JP2004029490A - Information confirmation device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information confirmation device for which acquirement of latest information is required and which can confirm important information in its early stages without a trouble. <P>SOLUTION: A voice conversion means 7a converts document data (character information) obtained by a portable communication unit (communication means) through an electric communication line into voice data. A voice output means 7b outputs voice based on voice data. An operation means 4 performs a prescribed input operation. A control means 5 has a repeat mode (repeat function) for outputting document data obtained from the portable communication unit to the voice conversion means 7a in a clause unit in accordance with first input from the operation means 4, converting document data in the clause unit into voice data at any time, outputting again document data in the clause unit which were outputted in the past or document data in the clause unit which are being outputted at present to the voice conversion means 7a in accordance with second input from the operation means 4 and converting it into voice data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an information confirmation device capable of confirming character information such as an e-mail and a message, and more particularly to an information confirmation device provided with a voice output unit.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As an information confirmation device, for example, a navigation device that grasps a current position of a vehicle and guides a route to a destination is known. As such a navigation device, the position of the own vehicle is grasped by a satellite positioning system (Global Positioning System (GPS)), and based on information from a road traffic information system (Vehicle Information and Communication System (VICS)). There is a vehicle that informs a driver of a vehicle of traveling route information for the vehicle to travel.
[0003]
In addition, the navigation device includes an automatic toll collection function (Electronic Toll Collection (ETC)) that automatically collects tolls on toll roads such as an expressway without human intervention, or a mobile phone. It has been proposed to connect to a portable communication device (communication means) such as a mobile phone or a PHS and display received information such as an e-mail on a display device. These devices are disclosed in JP-A-11-337348 and JP-A-11-102198.
[0004]
Recently, in a navigation device having a receiving function of an e-mail or the like, a document data (character information) which is an e-mail is displayed by a display means such as a liquid crystal display, and a reading function of the document data is provided. There has been proposed one that transmits document data obtained by a portable communication device to a user such as a vehicle driver by voice.
[0005]
The navigation device having the reading function as described above displays the document data on the display unit by a predetermined operation of the operation unit such as a wireless remote controller or an operation switch after receiving the document data, and displays the document displayed on the display unit. The data is output as voice through a voice output unit such as a speaker, and the user can check the contents of the document data by voice without checking the display unit.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The reading function has a repeat function for reading again from the beginning of the document data, and outputs a voice again from the beginning of the document data when a user misses a part of the content of the document data. However, in recent years, the volume of received data of the mobile communication device has been increasing, and the number of cases in which long document data is received by the mobile communication device has been increasing. This is not only troublesome, but also has a problem that it takes time to check important information such as "place" and "time". Information confirmation function is not suitable.
[0007]
In view of the above, the present invention focuses on the above problems, and provides an information confirmation device capable of promptly confirming important information in an information confirmation device in which early acquisition of the latest information is desired. It is.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a voice conversion unit for converting character information obtained by a communication unit communicating via a telecommunication line into voice data, and a voice output for outputting voice based on the voice data. Means, an operation means for performing a predetermined input operation, and character information obtained from the communication means in response to a first input from the operation means, which is divided and output to the voice conversion means. The character information is converted into voice data as needed, and in response to a second input from the operation means, the divided character information previously output to the voice conversion means, or the currently output divided character. Control means having a repeat function of outputting information to the sound conversion means again and converting the information into sound data.
[0009]
Further, the control means determines a return amount of the character information in the repeat function according to an input state by the operation means.
[0010]
In the repeat function, the control unit outputs the character information to the voice conversion unit in one of a phrase, a punctuation mark break, one line, the number of characters, and a word.
[0011]
Further, it is provided with display means for displaying the character information.
[0012]
Further, the control means emphasizes the display of the character information by the display means together with the sound output by the sound output means.
[0013]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that a navigation device having a composite function capable of displaying character information such as VICS information and electronic mail will be described as an example of the information confirmation device described below.
[0014]
The overall configuration of the navigation device will be described with reference to FIG. The navigation device A mainly includes a GPS radio wave receiving unit 1, a VICS radio wave receiving unit 2, a transmitting / receiving unit 3, an operating unit 4, a control unit 5, a display unit 6, and a voice unit 7. .
[0015]
The GPS radio wave receiving section 1 includes a GPS receiving antenna, amplifies a transmission radio wave, which is positional information from an artificial satellite received by the receiving antenna, as a high-frequency signal and supplies the signal to the control means 5.
[0016]
The VICS radio wave receiving unit 2 includes a receiving antenna for VICS and a light receiving unit, and transmits the transmission radio wave information from the VICS center received by the receiving antenna and the traveling route information from the VICS center received by the light receiving unit. A certain transmission radio wave is amplified and supplied to the control means 5.
[0017]
The transmission / reception unit 3 has a modem, and a portable communication device (communication unit) that communicates with the modem via an electric communication line such as a mobile phone or a PHS is connected to the modem. The transmission / reception means 3 has a mail processing unit, and demodulates document data (character information) including text data and binary data received by the mail processing unit (sender address data, transmission date and time data, title data, Then, the demodulated text data is supplied to the control means 5.
[0018]
The operation unit 4 is used when various information such as a route search and route search information is displayed on the display unit 6, when the document data is displayed on the display unit 6, or when the document data is output as audio by the audio output unit 7. Can be The operation unit 4 has an operation unit having a plurality of push button switches for performing a predetermined operation described later, and is configured by a wireless remote controller or a wired operation panel.
[0019]
The control means 5 comprises a microcomputer having a CPU, a RAM, a ROM and the like. The control unit 5 performs map matching between the position data received by the GPS radio wave receiving unit 1 and map data stored in a storage medium (not shown) such as a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM, and displays the map data on the display unit 6. It controls the display means 6 and the voice output means 7 when the position of the vehicle is displayed on a map or when the document data is received.
[0020]
The display unit 6 includes a driving unit 6a such as a graphic controller for displaying map data or displaying the document data, and a display unit 6b including a matrix type liquid crystal display element or an organic EL element. A display mode to be described later is displayed based on the instruction signal from the means 5.
[0021]
The audio means 7 comprises an audio conversion means 7a for converting the document data into audio data, and an audio output means 7b comprising a speaker. The audio output means 7b may be prepared for exclusive use, or a speaker such as a car audio. It can also be used as such.
[0022]
The navigation device A is configured by the above components.
[0023]
Next, a control method of the voice means 7 by the control means 5 will be described with reference to FIGS. When the control unit 5 confirms the arrival of the text data as the document data via the transmission / reception unit 3 connected to the portable communication device (step S1), the control unit 5 waits for confirmation of a predetermined input by the operation unit 4 (step S2). The document data is output to the voice means 7 (step S3).
[0024]
Note that the arrival of the document data is notified by the display means 6 and the sound means 7. When the document data arrives, the control means 5 shifts to the information confirmation mode, but cancels the information confirmation mode if there is no predetermined input by the operation means 4 even after a predetermined time has elapsed, and returns to the normal mode (map information screen). Perform processing to return to. The process of returning to the normal mode may be performed after a predetermined input of an operation switch on the operation unit 4 is performed.
[0025]
In step S3, the control unit 5, 1 second or more input operation of the operation switch in the operation unit 4 (hereinafter referred to as a first input) Check out, text data (divided character information of "Hello" clause units ) Is output to the voice conversion means 7a, the text data is converted into voice data, and this voice data is output as voice via the voice output means 7b (step S4).
[0026]
Next, the control unit 5, the input operation of the sub-second operation switch in the operation unit 4 (hereinafter, a second of the input) confident (step S5), and the second input is not a "Hello" 1 The phrase processing is terminated (step S6), and the above-described steps S3 to S6 are repeatedly executed (step S7) until the full-text processing to reach the text data of "please contact" at the end of the sentence is completed (step S7). After waiting for the processing, the processing in the information confirmation mode is ended (step S8). Therefore, the control unit 5, "Hello" → "Is next Saturday is a rest" → "If if convenient at rest" → "Do not go to be seen in the movie together" → "If was able to go." → The respective text data t1 to t6 of the phrase "please contact us" are output to the voice means 7, and the text data t1 to t6 are converted into voice data as needed to output voice (FIG. 3 (a)). ).
[0027]
In step S5, upon confirming the second input, the control means 5 shifts to a repeat mode (repeat function). The repeat mode is used when a user such as a vehicle driver misses or confirms again the text data in speech units that are output as voices, and FIG. 3B and FIG. 3C are used. This will be described in detail below.
[0028]
In step S5, the control unit 5 outputs the text data t3 ("If it is convenient to take a break ...") t3 output to the voice conversion unit 7a to convert the text data into voice data, and the voice output unit 7b When the detection signal a1 which is the second input by the operation means 4 is input during the voice output, it is determined that the input number of the operation means 4 is one, and the number of times of returning the text data to be output in the unit of a phrase ( (Return amount) n is determined to be one (n = 1).
[0029]
Then, the control means 5 increments the internal counter N by 1 (N ← + 1) (step S9), and executes a process of returning the text data t3 in the unit of a phrase which is in the middle of the audio output (step S10).
[0030]
Next, the control means 5 compares the internal counter N with the number of returns n (step S11), and determines that the number of returns n has reached the predetermined number because N = n (1 = 1). The counter N is written with 0 (N ← 0), reset processing is performed (step S12), and the process proceeds to step S4, where processing is performed to output the text data t3 as sound.
[0031]
That is, when the number of returns n is one, the control means 5 outputs the current voice so as to return to the beginning of the phrase of the text data t3 which is currently being voiced. A repeat process R1 for outputting the text data t3 corresponding to the beginning of the phrase to the voice conversion means 7a is executed.
[0032]
Further, in step S5, the control means 5 outputs the text data ("if it is convenient to take a break ...") t3 output in units of phrases to the voice conversion means 7a to convert the text data into voice data. 7b, when the detection signals a1 and a2, which are the second inputs by the operation unit 4, are input, the input unit 4 determines that the input number of the operation unit 4 is two times, and outputs the text in units of phrases. The number n of data returns is set to two (n = 2).
[0033]
Then, the control means 5 increments the internal counter N by 1 (N ← + 1) (step S9), and executes a process of returning the text data t3 in the unit of a phrase which is in the middle of the audio output (step S10).
[0034]
Next, the control means 5 compares the internal counter N with the number of returns n (step S11), and determines that the number of returns n has not reached the predetermined number since N = n, and returns to step S9 to add +1 to the internal counter N. (N ← + 1), and a return process to the text data t2 previously output (past) is executed in step S10.
[0035]
Next, in the comparison between the internal counter N and the number of returns n in step S11, the control means 5 determines that the number of returns n has reached the predetermined number since N = n (2 = 2). In step S12, 0 is written to the internal counter N (N ← 0), reset processing is performed, and the process proceeds to step S4, where processing is performed to output the text data t3 as sound.
[0036]
That is, when the number of reversions n is two, the control means 5 repeats the phrase data repeat processing R1 of the text data t3 which is currently being output as speech, and the "next (past)" output last time (past) to the speech conversion means 7a. The text data (text data that was output in the past) t2 and the repeat processing R2 in units of clauses are executed. The control unit 5 sets the beginning of the phrase "Do you take a break on next Saturday?" Is performed to output from the text data t2 corresponding to the above to the voice conversion means 7a (FIG. 3 (c)).
[0037]
Next, a control method of the display means 6 in the control means 5 will be described with reference to FIG. When the control unit 5 confirms the arrival of the text data via the transmission / reception unit 3 connected to the portable communication device, the control unit 5 outputs the text data to the audio unit 7 after waiting for the confirmation of the predetermined input by the operation unit 4, and displays the text data. The text data is converted into image data via the driving means 6a of the means 6, and the character information 8 is displayed on the display unit 6b using the image data. At this time, the control means 5 emphasizes the display of the character information 8 on the display unit 6b as the negative-positive inverted character information 9 together with the sound output by the sound output means 7b. Controlling the highlighting by the display means 6 in synchronization with the repeat processing in the audio means 7 is effective in promptly and accurately transmitting information to the user.
[0038]
The navigation device A includes a voice conversion unit 7a that converts document data obtained by the portable communication device communicating via an electric communication line into voice data, and a voice output unit 7b that outputs voice based on the voice data. Operating means 4 for performing a predetermined input operation; and, in response to a first input from the operating means 4, outputting document data obtained from the portable communication device to the voice converting means 7a in units of phrases. The document data described above is converted into voice data as needed, and in response to a second input from the operation means 4, the document data in the unit of a phrase output in the past to the voice conversion means 7a or the document in the unit of the phrase currently output Control means 5 having a repeat mode for outputting the data to the voice conversion means 7a again and converting the data into voice data. In the navigation device A, even when the long sentence composed document data is incoming, it is possible to check eliminates the hassle of check work, and the important information quickly.
[0039]
Further, the control unit 5 determines the number of times n of returning the document data in the unit of a phrase in the repeat mode in accordance with the number of times the operation switch of the operation unit 4 is input, so that the user can easily check the document data. Can be performed.
[0040]
Further, the control means 5 displays the document data being output as voice as the character information 8 which can be visually recognized on the display unit 6 together with the voice output by the voice output means 7b, and makes an emphasized display in accordance with the voice output. Since the character information 9 is displayed, the user can more easily grasp the latest information.
[0041]
In the embodiment of the present invention, in the repeat mode of the document data, the repeat processing is performed in units of clauses. In the present invention, however, the repeat processing corresponding to one line unit in the display unit 6 is performed. Or repeat processing for each punctuation mark, number of characters, or each word that does not correspond to each clause. In any case, the troublesome work of confirmation is eliminated, and important information is confirmed at an early stage. It becomes possible.
[0042]
Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, the highlighting is performed by displaying the character information 9 which has been inverted from the negative to the positive on the display means 6. A line may be displayed, and the display mode of the highlighted display is not limited to the above-described embodiment.
[0043]
In the embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 5 and the voice conversion unit 7a are separately described as an example. However, in the present invention, the control unit 5 and the voice conversion unit 7a are different. 7a may be integrally formed, and the document data may be converted into voice data by software processing by the control unit 5.
[0044]
Also, in the embodiment of the present invention, in the document data repeat processing that is currently output as voice, the phrase is returned to the beginning of the phrase in one repeat processing, but in the present invention, the output of the document data is performed. If an input is made by the operation means 4 during the processing (during processing), the repeat function may be constituted only by processing to always return to the document data output in the past by one repeat processing.
[0045]
In the embodiment of the present invention, the navigation device A has been described as an example. However, the present invention is also effective for other information confirmation devices such as a mobile phone and a PHS, and the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. Not something.
[0046]
【The invention's effect】
The present invention relates to an information confirmation device capable of confirming character information such as an e-mail and a message by voice output means. It is possible to provide an information confirmation device capable of confirming.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a control method of voice means of the navigation device.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a repeat process of a voice means of the navigation device.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display mode by a display unit of the navigation device. .
[Explanation of symbols]
A navigation device (information confirmation device)
Reference Signs List 1 GPS radio wave receiving unit 2 VICS radio wave receiving unit 3 Transmitting / receiving means 4 Operating means 5 Control means 6 Display means 6a Drive means 6b Display unit 7 Voice means 7a Voice conversion means 7b Voice output means 8, 9 Character information

Claims (5)

Voice conversion means for converting character information obtained by communication means for communicating via a telecommunication line into voice data;
Audio output means for outputting audio based on the audio data,
Operating means for performing a predetermined input operation;
In response to a first input from the operating means, the text information obtained from the communication means is divided and output to the voice conversion means, and the divided text information is converted into voice data as needed. In response to a second input from the operation means, the divided character information output in the past to the voice conversion means or the currently output divided character information is output to the voice conversion means again to output the voice data. Control means having a repeat function for converting the
An information confirmation device comprising: 2. The information confirmation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit determines a return amount of the character information in the repeat function according to an input state of the operation unit. The said control means outputs the said character information to the said audio | voice conversion means in the said repeat function in any of a phrase, a punctuation mark break, one line, the number of characters, or a word. 2. The information confirmation device according to 2. 4. The information confirmation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a display unit for displaying the character information. 5. The information confirming device according to claim 4, wherein the control unit emphasizes the display of the character information by the display unit together with the audio output by the audio output unit.

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