KR100477635B1 - Mode and Mail Retrieval Apparatus in Computer and Telephone Integration System - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a mode-specific mail retrieval apparatus and method in a computer and telephone integration system. The mode-specific mail retrieval method according to the present invention in a computer and a telephone integrated system that provides a mail service function through which a user can retrieve or transmit mail through a telephone is provided. Selecting a search mode, searching a mail list according to the selected search mode, reading a searched mail list to a user using a text-to-speech program, and listening to a mail selected by the user in the mail list. Equipped.

Description

Mode-specific mail retrieval device and method in computer and telephone integration system

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication service of a computer, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for mode-specific mail retrieval in a computer and a telephone integrated system that provide a mail service function.

Recently, computer communication systems provide various communication services to users through communication networks or dedicated communication lines. As a communication service, there is a mail service function for sending and receiving messages between computer users. The mail service function delivers a message by voice as well as text and video. Computer & Telephony Integration (CTI) systems in computer communication systems, in particular, provide a mail service function that allows users to retrieve and send mail by voice from a telephone from outside.

1 is a flowchart for explaining a mail searching method using a general telephone.

First, the computer is accessed from the outside by telephone (step 100). That is, the user dials into the telephone number to which the computer is connected by modem through the telephone to access the computer. Here, the telephone may be any type of telephone that can be connected via a modem, for example, a telephone connected to a public telephone, a mobile phone, a general office telephone, a home telephone, a portable computer. Next, the computer is automatically turned on (step 102). When a connection signal comes in through a modem, the computer can be implemented to turn on automatically, for example, a computer having an ON-NOW function can be used. When the computer is turned on, the mail is newly received from the mail server connected through the LAN (step 104). Here, the received mail is stored in a predetermined mail storage section of the computer.

Next, the mail list to be read is searched (step 106). In other words, a mail list to be provided to the user is searched. In this case, the mail list corresponds to information of all mails which are not read by the user, including mail received just before and mail previously received. In this case, the mail information generally includes a sender, a received time, whether a file is attached, a type of mail (text, voice, etc.), a title of the mail, and the like. Finally, according to the user's mail listening request for the retrieved mail list, the mail selected by the user in the mail list is heard (step 108). The user listens to the searched mail list and selects the mail he / she wants to listen to. At this time, the user hears the above-mentioned information of the mail through, for example, a text-to-speech (TTS) conversion program. After listening to the mail list, the user selects the mail by voice or tone-call (button on the phone).

When the mail is spoken in step 108, the voice mail is read through the player, and in the case of the text mail, the mail is read to the user using a text-to-speech program. As described above, in the conventional mail searching method, in the process of searching for a mail list to be read (step 106), only the new mail list is heard or the entire mail in the mail box is heard.

In this way, the user was simply inconvenienced in selecting the desired mail from a predetermined mail list. That is, in the case of giving a list of mails to read, even if a user needs to search for a mail previously heard or viewed, the mail cannot be searched except for a new mail which is not searched through mail search using a telephone. Also, as an alternative to this, if the user is told the entire mailing list, the user may be inconvenient to select a desired mail from a myriad of mailing lists.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in an effort to provide a mode-specific mail retrieval device in a computer and telephone integration system that enables a user to select a desired mail by providing various mail retrieval modes and provides flexibility in mail retrieval.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a mode-specific mail retrieval method in a computer and a telephone integrated system performed by the mode-specific mail retrieval apparatus.

In order to achieve the above object, a mode-specific mail retrieval apparatus according to the present invention in a computer and a telephone integration system that provides a mail service function through which a user can retrieve or transmit a mail through a telephone is provided. An interface unit for inputting a search mode selected by the user among a plurality of search modes, outputting a desired mail from the searched mail list according to the search mode, and a mode-specific mail search unit for searching the mail list according to the search mode; .

In order to achieve the above object, the mode-specific mail search method according to the present invention comprises the steps of: (a) receiving a selection of a search mode from among a predetermined number of search modes for setting a mail list to be searched; Searching the mail list according to the present invention; (c) reading the searched mail list to a user using a text-to-speech program, and (d) listening to a mail selected by the user in the mail list.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, the configuration and operation of the mode-specific mail retrieval apparatus according to the present invention and the method thereof will be described.

A computer and telephone integration system is described to aid in understanding the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a computer and telephone integration system to which the present invention is applied, and is composed of a telephone 200, a computer 202 having an on-now function, and a mail server 204.

2, a computer 202 having an on-now function is connected to an external telephone 200 through a modem and to a mail server 204 via a network card. When the user dials the telephone number from the outside, the user is connected to the computer 202 through the telephone 200. Computer 202 is turned on and connected to mail server 204 for retrieval and transmission of new mail. At this time, the computer has an on-now function which is always ready for fast booting even when the power is off.

FIG. 3 is a detailed block diagram of the computer and telephone integration system shown in FIG. 2, including telephone 302 and fax 304, computer 310 and LAN for computer communication coupled to a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 300; And a mail server 354 connected to a (LAN) 352. Computer 310 is a fax modem 312 connected to telephone 302 and fax 304 via PSTN 300, a microphone / keyboard 314 illustrated as input, and a speaker / monitor 316 illustrated as output. Network adapter connected to the mail server 354 via a LAN 352 and a communication service provider 320 (in the present invention, DIALOG) for managing communication services between these computer peripherals and a communication network. It consists of 350. Here, the dialog 320 is composed of a modem interface 322, a local interface 324, an information storage database 326 and an application and voice related database 328.

Referring to FIG. 3, a relationship with a computer peripheral device and a location on a communication network of a system to which the present invention is applied may be known based on the dialog 320. The dialog 320 is an application program that embeds software capable of recognizing voice commands (C & C: command and control) in a personal computer and inputs commands or data through a telephone line or a microphone. The dialog 320 may execute, for example, commands commonly used in a personal computer, user-defined commands, and data (program input values) using a voice input through a microphone directly in front of the computer or a remote telephone. By providing a convenient communication service environment for the user. That is, the dialog 320 is connected to the telephone 302 and the fax 304 which are communication devices through the PSTN 300, and is an application program inside the computer connected to the mail server 354 through the LAN 352. Exists in the form of.

Looking at the configuration of the dialog 320, the modem interface 322 controls the fax modem 312 to send and receive input or output data and commands via the PSTN (300). The local interface 324 inputs data through a microphone / keyboard 314 connected as a computer peripheral and outputs the processed results through the speaker / monitor 316. That is, the modem interface 322 and the local interface 324 serve to connect various application programs executed in the dialog 320 to the outside. In addition to these interfaces, the dialog 320 manages a network adapter (LAN card) connecting to an external mail server 354 through the LAN 352. The information storage database 326 is used for retrieval and storage of data for processing in an application program. In addition, the dialog 320 has various voice related databases for processing voice commands and synthesizing voices. This will be described with reference to FIG. 4.

4 is a block diagram illustrating the dialog illustrated in FIG. 3 in detail, and includes a modem interface 422, a local interface 424, an application program 428, a text-to-speech (TTS) interface 442, and a speech synthesis engine. 444 and speech recognition module 446. Applications 428 include Personal Information Management System (PIMS) 432, mail 434, fax mailbox 436, and voice mailbox 438.

Referring to FIG. 4, the dialog frequently interacts with the user. This is divided into input and output on the system side and processing in the application program. First, when the input is described, data such as general command, voice command, tone-call (phone button), voice, and fax input by the user are input through the fax modem 412 or the microphone / keyboard 414. Modem interface 422 and local interface 424 are required to control the input and output of such devices. At this time, when data is input through the fax modem 422 (a telephone call or a fax comes), the computer recognizes this and turns on the available state. That is, according to the on-now function, the computer can process data input aperiodically through the fax modem 412.

The data thus input is processed by the speech recognition module 444 having a speech database when speech recognition is required according to the format of the data. The data passing through the interface is input to the application program, and in the case of the mail 434 in the application program, data about the mail is transmitted from the mail server through the network 450. There are a periodic method and a non-periodic method for accessing a mail server through the network 450 and obtaining mail. First, the periodic method is to turn on the computer at predetermined time by using the on-now function of the computer, access the mail server, and receive and store newly arrived mail. In this case, when there is a new mail, the user is notified through a wireless pager or the like, or notified periodically when the computer is turned on by the user. On the other hand, when the computer is turned on aperiodically by a user, a non-periodic method is to access a mail server as needed and retrieve and store newly arrived mail (generally, a method of searching a mail by turning on the computer locally via a telephone). Corresponding to).

The user stores the transmitted data (simple data and data about commands and mails) in the information storage database 426, and sends an output requesting new input to the user in non-periodic cases. do. There are three forms of output. First (1 in Fig. 4), the text is synthesized by voice in the output from the application program and is heard by the user. In this case, the speech is output using the speech synthesis engine 444 through the text-to-speech conversion (TTS) interface 442, which is an application program that speaks a text document to speech. Of course, as with the input, the modem interface 422 or the local interface 424 is controlled and output to the modem 412 and the speaker / monitor 416. Second (2 in FIG. 4), the case in which the TTS interface 442 is not passed through the above-described case. Third (3 in FIG. 4) is a case of sending mail through the network 450 in the case of mail transmission.

As mentioned above, the input and output of a dialog involves frequent interactions while these processes maintain a relationship between the user and other systems. Now, an apparatus and method according to the present invention for retrieving mail by mode as an application program for mail in a dialog will be described.

5 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of a mode-specific mail retrieval apparatus according to the present invention. The mode-specific mail retrieval apparatus 510 in a computer having an on-now function includes an interface unit 520 and a mode-specific mail retrieval unit ( 530 and the mail storage unit 540. Here, the interface unit 520 interfaces between the phone 500 and the mail search unit 530 for each mode, and includes a search mode / search key input unit 522 and a mail output unit 524. The mode-specific mail search unit 530 performs a new mail list search 532, a search by date 534, a search by sender 536, and a full mail search 538.

Referring to FIG. 5, a mode-specific mail retrieval apparatus according to the present invention is included in a computer having an on-now function, and provides a computer and telephone integrated system that provides a mail service function through which a user can retrieve or transmit mail through a telephone. The present invention relates to an apparatus for easily searching a mail list desired by a user by providing various mail search modes.

In detail, the interface unit 520 inputs a search mode selected by the user through the phone 500 among a predetermined number of search modes for setting a mail list to be searched. That is, the user dials the telephone 500 from the outside and turns on the computer connected through the modem to enter the search mode. At this time, the interface unit 520 first informs the user of a predetermined number of search modes by voice so that the user selects the search mode. The interface unit 520 transfers the input search mode to the mail search unit 530 for each mode, and then receives a desired mail from a mail list searched according to the search mode from the mode mail search unit 530 and receives a call ( Through 500).

The mail search unit 530 for each mode searches for one mail list among at least a new mail list search 532, a date search 534, a sender search 536, and an entire mail search 538 according to the search mode.

At this time, the interface unit 520 inputs a date as a search key from the user in addition to the search mode if the search mode is a mode requiring a mail list by date. In addition, the interface unit 520 inputs a sender as a search key from the user in addition to the search mode if the search mode is a mode requiring a sender-specific mail list.

The mail server 550 stores mail received by the user, and is a part that actually provides an electronic mail service. Mail information of all mail lists not read by the user, including mail received just before through the mail server 550 and mail previously received, is normally stored in the mail storage unit 540. In addition, the mail storage unit 540 stores the entire mail list. The mail storage unit 514 corresponds to the information storage database in FIG. 3 or 4. The mode-specific mail search unit 530 searches for a mail list desired by the user through the mail server 550 receiving new mail and the mail storage unit 540 storing all mails.

6 is a flowchart for explaining a selective mail searching method according to the present invention.

First, the computer is accessed from the outside by telephone (step 602). That is, the user dials into the telephone number to which the computer is connected by modem through the telephone to access the computer. Next, the computer is automatically turned on (step 604). When a connection signal comes in through a modem, the computer can be implemented to turn on automatically, for example a computer with on-now functionality can be used. When the computer is turned on, the mail is newly received from the mail server connected through the LAN (step 606). Here, the received mail is stored in a predetermined mail storage section of the computer.

After confirming receipt of the new mail, one search mode is selected from a predetermined number of search modes for setting the mail list to be searched (step 608). In other words, the user selects a search mode. At this time, the user first voices a predetermined number of search modes so that the user selects the search mode, and the user selects the search mode through voice or tone-call.

After operation 608, the mail list is searched according to the selected search mode. According to a search mode selected by the user, one of four search processes is performed as a preferred embodiment. In this case, if the user does not select one of the predetermined search modes, that is, no selection is made for a predetermined time, the user is automatically selected as a mode for searching a new mail list, which is the most common search mode.

In detail, it is determined whether the selected search mode is the first mode for requesting a new mail list (operation 610). If it is not the first mode, it is determined whether the selected search mode is the second mode for requesting a mail list by date (step 612). In this case, in the second mode, the user requests a search key, and the user receives a date as the search key (operation 614). Allows the user to enter additional information, such as "today" and "yesterday," as well as simple numeric input (January 6, 1998 as "980106") using a tone-call or voice call. . Based on the date entered, list the date entered in the entire message or, if necessary, a list of subsequent messages.

If it is not the second mode, it is determined whether the selected search mode is the third mode for requesting the sender-specific mail list (step 616). In this case, in the third mode, the user requests a search key as described above, and receives a sender as a key from the user (step 618). After inputting the sender's name to the user, the mail is searched for the corresponding mail in the whole mail with the name to create a mail list. The commands or inputs given by the user are recognized and processed by the voice recognition database, as described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

If it is not the third mode, it is determined whether the selected search mode is the fourth mode for requesting the entire mail search (operation 620). Searching the entire mailing list is generally not used well in a system environment in which mail is searched through a telephone from the outside, but the user may want the entire mailing list as needed, so it is included in the mode-specific mail searching method of the present invention. . If not, the new mail list is searched (step 622).

That is, the selected search mode is one of the first to fourth modes, and thus the corresponding mail list is searched. Although four search modes have been exemplified in the present invention as a preferred embodiment, various other search modes may be added. After one of steps 610, 614, 618, and 622, a user's desired mail list searched according to the selected search mode is read to the user using a text-to-speech program (step 624). At this time, the user selects the mail he wants to hear from the list of heard mails. Accordingly, the user selects a mail selected by the user from the mail list (step 626).

In addition, during or after reading the mail, the user can issue commands to manipulate the mail. In this case, you can delete the mail, listen again from the beginning, listen to the information (sender, receiving time, etc.) of the next mail (for mail you are reading now) from the mail list, and return to the previous menu. have.

As described above, the mode-specific mail retrieval apparatus and method according to the present invention in a computer and telephone integration system enables the user to select a desired mail from a desired search list by providing various mail retrieval modes. Therefore, even when using the phone from the outside, you can listen to the mail you want to hear in a short time, and it is possible to search the entire list as well as a new mail list, which provides flexibility in the mail search.

1 is a flowchart for explaining a mail searching method using a general telephone.

2 is a schematic block diagram of a computer and telephone integration system to which the present invention is applied.

3 is a detailed block diagram of the computer and telephone integration system shown in FIG.

4 is a detailed block diagram of the inside of the system shown in FIG.

5 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of a mode-specific mail retrieval apparatus according to the present invention.

6 is a flowchart for explaining a mode-specific mail retrieval method according to the present invention.

Claims (5)

In a mode-specific mail retrieval apparatus in a computer and a telephone integrated system that provide a mail service function by which a user can retrieve or transmit mail over a telephone, the user may be provided to the user from among a predetermined number of retrieval modes for setting a mail list for retrieval. An interface unit for inputting a search mode selected by the user and outputting a desired mail from the mail list searched according to the search mode; And And a mode-specific mail search unit for searching a mail list according to the search mode. According to claim 1, wherein the mode-specific mail search unit, And a mail list from among at least a new mail list, a mail list by date, a mail list by sender, and an entire mail list according to the search mode. The method of claim 2, wherein the interface unit, If the search mode is a mode for requesting the mail list by date, the user inputs a date as a search key in addition to the search mode.If the search mode is a mode for requesting the mail list for each sender, the sender is designated as a search key. Mode-specific mail retrieval device, characterized in that the input. In the method of retrieving mail by mode in a computer and telephone integrated system that provides a mail service function that allows a user to retrieve or send mail over a telephone, (a) selecting a search mode from a predetermined number of search modes for setting a mail list to search; (b) searching the mail list according to the selected search mode; (c) reading the retrieved mail list to the user using a text-to-speech program; And and (d) listening to the mail selected by the user in the mail list. The method of claim 4, wherein step (b) comprises: Searching for the mail list if the selected search mode is a mode for requesting a new mail list; If the selected search mode is a mode for requesting a mail list for each date, searching for a mail list by receiving a date from the user as a search key; If the selected search mode is a mode for requesting a sender-specific mail list, receiving a sender as a search key from the user and searching the mail list; And And searching for a corresponding mail list if the selected search mode is a mode requiring a whole mail list.