JP2008046756A - Messaging method and portable terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a messaging method, enabling portable terminals which use different fonts to perform mutual transmission and display of text messages using such fonts, and a portable terminal therefor. <P>SOLUTION: The messaging method comprises steps of receiving input of a message using a predetermined font in a first portable terminal; extracting data of characters used in the input message from data of the predetermined font in the first portable terminal to form attached font data; transmitting the message and the attached font data from the first portable terminal; receiving the message and the attached font data in a second portable terminal; and displaying the message by use of the attached font data in the second portable terminal. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a messaging method and a mobile terminal.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, mobile phones are not only simple call tools, but also communication functions centered on text information such as e-mail, short message service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS), and instant message service (IMS). The number of cases where it is used as a means for utilizing is increasing. Mobile phones are also used as platforms for running various applications such as schedule books, address books, and games.

In mobile phones that are used for various purposes as described above, there is a need to use not only one type of font for displaying characters on the screen of the mobile phone, but also various fonts according to user preferences and use cases. There is. However, since the memory capacity of the mobile phone is limited, it is difficult to pre-install various fonts from the beginning like a PC. On the other hand, if various font data is uploaded to the operator server and the mobile phone user downloads his / her favorite font from here, the consumption of the mobile phone memory is suppressed, The way to use various fonts can be opened to the user. As techniques for distributing fonts that are not built in the mobile phone body from the server in this manner, JP 2003-114844 A and JP 2005-157891 A can be cited.
JP 2003-114844 A JP 2005-157891 A

  However, as described above, when an individual mobile phone user downloads and uses his / her favorite font data, for example, if the font to be used in the e-mail function is not built in the destination mobile phone, There may be cases where it cannot be displayed in the same way as the sender. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-114844 discloses a method of downloading a pictograph from a server to a mobile phone that has received a pictograph that is not built in. In such a method, an attempt is made to display mail outside the service area after reception. In other cases, there is a problem that a seamless service cannot be provided because one step of work increases to download pictograms.

  In view of such problems, the present invention provides a messaging method and a mobile phone capable of transmitting and displaying text messages using such fonts even when individual mobile phones use different fonts. The purpose is to provide a terminal.

  In order to solve the above problem, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a message using a predetermined font is transmitted from the first portable terminal, and received and received by the second portable terminal that does not have the font. A messaging method for displaying, wherein the first portable terminal accepts an input of a message using the predetermined font; and the message input from the predetermined font data on the first portable terminal Extracting the character data used in the process to form attached font data; transmitting the message and the attached font data from the first portable terminal; and the message at the second portable terminal And receiving the attached font data, and using the attached font data in the second portable terminal Messaging method characterized by a step of displaying the serial message is provided.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, a font adding unit for adding custom font data not pre-installed to the mobile terminal, and a message for receiving a user input and generating a message using the custom font A generating unit; a font extracting unit that extracts character data included in the message generated by the message generating unit from custom font data to form attached font data; and a message transmitting unit that transmits the attached font data together with the message And a message transmission unit that receives the attached font data together with the message, and the message display unit displays a message with the attached font data, using the custom font data included in the attached font data. Message Mobile terminal characterized by comprising a display screen generation unit that generates a display screen is provided.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a message using a predetermined font is transmitted, an attached file obtained by extracting font data used in the message is transmitted at the same time. Since the message is displayed using the font data, even if each mobile phone uses different fonts, text messages using such fonts can be sent to each other and displayed. . Further, since only the font data actually used for the message is transmitted instead of transmitting the entire font data, the increase in the amount of communication can be minimized. Furthermore, it is not necessary to download font data separately from mail reception.

  Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, when a message using a custom font is transmitted from a mobile terminal provided with a font adding means for adding custom font data that is not pre-installed, Since character data used in the message is extracted and attached to the message, even if the destination mobile device does not download the same custom font, it can be displayed on the screen in the same way as the source mobile device it can. In this case as well, the increase in communication amount is minimal, and there is no need to separately download font data, and a seamless service can be provided.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile terminal 100 includes a control unit 101, an input unit 102, a display unit 103, a storage unit 104, and a communication unit 105. The control unit 101 realizes various functions in the portable terminal 100 by executing a predetermined program by the processor, and the various functions to be implemented will be described in detail later. The input unit 102 is an input device such as a keypad, and provides input contents to each functional block of the control unit 101. The display unit 103 is composed of a display device such as an LCD or an organic EL, and displays information output from the control unit 101. The storage unit 104 is provided on a memory connected to the control unit 101, and stores various data to be used by the control unit 101. The communication unit 105 connects the mobile terminal 100 to a network such as a mobile communication network and performs predetermined communication. A mobile phone terminal is a typical example of such a mobile terminal 100, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a PHS terminal connected to a PHS network or a PDA connected to a public WiFi network can be used. It may be a device, and may be a navigation system or the like having a communication function.

  Hereinafter, each functional block realized by the control unit 101 will be described. The mail generation unit 111 displays a UI for inputting a message on the display unit 103, edits the message according to the content input by the user from the input unit 102, and stores the generated mail data in the mail storage unit of the storage unit 104 122 has a function of storing the data. The mail generation unit has a function of creating not only a normal mail but also an HTML mail. In the case of an HTML mail, a custom font (to be described later) can be designated by a font tag.

  When the mail cutout unit 112 creates an HTML mail in which the custom font is specified by a font tag in the mail generation unit 111, the font cutout unit 112 obtains the font data of the character using the custom font from the custom font data 126 stored in the font storage unit 121. It has a function of extracting and making attached font data. The generated attached font data is delivered to the mail generation unit 111, converted into text by MIME or BASE 64, embedded in the mail data 130, and stored in the mail storage unit 122 of the storage unit 104.

  The mail transmission unit 113 has a function of transmitting mail data created by the mail generation unit 111 to another mobile terminal or the like via the communication unit 105. In addition, the mail receiving unit 114 has a function of receiving mail transmitted from another mobile terminal or the like to the mobile terminal 100. The mail data received by the mail receiving unit 114 is collectively stored in the mail storage unit 122 of the storage unit 104 (not shown in FIG. 1; the same applies to the mail data transmitted by the mail transmitting unit 113).

  The display screen generating unit 115 has a function of generating a display screen for displaying the mail received by the mail receiving unit 114 on the display unit 103. The mail receiving unit 113 specifies not only a text mail but also an HTML mail using an HTML tag, a custom font using a font tag among HTML tags, and an HTML mail in which attached font data is embedded (hereinafter referred to as a custom font). Display screen) can be generated. That is, it has not only a screen for displaying text mail in a predetermined format, but also a function for generating a screen that is rendered by interpreting HTML mail tags. In these cases, the display screen generation unit 115 generates a display screen by arranging font images generated by referring to the standard font data 125 by the font engine 116 described later in a predetermined format for text mail. In the case of HTML mail, a display screen is generated by arranging in an HTML tag format. On the other hand, in the case of custom font mail, the font engine 116 generates a custom font image to be used by referring to the attached font data 131 embedded in the mail data 130, and uses this as standard. A display screen is generated in combination with the font image generated with reference to the font data 125.

  Next, the font engine 116 will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing basic functions of the font engine. That is, when the font engine receives information on the typeface, character code, and character modification information (italic, bold, etc.), the font engine obtains the font data of the character code from the font data set of the typeface with reference to the font data. An image capable of displaying the character is returned from the acquired font data and character modification information. There are various font formats such as bitmap fonts and outline fonts, and the processing performed by the font engine differs depending on the font format. For example, in the case of a bitmap font, a numerical combination of dot combinations is stored as font data, and the font engine converts the numerical values into dot combinations to generate a font image. In the case of an outline font, the font outline is stored as font data in the form of a secondary spline curve, a cubic Bezier curve, etc., and the font engine draws the outline according to the specified size, A font image is generated by filling the outline.

  The font engine 116 in the present embodiment basically generates a font image with reference to the pre-installed standard font data 125 stored in the font storage unit 121, but the custom font data 126 is generated by a font addition unit described later. When added to the font storage unit 121, it is possible to switch between the standard font data 125 and the custom font data 126 by designating a typeface or the like and generate respective font images. Furthermore, when the display screen generation unit 115 generates a custom font mail display screen, the font engine 116 refers to the attached font data 131 embedded in the mail data 130 of the custom font mail, and the font of the custom font. It has a function to generate images. In order to reduce the processing overhead of the font engine 116, the font engine 116 may have a cache for accumulating and reusing the generated font image. However, in the case where the cache is provided, the font generated from the attached font data embedded in the custom font mail may not be cached from the viewpoint of securing the copyright of the custom font.

  The font adding unit 117 has a function of adding a font to the mobile terminal 100. There are no particular restrictions on the specific method of adding fonts, but for example, a list of fonts that can be used from a server connected to the network with which the mobile terminal 100 communicates is provided, and the user matches his / her preference among them. A method of selecting a font and downloading data of the font can be mentioned. The custom font data 126 added by the font adding unit 117 in this way is stored in the font storage unit 121 together with the standard font data 125 and used for the font engine 116.

  Hereinafter, processing for transmitting custom font mail using the mobile terminal 100 according to the present embodiment and processing for receiving and displaying the custom font mail will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. .

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart of processing for creating and sending a custom font mail using the mobile terminal 100. In this process, first, the mail generation unit 111 displays a mail editing screen on the display unit 103, accepts an input from the input unit 102 by the user, and creates a custom font mail message (ST101). Here, since custom font mail specifies fonts and formats using HTML tags, buttons for easily inputting these tags may be provided on the mail editing screen.

  When the message creation is completed, the font cutout unit 112 extracts the font data of the character for which the custom font is specified in the message created from the custom font data 126, and generates the attached font data 131 (ST102). The attached font data 131 has a data format in which a custom font image can be generated for each character code by referring to the font engine 116.

  Next, the attached font data 131 generated by the mail generation unit 111 is encoded with MIME or the like and embedded in the message, thereby generating mail data 130 (ST103). The generated mail data 130 is stored in the mail storage unit 122. Thereafter, the created mail data 130 is transmitted by the mail transmission unit 113 via the communication unit 105.

  Through the processing described above, when a custom font mail designating a custom font is input, the mobile terminal 100 automatically generates the attached font data 131 from the custom font data of the character designating the custom font mail. Is sent as mail data 130 embedded in the message.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart of processing until the custom font mail is received and displayed by the mobile terminal 100. In this process, first, the mail receiving unit 114 of the portable terminal 100 receives the mail data 130 in which the attached font data 131 is embedded (ST201), and the user instructs the display of the received mail data 130 (ST202). Be started.

  When the display of the mail data 130 is instructed, the display screen generation unit 115 reads the content of the received mail data 130 (ST203), and specifies the font data used to display the mail data 130 (ST204). Specifically, the character code of each character used in the mail data 130, the font type used to display the character, and character modification information such as bold and italic are specified.

  The font data specified above is transferred to the font engine 116, and the font engine 116 then prepares an image of the specified font (ST205). The process in ST205 will be described in detail later.

  Thereafter, the display screen generation unit 115 generates a display screen of the mail data 130 using the prepared font image (ST206). Here, a display screen is generated by interpreting an HTML tag included in the mail data and arranging font images prepared by the font engine. By displaying the display screen generated in this manner on the display unit 103, a series of processing ends.

  Through the processing as described above, the portable terminal 100 displays the contents as displayed at the transmission source even if it is a custom font mail designating a custom font that the own device does not have in the font storage unit 121. Can be displayed.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart expressing the process in ST205 shown in FIG. 4 in more detail. This process is started when the font engine 116 acquires information on the font specified by the display screen generation unit 115 (font typeface, character code, character modification information) (ST301).

  Next, the font engine 116 obtains the font information for the first character from the series of income font information (ST302), and determines whether the font is a custom font added to the transmission source mobile terminal (ST303). ). If the font is not a custom font, the font engine 116 refers to the standard font data 125 stored in the font storage unit 121 to generate a font image (ST304). On the other hand, if it is determined that the font is a custom font, the font engine 116 refers to the attached font data 131 embedded in the mail data 130 to generate a font image (ST305). The font image generated by the font engine 116 is stored and accumulated in the work area or cache of the font engine 116 (ST306), and it is then determined whether the character that generated the font image is the last character (ST307). If it is not determined that the character is the last character, the font engine 116 obtains the font information for the next character (ST308), and the processing after ST303 is repeated. If it is determined that the character is the last character, the process ends, and the process proceeds to ST206 and subsequent processes in FIG.

  By such processing, the font engine 116 can generate a font image used for displaying the font even if the font engine 116 uses a font that does not have font data in the custom font mail. Yes.

  As described above, according to the mobile phone of this embodiment, even when individual mobile phones use different fonts, messages using such fonts can be transmitted and displayed. Further, since only the font data actually used for the message is transmitted instead of transmitting the entire font data, the increase in the amount of communication can be minimized. Furthermore, since it is not necessary to download font data separately from mail reception, a seamless service can be provided.

  Also, in this embodiment, when each mobile phone uses different fonts, it is assumed that the mobile terminal has a function for adding data of custom fonts that are not pre-installed, and custom fonts that use custom fonts are used. When sending font mail, the custom font data used is always attached. Such a configuration is not essential. For example, when it can be confirmed that the same custom font is downloaded in the portable terminal of the transmission destination, the font data may not be attached. However, in this case, a procedure for confirming fonts that can be used by the mobile terminal of the transmission destination is required, and this procedure cannot be denied as an overhead. On the other hand, the overhead can be omitted if the custom font data is always attached as in the present embodiment.

  The embodiment of the present invention has been described above, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it is needless to say that various improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, if the configuration of the font engine 116 ′ is as shown in FIG. 6, the selector 121 uses the bitmap font engine 122 corresponding to the bitmap font data and the rasterizer 123 corresponding to the outline font data. In addition, a bitmap font can be used as a standard font, and an outline font can be used as a custom font. If the font engine can be added later, a wider variety of fonts can be used. In addition, when different types of font data are used properly, a plurality of rasterizers may be installed, or rasterizers corresponding to new format font data may be added. The font engine or rasterizer can be added on demand when displaying unsupported font data.

  In this embodiment, the custom font data is attached and delivered to the destination. However, the font image is generated from the custom font data on the mobile terminal of the transmission source, and the generated font image is attached to the message. You may make it transmit. In this case, the amount of data communication will increase slightly, but the processing will be lighter because there is no need to generate a font image on the destination mobile terminal, and the same font data is supported at the source and destination. The advantage is that you don't have to have a special font engine.

  Furthermore, the scope of application of the present invention is not limited to mail, but is generally applicable to communication functions centered on text information such as short message service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS), and instant message service (IMS). It can be widely applied.

It is a functional block diagram of the portable terminal 100 concerning one embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the general function of a font engine. 10 is a flowchart of processing for creating and sending a custom font mail using the mobile terminal 100. 5 is a flowchart of processing until a custom font mail is received and displayed by the mobile terminal 100. 5 is a flowchart expressing the process in ST205 shown in FIG. 4 in more detail. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure and function of font engine 116 'concerning a modification.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Portable terminal 101 ... Control part 102 ... Input part 103 ... Display part 104 ... Memory | storage part 105 ... Communication part.

Claims (2)

A messaging method for transmitting a message using a predetermined font from a first mobile terminal and receiving and displaying the message on a second mobile terminal not having the font,
Receiving an input of a message using the predetermined font in the first portable terminal;
Extracting character data used in a message input from the data of the predetermined font in the first portable terminal to form attached font data;
Transmitting the message and the attached font data from the first portable terminal;
Receiving the message and the attached font data at the second portable terminal;
Displaying the message using the attached font data on the second portable terminal;
A messaging method comprising: A font adder that adds custom font data that is not pre-installed to the mobile
A message generator that accepts user input and generates a message using the custom font;
A font cutout unit that extracts character data included in the message generated by the message generation unit from the custom font data and forms attached font data;
A message transmission unit that transmits the attached font data together with the message;
A message transmission unit that receives the attached font data together with the message;
When the message display unit displays a message with attached font data, the message display unit includes a display screen generation unit that generates a display screen of the message using data of a custom font included in the attached font data. A featured mobile terminal.

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