JP3569452B2 - Information transmission system and information transmission method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an information transmission system that can obtain desired information regardless of location.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, the flood of information in the world has been remarkable, and it has become extremely difficult to obtain desired information quickly and from a vast amount of information.
[0003]
A newspaper is known as a means for obtaining the oldest information, but there are information transmission systems which have been devised in various ways as described below as an alternative to the newspaper.
[0004]
As a device for obtaining information quickly, for example, if the user gets on a Shinkansen, topics such as newspaper articles are visually captured as text information by a user of the Shinkansen on display means such as an LED display above the entrance of the vehicle. Posted as Similarly, a display is provided on the outer periphery of the building on the top floor of the so-called Maru Building near Osaka Station, and an information transmission system is installed to transmit character information as in the case of the Shinkansen described above. In such an information transmission system, the characters displayed on the display are visually caught and transmitted without using the voice together. For those who do not, it may be a noise.
[0005]
Further, as another information transmission system, a desired number is allocated to a specific number allocated to information such as weather and today's fortune-telling through a portable telephone that has been widely used in recent years. There is also a device that obtains information by voice or uses a pager with a display, and displays the information on the display as displayed on the display.
[0006]
On the other hand, portable information transmission media having an internal power source such as an electronic organizer have been widely accepted in the market. The electronic organizer has an IC card insertion slot, and an IC card is inserted into the insertion slot. By exchanging, the user can appropriately obtain necessary information such as an English-Japanese dictionary.
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the above-described newspaper information transmission system, information of various types (for example, economic section / sports section, etc.) is printed on paper as character information, and therefore, modern people who are not accustomed to reading sentences / Especially for young people, getting information from the text is very painful, and in recent years more and more people are not reading newspapers.
[0008]
For those who do not read the newspaper, television is often used exclusively as a medium for knowing various events and changes occurring in the world.
[0009]
In addition, since the above newspapers are usually issued only twice a day in the morning and in the evening, there is also a problem that they are lacking in speedy as a modern source of information that changes every second, such as stock price trends and exchange rates. . In other words, even if an action such as obtaining stock is performed immediately after looking at the newspaper, the action is not necessarily based on accurate information. This would have been accurate at the time the information was gathered to make the newspaper, but since the newspaper had been read for a considerable amount of time, when the information was read It may be incorrect information.
[0010]
Furthermore, in a conventional information transmission system using characters in newspapers or the like, there is a problem in that, for example, when trying to read characters written in newspapers or the like on a moving train or the like, people around them are troubled. In order to avoid disturbing the people around you, when you look at the type of newspaper etc. in a crowded train during a rush hour, fold the newspaper as small as possible and read it very hard I often see people who are out. In addition, in such a moving vehicle, the act of reading type characters may cause motion sickness or cause astigmatism or other adverse effects on some eyes. Was. However, for busy businessmen, time in a moving vehicle is invaluable, and this valuable time can be used to get new information, play games, and refresh your mood. If you can do it, you can use time very efficiently.
[0011]
Also, in an information transmission system that can obtain information visually on a display fixedly installed at a specific place such as the above-mentioned Shinkansen, not only can information be obtained only at that place, but the obtained information is not necessarily There is a problem that the information is not necessarily the information that the user wants to obtain but is what is called push information.
[0012]
Furthermore, since the above information that can be obtained through a mobile phone is transmitted in a wireless manner using radio waves, if the receiving location is a place where radio waves are difficult to reach, it cannot be obtained. Or, there is a problem that it is difficult to perform an interrupting operation such as reading one page of a newspaper and reading the second page later. If the user accesses the same number again on the mobile phone and tries to listen to the continuation of the information heard halfway, the user cannot select the beginning, and the information heard earlier is heard again. There is a possibility that time is wasted in collecting information such as garbage collection.
[0013]
As described above, information cannot be obtained unless the access state is maintained wirelessly. For example, in an information transmission system using a portable telephone as a medium, excessively large amount of information is transmitted because information is obtained while maintaining the access state. It seems unsuitable, and at most a few minutes would be the limit.
[0014]
In a system for obtaining information through a storage medium such as an IC card using the above-mentioned electronic organizer, information stored in a storage medium such as an IC card is sold in a state where the information is stored in a non-rewritable manner. Therefore, the information stored in the IC card needs to be one that does not deteriorate over time. An IC card storing the above information costs about several thousand yen in Japanese yen, and if the information of the IC card becomes deteriorated information that cannot be used the next day, it is too uneconomical. . In other words, there is no one that stores information that changes to monthly or daily in a storage medium such as an IC card and buys and sells it.
[0015]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and conveys information that changes rapidly every day or hour, or uses information that is originally in the form of text information such as a novel. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information transmission system that can be obtained as electronic information by a user.
[0016]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In view of the problems described above, the present invention proposes to take the following measures.
[0017]
An information distribution apparatus for transmitting electronic information, which is obtained by converting character information such as newspapers and magazines into voice information and converting it into electronic data, to relay devices installed at a plurality of places at various stations and street corners. When,
A portable playback device that receives the electronic information transmitted to the relay device, and includes a storage unit that stores the received electronic information ;
The electronic information stored as the address of each word in the storage means, with reference to the look-up table consisting of the address and the word of the voice data, as voice data control means of the portable playback device to synthesize the word An information transmission system , wherein the information transmission system is configured to reproduce the audio data by an earphone.
[0020]
[0021]
[0025]
As a method of converting the character information into audio information, a known technique can be appropriately employed. Examples of such known technologies include, for example, “software name: orator” sold by Ricoh Co., Ltd., and “software name: 95 reader” released by System Solution Center Tochigi, or “software name: IBM software name: There are various software such as "screen reader 2" / "software name: screen breaker" and "software name: VDM100" of Access Technology.
[0028]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0029]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the information transmission system of the present invention.
[0030]
Reference numeral 1 denotes an information creation center, which collects text information from publishers such as newspaper articles from newspaper companies and magazines from magazine companies. The collected character information is converted into electronic data and transmitted to the information distribution device 5 as electronic information. As a method of converting the electronic data into electronic information, a photograph or character information can be read by an image scanner or the like to be converted into electronic information. However, in the case of character information, as described above, the method is not limited to the method of converting the image data into electronic data by an image scanner, and the key puncher may directly input the character information manually to convert the data into electronic data.
[0031]
However, in the information creation center 1, it is also possible to convert the character information into audio information and convert the character information into electronic data. In this case, the sound data may be such that sound data of each of the 50 sounds of "aiueo ..." are stored in units of sound, and these are synthesized and reproduced. In order to reduce the amount, for example, nouns such as "school" and "?? Shimbunsha", and particles, conjuncts, and the like are stored as a chunk of sound data, and the words are synthesized and reproduced. Thus, it is preferable to reduce the amount of sound data to be stored in the storage unit 34 of the portable playback device 30 or the semiconductor memory 25A of the IC card 25 described later.
[0032]
FIG. 6 shows an example of a method of storing the above-described sound data in units of words. In FIG. 6, an address is assigned to the sound data of each word. It is also possible to configure so that the audio data is reproduced while appropriately referring to the lookup table shown in FIG.
[0033]
By reproducing all the textual information as audio in this way, it becomes possible to listen to newspaper information even in a train during a rush hour, as described above, and it is painful to read a type on a portable reproducing device. It can be a suitable information gathering tool for modern people who have a strong tendency to become.
[0034]
The electronic information transmitted to the information distribution device 5 is transmitted to a plurality of locations such as a parking area of a station or a highway, or a tourist spot through an analog / digital line such as a telephone line or a transmission line 2 such as a wireless or dedicated line. Are transmitted to the relay devices 10-1 to 10- (10) installed in advance. The electronic information transmitted to the relay device 10 can be appropriately obtained by a general user by a method described below or the like. Details will be described later.
[0035]
Next, the relay device 10 will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a hardware block diagram of the relay device 10, and FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the relay device 10.
[0036]
The relay device 10 includes a control unit 11, a communication unit 12 that receives the electronic information transmitted from the information distribution device 5, and a unit that sorts the electronic information received by the communication unit 12 for each type. Storage means 13 for storing and storing information, a monitor 14 for displaying a guidance screen for guiding the user on how to use the relay device 10, and guidance preprogrammed with a procedure for displaying the guidance screen on the monitor 14. A program 15, an operation means 16 for the user to perform an operation input to the control means 11 of the relay device 10 along the guidance on the guidance screen, and the type of the user through the guidance screen by operating the operation means 16 It mainly includes a history data storage unit 17 for storing history data indicating whether or not electronic information has been purchased, a money insertion detection unit 18 and a power supply unit 19. Reference numeral 20 denotes an IC card writer for transmitting electronic information of a type selected by the user himself / herself by operating the operation unit 16 to an IC card 25 serving as a storage unit.
[0037]
In FIG. 3, the monitor 14 and the IC card insertion slot 20A of the IC card writer 20, the coin insertion slot 18A, the bill insertion slot 18B, and the change of the money insertion detection unit 18 are returned to the front side of the relay device 10. 18C, and an input button 16A of the operation means 16 are provided.
[0038]
The user inserts the IC card 25 into the IC card insertion slot 20A of the IC card writer 20 for transmitting electronic information of a type selected by the user himself, and operates the operation means 16 to thereby obtain the IC card. Electronic information selected by the user is transmitted to the 25 semiconductor memories 25A. By connecting the IC card 25 in which the electronic information is stored as described above to a portable reproducing device 30 described later, the portable information reproducing device 30 is used, and the electronic information is converted into video or audio such as characters and images. The user can visually or audibly recognize.
[0039]
The electronic information is transmitted from the IC card writer 20 to the IC card in a non-contact manner. This non-contact type IC card is now well known and is marketed by each IC card maker. For example, according to the current technology, the time required to transmit character information of a newspaper or the like and write it to the semiconductor memory 25B in the IC card writer 25 is 100 Kbytes per second, which is equivalent to 50,000 characters. If the newspaper has about 25 pages and one page has less than 10,000 characters, the writing of the electronic data to the IC card 25 can be completed in a few seconds.
[0040]
4 and 5 show the portable playback device 30. FIG. 4 is a hardware block diagram of the portable playback device 30, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the portable playback device 30.
[0041]
In FIG. 4, the portable reproducing apparatus 30 includes a control unit 31, a user operation input unit 32 connected to the control unit 31, a compact monitor 33 such as a liquid crystal, and electronic information obtained from an IC card 25. , A system program 35 for causing the portable reproduction device 30 to perform basic operations, an internal power supply 36 such as a battery, and an earphone for outputting electronic information obtained from the IC card 25 as sound. The main components are a connection section 37 and an IC card reader 38 for reading electronic information stored in the IC card 25.
[0042]
The appearance of the portable playback device 30 is as shown in FIG. 5, and a liquid crystal monitor 33 is disposed at the center of the surface of a thin rectangular case body 39, and the operation input is provided on both sides of the monitor 33. An eight-way operation device 32A as means 32 and two button switches 32B and 32C are provided. Reference numeral 40 denotes an earphone which is connected to the earphone connection unit 37 via the connection unit 40A, reproduces audio information externally output through the earphone connection unit 37, and allows a user to recognize through audio.
[0043]
By using the earphone 40, it is possible to reproduce audio data obtained by converting character information of a newspaper or the like into sound information as described above.
[0044]
When character information of a newspaper or the like is reproduced by voice, the monitor preferably has a role as a selection screen for locating the character information of the stored newspaper article. That is, when character information such as a newspaper article is obtained from the earphone 40 as audio information, it may take much longer than when visually searching a character group and searching for a place to read. If you want to find the part you want to read visually, you can relatively easily find the part you want to read by using the screen scrolling, etc. It's hard to find where you want to hear.
[0045]
In view of such a problem, in this embodiment, the monitor 33 is used as a selection screen for cueing, and the operating device 32A is operated on a heading such as an economic column displayed on the selection screen, whereby the selection is made. By moving the cursor on the screen and further pressing the enter button 32C, the sound is reproduced through the earphone 40 from the head of the selected heading portion.
[0046]
Next, a work flow of the above-described information transmission system will be described.
[0047]
First, the information creation center 1 collects text information such as newspapers and paperback books, image information such as a photo book or game information, and converts each information into electronic information which is converted into electronic data. In particular, the above-described character information of a newspaper or the like is converted into electronic information converted into audio information.
[0048]
Next, the electronic information is transmitted via the information distribution device 5 to a relay device 10 installed in advance at a plurality of places such as various stations (stations of Shinkansen and conventional lines) and at a plurality of street corners via a telephone line or the like. Transmit (transmit).
[0049]
The information transmitted as described above is displayed as a selection screen on the monitor 14 shown in FIG. 3 for each type. By viewing the selection screen, the user can visually recognize what information can be obtained from the relay device 10.
[0050]
When the user visually recognizes the selection screen and finds the information to be obtained, first, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7, the coin insertion slot 18A or the bill insertion slot 18B of the money insertion detection unit 18 shown in FIG. Through a predetermined amount of money.
[0051]
When the money insertion detecting unit 18 detects that a predetermined amount has been inserted, the control unit 11 uses a selection screen displayed on the monitor 14 to display information desired by the user on the operation unit 16. The user is prompted to make a selection by operating the operation button 16A.
[0052]
When the control unit 11 confirms that the user has selected the information desired by the user by inputting the operation button 16A, the control unit 11 inserts the user's IC card 25 into the IC card writer 20 so as to insert the user's IC card 25 into the IC card writer 20. A guide screen is displayed on the monitor 14.
[0053]
The user is guided by the guidance screen while watching the guidance screen, and inserts the IC card 25 into the IC card insertion slot 20A of FIG. When the control unit 11 confirms that the IC card 25 is arranged at a predetermined position by a sensor (not shown), the electronic information selected by the user is transmitted to the IC card 25 (data transfer).
[0054]
When the control means 11 confirms that the data transfer has been completed, the control means 11 displays an end screen on the monitor 14 to notify the user that the data transfer has been completed.
[0055]
In the above-described operation flow of FIG. 7, a method is adopted in which the user selects the type of electronic information to be transferred to the IC card 25 after money is inserted into the relay device 10, but the method is not limited to this method. In the case where the price of each type of electronic information is various, the monitor 14 of the relay device 10 previously displays a selection screen that visually shows what kind of electronic information is being sold. After the user operates the operation means 16 while looking at the selection screen, a money request screen is displayed on the monitor 14 so that money of a price corresponding to the electronic information is inserted from the coin insertion slot 18A or the bill insertion slot 18B. Display and request. Then, the screen shifts to the guide screen described above, and the control means 11 confirms the insertion of the IC card 25, transfers data to the IC card 25, and displays the end screen on the monitor 14.
[0056]
Next, the case where the portable reproduction device 30 reproduces the data using the IC card 25 to which the data transfer has been completed will be described.
[0057]
The user inserts the IC card 25 storing the electronic information transferred from the relay device 11 through the IC card insertion slot 30A shown in FIG.
[0058]
After the insertion, the control means 31 accesses the system program 35 of the portable playback device 30, and transfers the electronic information stored in the IC card 25 to the storage means 34 by the system program 35. During the transfer, the monitor 33 indicates that the transfer is in progress.
[0059]
When the transfer is completed, the control unit accesses the transferred electronic information, and displays a selection screen displaying a plurality of indexes / titles. Such an operation is performed based on the system program 35. The index / title is not necessarily required when the transferred electronic information is a single piece of game information, but in the case of a newspaper article or the like, for example, an "economic column" or "sports" column corresponds thereto. .
[0060]
The user looks at the displayed selection screen and operates the operating device 32A to move the cursor displayed on the selection screen so that the cursor matches the index / title of the information to be obtained. Enter 32C.
[0061]
When the control unit 31 confirms the input, the control unit 31 searches (searches out) from the electronic information stored in the storage unit 34 corresponding to the selected index / title.
[0062]
When the search is completed, the electronic information is reproduced from the beginning of the electronic information corresponding to the index / title. This playback method may be played back only by voice through the earphone connection unit 37, or may display the currently played-back “economic section” on the monitor 33, or display the remaining playback time or the next index / title, for example. May be displayed. Of course, in the case of the present invention, it is preferable that character information such as newspapers and paperback books be reproduced as voice. In the case of a cartoon or the like, a picture may be displayed on the monitor 33 and a sound corresponding to the picture may be reproduced from the earphone 40.
[0063]
If the user wants to find the economic column and interrupt the process halfway, the user inputs the above-mentioned enter button 32C to interrupt the sound reproduced from the earphone. Then, when resuming again, the content is reproduced by inputting the enter button 32C again. The cancel button 32B of the operation means 32 functions as a repeat switch at the time of sound reproduction, and if the repeat switch is input when it is difficult to hear the sound, the cancel button 32B returns by a time proportional to the time when the switch 32B is pressed. To perform reproduction again. Further, the portable playback device 30 of this embodiment is configured such that, after the interruption for a certain period of time, the address of the interruption point is stored in the storage means 34. Of course, if the interrupted address is stored in the memory 25A of the IC card 25 without storing it in the storage means 34, for example, the IC card 25 storing the newspaper information is extracted, and the character information of the paperback book is extracted. Even after the insertion of an IC card 25 storing voice information as a new message and intervening the reproduction of different information, the IC card storing the newspaper information is replaced again and the information stored in the memory 25A of the IC card 25 is stored. By using the address, it is possible to reproduce from the interrupted point.
[0064]
In the present embodiment, as described above, a method of temporarily storing the electronic information stored in the IC card 25 in the storage means 34 in the portable playback device 30 is adopted. However, the present invention is not limited to this method. Although the semiconductor memory 25A and the control means 31 directly to the stored electronic information to the inner may be configured to access and play, when using the IC card of the contactless type, ensures that the data transfer In order to ensure performance and readout speed, it may be preferable to temporarily load the data into the internal storage means and use it as described above.
[0065]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention configured as described above, the following effects can be obtained for each claim.
[0066]
That is, according to the present invention, the consumer can use the portable information reproducing device owned by himself / herself to reproduce the information obtained from the relay device and obtain the information regardless of the place.
[0067]
[0068]
[0069]
[0070]
[0071]
[0072]
[0073]
Further , according to the present invention, since the user can recognize text information such as newspapers as voice information, it is extremely useful for a user who does not like to read typefaces. It is possible to collect information without disturbing other passengers on the train.
[0074]
Further, according to the second aspect of the invention, even when character information is reproduced as audio information, it is possible to visually confirm a portion to be read (to be heard) on a monitor, easily locate the head, and hear necessary information. It becomes possible.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an information transmission system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a hardware block diagram of a relay device.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a relay device.
FIG. 4 is a hardware block diagram of the portable playback device.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a portable playback device.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram.
FIG. 7 is an operation flowchart of the relay device.
[Explanation of symbols]
5 ... Information distribution device, 10 ... Relay device, 14 ... Monitor, 18 ... Money insertion detection unit, 25 ... IC card, 30 ... Portable reproduction device, 40 ... It is an earphone.

Claims (1)

An information distribution device that converts textual information of newspapers, magazines and the like into audio information and converts the electronic information into electronic data to relay devices installed at various locations in various stations and town corners,
A portable playback device that receives the electronic information transmitted to the relay device, and includes a storage unit that stores the received electronic information;
The electronic information stored as an address in word units in the storage means is referred to as a lookup table including the address and the audio data of the word, and the audio information is synthesized by the control means of the portable playback apparatus into the word. An information transmission system, wherein the information transmission system is configured to reproduce the audio data by an earphone.

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