JP2001111603A - Electronic mail system, data communication unit and mail account acquisition method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To remarkably simplify the labor when a user acquires its mail account. SOLUTION: The data communication unit is provided with a touch panel 22 to enter an optional image and with a control section 17 that generates a character string from the binary pattern of the entered image and sets the generated character string as a mail account for an electronic mail.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail system for performing electronic mail communication with a portable terminal such as a PHS, a data communication device, and a mail account acquisition method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, not only personal computers but also PHSs (Personal Handyphones) have been developed.
(System: Simplified Cordless Telephone System) Among terminals and digital mobile phones, those capable of sending and receiving electronic mails are widely and widely used.

[0003]

By the way, for example, PH
To use the e-mail function on the S terminal, you need an e-mail account. You can only get one e-mail account per contract for one line, and you have obtained it even after canceling the line contract Accounts are never released. Therefore, the number of valid mail accounts is steadily decreasing, and the time and effort required for a user to register a new mail account is steadily increasing.

For example, even if a new user of an e-mail attempts to register his / her nickname as an account in a service center operated by a service provider as it is, if the account is already registered by another user, An error response is sent from the service center.

[0005] Therefore, depending on the case, it is often possible that the user must continue to input account candidates until registration is completed. This is because the later the user subscribes to the e-mail service, the later. This becomes a significant obstacle for service providers to acquire new users.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide an electronic mail system that can greatly simplify the time and effort required for a user to obtain a mail account. A data communication device, a mail account acquisition method, and a storage medium are provided.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In an e-mail system having a data communication device having an e-mail communication function and a service center serving as a mail server for a plurality of data communication devices, the data communication device comprises: an image input unit for inputting an arbitrary image; Image transmitting means for transmitting the image input by the input means to the service center, wherein the service center receives the binary image sent from the data communication device; A character string generating means for generating a character string from the received image, a registering means for registering the character string generated by the character string generating means as an e-mail account of an e-mail of the data communication device, Returning means for returning the mail account to the corresponding data communication device.

With such a system configuration, the service selecting side registers and sets as a mail account a random character string which is generated from an arbitrarily input image and which often has no meaning in itself. It is very likely that the character string can be registered as a mail account, and the data communication device, which is the terminal, simply selects and sends an arbitrary image, so the user has to save time when acquiring a mail account. Can be simplified.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image input means for inputting an arbitrary image, a character string generating means for generating a character string from the image input by the image input means, and a character string generated by the character string generating means. Setting means for setting the character string as an e-mail account.

With this configuration, simply inputting an arbitrary image automatically generates a random character string that often does not make sense from the image itself, and registers and sets it as a mail account. Therefore, there is a very high possibility that the character string will be registered as a mail account, and it is possible to greatly simplify the time and effort required for the user to obtain a mail account as a whole.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the image input means performs a handwriting input using a tablet input section.

With such a configuration, in addition to the operation of the second aspect of the invention, a character string is generated from an image having low reproducibility, which is drawn by the user himself. It is more likely to be registered as an email account.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the image input means has an optical system member for photographing an image and an image pickup device.

With such a configuration, in addition to the effect of the second aspect of the present invention, a character string is generated from a complicated image obtained by imaging, and the character string is used as a mail account. More likely to be registered.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the setting means converts a part of the character string generated by the character string generating means into a significant character string. The obtained character string including a significant character string is set as an e-mail account.

According to this structure, in addition to the operation of the second aspect of the present invention, a mail account composed of a character string that seems to be significant is obtained, thereby registering a mail account that is easy for the user to remember. can do.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image input step of inputting an arbitrary image, a character string generating step of generating a character string from the image input in the image input step, and a character string generating step of generating the character string. Setting a character string as an e-mail account of the e-mail.

According to this method, simply inputting an arbitrary image automatically generates a random character string that often does not make sense from the image itself, and registers and sets it as a mail account. Therefore, there is a very high possibility that the character string will be registered as a mail account, and it is possible to greatly simplify the time and effort required for the user to obtain a mail account as a whole.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a communication service capable of transmitting and receiving a mail document by a PHS will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the entire system.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a public line network (PSTN, ISDN, etc.), and a large number of base stations (CS) are connected to the public line network 1 as PHS networks.
Are connected, and a service center 3 operated by a service provider that provides an electronic mail transmission service by PHS is connected.

Then, the PHS terminal 4 can communicate by performing location registration processing with any of the base stations 2, 2,. The PHS terminal 4 has an e-mail communication function for sending and receiving e-mail documents in addition to a normal voice call. For example, a dedicated stylus pen 4a
, A writing operation is performed on a touch panel integrally formed with a display unit described later, so that a mail document to be transmitted can be input by handwriting.

Here, it is assumed that the PHS terminal 4 is also registered in the service center 3 by contracting with a provider of an electronic mail transmission service by PHS.

FIG. 2 shows a circuit configuration of the PHS terminal 4. In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes an antenna to which a transmitting / receiving unit 12 is connected. This transmitting / receiving unit 12
Is composed of a frequency conversion unit and a modem. On the reception side of the frequency conversion unit, a signal input from the antenna 11 is input via an antenna switch for distributing transmission / reception, and a predetermined frequency output from the PLL synthesizer is output. And converts the frequency from the 1.9 GHz band to an IF signal in the vicinity of 1 MHz by mixing with the local oscillation signal.

On the transmitting side, the π / 4 shift QPSK modulated wave input from the modem is mixed with a local oscillation signal of a predetermined frequency output from the PLL synthesizer to convert the frequency into a 1.9 GHz band. It radiates from the antenna 11 via the antenna switch.

On the receiving side of the modem, the IF signal from the frequency converter is demodulated and separated into IQ data, which is transferred to the communication controller 13 as a data string. On the transmission side, on the other hand, IQ data is generated from the data transferred from the communication control unit 13 and the π / 4 shift QP is generated.
The signal is modulated to SK and output to the frequency converter.

A communication control unit 13 and a voice processing unit 14 are connected to the transmitting / receiving unit 12 in this order.
4, a speaker 15 on the receiving side and a microphone 16 on the transmitting side are connected.

The communication control unit 13 performs frame synchronization and slot data format processing.
On the receiving side, data for one slot is taken out of the received data sent from the modem of the transmitting / receiving unit 12 at a predetermined timing, a unique word (synchronization signal) is extracted from this data, frame synchronization is performed, and control is performed. After descrambling the data section and the audio data section or the communication data section, the control data and the communication data are sent to the control section 17 described later, and the audio data is transferred to the audio processing section 14.

On the transmission side, control data and the like are added to the audio data sent from the audio processing unit 14 or the communication data sent from the control unit 17, and after scrambling, a unique word is added. Then, transmission data for one slot is created, inserted into a predetermined slot in the frame at a predetermined timing, and transmitted to the modem of the transmission / reception unit 12.

The voice processing unit 14 is composed of a speech codec and a PCM codec. The speech codec performs compression / expansion processing of digital data. On the receiving side, the ADPCM sent from the communication control unit 13 is used. Audio signal (4 bits x 8 kHz = 3
2Kbps) to PCM audio signal (8 bits x 8KHz =
Decompress to 64Kbps to expand PCM
Output to codec. On the other hand, the transmitting side converts the PCM audio signal sent from the PCM codec into an ADPC
The signal is compressed by encoding into an M audio signal and output to the communication control unit 13.

The PCM codec is analog /
A digital conversion process is performed. On the receiving side, the PCM audio signal sent from the speech codec is converted to a D / D signal.
A conversion is performed and an analog audio signal is output to the speaker 15. On the transmitting side, on the other hand, the analog audio signal input from the microphone 16 is A / D converted to obtain a PCM audio signal, which is output to a speech codec.

A control unit 17 is connected to the transmitting / receiving unit 12, the communication control unit 13, and the voice processing unit 14,
The recording device 18, the RAM 19, the key input unit 20, the display unit 21, and the touch panel 22 are connected to the control unit 17.

The control unit 17 is composed of a CPU or the like, and controls the entire apparatus based on a predetermined protocol. The recording device 18 controls the electronic mail communication and transmits / receives communication data. And a recording medium 18a in which a control operation program and the like are recorded.

The RAM 19 has a transmission buffer for temporarily storing data including character data handled under the control of the control unit 17, a reception buffer, a flag register for setting various status flags, various counters, and the like.

The recording medium 18a of the recording device 18 is a magnetic or optical recording medium or a semiconductor memory. The recording medium 18a is provided fixedly to the recording device 18, or is detachably mounted.

The program, data, and the like to be recorded on the recording medium 18a may be received and recorded from another device connected via a communication line or the like, and may be connected via a communication line or the like. Recording medium 18 on the other device side
a may be provided so that programs, data, and the like stored in the recording medium 18a are used via a communication line.

The key input unit 20 has a dial key, a "communication" key, an "off" key, a cursor key and the like for inputting a key operation signal for setting each function to the control unit 17.

The display unit 21 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display panel of a dot matrix type with a backlight and a driving circuit thereof. E-mail data to be transmitted and received, a keyboard for inputting e-mail to be transmitted, and an input for various controls are provided. It displays data and results.

The touch panel 22 is a transparent film and is integrally formed on the display unit 21. The user can use his / her finger or a dedicated stylus pen (not shown) shown in FIG. By performing a touch operation corresponding to the display screen position in 4a, coordinate data of the operated position is transmitted to the control unit 17, whereby various characters and images are input.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

FIG. 3 shows a process for registering a mail account with the service center 3, particularly when a contract is made with the service provider operating the service center 3 to use the electronic mail transmission service in the PHS terminal 4. It shows the contents.

At the beginning, while inputting a handwritten image by using the stylus pen 4a as needed using the touch panel 22 (step S01), the end of the input is instructed. It is determined whether the key operation has been performed (step S0).
By repeating the process 2), the process stands by until the input of the handwritten image is completed.

When it is determined in step S02 that the input of the handwritten image has been completed, a process of converting the input handwritten image into a character string including binarization is performed (step S03).

FIG. 4A shows an example of a binarized state of the image input by handwriting. Here, in order to simplify the explanation, one image is composed of 16 × 16 dots data. It shall be composed of

For such image data, for example, as shown by an arrow A in the figure, the odd-numbered first row, third row,
It is assumed that a character string is obtained by using each dot pattern of the row, the fifth row,.

FIG. 4 (2) shows the dot pattern of the first row as an example. First, the "white" and "black" of the dot pattern are set to "0" and "1" as they are, respectively, in hexadecimal "0x07". (H) "" 0xC0 (H) ", which is compressed by a predetermined logical operation, here a logical OR operation, to form one hexadecimal number" 0xC7 (H) ".

The character code range of half-width characters that can be used as a mail account is "0x20 (H)" in hexadecimal.
To “0x7F (H)”, the size of this range “0x60 (H)” is used as a divisor, and the hexadecimal number “0xC
7 (H) "and the remainder" 0x0F "
(H) ”and the initial value“ 0x20 (H) ”in the above range.
Can be obtained to obtain a character code “0x2F (H)” representing a half-width character “H”.

Similarly, by converting the dot pattern of each odd-numbered row shown in FIG. 4A into a character code, as a result, as shown in FIG. 4C, an eight-digit character string "Hid2B
TiH "can be obtained.

When a character string is generated from a dot pattern of a binary image, the method is not limited to the method described above.
It goes without saying that one or more of many other algorithms can be easily combined.

With the character string thus obtained, a call is connected to the service center 3 via the public line network 1 to connect the line (step S04), and the character string is registered as a mail account of the own device. When the transmission is transmitted to the service center 3, the service center 3 searches whether or not the corresponding character string is already registered as a mail account (step S05).

Then, it is determined from the response from the service center 3 whether or not there is no corresponding result as a result of the search, that is, whether or not the above-mentioned character string can be registered as it is as the mail account of the own device. (Step S06).

Here, if there is no corresponding item and a response indicating that the mail account can be registered as it is is received, processing for registering the mail account with the service center 3 is immediately executed. (Step S07) When the processing is completed, the service center 3
After disconnecting the line connected to
8) The display unit 21 displays a guide message indicating that the mail account has been registered (step S0).
9) Thus, the processing of FIG. 3 is completed.

If there is already a character string corresponding to the character string transmitted in step S06 and there is a response indicating that another character string is required, the connection to the service center 3 is made at that time. Disconnect the line (step S10),
The display unit 21 displays a guide message indicating that it is necessary to input another image and newly generate a character string (step S11), and returns to the processing from step S01 again.

In this way, simply by inputting an arbitrary image, a random character string that often does not make sense by itself is automatically generated from the binary pattern of the image and registered and set as a mail account. Therefore, there is a very high possibility that the character string will be registered as a mail account, and it is possible to greatly simplify the time and effort for the user to obtain a mail account.

In this case, the touch panel 22 integrated with the display unit 21 is used to generate a character string from an image with low reproducibility drawn by the user himself. And the likelihood of being registered as a mail account is higher.

In the above embodiment, as described above, an image is input by hand using the touch panel 22. However, instead of the touch panel 22, an imaging unit having a lens optical system member and an imaging device such as a CCD is used. Is established,
If an image obtained by imaging is digitized and then the brightness of each pixel is binarized to obtain image data,
Since a character string is generated from a complex image with a high spatial frequency obtained by imaging, the character string obtained is also more random, and the possibility that the character string will be registered as an email account is higher. Get higher.

In the above-described embodiment, a character string generated from an image, which often has no meaning, is used as it is.
A table is prepared in which a number of words such as “license” and “Candy” are registered in advance, and a part of the character string is read by accessing the table using a part of the character string. Is converted to a new word, and the obtained word is combined with the remaining part of the character string, for example, "Candy
It is also possible to obtain a mail account composed of a character string that seems to be significant, such as “024”, and in this way, a mail account that is easy for the user to remember can be registered.

In this case, since the character string generated from the image is designed to increase the possibility of registration by its randomness, the more words that are prepared in the table, the better. According to the capacity of the memory that can be used as a table, more words are prepared while maintaining a certain degree of significance, for example, by adjusting the number of characters in the character string to be converted.

Further, instead of generating a character string from the image on the PHS terminal 4 side, the PHS terminal 4 transmits the image to the service center 3 and receives the image and transmits the image on the service center 3 side. By generating a character string from the received image and performing registration setting as a mail account and sending the result back to the PHS terminal 4, the above-described embodiment can be performed while greatly reducing the load on the PHS terminal 4. The same effect as described above can be obtained.

In this way, an image registered as a mail destination or a sender can be used. That is, if the own terminal and the partner terminal obtain an e-mail account using the present system, the image transmitted to the above-mentioned service center is added as an address when transmitting an e-mail, and is transmitted to the service center. And converts it into an account and transmits it to the server of the partner terminal.

Although the above embodiment has been described with reference to a case where the present invention is applied to a communication service capable of transmitting and receiving a mail document by a PHS, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is not limited to this. Communication service having functions, terminal device used in the service, and storage medium (CD-ROM or the like) storing the program of the present invention
It is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to any of them. The storage medium has an image inputting step of inputting an arbitrary image, a character string generating step of generating a character string from the image input in the image inputting step, and a character string generated in the character string generating step. What is necessary is just to store a control program including an instruction to cause a computer to execute a setting step of setting a mail as a mail account.

The present invention can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the gist of the invention.

[0062]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a random character string generated from an arbitrarily input image on the service selection side and often meaningless by itself is registered and set as a mail account. It is very likely that the character string can be registered as an email account,
In addition, since the data communication device, which is a terminal, simply selects and transmits an arbitrary image, the time and effort required for a user to obtain a mail account can be greatly simplified.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, just by inputting an arbitrary image, a random character string which often does not make sense by itself is automatically generated from the image and used as a mail account. Since the registration is set, the possibility that the character string is registered as a mail account is very high, so that the time and effort required for the user to obtain a mail account as a whole can be greatly simplified.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the second aspect, the user himself draws,
Since a character string is generated from an image with low reproducibility, the possibility that the character string is registered as a mail account increases.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the second aspect of the present invention, a character string is generated from a complicated image obtained by imaging. More likely to be registered as an account.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the second aspect of the present invention, a mail account composed of a character string that is considered to be significant is obtained, so that the user can easily remember the mail account. Can be registered.

According to the invention of claim 6, simply by inputting an arbitrary image, a random character string often meaningless by itself is automatically generated from the image and used as a mail account. Since the registration is set, the possibility that the character string is registered as a mail account is very high, so that it is possible to greatly simplify the trouble of the user as a whole when obtaining the mail account.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an entire system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of the PHS terminal according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary flowchart showing processing contents when registering a mail account in the PHS terminal according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary view for explaining a processing procedure for creating a mail account according to the embodiment;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Public circuit network 2 ... Base station 3 ... Service center 4 ... PHS terminal 4a ... Stylus pen 11 ... Antenna 12 ... Transceiving unit 13 ... Communication control unit 14 ... Sound processing unit 15 ... Speaker 16 ... Microphone 17 ... Control unit 18 ... Recording device 18a ... Recording medium 19 ... RAM 20 ... Key input unit 21 ... Display unit 22 ... Touch panel

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5B089 GA01 GA25 HA13 JA31 JB03 KA03 KA04 KA15 KC59 KH13 LA00 LB07 LB10 5E501 AA04 AB16 AC15 AC31 BA05 CB06 CB14 CC04 5K030 GA17 HA06 HB16 HC01 HD09 JT03 KA04 KA07 KK04 NN PP04 SS07 TT06 UU16

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An e-mail system comprising a data communication device having an e-mail communication function and a service center serving as a mail server for a plurality of data communication devices, wherein the data communication device comprises an image input device for inputting an arbitrary image. Means, and image transmitting means for transmitting an image input by the image input means to the service center, the service center receiving image data sent from the data communication device, image receiving means, A character string generating means for generating a character string from the image received by the image receiving means; a registering means for registering the character string generated by the character string generating means as an e-mail account of the data communication device; Return means for returning the mail account registered by the registration means to the corresponding data communication device. E-mail system. 2. An image input means for inputting an arbitrary image, a character string generating means for generating a character string from the image input by the image input means, and a character string generated by the character string generating means A data communication device, comprising: setting means for setting as a mail account. 3. The data communication apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said image input means performs a handwriting input using a tablet input section. 4. The data communication apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said image input means has an optical system member for photographing an image and an image pickup device. 5. The setting means converts a part of the character string generated by the character string generating means into a significant character string, and converts the character string containing the significant character string obtained by the conversion into an electronic character string. 3. The data communication device according to claim 2, wherein the data communication device is set as a mail account of a mail. 6. An image inputting step of inputting an arbitrary image, a character string generating step of generating a character string from the image input in the image inputting step, and an e-mail And a setting step of setting as an e-mail account.