DE19911439B4 - Procedure for an electronic secretariat in telecommunications networks - Google Patents

Abstract

Method for an electronic secretariat in telecommunication networks comprising the processes of communication with a user, system control and secretarial function, characterized in that: • a network server (1) is equipped to perform secretarial functions, • that a personal electronic secretariat is set up for the user, the electronic secretariat provides the user with access via the telephone, facsimile and data transmission services of wired analogue and digital connections and via mobile telephony, • that the electronic secretariat system control (3) automatically establishes links with business partners, the • that the electronic secretariat has at least the functions receiving (4) and sending (5), document filing (6), keeping an appointment book (7), writing (8), managing an address book (9), automat (e) processing the electronic forms (10) and translating into foreign languages (11), • that the electronic secretariat ensures at least the services of searching databases, booking business travel, translating into "exotic" foreign languages and sending letters from a service center via external links; the user through the telephone and fax services an analysis of the input signals to detect the input of system commands, which is analyzed in the access via telephone, the language (SpA) and the faxes are analyzed by fax (TFA) and the text is implemented by means of an optical character recognition software (OCR).

Description

The invention relates to the field of telecommunications network services.

According to the state of the art services can be used in telecommunication networks, which can be retrieved from databases (see DE 43 23 947 ), the document management and special services such. B. Speech processing (see DE 19713966 ) or the compilation of image documents (see DE 19720989 ) affect.

For complex tasks for document processing, administration and exchange with other partners are currently no services available in the telecommunications networks.

[From the US 5,384,831 A A method of providing various personalized services in telecommunication networks is known in which the control of the services by a user is done by entering digits over a telephone, which are polled one after the other and must be entered. The disadvantage is the very complicated operation for the user.]

The invention has as its object to provide a method by which the known secretarial functions can be carried out electronically in telecommunications networks, in which the operation is simplified for the user.

The object is achieved by providing a network server for a method for executing secretarial functions.

• – Kommunikation mit dem Benutzer
• – Systemsteuerung und
• – Sekretariatsfunktionen

und gewährleistet, daß sich der Benutzer ein persönliches elektronisches Sekretariat einrichten kann.The method includes the processes

• - Communication with the user
• - Control Panel and
• - Secretarial functions

and ensures that the user can set up a personal electronic secretariat.

The contact with the electronic secretariat in the network can be made at any time, as several input channels are available. The services telephone, fax and data transmission can be fed in via analogue or digital wired connections as well as via mobile telephony (see 1 ).

Access to the electronic secretariat requires legitimacy for the user. After access, he is the user of his electronic personal secretariat (EPS).

If access is via telephone, the language is analyzed (SpA), used to enter system commands, and to create e-mails and other letters (see 2 ). For further processing, the language is converted to ASCII text (SpW).

Faxes are also analyzed (TFA) and the text is converted into computational data using optical character recognition software (OCR).

Data that is already available in the computer format, eg. B. via ISDN PC card or modem, can be further processed directly.

For the delivery of the information, the user can choose in which form the information should reach him. It also speech or data to analog or digital connections and mobile devices are possible.

On mobile phones or on pagers a short text can be displayed as Short Message.

On facsimile machines the information appears as text or graphic with low resolution.

When using a PC, the output can be in the form of a high quality color graphic.

The user communicates via the system commands with the electronic secretariat. The user menu opens and the control for the secretarial functions is triggered.

Connections to business partners, the Internet and other service providers are set up program-controlled. The connections can be realized via telephone, fax and data transmission.

• – Anzeigen, Registrieren und Ablegen der Eingangspost
• – Erstellen von Schreiben unter Einbeziehung vorgefertigter Formblätter
• – Senden von Schreiben als Mail, Telefax oder Sprach-Mail
• – Speichern von Dokumenten
• – Führen eines persönlichen Terminkalenders
• – Verwalten eines persönlichen Adreßbuches
• – Übersetzen in Fremdsprachen
• – Recherchen in Datenbanken
• – Vorbereiten von Geschäftsreisen

The secretarial functions include

• - Display, register and deposit the incoming mail
• - Writing with prefabricated forms
• - Sending letters by mail, fax or voice mail
• - Saving documents
• - keeping a personal diary
• - Manage a personal address book
• - Translating into foreign languages
• - Research in databases
• - Prepare business trips

Connections to business partners, the Internet and other service providers are set up programmatically, including address management.

The business partners use the address of the EPS and can answer via telephone, fax or data transfer.

For searches in databases, the connection to an Internet search engine can be established.

• – Buchungen für Geschäftsreisen (Flug- und Bahntickets sowie Hotel- und Mietwagenreservierungen) über den Zugang zum Buchungssystem eines Reisebüros,
• – Übersetzungen in eine ”exotische” Fremdsprache,
• – Versenden von Briefen, die in einem Dienstleistungszentrum (Druckzentrum) gedruckt werden.

Connections to other service providers are being set up, eg For example

• - bookings for business travel (plane and train tickets as well as hotel and car rental reservations) via access to the booking system of a travel agency,
• - translations into an "exotic" foreign language,
• - Sending letters printed in a service center (printing center).

The secretarial functions are explained using the following example:
A businessman is traveling. He recognizes the need for a meeting in a foreign location with several participants, with one participant coming from abroad. A participant can not be reached by e-mail, but by fax. The business partners should confirm participation in writing or by telephone.

The businessman dials into his personal electronic secretary via the nearest available telephone. He legitimizes himself by entering a PIN or analyzing his own voice. The EPS informs him about the existence of reports.

Then he asks the functionality "diary" and asks for the issue of a new appointment. The EPS asks for the duration of the event and the location. With the help of the location, the EPS can estimate the travel time based on the experiences made so far and offers only those deadlines, which are suitable for the planned business trip.

If the businessman confirms the appointment, the appointment is blocked for further entries, otherwise the next possible appointment is offered. As a reminder, the user synchronizes his ESP appointment calendar via GSM (Groupe Speciale Mobile) with a tethered organizer that he carries with him.

He then selects the function "Organize meeting". He is asked about the participants. He names only the names, the associated mail addresses and other communication links the EPS pulls from the already stored database with personal addresses. In addition, the place, start time and duration of the event are queried. If the event is held at a location already used in the past, a conference hotel will be proposed at the same time.

Then the menu item "Design invitation text" is selected and the text is entered by language. The system analyzes the language (possibly after the learning phase when the system is initialized) and saves it as ASCII text. For control and correction, the text is read out once the input has been completed. The control of the recording functions is also done by voice using codewords.

The system internally creates an invitation after accessing the preset forms and sends it by mail to the addresses of the named participants. If a subscriber does not have an e-mail address, their fax number will be dialed instead. The address for acceptance or cancellation is an electronic mailbox number of the ESP. For foreign participants, the translation of the invitation will be generated and sent by e-mail or fax.

Thereafter, the user sets a filter for incoming messages so that only responses to his invitation are allowed through. He chooses his pager as output device. The phone number of his pager is also contained in his personal address book.

This completes the communication with his EPS for the time being.

In the meantime, the mails or the fax are received by the business partners. You have replied to the mailbox address of the EPS. Foreign-language mails are translated and cached. Faxes are converted into ASCII texts and saved. If a business partner answers via voice mail, the language is saved (for later listening to the voice mails) and implemented with software for storing in ASCII format. Then the messages are sent to the desired output device, in this case the pager of the businessman, according to the definition of the defined filter (replies only).

The businessman recognizes from the received messages that all desired participants have promised. So he has to book the conference hotel and the flight as well as the rental car. He establishes a voice connection to his EPS and requests the functionality "booking" by voice input. The EPS queries the data for the venue, desired arrival time, etc. The user ends the dialogue.

The EPS establishes a connection to the booking system of a travel agency and orders the desired tickets, the rental car and the conference hotel. The confirmation is sent by the travel agency to the electronic mailbox of the EPS. The tickets are deposited at the departure airport, the keys of the rental car at the destination airport. After the booking has been confirmed and confirmed by the travel agency, EPS confirms that the user has successfully planned the trip by sending a message to the default output device, here the traveler's pager. The maintenance of the personal data, the setting of the personal profiles and the filter function happen z. B. offline on a PC, then the data is transferred.

If communication is not possible by voice for reasons of confidentiality, the dialogue can also be prepared offline on a laptop or an organizer and then transmitted via GSM or with a connection to a landline network.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

Electronic secretariat in telecommunication networks

2

Communication with the user

3

control Panel

4

inbox

5

outbox

6

document storage

7

diary

8th

Creation of letters

9

address List

10

Form Management

11

Foreign translators

Abbreviations

Spa

- Analyzer for language

TFA

- Analyzer for faxes

VT

- Speech signal converter

OCR

- Optical Character Recognition Software

GSM

- Groupe Speciale Mobile

Claims (7)

Method for an electronic secretariat in telecommunication networks comprising the processes of communication with a user, system control and secretarial function, characterized in that a network server ( 1 ) is provided for the execution of secretarial functions, • that a personal electronic secretariat is set up for the user, • that the user is responsible for communication ( 2 ) accessing the electronic secretariat via the telephone, fax and data transmission services of wired analogue and digital connections and via mobile telephony, 3 ) of the electronic secretariat automatically establishes links with business partners, the Internet and service providers, • that the electronic secretariat has at least the functions Receive ( 4 ) and send ( 5 ), Document filing ( 6 ), Keeping an appointment calendar ( 7 ), Writing ( 8th ), Administration of an address book ( 9 ), automatic form filing ( 10 ) and translating into foreign languages ( 11 ) • that the electronic secretariat ensures at least the services of searching databases, booking business travel, translating into 'exotic' foreign languages and sending letters from a service center via external links, and • that when the user accesses the telephone and fax services, an analysis of the Input signals are used to detect the input of system commands, whereby the access is analyzed by telephone speech (SpA) and the faxes are analyzed by fax (TFA) and the text by means of an optical character recognition software (OCR ) is implemented. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the electronic secretariat comprises the functions of displaying, registering and filing the incoming mail, creating letters incorporating prefabricated forms, sending letters by mail, fax or voice mail, and storing documents. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the secretarial server internally works with data in ASCII format, so that for input and output of text a signal conversion is performed when using the services telephone and fax. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that for the access to the electronic secretariat for the user a legitimacy is required. A method according to claim 4, characterized in that the legitimization is done by entering a PIN or by analysis of the user's voice. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that data which are present in the computer format, be further processed directly. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it can be selected in which form information is to be transmitted to the user.

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