JP2000134256A - Electronic mail system, electronic mail transmission/ reception method and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform the transmission/reception of images, sound and moving images and cooperation with other modules by electronic mail. SOLUTION: Mail prepared in a multi-media electronic mail system 1 is supplied through a Web server 2 to an extension header addition module 3, a prescribed command is described in the row to which a specified extension tag is attached of the header part and it is transmitted through a mail transmission/reception module 6. For the mail received by the mail transmission/ reception module 6, the row to which the extension tag is attached is analyzed by a header analysis module 5 and it is converted to corresponding data by a command conversion module 4 and then supplied through the Web server 2 to the multi-media electronic mail system 1. In the multi-media electronic mail system 1, character information described in the mail is displayed and specified operations corresponding to the command, the display of the images, the reproduction of the sound/moving images and the cooperation with the other module for instance, are performed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an e-mail system, an e-mail transmission / reception method, and a recording medium, and more particularly to a multimedia capable of displaying an image, reproducing a sound / moving image, and cooperating with other modules. The present invention relates to a corresponding electronic mail system, an electronic mail transmitting / receiving method, and a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the spread of the Internet,
The number of people using e-mail is increasing. E-mail, unlike telephones, can reliably deliver messages regardless of where they are and is becoming an integral part of business. This is particularly useful when exchanging messages with other parties overseas.

[0003]

However, the technology of the electronic mail system for transmitting and receiving the electronic mail has the following problems. That is, it is impossible to display an image, reproduce a sound or a moving image, or cooperate with another module. The reason is that such a specific operation cannot be specified in the mail body.

The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and solves the above-mentioned problems. In addition to character information, the present invention displays an image, reproduces a sound or a moving image, and performs other module operations. It is possible to provide an e-mail system compatible with multimedia capable of cooperating with the e-mail.

[0005]

An electronic mail system according to claim 1 is an electronic mail system for transmitting and receiving mail and displaying the received mail on a predetermined display device, and stores predetermined data. Means, a command description line adding means for adding a command description line describing a predetermined command to an e-mail composed of text data, a transmission means for transmitting an e-mail with the command description line added by the command description line addition means, Receiving means for receiving the transmitted mail; extracting means for extracting a command description line included in the mail received by the receiving means; display control means for displaying text data included in the mail on a display device; Reading data from the storage means in accordance with the command described in the command description line extracted by the means, Characterized in that it comprises a processing means for processing the response. The data is still image data, and the processing unit can read out the still image data from the storage unit and display the still image data on the display device. Further, audio output means for outputting audio is further provided,
The data is audio data, and the processing unit can reproduce the audio data read from the storage unit and output the audio data from the audio output unit. Further, the data is moving image data, and the processing unit can reproduce the moving image data read from the storage unit and display the moving image data on the display device. Further, the data is a predetermined application program, and the processing means can activate and execute the application program.
The command description line is described by attaching a predetermined extension tag to the header part of the mail, and the extracting means can detect and extract the command description line from the extension tag. An electronic mail transmitting and receiving method according to claim 7, wherein the electronic mail is an electronic mail transmitting and receiving method in an electronic mail system for transmitting and receiving an electronic mail and displaying the received electronic mail on a predetermined display device, wherein a storing step of storing predetermined data; A command description line adding step of adding a command description line describing a predetermined command to the mail composed of text data, and a transmitting step of transmitting the mail having the command description line added in the command description line addition step;
A receiving step of receiving the transmitted mail, an extracting step of extracting a command description line included in the received mail in the receiving step, a display controlling step of displaying text data included in the mail on a display device, and extracting And a processing step of reading data stored in the storage step and performing a corresponding process in accordance with the command described in the command description line extracted in the step. A recording medium according to an eighth aspect is characterized in that a program capable of executing the electronic mail transmitting / receiving method according to the seventh aspect is recorded. In the e-mail system, the e-mail transmission / reception method, and the recording medium according to the present invention, predetermined data is stored, and a command description line describing a predetermined command is added to an e-mail composed of text data. Sending the added mail, receiving the sent mail, extracting a command description line included in the received mail, displaying text data included in the mail on a display device, and extracting the extracted command description line Reads stored data according to the command described in
Perform the corresponding processing.

[0006]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an embodiment of an electronic mail system according to the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, this embodiment includes a multimedia electronic mail system 1, an extension header adding module 3, a command conversion module 4, a header analysis module 5, and a mail transmission / reception module 6. This embodiment includes a Web server 2.

[0007] The multimedia electronic mail system 1 constituting the embodiment of FIG. 1 is adapted to create an electronic mail (hereinafter abbreviated to mail as appropriate) and to display the electronic mail. The e-mail created in the multimedia e-mail system 1 is sent to the Web server 2
Through a mail transmission program (CGI (Common Gateway Int) that runs on a Web server
extension) addition module 3
To be sent to

[0010] The extension header adding module 3 adds a line, which starts with an extension tag, in which a command is described in a predetermined method prescribed by the present embodiment, to a header portion of the e-mail supplied via the Web server 2. It is made to add.

The header analysis module 5 analyzes the header part of the mail received by the mail transmission / reception module 6 and checks whether or not there is a line with an extension tag. It is designed to extract content.

The command conversion module 4 interprets the contents of the command, converts the data, and supplies the data to the Web server 2 when there is a line with an extension tag as a result of the analysis by the header analysis module 5. ing. When displaying a mail, the multimedia electronic mail system 1 can perform an operation according to the contents of a command described in a line with an extension tag, as described later.

The mail sending / receiving module 6 sends the mail with the extension tag added to the header of the mail in the extension header adding module 3 or receives the sent mail. It has been done.

When another mail system 7 is used, the mail received by the mail transmitting / receiving module 6 is supplied to the other mail system 7, and the other mail system 7 is used. Does not interpret the extension tag and displays it as if it were a normal email. Therefore, even if the line with the extension tag is added, there is no adverse effect on other mail systems 7.

Next, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the operation of an embodiment of a multimedia electronic mail system to which the electronic mail system of the present invention is applied will be described.
FIG. 2 shows the contents of an e-mail created in the multimedia e-mail system 1. When an e-mail is created using the multimedia e-mail system 1, another user using the e-mail system can specify an operation when the created e-mail is received.

The mail created in the multimedia electronic mail system 1 is sent to the extension header adding module 3 through the Web server 2 by the mail sending program (CGI). Extension header addition module 3
Adds a line, which starts with a specific extension tag and describes a command and a parameter that defines an operation when a mail is received, to a predetermined description method defined in the present embodiment in a header portion of the mail.

For example, when a mail is created by designating that the image (still image) of image number # 1 is to be displayed, FIG.
As shown in line A, a command description line in which a specific extended tag, a command for displaying an image, and an image number to be displayed are described as parameters is added to the mail. In this example, the extension tag is “X-Wml-La”.
Words starting with “X-Wml” such as “y” and “X-Wml-Cmd”, commands are “Command1”, and parameters are “parameter1”.

The mail to which the line with the extension tag is added in the extension header adding module 3 is transmitted from the mail transmitting / receiving module 6.

On the other hand, when the mail is received by the mail sending / receiving module 6, the received mail is supplied to the header analyzing module 5. Header analysis module 5
In, the header of the mail supplied from the mail transmitting / receiving module 6 is analyzed.

First, it is checked whether or not a line starting with a specific extension tag (in this case, a phrase starting with "X-Wml") exists in the header part of the mail. If there is no line starting with a specific extension tag, the mail is not processed by the header analysis module 5 and the command conversion module 4 but is sent to the multimedia electronic mail system 1 through the Web server 2 and displayed.

On the other hand, if there is a line starting with a specific extension tag in the header of the mail, the contents described in that line are analyzed by the header analysis module 5.
In this case, as a result of the analysis, it is recognized that the description content is composed of the command and the parameter. Then, the analysis result is sent to the command conversion module 4.

The command conversion module 4 converts data based on the command and parameters obtained from the analysis result of the header analysis module 5 so that the mail is actually displayed on the electronic mail system. Will be

For example, the mail transmission / reception module 6 shown in FIG.
In the case where an e-mail having the content described in (1) is received, the e-mail is analyzed in the header analysis module 5, and as a result, the line A starting with the extension tag is extracted, and the content is set to the image of the image number # 1. Is displayed. In this case, in the command conversion module 4, the data content is converted so as to display the image of the image number # 1, and when the multimedia electronic mail system 1 displays the mail, it is included in the mail as shown in FIG. While text data is displayed,
The image of the image number # 1 is displayed.

As another example, the line A of the mail in FIG. 2 is specifically converted to the following data by the command conversion module 4.

X-Wml-Lay: BN1 (1) X-Wml-Cmd: loop3anim. wav ... (2) X-Wml-Cmd: after 2 min'Location: / mail / bomb. html '... (3)

The meaning of each line is as follows. (1) The mail stationery "BN1" is used. (2) The sound having the file name “anim.wav” is output three times repeatedly. (3) Two minutes after the mail is displayed, "/ mail / bom
b. html ”.

The command given to the extension header “X-Wml-Cmd:” takes the form of a command, an option, and a parameter (however, the option may be omitted).

The command is a control command (if,
for, loop, after, etc.) and execution commands (goto, beep, sound, animation,
Etc.) and is a simple programming language that can be extended without replacing a user program.

The data (1) to (3) converted by the command conversion module 4 are supplied to the multimedia electronic mail system 1, and character information is arranged in a predetermined layout according to the data (1) to (3). After the voice is displayed and the sound is output only three times, "/ ma
il / bomb. html ”. The data (1) to (3) may be described independently of each other, or may be described by a combination of the data (1) to (3).

Also, by adopting such a description method, not only display of an image as shown in FIG. 3 but also reproduction of a sound or a moving image can be realized by sending and receiving a mail.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. Since the configuration of the present embodiment is the same as that of the embodiment shown in FIG.
Its illustration and description are omitted.

FIG. 4 shows the mail and the application 11 displayed on the multimedia electronic mail system 1 in the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, FIG. 2 created in the embodiment shown in FIG.
The description contents of the command description line A starting with the extension tag of the mail shown in FIG. 2 (in the case of FIG. 2, command1 parameter
ter1) is changed to a command and a parameter for reproducing a sound or a moving image.

As a result, in the multimedia e-mail system 1, as in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, it is possible to perform not only display of an image and reproduction of a sound / moving image, but also other modules. Can be linked.

For example, when creating a mail using the multimedia electronic mail system 1, when the mail is received by the mail transmitting / receiving module 6 of the transmission destination and displayed by the multimedia electronic mail system 1, a predetermined application It is assumed that a predetermined designation is made to the mail so that 11 is activated.

This mail is supplied to the extension header adding module 3 via the Web server 2. Then, in the extension header addition module 3, as shown in FIG. 2, a command description starting with a specific extension tag, a command for activating the application, and an extension tag in which parameters required for activating the application are described Row A is added. In the extension header addition module 3, the mail to which the line with the extension tag is added is transmitted from the mail transmission / reception module 6.

On the other hand, the mail sending / receiving module 6
When the above mail is received, first, the received mail is supplied to the header analysis module 5. Then, the analysis is performed in the header analysis module 5, and as a result of the analysis, a row A starting with the extension tag as shown in FIG. 2 is extracted. Then, the content of line A starting with the extension tag is
If the application 11 is to be activated, the command conversion module 4 converts the content described in the mail into data content that activates the application 11, and sends the data to the multimedia e-mail system via the Web server 2. 1 is supplied.

The multimedia electronic mail system 1 comprises:
The text data included in the mail supplied from the command conversion module 4 via the Web server 2 is converted into the text data shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4, the designated application 11 is activated as shown in FIG. 4 according to the data content for activating the application 11 included in the mail, as shown in FIG.

As described above, the following effects can be obtained by using the above embodiment.

That is, in the above embodiment, image display,
That is, it can reproduce audio / video and cooperate with other modules. The reason is that, by adding a line that starts with a specific extension tag and describes a command or parameter defined in the present embodiment to the header of the mail transmitted using the above-described embodiment, display,
This is because various operations such as audio / video reproduction and cooperation with other modules can be designated.

When the e-mail transmitted from the present embodiment is displayed by using another e-mail system having the same configuration as that of the present embodiment, the operation specified by the sender can be realized. it can. Moreover, since the operation can be specified by the command, it is not necessary to attach an image file or the like to the mail. For this reason, it is possible to display an image, reproduce a sound or a moving image, or cooperate with another module without lowering the data transfer speed.

Further, since additional information such as commands and parameters is described in a line to which a specific extension tag is attached, in a mail system (mailer), such additional information is ignored, and ordinary mail is ignored. Since it is displayed as mail, it is possible to prevent other mail systems from being adversely affected.

The format of the command description line in each of the above embodiments is an example, and the present invention is not limited to this. In the above embodiment, the data (1) to (3) converted by the command conversion module 4 are examples, and it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to this.

In each of the above embodiments, in addition to the text data, an image (still image) is displayed, a sound or a moving image is reproduced, and an application program is executed. It is not something to be done.

In each of the above embodiments, the still image data, audio data, moving image data, and application program can be stored in the command conversion module 4 or the multimedia e-mail system 1. Similarly, the command conversion module 4 or the multimedia e-mail system 1 can display still image data, reproduce audio data and moving image data, and start and execute an application.

[0043]

As described above, according to the e-mail system, the e-mail transmission / reception method, and the recording medium of the present invention, a command in which predetermined data is stored and a predetermined command is described in a mail composed of text data. A description line is added, an e-mail to which a command description line is added is transmitted, a received e-mail is received, a command description line included in the received e-mail is extracted, and text data included in the e-mail is displayed. In accordance with the command described in the extracted command description line, the stored data is read and the corresponding processing is performed, so that only the character information is used without lowering the mail transfer speed. Instead, it is a multimedia-compatible email that can display images, play audio and video, and cooperate with other modules. It is possible to provide a system.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an embodiment of an electronic mail system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a command description line starting with an extension tag included in a mail.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of a mail.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of a mail.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Multimedia electronic mail system 2 Web server 3 Extension header addition module 4 Command conversion module 5 Header analysis module 6 Mail transmission / reception module 7 Other mail systems 11 Application

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Mamoru Yamada 5-7-1 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo Inside NEC Corporation (72) Inventor Mika Inaba 5-7-1 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo NEC Corporation In-company F term (reference) 5B089 GA11 GA23 GB01 HA10 JA31 JB01 JB04 JB05 JB06 KA03 KC32 KC59 KE02 KE03 LA12 LB13 LB14 5K030 GA18 HA06 HB01 HB02 HB19 HB21

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An electronic mail system for transmitting and receiving mails and displaying the received mails on a predetermined display device, wherein a storage means for storing predetermined data, and a predetermined command is described in the mail composed of text data. Command description line adding means for adding the command description line, transmission means for transmitting the mail to which the command description line has been added by the command description line addition means, reception means for receiving the transmitted mail, Extracting means for extracting the command description line included in the mail received by the receiving means; display control means for displaying text data included in the mail on the display device; and According to the command described in the command description line, read the data from the storage means, E-mail system, characterized in that it comprises a processing means for processing the response. 2. The data is still image data,
The electronic mail system according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit reads the still image data from the storage unit and causes the display device to display the still image data. 3. An audio output unit for outputting an audio, wherein the data is audio data, and the processing unit reproduces the audio data read from the storage unit and outputs the audio data from the audio output unit. The e-mail system according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the data is moving image data, and the processing unit reproduces the moving image data read from the storage unit and causes the display device to display the moving image data. Mail system. 5. The electronic mail system according to claim 1, wherein the data is a predetermined application program, and the processing unit activates and executes the application program. 6. The command description line is described by attaching a predetermined extension tag to a header portion of the mail, and the extracting means detects and extracts the command description line based on the extension tag. The e-mail system according to claim 1, wherein 7. An e-mail transmission / reception method in an e-mail system for transmitting / receiving an e-mail and displaying the received e-mail on a predetermined display device, comprising: a storage step of storing predetermined data; A command description line adding step of adding a command description line describing a predetermined command; a transmitting step of transmitting the mail to which the command description line has been added in the command description line adding step; receiving the transmitted mail A receiving step of extracting the command description line included in the mail received in the receiving step; a display control step of displaying text data included in the mail on the display device; and the extracting step. In the command description line extracted in Has been in accordance with the command, reads the data stored in said storage step, the electronic mail transmission and reception method characterized by comprising a processing step of performing corresponding processing. 8. A recording medium on which a program capable of executing the electronic mail transmitting / receiving method according to claim 7 is recorded.