JP2001313666A - Instant message communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an instant message communication system by which the arrival of a message is announced by telephone even when an opposite party terminal is in an off-line state. SOLUTION: When the opposite party terminal is detected to be in off-line state, a telephone 27 arranged in the opposite party terminal 23 is called via a telephone network 21. When the telephone 27 of the opposite party terminal 23 is connected, the arrival of the message is announced by voice from a telephone calling announcement device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an instant message communication system capable of delivering or exchanging text information in real time via the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an instant message communication system, text information or a message (hereinafter referred to as an IM message) in which data is added as necessary to text information in real time via the Internet is transmitted or received between communication terminals. Instant exchange
Message communication service (hereinafter referred to as IM service)
It has been known.

As shown in FIG. 10, this system is provided by a system comprising a plurality of communication terminals 101, a service control device 103 for controlling the entire IM service, and the Internet 105 connecting them.

[0004] In this system, the service control device 103 monitors and records whether the user of each communication terminal 101 is online or offline, and determines whether another user is online or offline at the communication terminal 101 of the online user. Is notified.

[0005] With this, the service user confirms whether the other user B with whom he wants to communicate is currently off-line, and sends an IM message to that user. The IM message is automatically displayed, and as a result, the text information and the appended data can be delivered in real time.

[0006] When the delivered IM message is replied from the user B to the user A, the returned IM message is displayed on the screen of the communication terminal 101 of the user A, and the text message is sent in real time. Information and data can be exchanged.

[0007] The communication terminal 101 is a device dedicated to the IM service, a personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as a PC) in which a program for providing the IM service is incorporated.

[0008] An important feature of this IM service is that a person who wants to send information confirms whether or not the message just sent can be read immediately before sending information.
The point is that they can communicate quickly and reliably.

On the other hand, an e-mail only sends text information unilaterally to a computer that temporarily stores an e-mail message called a mail server used by the other party. There is no guarantee that the message will be immediately retrieved from the mail server and read, and the sender will never know when the message will be delivered to the other party.

[0010] In addition, since the IM service uses the Internet, real-time communication such as telephone is possible. However, not only expensive long-distance telephone charges and overseas telephone charges but only the charges necessary for Internet connection are used worldwide. Exchange messages with other users.

In particular, when a communication terminal is connected to a LAN as in a company,
In the case where the user is constantly connected to the Internet via (local area network), the user is always connected to the Internet while the communication terminal is activated and used, and as a result, the online status is long. , IM
The IM service is an effective means of exchanging messages because the probability that the other party is online is high when one wants to send a message.

[0012]

However, when connecting to the Internet via a telephone network, which is often used when using the Internet in ordinary households, users generally use the Internet because of problems such as telephone charges charged on a pay-as-you-go basis. Is at home for a short period of time connecting the communication terminal to the Internet. For this reason, the probability that the other party is online when it is desired to send an IM message is very low in most cases.

As a result, in many cases used in ordinary households, there is a problem that a real-time message function cannot be used and it is difficult to provide a highly convenient IM service.

The present invention has been made in view of the above,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an instant message communication system capable of notifying the arrival of a message using a telephone even when a partner terminal is off-line.

[0015]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, among a plurality of communication terminals connectable to the Internet, when an opposite terminal is detected as an online state, an instant message communication system for communicating at least a message including text information in real time is provided. When the partner terminal is detected to be offline, the message transmitted from the calling terminal is temporarily stored, and a call is made to a telephone provided in the partner terminal via a telephone network, The gist of the present invention is to notify by voice that the message has arrived when a telephone provided at the partner terminal is connected.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, when a telephone provided at the other party terminal is connected, the temporarily stored message is synthesized into a voice and notified. That is the gist.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, when a telephone provided at the other party terminal is connected, a number corresponding to a desired answering method by the other party terminal is entered using a dial button of the phone. The gist of the present invention is to synthesize and notify a voice prompting to input, generate a message indicating a response method corresponding to the input number, and notify the calling terminal of the generated message.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, when a telephone provided at the partner terminal is connected, a voice from the telephone provided at the partner terminal is recorded, and the recorded voice is recorded. The gist is that voice is added to the message and delivered to the calling terminal, and the calling terminal reproduces the voice added to the delivered message.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an instant message communication system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a communication terminal 13 used by a user A, a communication terminal 15 used by a user C, and a message transmitted from a calling terminal which controls the entire IM service and are transmitted to the Internet 11 are provided. Is temporarily connected to the service control device 17 and the telephone network 21. The communication terminals 13, 15, and 23 are devices dedicated to the IM service and personal computers in which a program for providing the IM service is incorporated.

The telephone network 21 includes a communication terminal 23 used by the user B, a telephone 25 used by the user A, a telephone 27 used by the user B, and a telephone 29 used by the user C. And a call to the designated telephone number based on the control from the service control device 17, and when the telephone is connected, I
A telephone call / announcement device 31 that notifies by voice that an M message has arrived is connected.

The service control device 17 monitors and records whether the user of each communication terminal is online or offline, and transmits presence information indicating whether another user is online or offline to the communication terminal of the online user. Notice. Further, the service control device 17 includes, as information represented by the operation setting table shown in FIG. 2, the identification name ID of each user of the IM service, current presence information indicating whether the user is online or offline, It is assumed that whether or not the user calls by telephone when the user is off-line and the telephone number for calling by telephone are registered.

The contents of the operation setting table shown in FIG. 2 are such that the users A and C in FIG.
It is an example when it is assumed that is offline. More specifically, a certain user is online when the user activates a communication terminal, connects to the service control device 17 via the Internet 11 using the user's identification name (hereinafter, referred to as login), and provides a service. This refers to a state in which preparation for transmission and reception of IM messages between the control device 17 and the communication terminal is completed.

The term "offline" means that the communication terminal has not been activated or that the service control device 17 has been activated even if it has been activated.
Between the service control device 17 and the communication terminal, for example, if the communication terminal cannot be transmitted or received with the service control device 17 due to a user operation even if the user has not logged in to the service control device 17 IM at
A state in which messages cannot be sent or received.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the operation sequence diagram shown in FIG.

First, when the user A activates the communication terminal 13 and connects (logs in) to the service control device 17 via the Internet 11, the service control device 17 detects that the user A has gone online. Then, the information is recorded as in the operation setting table shown in FIG. 2 and the name of the user who is currently online (user C in FIG. 2) is notified to the communication terminal 13 to which the user A has logged in. Then, the communication terminal 13 of the user A transmits a message addressed to the user B who is currently offline to the service control device 17.

Here, upon receiving the message addressed to the user B from the user A, the service control device 17 first
This message is temporarily stored in the service control device 17. Then, referring to the operation setting table shown in FIG. 2, it is detected whether the communication terminal 23 of the user B, which is the destination of the message, is online or offline, and when the communication terminal 23 of the user B is offline and in the offline state. When the processing method is "telephone notification", the telephone number used for the telephone notification is read from the operation setting table, and the telephone call announcement device 3
1 is notified of the telephone number and the user name (ID) of the sender of the IM message, and gives a call instruction.

Then, the telephone call announcement device 31
When receiving the call instruction from the service control device 17, the telephone call is made by calling the designated telephone number via the telephone network 21, and when the telephone 27 of the user B is connected, the telephone call announcement device 31 sets ""An IM message has arrived from Mr. XX at hour and minute" to the telephone 27 and notifies the service control device 17 that the message arrival notification by telephone has been completed.

On the other hand, when the telephone call of the user B is not connected, the telephone call announcement device 31 notifies the service control device 17 that the message arrival notification by telephone has failed.

When the service control device 17 receives the notification of the completion or failure of the message arrival notification by telephone from the telephone call announcement device 31, the service terminal 17 to which the user A who is the transmission source of the IM message has logged in is connected.
, The completion or failure of message arrival notification by telephone is notified by IM message.

As a result, the off-line user can be notified immediately and from whom the IM message arrives via telephone, and the IM message transmission source user can be notified whether the IM message arrival has been notified to the other party. Can be notified.

An advantage of the first embodiment of the present invention is that even when the partner terminal is off-line, it is possible to notify the arrival of a message using a telephone and to connect to the Internet using a telephone network. It is also possible to provide a highly convenient communication service to ordinary household users who often have access to the service.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of an instant message communication system according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The second embodiment has the same basic configuration as the system configuration corresponding to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals. The description is omitted.

The feature of the present embodiment is that the text information of a message given from the service control device 17 via the telephone call announcement device 31 is converted into a voice signal and the voice information is output to the telephone call announcement device 31. The device 41 is provided.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the operation sequence diagram shown in FIG. Note that the operation sequence diagram illustrated in FIG. 5 partially describes the operation sequence similar to the operation sequence diagram illustrated in FIG. 3, and thus description thereof will be omitted.

In the first embodiment, when a telephone call is made to the off-line user B and the telephone is connected, an announcement indicating from whom and when the IM message arrived is transmitted from the telephone call announcement device 31. Was.

On the other hand, in the second embodiment, the message transmitted from the calling terminal
When the telephone 27 of the user B is connected, a voice synthesis instruction is given from the telephone call announcement device 31 to the voice synthesis device 41 and the IM message temporarily stored is stored. Give text information.

Then, the voice synthesizer 41 synthesizes the read-aloud voice signal of the text information and outputs it to the telephone call announcement device 31, and an announcement indicating when and from whom the IM message arrived from the telephone call announcement device 31, The read-out voice signal of the IM message obtained from the voice synthesizer 41 is transmitted. As a result, in addition to the effects of the first embodiment, it is possible to directly notify the contents of the text information of the IM message to the other party.

The effect of the second embodiment of the present invention is that when a telephone set at a partner terminal is connected, a temporarily stored message from the calling terminal is synthesized into a voice. By notifying, even when the partner terminal is off-line, the content of the message can be notified by telephone.

(Third Embodiment) FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of an instant message communication system according to a third embodiment of the present invention. Note that the third embodiment has the same basic configuration as the system configuration corresponding to the second embodiment shown in FIG. 4, and the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals. The description is omitted.

A feature of the present embodiment is that a dial signal (hereinafter, referred to as a PB signal) of a push-button telephone transmitted from a telephone of a call destination via a telephone call announcement device 31 connected to the telephone network 21. ) To identify which dial button has been pressed, and output the identification result to the telephone call announcement device 31.

Next, the operation of the third embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the operation sequence diagram shown in FIG. The operation sequence diagram shown in FIG. 7 partially describes the operation sequence similar to the operation sequence diagram shown in FIG. 5, and thus the description thereof will be omitted.

In the second embodiment, a telephone call is made to the off-line user B, and when the telephone call 27 is connected, an announcement indicating when and from whom the IM message has arrived from the telephone call announcement device 31 and , A read-out voice signal of an IM message obtained from the voice synthesizer 41 has been transmitted.

In addition to this, in the third embodiment, for example, from the telephone call announcement device 31, "Press the" 1 "button to immediately respond to this IM message with the IM message.""If you want to make a call back to this IM message, please press the" 2 "button", "If you want to contact this IM message later, please press the" 3 "button" A voice signal such as
7 and prompts the user to enter a number corresponding to the desired response method using a dial button on the telephone.

At the same time, the PB signal detecting device 51 detects the PB signal in the audio signal sent from the telephone 27 provided for the user B, and inputs the dial button number indicating which dial button has been pressed. Call announcement device 3
Send to 1. Then, the telephone call announcement device 31 sends to the service control device 17 information indicating that the notification of the arrival of the IM message by telephone has been completed and the pressed dial button number.

Then, the service control device 17 sends information indicating completion of the notification of the arrival of the IM message by telephone to the communication terminal 13 to which the user A who has transmitted the IM message has logged in, and the pressed dial button number For example, if "1", "Response was made when replying with IM message from User B", "2", "Response was made when making a return call from User B", " In the case of "3", a message such as "User B has responded that he will not be able to take his hand and will contact you after a while" is notified by an IM message.

As a result, in addition to the effect of the second embodiment, the user A, the sender of the IM message, can understand how the user B responds to the transmitted IM message.

An effect of the third embodiment of the present invention is that, when a telephone provided at a partner terminal is connected, a number corresponding to a desired answering method by the partner terminal is input using a dial button of the telephone. By synthesizing the voice prompting the user, generating a message indicating the response method corresponding to the input number, and notifying the calling terminal of the generated message,
You can check how the other party responds to the sent message.

(Fourth Embodiment) FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of an instant message communication system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. The fourth embodiment has the same basic configuration as the system configuration corresponding to the third embodiment shown in FIG. 6, and the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals. The description is omitted.

A feature of the present embodiment is that an audio storage device 61 is provided which converts an audio signal sent from a calling telephone into audio data by A / D conversion and temporarily records the audio data.

Next, the operation of the fourth embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the operation sequence diagram shown in FIG. Note that the operation sequence diagram shown in FIG. 9 partially describes the operation sequence similar to the operation sequence diagram shown in FIG. 7, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

In the fourth embodiment, in addition to the operation of the third embodiment described above, after notifying the telephone 27 of the user B who is offline to the arrival of the IM message,
First, as announcements requesting voice injection from the telephone call announcement device 31, "Press the" 7 "button to record and reply to a voice message for this IM message." A voice signal such as "Press the button of" 8 "to end the recording" is sent to the telephone B of the user B to prompt the user to input a number corresponding to a desired answering method with the dial button of the telephone. .

At the same time, the PB signal detecting device 51 detects the PB signal in the audio signal sent from the telephone 27 provided to the user B, and inputs a dial button number indicating which dial button was pressed. Call announcement device 3
Send to 1.

Then, the telephone call announcement device 31
If the dial button number detected by the PB signal detection device 51 is “7”, since the user B has selected the voice message recording reply, the voice storage start instruction is output to the voice storage device 61.

As a result, the voice storage device 61 sets the telephone 27
A / D-converts the audio signal sent from the device and accumulates the audio data.

Then, the telephone call announcement device 31
If the dial button number detected by the PB signal detection device 51 is “8”, since the user B has selected to end the recording of the voice message, a voice storage end instruction is output to the voice storage device 61.

As a result, the voice storage device 61 sets the telephone 27
The storage of the audio signal sent from the server ends. And
The voice storage device 61 sends the stored voice data to the telephone call announcement device 31, and furthermore, the service control device 1
Send to 7.

Then, the service control device 31 adds voice data from the telephone call announcement device 31 to the IM message for notifying the completion of the IM message arrival notification by telephone, and sends the IM message to the communication terminal 13 of the user A. Then, the communication terminal 13 provided for the user A can obtain a reply from the communication partner by voice by reproducing the voice data added to the IM message.

The effect of the fourth embodiment of the present invention is that, even when the partner terminal is offline, the voice from the partner is stored and an IM message with the voice data added is returned to the sender. The response from the communication partner can be confirmed by voice.

In addition to the effects of the first to fourth embodiments described above, for example, when a PC is also used as a communication terminal, when the PC cannot be connected to the Internet because the PC is in use, or when a home or mobile phone is used. Even if you are nearby but your PC is not connected to the Internet, you will be notified by phone that the IM message has arrived.
You can immediately connect your PC to the Internet to check messages from the other party or reply to messages.

As a result, the probability of delivering and exchanging messages in real time using the IM service is increased for ordinary people who use at home, and it is possible to provide a more convenient IM service to more people. It becomes possible.

[0063]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the remote terminal is detected to be off-line, the message transmitted from the calling terminal is temporarily stored, and the remote terminal is connected via the telephone network. When a call is made to the phone provided at the terminal and the phone provided at the partner terminal is connected, the phone notifies the user that the message has arrived by voice, even if the partner terminal is offline. The message can be used to notify the arrival of the message, and a highly convenient communication service can be provided even to ordinary home users who are often connected to the Internet using a telephone network.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when a telephone provided at the partner terminal is connected, the temporarily stored message is synthesized and notified to the voice to notify the partner. Even when the terminal is off-line, the contents of the message can be notified using a telephone.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when a telephone provided at a partner terminal is connected, a number corresponding to a desired answering method by the partner terminal is input by a dial button of the telephone. Synthesize voice prompts and notify,
By generating a message indicating the response method corresponding to the input number and notifying the generated message to the calling terminal, the user of the message can determine which communication partner You can see how they respond.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when a telephone provided at the partner terminal is connected, a voice from the telephone provided at the partner terminal is recorded, and the recorded voice is recorded in a message. In addition, the calling terminal reproduces the voice added to the delivered message so that even if the other terminal is offline, the voice from the other party is accumulated and the voice data is transmitted. By returning the added message to the source, the response from the communication partner can be confirmed by voice.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an instant message communication system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a table showing operation settings of a communication terminal provided for each user.

FIG. 3 is an operation sequence diagram for describing the operation of the first exemplary embodiment in detail.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of an instant message communication system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an operation sequence diagram for explaining the operation of the second embodiment in detail.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of an instant message communication system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an operation sequence diagram for explaining the operation of the third embodiment in detail.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of an instant message communication system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an operation sequence diagram for explaining the operation of the fourth embodiment in detail.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conventional instant message communication system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Internet 13,15,23 Communication terminal 17 Service control device 21 Telephone network 25,27,29 Telephone 31 Telephone calling / announcement device 41 Voice synthesis device 51 PB signal detection device 61 Voice storage device

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04M 3/50 H04L 11/20 101C 3/537 (72) Inventor Yasuhiro Niikura 1-chome Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo No. 1-6 NTT Communications Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kazuhiro Yoshida 1-6 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo NTT Communications F-term (reference) ) 5K015 GA02 GA05 5K024 AA72 BB04 CC01 CC09 FF06 5K030 HA06 HC02 HC14 HD05 HD06 JT01 KA06 LD13 LD14 9A001 BB04 CC02 DD10 JJ18 JJ25

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An instant message communication system for communicating a message including at least text information in real time when a partner terminal is detected as an online state among a plurality of communication terminals connectable to the Internet, When the partner terminal is detected to be in an off-line state, the message transmitted from the calling terminal is temporarily stored, a call is made to a telephone provided in the partner terminal via a telephone network, An instant message communication system for notifying the arrival of the message by voice when a telephone provided in the system is connected. 2. The instant telephone according to claim 1, wherein when the telephone provided at the partner terminal is connected, the temporarily stored message is synthesized into a voice and notified. Message communication system. 3. When a telephone provided in the partner terminal is connected, a voice that prompts the user to input a number corresponding to a desired response method by the partner terminal with a telephone dial button is synthesized and notified, The instant message communication system according to claim 1, wherein a message representing a response method corresponding to the input number is generated, and the generated message is notified to a calling terminal. 4. When a telephone provided at the partner terminal is connected, a voice from the telephone provided at the partner terminal is recorded, and the recorded voice is added to a message and delivered to a calling terminal. 2. The instant message communication system according to claim 1, wherein the calling terminal reproduces a voice added to the delivered message.