JP2006235722A - Electronic equipment and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve convenience by identifying the cognitive level of an electronic mail. <P>SOLUTION: A mobile object communication terminal 100 detects the output status of a disclosed mail among stored received mails. For example, a mobile object communication terminal 100 detects a time when the text of the received mail has been displayed, the overall information amounts of the text of the received mail and the information amounts of a section outputted so as to be cognizable by a user in the text of the disclosed received mail as necessary, or detects whether or not return or transfer has been performed based on the mail. The mobile object communication terminal 100 searches the degree of provision showing to which extent the contents of the received mail has been provided to the user based on the detected output status, and classifies the received mails according to the searched provision level, and displays it so that a cognitive level preliminarily associated with a provider can be discriminated on a display part 142. Thus, it is possible to understandably present to which extent the disclosed mail has been read to the user. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device and a program, and more particularly to an electronic device and a program suitable for improving the convenience of information such as an electronic mail in an electronic device such as a mobile communication terminal.

  With the spread of information communication including the Internet, electronic mail is widely used. Recently, electronic mail transmission / reception using mobile communication terminals such as mobile phones has been widely performed. That is, electronic mail is transmitted and received using various electronic devices such as such mobile communication terminals and personal computers.

  E-mail, which is electronic information, can be processed electronically by a computer. For example, the received e-mail opened state (unread / read) is classified and displayed so that the user can recognize it. Can do. Since electronic processing can be performed in this way, for example, it can be applied to a technique (for example, Patent Document 1) in which the sender can confirm whether or not the receiver has opened the package.

  However, conventionally, the contents to be processed are limited to whether or not the e-mail is opened. Therefore, there is a possibility that functions that are more convenient for the user can be provided by improving the processing content.

  For example, if it can be shown how much the content of the received electronic mail is recognized by the user, it is considered to be particularly useful when using the electronic mail in the mobile communication terminal. This is because the spread of mobile communication terminals has made it possible to send and receive e-mails without being restricted by location or time, but the confirmation of received e-mails is often uncertain. is there.

That is, by using a mobile communication terminal, for example, an e-mail can be received even while the user is moving, but it may not be possible to secure a time for reading the full text of the received e-mail while moving. In other words, depending on the situation of the user at that time, there may be a case where the display must be terminated before the content of the e-mail is completely recognized. Even in such a case, an e-mail that has been opened once is uniformly classified as “opened (read)”, so the user can determine which e-mail should be read later. It cannot be recognized. For this reason, for example, inconveniences such as failure to recognize important information may occur.
Japanese Patent Application No. 10-293732

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device or the like that can show the degree of recognition of information such as a received electronic mail.

In order to achieve the above object, an electronic apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention provides:
Output means for outputting predetermined information;
Detecting means for detecting an output state of the information output by the output means;
A discriminating unit that discriminates a degree of provision of the output information to a user based on an output state detected by the detecting unit;
Classification means for classifying and outputting the predetermined information according to the degree of user recognition based on the degree of provision determined by the determination means;
It is characterized by providing.

  According to such a configuration, the information (for example, characters, sounds, images, etc.) output by the electronic device can be classified and output according to the user's degree of recognition. Recognition of information can be recognized.

In the above electronic device,
The detecting means preferably measures the time during which the predetermined information is output,
It is desirable that the determination means determine the degree of provision to the user based on the output time counted by the detection means.

  According to such a configuration, for example, the provision level can be determined based on, for example, the time during which character information or the like is displayed or output by voice, and thus the provision level can be easily determined.

In the above electronic device,
The detection means preferably detects the amount of information output for the predetermined information output by the output means,
It is desirable that the discrimination means discriminates the degree of provision to the user based on the amount of information detected by the detection means.

  According to such a configuration, for example, the degree of provision is determined based on the amount of character information displayed and output (for example, the number of lines and the number of characters), the amount of character information output by voice (for example, the amount of text), and the like. Therefore, it is possible to determine an appropriate degree of provision according to the output information amount.

The electronic device
It is desirable to further comprise storage means for storing the information amount detected by the detection means in association with a predetermined output time, in this case,
The discrimination means includes
Obtaining information indicating the output time corresponding to the amount of information detected by the detection means from the storage means,
It is desirable to determine the degree of provision to the user based on the output time indicated by the acquired information and the output time counted by the detection means.

  According to such a configuration, for example, the provision level is determined based on the display amount and display time of the output character information and the like, and therefore, it is possible to more accurately determine the appropriate provision level according to the output information amount. Can do.

In the above electronic device,
Preferably, the detection means detects the amount of information of the entire predetermined information for the predetermined information output by the output means.
It is desirable that the determination unit determine the degree of provision to the user based on the output information amount and the total information amount for the predetermined information detected by the detection unit.

  According to such a configuration, for example, when character information is displayed and output, the degree of provision is determined based on the actually output information amount of the entire amount of the character information. Can accurately determine the degree of provision.

In the above electronic device,
The detection means may detect whether or not other information based on the predetermined information output from the output means is output as the output state of the predetermined information.

  According to such a configuration, for example, it is possible to determine the degree of provision by detecting an operation based on the assumption that the displayed information is recognized, such as a reply or transfer based on the received e-mail. Can do.

In the above electronic device,
The classification means preferably outputs the predetermined information so that the recognition degree of the classified user can be identified.

  According to such a configuration, the information classified according to the user's degree of recognition can be displayed and output with different display forms according to the classification, for example, and the user can easily recognize the degree of recognition. Can do.

In the above electronic device,
The predetermined information is preferably an electronic mail received by the electronic device.

  According to such a configuration, it is possible to indicate how much the user has read (that is, the degree of recognition) after opening the electronic mail received by the electronic device, so that, for example, the full text can be read. It is possible to easily recognize which received mail is missing.

  The electronic device is preferably composed of a mobile communication terminal.

  According to such a configuration, for example, the degree of recognition of an e-mail received by a mobile communication terminal such as a mobile phone can be identified so that the full text of the received mail cannot be read, for example, while moving. In such a case, it is possible to easily recognize which received mail should be read again.

In order to achieve the above object, a program according to the second aspect of the present invention is:
On the computer,
A function to detect the output status of received emails;
Based on the detected output state, a function for determining the degree of provision to the user of the output e-mail;
A function of classifying received emails so that the user's awareness of the content of each email can be identified based on the determined degree of provision;
It is characterized by realizing.

  By applying such a program to, for example, a general-purpose computer device such as a personal computer, the computer device can function as the electronic apparatus according to the present invention described above. Alternatively, by applying the above program to a computer device having an e-mail transmission / reception function, it is possible to add a function for indicating received e-mails in an identifiable manner according to the degree of user recognition.

  According to the present invention, an output state (for example, display time, full text information amount, user perception) when information (for example, received e-mail) is output by an electronic device such as a mobile communication terminal (for example, a mobile phone). Providing how much the content of the information is provided to the user based on the amount of information that can be output and the output of other information based on the information (for example, reply or transfer of e-mail) The information (received mail) is classified according to the user's degree of recognition (for example, half-reading, complete reading, careful reading, etc.) according to the obtained provision degree. At this time, the user can easily recognize how much information (received mail) is recognized, for example, by classifying and displaying each degree of recognition so that the user can identify. As a result, for example, when the full text of the received mail cannot be read, it is possible to easily recognize which received mail should be read later, and it is difficult to recognize important information. Can be prevented.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Here, the case where the electronic device according to the present invention is applied to a mobile communication terminal will be described as an example.

  A mobile communication terminal 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention is a mobile communication terminal device (telephone) such as a mobile phone or a PHS (Personal Handyphone System), for example, in addition to a voice call function that is a basic function. It is assumed that at least an e-mail transmission / reception function (including functions related to e-mail creation and editing) is provided. The configuration of mobile communication terminal 100 will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an appearance of a mobile communication terminal 100 according to the present embodiment. The external configuration of the mobile communication terminal 100 includes an antenna 121, an operation unit 131, a speaker 141, a display unit 142, and the like as shown in FIG. The internal configuration of such a mobile communication terminal 100 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of mobile communication terminal 100. As shown in the figure, the mobile communication terminal 100 according to the present embodiment includes a control unit 110, a communication control unit 120, an input control unit 130, an output control unit 140, a storage unit 150, an e-mail processing unit 160, and the like. The

  The control unit 110 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and controls each unit of the mobile communication terminal 100.

  The communication control unit 120 includes a data communication unit 122, a reception unit 123, a transmission unit 124, and the like, and is a configuration for realizing the communication operation of the mobile communication terminal 100. Here, information transmitted / received by data communication and voice call performed by the mobile communication terminal 100 is input / output via the antenna 121.

  The data communication unit 122 performs data communication with other devices via a predetermined communication network (for example, the Internet). In this embodiment, in particular, e-mail processed by an e-mail processing unit 160 described later is transmitted and received.

  The reception unit 123 and the transmission unit 124 are configured by a predetermined transmission / reception circuit and the like, and perform voice calls with other telephones via the mobile communication network.

  The input control unit 130 includes an operation unit 131 and the like, and by controlling these, the input from the user is received and input to the control unit 110.

  The operation unit 131 includes, for example, cursor keys, alphanumeric keys for inputting numbers and characters, buttons for designating functions, and the like, and is operated by the user to perform various selection instructions and characters. Input.

  The output control unit 140 includes a speaker 141, a display unit 142, a sound processing unit 143, and the like, and outputs various information by controlling these. In the present embodiment, in particular, output control of an e-mail processed by an e-mail processing unit 160 described later is performed. Further, in cooperation with the input control unit 130, output control is performed according to the user's operation. For example, when the entire text (entire text) of the e-mail cannot be displayed on one screen, scroll display corresponding to the operation of the operation unit 131 is performed.

  Here, the speaker 141 outputs, for example, voices such as incoming voices and ringtones in voice calls. In the present embodiment, in particular, a voice is output when a voice processing unit 143 described later reads out a voice of an email.

  The display unit 142 is configured by, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD) or the like, and displays an image or the like for executing various operations by the mobile communication terminal 100. In the present embodiment, in particular, display and output of an e-mail processed by an e-mail processing unit 160 described later is performed.

  The voice processing unit 143 includes, for example, a predetermined sentence recognition function and a voice synthesis function, and outputs character information and the like as voice. In the present embodiment, the text of the e-mail is output as voice (so-called voice reading). That is, the voice processing unit 143 analyzes the text of the electronic mail text and synthesizes the voice, thereby converting the content of the electronic mail into voice and outputting it.

  The storage unit 150 includes, for example, a predetermined semiconductor storage device (for example, ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), flash memory, etc.), and stores various information. Remember. In the present embodiment, in particular, information related to an e-mail processed by an e-mail processing unit 160 described later is stored. In other words, in addition to transmitted / received e-mails and address book information, data necessary for e-mail processing, information indicating processing results, and the like are stored in the storage unit 150. The storage unit 150 also stores operation programs executed by the control unit 110, the e-mail processing unit 160, and the like.

  In the present embodiment, a plurality of storage areas are prepared in the storage unit 150, and for example, sent and received e-mails are stored in a predetermined storage area. Here, an area for storing received electronic mail (received mail) is defined as a received mail storage area 151, and an example of data stored in the received mail storage area 151 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3A is a diagram illustrating an example of data stored in the received mail storage area 151 of the storage unit 150.

  As shown in the figure, in the received mail storage area 151, a record having identification information (received mail ID) uniquely assigned to each received mail as a primary key is created, and each received mail ID is included in each record. The information constituting the received mail indicated by is recorded. That is, every time the mobile communication terminal 100 receives an email, a new record is created in the received email storage area 151, and the received email is stored. In each record, items such as “status flag”, “header information”, “text information”, and “additional information” are prepared, and information corresponding to each item is recorded.

  In the item “status flag”, a flag value indicating the status of the received mail is recorded. In the present embodiment, as the state of the received mail, in addition to opened / unopened (read / unread), “opening degree” indicating how much the content of the opened received mail is provided to the user. Is included. For example, the provision level is classified into a plurality of levels, and the level of the level is indicated by a flag value. This level is assumed to be, for example, level 1, level 2, level 3, and level 4 in ascending order of provision, and a numerical value indicating each level is given as a flag value. That is, when the flag value is “1”, the provision level of the received mail is “level 1”, and when the flag value is “4”, it indicates “level 4”. Further, the flag value “0” indicates that the received mail is unopened, and a flag value “0” indicating “unopened” is given when the received mail is stored in the received mail storage area 151. Shall.

  In the present embodiment, it is assumed that such a provision level is associated with a predetermined recognition level indicating how much the user has recognized the content of the received mail. When the received mail is displayed and output, for example, “opened”, “half-reading”, “completely-reading”, “reading carefully”, etc. are prepared as the level of recognition. Here, at least a state in which the user has a high possibility of reading the entire text of the received mail is defined as “completely read”. “Open” indicates that the opened state is almost the same as unread, but “half-read” indicates that the entire sentence is not read. Furthermore, “reading carefully” indicates a state in which it is sufficiently recognized at a level higher than complete reading.

  That is, these recognition levels are status information for indicating how much the user has read the text for each received mail, and are set arbitrarily. Then, each of these recognition levels is associated with the provision level in advance and stored in the storage unit 150. That is, a “providing level / recognition level correspondence table” as shown in FIG. 3B is created in advance and stored in the storage unit 150. Here, it is assumed that the correspondence between the provision level and the recognition level is associated with the level of each level. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3B, the provision level “level 1” is associated with the recognition level “open”, and the provision level “level 2” and the recognition level “semi-reading”. Is associated with “Level 3” of the provision level and “Completely read” with the recognition level, and “Level 4” with the degree of recognition and “Reading carefully” with the recognition level. To do.

  In the item “header information”, information included in the header of the received mail is recorded. That is, the sender's email address, the destination email address, and the like are recorded.

  In the item “text information”, information constituting the text of the received mail is recorded. In other words, the character information constituting the body of the received mail is recorded.

  In the item “additional information”, information added to the received mail, such as an attached file, is recorded.

  The e-mail processing unit 160 is configured by a dedicated circuit such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), for example, and in cooperation with the other configurations of the mobile communication terminal 100 described above, the mobile unit Processing related to the electronic mail function of the communication terminal 100 is performed. The electronic mail processing unit 160 according to the present embodiment performs a general process related to transmission / reception of electronic mail and has a functional configuration as shown in FIG. That is, the e-mail processing unit 160 functions as an output state detection unit 161, a provision degree determination unit 162, and an e-mail classification unit 163.

  The output state detection unit 161 detects the output state of the output electronic mail in cooperation with the control unit 110 and the output control unit 140. In the present embodiment, in particular, the output state of the electronic mail (received mail) received by the mobile communication terminal 100 is detected. In addition, in cooperation with the input control unit 130 and the output control unit 140, a user operation while an e-mail is being output is detected. For example, a scroll operation on the displayed e-mail or an operation for terminating the e-mail output is detected.

  The provision degree determination unit 162 determines how much the content of the e-mail is provided to the user based on the output state of the e-mail detected by the output state detection unit 161.

  The e-mail classification unit 163 classifies the received mail stored in the storage unit 150 according to the determination result of the provision level determination unit 162 in cooperation with the control unit 110, the output control unit 140, the storage unit 150, and the like. To do. Here, the received mail is classified so that it can be identified how much the content of the received mail is recognized by the user based on the provided level determined by the provided level determining unit 162. When classifying received mail, the email classification unit 163 accesses the received mail storage area 151 of the storage unit 150 to change the flag value of the received mail, and in cooperation with the output control unit 140, the flag value Output processing is performed according to the classification.

  As described above, the e-mail processing unit 160 having such a function can be realized by hardware processing by a dedicated circuit such as an ASIC, or the like, for example, by the control unit 110 executing a program. It may be realized by software processing. In this case, a program for realizing each function of the above-described e-mail processing unit 160 is stored in the storage unit 150, and the control unit 110 functions as the e-mail processing unit 160 by executing these programs. It will be.

  Each of the above configurations is a configuration necessary for realizing the present invention by the mobile communication terminal 100, and a detailed description of the other configurations is omitted. That is, the mobile communication terminal 100 is provided with a basic function as a mobile communication terminal and a configuration for realizing an additional function as necessary in addition to the above-described configurations.

  In the present embodiment, the mobile communication terminal 100 having the above-described configuration presents how much the content of the received electronic mail is recognized by the user. Details of the processing for that purpose will be described below.

(Embodiment 1)
Here, an example of displaying and outputting received electronic mail will be described. In the present embodiment, based on the output state of the displayed received mail, it is determined how much the content of the received mail is provided to the user, and how much is recognized according to the determination result. Can be identified. “E-mail processing (1)” that is the operation of the mobile communication terminal 100 in this case will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  This “e-mail processing (1)” is started when the user selects any of the e-mails received by the mobile communication terminal 100. More specifically, the output control unit 140 causes the display unit 142 to display a list of received mails stored in the received mail storage area 151 in response to an operation of the operation unit 131 by the user. The user further operates the operation unit 131 to select any received mail from the displayed list. In response to this selection operation, “e-mail processing (1)” is started.

  When the process is started, the e-mail classification unit 163 of the e-mail processing unit 160 accesses the received mail storage area 151 of the storage unit 150 and determines the status flag of the selected received mail. Here, it is determined whether or not the flag value of the status flag of the selected received mail is “0” (step S101). That is, it is determined whether or not the selected received mail is unopened.

  When the status flag of the selected received mail indicates “0” (step S101: Yes), the e-mail classification unit 163 sets a flag value “1” in the status flag of the received mail (step S102). . That is, it is updated to the provision level corresponding to the user's recognition level “open”.

  On the other hand, when the status flag of the selected received mail indicates other than “0” (step S101: No), the status flag is not updated.

  Next, the e-mail processing unit 160 cooperates with the output control unit 140 to output (display) the selected received mail on the display unit 142 (step S103). Here, at least the body part of the selected received mail is displayed and output.

  At the same time that the body part of the received mail is displayed on the display unit 142, the output state detection unit 161 of the email processing unit 160 starts measuring time (step S104). Here, for example, time is measured using a timer function realized by the control unit 110. Alternatively, a timer circuit may be configured in the e-mail processing unit 160 and time may be measured by the operation of the timer circuit. That is, any function or configuration may be used as long as the time being displayed and output can be measured. In this way, timing is started from the time when the text of the selected (opened) e-mail is displayed.

  While the text of the selected electronic mail is being displayed, the output state detection unit 161 detects the presence / absence of an operation by the user as needed (step S105: No). When an operation of the operation unit 131 is detected (step S105: Yes), the output state detection unit 161 determines whether the operation is an end operation (step S106).

  If it is not an end operation (step S106: No), this process is ended in order to perform a process according to the operation. On the other hand, when the user operation is an end operation (step S106: Yes), the output state detection unit 161 ends the time measurement started in step S101 (step S107). As a result, the time during which the text of the selected electronic mail is displayed is measured.

  Next, the provision degree determination unit 162 determines the provision degree indicating how much the content of the e-mail is provided (presented) to the user (step S108). Here, the display time and the provision level are set in advance in association with each other, and the provision level is determined based on the measured display time. Therefore, in the present embodiment, a “display time-providing degree correspondence table” as shown in FIG. 6 is stored in the storage unit 150 in advance.

  As shown in the drawing, a plurality of preset display time ranges and provision levels are associated with each other in the display time-provision degree correspondence table. As described above, in the present embodiment, the degree of provision is divided into four levels, so a display time range corresponding to each level is set. Since the level of provision also corresponds to the user's level of recognition, it can be said that the display time range is set according to the user's level of recognition in the display time-provision level correspondence table. For example, if it is assumed that an average display time of 10 seconds or more is required to read the full text of the received mail body (ie, “complete reading”), it corresponds to “complete reading” of the recognition level. “Level 3”, which is the provision level, is associated with a display time range including 10 seconds or more. Similarly, for the other display time ranges, for example, a corresponding provision level is set based on a general (average) reading speed.

  Such a correspondence relationship between the display time and the provision level (recognition level) is arbitrarily set. For example, when there are a plurality of character sizes when the mobile communication terminal 100 displays an e-mail, a correspondence table corresponding to each character size is created.

  In this way, when the provision level of the output received mail is determined, the provision level determination unit 162 accesses the received mail storage area 151 of the storage unit 150, and according to the determined provision level, the received mail The state flag is updated (step S109), and the process ends. Here, the flag value of the received mail is changed to a value indicating the determined degree of provision.

  In this way, the degree of provision is determined each time a received mail is output, and the status flag is updated. The email classification unit 163 of the email processing unit 160 classifies the received email based on such a status flag. For example, when a list of received mails is displayed, the received mails are classified and displayed (output) so that the degree of recognition of each received mail can be identified. In other words, the degree of recognition based on the determined degree of provision is added to the status display of each received mail.

  The form of outputting the recognition level in an identifiable manner is arbitrary. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, different icons indicating respective recognition levels are prepared, and corresponding icons are displayed according to the determined provision level, that is, the flag value of the state flag. In the example of FIG. 7, the icon shown at the top of the list indicates “reading carefully”, the icon shown at the second level from the top indicates “complete reading”, and displayed at the third level from the top. The icon shown in the fourth row from the top indicates “open”, and the icon shown in the bottom row indicates “unopened”.

  Or you may make it show the recognition level by displaying the icon which shows "opening" by a different magnitude | size as shown in FIG. In this case, the recognition level is not limited to the size of the icon. For example, the recognition level can be identified by changing the display color of the icon or changing the display method (for example, blinking display or animation display). It may be displayed.

  In addition, the display is not limited to the icon, and for example, as shown in FIG. In the case of the example shown in FIG. 9, for example, the recognition level is classified and displayed by changing the display color in units of lines, hatching (shading), or changing the brightness and saturation. be able to. You can also change the width and height of the line itself, display the text that indicates the title of the received mail, etc. (for example, change the color of the text, change the font size, type of modification (bold, italic, It is good also as a classification display which can be distinguished by making underline etc. differ).

  Alternatively, a plurality of folders corresponding to each recognition level may be prepared, each received mail may be classified by storing in the corresponding folder, and these folders may be displayed for classification display.

  Further, when the received mail is classified and displayed, it is desirable that the display method is more conspicuous as the recognition level is lower. Accordingly, for example, the user can more easily recognize which received mail needs to be read again. In this case, for example, the received mail may be sorted and displayed at the provision level, so that the level of the recognition level can be easily recognized.

  As described above, the electronic device (mobile communication terminal 100) according to the present invention performs the processing shown in the first embodiment, whereby the received electronic mail is opened / unopened (read / unread). In addition to the above, it is possible to identify the extent to which the user has read (recognized) the received mail that has been opened. Therefore, for example, the user can easily recognize an e-mail or the like that has been browsed halfway because there is no time to read the full text, and can re-read it with certainty.

  In the processing shown in the first embodiment, the display time is measured, and the provision level is determined based on the measured display time. Therefore, the present invention can be realized by extremely simple processing. Therefore, for example, for e-mails that have a small number of characters in the body, a short time required to read the full text, and a small variation such as so-called short message service (SMS). It is suitable for the case where the present invention is realized by an electronic device having a relatively low processing capability.

(Embodiment 2)
In the processing shown in the first embodiment, the present invention can be easily realized. However, the user's recognition degree may not be accurately reflected only by the length of the display time. That is, in general e-mail, since the length of the text varies for each received e-mail, the time during which the user can completely read the text of the e-mail also differs for each received e-mail. In this case, it is necessary to consider the length (information amount) of the text when determining the degree of provision. In the present embodiment, a process (“email process (2)”) for determining the degree of provision in consideration of the length of the displayed e-mail text will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. This “e-mail processing (2)” is also started when one of the received mails is selected. Further, in the present embodiment, the number of lines in the text of the received mail is used as the information amount of the text.

  When the processing is started, the e-mail classification unit 163 of the e-mail processing unit 160 accesses the received mail storage area 151 of the storage unit 150, and the flag value of the status flag of the selected received mail is “0”. Whether or not (step S201). That is, it is determined whether or not the selected received mail is unopened.

  If the status flag of the selected received mail indicates “0” (step S201: Yes), the e-mail classification unit 163 sets the flag value “1” in the status flag of the received mail (step S202). . That is, it is updated to the provision level corresponding to the user's recognition level “open”.

  Next, the e-mail processing unit 160 cooperates with the output control unit 140 to output (display) the selected received mail on the display unit 142 (step S203). Here, at least the body part of the selected received mail is displayed and output.

  Next, the output state detection unit 161 detects the number of lines of the entire body of the selected received mail as the amount of information of the entire body (hereinafter referred to as “total number of lines of text”) (step S204). Here, the “total number of lines” refers to the number of lines necessary to display the entire text of the received mail on the display unit 142. For this reason, for example, when the display resolution of the display unit 142 can be changed or the display character size can be changed, the number of full text lines also changes according to these conditions. Accordingly, the output state detection unit 161 cooperates with the control unit 110 and the output control unit 140 to obtain parameters that affect the specification of the number of all sentence lines, calculate the number of all sentence lines in the current setting, and Give line numbers. For example, when the header information of the received mail includes information indicating the number of characters in the body text, the total number of lines may be calculated based on the information.

  When the total sentence line number is detected in this way, the output state detection unit 161 detects a predetermined appropriate display time corresponding to the total sentence line number (step S205). In the present embodiment, it is assumed that information in which the total number of text lines is associated with a predetermined appropriate display time is prepared in the storage unit 150 in advance. That is, it is assumed that a “full sentence line-appropriate display time correspondence table” as shown in FIG. Here, the “appropriate display time” indicates a time required to read the entire text, and the full text line number-appropriate display time correspondence table includes a plurality of preset full text line number ranges, Appropriate display time is associated.

  The output state detection unit 161 also starts measuring the display time simultaneously with the start of this process, that is, simultaneously with the display and output of the text of the selected received mail (step S206). By cooperation, the final position of the text displayed on the display unit 142 is detected at any time (step S207).

  Here, since the number of lines (number of characters) that can be displayed on one screen is determined based on the display resolution and screen size of the display unit 142, the set character size, and the like, the output state detection unit 161 performs step S204. It is detected from time to time how many lines of the total number of lines detected in step 1 are displayed on the display unit 142. That is, the line number indicating the last line displayed on the screen at that time (hereinafter referred to as “provisional maximum line number”) is detected as needed, and temporarily stored in the work area of the storage unit 150 or the like.

  That is, while the text of the received mail is displayed on the display unit 142, the output state detection unit 161 detects the presence / absence of an operation by the user at any time (step S208: No), and when the user's operation is detected (Step S208: Yes), it is determined whether or not the operation is an operation (end operation) for ending the display of the currently displayed received mail (Step S209).

  Here, when the operation by the user is a scroll operation (step S209: No, S210: Yes), the process returns to step S207, and the provisional maximum line number corresponding to the scroll operation is detected at any time.

  On the other hand, when the operation by the user is neither an end operation nor a scroll operation (step S209: No, S210: No), this process ends, and a process corresponding to the operation content is executed.

  If the operation by the user is an end operation (step S209: Yes), the output state detection unit 161 ends the time measurement started in step S206, and the body text of the received mail is determined from the result of the timer time measurement (timer value). The time displayed on the display unit 142 is detected (step S211).

  The output state detection unit 161 calculates a “timer ratio” based on the appropriate display time acquired in step S205 and the actual display time detected in step S211 (step S212). This timer ratio is obtained by calculating Equation 1.

(Equation 1)
Timer ratio = timer value (actual display time) / appropriate display time

  This timer ratio indicates the amount of information that can be visually recognized (recognized) by the user with respect to the entire text as a percentage from the time point of the displayed text. As described above, since the appropriate display time is the display time necessary for reading the entire text of the received mail, if the actual display time is longer than the appropriate display time (that is, the timer ratio is 1 or more), the time Specifically, the condition that allows the user to recognize the whole sentence was satisfied. In other words, the timer ratio is an index of the temporal provision degree with respect to the text of the selected received mail.

  Here, the output state detection unit 161 sets a timer ratio according to the calculated value. For example, if the calculated value is 1 or more and less than 2, “1” is set as the timer ratio, and if the calculated value is 2 or more, “2” is set as the timer ratio. If the calculated value is less than 1, the calculated value is set as the timer ratio.

  Such a timer ratio can be a numerical value indicating the degree of provision to the user if the entire displayed text can be displayed on one screen, but is accurate if the entire text cannot be displayed on one screen. It is not possible to make a good offer. That is, when the whole sentence cannot be displayed unless it is originally scrolled, for example, even when it is displayed for a long time without scrolling, the timer ratio indicates 1 or more. In such a case, if only the timer ratio is used as the requirement for determining the provision level, it is determined that the provision level is sufficient for complete reading even though the entire text is not displayed. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the amount of information that the user can actually recognize (recognize).

  In this case, the output state detection unit 161 specifies the line number that is the maximum value among the provisional maximum line numbers detected at any time in step S207, so that the number of lines that are displayed and output so as to be visible (recognizable) to the user ( Hereinafter, “the number of recognizable lines” is detected (step S213). That is, this recognizable number of lines indicates the amount of information of the part that the user can read out of the entire displayed text.

  Next, the output state detection unit 161 calculates the “line number ratio” based on the number of recognizable lines obtained in step S213 and the number of all sentence lines detected in step S204 (step S214). This row number ratio is calculated by calculating Equation 2.

(Equation 2)
Line number ratio = number of recognizable lines / total number of lines

  This line number ratio indicates the amount of information that can be visually recognized (recognized) by the user from the viewpoint of the display amount of the displayed text as a percentage of the entire text. As described above, the recognizable number of lines indicates the number of lines that the user was able to visually recognize. Therefore, when the entire text is displayed so as to be visually recognizable, the line number ratio is 1 (maximum value). In other words, when the whole text cannot be displayed on one screen, for example, when the whole text is displayed by scrolling, the ratio of the number of lines is 1, but no scrolling is performed or until the last line of the text is displayed. If scrolling is not performed, the line number ratio is less than 1. That is, the line number ratio is an index indicating the degree of provision based on the display amount for the body of the opened received mail.

  In this way, when the output state detection unit 161 calculates the timer ratio and the line number ratio, the provision degree determination unit 162 determines the provision degree of the text of the displayed received mail based on the timer ratio and the line number ratio. Then, the status flag is updated according to the determination result (step S215), and the process ends.

  Here, when the row number ratio is 1 and the timer ratio is 1, the provision level determination unit 162 sets the provision level 3 corresponding to the recognition level “completely read”. This is because the condition that the user can read the entire text is satisfied in terms of time and display amount.

  Further, when the row number ratio is 1 and the timer ratio is 2, the provision level determination unit 162 sets the provision level 4 corresponding to the recognition level “reading carefully”.

  When the row number ratio is 1 and the timer ratio is less than 1, the provision level determination unit 162 sets the provision level 2 corresponding to the recognition level “half-reading”.

  On the other hand, when the line number ratio is less than 1, the provision level corresponding to the recognition level of “half-reading” or less is appropriately set. When the line number ratio is less than 1, the entire text has not been displayed. For example, the provision level 1 corresponding to the recognition level “open” may be set uniformly.

  Or you may set a provision level according to the numerical value which a row number ratio shows. In this case, for example, when the line number ratio is 0.75 or more, the provision level 2 corresponding to the recognition level “half-reading” is set, and when it is less than 0.75, the recognition level “open” is supported. The provision level 1 to be set is set.

  Further, for example, when the line number ratio is 0.5 or more and less than 1 and the timer ratio is 0.5. Or more and less than 1, the provision level 2 corresponding to the recognition level “half-reading” may be set. .

  In this way, when the provision level is determined by the provision level determination unit 162 and a status flag corresponding to the determined level of provision level is set, the e-mail classification unit 163 receives the same as in the first embodiment. Mail is classified (see FIGS. 7 to 9). In the present embodiment, since the timer ratio and the row number ratio are calculated as an index indicating the degree of provision, classification based on them may be performed. For example, for a received mail with a provision level corresponding to a recognition level of “half-reading” or lower, the lower of the timer ratio and the line number ratio is converted into a percentage and explicitly expressed. You may make it display. For example, based on the percentage indicating the degree of provision, the information can be classified and displayed in the display form illustrated in the first embodiment, or numerical information indicating the percentage may be added and displayed as shown in FIG. It should be noted that a percentage may be similarly obtained for a received mail having a recognition level of “completely read” or higher.

  As a result, the user can identify the level of more detailed recognition level for received mail that has a recognition level equal to or lower than “half-reading”. It can be used as a user convenience.

  As described above, to what extent the user has read (recognized) the received mail that has been opened by the electronic device (mobile communication terminal 100) according to the present invention performing the processing described in the second embodiment. Can be identified. In the second embodiment, the degree of provision is determined on the basis of the display time and the display amount. Therefore, the degree of provision according to the amount of received mail displayed can be determined, and more accurate classification can be performed.

  Here, in Embodiment 2, in order to calculate the line number ratio, the provisional maximum line number is detected at any time, and the recognizable number of lines is obtained based on the maximum value of the provisional maximum line number. It is desirable to store the maximum value of the provisional maximum line number specified at this time, that is, information indicating the last line among the displayed lines in the storage unit 150 or the like.

  For example, if you receive information indicating the last line displayed for a received mail that has a degree of recognition corresponding to a recognition level of “half-reading” or lower, if the received mail is opened next time, It can be shown to the user whether it has been displayed. For example, by displaying the text so that the next line of the last line displayed last time is the top, the user can continue reading without performing a scrolling operation or the like. Alternatively, the last line displayed last time is indicated by, for example, displaying a pointer or a marker, or the display form of the line is changed (for example, a different character color from other parts, reverse display or emphasis) It may be displayed in a distinguishable manner.

(Embodiment 3)
In the first and second embodiments, the degree of provision is determined based on the display time and the display amount. However, the degree of provision may be determined based on other conditions. For example, when there is a reply or transfer from a received mail that has been opened, the degree of provision may be determined based on these operations. Here, “reply” refers to sending a new e-mail containing part or all of the text of the opened received mail to the sender of the received mail, and “forwarding” is the same Is sent to a person other than the sender. That is, this is an operation in which a new electronic mail based on the received mail is output (transmitted).

  Here, it was opened in step S106 (see FIG. 5) of the email processing (1) shown in the first embodiment or in step S209 (see FIG. 10) of the email processing (2) shown in the second embodiment. When it is determined that the user's operation performed while displaying the text of the received mail is not an end operation, the output state detection unit 161 determines whether the operation is a reply / transfer operation. In this case, the output state detection unit 161 determines, in cooperation with the control unit 110 and the input control unit 130, whether an operation for replying or forwarding has been performed based on the displayed received mail. .

  If it is a reply / transfer operation, the provision level determination unit 162 determines, for example, the provision level 3 corresponding to the recognition level “completely read”, and updates the status flag. This is because when replying or forwarding, the user cannot determine whether reply or forwarding is necessary unless the contents of the received mail that is the basis of the reply are recognized. Therefore, it can be assumed that the user has recognized the entire content of the received mail that is the basis of the reply / transfer operation. Therefore, when such an operation is detected, it is determined that the provision level corresponds to the recognition level “complete reading” indicating that the entire sentence is recognized.

  As described above, as long as it is possible to determine the degree of provision that can indicate the user's degree of recognition, the condition for the provision degree determination unit 162 to determine the degree of provision is arbitrary. For example, the number of times of opening for one received mail may be added to the requirement for determining the degree of provision. In this case, for example, the display time of each received mail at the previous opening is recorded in the received mail storage area 151. And when the number of times of opening is the second time or later, the display time at the time of the previous opening is added to the measured display time, and the provision degree is determined based on the display time after the addition, so that the appropriate number according to the number of times of opening Can be determined.

(Embodiment 4)
In the first to third embodiments, the case where the text of the received e-mail is displayed and output on the display unit 142 is illustrated. However, even in other output forms, the present invention is applied to increase the user's recognition level. It can be made identifiable.

  For example, the present invention can be applied even when the text of a received mail that has been opened is output by voice (so-called voice reading) instead of display output. In this case, for example, the output control unit 140 is assumed to have a known sentence analysis function and speech synthesis function, analyzes the structure of the text of the opened received mail, synthesizes and outputs the speech.

  In this case, by analyzing the text of the text, the text can be recognized in units of text. Here, for example, the recognized sentences are sequentially numbered from the top. Then, while the voice synthesis function of the output control unit 140 is outputting a voice, the output state detection unit 161 detects the number of the output sentence as needed. Then, the provision level determination unit 162 can determine whether or not the entire sentence is output by voice by comparing the sentence number detected by the output state detection unit 161 with the sentence number of the final sentence in the entire text. .

  If it is determined that the entire text has been output as voice, the provision level determination unit 162 sets the provision level 3 corresponding to the recognition level “completely read”. On the other hand, when the audio output of the entire text is not completed due to the user's end operation or the like, the provision level determination unit 162 appropriately sets the provision level corresponding to the recognition level of “half-reading” or less. In this case, the proportion of the output part may be obtained on the basis of the amount of the sentence output as a voice and the amount of the sentence of the entire text as in the case of the second embodiment.

  As described above, the provision level can be determined by the provision level determination unit 162 regardless of the output form. Therefore, the e-mail classification unit 163 can perform classification based on the provision level, and the user can recognize the degree of recognition of the received mail. Can be identified.

  The said embodiment is an example and the application range of this invention is not restricted to this. That is, various applications are possible, and all embodiments are included in the scope of the present invention.

  For example, in each of the above embodiments, the mobile communication terminal is exemplified as the electronic device to which the present invention is applied. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can be applied to various electronic devices that can process an electronic mail. . For example, the present invention may be applied to an electronic device such as a PDA (Personal Data Assistance: personal digital assistant) capable of processing e-mails or a personal computer.

  In the mobile communication terminal as exemplified in each embodiment, the display screen is generally a fixed display screen. However, on the display screen of a personal computer, for example, the window size may be arbitrarily changed. is there. In such a case, when detecting the number of displayable lines of the entire text or the number of lines actually displayed, the window size at that time is also detected as a parameter, and the same as in the above embodiments In addition, the present invention can be applied.

  In addition, as the unit of the output information amount, “number of lines” is used in the second embodiment and “sentence” is used in the third embodiment. However, the unit of the information amount is arbitrary, for example, the number of characters, the number of paragraphs, and the like. The display amount unit may be used, and the number of syllables or phonemes may be used as the sound output unit. Further, in the case of the voice output shown in the third embodiment, the provision degree determination based on the time during which the text is output in voice may be performed as in the case shown in the first embodiment.

  In each of the above embodiments, the degree of provision of electronic mail is obtained. However, as long as the degree of provision to the user can be obtained, the present invention is not limited to electronic mail, and various types of information can be targeted. For example, various document data composed of character information can be processed in the same manner as in the case of electronic mail in each of the above embodiments. In addition, for example, image information may be targeted. In this case, for example, how much the image is presented to the user (providing level) can be determined based on the number of dots constituting the image. Thereby, for example, in addition to showing the recognition level of the e-mail text shown in the above embodiments, it is possible to show the recognition level of the attached file added to the received mail, for example. .

  In addition, an electronic apparatus to which the present invention can be applied can be configured by a general-purpose computer device, for example, as well as by a dedicated device. In this case, by applying (installing) a program for realizing each processing described above to a general-purpose computer apparatus, and executing the program by the computer apparatus, the electronic apparatus according to the present invention can be caused to function.

  The method of providing such a program is arbitrary. For example, the program can be provided via a communication medium such as the Internet, and the program is stored in a predetermined recording medium (for example, CD-ROM, DVD, memory card, etc.). May be distributed.

It is a figure which shows typically the external appearance of the mobile communication terminal concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of the mobile communication terminal shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of information stored in a “storage unit” illustrated in FIG. 2, in which (a) illustrates an example of information stored in a “received mail storage area”, and (b) illustrates “providing level—recognition”; An example of “degree level correspondence table” is shown. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of an “email processing unit” illustrated in FIG. 2. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the "electronic mail process (1)" concerning Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the "display time-providing degree correspondence table" referred by the process shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the classification display concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the other example of the classification display concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the other example of the classification display concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the "electronic mail process (2)" concerning Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the "all sentence line number-appropriate display time correspondence table" referred by the process shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the other example of the classification display concerning embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Mobile communication terminal, 110 ... Control part, 120 ... Communication control part, 130 ... Input control part, 140 ... Output control part, 150 ... Memory | storage part, 160 ... E-mail processing part, 161 ... Output form detection part, 162 ... Degree-of-delivery determination unit, 163 ... E-mail classification unit

Claims (10)

Output means for outputting predetermined information;
Detecting means for detecting an output state of the information output by the output means;
A discriminating unit that discriminates a degree of provision of the output information to a user based on an output state detected by the detecting unit;
Classification means for classifying and outputting the predetermined information according to the degree of user recognition based on the degree of provision determined by the determination means;
An electronic device comprising: The detection means measures the time during which the predetermined information is output,
The determination means determines the degree of provision to the user based on the output time counted by the detection means.
The electronic device according to claim 1. The detection means detects the amount of information output for the predetermined information output by the output means,
The determination means determines the degree of provision to the user based on the amount of information detected by the detection means.
The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is an electronic device. A storage means for storing the information amount detected by the detection means and a predetermined output time in association with each other;
The discrimination means includes
Obtaining information indicating the output time corresponding to the amount of information detected by the detection means from the storage means,
Determining the degree of provision to the user based on the output time indicated by the acquired information and the output time counted by the detection means;
The electronic device according to claim 3. The detection means detects an information amount of the entire predetermined information for the predetermined information output by the output means,
The determination means determines the degree of provision to the user based on the output information amount and the total information amount for the predetermined information detected by the detection means.
The electronic device according to claim 3 or 4, wherein The detection means detects whether or not other information is output based on the predetermined information output by the output means as an output state of the predetermined information;
The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is an electronic device. The classification means outputs the predetermined information so that the recognition degree of the classified user can be identified.
The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electronic apparatus is an electronic apparatus. The predetermined information is an email received by the electronic device.
The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is an electronic device. The electronic device is composed of a mobile communication terminal.
The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is an electronic device. On the computer,
A function to detect the output status of received emails;
Based on the detected output state, a function for determining the degree of provision to the user of the output e-mail;
A function of classifying received emails so that the user's awareness of the content of each email can be identified based on the determined degree of provision;
A program characterized by realizing.

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