JP2007233435A - Electronic mail reading-out system, server, mobile apparatus, computer program and electronic mail reading-out method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically read out the content of mail by a mobile apparatus without mounting a voice synthesis means on respective mobile apparatuses, or occupying a circuit. <P>SOLUTION: A server system 40 is connected to a mail server 20. The server system 40 is provided with a voice synthesis engine 41 and a storage server 42. The voice synthesis engine 41 converts the copy of mail incoming to the mail server 20 into a voice file, and stores it in the storage server 42. When receiving mail incoming notification, mobile apparatus 10 transmits a voice file request to the server system 40, and confirms that any non-downloaded voice file exists in the storage server 42, and downloads it. Furthermore, the mobile apparatus 10 automatically reads out the downloaded voice file. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an e-mail reading system, a server, a portable device, a computer program, and an e-mail reading method, and in particular, an e-mail reading system capable of automatically reading out character information of received e-mail with a portable device. , A server, a portable device, a computer program, and an e-mail reading method.

  With the spread of the Internet, e-mail (e-mail, hereinafter simply referred to as e-mail) that conveys information using mobile devices such as mobile phones and PDAs (personal digital assistants) has come to be used generally. It was. In mail, text information, graphics, or photo information is exclusively sent and received. The mail transmitted from the transmission side device is transferred to the mail server via the Internet and temporarily stored in the mail box. Mail stored in the mailbox is automatically distributed to the receiving device or distributed according to a request from the receiving device.

  Patent Document 1 describes a mail server device and a mail call service providing method for outputting a mail received via the Internet by a telephone of a public telephone network.

When this mail server device receives a mail, it first authenticates the sender. The mail includes information about the sender and a destination telephone number, and the sender is authenticated based on the information about the sender. If the sender authenticates that the sender is a valid user, the mail server device converts the mail text into voice data and stores it as a temporary file. After that, the line connection to the telephone of the destination telephone number is scheduled, the line is connected to the destination telephone, the voice data is converted into analog voice and transmitted. When the line connection unit is used (in a busy state), the temporary file is held until the line connection unit is in an idle state, and transmission of voice data is waited.
JP 2002-247103 A

  According to the mail server device and the mail call service providing method of Patent Document 1, the problem that mail cannot be transmitted / received unless both the transmission side device and the reception side device are connected to the Internet is solved. Can receive.

  However, the mail server device and the mail call service providing method of Patent Document 1 are for connecting the Internet network and the public telephone network, and transmitting the mail in the Internet network as voice information to the telephone of the public line network. It is necessary to describe information such as the telephone number of the destination telephone in the public line network in the header of each mail.

  Further, this does not realize a function for automatically receiving voice information of a mail by a telephone and reading it out. Also, since the voice information from the mail server device to the destination telephone is transmitted using circuit switching of the public telephone network, the line of the public line network is occupied for transmission of the voice information to the destination telephone. There is a problem.

  Although it is conceivable to convert the text of an email into speech information by performing speech synthesis on the telephone terminal side, in such a case, it is necessary to install speech synthesis means in each telephone terminal. This is disadvantageous in terms of price and installation space, and it is difficult to adopt advanced speech synthesis methods and expand functions using abundant resources.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and can automatically read out the contents of a mail on a portable device without installing a voice synthesizer in each portable device and without occupying a line. To provide a reading system, a server, a portable device, a computer program, and an e-mail reading method.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention includes a server provided on the network side and a portable device connectable to the server, and the server notifies a mail arrival notification means for notifying an incoming email addressed to the portable device. And voice synthesizing means for converting an e-mail addressed to the portable device into a voice file, and storage means for storing the voice file converted by the voice synthesizing means, wherein the portable device is notified by the mail arrival notification means. When the mobile device recognizes that there is an undownloaded audio file in the storage means, means for downloading the audio file by packet communication, and means for automatically reading out the downloaded audio file It is characterized by having.

  The present invention is also characterized by the server and portable device itself constituting the e-mail reading system, the computer program that realizes the function, or the e-mail reading method, which can also be an invention.

  According to the present invention, by starting a mail reading application in the portable device in advance, the portable device automatically receives and reads out the voice file of the electronic mail addressed to the portable device. Therefore, if the user activates the application in advance, the user can know the contents of the mail by voice without any operation thereafter.

  Further, the speech synthesizer need only be provided on the server on the network side, and a sufficient space can be secured there for installing a high-quality speech synthesizer rich in resources. As a result, it is not necessary to install a special speech synthesis means in each portable device, and a high-quality mail reading function can be realized. Furthermore, function expansion can be easily handled by changing the network side.

  In addition, since the mobile device requests the server to store the audio file of the e-mail addressed to the mobile device, only the required audio file needs to be generated and stored on the server side. Can be used effectively.

  Furthermore, since the voice file is downloaded by packet communication and the public telephone network is not switched, the line of the public network is not occupied for the transmission of the voice information to the portable device.

  The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of an e-mail reading system according to the present invention. The system of the first embodiment includes a mobile device 10 such as a mobile phone or a PDA, a mail server 20, and a server system 40.

  The mail server 20 is connected to the Internet 30, and the mobile device 10 transmits and receives mail via the mail server 20. The server system 40 is connected to the mail server 40. The server system 40 includes a speech synthesis engine 41 and a storage server 42. Although there are many portable devices, hereinafter, the portable device 10 will be described.

  The mobile device 10 is equipped with software (computer program; hereinafter referred to as an application) for realizing a function of automatically reading mail addressed to the mobile device (automatic mail reading function).

  In FIG. 1, the communication between the mobile device 10 and the mail server 20 or the server system 40 is illustrated as being directly performed. However, in practice, the communication is performed via the Internet 30 or other networks. Done. The same applies to the following description.

  FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of the system of FIG. Note that an application for realizing an automatic mail reading function is installed in the mobile device 10 in advance, and the mail server 20 and the server system 40 can cope with it.

  First, in the mobile device 10, when the application of the automatic mail reading function is activated from the normal operation waiting state (S1), the display screen becomes a personal identification number input screen. Here, when the user inputs a personal identification number, the inputted personal identification number is transmitted to the server system 40 together with user-specific information held in the portable device.

  The server system 40 performs user authentication using the personal identification number and the user unique number transmitted from the mobile device 10. For this purpose, user information is registered in advance in the server system 40 or in another server.

  When the validity of the user is determined by the user authentication, the mobile device 10 requests the mail server 30 for transfer setting. In accordance with this transfer setting request, the mail server 30 performs transfer setting (S2). When the mail server 20 receives a mail addressed to the mobile device 10 from the Internet 30, the mail server 20 notifies the mobile device 10 of the incoming mail. When the above forwarding setting is performed, the server system 40 copies the incoming mail. A mail conversion request is also sent.

  Even if the mail server 20 is set to transfer as described above, if there is no incoming mail addressed to the mobile device 10, the mobile device 10 remains on standby. During standby, you can operate the appropriate function buttons to return the mobile device to the normal operating state (end), check the current setting state (confirmation), or change the setting to another state (setting). it can.

  When a mail addressed to the mobile device 10 arrives at the mail server 20 in a state where the transfer setting is made (S3), the mail server 20 sends a mail arrival notification to the mobile device 10 (S4). In addition, the mail server 20 transfers a copy of the received mail to the server system 40 and sends a mail conversion request (S5).

  The voice synthesis engine 41 of the server system 40 receives the mail transferred from the mail server 20, converts the text into a voice file by voice synthesis in accordance with the mail conversion request, and transfers it to the storage server (S6). The speech synthesis engine 41 only needs to generate analog speech based on the text of an email, and any speech synthesis means can be used. The storage server 42 stores the voice file converted by the voice synthesis engine 41 together with the destination for each mail.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing an audio file storing operation. Here, the voice file is stored in the storage server 42 through the mail server 20. For example, when a mail addressed to a mail address (xxx@yomail.ezweb.ne.jp) arrives at the mail server 20 (S3), the mail server 20 transfers the mail to the speech synthesis engine 41 and sends a mail conversion request. (S5).

  The voice synthesis engine 41 converts the mails sent from the mail server 20 into voice files one by one (in mail units), and transfers the converted voice files (converted files) to the mail server 20 (S6). At this time, a time stamp is added as a file name (file ID) for identifying the audio file.

  The mail server 20 stores the voice file transferred from the voice synthesis engine 41 in the storage server 42 (S6). The storage server 42 refers to the directory (SubID) for storing the audio file of the target user from the user information, and stores it in the storage directory. FIG. 3 shows a state where three audio files with file IDs (20060101000000), (20060101000500), and (20060101001000) are stored.

  As described above, the mail is always converted into an audio file one by one, and a time stamp is attached as the file name of the audio file, thereby ensuring the order of the audio file and restricting double delivery.

  Returning to FIG. 2, when the mobile device 10 receives a mail arrival notification from the mail server 20, the mobile device 10 transmits a voice file request to the server system 40 (S7). The audio file request is a request for downloading an undownloaded audio file. Therefore, the audio file request includes information that enables the mobile device 10 to recognize an audio file that has not been downloaded.

  If the system is normal, the mobile device 10 downloads the voice file of the mail every time there is an incoming call, so the undownloaded voice file stored in the server system 40 is only one new mail, When a system failure or a communication failure occurs, a plurality of undownloaded audio files may remain in the server system 40. Here, the reason why the audio file request includes information that makes it possible to identify an undownloaded audio file is to allow such an undownloaded audio file to be downloaded without duplication. In addition, the mobile device 10 not only sends out an audio file request triggered by a mail arrival notification from the mail server 20, but also allows an undownloaded audio file remaining in the server system 40 to be downloaded as appropriate. It is preferable that an audio file request can be sent by user operation. The operation of downloading a plurality of undownloaded audio files without duplication will be described later.

  In response to an audio file request from the mobile device 10, the presence of an undownloaded audio file from the server system 40 is responded. The mobile device 10 downloads undownloaded audio files from the server system 40 one by one in order by packet communication (S8). Further, the mobile device 10 automatically reads out the downloaded audio file (S9). That is, an analog audio file is directly sent to the speaker for audio reproduction. Prior notice may be sent out by sending a notification sound prior to reading out the mail. When the reading of the undownloaded audio file stored in the storage server 42 of the server system 40 is completed or is canceled during the reading, the portable device 10 is again in a standby state.

  The read audio file can be deleted from the storage server 42, or an old audio file that has passed for a certain period of time can be deleted. However, an audio file that has been read once can be distinguished from an audio file that has not been read yet. Even an audio file that has been read once can be requested from the mobile device 10 as appropriate and can be read again.

  Note that the audio file needs to be stored in the storage server 42 before the portable device 10 reads the audio file from the storage server 42. This can be easily realized by appropriately adjusting the transmission timing of an audio file request for confirming the existence of an undownloaded audio file.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of downloading an undownloaded audio file to the mobile device 10. According to this flowchart, not only when there is one undownloaded audio file, but also when there are multiple audio files, it is possible to download them one by one without duplication.

  First, when the mobile device 10 receives an incoming mail notification from the mail server 20 or by operating the user's mobile device 10, the mobile device 10 sends an audio file request (audio file REQ) to the server system 40, and an undownloaded audio file A download is requested (S41). The audio file request includes a SubID representing the target user and the ID of the last downloaded file (final DL FileID). Note that the final DL FileID is stored in the mobile device 10.

  In the server system 40, it is determined whether or not there are n (n is a positive integer) audio files newer than the audio file of the final DL FileID included in the audio file REQ (S42). If it is determined in S42 that a new audio file does not exist, a response (audio file RES) of no audio file and the number of remaining audio files (0) is returned (S43). Upon receiving this response, the portable device 10 returns to standby (S44).

  If it is determined in S42 that a new audio file exists, an audio file exists and a response (audio file RES) of the number of remaining audio files (n-1) is returned (S45). The number of remaining audio files (n-1) indicates the number of audio files remaining after the current download. Upon receiving this response, the mobile device 10 reads one of the remaining audio files, for example, the oldest remaining audio file, downloads and plays it, and updates the final DL FileID stored in the mobile device 10 .

  Next, it is determined whether the number of remaining audio files (n-1) is 0 or 1 or more (S47). If it is determined in S47 that the number of remaining audio files (n-1) is 1 or more, the process returns to S41 and the same operation is repeated. If it is determined that the number is 0, the process proceeds to S48 and returns to standby.

  As described above, the final DL FileID is stored in the mobile device 10, and the final DL FileID is included in the audio file REQ requesting download, thereby simplifying the audio file determination process according to the download on the server side. Can be

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of an operation image of the mobile device 10. (A) is the standby screen for the current date and time display, (b) is the PIN code input screen after starting the application, (c) is the display screen during transfer settings (user authentication), and (d) is the transfer screen The standby display screen after setting, (e) is the display screen for confirming the existence of undownloaded audio files and downloading audio files, (f) is the display screen while reading mail, (g) is the mail screen Each of the display screens on standby after completion of reading is shown.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention. In the first embodiment, the server system 40 including the speech synthesis engine 41 is provided separately from the mail server 20, but in the second embodiment, the server system function is provided in the mail server 30. In FIG. 4, the same or equivalent parts as in FIG.

  The operation of the system of FIG. 6 will be described. The mobile device 10 is preinstalled with an application that executes the following operation, and the mail server 20 can cope with it.

  First, in the mobile device 10, when an automatic mail reading application is activated from the standby state for normal operation (S1), the display screen becomes a personal identification number input screen. Here, when the user inputs a personal identification number, the input personal identification number is transmitted to the mail server 20 as a voice conversion command together with user-specific information held in the portable device. The personal identification number and the user-specific information are used for user authentication. The mail server 20 performs user authentication using the personal identification number and the user unique number transmitted from the mobile device 10. For this purpose, user information is registered in advance in the mail server or in another server.

  When the validity of the user is determined by the user authentication, the speech synthesis engine 41 in the mail server 20 is set to the operating state (S2). In this setting state, a copy of the new mail addressed to the mobile device 10 is given to the speech synthesis engine 41, and the speech synthesis engine 41 synthesizes the speech and converts it into analog speech, which is stored in the storage server 42 as a speech file. .

  As described above, even when the speech synthesis engine 41 is in an operating state, the mobile device 10 is in a standby state when a mail addressed to the mobile device 10 is not received from the Internet 30.

  During this standby, when a mail addressed to the mobile device 10 arrives from the Internet 30 to the mail server 20 (S3), the mail server 20 notifies the mobile device 10 of the incoming mail (S4) and sends the mail. Copy and give to the speech synthesis engine 41 (S5).

  The voice synthesis engine 41 synthesizes the voice and converts it into analog voice, and the storage server 42 stores the voice file from the voice synthesis engine 41 together with the destination for each mail (S6). The storage server 42 may be storage means that the mail server 20 originally has, or may be storage means provided separately from the mail server 30.

  When receiving the incoming notification from the mail server 20, the portable device 10 transmits new mail confirmation information to the mail server 20, and confirms that the voice file of the new mail addressed to its own portable device exists (S7).

  Here, if the existence of the voice file of the new mail is confirmed, the mobile device 10 reads the voice file from the storage server 42 of the mail server 20 and downloads it by packet communication (S8). During this time, the mobile device 10 is again checking the mail.

  When the portable device 10 downloads a voice file of a new mail from the mail server 20, the voice file is automatically read out. That is, an analog audio file is directly sent to the speaker for audio reproduction. If the reading of the audio file stored in the storage server 42 of the mail server 20 is completed or is canceled during reading, the mobile device 10 is on standby again and waits for an incoming new mail.

  Note that it is the same as in the first embodiment that the mobile device 10 considers that the voice file of the new mail is stored in the storage server 42 before the mobile device 10 reads the voice file. In addition, in order to be able to appropriately download undownloaded audio files remaining in the storage server 42, the mobile device 10 not only sends out an audio file request triggered by an incoming mail notification from the mail server 20, Similarly, it is preferable that an audio file request can be transmitted by a user operation.

  As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the mobile device automatically receives the voice file of the mail received from the Internet by starting the mail reading application in the mobile device in advance. Therefore, if the application is started in advance, the user can know the contents of the mail by voice without any operation thereafter.

  The speech synthesis engine 41 may be provided only in the server system 40 or the mail server 20, and a sufficient space for installing the advanced speech synthesis engine 41 with abundant resources can be secured there. This eliminates the need to install a special speech synthesis system in each portable device, realizes a high-quality mail read-out function, and changes the server system 40 and mail server 20 for function expansion. It can be dealt with easily.

  It should be noted that the content of the read-out mail can include a part that can be easily extracted from the mail and converted into a voice other than the mail body, for example, the destination and the number of attached files.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various deformation | transformation is possible. For example, in the above-described embodiment, an application for reading a mail on the mobile device 10 is activated and the voice file of the corresponding mail is generated and stored only after user authentication, but if the server resources are sufficient, You can always create and store audio files for emails. Even in this case, only the voice file of the incoming mail is downloaded while the mail reading application is running.

  Examples of application of the present invention are shown below. FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram when the present invention is applied to use in a kitchen. First, before cooking, launch this application on your mobile device and set it to a state where you can read new mail (A). Here, if there is a new mail, the content of the mail is automatically read out without any user operation (B). After cooking, if this application is terminated, the mobile device returns to the normal operating state (C).

  FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram when the present invention is applied to use in an automobile. First, before driving the car, start this application on the mobile device and set it to a state where new mail can be read out (A). Here, if there is a new mail, the content of the mail is automatically read out without any user operation (B). If this application is terminated after driving, the mobile device returns to the normal operating state (C). In this case, as shown in FIG. 3, a warning message is displayed so as not to operate the portable device during driving.

1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the system of FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows notionally audio | voice file storage operation | movement. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement of audio | voice file download. It is a figure which shows the specific example of the operation | movement image by the side of a portable apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a conceptual diagram at the time of applying this invention to the utilization in a kitchen. It is a conceptual diagram at the time of applying this invention to the utilization in a motor vehicle.

Explanation of symbols

10 ... mobile device, 20 ... mail server, 30 ... internet, 40 ... server system, 41 ... speech synthesis engine, 42 ... storage server

Claims (9)

A server provided on the network side and a portable device connectable to the server;
The server
A mail arrival notification means for notifying the arrival of an e-mail addressed to a mobile device;
A voice synthesis means for converting an e-mail addressed to a portable device into a voice file;
Storing means for storing the voice file converted by the voice synthesis means;
The portable device is
When receiving notification by the mail arrival notification means, recognizing that an undownloaded audio file addressed to the portable device exists in the storage means, and downloading the audio file by packet communication;
An e-mail reading system comprising means for automatically reading a downloaded audio file. A mail arrival notification means for notifying the arrival of an e-mail addressed to a mobile device;
A voice synthesis means for converting an e-mail addressed to a portable device into a voice file;
Storage means for storing the voice file converted by the voice synthesis means;
Control means for reading out an undownloaded audio file from the storage means and sending it to the portable device by packet communication in accordance with a download request sent from the portable device when receiving a notification by the mail arrival notification means. A server characterized by that. 3. The server according to claim 2, wherein the voice synthesizing unit converts an electronic mail addressed to the portable device into a voice file in accordance with a voice file storage request sent in advance from the portable device. The server according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the server is a mail server or a server different from the mail server. Recognizing that an undownloaded audio file of an e-mail addressed to the mobile device is present on the server when receiving an incoming mail notification from the server, means for downloading the audio file by packet communication;
A portable device comprising means for automatically reading a downloaded audio file. 6. The portable device according to claim 5, further comprising means for requesting a server to store an audio file of an electronic mail addressed to the portable device. A computer program that is installed in a mobile device and that reads out an e-mail addressed to the mobile device.
When receiving a mail arrival notification from the server, the mobile device recognizes that an undownloaded audio file exists in the server, and downloads the audio file by packet communication.
A computer program characterized by having a function of automatically reading a downloaded audio file. 8. The computer program according to claim 7, further comprising a function of requesting a server to store an audio file of an e-mail addressed to the portable device. An e-mail reading method that automatically reads a voice file of an e-mail addressed to the portable device on a portable device,
Notify incoming emails from the server to the mobile device, convert the emails to voice on the server side, and store the generated voice files
When the portable device receives the notification, the portable device recognizes that there is an undownloaded audio file on the server, downloads the audio file by packet communication, and downloads the downloaded audio file. An e-mail reading method characterized by automatically reading out e-mails.

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