JP2006086852A - Information processing apparatus and method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processing apparatus and a method wherein an electronic mail can be sent on a mail account corresponding to its mail originator when the e-mail is formed through a voice input method and sent. <P>SOLUTION: The voice input e-mail transmitting/receiving apparatus recognizes and analyses analog voice signals corresponding to speech information as to the content, transmitting destination, title, etc of the e-mail formed by the mail originator and acquired by a microphone 19, the voiceprint of the speech recognition analysis data is collated with that of inputting person data stored in voiceprint collation data 16 so as to specify an inputting person, moreover the mail account of a provider corresponding to the specified person is selected referring to a provider registration table memory 15, and the e-mail formed from text data converted from document information is sent to a mail account in the mail server of the selected attach destination provider through the intermediary of a communication network 5. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and method for transmitting electronic mail using voice information.

  Conventionally, when an electronic device equipped with voice recognition means inputs a sentence by voice, information inputted from a microphone connected to the electronic device is simply kanji by voice recognition regardless of who is the input person. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

  In recent years, an electronic mail service in which terminal devices such as personal computers and portable information terminals transmit / receive information to / from each other using a communication line such as a telephone line network has become widespread. With this e-mail service, it is also possible to send and receive e-mail using a mobile phone.

  When creating an e-mail using a mobile phone, character input is performed by a small keyboard with a small number of keys provided on the operation unit, but the conversion operation from kana to kanji is complicated, and the sender Therefore, it is particularly effective to input a mail using voice recognition software (for example, see Patent Document 2).

In such an electronic mail service, a mail server of an Internet provider contracted for each user has a mail account, and the user is assigned a “mail address” consisting of alphanumeric characters. This e-mail address is a means for identifying the sender when sending e-mails. When sending e-mails, e-mails are set in the mail account setting of the connection destination Internet provider's mail server. Settings are made for each personal computer and mobile phone.
JP-A-5-66916 JP 2002-218092 A

  However, in the above conventional example, when a family member shares a personal computer or mobile phone and creates and sends an email by voice input, or many people use an identical personal computer at an Internet cafe to send an email by voice input. When creating and transmitting, there has been a problem that mail is transmitted by a mail account in a mail server of an Internet provider that is connected in advance to a personal computer or a mobile phone.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus and method capable of transmitting an e-mail with an e-mail account corresponding to the e-mail creator when an e-mail is generated and transmitted by voice input. .

  In order to achieve the above object, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes an acquisition unit that acquires voice information related to a mail creator, and a specifying unit that specifies the mail creator based on the acquired voice information. The registration means for registering the association between the mail creator and the connection destination provider, the selection means for selecting the connection destination provider related to the specified mail creator, and the acquired voice information is converted and acquired. Transmitting means for transmitting text data to the selected connection destination provider.

  According to the present invention, when a plurality of mail creators create and send an e-mail by voice input using the same personal computer, the mail account in the mail server of the Internet provider corresponding to the mail creator is created. Can send e-mails.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of an e-mail system including a voice input e-mail transmission / reception apparatus which is an example of an information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, an electronic mail system 1 includes a voice input electronic mail transmission / reception device 2 such as a personal computer provided with voice recognition means, and a mail server A6 and a mail server respectively connected via a communication line network 5 such as a telephone line network. B7. The mail server A6 is that of a provider that performs an electronic mail service used by the user A, and the mail server B7 is that of a provider that performs an electronic mail service used by the user B. An e-mail from the voice input e-mail transmission / reception device created by the user A is sent to a predetermined mail server A6 via the communication line network 5, and a sender address is added and sent to the other party. Also, the electronic mail from the voice input electronic mail transmission / reception device created by the user B is sent to a predetermined mail server B7 via the communication line network 5, and the sender address is added and sent to the transmission partner. The voice input electronic mail transmission / reception device converts voice information inputted by voice into characters, collates the voice information, identifies who is voice input, and mail server A6 of the provider or mail according to the input person Connect to server B7 and send email.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the voice input electronic mail transmitting / receiving apparatus 2 in FIG.

  In FIG. 2, the voice input electronic mail transmitting / receiving apparatus 2 includes a storage device 11, a temporary storage memory 12, a voice recognition unit 13, a provider registration table memory 15, a voice input control unit 17, and a communication control unit 18. And a CPU 10 connected thereto.

  The voice input electronic mail transmission / reception apparatus further includes a voice memory 14 and a voiceprint collation data memory 16 connected to the voice recognition unit 13, and a microphone 19 connected to the voice input control unit 17.

  The CPU 10 performs various arithmetic processes while exchanging various data with the memory 12 for temporary storage in accordance with the control program stored in the storage device 11, and voice input e-mail based on the results of the arithmetic processing A control signal is output to each control unit of the transmission / reception device to control the operation of the entire voice input electronic mail transmission / reception device. That is, when voice information for mail creation is input from the microphone 19 connected to the voice input control unit 17, the CPU 10 recognizes and analyzes the voice signal to the voice recognition unit 13 and text data that is document information. A signal for executing each process of conversion to is output.

  The voice recognition unit 13 performs conversion into text data, and at the same time, performs collation from the voice information by voiceprint collation to identify the voice input person. In this embodiment, the input person is specified by voiceprint matching, but the present invention is not limited to this. When a signal indicating that the conversion process has been completed is input from the voice recognition unit 13, the text data is stored in the memory 12. And the communication control part 18 is controlled from the input person specific data acquired from the voice recognition part 13, and mail is transmitted via the communication line network 5 to the mail server A6 or the mail server B7 of the provider corresponding to the input person. If the mail is created by the user A, the electronic mail from the voice input electronic mail transmission / reception apparatus is connected to a predetermined mail server A6 via the communication network 5, and is sent to the other party after adding a sender address. To do. Further, if the mail is created by the user B, the electronic mail from the voice input electronic mail transmitting / receiving apparatus is connected to a predetermined mail server 7 via the communication line network 5 and the sender address is added to the transmission partner. Send it.

  The storage device 11 is a recording medium in which a control program, data, and the like are stored in advance, and this storage medium is configured by a magnetic or optical storage medium or a semiconductor memory. The storage device 11 is fixedly or detachably attached. The program, data, and the like stored in the storage device 11 may be received and stored via a communication line, and a storage device is provided on the other device side connected via the communication line. The program and data stored in the storage device may be used via a communication line.

  The memory 12 for temporary storage forms a memory area for temporarily storing a created mail obtained by converting voice input data processed by the CPU 10 into text data and various information related to voice communication.

  The voice recognition unit 13 converts the voice input from the microphone 19 connected to the voice input control unit 17 into text data (document information). Specifically, in order to recognize the input analog audio signal, sampling, quantization, and encoding are performed to convert the audio data into digital signal form, and the audio data is sequentially stored in the audio memory 14. The audio memory 14 is a memory that temporarily stores digitally processed audio data. The voice recognition unit 13 recognizes voice data stored in the voice memory 14 and converts it into document text. In addition, the voice recognition unit 13 analyzes the voice data stored in the voice memory 14 and collates with the input person data stored in the voiceprint matching data memory 16 to identify the input person.

  The registration contents of the provider registration table memory 15 can be changed, and as shown in FIG. 3, an email account of an arbitrary connection destination provider corresponding to the input person can be registered in advance so as to pre-register the relationship between the input person and the connection destination provider. It is configured to be registered.

  The voiceprint collation data memory 16 is a memory for registering data that can identify an input person, such as the voiceprint data of the input person, and can be rewritten. From the collation result with the input person data, the provider registration table memory 15 is referred to, and the mail account of the connection destination of the provider corresponding to the input person is selected.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the mail transmission process executed by the voice input electronic mail transmitting / receiving apparatus 2 in FIG.

  This processing is stored in the storage device 11 in the form of a program code that can be read by the CPU 1, and can be executed by a computer.

  In FIG. 4, the microphone 19 of the mail input electronic mail transmitting / receiving apparatus 2 acquires voice information related to the mail content, transmission destination, title, etc. by the mail creator (acquisition means) and inputs it to the voice input control unit 17 for voice input. When the control unit 17 outputs an analog audio signal corresponding to the input audio information to the CPU 10 (step S1), the CPU 10 stores the input analog audio signal as it is in the audio recognition unit 13 (step S2).

  Next, the voice recognizing unit 13 recognizes and analyzes the previously stored analog voice signal according to the voice conversion processing execution instruction from the CPU 10 (step S3), and sequentially saves it in the voice memory 14 as voice recognition analysis data. As the document information, the speech recognition analysis data having a predetermined length is sequentially converted into text data (step S4).

  When all the voice input by the mail creator is completed and the voice recognition process 13 is notified by the voice recognition device 13 (YES in step S5), the CPU 10 converts the converted text data into the created mail. Are temporarily stored in the memory 12 (step S6), and the voice recognition unit 13 performs voiceprint matching between the analysis result of the voice signal stored in the voice memory 14 and the input person data stored in the voiceprint matching data 16. The input provider is identified (step S7) (identification means), and the connection destination provider corresponding to the identified input person is referred to by referring to the provider registration table memory 15 in which the relationship between the input person and the connection destination provider is registered in advance. A mail account in the mail server (step S8) (selection means), and then instruct the communication control unit 18 to execute an e-mail transmission process As a result, the communication control unit 18 transmits the e-mail created from the text data stored in the memory 12 to the mail account in the mail server of the selected connection destination provider via the communication line network 5. (Step S9) (transmission means), this process is terminated.

  According to the processing of FIG. 4, the voice data stored in the voice memory 14 is analyzed, and the input person is specified by performing voice print matching between the analysis result and the input person data stored in the voice print matching data 16 (step S7) With reference to the provider registration table memory 15 in which the relationship between the input person and the connection destination provider is registered in advance, the mail account of the connection destination of the provider corresponding to the specified input person is selected (step S8). When multiple mail creators create and send an email by voice input using the same personal computer, send the email with the mail account of the Internet provider's mail server according to the mail creator can do.

  Note that the voice input electronic mail transmitting / receiving apparatus according to the present embodiment is not limited to the above embodiment as long as the means of the present invention can be embodied. For example, as an input terminal connected to a telephone line as a communication line network, there is a telephone, and any other device capable of performing numeric keypad input and voice input, such as a microphone or the like. A personal computer equipped with a device capable of inputting The communication line network 5 may be wired or wireless.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 5 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of an electronic mail system including a voice input electronic mail transmission / reception device which is an example of an information processing device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  The electronic mail system in FIG. 5 includes a base station 3 connected to the communication network 6 and a portable telephone device 4 connected to the base station 3 in addition to the configuration of the electronic mail system in FIG. The portable telephone device 3 can be configured in the same manner as the voice input electronic mail transmission / reception device in FIG. 1 and can execute the same processing. The portable telephone device 3 converts voice information input by voice into characters, collates the voice information, identifies who is the voice input, and the mail server A6 or mail of the provider according to the input person Connect to server B7 and send email.

  When creating and transmitting an electronic mail by voice input, the portable telephone device 3 converts voice information into text data, and from the voice information, a voice recognition unit 13 that identifies an input person who created the electronic mail. And a provider registration table memory 15 for selecting and connecting to the Internet provider corresponding to the input person who created the mail based on the identification result, so that the family can share the portable telephone device 3 and create the mail When sending, the mail can be sent by the mail account in the mail server of the Internet provider corresponding to the creator of the mail.

  Further, when an e-mail is created using such a portable telephone device 3, the number of keys is small and an operation for converting kana to kanji is not performed using a small keyboard. With an easy operation, it is possible to create a mail by voice input and send a mail with a mail account in a mail server of an Internet provider corresponding to the mail creator.

It is a block diagram which shows roughly the structure of an electronic mail system provided with the information processing apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows schematically the structure of the voice input electronic mail transmission / reception apparatus in FIG. It is a figure used for demonstrating the provider registration table memory in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the mail transmission process performed by the voice input electronic mail transmission / reception apparatus 2 in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows roughly the structure of an electronic mail system provided with the information processing apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electronic mail system 2 Voice input electronic mail apparatus 3 Portable telephone apparatus 4 Base station 5 Communication network 6 Mail server A
7 Mail server B
10 CPU
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Memory | storage device 12 Memory 13 Voice recognition part 14 Voice memory 15 Provider registration table memory 16 Voiceprint collation data memory 17 Voice input control part 18 Communication control part 19 Microphone

Claims (7)

Acquisition means for acquiring voice information relating to the mail creator;
A specifying means for specifying the mail creator based on the acquired voice information;
A selection means for selecting a connection provider related to the identified mail creator from registration information for registering a relationship between the mail creator and the connection destination provider;
An information processing apparatus comprising: transmission means for converting the acquired voice information and transmitting the acquired text data to the selected connection destination provider.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the specifying unit specifies the mail creator by performing voiceprint matching between pre-registered mail creator data and the acquired voice information. An acquisition step of acquiring audio information relating to the mail creator;
A specific step of identifying the mail creator based on the acquired voice information;
A selection step of selecting a connection provider related to the identified mail creator from registration information in which an association between the mail creator and the connection provider is registered;
And a transmission step of transmitting the acquired text data by converting the acquired voice information to the selected connection destination provider.   4. The information processing method according to claim 3, wherein the specifying step specifies the mail creator by performing voiceprint matching between pre-registered mail creator data and the acquired voice information. An acquisition module that acquires audio information related to the mail creator;
A specific module for identifying the mail creator based on the acquired voice information;
A selection module for selecting a connection provider related to the identified mail creator from registration information for registering an association between the mail creator and the connection provider;
A program that causes a computer to execute a transmission module that converts the acquired voice information and transmits the acquired text data to the selected connection destination provider.   6. The information processing method according to claim 5, wherein the specifying module specifies the mail creator by performing voiceprint matching between mail creator data registered in advance and the acquired voice information.   A computer-readable storage medium storing the program according to claim 5.

Images