JP2003092628A - Phone relay service method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology concerning a phone relay service method capable of simple communication at a low charge by utilizing a conversion technology between voice information and character information via the Internet. SOLUTION: The phone relay service method concerning a form of the embodiment as shown in Figure 1 roughly comprises a terminal 10 capable of entering characters such as a personal computer operated by a user, a phone relay service center 20 for relaying the voice information and the character information, and a phone 30 of a speech opposite party, the phone relay service center 20 is provided with a server 20A with a character/voice conversion function for converting a character into voice and a voice/character conversion function for converting a voice into a character, and the terminal 10 and the phone 30 is connected to the server 20A via a network such as the Internet 100 including a VoIP network and a PSTN.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a call relay service method, and more particularly to a telephone relay service method for hearing impaired persons.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, telephone relay services (TRS, Telephone) for the hearing impaired in Europe and the United States.
There is a system called Relay Service). This service allows the hearing impaired person to contact the desired party anytime, anywhere, just like a normal telephone, via an operator who contacts the person on the phone according to a request such as a text message from the deaf person. It is a thing. It is a service that is highly expected to remove the barriers of deaf people's participation in society, and similar services are spreading all over the world.

Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-291871 discloses that the handling can be easily understood and easily performed even when deaf persons (deaf people) communicate with each other at remote points. A technique related to a handwriting call terminal device that can be used and also provides a sufficient feeling of contact with a communication partner has been disclosed.

According to this technique, the writing information is constructed by the writing information constructing means from the input signal inputted from the input means of the input display tablet, the writing information is displayed on the display means, and the writing information is sent to the communication partner via the transmission / reception section. When the writing information sent from the communication partner is received by the receiving unit and displayed on the display unit, and a page break instruction is given from the page break instruction unit, the display screen of the display unit is changed, and This is a technique of transmitting this page break instruction information to a communication partner via a transmission means.

[0005]

However, the prior art has the following problems.

[0006] A general telephone functions by using an automatic exchange even for emergency contact. On the other hand, the telephone relay service is also available for emergency contact by a full-time operator who is available 24 hours a day, but this is a heavy burden on personnel expenses and other costs, which is one factor that prevents the spread of the telephone relay service. .

[0007] Further, it is difficult for the hearing-impaired persons to communicate with each other between remote points by adapting the communication between the hearing-impaired persons and the hearing-impaired persons to use the ordinary telephone.

[0008] Further, there is a problem in that the hearing impaired person has a resistance to the hearing impaired person from the viewpoint of personal privacy when the deaf person communicates his / her message to the desired person through the operator of the third party. It was

The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to use a conversion technology of voice information and character information via the Internet, thereby making it easy and inexpensive. The point is to provide technology related to a telephone relay service method capable of communication.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The subject matter of the present invention is a telephone relay service method for relaying a telephone call via a network such as the Internet, wherein a telephone relay service method receives a message from a user who receives it via a predetermined access point. The voice / character relay means converts a part or all of the data including the character information into voice information, converts voice information from the other party into character information, and the voice information and the character information are mutually exchanged. There is a telephone relay service method characterized by transmitting and relaying a conversation. The gist of the present invention according to claim 2 is
The voice / character relay means, which is a server connected to the internet, relays a conversation in real time by being accessed by a caller including two or more users and the other party. The telephone relay service method according to claim 1, wherein The gist of the present invention according to claim 3 is that the voice / character relay means converts the character information and the voice information and relays a two-party call, and uses the character information such as a hearing-impaired person in a call. A first step of transmitting voice information including information about a user to be transmitted to a telephone of a call partner via a network such as the Internet including a VoIP network, and prompting the call partner to reply the voice information; The voice / character relay means converts voice information transmitted from the telephone set via the network into character information, transmits the character information to the user's terminal via the network, and transmits the character information via a screen of the terminal. A second step for prompting the user to reply to text information, wherein the first step is input by the user from an input means such as a keyboard of the terminal. Call relay service method exist according to character information to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it comprises the step of converting the voice information. The gist of the present invention according to claim 4 is that, in the first step, when the terminal receives access from the terminal via the network at the time of starting a call, A third step of displaying a question screen including the question on the terminal and prompting the user to input from the terminal to the question screen, and input information to the question screen transmitted from the terminal by the user. Based on the fourth step, a call is automatically sent to the other party's telephone number, voice information including the name of the user registered in advance is transmitted to the telephone, and the fourth step of urging the other party to connect is permitted; A fifth step of transmitting to the terminal that the connection with the telephone is given in text information according to the permission, and urging the user to start a call using the text information. It consists in the telephone relay service method according to claim 3. The gist of the present invention according to claim 5 is that, from the start of a call to the end of a call after the first step or the second step receives an instruction to end a conversation from the terminal or the telephone. 4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the step of storing a communication log of
Or the telephone relay service method described in 4. According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the first step, the terminal including the access at the time of starting a call and the voice / voice
The telephone relay service method according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the connection with the character relay means is performed via a VPN service. The gist of the present invention according to claim 7 is that, in the second step, according to an access from a telephone to a public telephone number of a telephone relay service center that manages the voice / character relay means, the voice A sixth step in which the character relay means connects to the telephone via the network, transmits voice information to the telephone, and prompts the caller to press the telephone number of the terminal with a push button; Whether or not to make a call to the terminal via the network based on the telephone number of the terminal transmitted from the telephone and to receive a call from the telephone by the caller to the user 7th step in which the question is transmitted in text information to urge the start of the call, and according to the call permission by the user, the terminal is connected to call the user. The telephone relay service according to any one of claims 3 to 6, further comprising: an eighth step of transmitting a call availability as voice information to the telephone and urging the caller to start a call. In the way. The gist of the present invention according to claim 8 is that, in the second step, when a connection is made to the terminal based on a call from the telephone, an incoming call notification is provided by visual information by light or tactile information by vibration. The telephone relay service method according to any one of claims 3 to 7, which is performed. The gist of the present invention according to claim 9 is as follows:
In the first step, when the character information is converted into the voice information, a grammatical error that is generally registered in a storage unit of the voice / character relay unit and occurs in the process of character / speech conversion. Using the database that includes the modified conversion of and the conversion of special terms and abbreviated terms for each industry, each predetermined group, and each individual to general terms,
The telephone relay service method according to any one of claims 3 to 8, characterized in that the voice information is synthesized in a natural voice tone. The gist of the present invention according to claim 10 is that in the first step or the second step, a step of displaying conversion of character information and voice information on a monitor, and based on the monitor display, from the voice information, 10. The telephone relay service method according to any one of claims 3 to 9, further comprising a step of making a correction by an operator regarding conversion into character information or conversion from character information into voice information. The gist of the present invention according to claim 11 is that in the first step, when the character information is converted into the voice information, a man, a woman, or a person registered in advance in a storage unit included in the voice / character relay unit, 11. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the step of converting character information from the user into voice information based on a database including sound quality types such as boys, adolescents, middle-aged people, and elderly people. It exists in the telephone relay service method of. The gist of the present invention according to claim 12 is that in the first step, when the voice information including the name of the user registered in advance is transmitted to the telephone, the character information is converted into the voice information. At this time, the tone of the user registered in advance in the storage means of the voice / character relay means, or
3. The method according to claim 3, further comprising a step of synthesizing the voice information by using a tone selected for each connection.
The telephone relay service method described in any one of 1 above exists. The gist of the present invention according to claim 13 is that the voice / character relay means uses language conversion means such as translation software when converting character information into voice information or when converting voice information into character information. The telephone relay service method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that a call between the user using the different language and the call partner is relayed. The gist of the present invention according to claim 14 is a mobile phone, a PHS, a pager with a keyboard / transmission function,
A communication terminal capable of inputting both a keyboard and handwritten characters,
The telephone relay service method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein call relay is performed to the terminal including a mobile terminal such as a PDA. The gist of the present invention according to claim 15 is that the voice / character relay means has a chat management function and receives voice information or character information from the telephone having a communication function capable of connecting to the Internet, 15. The telephone relay service method according to claim 1, wherein real-time chat between a user and the call partner is managed. The gist of the present invention according to claim 16 is characterized in that the voice / character relay means converts the sign language video data included in the data received from the user into voice information and transmits the voice information to the other party. The telephone relay service method according to any one of claims 1 to 15. Claim 1
The seventh aspect of the present invention is that the voice / character relay unit converts the moving image data into the voice information based on a conversion table registered in advance for each user. It exists in the telephone relay service method.
A gist of the present invention according to claim 18 is a charging method using the telephone relay service method according to any one of claims 1 to 17, wherein a voice / character relay for relaying a call between a user and a call partner. A billing method is characterized in that the user is billed based on the call duration, the number of calls, and the caller described in the call log stored in the storage means of the means. The gist of the present invention according to claim 19 resides in a storage medium in which a program capable of executing the telephone relay service method according to any one of claims 1 to 17 is recorded.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a concept of a configuration for executing a telephone relay service method according to the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, a telephone relay service method according to the present embodiment is a telephone relay service for relaying voice information and character information, and a terminal 10 such as a personal computer operated by a user for inputting characters. The telephone relay service center 2 is roughly configured by a center (operation center) 20 and a telephone 30 of the other party.
Reference numeral 0 is provided with a server (TRS server, voice / character relay means) 20A having a character-to-speech character / speech conversion function and a speech-to-speech voice / character conversion function, and the terminal 10 and the telephone 30 are provided with VoIP ( Voice over I
P) network such as the Internet 100 and general telephone line network 200 (PSTN, Public S)
watched Telephone Network
k) and the server 20A.

In order to maintain the security of access from the user's terminal 10 to the TRS server 20A, the VPN is used.
(Virtual Private Network
ng) can also be used.

If the user is a deaf person, etc.
The character / speech conversion function of the S server 20A converts the received text or handwritten character into voice, packetizes it, and transmits it to the voice telephone (telephone) 30.

Next, the flow of operations using the telephone relay service method will be described.

In the following, in the present embodiment, description will be given with the user as the main body, regardless of the direction of the call.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the flow of the operation of FIG.

A call procedure from the user to the other party will be described with reference to FIG.

The TRS server 20A displays on the terminal 10 a question screen for the telephone number of the telephone 30 and the name of the telephone partner (step S1).

A user including a hearing-impaired person inputs the other party's telephone number and the name of the other party from the terminal 10 (step S).
2).

The TRS server 20A automatically makes a call to the number desired by the user, and when the other party of the call comes out, the explanation of the TRS and the user's name are transmitted by voice synthesis (text / voice conversion) to connect the other party. With permission, the user is connected (step S3).

Using the VoIP network, voice is packetized and transmitted via the Internet 100 (step S
4).

The server 20A informs the user of the fact that he / she is connected to the other party (call partner) on the screen by text and instructs the user to enter a message (step S5).

The user inputs a message with the keyboard of the terminal 10 and sends it (step S6). In the case of a handwriting input using handwritten characters, the handwritten character recognition means (character recognition software, character recognition) included in the terminal 10 converts the handwritten characters into text and sends the text to the server 20A.

The server 20A converts the message into a voice (text / voice conversion), and informs the other party's telephone (telephone) 30 (step S7).

The other party speaks the answer (answer) by voice through the telephone port (step S8).

The server 20A converts the words into characters (voice / character conversion) and displays them on the screen of the user's terminal 10 (step S9).

The user reads the characters on the screen of the terminal 10, inputs the answer (reply) (step S10), and returns to step S7. Or, end the conversation. After the conversation ends, you can disconnect the line from either side. Further, the TRS server 20A saves only the communication log up to the disconnection, and uses it as the basic material for the charge calculation (step S11).

FIG. 2 shows an example of the VPN service A. The TRS server 20A can also receive access from the user's terminal 10 using the VPN. Use of this VPN leads to enhanced security.

3 is a diagram showing another example of the flow in the operation of the telephone relay service method according to the present embodiment.

A call procedure from the telephone 30 of the other party to the user's terminal 10 will be described with reference to FIG.

The public telephone number of the telephone relay service center 20 is called from the voice telephone (telephone) 30 (step T1) and is transmitted via the Internet 100 (PSTN or Vo).
Connect to server 20A via IP (step T)
2).

The server 20A gives a voice instruction to push the text telephone number (the telephone number corresponding to the terminal 10) with the push button (step T3).

Voice telephone 30 to text telephone (terminal) 1
Enter the telephone number 0 (step T4).

The server 20A makes a call to the text telephone 10 via the Internet 100 including the VoIP network (step T5).

The text telephone 10 of the user is notified of the incoming call (step T6). If the user is deaf,
The incoming call is notified by a notification device such as light and vibration.

When an incoming call is received by the text telephone 10, a text call is made from the voice telephone (telephone) 30 and a question is asked as to whether or not to receive the call. When receiving, the OK button is pressed (step T7).

The server 20A notifies the voice telephone 30 that the connection with the text telephone 10 has been made and notifies the voice telephone 30 to speak the message by voice (step T8).

The voice call (telephone) 30 is used to convey the message by voice (step T9).

The server 20A converts the voice into a text (converts the voice / character) and transmits the text to the text telephone 10 (step T10).

The conversation displayed on the screen of the text telephone 10 is answered by inputting text (step T1).
1).

The server 20A converts the text into voice (converts characters / voices), transmits the voice to the voice telephone 30 (step T12), and returns to step T9. Alternatively, the call is ended. When either party disconnects the communication, the disconnection is notified by voice or text. Server 20A at the same time
Records a communication log (step T13).

In addition, a grammatical error that can generally occur in the process of character / speech conversion (misuse or omission of particles, etc.)
It is also possible to synthesize a natural voice tone by converting a character / speech conversion into a database of special terms, abbreviated terms, etc. for each industry, each predetermined group, and each individual.

Further, the operator of the telephone relay service center 20 can be given the authority to correct obvious mistakes in the grammar of the text transmitted from the user's terminal 10 before performing the character / speech conversion. This improves the sound to be more natural.

The TRS server 20A uses the voice / character conversion function to convert the voice received from the voice telephone 30 into voice / character, and displays it on the screen of the user's terminal 10 as text.

Further, the voices at the telephone ports of the voice telephone 30 are inconsistent, and if correct voice recognition is not easy even if the voice / character conversion function is used, the operator of the telephone relay service center 20. Observes the process of voice-to-character conversion, and if inappropriate conversion is made,
You can also have the authority to modify the converted text.

Further, in the TRS server 20A, types of sound quality such as male, female, boy, adolescent, middle-aged, and elderly are registered in advance when converting the input text into characters and voice. The voice is transmitted to the other party with the registered sound quality.

Further, when the TRS server 20A connects to the telephone 30 of the other party of the call, the words for automatically giving the other party can be registered in the server. You can also make it possible to bring out the features of.

The user is a telephone relay service center 20.
There is also a method of obtaining an address in a VPN (intranet of a telephone relay service) when registering in the. At that time, his profiling is registered in the authentication server of the telephone relay service center 20. This method enhances security at low cost.

The name and age of the user or call partner (when accessing the telephone relay service center 20 from this call partner) must be registered correctly. The age can also be calculated by the computer from the date of birth. The name can be registered in the family register and the handle name when using the telephone relay service.

Further, in both the terminal 10 and the telephone 30,
VoIP equipped with a camera for image transmission and reception and an image display device
It is possible to easily send and receive images using a network.

Regarding the input method from the user to the terminal 10, if the user is a hearing impaired person, etc., a camera is attached to a terminal such as a personal computer (a dedicated terminal will be considered in the future), and the TRS server 20A. Connect to. The TRS server 20A can also analyze the sign language image, convert the sign language into a voice (sign language / voice conversion), and notify the telephone 30 of the other party of the call.

In addition, considering that the recognition rate of sign language / speech conversion is low only with the image data passed through the camera, the terminal 1
A sensor device such as a power glove is connected to the camera 0, and a handicapped person wears a sensor device with a built-in sensor to detect the movement of a finger or hand and signs the camera. This sensor device can more accurately send hand and finger movements to the server, which enables more accurate sign language / voice conversion. Further, it is possible to select whether to perform the character / speech conversion as described above or whether to use an image of sign language / speech conversion.

The terminal 10 is a portable telephone, a PHS, a pager (pager (registered trademark)) with a keyboard / transmission function, a communication terminal capable of inputting both a keyboard and handwritten characters, a portable terminal such as a PDA that can be connected to the Internet 100. Including the terminal.

Chat to the TRS server 20A (CHA
T) By providing the management function and the telephone 30 of the other party with the same function as the terminal 10 on the user side, the real-time CHAT service can be easily performed.

In the present embodiment, the voice / character relay means can easily perform a real-time chat format with a plurality of parties including two or more parties including the user and the other party. Also, the sign language video data transmitted from the user through a high-speed communication line such as broadband can be converted into voice information by using a motion capture technique or the like. Regarding the conversion of the moving image data of sign language into audio information, not only a general conversion table but also registered for each user can facilitate information transmission from the user to the other party. Furthermore, not only can voice information and character information be transmitted and received using a high-speed communication line, but also transmission and reception of mutual moving image information can be relayed. Further, in the present embodiment, the present invention is not limited thereto, and can be applied to a telephone relay service method suitable for applying the present invention. Further, the number, position, shape, etc. of the above-mentioned constituent members are not limited to those in the above-mentioned embodiment, and the number, position, shape, etc. suitable for carrying out the present invention can be adopted.

In each figure, the same constituent elements are designated by the same reference numerals.

[0059]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

The relay of the conversation in the conventional telephone relay service center is performed by the operator who is required to keep confidential under the Telecommunications Business Law, but since it is performed by the server connected to the Internet, a psychological sense of security regarding call privacy is provided. There is.

Since the voice information and the character information are transmitted and received via the Internet including the Voice over IP network, the cost for the user in the call between the remote places can be reduced.

24 specialized operators for relaying calls
There is no need to wait on time, and the operation can be performed with a small labor cost at the telephone relay service center. As a result, the cost burden on the user is reduced. Further, even when the operator corrects the contents when converting the character information and the voice information, the conversion labor as in the conventional case is not required.

Even when many calls are made worldwide, the telephone relay service center can be operated by keeping an operator (only for correction work) working at night working at the minimum necessary.

By using the translation function, it is possible to easily make a call between different languages, and the user including the hearing impaired person can positively and easily communicate with the call partner in another language. be able to. Also, by using motion capture technology or the like, it is possible to easily express the will of the hearing impaired person by converting the motion into voice information.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a concept of a configuration for executing a telephone relay service method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a flow in the operation of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another example of the flow of the operation of the telephone relay service method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

A VPN service 10 Text telephone (terminal) 20 Telephone relay service center (Operation center) 20A server (TRS server, voice / character relay means) 30 Voice telephone (telephone) 100 Internet 200 General telephone line network (PSTN)

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Claims (19)

[Claims] 1. A telephone relay service method for relaying a telephone call via a network such as the Internet, wherein part or all of data including character information received from a user via a predetermined access point is transmitted. A telephone relay service characterized in that the voice / character relay means converts into voice information, converts voice information from the other party into character information, and transmits the voice information and the character information to each other to relay the conversation. Method. 2. The voice / character relay means, which is a server connected to the Internet, receives a call from a caller including two or more than three users and the other party to conduct a conversation. The telephone relay service method according to claim 1, wherein the relay is performed in real time. 3. The voice / character relay unit converts the character information and the voice information and relays a call between two parties, and provides information about a user such as a hearing-impaired person who uses the character information for a call. A first step of transmitting the voice information including the voice information to a telephone of a call partner via a network such as the Internet including a VoIP network, and urging the call partner to reply the voice information; Converts the voice information from the telephone transmitted via the network into character information, transmits the character information to the user's terminal via the network, and transmits the character information to the user via the screen of the terminal. And a second step prompting the user to reply to the user, the first step comprising the step of converting the character information input by the user from an input means such as a keyboard of the terminal into the sound. 3. The telephone relay service method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of converting the voice relay information into voice information. 4. The first step comprises the step of displaying a question screen including a telephone number of the other party of the telephone and a name of the other party when the terminal receives access from the terminal via the network at the time of starting the call. A third step of displaying on the terminal and urging the user to input from the terminal to the question screen; and based on the input information to the question screen transmitted from the terminal by the user, the partner telephone number A fourth step of automatically calling to the telephone, transmitting voice information including the name of the user registered in advance to the telephone, and urging the communication partner to permit connection, and to the terminal according to the connection permission. And a fifth step of transmitting the connection with the telephone as character information and urging the user to start a call using the character information. Relay service method. 5. The first step or the second step stores a communication log from a call start to a call end after receiving a conversation end instruction from the terminal or the telephone. The telephone relay service method according to claim 3, further comprising steps. 6. The method according to claim 3, wherein in the first step, connection between the terminal including access at the time of starting a call and the voice / character relay means is performed via a VPN service. Telephone relay service method described in any of the above. 7. The second step is according to an access to a public telephone number of a telephone relay service center that manages the voice / character relay means from the telephone by a caller, and the voice / character relay means is configured to A sixth step of connecting to the telephone via a network, transmitting voice information to the telephone, and prompting the caller to press the telephone number of the terminal with a push button; Based on the telephone number of the terminal, a call is made to the terminal via the network, and the user is asked to make a call from the telephone by the caller and a question as to whether or not the call is received by text information. A seventh step of transmitting and urging the user to start a call, and a voice indicating that the user can talk with the terminal by connecting to the terminal according to the call permission by the user. Information sent to the telephone to prompt the caller to start a call
7. The telephone relay service method according to claim 3, further comprising: 8. The second step is characterized in that when a connection is made to the terminal based on a call from the telephone, an incoming call notification is given by visual information by light or tactile information by vibration. The telephone relay service method according to any one of claims 3 to 7. 9. The first step is generally a process of character / speech conversion pre-registered in a storage unit of the voice / character relay unit when converting the character information to the voice information. Correcting and converting grammatical errors,
In addition, it is characterized by using a database that includes conversion of special terms and abbreviated terms for each industry, each predetermined group, and each individual into a general term so that voice information is synthesized in a natural voice tone. The telephone relay service method according to any one of claims 3 to 8. 10. The first step or the second step
The step of displaying the conversion of the character information and the voice information on the monitor, and the operator correcting the conversion of the voice information to the character information or the conversion of the character information to the voice information based on the monitor display. The telephone relay service method according to any one of claims 3 to 9, further comprising a step of performing. 11. The first step, when converting the character information into the voice information, is a man, a woman, a boy, a young man, a middle-aged person who is registered in advance in a storage unit of the voice / character relay unit. The telephone relay service method according to any one of claims 3 to 10, further comprising a step of converting character information from the user into voice information based on a database including sound quality types such as elderly people. 12. In the first step, when voice information including a name of the user registered in advance is transmitted to the telephone, the voice / text is converted when the text information is converted into the voice information. 12. The method according to claim 3, further comprising a step of synthesizing the voice information by using a tone of the user registered in advance in a storage unit of the relay unit or a tone selected for each connection. Telephone relay service method described in any of the above. 13. The voice / character relay means utilizes a language conversion means such as translation software when converting character information into voice information or when converting voice information into character information.
The telephone relay service method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein a call between the user who uses a different language and the call partner is relayed. 14. A mobile phone, a PHS, a pager with a keyboard / transmission function, a communication terminal capable of inputting both a keyboard and handwritten characters, and a mobile terminal such as a PDA for relaying calls. Claim 1
14. The telephone relay service method according to any one of 1 to 13. 15. The voice / text relay means has a chat management function, receives voice information or text information from the telephone having a communication function capable of connecting to the Internet, and receives the voice information or the text information from the user and the other party. Managing a real-time chat with the user.
4. The telephone relay service method according to any one of 4 above. 16. The voice / character relay means converts sign language video data included in the data received from the user into voice information and transmits the voice information to the other party. Telephone relay service method described in any of the above. 17. The telephone relay service according to claim 16, wherein the voice / character relay means converts the video data into the voice information based on a conversion table registered in advance for each user. Method. 18. A charging method using the telephone relay service method according to claim 1, wherein the method is stored in a storage means of a voice / character relay means for relaying a call between a user and a call partner. A charging method, wherein the user is charged based on the call duration, the number of calls, and the other party of the call, which are described in the recorded call log. 19. A storage medium in which a program capable of executing the telephone relay service method according to claim 1 is recorded.