JP2003008769A - Information-providing apparatus, information-requesting apparatus and portable terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform a request and provision of information during voice communication using simple key operations. SOLUTION: A user of an information-providing apparatus 20 inputs a prescribed index number from an input section 21, when the apparatus 20 is in a state of voice communication with an information-providing apparatus 10. This index number is converted into a DTMF(dial tone multi-frequency) signal by a DTMF signal converting section 22, and is transmitted to the apparatus 10 via a communication section 23. The DTMF signal is converted into one or more character codes by a character code converting section 12 in the apparatus 10, and information corresponding to these character codes is extracted by an identifier extracting section 13. The extracted information is converted into a DTMF signal by a DTMF signal converting section 15, and is transmitted to the apparatus 20 via a communication section 11. The DTMF signal is inputted into a character code converting section 24 via a communication section 23 of the apparatus 20 to be converted into a character code, and is stored in correspondence with the telephone number of the apparatus 10 in a storing section 25.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information providing device for providing self-information in response to a request from a caller during a voice call, and an information request for requesting information transmission to the caller during a voice call. The present invention relates to devices and mobile terminals equipped with these devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Due to the spread of the Internet, in recent years, many companies have posted URLs in billboard advertisements, etc., and published detailed contents on the Internet for advertising. In addition, mobile phones that can be connected to the Internet have become widespread, and users are now able to browse mails and surf the Internet even when they are out.

[0003]

However, in a portable telephone having a limited number of input keys, one key is assigned with a plurality of functions and characters, so that the user has to
In order to input the RL and the like, the same key has to be repeatedly pressed and input, and the input operation has been a time-consuming task. For this reason, many people refrain from surfing the web from mobile phones to setting up new URLs, registering URLs, etc., which has been a major barrier to referencing the contents of sites published on the Internet.

Further, in recent years, mails have been frequently transmitted and received between mobile terminals. In this case, mail cannot be sent without knowing the other party's e-mail address, so at least the person who sends the mail first has to listen to the other party's e-mail address, register the e-mail address, and set the destination. is there. However, since network identifiers such as e-mails and URLs have a larger number of characters than telephone numbers, it is difficult to verbally convey them to a third party. Therefore, they are often written on paper or the like to teach their own e-mail addresses. For this reason, there is a drawback that it takes time and effort just to exchange the email addresses.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an information providing device for providing own information in response to a request from the other party during a voice call, and performing a predetermined operation during the voice call. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an information requesting device that can easily acquire information such as the URL of a call partner, and a mobile terminal that can provide and acquire information by a simple operation by including these devices.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an information providing apparatus capable of communicating via a telephone line network to specify information relating to a user of the apparatus and the information. An identifier table in which a specific character code consisting of one or more character codes is stored in association with each other, a character code conversion means for converting a voice signal received from the other party into a character code in a voice call state, Identifier extracting means for extracting information on the user corresponding to the specific character code that matches the extracted character code from the identifier table, and converting the extracted information on the user into a predetermined audio signal. There is provided an information providing device comprising: a voice signal converting means and a transmitting means for transmitting the predetermined voice signal to the other party.

According to this structure, when predetermined voice information is received from the other party in the voice call state,
Information relating to the user such as a URL or an e-mail address corresponding to the predetermined voice information is transmitted to the other party. As a result, it becomes possible to easily provide one's own information to the other party, and it is possible to reduce costs related to advertising of one's own information. The predetermined voice signal is DTMF.
(Dial Tone Multi Frequency) signal. This DT
The MF signal is a signal sound emitted every time a dial button is pressed at the time of making a call on a push-line telephone or the like, and one button is assigned a voice signal of two kinds of frequencies. Identifies the button pressed from this frequency.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is an information requesting device capable of communicating with an information providing device according to claim 1 through a telephone line network, wherein the device is used in a voice call state. When the person inputs the notation information represented by the specific character code, a voice signal conversion unit for converting the notation information into a predetermined voice signal, and a transmission for transmitting the predetermined voice signal to the information providing device Provided is an information requesting device comprising: a means, a character code conversion means for converting the predetermined voice signal received from the information providing apparatus into a character code, and a storage means for storing the character code. .

With such a configuration, the user of the device establishes a communication line with the information providing device of the other party who wants to acquire information, and only inputs a predetermined character code in the voice communication state. Information such as the e-mail address of the other party can be acquired by performing a simple operation. Thus, since no complicated key operation is required, anyone can easily obtain the information of the other party. Moreover, since it is not necessary to connect to a network other than a telephone line to acquire the information of the other party, it is possible to shorten the time until the data is acquired and reduce the communication cost. Further, since the information of the other party of the call can be acquired with one line connection, the time and effort for operations such as reconnection and the communication cost for reconnection are completely eliminated. The predetermined voice signal is DTMF (Dial
Tone Multi Frequency) signal. The DTMF signal is a signal sound emitted every time a dial button is pressed at the time of making a call on a push line telephone or the like.
Voice signals of two types of frequencies are assigned to each button, and the switch side identifies the button pressed from this frequency.

In the information requesting device described above,
The storage means stores the character code in association with a telephone number of the information providing device.

According to such a configuration, the automatically acquired information is stored in the storage device in the own terminal in association with the telephone number of the owner of the information. When setting the destination of the mail at the time of creating, the mail address stored in the storage device can be read and set. This allows you to use the mail address obtained from the other party's terminal through the telephone network as the destination information of the e-mail without registering the mail address, etc., so the complicated key operation required to register the information. Is completely unnecessary.

Further, the present invention provides a mobile terminal comprising the information providing device according to claim 1 and / or the information requesting device according to claim 2.

According to such a configuration, since the information providing device is provided, the third party makes a call to his / her own terminal, and after a voice call state is established, predetermined information is sent. , It becomes possible to provide the e-mail address of the user's own terminal to a third party. As a result, the mail address can be acquired at any time if the user knows the telephone number, thus eliminating the trouble and time for exchanging the mail address.

Further, according to the above configuration, since the information requesting device is provided, when the third party's mail address or the like is desired to be acquired, the third party's terminal is called and after the voice call state is established. , The email address of a third party can be automatically obtained by simply inputting a predetermined character code. In this way, by simply performing extremely simple and simple key operations such as connecting a telephone line and inputting a predetermined character code, the complicated operation of registering a URL or an email address is unnecessary, which is excellent in convenience. It becomes possible to realize a portable terminal. Furthermore, even after acquiring information from the other party in the voice call state with the other party, it is possible to continuously enjoy the call with the other party unless the call line is disconnected.

The portable terminal of the present invention is a so-called CD.
MA (code division multiple access) system and PDC (Personal Dig
Ital Cellular System) mobile phone, PHS (Personal Handyphone System), PD
A (Personal Digital Assistants)
It also includes a portable terminal called. Where P
In the case of DA, in addition to the communication means built-in, even if the communication means is connected from the outside, the PDA main body performs the calling (incoming call, communication) processing, which will be described later, which is a feature of the present invention. Are included in the present invention.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configurations of an information providing apparatus and an information requesting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 10 is an information providing device,
A communication unit 11 for transmitting and receiving information via the telephone line network 30,
The DTMF signal received from the outside is converted into an ASCII code (AS
CII; American Standard Code for Information Int
erchange) and the like, a character code conversion unit 12 that converts the character code into a character code, an identifier extraction unit 13 that extracts information corresponding to a specific character code from an identifier table, and various information relating to a user and an index number are associated with each other. The stored identifier table 14 and the DTMF signal conversion unit 15 for converting the information of the user, which is the character code extracted by the identifier extraction unit 13, into a DTMF signal.
Is equipped with.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the structure of the identifier table 14. As shown in FIG. 2, the identifier table 1
In FIG. 4, URLs of homepages owned by the user of the device, network identifiers such as e-mail addresses and IP addresses, and index numbers for identifying the information are stored in association with each other. In addition,
Actually, the identifier table 14 stores information obtained by converting the above-mentioned index number and network identifier into character codes. That is, the table of FIG.
It is shown by replacing one or more character codes stored in the actual identifier table 14 with notation information. Here, one or more character codes representing each index number are referred to as specific character codes.

The identifier table can be arbitrarily added and changed by the user of the device, and the information to be stored is not limited to the mail address, but other information such as a home telephone number and an address can be used. It is possible to register information.

On the other hand, reference numeral 20 is an information requesting device, which is an input unit 21 composed of ten keys, function keys, etc., and an index number (specified by a user of the device operating the input unit 21 during a voice call). (Notation information represented by a character code) into a DTMF signal, a DTMF signal conversion unit 22, a communication unit 23 that transmits and receives information to and from the outside, a character code conversion unit 24 that converts a DTMF signal acquired from the outside into a character code, The storage unit 25 stores the character code converted by the character code conversion unit 24.

The information providing device 10 and the information requesting device 20 described above can communicate with each other via the telephone network 30. The telephone line network 30 may be, for example, a wireless line network that communicates wirelessly or a public line network including a wire.

Next, the information providing apparatus 10 having the above structure
The operation of the information requesting device 20 will be described. For convenience of explanation, the user of the information requesting device 20 is a user A and the user of the information providing device 10 is a user B. First, the user A of the information requesting device inputs the telephone number of the information providing device 10 desiring to obtain information from the input unit 21, and then operates the call button. As a result, the telephone number input from the input unit 21 is output to the call unit 23, and the call unit 23 puts this telephone number on the carrier wave and transmits it. Then, a call based on the transmitted telephone number is sent to the destination telephone, that is, the information providing device 10, and the information providing device 10 responds to this call, whereby the telephone line between the information providing device 10 and the information requesting device 20. Are connected and a voice call is established.

In the voice call state, the user A inputs the index number of the information to be acquired from the input section 21. For example, if the user A wants to know the URL of the homepage that the user B has opened, the user A will find the index number corresponding to the URL, that is, "10".
0 "is input from the input unit 21. By such an operation, the index number" 10 "key-input from the input unit 21 is input.
0 ″ is converted into a DTMF signal by the DTMF signal conversion unit 22 and transmitted to the information providing device 10 that is the other party of the call via the communication unit 23.

The communication unit 11 of the information providing device 10 is a DTM.
When the F signal is received, this signal is sent to the character code conversion unit 12
Output to. The character code converter 12 receives the received DTMF.
The signal is converted into a character code and output to the identifier extraction unit 13. That is, the character code conversion unit 12 converts the DTMF signal indicating the index number “100” into one or more character codes, and outputs the one or more character codes representing “100” to the identifier extraction unit 13.

The identifier extracting unit 13 refers to the identifier table shown in FIG. 2 and refers to the information corresponding to one or more character codes representing the index number "100" input from the character code converting unit 12, that is, "http: //www.××.co.j
p ”is acquired, and the acquired information is used as the DTMF signal conversion unit 15
Output to. In addition, "http: //www.XX.
The information "co.jp" is also composed of one or more character codes. The DTMF signal conversion unit 15 converts the input character code into a DTMF signal and outputs it to the communication unit 11.
As a result, U held by the user B of the information providing device 10
The RL "http://www.XX.co.jp" becomes a DTMF signal and is transmitted to the information requesting device 10 which is the other party of the call.

As a result, the communication unit 2 of the information requesting device 20.
When 3 receives the DTMF signal, the communication unit 23 outputs the received DTMF signal to the character code conversion unit 24. The character code conversion unit 24 converts the input DTMF signal into a character code and converts the converted information, that is, the character code “ht”.
"tp: //www.XX.co.jp" is stored in a predetermined storage area of the storage unit 25 in association with the telephone number of the information providing apparatus that is the other party of the call. The acquisition of the URL of the user B desired by A is completed, and the information acquired from the call partner is stored in the storage unit 25 in association with the phone number of the call partner.
If the user wants to access the URL acquired earlier, the U associated with the telephone number of the user B from the storage unit 25.
By reading the information in the RL, the information can be used for setting the URL. As a result, the key operation for registering the URL can be omitted, so that it is possible to automatically register the information without performing a complicated key operation for registering the information.

In the above embodiment, the case where the user A inputs the index number from the input unit 21 after the telephone line between the information providing apparatus 10 and the information requesting apparatus 20 is established has been described. Instead of the above, when the telephone number of the information providing device 10 is input, the index number may be further input subsequent to the telephone number, and then the call button may be operated. At this time,
Between the telephone number and the index number, these two
A symbol for distinguishing the two pieces of information, for example, a pause “p” is input. As a result, the base station can recognize the information added below the pause as attached information, and connect the line to the telephone number input before the pause "p".
Even when the telephone number and the character code are transmitted at once in this way, the character code input below the pause "p" is transmitted to the communication partner as a DTMF signal.

The above-described information providing apparatus and / or information requesting apparatus of the present invention can be implemented by a so-called CDMA (code division multiple access) system or PDC (Personal Digital Cellular Syst).
em) mobile phone and PHS (registered trademark) (Personal
In addition to Handyphone System, PDA (Personal Digital)
Assistants: Personal information devices) can also be installed in mobile terminals. In this case, the components that overlap between the information providing apparatus 10 and the information requesting apparatus 20, that is, the DTMF signal conversion units 15 and 22, the character code conversion unit 1
2 and 24 can be shared. Further, the functions provided in the existing mobile terminal and the information providing device 1 described above.
0 or when the function included in the information requesting device 20 overlaps, it is also possible to divert the components included in the existing mobile terminal.

For example, the mobile terminal is provided with a communication unit because it can communicate with the outside through a wireless network. Therefore, this communication unit is connected to the information providing device 10 and the information requesting device 2
It can be used as the communication units 11 and 23 of 0. Moreover, since the existing mobile terminal is provided with an input unit including a numeric keypad, a function key, etc., this input unit can be used as the input unit 21 of the information requesting device 20. Furthermore, existing mobile terminals have RAM, ROM
Since various storage devices such as the above are provided, it is possible to store the information stored in the identifier table 14 included in the information providing device 10 or the storage unit 25 included in the information requesting device 20 in these storage devices. . Further, this storage device may be various storage devices provided in the mobile terminal, or may be an external storage device such as a flash memory externally connected. As described above, with respect to the overlapping functions, the functions of the existing mobile terminal can be reused to further simplify the configuration. Thereby, the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

It should be noted that a program for realizing the functions of the above-described units is recorded in a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded in this recording medium is used as a CP.
Various processes may be executed by reading the data into a U (Central Processing Unit) and executing it. Further, the program may be a program for realizing some of the functions described above. Further, it may be a so-called difference file (difference program) that can realize the above-mentioned function in combination with a program already recorded.

The information providing device and the information requesting device described above can be added to not only the portable terminal but also a general telephone that communicates through a wired public line network.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above with reference to the drawings, the specific structure is not limited to this embodiment, and includes a design etc. within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention. Be done. For example, the information providing device 10 may limit the information provided by the other party. For example, the telephone number of the other party and the information that can be provided are stored in association with each other, and whether the information corresponding to the index number transmitted from the other party is information that can be provided to the other party. It may be determined once. As a result, it is possible to select the other party to whom the information is to be provided, so that it is possible to provide the information while maintaining privacy.

[0032]

As described above, according to the information providing apparatus of the present invention, when the predetermined voice information is received from the other party in the voice call state, the URL or the electronic mail corresponding to the predetermined voice information is received. Send information such as address to the other party. As a result, it becomes possible to easily provide one's own information to the other party, and it is possible to reduce the cost and labor involved in providing one's own information.

Further, according to the information requesting device of the present invention, the user of the device establishes a communication line with the information providing device possessed by the other party who desires to obtain information, and a predetermined character code is set in the voice communication state. Information such as an e-mail address can be automatically acquired only by performing an extremely simple operation of inputting. As described above, since no complicated key operation is required for acquiring information, anyone can easily acquire information. Moreover, since it is not necessary to go through a server or the like, it is possible to shorten the time until the information is acquired and reduce the communication cost. Further, since the information can be acquired by connecting the line once, the time and effort for the operation such as the reconnection and the communication cost for the reconnection are unnecessary.

Further, according to the portable terminal of the present invention, since the information providing device is provided, the predetermined information is sent after the third party makes a call to his or her terminal and becomes in the voice communication state. By doing so, it becomes possible to provide the e-mail address of the user's own terminal to a third party. As a result, if the telephone number is known, the information of the other party can be acquired anytime, and the labor and time for exchanging the mail address becomes unnecessary.

Further, according to the portable terminal of the present invention, since the information requesting device is provided, when it is desired to acquire the mail address of the third party, the third party's terminal is called to enter the voice call state. After that, you can automatically obtain the email address of the third party by simply entering the prescribed character code. In this way, by simply performing extremely simple and simple key operations such as connecting a telephone line and inputting a predetermined character code, the complicated operation of registering a URL or an email address is unnecessary, which is excellent in convenience. It becomes possible to realize a portable terminal.

Further, since the automatically acquired information is stored in the storage device in the terminal of the user in association with the telephone number of the holder of the information, for example, when the outgoing mail is created, the mail When setting the destination, the mail address stored in the storage device can be read and set. This allows you to use the mail address obtained from the other party's terminal through the telephone network as the destination information of the e-mail without registering the mail address, etc., so the complicated key operation required to register the information. Is completely unnecessary. In addition, even after the information is acquired from the other party in the voice communication state with the other party, the user can continuously enjoy talking with the other party unless the call line is disconnected.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an information providing device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a block diagram showing the configurations of an information requesting device and an information requesting device.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an identifier table of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Information providing device 11, 23 ... Communication unit, 12, 24
... character code converter, 13 ... identifier extractor, 14 ... identifier table, 15, 22 ... DTMF signal converter, 20 ...
Information requesting device, 21 ... Input unit, 25 ... Storage unit

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H04M 1/00 H04M 3/42 B 5K101 3/42 3/487 3/487 H04B 7/26 MF term ( Reference) 5B075 ND03 PP07 PQ04 PQ05 5K015 AB01 AB04 AF11 GA07 5K024 AA76 BB04 CC05 CC10 CC11 EE01 FF03 FF04 GG05 5K027 AA11 BB02 CC08 EE14 FF22 HPH21 KK21 NN21H21H21H21H21H21H21H21H21H21H21H21H21H02 UU03

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. In an information providing device capable of communicating via a telephone line network, information relating to a user of the device is associated with a specific character code consisting of one or more character codes for specifying the information. An identifier table stored therein, a character code conversion means for converting a voice signal received from the other party into a character code in a voice call state, and the above-mentioned specific character code corresponding to the converted character code. Identifier extracting means for extracting information about the user from the identifier table, voice signal converting means for converting the extracted information about the user into a predetermined voice signal, and the predetermined voice signal to the other party An information providing apparatus comprising: a transmitting unit for transmitting. 2. The information requesting device capable of communicating with the information providing device according to claim 1 through a telephone line network, and in a voice call state, notation information represented by the specific character code by a user of the device. In the case of inputting, the voice signal converting means for converting the notation information into a predetermined voice signal, the transmitting means for transmitting the predetermined voice signal to the information providing device, and the predetermined signal received from the information providing device. An information requesting device comprising: a character code conversion means for converting the voice signal of 1 to a character code; and a storage means for storing the character code. 3. The information requesting device according to claim 2, wherein the storage means stores the character code in association with a telephone number of the information providing device. 4. A mobile terminal comprising the information providing device according to claim 1 and / or the information requesting device according to claim 2 or 3.