention based on years of experience in the related industry to conduct extensive researches and experiments, and finally developed a virtual webcam and its method to overcome the foregoing shortcomings of the prior art.
Therefore, it is a primary objective of the present invention to provide a virtual webcam and a method thereof, and the virtual webcam is applied in a computer and comprises three main modules: a user interface application module (at an outer layer), a data processing module (at a middle layer) and a virtual webcam driver module (at an inner layer), wherein the user interface application module is a man-machine interactive interface provided for exchanging information between a computer and a user, so that the user can use the user interface application module for setting a parameter and a format of a video signal source, selecting a special effect for a video signal, and selecting output parameter and format of a virtual webcam; the data processing module is provided for processing different special effects for the video signals transmitted from various different signal sources, and transmitting the processed video signals to the virtual webcam driver module; the virtual webcam driver module is a terminate and stay resident program provided for outputting the received video signals according to the output format of a general webcam, and the video signals can be used by a chatting tool (such as Yahoo Messenger) and its contents can be shared by an opposite party over the Internet.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a virtual webcam and a method thereof, such that a computer user who installs a real webcam regardless of whether or not the image transmission format of the webcam is compatible with the chatting tool can convert the video images captured by the real webcam real-time into an image transmission format acceptable by the chatting tool, and the processed special effect of the virtual webcam can be provided for an opposite party through the chatting tool, so as to effectively avoid disclosing a user's personal chatting location or revealing the user's personal life and privacy.
A further objective of the present invention is to provide a virtual webcam and a method thereof, such that a computer user who has not installed a real webcam can play a video or graphic file stored in a computer by the virtual webcam for an opposite party through the chatting tool during an online video chatting, so that both parties can share the video or graphic file on a video screen, and thus users no longer have to face a monotonous video screen without any image, and the invention can give more fun to instant chatting greatly.
To make it easier for our examiner to understand the objective, technical characteristics and effects of the present invention, preferred embodiments will be described with accompanying drawings as follows:
The incompatibility issue between the real webcam and the network chatting tool is generally caused by the different formats of a frame size or a frame rate of a video stream captured by the real webcam, and thus these formats will not comply with the requirements of a network chatting tool. In view of the foregoing shortcomings, the present inventions provides a virtual webcam for converting the format of a video transmission of a real webcam into a format acceptable by the network chatting tool, so that the chatting tool can use the video stream captured by the real webcam normally. For computer users who have not installed a webcam, the present invention can play a video or graphic file stored in a computer to an opposite party through the chatting tool by the virtual webcam during a network chatting, so as to share the video resources.
Referring to
Although a computer cannot retrieve the instant image through the virtual webcam 10 of the present invention, the virtual webcam 10 allows a user to play a video or graphic file stored in the computer through a chatting tool to an opposite party during a network chatting, and share video resources with the opposite party. Further, the virtual webcam 10 can also play video signals transmitted from the same video source simultaneously in several windows for the use of several chatting tools and allow several parties to share video resources during a network chatting.
Referring to
Step (200): receiving a setup signal inputted by an input device (such as a keyboard) through a user's computer;
Step (201): determining whether or not the setup signal selects to set up a video signal source; if yes, then go to Step (202), or else go to Step (203);
Step (202): setting up parameter and format for the video signal source, and returning to Step (200);
Step (203): determining whether or not the setup signal selects to set up a video signal to perform a special effect processing; if yes, then go to Step (204); or else go to Step (205);
Step (204): setting up a special effect processing for the video signal, and returning to Step (200);
Step (205): determining whether or not the setup signal selects to set up the virtual webcam 10; if yes, then go to Step (206), or else go to Step (207);
Step (206): setting up output parameter and format of the virtual webcam 10, and returning to Step (200); and
Step (207): determining whether or not the user confirms the completion of the setup; if yes, then end the processing procedure of the user interface application module 20; or else return to Step (200) and continues the foregoing procedure.
Referring to
Step (300): monitoring the signal source, and receiving a video signal transmitted from a signal source;
Step (301): determining whether or not the signal source is a video or graphic file stored in a computer; if yes, then go to Step (302), or else go to Step (303);
Step (302): downloading the video file or picture stored in the computer, and sequentially reading frame data in the video or graphic file, and decoding the frame data, and continuing Step (307);
Step (303): determining whether or not the signal source is a real webcam; if yes, then go to Step (304), or else go to Step (305);
Step (304): turning on the real webcam to capture an on-the-spot image instantly, and generating frame data, and continuing Step (307);
Step (305): determining whether or not the signal source is another imaging device (such as a digital camera) or a playback device (such as a DV device); if yes, then go to Step (306), or else go to Step (310);
Step (306): turning on the imaging device or playback device, and sequentially reading frame data of the imaging device or playback device, and then continuing Step (307);
Step (307): processing the format of the frame data of the signal source, and converting such format into an output format of the virtual webcam 10 according to the user's setup parameter, and continuing Step (308);
Step (308): carrying out a special effect processing for the frame data outputted by the virtual webcam 10 according to the type of special effect processing set by the user, and continuing Step (309);
Step (309): updating the frame data outputted from the virtual webcam 10 real-time and returning to Step (300); and
Step (310): determining whether or not all signal sources are turned off; if yes, then end the processing procedure of the data processing module 30, or else return to Step (300), and continue the foregoing procedure.
The virtual webcam driver module 40 of the virtual webcam 10 is installed to a computer through an operating system (such as Windows OS) or downloaded from a computer, and the webcam driving module 40 could be a terminate and stay resident program, and its target program is a network chatting tool such as Yahoo Messenger or MSN Messenger. Referring to
Step (400): monitoring the status of the network chatting tool of the computer; thus, the ON or OFF state of the network chatting tool directly affects the monitoring result;
Step (401): determining whether or not the network chatting tool is situated at an ON state; if yes, then go to Step (402), or else go to Step (403);
Step (402): creating an element such as a video stream and a DirectShow filter, and then entering into an operating mode, and returning to Step (400);
Step (403): determining whether or not the network chatting tool is situated at an operating mode; if yes, then go to Step (404), or else go to Step (406);
Step (404): processing the frame data real-time, and adjusting the size of frame data according to the user's setting, and converting the format of the frame data to facilitate the use of the network chatting tool;
Step (405): transmitting the processed frame data to an output port of the DirectShow filter, such that the network chatting tool an use the frame data outputted by the DirectShow filter, and returning to Step (400), and continuing the foregoing procedure; and
Step (406): determining whether or not the network chatting tool is situated at a stop or OFF state; if yes, then end the processing procedure of the virtual webcam driver module 40, or else return to Step (400), and continue the foregoing procedure.
In view of the description above, the virtual webcam of the present invention is applied to a computer, and used together with a chatting tool installed on the computer. For computer users who have installed a real webcam regardless of whether or not the image transmission format of the real webcam is compatible with the chatting tool, the virtual webcam of the invention can convert a vide image captured by the real webcam into an image transmission format acceptable to the chatting tool. After the special effect processing of the virtual webcam is performed and provided for the opposite party over the internet through the chatting tool, the invention can effectively avoid disclosing a user's personal chatting location or revealing the user's personal life and privacy. As to computer users who have not installed a real webcam, these users can play a video or graphic file stored in the computer to the opposite party by the virtual webcam through the chatting tool, so that both parties can share the video or graphic files on a video screen to avoid facing the monotonous video screen without any image, and thus the invention can bring more fun to the instant chatting.
While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.
