KR20000024426A - Method to provide voice e-mail service - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for supplying a voice e-mail service is provided to transmit the voice e-mail performed between e-mail users and e-mail servers, by using a streaming technique. CONSTITUTION: An e-mail server transmits a corresponding voice message, stored in a database, to an e-mail receiver in real time by using a streaming technique, when the e-mail receiver requests reception of voice e-mail. A method for transmitting the voice message to the e-mail server comprises the steps of: possessing(1-1) a recording starter and a record complete in an e-mail transmission program; observing(1-2) whether the recording starter is selected by the e-mail transmission program; transmitting(1-3) voices received through a microphone to the e-mail server in real time by using the streaming technique, by the e-mail transmission program; storing(1-4) the voice message in the database, by the e-mail server; and performing(1-5) to the step of 1-3, when the recording complete is not selected by examining whether the recording complete is selected by the e-mail transmission program.

Description

Voice e-mail service method {Method to provide voice e-mail service}

The present invention relates to a voice e-mail service method, and in particular, voice messages can be transmitted and received in real time using a streaming technology, thereby providing a voice e-mail service more quickly and efficiently. It is about a method.

The Internet is now being used extensively to become part of everyday life and growing rapidly every year. Accordingly, various e-mail services using the Internet have been provided, and voice e-mail services for sending voice messages to e-mails are also being implemented.

1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional e-mail service, wherein an e-mail sent by the e-mail sender 100-1 is stored in the e-mail server 130 and then e-mailed at the request of the e-mail receiver 100-2. It is sent to the receiver 100-2. In FIG. 1, the e-mail server 130 is illustrated as being composed of a voice server 132 for storing and managing a voice mail and a data server 131 for storing and managing general data other than the voice mail. In this case, the electronic mail transmission / reception program for the electronic mail service may be implemented as a separate program or directly implemented in a web browser.

Meanwhile, in the conventional e-mail service through the Internet, in order to listen to a voice message sent to the e-mail receiver 100-2, the computer 120 transmits the voice message transmitted by the e-mail sender 100-1 once. All had to download.

Specifically, in the conventional voice mail service, the email sender 100-1 records all voices to be transmitted once using the microphone 110-3 provided in the computer 110. Then, a voice file (for example, a wave file) is generated, and the generated voice file is transmitted to the voice server 132 by an e-mail transmitting program loaded in the e-mail sender's computer 110. Then, the e-mail recipient 100-2 downloads all the voice files to him from the voice server 132 to his computer 120, and then plays the voice using a plug-in program. You will hear a voice message.

That is, since the voice file transmission from the voice server 132 to the computer receiver 120 of the e-mail receiver has to be performed all at once, it takes a long time to download the voice file, which is very boring for the e-mail user. In addition, an e-mail user has a problem in that a plug-in program for reproducing a voice message must be embedded in his or her computer. In particular, an e-mail user may be restricted from using a service through a modem or in a low network bandwidth environment. there was.

In addition, it is not easy to type the keyboard for people who are not on the Internet, so in order to use e-mail more easily, it is necessary to make text and voice available on one screen of the computer. The need will be great for the marginalized.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above problems, the transmission of the voice mail between the email users and the email server can be made in real time using a streaming (streaming) technology to quickly and conveniently The purpose is to provide a method for providing e-mail services.

In order to achieve the above object, the voice mail service method according to the present invention is an e-mail server providing an e-mail service is a voice message stored in a database when the e-mail recipient requests to receive a voice e-mail It is characterized in that it is configured to transmit to the email recipient in real time using a streaming (streaming) technology.

Here, it is preferable that the voice message transmission from the email sender to the email server is also performed in real time using a streaming technology.

At this time, the procedure for transmitting a voice message from the email sender to the email server includes steps 1-1 including recording start means and recording end means in an email transmission program loaded on the computer of the email sender. ; The electronic mail transmitting program (1-2) for monitoring whether the recording start means is selected; When the recording start means is selected in step 1-2, the email sending program transmits a voice received through a microphone in real time to the email server using a streaming technology; Step 1-4, wherein the email server stores the voice message received in real time in a database; And the e-mail transmitting program checks whether the recording end means is selected and, if the recording end means is not selected, includes the steps 1-5 to proceed to steps 1-3. have.

In addition, the procedure of transmitting a voice message from the email server to the email recipient comprises the steps of: 1-1 including a playback start means and a playback end means in an email reception program loaded on a computer of the email receiver; Step 2-2 of the e-mail receiving program monitoring whether the reproducing start means is selected and notifying the e-mail server when the reproducing start means is selected; A second step of the email server transmitting the corresponding voice message recorded in the database to a computer of the email receiver in real time using a streaming technology; Step 2-4, wherein the e-mail receiving program outputs the voice message received in step 2-3 in real time through a computer speaker of the e-mail receiver; And the e-mail receiving program checks whether the reproduction end means is selected and, if the reproduction end means is not selected, includes the steps 2-5 proceeding to the step 2-3. have.

Here, the recording start means, recording end means, playback start means, and playback end means is configured to appear on the monitor screen in the form of a button, but if the button is configured to perform the corresponding function can constitute a desirable user interface have.

On the other hand, the voice mail service method comprises the step 3-1 of further comprising a pre-listening means in the form of a button in the e-mail transmission program; Step 3-2, wherein the e-mail transmitting program monitors whether the pre-listening means is selected and notifies the e-mail server when the pre-listening means is selected; And the e-mail server transmits the voice message recorded in the database to the e-mail sender's computer in real time using a streaming technology, and the e-mail transmitting program outputs the received voice message in real time through a speaker. If it is configured to further include the step 3-3, it is a preferred practice since it is possible to hear in advance the voice recorded by the e-mail sender.

In addition, the voice mail service method may further comprise the step 4-1 of providing a deletion means in the form of a button in the email transmission program; Step 4-2, wherein the e-mail transmission program monitors whether the deletion means is selected and notifies the e-mail server when the deletion means is selected; And the e-mail server further comprises a step 4-3 of deleting the voice message from the database so that the e-mail sender can cancel the voice e-mail once transmitted.

1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional e-mail service,

2 is a schematic diagram of an e-mail service according to the present invention;

3 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a procedure for transmitting a voice mail;

4 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a procedure for receiving a voice email;

5 illustrates an example of an Internet site screen providing a service according to the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

110,120: Computer 110-1,110-2,120-1,120-2: Speaker

110-3,120-3: Microphone 130: Email server

131: data server 132: voice server

510: screen of the e-mail sending program

520: screen of the e-mail receiving program

511: recording start means 512: recording end means

513: pre-listening means 514: deletion means

521: playback start means 522: playback end means

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an e-mail service according to the present invention. The subject providing the service according to the present invention is an e-mail server 140. As described in FIG. 1, the data server 141 and the voice server 142 are described. Divided into.

At this time, the voice mail transmission between the computer user 110 and 120 of the email user and the voice server 142 is performed in real time by using a streaming technology. With streaming technology, voice e-mail is not sent in batches, but in real time with regular e-mail data in sequence, just as a thread is unwound.

That is, when the e-mail sender 100-1 records a voice on a web browser using the microphone 110-3, the voice is encoded on the Internet in real time and transmitted to the voice server 142 for storage. Then, when the email receiver 100-2 requests to check the voice email that has been sent to him using a web browser, the voice server 142 is decoded in real time and transmitted to the computer 120 of the email receiver. Therefore, it is not necessary to download all the voice files, and there is no need for a separate program for recording or playing back voice data.

In addition, even when forwarding a voice mail, only the link information of the voice mail needs to be transmitted. At this time, the user who has received the voice mail can receive the voice directly from the email server 140 by simply clicking the corresponding link information in the received email.

Meanwhile, encoding / decoding technology used in streaming technology for real-time transmission of voice is currently the most widely adopted coding method, which is implemented with "G.723.1, True speech, LPC (Liner), which is implemented with real-time encoding and decoding software. Predictive Coding) ". In addition, the technology for real-time transmission of coded data over the Internet may use the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), which has been approved by the Internet Engineer Steering Group (IESG) and documented in RFC 1889 and RFC 1890. RTP is typically implemented at the application level and encapsulated in User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packets.

Since such streaming technology is a commonly used technology, a detailed description thereof will be omitted, and by encoding / decoding data in real time on the Internet, a user can record and play anywhere regardless of place and time.

3 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a procedure for transmitting a voice mail, and in more detail, a procedure of transmitting a voice mail from the computer of the email sender to the email server 140 is described in detail. Let's do it.

First, a recording start means and a recording end means are provided in the email transmission program loaded on the computer 110 of the email sender (S310).

Here, the electronic mail transmission program means a program used for transmission of electronic mail, and the electronic mail transmission program and the electronic mail reception program for providing a service according to the present invention are preferably implemented in a web browser. When the present invention is implemented on a specific internet site, a user who accesses the specific internet site comes into contact with the e-mail sending program screen 510 and the e-mail receiving program screen 520 as shown in FIG.

Of course, the e-mail sending program and the e-mail receiving program may be implemented to be distributed to each user and separately embedded in the user's computer, and when accessing a specific internet site providing a service according to the present invention, the Internet site is used when using the service. The side can also send.

In addition, the recording start means and recording end means means a user interface for informing the e-mail transmission program that the user wants to start or end the recording of the voice to be sent by e-mail, in the example shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, it is preferable to configure the button forms 511 and 512 to appear on the monitor screen. Then, each e-mail user can press a corresponding button to perform a desired function.

Now, the e-mail transmission program monitors whether the recording start means is selected (S320). That is, the user 100-1 who wants to send a voice e-mail clicks the start recording button 511 on the screen and then uses the microphone 110-3 provided in his computer 110 to record the voice. Get started.

When the e-mail sender 100-1 clicks the recording start button 511 in step S320, the e-mail transmitting program receives the voice from the microphone 110-3 (S330), and uses an e-mail server (eg, streaming technology). 140, real-time transmission (S340). At this time, the voice of the e-mail sender 100-1 is immediately transmitted to the e-mail server 140 in real time, and after the recording is turned off as in the conventional case, the entire voice file is not transmitted to the e-mail server at once. The email server 140 stores the voice email received in real time from the computer 110 of the email sender in its database (S350).

On the other hand, the electronic mail transmission program determines whether the recording is terminated by checking whether the recording end means is selected (S360). That is, as a process of monitoring whether the e-mail sender 100-1 clicks the recording end button 512, before the e-mail sender 100-1 clicks the recording end button 512, the steps S330 to S350 are performed. The procedure continues and the sound input by the email sender 100-1 to the microphone 110-3 is continuously transmitted to the email server 140 in real time.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a procedure for receiving a voice email, and in more detail, a procedure in which the voice email is transmitted from the email server 140 to the computer 120 of the email receiver is described in detail. Let's do it.

First, a reproduction start means and a reproduction end means are provided in an email reception program loaded on a computer 120 of an email recipient (S410).

Here, the playback start means and the playback end means means a user interface for notifying the e-mail receiving program that the e-mail recipient 100-2 starts to play or ends playback of the voice mail that has been sent to him. As shown in the example of FIG. 5, it is preferable to configure the buttons 521 and 522 to appear on the monitor screen. At this time, the e-mail recipient may press a corresponding button to perform a desired function.

Now, the e-mail receiving program monitors whether the playback start means is selected (S420), and notifies the email server when the playback start means is selected (S430). Of course, the e-mail receiver 100-2 selects a desired item (the other e-mail sender) from the list of the e-mail senders who have sent the e-mail to the e-mail receiver, and then clicks the play start button 521.

Then, the electronic mail server 140 that detects that the playback start button is clicked transmits the corresponding voice email stored in the database to the computer 120 of the email receiver. At this time, the transmission of the voice e-mail is made in real time using a streaming technology (S440). That is, the user can listen to the voice through the speakers 120-1 and 120-2 provided in the computer from the moment the user presses the start playback button 521 (S450).

On the other hand, the e-mail receiving program checks whether the reproduction end means is selected (S460), and if the reproduction end means is not selected, proceed to step S440 and step S450. That is, as a process of monitoring whether the e-mail receiver 100-2 clicks the play end button 522, before the e-mail receiver 100-2 clicks the play end button 522, the e-mail server 140. Is transmitted in real time from the speaker (120-1,120-2).

On the other hand, as shown in Fig. 5, the e-mail transmission program is further provided with a pre-listening means 513 in the form of a button, so that the e-mail sender 100-1 can listen to the voice recorded by him in advance. If it is made possible, it can implement more preferable. If you do not like the recorded voice message, click the start recording button 511 again to record, and the newly input voice is stored in the database of the e-mail server 140.

Specifically, the e-mail transmission program monitors whether the pre-listen button 513 is clicked and then notifies the e-mail server 140 when the pre-listen button 513 is clicked. Then, the e-mail server 140 transmits the voice message recorded in the database to the e-mail sender's computer 110 in real time using a streaming technology, and the e-mail transmitting program transmits the received voice message to the speaker 110. -1,110-2) to output in real time.

Further, it is more preferable that the electronic mail transmission program is further provided with a deletion means in the form of a button so that the electronic mail sender can delete the recorded voice electronic mail.

That is, the e-mail transmission program monitors whether the delete button 514 is clicked and then notifies the e-mail server 140 when the delete button 514 is clicked. Then, the email server 140 deletes the voice message from the database.

Each embodiment described above is not intended to limit the present invention thereto.

That is, the present invention provides an e-mail service method comprising a procedure for transmitting a corresponding voice message stored in a database to an e-mail receiver in real time using a streaming technology when the e-mail receiver requests reception of a voice message. There is a key in itself.

With the present invention, a voice message can be heard in real time without downloading all the voice messages received by e-mail to one's own computer, and the voice message only receives the link information of the voice e-mail stored in the e-mail server. Can be heard. In addition, by applying real-time encoding / decoding technology, the size of the transmitted data is small, so that it can be easily received even in a low bandwidth environment of the network, and voice data can be transmitted along with general text data, so that a very fast voice message can be delivered. Do.

In addition, operators currently providing e-mail for text over the Internet can easily add a voice e-mail according to the present invention to an existing text-based e-mail screen to satisfy customers who want voice e-mail. In particular, it is very easy for visually impaired people to use email.

Therefore, while providing convenience to the use of electronic mail to electronic mail users, profitability is increased by the increase of electronic mail users for the service provider implementing the present invention.

Claims (8)

In an e-mail service that receives an e-mail from an e-mail sender and stores the e-mail in a database, the e-mail stored in the database is transmitted to the e-mail recipient according to a request of an e-mail recipient. The e-mail server providing the e-mail service transmits a corresponding voice message stored in the database to the e-mail receiver in real time by using a streaming technology when the e-mail receiver requests reception of a voice e-mail. Voice e-mail service method, characterized in that configured to transmit. The method of claim 1, wherein the voice message transmission from the email sender to the email server is configured to be performed in real time using streaming technology. The method of claim 2, wherein the voice message transmission procedure from the email sender to the email server is: A step 1-1 including recording start means and recording end means in an email transmission program loaded on the computer of the email sender; The electronic mail transmitting program (1-2) for monitoring whether the recording start means is selected; When the recording start means is selected in step 1-2, the email sending program transmits a voice received through a microphone in real time to the email server using a streaming technology; Step 1-4, wherein the email server stores the voice message received in real time in a database; And The electronic mail transmission program comprises a first to fifth step of checking whether the recording end means is selected and proceeding to the first to third steps when the recording end means is not selected. Postal service method. The procedure of claim 1, wherein the voice message is transmitted from the email server to the email recipient. A step 2-1 of including a playback start means and a playback end means in an email reception program loaded on the computer of the email recipient; Step 2-2 of the e-mail receiving program monitoring whether the reproducing start means is selected and notifying the e-mail server when the reproducing start means is selected; A second step of the email server transmitting the corresponding voice message recorded in the database to a computer of the email receiver in real time using a streaming technology; Step 2-4, wherein the e-mail receiving program outputs the voice message received in step 2-3 in real time through a computer speaker of the e-mail receiver; And The electronic mail receiving program comprises a step 2-5 of checking whether the end means for playback is selected and proceeding to step 2-3 if the end means for playback is not selected. Postal service method. A voice message transmission procedure from the email sender of claim 3 to the email server, and a procedure of transmitting a voice message from the email server of claim 4 to the email receiver. Email service method. The method of claim 5, wherein the recording start means, recording end means, playback start means, and playback end means is configured to appear on the monitor screen in the form of a button, characterized in that configured to perform the corresponding function when the button is clicked. Voice email service method. The method of claim 6 wherein the email service method, Step 3-1 further comprising a pre-listening means in the form of a button in the e-mail transmission program; Step 3-2, wherein the e-mail transmitting program monitors whether the pre-listening means is selected and notifies the e-mail server when the pre-listening means is selected; And The e-mail server transmits the voice message recorded in the database to a computer of the e-mail sender using a streaming technology in real time, and the e-mail transmitting program outputs the received voice message in real time through a speaker. Voice e-mail service method characterized in that it further comprises the step 3-3. The method of claim 7, wherein the email service method, Step 4-1 further comprising a button-deletion means in the e-mail transmission program; Step 4-2, wherein the e-mail transmission program monitors whether the deletion means is selected and notifies the e-mail server when the deletion means is selected; And And the email server further comprises a step 4-3 of deleting the corresponding voice message from the database.