JP2014056334A - Message receiving device, terminal device, translation necessity determination method and message translation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To determine whether or not translation of a message included in message data is necessary, without advanced registration of transmission destination information on the message data and a use language.SOLUTION: A message translation server 20 receives e-mail which includes code information showing a character code, a message written by using a language corresponding to the character code, and a transmission destination address from a transmission source terminal 10a (S602). The message translation server 20 inquires a use language to a transmission destination terminal 10b by using the transmission destination address and identifies the use language of the transmission destination terminal 10b (S604, S606). On the basis of a result of analysis of the code information, when a language used for writing the message is not matched with the use language of the transmission destination terminal 10b, the message translation server 20 performs transmission processing into the use language of the message (S608 → S610;YES → S614). When they are matched, the message translation server 20 does not perform the translation processing (S608 → S610;NO → S612).

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for determining whether or not it is necessary to translate a message written in an arbitrary language.

  As globalization progresses, various languages are used in messages exchanged using message data such as e-mail. For example, if the language used is different between the user at the transmission source and the user at the transmission destination, the message from the user at the transmission source may not be understood by the user at the transmission destination. If there is a service that is automatically translated, it is convenient for both the transmission source user and the transmission destination user. For example, Patent Document 1 stores a destination mail address and information indicating the language used by the destination user in association with each other, and when sending an e-mail to this destination mail address, A technology for automatic translation into the language used is disclosed.

JP 2011-141750 A

However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to store in advance a destination mail address and information indicating the language used by the destination user in association with each other. Therefore, the technique described in Patent Document 1 has a problem that it is not possible to automatically translate a partner who transmits an e-mail for the first time. Further, even when the destination user changes the email address, it cannot be automatically translated into the language used by the destination user, and it is necessary to re-register a new email address and information indicating the language used. .
In order to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to determine whether or not it is necessary to translate a message included in message data without pre-registering the destination information of the message data and the language used. .

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the message receiving apparatus of the present invention includes code information indicating a character code, a message described using a language corresponding to the character code, and transmission destination information indicating a transmission destination terminal. Receiving means for receiving message data, analyzing means for analyzing the code information, specifying means for specifying a language used in the destination terminal, and based on the analysis result of the code information by the analyzing means, the message The language used for the description of the message is identified, and if the language used for the description of the message does not match the language used by the identifying means, it is determined that the message is to be translated, and the determination result is Determining means for outputting the information to be indicated.

  In the message receiving apparatus of the present invention, the determination unit acquires a byte sequence from the message when the character code corresponds to a plurality of languages based on the analysis result of the analysis unit, and the acquired byte sequence represents You may make it identify the language used for description of the said message based on a character.

  The message receiving device of the present invention has character string storage means for storing character strings corresponding to each language of a plurality of languages, and the determination means stores the character string included in the message in the character string storage means. If the character string matches, the message may be described in a language corresponding to the character string.

  In the message receiving apparatus of the present invention, when the translation means for translating the message into the language to be used and the determination means determine that the translation is to be performed, the message data translated by the translation means is the destination information And transmitting means for transmitting untranslated message data to the destination terminal indicated by the destination information when the judgment means does not determine that the translation is to be performed. You may do it.

  A terminal device according to the present invention is a terminal device that receives message data including a message described using a predetermined language and communicates with a message receiving server that determines whether or not the received message needs to be translated into another language. The language used for storing information indicating the language used in the terminal device; and when there is an inquiry about the language used from the message receiving server, based on the information stored in the language used for storage, A reply means for replying the language used to the message receiving server; a language used by the reply means; a language used for describing the message included in the message data addressed to the terminal device received by the message receiving server; And the receiving means for receiving message data obtained by translating the message into the language used. .

In the terminal device according to the present invention, the used language storage means may store the information according to the language used in the message data already transmitted by the terminal device.
In the terminal device according to the present invention, the use language storage means stores information indicating the language used in the message data transmitted by the terminal device in association with the destination information of the message data, and the reply means Receiving an inquiry about the language used together with the message data transmission source information from the message receiving server, and determining the language used for replying to the message receiving server by comparing the transmission source information with the transmission destination information. May be.

  The translation necessity determination method of the present invention receives message data including code information indicating a character code, a message described using a language corresponding to the character code, and transmission destination information indicating a transmission destination terminal. A step of analyzing the code information; a step of specifying a language used in the destination terminal; and a language used in the description of the message based on an analysis result of the code information, When the language used for describing the message does not match the specified language used, it is determined that the message is to be translated, and information indicating the determination result is output.

  The message translation system according to the present invention is a message translation system including a message receiving server and a terminal device, and the message receiving server is described using code information indicating a character code and a language corresponding to the character code. Receiving means for receiving message data including destination information indicating the destination message, destination information indicating the destination terminal, analysis means for analyzing the code information, specifying means for specifying a language used in the destination terminal, Based on the analysis result of the code information by the analysis means, the language used for the description of the message is specified, and the language used for the description of the message does not match the language used by the specification means And determining means for determining that the message is to be translated and outputting information indicating the determination result, the terminal device The language used for storing information indicating the language used in the terminal device, and when there is an inquiry about the language used by the specifying unit, based on the information stored in the language used storage unit, When the answering means for replying the language used to the message receiving server, the language used by the answering means, and the language used in the description of the message included in the message data addressed to the own terminal device do not match. Receiving means for receiving message data obtained by translating the message into the language used.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to determine whether or not it is necessary to translate a message included in message data without pre-registering the destination information of the message data and the language used.

The figure which shows the whole structure of a message delivery system. The block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of a terminal device. The block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of a message translation server. The function block diagram of a terminal device and a message translation server. The sequence diagram which shows the flow of the whole process of a message translation system. Explanatory drawing of the flow of the data regarding an email. The flowchart which shows the flow of a translation necessity judgment process.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a mode in which the message translation system of the present invention is applied to a system that handles electronic mail as message data will be described.
[Constitution]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the message translation system 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the message translation system 1 includes a plurality of terminal devices 10, a message translation server 20, and a network 30. The plurality of terminal devices 10 and the message translation server 20 communicate with each other via the network 30. The network 30 is a communication network exemplified by a mobile communication network, a gateway, and the Internet, for example.

  Each of the plurality of terminal devices 10 is a device that can send and receive electronic mail. The terminal device 10 includes, for example, a mobile phone, a smartphone, a notebook PC (Personal Computer), a touch pad PC, a desktop PC, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a game machine having a communication function, and a television having a communication function. John et al. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the terminal device 10 is a mobile phone. Among the plurality of terminal devices 10, the terminal device 10 that is the transmission source of the e-mail is referred to as “transmission source terminal 10 a”, and the terminal device 10 that is the e-mail transmission destination (that is, the e-mail receiving terminal) is Terminal 10b ". The message translation server 20 is a server device that receives an electronic mail transmitted from the transmission source terminal 10a and transmits the received electronic mail to the transmission destination terminal 10b specified by the transmission destination address. The message translation server 20 functions as a message receiving server (message receiving device) that receives an e-mail transmitted from the transmission source terminal 10a to the transmission destination terminal 10b. Perform translation processing to translate into language. This message includes, for example, the subject of an electronic mail (also called a title or a subject) and the characters that make up the body.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the terminal device 10. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the terminal device 10 is a computer device that includes a control unit 110, an input unit 120, a display unit 130, a storage unit 140, and a communication unit 150.
The control unit 110 includes a microcomputer having a central processing unit (CPU), a read only memory (ROM), and a random access memory (RAM). The CPU controls each device of the terminal device 10 by executing a program stored in the ROM or the storage unit 140 using the RAM as a work area. The input unit 120 includes operation elements such as a plurality of operation keys and touch sensors, and supplies an operation signal to the control unit 110 according to an operation input by the user. The control unit 110 performs processing according to the operation signal supplied from the input unit 120. The display unit 130 includes, for example, a liquid crystal display, and displays images including various screens according to the control of the control unit 110. The storage unit 140 includes a storage device such as an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), and stores a program executed by the control unit 110. The communication unit 150 includes a communication circuit for connecting to and communicating with the network 30 and communicates with other devices via the network 30.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the message translation server 20. As shown in FIG. 3, the message translation server 20 is a computer device that includes a control unit 210, a storage unit 220, and a communication unit 230.
The communication unit 230 includes a communication circuit for connecting to and communicating with the network 30, and communicates with the terminal device 10 via the network 30. The storage unit 220 is a storage unit exemplified by a flash memory or a hard disk device, for example, and stores data, programs, and the like used for control by the control unit 210. The control unit 210 includes a microcomputer having a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM (Random Access Memory). The CPU controls each device of the message translation server 20 by executing a program stored in the ROM or the storage unit 220 using the RAM as a work area.

Next, functions realized by the terminal device 10 and the message translation server 20 will be described. FIG. 4 is a functional configuration diagram of the terminal device 10 and the message translation server 20. The terminal device 10 includes a transmission / reception unit 410, a message data creation unit 420, a use language storage unit 430, and a use language answer unit 440 as functions.
The used language storage unit 430 functions as a used language storage unit that stores information indicating the language used in the terminal device 10 (hereinafter referred to as “language information”). Here, the language information stored in the language-of-use storage unit 430 is information indicating the classification of natural languages used by humans such as Japanese, English, and Chinese in conversations and documents. In addition, the use language storage unit 430 typically stores language information indicating the use language of the user who owns the terminal device 10, but the user can input any information via the input unit 120. Language information can be stored using the language (the language that the user wants to translate) as the language used.

The message data creation unit 420 accepts an operation input by the user of the terminal device 10, and transmits a message including characters such as a subject and a body, code information indicating a character code used to describe the message, and transmission of an e-mail An e-mail (message data) including a destination address as destination information is created. The transmission / reception unit 410 functions as a transmission unit that transmits the email created by the message data creation unit 420 to the transmission destination terminal 10b specified by the transmission destination address, and is transmitted to the terminal device 10 by another device. It functions as a receiving means for receiving electronic mail.
The language used answering unit 440 responds to the message translation server 20 by answering the language used based on the language information stored in the language used storage unit 430 when there is an inquiry about the language used from the message translation server 20. Function.

The message translation server 20 includes, as functions, a transmission / reception unit 510, a character code analysis unit 515, a translation necessity determination unit 520, a message translation unit 530, a translation dictionary storage unit 540, and a use language specifying unit 550. Yes.
The transmission / reception unit 510 functions as a reception unit that receives an electronic mail transmitted from the transmission source terminal 10a, and also functions as a transmission unit that transmits the received electronic mail to the transmission destination terminal 10b specified by the transmission destination address. . The used language specifying unit 550 functions as a specifying unit that inquires of the destination terminal 10b about the used language through communication using the destination address and specifies the used language at the destination terminal 10b.

The character code analysis unit 515 functions as an analysis unit that analyzes code information included in the electronic mail received by the transmission / reception unit 510. The character code indicated by the code information corresponds to an encoding method (character encoding method) when each character is represented in bytes in order to use the character on the computer device. The characters constituting the e-mail message are determined by the character code and byte representation specified in the e-mail. As this character code, there are various character codes such as JIS code and Unicode. In addition, character codes correspond to a single language, and there are character codes used uniquely for each language and character codes corresponding to a plurality of languages. For example, the JIS code is a character code corresponding only to Japanese. For example, Unicode is a character code corresponding to a plurality of languages such as Japanese and English. For example, the character code analysis unit 515 analyzes the following descriptions (1) to (3) included in the header portion of the e-mail as code information. The character code analysis unit 515 analyzes the code information and obtains an analysis result indicating what is the character code used in the description of the e-mail message.
(1) For JIS code: charset = "ISO 2022-JP"
(2) For Unicode (UTF-8): charset = "UTF-8"
(3) For ASCII code: charset = "US-ASCII"

  The translation necessity determination unit 520 functions as a determination unit that determines whether or not the translation processing for the electronic mail is necessary based on the analysis result of the code information by the character code analysis unit 515 and outputs information indicating the determination result. If the language used for describing the message included in the e-mail does not match the language used in the destination terminal 10b specified by the language specification unit 550, the translation necessity determination unit 520 performs the translation process. Judge that it will be implemented. When it is determined that translation processing is to be performed, the translation necessity determination unit 520 outputs at least a message included in the e-mail to the message translation unit 530 as information indicating the determination result. On the other hand, the translation necessity determination unit 520 determines that the translation process is not performed when the language used in the description of the e-mail matches the language used in the transmission destination terminal 10b.

  The translation dictionary storage unit 540 stores a translation dictionary (dictionary data) used when the message translation unit 530 performs translation processing. Based on the translation dictionary stored in the translation dictionary storage unit 540, the message translation unit 530 translates the message included in the email supplied from the translation necessity determination unit 520 into the language used in the destination terminal 10b. A well-known method can be used about the translation process which the message translation part 530 performs, and the structure of a translation dictionary.

[Operation]
FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing the overall processing flow of the message translation system 1. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the flow of data related to electronic mail in the message translation system 1.
First, the user of the transmission source terminal 10a inputs an operation to the transmission source terminal 10a to create an e-mail. When the transmission source terminal 10a creates an email including code information indicating a character code, a message described in a language corresponding to the character code, and a transmission destination address, the created email is sent to the message translation server 20. Transmit (step S602). Here, as represented by an arrow a in FIG. 6, it is assumed here that the transmission source terminal 10a has transmitted an electronic mail using Japanese. In addition, this e-mail includes a message “Tomorrow”. The electronic mail transmitted from the transmission source terminal 10 a is transferred to the message translation server 20 via the network 30.

When the message translation server 20 receives an electronic mail from the transmission source terminal 10a, the message translation server 20 specifies a transmission destination address included in the received electronic mail. Then, the message translation server 20 inquires the language to be used for the destination terminal 10b indicated by the identified destination address (step S604). For example, the message translation server 20 transmits an inquiry request for the language in use specifying the transmission destination address to the transmission destination terminal 10b. When the destination terminal 10b receives an inquiry about the language used from the message translation server 20, the destination terminal 10b reads the language information from the storage unit 140, and replies the language used to the message translation server 20 based on the read language information ( Step S606).
In addition, although the content of the specific process of the inquiry and reply of a use language in step S604 and S606 is not ask | required, when the transmission destination terminal 10b voluntarily replies the use language in response to the inquiry request, It is desirable that there is no user operation or little user operation on the destination terminal 10b.

  When the message translation server 20 receives an answer in the language used from the destination terminal 10b, the message translation server 20 executes a translation necessity determination process (step S608). The translation necessity judgment process is a process for judging whether or not the translation process is necessary for the email based on the difference between the language used for the description of the email message and the language used in the destination terminal 10b. is there. Briefly describing the translation necessity determination process, the message translation server 20 determines that the translation process is not performed when the language used in the description of the message matches the language used in the destination terminal 10b. . On the other hand, the message translation server 20 determines that the translation process is to be performed when the language used for describing the message is different from the language used in the destination terminal 10b. A detailed procedure of the translation necessity determination process will be described later.

  Next, the message translation server 20 determines whether or not to perform translation processing on the e-mail based on the result of the translation necessity determination processing (step S610). If the message translation server 20 determines that the translation process is not necessary based on the result of the translation necessity determination process (step S610; NO), the message translation server 20 translates the electronic mail received from the transmission source terminal 10a. Without performing the above, the electronic mail is transmitted (transferred) to the destination terminal 10b designated by the destination address (step S612). In this case, the message translation server 20 transmits an e-mail containing the original Japanese message to the destination terminal 10b as indicated by an arrow b in FIG. This e-mail contains a Japanese message “Ashita”.

On the other hand, if the message translation server 20 determines that it is necessary to perform translation processing (step S610; YES), the message translation server 20 performs translation processing on the email received from the transmission source terminal 10a (step S614). Then, the message translation server 20 sends the translated email to the destination terminal 10b (step S616). For example, when the language used in the transmission destination terminal 10b is English, the message translation server 20 transmits an e-mail including an English message as a translated sentence to the transmission destination terminal 10b as represented by an arrow c in FIG. To do. This e-mail includes a message “tomorrow” translated from Japanese tomorrow into English.
Even if the language used at the destination terminal 10b is other than English, the message translation server 20 sends an email containing the message translated into the language used to the destination terminal 10b unless the language used is Japanese. Send. Further, in the process of step S614, the message translation server 20 may send an e-mail describing only the translated message to the destination terminal 10b, or describe both the original message and the translated message. The sent e-mail may be transmitted to the destination terminal 10b.

Next, the procedure of the translation necessity determination process in step S608 will be described in detail.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of the translation necessity determination process of the message translation system 1.
First, the message translation server 20 analyzes the code information included in the electronic mail received from the transmission source terminal 10a (step S702). Here, the message translation server 20 analyzes the code information included in the header portion of the email. Then, the message translation server 20 determines whether or not the character code indicated by the code information corresponds to the language used in the transmission destination terminal 10b (step S704). For example, the message translation server 20 stores in advance a list describing a correspondence relationship between a character code and a language in which the character can be expressed by the character code, and the code included in the e-mail is referred to this list. It is determined whether the character code indicated by the information corresponds to the language used in the destination terminal 10b. For example, if the code information indicates a JIS code as a character code, the message translation server 20 determines that the character code corresponds to Japanese, and if the code information indicates Unicode as the character code, the message translation server 20. Determines that the character code corresponds to Japanese or English.

  If the message translation server 20 determines that the character code used in the e-mail does not correspond to the language used in the destination terminal 10b based on the analysis result of the process in step S702 (step S704; NO) ), It is determined that translation processing for the electronic mail is to be performed (step S714). The fact that the character code used in the e-mail does not correspond to the language used in the destination terminal 10b means that the language used for describing the message included in the e-mail and the language used in the destination terminal 10b are different. This means that they do not match.

  On the other hand, if the message translation server 20 determines that the character code used in the e-mail corresponds to the language used in the destination terminal 10b (step S704; YES), the message translation server 20 proceeds to the process of step S706. At this stage, there is a possibility that the language used for the description of the message and the language used in the destination terminal 10b may match, but it is not determined whether or not both languages match.

  Next, the message translation server 20 determines whether or not the character code indicated by the code information corresponds to a plurality of languages based on the analysis result of the process of step S702 (step S706). If the message translation server 20 determines that the character code does not correspond to a plurality of languages (step S706; NO), the message translation server 20 determines not to perform translation processing on the e-mail (step S712). The fact that the message translation server 20 has determined “NO” in the process of step S706 means that the character code used in the electronic mail corresponds to a single character code. Furthermore, since the message translation server 20 determines in step S704 that the character code used in the e-mail corresponds to the language used in the destination terminal 10b, at this stage, the description of the e-mail message is described. That is, it is determined that the language used for the message matches the language used in the destination terminal 10b. For this reason, if the message translation server 20 determines “NO” in the process of step S706, it determines that the translation process is not performed. For example, when the e-mail represented by the arrow a in FIG. 6 is described using a JIS code as a character code and the language used in the destination terminal 10b is Japanese, the message translation server 20 Step S704: YES → Step S706; NO → Step S712 is executed.

If the message translation server 20 determines that the character code corresponds to a plurality of languages (step S706; YES), the message translation server 20 proceeds to the process of step S708. Then, the message translation server 20 acquires a predetermined number (for example, one character) of a byte string from the beginning of the body of the message included in the e-mail (step S708). Then, the message translation server 20 determines whether or not the character represented by the acquired byte string is used in the language used in the transmission destination terminal 10b (step S710). For example, it is assumed that the character code is UTF-16 and the acquired byte string is “3042” in hexadecimal notation. In the code system in which the character code is UTF-16, the character code included in the range of “3040” to “309F” corresponds to Hiragana. Therefore, the message translation server 20 specifies that the message is described in Japanese if the character code is UTF-16 and “3042” is included in the body of the message.
Thus, even when the character code used in the e-mail is compatible with a plurality of languages, the message translation server 20 determines the relationship between the character code and the byte string representing the character included in the message. By referring to the language, the language used to describe the message can be specified.

Even in a language other than Japanese, the message translation server 20 can identify what language is used for the e-mail by referring to the relationship between the character code and the byte string. However, when the character represented by the byte sequence acquired by the message translation server 20 is used in a plurality of languages (specifically, Japanese and Chinese) such as kanji, it is used for describing the message. Language cannot be uniquely identified. In this case, the message translation server 20 acquires a byte string corresponding to a plurality of characters (for example, 10 characters), and uses characters used in a single language (for example, hiragana in Japanese or simplified characters in Chinese). The language used to describe the message may be specified based on the byte sequence corresponding to (). If the message translation server 20 cannot identify the language used in the description of the message even after acquiring byte strings corresponding to a plurality of characters, the message translation server 20 also acquires byte strings corresponding to the plurality of characters to obtain the same It may be specified, or it may be determined whether or not the language used in the transmission destination terminal 10b is used based on the plurality of specified languages.
Note that in the process of step S708, the message translation server 20 may acquire a byte string starting from a position other than the beginning of the message body, or may acquire a byte string corresponding to the subject.

If the message translation server 20 determines in the process of step S710 that the character represented by the acquired byte string is not used in the language used in the destination terminal 10b (step S710; NO), the message translation server 20 performs the process of step S714. It is determined that the translation processing for the e-mail is performed. On the other hand, when the message translation server 20 determines that the character represented by the acquired byte string is used in the language used in the transmission destination terminal 10b (step S710; YES), the message translation server 20 performs e-mail processing in step S712. It is determined that no translation process will be performed.
The message translation server 20 determines whether or not to perform the translation process in the process of step S610 depending on whether step S712 or S714 is executed.

According to the message translation system 1 described above, the message translation server 20 inquires of the destination terminal 10b about the language used before sending an e-mail to the destination terminal 10b, and based on the language used at the destination terminal 10b. Then, it is determined whether or not translation processing for the e-mail is necessary. As a result, the message translation server 20 can appropriately determine whether or not the translation processing needs to be performed without previously storing the destination address and the language used by the destination user in association with each other. In addition, according to the message translation system 1, whether or not automatic translation is necessary is appropriately determined even when an e-mail is transmitted to a party to whom an e-mail is transmitted for the first time, or even when a destination user changes an e-mail address. Judgment can be made.
In addition, the message translation server 20 can first determine the difference between the language used to describe the e-mail message and the language used in the destination terminal 10b based on the character code, and determine the language used based only on the character code. If not, refer to the message to determine the language used. Thereby, the opportunity for the message translation server 20 to refer to the content of the message sent from the transmission source terminal 10a to the transmission destination terminal 10b can be reduced.

[Modification]
The present invention can be implemented in a form different from the above-described embodiment. The present invention can also be implemented in the following forms, for example. Further, the following modifications may be combined as appropriate.
(Modification 1)
In the above-described embodiment, the transmission destination terminal 10b stores the language information specified by the user of the transmission destination terminal 10b, and returns the language used to the message translation server 20 based on the language information. Instead of this or in combination, the destination terminal 10b may be configured to spontaneously determine the language used.
For example, the transmission destination terminal 10b may specify the language used with reference to an e-mail that the terminal device has transmitted in the past. Here, the destination terminal 10b may specify the language used from the character code used in the e-mail or the byte language from the message to identify the language used in the same manner as the message translation server 20. . In this case, when the destination terminal 10b has sent an e-mail in a plurality of languages in the past, all the languages may be specified as use languages, or a part (for example, one) of the plurality of languages may be used. May be specified. When the transmission destination terminal 10b specifies a part of a plurality of languages as the use language, the use language is specified based on the use frequency, for example, the language used most frequently in the past is set as the use language. In addition to this, the transmission destination terminal 10b may specify the language used based on the usage period, such as using the language used in the closest period retroactively. Further, the transmission destination terminal 10b may identify all languages whose usage count or usage ratio in the e-mail exceeds a threshold as the usage languages. Further, the transmission destination terminal 10b may specify the language used by combining a plurality of the above-described conditions.

(Modification 2)
In the configuration of the first modification described above, the transmission destination terminal 10b may specify the language used according to the transmission source user. In this case, when the message translation server 20 inquires the destination language of the destination terminal 10b, the message translation server 20 transmits an inquiry request of the language used including the source address to the destination terminal 10b. When the destination terminal 10b receives an inquiry about the language used from the message translation server 20, the destination terminal 10b reads the language information from the storage unit 140, and replies the language used to the message translation server 20 based on the read language information. In this case, the transmission destination terminal 10b collates the transmission history of the past electronic mail with the transmission source address, and replies the language used in the electronic mail that matches the transmission source address. For example, it is assumed that, in an email sent in the past, the destination terminal 10b sent an email in English for a mail addressed to the user “A” and in Japanese for a mail addressed to the user “B”. In this case, if the e-mail address of the user “A” is included in the use language inquiry request as the source address, the destination terminal 10b answers “English” as the use language, and the user “B”. Is included in the use language inquiry request as the transmission source address, the transmission destination terminal 10b answers “Japanese” as the use language. As a result, even if the language used is properly used by the message transmission / reception partner in the transmission destination terminal 10b, it is possible to appropriately determine whether or not the translation processing is necessary.

(Modification 3)
For example, since the same character system is used in languages used in Western Europe, even if the message translation server 20 refers to a character code and a byte string representing a character, it is used to describe an e-mail message. May not be able to uniquely identify a specific language. For example, the alphabet may be used in multiple languages such as English, German, and Spanish.
In this case, the message translation server 20 stores a character string corresponding to each language of a plurality of languages (for example, a character string meaning a word used in each language) in the translation dictionary. When the character string extracted from the e-mail message matches the character string included in the translation dictionary, the message translation server 20 uses the language corresponding to the character string as the message description. Identify. For example, in a translation dictionary, for a word meaning “Ashita” in Japanese, “tomorrow” is stored corresponding to English, “morgen” is stored corresponding to German, “ “manana”.

If the message translation server 20 determines that the alphabet is included in the message based on the byte string acquired in step S708, the message translation server 20 extracts the character string included in the message, and extracts the extracted character string, translation dictionary, To specify the language used to describe the message. Here, if the message translation server 20 extracts the character string “tomorrow” from the message, the message translation server 20 determines that the e-mail is written in English, and if the character string “mogen” is extracted from the message, the e-mail is German. If the character string “manana” is extracted from the message, the e-mail is determined to be in Spanish. Then, the message translation server 20 determines whether or not to perform the translation process based on the difference between the language specified using the character string extracted from the message and the language used in the transmission destination terminal 10b in the process of step S710. Judging.
In this modification, the character string stored in the translation dictionary is not limited to a word but may be a compound word.

(Modification 4)
In the above-described embodiment, the message translation server 20 performs the translation process on the electronic mail. Instead, a translation processing device provided separately from the message translation server 20 may perform the translation process based on the result of the translation necessity determination process. In this case, if the message translation server 20 determines that the translation process is to be performed after executing the translation necessity determination process, the message translation server 20 sends information indicating the determination result and the message included in the e-mail to the translation process server. Send. When the translation processing device translates the message included in the electronic mail into the language used in the destination terminal 10b, the translation processing device transmits the translated message to the message translation server 20. The message translation server 20 uses the message received from the translation processing device to send the translated e-mail to the destination terminal 10b.
Also, e-mail transmission / reception processing may be performed by a mail transmission / reception apparatus provided separately from the message translation server 20. In this case, among the functions of the message translation server 20 shown in the functional block diagram of FIG. 4, only the transmission / reception unit 510 is the function of the mail transmission / reception device, and the other functions are the functions of the message translation server 20.
Further, the message translation server 20 notifies the destination terminal 10b of the language used to describe the e-mail message. If the language differs from the language used, the message destination server 10b performs the translation process. It may be.
Also, the destination terminal 10b determines whether the language used in the description of the untranslated e-mail message received from the source terminal 10a matches the language used in the own terminal device, and the translation You may determine the necessity of implementation of a process. In this case, the transmission destination terminal 10b functions as the message reception device of the present invention. That is, the message receiving device of the present invention is not necessarily realized by the server device.

(Modification 5)
In the embodiment described above, the message translation system 1 has determined whether or not the translation processing is necessary for email as message data. For example, the message translation system 1 targets message data transmitted and received by SMS (Short Message Service). It is good. In this case, the transmission destination information of the message data is a telephone number assigned to the transmission destination terminal 10b. In the present invention, it is possible to determine whether or not it is necessary to perform translation processing on message data transmitted by designating a transmission destination and transmitted / received via the message translation server 20. It is.

(Modification 6)
Each function realized by the control unit 110 of the terminal device 10 and the control unit 210 of the message translation server 20 can be realized by a combination of a plurality of programs, or can be realized by cooperation of a plurality of hardware resources.
The present invention can also be understood as a program executed by the terminal device 10 and the message translation server 20 and a translation necessity determination method executed by the terminal device 10 and the message translation server 20. In the program executed by the message translation server 20, the program describing the procedure for determining whether or not the translation process needs to be executed and the program describing the procedure for performing the translation process may be different programs.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Message translation system, 10 ... Terminal device, 10a ... Transmission source terminal, 10b ... Transmission destination terminal, 110 ... Control part, 120 ... Input part, 130 ... Display part, 140 ... Storage part, 150 ... Communication part, 20 ... Mail translation server, 210 ... control unit, 220 ... storage unit, 230 ... communication unit, 30 ... network, 410 ... transmission / reception unit, 420 ... message data creation unit, 430 ... use language storage unit, 440 ... use language answer unit, 510 ... transmission / reception unit 515 ... character code analysis unit 520 ... translation necessity determination unit 530 ... message translation unit 540 ... translation dictionary storage unit 550 ... use language specification unit

Claims (9)

Receiving means for receiving message data including code information indicating a character code, a message described using a language corresponding to the character code, and transmission destination information indicating a transmission destination terminal;
Analyzing means for analyzing the code information;
A specifying means for specifying a language used in the destination terminal;
When the language used for describing the message is specified based on the analysis result of the code information by the analyzing unit, and the language used for describing the message does not match the language used by the specifying unit Is a message receiving apparatus comprising: a determination unit that determines to translate the message and outputs information indicating the determination result. The determination means includes
When the character code corresponds to a plurality of languages based on the analysis result of the analysis means, the byte sequence is acquired from the message, and the language used for the description of the message based on the character represented by the acquired byte sequence The message receiving device according to claim 1. Character string storage means for storing character strings corresponding to each language of a plurality of languages,
The determination means includes
The character string included in the message specifies that the message is described in a language corresponding to the character string when the character string stored in the character string storage unit matches. Message receiver. Translation means for translating the message into the language used;
If the determination means determines that the translation is to be performed, the message data after translation by the translation means is transmitted to the destination terminal indicated by the destination information, and the determination means does not determine that the translation is to be performed. 4. The message receiving apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a transmission unit configured to transmit untranslated message data to a transmission destination terminal indicated by the transmission destination information. A terminal device that receives message data including a message described using a predetermined language and communicates with a message receiving server that determines whether the received message needs to be translated into another language,
Use language storage means for storing information indicating the language used in the terminal device;
When there is an inquiry about the language used from the message receiving server, based on the information stored in the language used storage means, an answering unit that answers the language used to the message receiving server;
If the language used by the reply means does not match the language used in the description of the message included in the message data addressed to the terminal device received by the message receiving server, the message is used as the language used. Receiving means for receiving translated message data. The language used storage means is:
The terminal device according to claim 5, wherein the information according to a language used in message data transmitted by the terminal device is stored. The language used storage means is:
Storing information indicating the language used in the message data already transmitted by the terminal device in association with the destination information of the message data;
The answering means is
7. A language of use is received from the message receiving server together with the source information of the message data, and a language to be answered to the message receiving server is determined by collating the source information with the destination information. The terminal device described in 1. Receiving message data including code information indicating a character code, a message described using a language corresponding to the character code, and transmission destination information indicating a transmission destination terminal;
Analyzing the code information;
Identifying a language used in the destination terminal;
Based on the analysis result of the code information, the language used for the description of the message is specified. If the language used for the description of the message does not match the specified language, the message is translated. Determining whether to implement and outputting information indicating the determination result. A message translation system comprising a message receiving server and a terminal device,
The message receiving server is:
Receiving means for receiving message data including code information indicating a character code, a message described using a language corresponding to the character code, and transmission destination information indicating a transmission destination terminal;
Analyzing means for analyzing the code information;
A specifying means for specifying a language used in the destination terminal;
When the language used for describing the message is specified based on the analysis result of the code information by the analyzing unit, and the language used for describing the message does not match the language used by the specifying unit Has a determination means for determining that the message is to be translated and outputting information indicating the determination result,
The terminal device
Use language storage means for storing information indicating the language used in the terminal device;
When there is an inquiry about the language used by the specifying unit, based on information stored in the language used storage unit, an answer unit that answers the language used to the message receiving server;
If the language used by the answering unit does not match the language used to describe the message included in the message data addressed to the terminal device, message data obtained by translating the message into the language used is received. A message translation system having a receiving means.

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