Patent ID: 7702506

Claim:
A conversation support apparatus, comprising: picture capture means for capturing pictures of a first user and a second user; first conversion means for converting first picture information of the first user, whose picture has been captured, into at least one of character information and sign information as first information that the second user is capable of perceiving; second conversion means for converting second picture information of the second user, whose picture has been captured, into second information that the first user is capable of perceiving; a first main body, having a first display screen for displaying the first information which has been converted; a second main body, having a second display screen for displaying the second information which has been converted and also capable of displaying the first information; a connection mechanism for connecting the first main body and the second main body so that the first display screen and the second display screen is capable of being placed at an angle different from each; and storage means for correlatively storing a plurality of picture patterns of lips of a person who pronounces sound and character information of the first information corresponding to sound that the person pronounces, wherein the picture capture means captures a picture of the lips of the first user as the first picture information, wherein the first conversion means has: picture pattern comparison means for comparing the captured picture information and each of the picture patterns, picture pattern selection means for selecting one picture pattern corresponding to the captured lip picture information from the picture patterns corresponding to the compared result, and character information extraction means for extracting the character information corresponding to the selected picture pattern, wherein the storage means correlatively stores the picture patterns of each of the plurality of people and the character information and stores lips shape patterns of each of the plurality of people, and wherein the conversation support apparatus further comprises: shape pattern comparison means for comparing the captured lip picture information and the shape patterns, and shape pattern selection means for selecting a shape pattern that is the most similar to the captured lip picture information from the shape patterns corresponding to the compared result.