JP2002007242A - Multimedia chat mail system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To actualize the transmission of multimedia images from anywhere the minimization of the amount of data in processing and editing, reception at time convenient for a recipient, etc. SOLUTION: A server 50 and portable telephone sets 20 and 60 are connected by W-CDMA via a network 100. The portable telephone set 20 and a portable information terminal 10, and the portable telephone set 60 and a portable information terminal 70 are connected together by Bluetooth respectively. The portable information terminals 10 and 70 have a function of generating chat mail which includes multimedia images. The portable telephone sets 20 and 60 have a function of sending and receiving the chat mail generated by the portable information terminals 10 and 70 between the server 50 and portable information terminals 10 and 70.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multimedia chat mail system for transmitting and receiving chat mails including multimedia images such as texts, still images, and moving images.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, in order to perform multimedia chat mail, since a cellular phone does not have a photographing function, a personal computer having a photographing function and a cellular phone have been connected to transmit image data. In addition, the conventional multimedia telephone has a fixed transmission / reception place because of the wired connection, and unilaterally immediately transmits to a receiver.

[0003]

In such a conventional multimedia chat mail system, since it is necessary to connect to a personal computer having a photographing function, the cost of purchasing the personal computer increases, and the place where the call is transmitted is also required. There is a disadvantage of being fixed. In addition, there is a problem that the data amount increases due to the operations of processing and editing, and as a result, transmission takes a long time. On the other hand, from the viewpoint of the receiver, there is a problem that the message is transmitted unilaterally regardless of the intention of the person.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a multimedia image that can be transmitted from anywhere, that minimizes the amount of data during processing and editing, that can be received at the convenience of the recipient, and the like. To provide a media chat mail system.

[0005]

In a multimedia chat mail system according to the present invention, a server and a portable telephone are connected by a first wireless transmission system via a network, and the portable telephone and the portable information terminal are connected to each other via a network. They are connected by two wireless transmission systems. In the first and second wireless transmission systems, multimedia images such as texts, still images, and moving images can be transmitted and received in addition to audio. The portable information terminal has a function of forming a chat mail including a multimedia image. The mobile phone has a function of transmitting and receiving a chat mail formed by the mobile information terminal between the server and the mobile information terminal.

A chat mail including a multimedia image formed by a transmitting portable information terminal is transmitted to a transmitting portable telephone via a second wireless transmission system, and further transmitted via a first wireless transmission system. Sent to server. On the other hand, the request for reception output from the portable information terminal on the receiving side is transmitted to the portable telephone on the receiving side via the second wireless transmission method, and further transmitted to the server via the first wireless transmission method. . Then, the chat mail stored in the server is transmitted to the receiving-side mobile phone via the first wireless transmission method, and further transmitted to the receiving-side portable information terminal via the second wireless transmission method. .

As described above, a combination of a portable information terminal and a portable telephone makes it possible to transmit a chat mail including a multimedia image from anywhere. Also, since the chat mail stored in the server can be taken out from the receiving side at any time, the chat mail can be received at the convenience of the recipient.

[0008] The function of forming a chat mail is realized by an IP (intellectual property) chip incorporated in a portable information terminal, and this IP chip may be distributed only to a specific member. 2). In this case, the service can be easily provided only to a specific member by distributing the IP chip.

[0009] The server may have a function of receiving a chat mail from the portable information device on the transmitting side, inserting an advertisement into the chat mail, and transmitting the advertisement to the portable information device on the receiving side. In this case, since the advertisement revenue is obtained, the service can be reduced in price or made free.

The server has a function of charging a predetermined number of characters and a predetermined number of seconds of a moving image, or a predetermined number of characters and a predetermined number of still images constituting a chat mail as one unit. A function of displaying the number of units of the chat mail at the time of forming the mail may be provided (claim 4). In this case, the number of units during the formation of the chat mail can be known, so that the data amount can be minimized.

[0011] The portable information terminal may have a function of creating a map indicating the position based on the received GPS positional information (claim 5). Further, the portable information terminal may have a function of inputting position information of the portable information terminal from a GPS antenna, inserting a map indicating the position of the portable information terminal into a chat mail, and transmitting the chat mail. 6). In these cases, a map can be formed in the chat mail, so that the service can be improved.

The first wireless transmission system is IMT2000 or W-CDMA, and the second wireless transmission system is Bluetooth
oooth (claims 7 and 8). In this case, it can be paraphrased as follows.

A multimedia chat mail system according to the present invention comprises a W-CDMA portable information terminal, a W-C
DMA (IMT2000) This is a membership-based system that includes a mobile phone, a W-CDMA wireless network, a server that stores mail, and the like, and that provides multimedia chat mail. Here, the W-CDMA portable information terminal means a portable information terminal for creating a multimedia chat mail for W-CDMA.

The W-CDMA portable information terminal has a function of displaying various information and images, a function of inputting characters and the like by handwriting, a function of inputting / outputting audio, and a function of inputting, processing, and editing a video screen such as a moving image. Function, a function of recognizing the location of the transmitting side portable information terminal, a function of transmitting / receiving data to / from the transmitting side portable information terminal by wireless technology, and
It has a function of converting to a mail address, a function of processing and editing data for each unit of a metered system, a function of controlling various background images and image characters added to transmission data, and the like.

The W-CDMA portable telephone has a function of transmitting and receiving data between the transmitting portable information terminal and the receiving portable information terminal, and after transmitting the transmission destination E-Mail address to the network operator and confirming the validity thereof. And a function of transmitting and receiving data to and from a network operator.

[0016] The W-CDMA wireless network has a function of transmitting data transferred from a transmitting portable information terminal through a network operator to a service provider server based on a destination address.

The server for storing mail has a function of receiving data sent from a network operator through a communication network, a function of recognizing whether or not a member is a member, and a function of measuring the number of units of data transmitted based on a metered system. A function to write billing data after calculation, a function to store and accumulate data received by the server for each address unit of the transmission destination, a function to store all titles based on a display request of the received mail list from the receiving portable information terminal A function of transmitting, a function of creating a map indicating a location based on the positional information by GPS transmitted from the transmission source, and a function of adding the map information to the transmitted mail when a mail reception request is received from the receiving portable information terminal This is a system including a function of adding an advertisement to an outgoing mail at the time of a mail receiving request from the receiving portable information terminal.

An IP chip is distributed only to members by a member-based chat mail service provider. The portable information terminal in which the IP chip is incorporated has a function of editing data such as a moving image / still image and minimizing the amount of data to be transmitted.

The data transmitted from the portable information terminal is stored in the server, and the recipient can retrieve the mail addressed to the recipient from the server at any time. When distributing mail to recipients, various advertisements stored on the server are inserted together and distributed. Billing for the multimedia chat mail system is performed on a pay-per-use basis for each sending member. For example,
With the function of the IP chip, data processing / editing can be performed in accordance with the guide display on the screen, using 2000 characters and 15 seconds of moving images or 2000 characters and 5 still images as one unit. The sender uses the GPS antenna and I
With the editing function of the P chip, a map of the location of the sender can be inserted into the transmission data. In addition, W-CD
Instead of MA, for example, cdma2000 or the like may be used.

[0020]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a multimedia chat mail system according to the present invention. Hereinafter, description will be made based on this drawing.

The server 50 is connected via the network 100
And the mobile phones 20 and 60 are connected by W-CDMA. The mobile phone 20 and the mobile information terminal 10
The mobile phone 60 and the mobile information terminal 70 are connected by Bluetooth. W-CD
MA and Bluetooth can transmit and receive multimedia images such as text, still images, and moving images in addition to audio. The portable information terminals 10 and 70 have a function of forming a chat mail including a multimedia image. The mobile phones 20 and 60 transmit the chat mail formed by the mobile information terminals 10 and 70 to the server 50 and the mobile information terminal 1.
It has a function of transmitting and receiving data to and from 0 and 70.

The network 100 comprises a network operator 30 and a communication network 40. The network operator 30 controls the transmission / reception portable radio. The communication network 40 connects the network operator 30 and the server 50 of the service provider. The server 50 is owned by a multimedia chat mail service provider. In the following description, the portable information terminal 10 and the portable telephone 20 are referred to as a transmitting side, and the portable information terminal 70 and the portable telephone 60 are referred to as a receiving side.

The portable information terminal 10 includes a rotary camera 101,
Various function keys 102, an edit knob 103 of a shooting screen, a microphone 104, a fingerprint identification sensor 105,
Viewing knob 106, speaker 107,
Touch pen 108, GPS antenna 109, Bluet
The portable information terminal 10 includes an oot antenna 110, a display panel 111 also serving as a touch panel, an IP chip 112 for controlling the operation of the portable information terminal 10, and the like. Portable information terminal 70
Also has the same configuration as the portable information terminal 10. In addition, GPS
Antenna 109 and Bluetooth antenna 110
Is invisible in appearance, but is enlarged in FIG. 1 for clarity.

The speaker 107 is for outputting sound, the microphone 1
04 is for voice input. The rotary camera 101 is for inputting a video screen such as a moving image, and the edit knob 103 and the viewing knob 106 are for processing and editing the video screen. G
The PS antenna 109 is for recognizing the location of the portable information terminal 10. The Bluetooth antenna 110 is for transmitting and receiving data to and from the mobile phone 20 by wireless technology. The IP chip 112 includes an instruction program for converting a mobile phone number into an E-Mail address, a control program for processing / editing data for each unit of a pay-as-you-go system, and various background screens and images added to transmission data. It has a program to control characters. The touch pen 108 is used for handwriting input.
The function key 102 is used for E-Mail address conversion, processing / editing of multimedia data, and the like.

The mobile phone 20 has a function of enabling transmission and reception of data to and from the mobile information terminal 10 through a Bluetooth interface, and a destination E-Mai.
1 is sent to the network operator 30 and after its validity is confirmed, the network operator 3
Data transmission / reception is performed with 0. The mobile phone 60 also
It has the same configuration as the mobile phone 20.

The network operator 30 has a function of transmitting the data transferred from the mobile phone 20 to the server 50 through the communication network 40 based on the destination address, such as NTT DoCoMo, IDO (registered trademark), etc. Means the operator.

The server 50 has a function of storing and storing data received from the network operator 30 through the communication network 40 for each destination address, a function of recognizing whether or not the sender is a member, A function of calculating the number of units and then writing the billing data, a function of transmitting all titles based on a display request of the received mail list from the portable information terminal 70, and a function based on the GPS positional information transmitted from the transmission source. A function of creating a map indicating the location of the user and adding the map information to an outgoing mail when a request to receive mail from the portable information terminal 70, a function of adding an advertisement to the outgoing mail when a request to receive mail from the portable information terminal 70, etc. have.

The mobile phone 60 selects the mail No. selected by the mobile information terminal 70. To the network operator 30 and the selected mail to the portable information terminal 70.

The portable information terminal 70 has a function of searching and selecting a mail addressed to the portable information terminal 70 stored in the server 50 from a menu on the screen, and receiving the corresponding mail.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation on the transmitting side in the present embodiment. Hereinafter, description will be given based on FIG. 1 and FIG.

In the portable information terminal 10, the rotary camera 1
01 and the viewing knob 106, the subject to be photographed is photographed and stored in the memory. Subsequently, a sentence to be transmitted is created using the handwriting touch pen 108. Further, the user uses the edit knob 103 to add a background image or an image character, and to process and edit a moving image. At this time, the unit of the currently shot moving image / still image is displayed by the metering unit display function of the IP chip 112, and five favorite still images are selected from a plurality of still images or the moving image is displayed. By editing within seconds, the data amount can be reduced to within one unit of the minimum unit.

When the transmitting side wants to send the current location to the destination, pressing the function key 102 controlled by the IP chip 112 activates the GPS function, and the location information is included in the transmission data. Will be added. Finally, the user presses the function key 102 to display a title entry screen and enter a title.

After the data to be transmitted is determined, the user presses the function key 102 to display a list of destination mobile phone numbers on the screen. The edit knob 103 is used to uniquely select the destination mobile phone number. Press the function key 102 corresponding to. Then, the mobile phone number is converted to an E-Mail address, and the Bluetooth
the address of the mobile phone 2
0 (step A1).

The mobile phone 20 transmits the address to the network operator 30 (step A2). The network operator 30 checks whether the address is valid or not, and if so, replies to the mobile phone 20 (steps A3 and A4).

Subsequently, the portable information terminal 10 transmits the portable telephone No. of the transmission source. , Member No. , PIN No. Are added to the transmission data and transmitted to the mobile phone 20 (step A5). The mobile phone 20 transfers the transmission data to the network operator 30 (Step A6).

The network operator 30 transmits the data to the server 50 via the communication network 40 based on the received E-Mail address (Step A7).

Upon receiving the data, the server 50 receives the member No. of the transmission source existing in the data. , Mobile phone No. ,
Password No. Is checked with the master file data on the server 50 to check whether or not the member is appropriate. Subsequently, the number of units of the transmitted data corresponding to the pay-as-you-go system is calculated, and the source member No. in the master file data is calculated. Write billing data to.
Subsequently, by identifying the destination E-Mail address, the transmitted data is stored and accumulated in the storage area for each destination (step A8).

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation on the receiving side in this embodiment. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a display screen of the portable information terminal on the receiving side in the present embodiment.
Hereinafter, a description will be given based on FIGS. 1, 3 and 4.

The received mail list display function is selected from the function list displayed on the screen of the portable information terminal 70 by using the edit knob (step B1). Then, the portable information terminal 70 sets the telephone number of the portable telephone 60 to EM
a mail address, and add a received mail list output instruction code, and use this as data for the mobile phone 60,
The data is sent to the server 50 via the network operator 30 and the communication network 40 (steps B2 and B3). Server 50
Is based on the E-Mail address and the instruction code,
All the mail titles stored in the corresponding destination storage area are transmitted to the portable information terminal 70 through the same route (steps B4, B5, B6).

As a result, all the titles of the received mail are displayed on the screen of the portable information terminal 70 (step B7 and FIG. 4A). Then, the portable information terminal 7
From among all the titles displayed on the screen No. 0, the mail to be received is selected using the edit knob. Then, the portable information terminal 70 converts the telephone number into an E-Mail address, and selects the selection No. corresponding to the selected title. (Step B8), and sends the data as data to the server 50 through the same route (step B8).
9, B10). The server 50 selects the corresponding mail, and inserts an advertisement using the advertisement insertion function (step B1).
1), and transmits to the portable information terminal 70 through the same route (steps B12 and B13). The portable information terminal 70 receives the mail and displays an advertisement on the screen (FIG. 4).
[2]) After writing anything other than the advertisement on the memory, the mail is displayed on the screen and the sound is reproduced (step B14).
And FIG. 4 [3] [4]).

[0041]

According to the multimedia chat mail system of the present invention, the server and the portable telephone are connected by the first wireless transmission system via the network, and the portable telephone and the portable information terminal are connected by the second. Connected by a wireless transmission method, the first and second wireless transmission methods can also transmit and receive multimedia images, the portable information terminal has a function of forming a chat mail including the multimedia image, Since the terminal has a function of transmitting and receiving a chat mail formed by the terminal between the server and the mobile information terminal, a chat mail including a multimedia image can be transmitted from anywhere by a combination of the mobile information terminal and the mobile phone. Also, since the chat mail stored in the server can be taken out from the receiving side at any time, the chat mail can be received at the convenience of the recipient.

According to the multimedia chat mail system of the present invention, a function of forming a chat mail is realized by an IP chip distributed to only a specific member and incorporated in a portable information terminal, thereby providing a specific function. Services can be easily provided only to members.

According to the multimedia chat mail system of the third aspect, a chat mail is received from the portable information device on the transmitting side, an advertisement is inserted into the chat mail and transmitted to the portable information device on the receiving side. As a result, advertising revenue can be obtained, so that the service can be reduced in price or made free.

According to the multimedia chat mail system of the fourth aspect, the billing is performed by setting a predetermined number of characters and a predetermined number of seconds of a moving image, or a predetermined number of characters and a predetermined number of still images constituting a chat mail as one unit. In addition, by displaying the number of units during the formation of the chat mail on the portable information terminal, the number of units during the formation of the chat mail can be known, so that the data amount can be minimized.

According to the multimedia chat mail system of the present invention, a map can be formed in the chat mail by the portable information terminal judging the position based on the position information by GPS, so that the map can be formed for the user. Service can be improved.

According to the seventh or eighth multimedia chat mail system, the first wireless transmission system is an IMT
2000 or W-CDMA, and Bluetooth as the second wireless transmission method has the following effects.

[0047] Data transfer speed is 384kbps ~ 2
Since the transmission rate is Mbps, moving images / still images can be freely transmitted and received. . The service has 2000 characters
And video within 15 seconds, or 2000 characters and 5 still images
It is possible to set a pay-as-you-go billing system in which the number of sheets is one unit. In this case, although it depends on the W-CDMA call charge system scheduled to start the service from March 2001, a call charge of about 30 yen per unit is assumed, so that the service can be provided at a low price. . . The portable information terminal has various editing functions, and by using the editing functions, it is possible to realize optimization / minimization of the transmission data capacity. . The W-CDMA dedicated portable information terminal capable of shooting, editing, and character input enables chat mail including still images and moving images. Free editing is possible, and the user can playfully utilize the personality. . Since chat mail can be freely retrieved at any time, there is no problem in work or life. . Since the information is stored on the Internet service provider, it remains as a record and can be reused.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a multimedia chat mail system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation on the transmission side in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation on the receiving side in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a display screen of the portable information terminal on the receiving side in the embodiment of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 4 [1] to 4 [4].
The display screen changes in the order of.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10,70 mobile information terminal 20,60 mobile phone 30 network operator 40 communication network 50 server 100 network

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Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A server and a mobile phone are connected by a first wireless transmission system via a network, and the mobile phone and the mobile information terminal are connected by a second wireless transmission system; The wireless transmission system can transmit and receive multimedia images such as text, still images, and moving images, in addition to audio.The portable information terminal has a function of forming a chat mail including the multimedia images. The multimedia chat mail system, wherein the mobile phone has a function of transmitting and receiving the chat mail formed by the mobile information terminal between the server and the mobile information terminal. 2. The multimedia according to claim 1, wherein the function of forming the chat mail is realized by an IP chip incorporated in the portable information terminal, and the IP chip is distributed only to a specific member.・ Chat mail system. 3. The server has a function of receiving the chat mail from the portable information device on the transmission side, inserting an advertisement into the chat mail, and transmitting the advertisement to the portable information device on the reception side. Or the multimedia chat mail system according to 2. 4. The server has a function of charging a predetermined number of characters and a predetermined number of seconds of a moving image, or a predetermined number of characters and a predetermined number of still images constituting the chat mail as one unit. The information terminal, when forming the chat mail,
The multimedia chat mail system according to claim 1, further comprising a function of displaying a unit number of the chat mail. 5. The multimedia chat mail system according to claim 1, wherein the portable information terminal has a function of creating a map indicating the position based on the received position information by GPS. 6. The portable information terminal has a function of inputting position information of the portable information terminal from a GPS antenna, inserting a map indicating the position of the portable information terminal into the chat mail, and transmitting the chat mail. Item 4. The multimedia chat mail system according to item 1, 2, 3 or 4. 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first wireless transmission method is IMT200.
0, and the second wireless transmission method is Bluetooth.
The multimedia chat mail system according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. 8. The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the first wireless transmission system is W-CDMA.
And the second wireless transmission method is Bluetooth.
The multimedia chat mail system according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6.