JP2004240987A - Chat providing system and chat providing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To view information of users participating in a chat on a screen. <P>SOLUTION: A group management means 11 manages items to be chatted by the user by dividing the items into groups. An interface control means 12 controls an interface with the user accessed to the group. the interface control means 12 transmits the list of the groups managed by the group management means 11 to a terminal in accordance with a request for the list of the groups from the terminal of the user and transmits the information of the user in the group to the terminal in accordance with a request for group information from the terminal. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a chat providing system and a chat providing method, and more particularly, to a chat providing system and a chat providing method for providing a user a chat which is a message exchange service between users.

  At present, communication services provide users with various communication spaces on a communication network. The user can freely enter and leave the communication space, and can enjoy various services and exchange information in the communication space.

Chats and message dials have become widespread as entertainment services that provide such communication spaces.
Chat is a service that allows you to exchange text messages on a personal computer communication service and talk (talk). A computer network is used as a communication network, and characters typed from a keyboard at hand through a server are displayed on a display of the partner, and keyboard operations of the partner are displayed at hand. You can enjoy conversation virtually by sending messages one after another.

  The message dial is a service in which a contact number and a recitation number determined in advance with the other party can be registered and the message can be exchanged with anyone in the service providing area. A public telephone line is used as a communication network, and a user registers a recitation number and records a message as a voice on a server. Then, another user who knows the recitation number can listen to the message and simultaneously record the message. In this way, messages can be exchanged with each other and enjoyed.

  However, in the above-mentioned chat, when inputting by oneself, all the participants get the right to speak by pressing the return key quickly at the moment of silence (input is completed), and enter the characters and As you send, you have to perform keyboard input while reading the characters of all participants in real time. Therefore, it is difficult for oneself to speak at the same time as listening to a plurality of statements.

  In addition, with the conventional message dial, you listen to the other party's recorded voice and then record your own utterance, so you can not talk freely like an actual conversation and talk with multiple parties In some cases, it is difficult to speak.

  By the way, it is difficult for a user who wants to perform a chat as described above to see information of users participating in the chat on a screen, such as whether another user is accessing the chat.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a point, and an object of the present invention is to view information of users participating in a chat on a screen.

  A first chat providing system according to the present invention includes group management means for managing chat items in groups, and interface control means for controlling an interface with a terminal of a user who has accessed the group. In response to a request for a group list from a terminal, a group list managed by the group management means is transmitted to the terminal, and in response to a request for group information from the terminal, information on users in the group is transmitted to the terminal. It is characterized by having transmitting means for transmitting.

  The user information may be profile data of a user who has already accessed the group.

  In a first chat providing method according to the present invention, the group management means manages the chat items by grouping them in groups, and the interface control means controls the interface with the terminal of the user who has accessed the group. The interface control step includes transmitting a group list managed by the group management means to the terminal in response to a group list request from the terminal, and responding to the group information request from the terminal. , Transmitting the information of the users in the group to the terminal.

  In the first chat providing system and method according to the present invention, the group management means manages the chat items in groups, and the interface control means controls the interface with the terminal of the user who has accessed the group. In the interface control, a group list managed by the group management means is transmitted to the terminal in response to a request for a group list from the terminal. In the interface control, in response to a request for information on a group from a terminal, information on users in the group is transmitted to the terminal.

  A second chat providing system according to the present invention includes: a group management unit that divides and manages chat items into groups; an interface control unit that controls an interface with a terminal of a user who has accessed the group; Providing means for providing information, the information being a list of groups, information on the user of the terminal accessing the group via the interface control means, and profile data of the user specified by the terminal. It is characterized by the following.

  According to a second chat providing method of the present invention, there is provided an interface in which the group management means manages the chat items by dividing the chat items into groups, and the interface control means controls the interface with the terminal of the user who has accessed the group. A control step, and a providing step, wherein the providing means includes providing information to be displayed on a screen of the terminal, wherein the information includes a list of groups and information on a user of the terminal accessing the group via the interface control means. And profile data of the user specified from the terminal.

  In the second chat providing system and method of the present invention, the group management means manages the chat items in groups, and the interface control means controls the interface with the terminal of the user who has accessed the group, In the providing means, information displayed on the screen of the terminal is provided. The information includes a list of groups, information on the users of the terminals accessing the groups via the interface control means, and profile data of the users specified by the terminals.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it becomes possible to see the information of the user participating in the chat on a screen.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a principle diagram of a chat server 10 according to the present invention. The chat server 10 of the present invention provides a chat, which is a message exchange service between users, by voice.

  The group management means 11 manages items to be chatted by the user by dividing them into groups in advance. For example, the group 1 manages groups such as a motorcycle topic, the group 2 a fishing topic,.

  The interface control means 12 controls the interface with the user who has accessed the group. For example, transmission of a user profile or a group list, connection or disconnection of a line at the start or end of a chat, and the like.

  When at least two users access the same group, the chat control means 13 performs chat control, which is a voice message exchange between the users. The chat control is a message exchange control by voice. For example, if two users access Group 1, voice messages are exchanged and they can talk to each other.

  When a plurality of users access the same group, the voice synthesizing unit 14 synthesizes the voice of each user to generate a synthesized voice. Then, the synthesized voice is transmitted to the chat control means 13 so that the synthesized voice is exchanged. The operation of the chat server 10 will be described later with reference to FIGS.

  Next, a chat system using the chat server 10 according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of the chat system. The chat system includes a chat server 10, various terminals 20 such as a user's mobile phone 21 and a personal computer 22, a communication network 30, and a network interface 40.

  The terminal 20 used by each user is connected to the communication network 30 using an attached interface device, and the chat server 10 is connected to the communication network 30 via a network interface 40 such as a LAN. Then, a chat is performed between the arbitrary users at arbitrary locations through the chat server 10.

Next, the operation of the chat system will be described. In the following, it is assumed that a PHS 21 which is a simple mobile phone is used as the terminal 20 on the user side. FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure of the chat system.
[S1] The user makes a call to the access point 41 via the base station 31 and the ISDN network 30a. Here, the access point 41 connects the ISDN network 30a with the LAN 40a, and performs authentication as to whether the user can receive the chat service.
[S2] If the access point 41 succeeds in authentication, the access point 41 connects to the chat server 10 via the LAN 40a.
[S3] The chat server 10 notifies the user of a list of groups managed by the group management unit 11 described in FIG. Further, a group list is displayed on the display module of the PHS 21 used by the user.
[S4] The user selects a group to chat with.
[S5] The chat server 10 checks the status of the selected group. If a chat is not currently being performed in the selected group, a chat waiting state is set, and the user is notified of that. If there is a person waiting for a chat or the chat has already been performed, the user enters the topic of the group and the chat starts.

Next, the operation of the chat server 10 will be described. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure of the chat server 10. Here, a case where one-to-one chat is performed will be described.
[S10] User A selects group 1 and is waiting for a chat. The chat server 10 stores in the internal table that the user A is waiting for the chat in the group 1.
[S11] User B selects group 1 and makes a chat request.
[S12] The chat server 10 refers to the internal table and finds that the user A is waiting for a chat, and the interface control means 12 notifies the user B of this.
[S13] The user B notifies the chat server 10 that a chat request is made with the user A.
[S14] The interface control means 12 in the chat server 10 notifies the user A that there is a chat request from the user B.
[S15] The user A notifies the chat server 10 that a chat request is made with the user B.
[S16] The chat control means 13 exchanges voice messages between the user A and the user B, and a chat is performed through the interface control means 12.

  As described above, the chat server 10 of the present invention has a configuration in which chat items are divided into groups and managed, and the voice of a user accessing the same one group is chat-controlled. As a result, a chat can be performed with the voice interface, and it is possible to enjoy a chat with any person at any place with the same feeling as a normal telephone.

  In the above description, the voice messages are exchanged by the chat control means 12 and the voices of the user A and the user B are sent back to each other. However, the exchange of the voice messages is not performed by the chat control means 13 in the chat server 10. Alternatively, the user may be directly connected via a public telephone line to make a call.

  That is, the interface control unit 12 notifies the terminal of the user B of the telephone number of the user A, and automatically causes the user B to make a call to the user A to make a direct telephone call. Further, the interface control means 12 may use the transceiver mode of the PHS 21 to make the user A and the user B talk, instead of connecting the user with a public telephone line.

  Next, a case where a many-to-many chat is performed will be described. FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram when a many-to-many chat is performed. When a plurality of users access the same group, the chat server 10 synthesizes the voice of each user with the voice synthesis unit 14. The figure shows a situation in which voices A, B, and C are synthesized by voice synthesis means 14 in the chat server 10, and the synthesized voice D is transmitted to the user.

  Next, data exchange between the user side terminal 20 and the chat server 10 will be described. The user exchanges data by HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) through the interface control unit 12 until the user enters a chat.

  First, the terminal 20 issues a request to the chat server 10 to obtain a list of groups. Then, the chat server 10 returns the prepared group. Then, when the user requests information of a group of interest from the terminal 20, the chat server 10 returns information of users in the group to the terminal 20.

  Next, profile data displayed on the user terminal 20 will be described. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of profile data. The group 20a-1 and the profile data 20a-2 are displayed on the display screen 20a. In the group 20a-1, users A to E accessing the topic of the motorcycle of the group 1 are displayed. Here, when the user C is instructed, the profile data 20a-2 of the user C is displayed. In this way, a favorite user can be selected and an actual chat can be started.

  As described above, the chat server 10 of the present invention has a configuration in which chat items are managed in groups, and chat control is performed for users who have accessed the same one group. As a result, a voice chat can be provided in real time, communication is easier than in a conventional text-only chat on a computer, and services can be improved.

  Further, the chat server 10 of the present invention has a configuration in which the speech synthesizer 14 generates synthesized speech from speeches of a plurality of users. This makes it possible to provide not only one-to-one but also many-to-many chat services.

It is a principle figure of the chat server which is the present invention. It is a conceptual diagram of a chat system. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation procedure of the chat system. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation procedure of the chat server. It is a conceptual diagram at the time of performing many-to-many chat. It is a figure showing the example of a display of profile data.

Explanation of reference numerals

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Chat server, 11 ... Group management means, 12 ... Interface control means, 13 ... Chat control means, 14 ... Voice synthesis means

Claims (5)

In a chat providing system that provides a user with a message exchange service chat between users,
Group management means for managing chat items in groups;
Interface control means for performing interface control with a terminal of a user who has accessed the group,
The interface control means transmits a list of groups managed by the group management means to the terminal in response to a request for a group list from the terminal, and responds to a request for group information from the terminal. A chat providing system comprising transmitting means for transmitting user information to a terminal. The chat providing system according to claim 1, wherein the user information is profile data of a user who has already accessed the group. Group management means for dividing chat items into groups and managing the interface, and interface control means for controlling an interface with a terminal of a user who has accessed the group. In the chat providing method of the chat providing system,
A group management step in which the group management means manages the chat items in groups.
An interface control step of controlling the interface with a terminal of a user who has accessed the group,
The interface control step transmits a list of groups managed by the group management means to the terminal in response to a request for a list of groups from the terminal, and responds to a request for group information from the terminal. A method for providing a chat, comprising: transmitting a user information to a terminal. In a chat providing system that provides a user with a message exchange service chat between users,
Group management means for managing chat items in groups;
Interface control means for performing interface control with a terminal of a user who has accessed the group,
Providing means for providing information displayed on the terminal screen,
Wherein the information is a list of the groups, information of a user of a terminal accessing the group via the interface control means, and profile data of a user specified by the terminal. . Group control means for managing chat items in groups, interface control means for controlling an interface with a terminal of a user who has accessed the group, and providing means for providing information displayed on a screen of the terminal. In a chat providing method of a chat providing system for providing a chat, which is a message exchange service between users, to a user,
A group management step in which the group management means manages the chat items in groups.
An interface control step in which the interface control means performs interface control with a terminal of a user who has accessed the group;
Providing means for providing information displayed on the screen of the terminal, the providing means,
The chat providing method, wherein the information is a list of the groups, information of a user of a terminal accessing the group via the interface control means, and profile data of a user specified by the terminal. .

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