JP4583350B2 - Mobile terminal device, ringtone output method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable terminal device that can be carried by a user, and more particularly to a portable terminal device that emits a ring tone when an e-mail is received, and a ring tone output method.

  In a mobile terminal device such as a mobile phone, an incoming voice call can be recognized by a ring tone from the mobile terminal device. And it is also possible to grasp who the caller is through the caller number notification service that displays the caller's phone number on the display of the portable terminal device.

  In addition, when a voice call is received, a technique is known in which a caller can be identified before answering an incoming call by synthesizing a name corresponding to the caller and outputting it as a ringtone ( For example, Patent Document 1).

Furthermore, the caller-specific voice information is registered in advance, and the caller-specific voice information registered in response to an incoming call from the caller is output, and the caller is specified by the voice information. Possible technologies are also disclosed (for example, Patent Document 2).
JP-A-6-6428 JP 2000-124989 A

  However, in the above-described technology for synthesizing a person's name or the like, since voice synthesis is performed using mechanical sound, the caller can be identified by the voice content (meaning) but cannot be identified by the sound quality. You must listen carefully to the ringtone, and you may not be able to identify the caller in situations where it is difficult to hear the ringtone. In addition, in the technology based on pre-registered voice information, it is necessary to record troublesome voice information for voice registration, and the ring tone is monotonous because the fixed voice information corresponds only to the caller one-on-one. There was a problem.

  Furthermore, in both technologies, although the caller can be specified by the ringtone, the intention, importance, and urgency of the caller in the incoming call cannot be grasped.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of conventional mobile terminal devices, and an object of the present invention is to enable a ringer to be operated from the caller, so that the callee can receive only the ringtone. In addition to being able to identify the caller with a new and improved, it is possible to quickly and easily grasp the intention of the caller and the importance and urgency of the email without referring to the body of the email Mobile terminal device and ringtone output method are provided.

In order to solve the above problems, according to an aspect of the present invention, an address table in which caller identification information including one or more identifiers specifying a caller is stored is stored, and the caller of the address table is stored. A data storage unit capable of storing voice sample data including message identification information and corresponding voice information associated with each identification information, an e-mail receiving unit for receiving an e-mail, caller identification information, and text or e-mail An identification information extraction unit that extracts the sender identification information and the message identification information from the received e-mail when the e-mail receiving unit receives an e-mail having message identification information embedded in the header by the sender And voice sample data associated with the caller identification information extracted from the email by referring to the address table Reads the voice sample data if there obtains voice information associated with the message identification information extracted from the e-mail using the voice sample data, and voice generating unit for generating an audio signal from the audio information And a voice output unit that outputs the generated voice signal as a ringtone of the received electronic mail.

Here, the message identification information is an identifier for deriving desired voice information , and the voice sample data is a data set (table) in which message identification information and voice information are stored in association with each other.

  In the present invention, a ring tone at the time of receiving an e-mail (notification sound at the time of incoming call) is output based on the caller identification information and the message identification information. By operating this message identification information, the caller can reflect the message that he / she wants to convey to the callee and the importance and urgency of the e-mail text in the ringtone, and the caller refers to the e-mail text. Therefore, it is possible to quickly and easily grasp the intention of such a caller by using only the ring tone.

  In the voice sample data, since the voice that can immediately identify the caller (for example, the caller's real voice) is associated with the caller identification information, the caller identifies the caller not only by the meaning of the ringtone but also by the sound quality. It is possible to easily identify the caller, and it is possible to reliably identify the caller even in a situation where it is difficult to hear the text of the ringtone.

Audio sample data includes speech synthesis can be information as speech information, the speech generating unit may generate a speech signal by the speech synthesized using speech synthesis can be information corresponding to the message identification information. Here, the information that can be synthesized is speech data for synthesizing speech using a segment or phoneme sampled from the caller's real voice.

  With this configuration, it becomes possible to synthesize an arbitrary character string into a voice signal, and the voice generation unit can compose a voice signal with infinite variations, and more reliably and quickly convey the intention of the caller to the called party. Is possible.

  If voice sample data is attached to the received e-mail, the identification information extraction unit also extracts the voice sample data, and the voice generation unit generates a voice signal using the voice sample data extracted from the e-mail You may do that.

  With such a configuration, even when voice sample data is not stored in the data storage unit, a ring tone is output with a desired sound quality and wording, and the callee can refer only to the ringtone without referring to the email body. It is possible to quickly and easily grasp the intention of the caller.

  Moreover, even if it is the first time that e-mail is received, it is not necessary to create troublesome voice sample data, and the caller generates voice sample data and distributes it only once through the e-mail. The sound output function can be used in many portable terminal devices. Such audio sample data may be attached to an e-mail together with caller identification information and message identification information.

  The identification information extraction unit may store the voice sample data extracted from the e-mail in the data storage unit.

  With this configuration, the voice sample data attached to the e-mail from the caller can be used for the next ringtone output, and even if the caller does not attach the voice sample data from the next time, the ringtone output function Can be used.

If neither the data storage unit nor the received e-mail has audio sample data, the audio generation unit generates an audio signal using preliminary audio sample data based on the voice of an arbitrary speaker prepared in advance in the data storage unit. It may be generated. Here, spare audio sample data, like audio sample data described above are uniquely derive data audio information from the message identification information is obtained by using the voice of any speaker as voice information.

  With this configuration, even when voice sample data cannot be referred to, a ringtone can be output with a desired wording. Therefore, the callee can quickly and easily grasp the intention of the caller without referring to the text of the e-mail.

  The identification information extraction unit further acquires caller identification information even when a voice call is received, recognizes the voice of the caller during the voice call, and obtains voice sample data from the voice signal thus recognized. An audio sample data generation unit that is generated and stored in association with the acquired caller identification information may be further provided.

  With the configuration in which the caller's real voice is automatically sampled from the voice during the call, it is possible to easily create voice sample data without bothering the callee.

If voice sample data is attached to the received e-mail, the identification information extraction unit also extracts the voice sample data, and the voice generation unit generates a voice signal using the voice sample data extracted from the e-mail If there is no voice sample data in either the data storage unit or the received e-mail, the identification information extraction unit generates voice sample data in the next voice call associated with the extracted caller identification information. A reservation flag for reservation may be set, and the voice sample data generation unit may generate voice sample data for the caller identification information for which the reservation flag is set.

  With this configuration, it is possible to reserve the generation of voice sample data when the next voice call is made with the caller who has received the e-mail, and when the voice call is started later, the caller's real voice is automatically started from the voice during the call. Sampling. In this way, it is possible to easily create voice sample data of a caller who has received an e-mail without bothering the recipient.

  An output restriction unit that restricts the voice output by the voice output unit based on the voice output rule set by the callee may be further provided. Here, whether or not the ringing tone can be output is set as the voice output rule.

  With this configuration, it is possible to limit the voice output according to the situation of the called party without turning off the power of the mobile terminal device.

  In the voice output rule, the sender identification information and / or message identification information of the received electronic mail may be associated with the possibility of voice output.

  With this configuration, it is possible to regulate whether voice output is possible based on the level of incoming call levels such as caller identification information and / or message identification information, and output emails with high importance and urgency, and output otherwise You can take action such as not.

  A re-output unit that re-outputs the sound generated by the sound generation unit to the sound output unit may be further provided.

  With such a configuration, even when the ring tone is missed, the ring tone can be confirmed again, and the callee can more surely understand the intention of the caller.

In order to solve the above problems, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a ringtone output method for outputting voice using a mobile terminal device including a data storage unit, an e-mail receiving unit, and a voice output unit. Then, an address table in which sender identification information including one or more identifiers for identifying the sender is stored is stored in the data storage unit, and voice sample data including message identification information and corresponding voice information is stored. A data storage step for storing the voice sample data in association with each sender identification information in the address table, and an email receiver embedded in the sender identification information and the body or mail header by the sender. when receiving an e-mail having a message identification information, extracts the caller identification information and message identification information from the received electronic mail And another information extraction process, reads the voice sample data if there is audio sample data associated with the reference to the address table caller identification information extracted from the e-mail, extracts from the e-mail using the voice sample data A voice generation step of generating a voice signal based on the voice information associated with the message identification information, a voice output step of outputting the generated voice signal from the voice output unit as a ringtone of the received e-mail; A ring tone output method is provided.

  Similar to the above-described portable terminal device, the caller can transmit the importance and urgency of the e-mail to the callee by operating the message identification information. In addition, the callee can quickly and easily grasp the intention of the caller by hearing only the ring tone without referring to the e-mail text.

  The components corresponding to the dependent claims in the mobile terminal device and the description thereof can be applied to the ringtone output method.

  A computer can also provide a program that functions as the portable terminal device.

  As described above, according to the present invention, since the voice such as the caller's real voice is output as the ringtone, the caller can be easily identified, and the wording of the voice is selected by the caller. The person can quickly and easily grasp the intention of the caller, the importance level of the e-mail, and the urgency level without hearing the e-mail text.

  Therefore, even in situations where it is difficult to confirm the incoming call by picking up the mobile terminal device or to read the text of the e-mail, it is possible to grasp an important message and use this function to It is possible to transmit a message that the user wants to convey, a message that the recipient's mobile terminal device wants to output in real time, and the like.

  Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, in this specification and drawing, about the component which has the substantially same function structure, the duplicate description is abbreviate | omitted by attaching | subjecting the same code | symbol.

  In mobile terminal devices such as mobile phones and PHS (Personal Handy phone System) terminals, one or more caller identification information that can identify the caller, such as the name or name of the caller, a telephone number, and an e-mail address, is stored. When the e-mail is received, the caller identification information given to the e-mail is compared with the caller identification information in the portable terminal device to identify the caller.

  For example, by assigning a fixed melody for each caller identification information and outputting the melody as a ringtone, the callee can audibly grasp who the caller is. However, as the number of registered caller identification information increases, the number of melody assigned increases accordingly, making it difficult to associate a caller from all the melodies.

  The ring tone of the mobile terminal device according to the embodiment of the present invention is expressed by the voice (speech) of the caller and the language selected by the caller. In this way, by effectively using the ringtone, the recipient can quickly and easily grasp the intention of the caller and the importance and urgency of the email without referring to the body of the email. Can do. Hereinafter, the portable terminal device in the present embodiment will be described in detail.

(Mobile terminal device 100)
FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram showing a schematic configuration related to hardware of the mobile terminal device 100. The mobile terminal device 100 includes various portable electronic devices such as a notebook personal computer and a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) in addition to the above-described mobile phone and PHS. , Main memory 112, display unit 114, operation unit 116, audio input unit 118, audio output unit 120, and mobile phone radio unit 122.

  The terminal control unit 110 manages and controls the entire portable terminal device 100 by a semiconductor integrated circuit including a central processing unit (CPU). The terminal control unit 110 naturally performs a call function and an e-mail distribution function using the mobile terminal device 100 using the program in the main memory 112, but the voice recording unit 200, the identification information extraction unit 206, which will be described later, It also functions as an audio generation unit 208, an audio sample data generation unit 210, an output restriction unit 212, and a re-output unit 214.

The main memory 112 is composed of ROM, RAM, E ² PROM, non-volatile RAM, flash memory, HDD (Hard Disk Drive), etc., and can be used in the program processed by the terminal control unit 110 and the portable terminal device 100. Terminal information and the like are stored. The main memory 112 also functions as a data storage unit 202 described later.

  The display unit 114 includes a color or monochrome display, and is stored in the main memory 112 or provided from an application server (not shown) via a communication network, or a GUI (Graphical User) of a web browser or application. Interface) can be displayed. It is also possible to refer to the setting of the mobile terminal device 100 and the terminal information.

  The operation unit 116 includes switches such as a keyboard, a cross key, and a joystick, and accepts user operation inputs.

  The voice input unit 118 is composed of a device such as a microphone that can acquire the voice of the called party, and converts the voice of the user input during a voice call into a voice signal.

  The voice output unit 120 is configured by a device such as a speaker that can output voice, and converts the voice signal of the caller into voice and outputs the voice. Also, a ring tone, an operation sound by the operation unit 116, an alarm sound, etc. can be output.

  The mobile phone wireless unit 122 performs wireless communication with a base station (not shown) in the mobile phone network, and transmits and receives audio signals via the mobile phone network. A voice call is made between users by transmitting and receiving such audio signals. It also functions as an e-mail receiving unit 204 that receives e-mails via a communication network such as the Internet or a LAN, and can also send e-mails.

  As described above, the mobile terminal device 100 according to the present embodiment receives an e-mail at the mobile phone radio unit 122 and outputs a ring tone to notify the reception of the e-mail. Specific actions regarding the ring tone will be described in detail below.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating schematic functions of the mobile terminal device 100. The mobile terminal device 100 includes a voice recording unit 200, a data storage unit 202, an e-mail receiving unit 204, an identification information extraction unit 206, a voice generation unit 208, a voice sample data generation unit 210, and an output restriction unit 212. And a re-output unit 214.

The voice recording unit 200 recognizes the voice of the caller input from the voice input unit 118, generates voice sample data 250 from the voice signal that has been voice-recognized, and uses the generated voice sample data 250 as a data storage unit. The information is stored in association with the caller identification information in the address table 252 of 202. In the voice sample data 250, message identification information by voice recognition and voice information corresponding to the message identification information are stored as a pair. The voice information may be recorded data in which a caller pronounces a plurality of fixed messages corresponding to the message identification information, or may include information that can be synthesized later. The generated audio sample data 250 is used to generate the following audio signal.

  The data storage unit 202 stores an address table 252 in which caller identification information including one or more identifiers for specifying a caller is stored, and additionally associates each caller identification information in the address table 252 with each other. The stored voice sample data 250 and preliminary voice sample data 254 based on the voice of an arbitrary speaker are stored. Here, the caller identification information is information that can identify the caller, such as the name or name of the caller, a telephone number, and an e-mail address, as described above. With the address table 252 and the voice sample data 250 or the preliminary voice sample data 254, a voice signal corresponding to the received electronic mail is uniquely determined.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the configuration of the address table 252. A plurality of caller identification information 270 are registered in the address table 252, and each caller identification information 270 includes a caller identification information ID, a name (name or name), a telephone number, an e-mail address, and other information. In addition, voice sample data 250 is associated with each caller identification information 270. Here, when the voice sample data 250 of the caller already exists, the file name of the corresponding voice sample data 250 is described in the column of the voice sample data, and when it has not been generated yet, the file name is not described. .

  The e-mail receiving unit 204 receives an e-mail transmitted by a caller.

The identification information extraction unit 206 extracts caller identification information and message identification information from the received electronic mail. The identification information extraction unit 206 also acquires caller identification information when a voice call is received, and transmits the caller identification information to the voice sample data generation unit 210 described later. The caller identification information is, for example, an e-mail address that can specify the caller, and the message identification information is an identifier for deriving desired voice information . Hereinafter, the format of the message identification information will be described in detail.

  The message identification information is composed of a character recognizable character string. For example, a command part surrounded by “<” and “>” and an additional message part enclosed by ““ ”and“ ””. It consists of. The caller embeds the command part of the above message identification information (including the message part if necessary) in the “subject”, “body”, or “mail header” of the e-mail by keyboard input or command selection in a list format. After that, send the email to the recipient.

  Then, the identification information extraction unit 206 of the mobile terminal device 100 possessed by the recipient receives “<” and “>” from the “subject”, “text”, or “mail header” of the email received by the email receiving unit 204. ”Is extracted, and whether the extracted command is a command registered in the message identification information is compared. If it is registered, it is recognized as message identification information. Further, when ““ ”and“ ”” follow a command that is determined to be registered, an arbitrary character string surrounded by ““ ”and“ ”” is also recognized as message identification information. This arbitrary character string may be expressed in hiragana, katakana, kanji, or romaji if necessary.

  Further, when the voice sample data 250 is attached to the received electronic mail, the identification information extraction unit 206 can also extract the voice sample data 250 and transfer it to the voice generation unit 208. Therefore, even when the audio sample data 250 is not stored in the data storage unit 202, the audio sample data 250 can be used in the audio generation unit 208 described later.

  With the configuration in which the voice sample data 250 is fetched from the received e-mail, even when the e-mail is received for the first time, it is not necessary to create troublesome voice sample data, and the caller generates the voice sample data 250 and sends the e-mail. The distribution of the ring tone output function of the present embodiment can be used in a large number of portable terminal devices. Such audio sample data 250 may be attached to the e-mail together with the caller identification information and the message identification information and extracted at the same time.

  Further, the identification information extraction unit 206 may store the voice sample data 250 extracted in this way in the data storage unit 202. With this configuration, the voice sample data 250 attached to the e-mail from the caller can be used for the next ringtone output, and the caller does not need to attach the voice sample data 250 from the next time. Can be output by the mobile terminal device 100 of the callee.

The voice generation unit 208 refers to the address table 252 of the data storage unit 202, reads the voice sample data 250 associated with the caller identification information extracted from the e-mail, and uses this voice sample data 250 to identify the message. Audio information corresponding to the information is acquired, and an audio signal is generated from the audio information . When the voice information is recorded data, the voice information can be used as it is as a voice signal. As will be described later, when the speech information is information that can be synthesized, a speech signal can be generated by performing speech synthesis.

  Here, when the voice sample data 250 exists in both the data storage unit 202 and the e-mail, either one can be preferentially read depending on the setting of the called party. For example, the voice sample data 250 attached to the e-mail can be given priority, or the voice sample data 250 stored in the data storage unit 202 can be given priority, depending on, for example, the importance of the message identification information. One can be prioritized. The audio generation unit 208 derives an audio signal using the audio sample data 250 read out in this way.

FIG. 4 is a table for explaining the configuration of the audio sample data 250. Referring to FIG. 4, message identification information 280 is shown on the left side of the table, and voice information (recorded data or wording) 282 corresponding to message identification information 280 is shown on the right side. As described above, the message identification information includes a command part surrounded by “<” and “>” and an additional message part surrounded by ““ ”and“ ””. When the identification information extraction unit 206 extracts the message identification information 280 based on such a mark, the voice generation unit 208 acquires voice information corresponding to the message identification information 280 .

For example, when a command “<COME BACK>” is extracted from the e-mail as message identification information 280, the corresponding fixed message by the caller's voice “return” becomes voice information 282 , and “<NAME>” Is extracted as voice information 282 . Since the names of such callees and callers are fixed, they can be expressed as fixed messages.

  Further, when an arbitrary character string is extracted from the message portion surrounded by ““ ”and“ ””, the voice generation unit 208 may generate voice by synthesizing the character string. Such speech synthesis is an operation of electrically synthesizing sampled human speech and words to generate speech represented by words or sentences, and applying various existing technologies to the mobile terminal device 100. Can be realized.

For example, when the command “<ETC>” is extracted as the message identification information 280, the subsequent character string, in this case “Kaisha Nyaku Rakuru” is synthesized with the voice of the caller, and “Please contact the company” voice information 282 is generated that ". When the command “<NAME, ETC>” is extracted as the message identification information 280, the voice information of the name of the called party, which is a fixed message, is combined with the voice synthesized voice information “Please contact home”. It becomes one audio signal .

Such message identification information 280 and voice information 282 can have various correspondences, and the caller and the caller can freely set any correspondence in the voice sample data 250. it can.

  With the above-described configuration capable of synthesizing an arbitrary character string into a voice signal, the voice signal can be configured with infinite variations, and the intention of the caller can be more reliably and quickly transmitted to the called party. Become.

In addition, in order to perform such speech synthesis, the speech sample data 250 includes information that is a base of speech synthesis, such as segments and phonemes sampled from the caller's real voice, and text data corresponding to each message identification information. Need to be included. Such information that is the basis of speech synthesis can be generated by the above-described speech recording unit 200, but can also be created by extracting necessary segments and phonemes from a speech call with a caller. The voice sample data generation unit 210 shown below can generate information capable of voice synthesis from such a voice call.

  The voice sample data generation unit 210 recognizes the voice of the caller during a voice call, generates voice sample data 250 from the voice signal that has been voice-recognized, and receives the identification information extraction unit 206 when the voice call is received. Is stored in association with the acquired caller identification information. Such speech recognition is an operation of recognizing speech as a segment or phoneme and associating the speech with a character or a word, and can be realized by applying various existing technologies to the mobile terminal device 100. In such a voice call, voice is transmitted and received independently, so that only the caller's voice can be easily acquired.

  Further, in the caller identification information in the address table 252, since the telephone number and the e-mail address are also associated, the voice sample data 250 sampled in the voice call can be associated with the caller identification information, and the next e-mail incoming It becomes possible to reflect in the ringtone of the time. In addition, by using an existing service that allows users to perform voice calls continuously by performing any operation after receiving an e-mail, the caller is identified by the “destination subaddress” following the “destination number”. The sampled audio sample data 250 can also be associated with caller identification information.

  Such sampling during a voice call may be triggered by a caller's sampling start request input via the operation unit 116, or a call that has caller identification information and the voice sample data 250 is not completed. Sampling may be automatically started for a person. Sampling may be terminated when a sampling termination request is made by the operation unit 116, when a voice call is terminated, or at an arbitrary timeout.

  With the configuration in which the caller's real voice is automatically sampled from the voice during the call, it is possible to easily create voice sample data without bothering the callee.

  In addition, when there is no voice sample data in either the data storage unit 202 or the received e-mail, the voice generation unit 208 performs preliminary voice sample data based on a voice of an arbitrary speaker prepared in the data storage unit 202 by default. An audio signal may be generated using H.254. Here, like the above-described voice sample data, the preliminary voice sample data is data that uniquely derives a voice signal from the message identification information. As the voice signal, for example, an arbitrary speaker other than the sender such as a timely voice Is used. With this configuration, it is possible to output a ringtone with a desired wording even when voice sample data cannot be referred to.

  Also, if there is no voice sample data in either the data storage unit 202 or the received e-mail, in order to generate voice sample data for the caller, make a reservation to generate voice sample data at the next voice call You can also. This is because the identification information extraction unit 206 sets a reservation flag associated with the extracted caller identification information, and the voice sample data generation unit 210 generates voice sample data regarding the caller identification information for which the reservation flag is set. This is realized.

  With this configuration, it is possible to reserve the generation of voice sample data when the next voice call is made with the caller who has received the e-mail, and when the voice call is started later, the caller's real voice is automatically started from the voice during the call. Sampling. In this way, it is possible to easily create voice sample data of a caller who has received an e-mail without bothering the recipient.

  In addition, when neither the data storage unit 202 nor the received e-mail has voice sample data and no preliminary voice sample data 254 is prepared, a normal ringing tone, for example, a ringer tone may be output. .

  The voice signal generated by the voice generation unit 208 as described above is output from the voice output unit 120 when an e-mail arrives. The sender of the e-mail reflects what he wants to convey to the recipient, and the importance and urgency of the e-mail as message identification information in the e-mail, and the voice output unit 120 generates a ring tone corresponding to the message identification information. Since the data is output, the callee can quickly and easily grasp the intention of the caller by means of only the ring tone without referring to the body of the e-mail.

  The ring tone of the voice output unit 120 can be repeatedly output for a predetermined time according to the setting of the callee, and such repeated output can be stopped by pressing the non-call key.

  The output restriction unit 212 restricts the voice output by the voice output unit 120 based on the voice output rule set by the callee. Since the ring tone in the present embodiment is assumed to have high importance and urgency, the ring tone is forcibly output. However, depending on the situation where the callee is placed, there is a case where it is not desired to ring a ring tone even in an emergency. Since the callee can set whether or not such ringing tone can be output as a voice output rule, the voice output can be restricted (rejected) without turning off the power of the mobile terminal device 100.

  Further, in the voice output rule, the sender identification information and / or message identification information of the received electronic mail may be associated with the possibility of voice output. With this configuration, it is possible to regulate whether voice output is possible based on the level of incoming call levels such as caller identification information and / or message identification information, and output emails with high importance and urgency, and output otherwise You can take action such as not.

  The re-output unit 214 causes the sound output unit 120 to re-output the sound generated by the sound generation unit 208. With such a configuration, even when the ring tone is missed, the ring tone can be confirmed again, and the callee can more surely understand the intention of the caller.

  As described above, in the mobile terminal device 100 described above, the ringing tone at the time of receiving the e-mail is extracted based on the caller identification information and the message identification information. Therefore, the caller operates the message identification information. Can reflect to the caller what the caller wants to convey to the callee, and the importance and urgency of the e-mail, and the caller can only reflect the ringtone without referring to the body of the e-mail. It is possible to quickly and easily grasp the intention of the sender.

  Therefore, it is possible to grasp an important message even in a situation where it is difficult to pick up the mobile terminal device 100 to confirm an incoming call or to read an e-mail text.

  In addition, using this function, it is possible to convey a message that the recipient wants to convey with his own voice. For example, you can directly tell a friend “Happy Birthday” or “You are waiting for an email”.

  Furthermore, it is possible to convey a message to be output in real time by the mobile terminal device 100 of the called party. For example, instead of waking up, you can convey a voice such as “Wake up soon” or a joyful voice such as “Your child was born safely” in real time.

  In addition, for example, when a child is bringing the mobile terminal device 100, when the ringtone output function of the present embodiment makes a ringtone saying “Please come back early” with the voice of the mother, the child As if he was there, he suddenly referred to the email text and rushed home.

  In addition, when there is an urgent e-mail in the mobile terminal device 100 that is left while the caller is absent, the ringtone output function of this embodiment allows the surrounding people to grasp the urgency level and In some cases, the caller is notified of incoming e-mails.

  In addition, a program that functions as the mobile terminal device 100 may be provided by a computer.

  Next, a ring tone output method for outputting a ring tone using the mobile terminal device 100 will be described in detail. Here, this ringing tone output method is described separately from the time of preparation of the voice sample data 250 and the time of arrival of an e-mail from the viewpoint of time.

(Ringtone output method)
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of the ring tone output method when the audio sample data 250 is prepared. In such a ring tone output method, first, a caller's voice input from the voice input unit 118 of the portable terminal device 100 is recorded, and voice sample data 250 is generated from a voice signal obtained by voice recognition of the recorded voice (S500). ). Then, the generated voice sample data 250 is stored in association with the caller identification information in the address table 252 of the data storage unit 202 (S502).

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of another ring tone output method when the audio sample data 250 is prepared. In such a ring tone output method, when the caller receives a voice call (S550), the identification information extraction unit 206 extracts the caller identification information (S552), and the reservation flag associated with the extracted caller identification information Is confirmed (S554). Such a reservation flag is a flag set at the time of the last incoming e-mail, and indicates whether or not to generate voice sample data in a voice call.

  When it is confirmed that the reservation flag is set, the voice sample data generation unit 210 recognizes the voice of the caller during a voice call and generates voice sample data 250 from the voice signal thus recognized. (S556). Then, the generated voice sample data 250 is stored in association with the caller identification information acquired by the identification information extraction unit 206 when the voice call is received (S558).

  Here, the voice sample data is generated only for the caller identification information for which the reservation flag is set. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the reservation flag confirmation step (S554) is skipped, and the voice for all the caller identification information is recorded. Sample data may be generated. The ring tone output method can also be applied when using a service that can continuously execute a voice call after receiving an e-mail as described above, and voice sample data is generated by the voice call after receiving the e-mail.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a flow of a ringtone output method when an e-mail is received. In such a ringtone output method, first, the e-mail receiving unit 204 receives an e-mail sent from the caller (S600), and it is confirmed whether the received e-mail has message identification information (S602). Such confirmation is executed by determining the presence or absence of marks (for example, “<” and “>”) that specify message identification information.

  If it is determined in the confirmation (S602) that there is message identification information, the identification information extraction unit 206 extracts the caller identification information and the message identification information from the e-mail (S604). If there is no message identification information, the ringtone output function according to the present embodiment can no longer be used, and a normal ringtone, for example, a ringer tone is output (S606).

  When the caller identification information and the message identification information are extracted (S604), the voice generation unit 208 refers to the address table 252 of the data storage unit 202, and then identifies the caller identification extracted by the identification information extraction unit 206. It is confirmed whether or not the audio sample data 250 associated with the information exists in the data storage unit 202 (S610). If there is audio sample data 250 in the data storage unit 202, the audio sample data 250 is read (S612), and if not, it is confirmed whether the audio sample data 250 is attached to the e-mail (S620).

  When the voice sample data 250 is attached to the e-mail, the identification information extraction unit 206 extracts the voice sample data 250 from the e-mail (S622) so that it can be used when the next e-mail is received. The data is stored in the data storage unit 202 (S624). When the voice sample data 250 is not attached, the voice generation unit 208 reads the preliminary voice sample data 254 from the data storage unit 202 (S626), and sets a reservation flag for reserving the generation of the voice sample data in the next voice call. (S628).

  When the audio sample data 250 or the preliminary audio sample data 254 is read in this way, the audio generation unit 208 generates an audio signal corresponding to the message identification information using the audio sample data 250 or the preliminary audio sample data 254. (S630). The voice signal generated at this time may be a fixed message based on the caller's voice or a message obtained by voice synthesis of a character string described in the message part of the message identification information.

  When the audio signal is generated, it is confirmed whether the audio output is restricted by the audio output restriction unit 212 (S640). If not, the audio output unit 120 outputs the audio signal generated by the audio generation unit 208. It outputs as a ringtone (S642). Further, when a request for re-outputting the ringtone output in this way is received from the recipient (S650), the re-output unit 214 re-outputs the sound generated by the sound generation unit 208 to the sound output unit 120 ( S652).

  As described above, like the mobile terminal device 100 described above, the caller can determine the importance and urgency of the e-mail by transmitting the message identification information by operating the message identification information by the ring tone output method as described above. Can communicate. In addition, the callee can quickly and easily grasp the intention of the caller by hearing only the ring tone without referring to the e-mail text.

  As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described referring an accompanying drawing, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is not limited to the example which concerns. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made within the scope of the claims, and these are naturally within the technical scope of the present invention. Understood.

  Note that each step in the ring tone output method of the present specification does not necessarily have to be processed in time series in the order described in the flowchart, but is performed in parallel or individually (for example, parallel processing or object processing). May be included.

  The present invention relates to a portable terminal device that can be carried by a user, and is particularly applicable to a portable terminal device that emits a ring tone when an e-mail is received, and a ring tone output method.

It is the block diagram which showed the schematic structure regarding the hardware of a portable terminal device. It is the functional block diagram which showed the schematic function of the portable terminal device. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the structure of an address table. It is a table | surface for demonstrating the structure of audio | voice sample data. It is the flowchart figure which showed the flow of the ringtone output method at the time of preparation of audio | voice sample data. It is the flowchart figure which showed the flow of the other ringtone output method at the time of preparation of audio | voice sample data. It is the flowchart which showed the flow of the ringtone output method at the time of the incoming call of an email.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Portable terminal device 120 Audio | voice output part 200 Audio | voice recording part 202 Data storage part 204 E-mail receiving part 206 Identification information extraction part 208 Voice generation part 210 Voice sample data generation part 212 Output restriction part 214 Re-output part 250 Voice sample data 252 Address Table 254 Preliminary voice sample data 270 Caller identification information 280 Message identification information 282 Voice information

Claims (11)

An address table in which caller identification information including one or more identifiers for specifying a caller is stored is stored, message identification information associated with each caller identification information in the address table and voice information corresponding thereto are stored. A data storage unit capable of storing audio sample data including;
An email receiver for receiving emails;
When the e-mail receiving unit receives an e-mail having caller identification information and message identification information embedded in the body or mail header by the caller, the caller identification is received from the received e-mail. An identification information extraction unit for extracting information and the message identification information;
If there is audio sample data associated with the caller identification information extracted from the e-mail with reference to the address table, the audio sample data is read out and extracted from the e-mail using the audio sample data A voice generation unit that acquires voice information associated with the message identification information and generates a voice signal from the voice information;
An audio output unit for outputting the generated audio signal as a ringtone of the received e-mail;
A portable terminal device comprising: The audio sample data includes information that can be synthesized as speech information,
The mobile terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the voice generation unit generates a voice signal by voice synthesis using information capable of voice synthesis corresponding to the message identification information. The identification information extraction unit also extracts the voice sample data when voice sample data is attached to the received e-mail;
The portable terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the voice generation unit generates a voice signal using voice sample data extracted from the electronic mail.   The mobile terminal device according to claim 3, wherein the identification information extraction unit stores voice sample data extracted from the electronic mail in the data storage unit.   When there is no voice sample data in either the data storage unit or the received e-mail, the voice generation unit uses preliminary voice sample data based on the voice of an arbitrary speaker prepared in the data storage unit in advance. The mobile terminal device according to claim 3, wherein the mobile terminal device generates an audio signal. The identification information extraction unit further acquires caller identification information when a voice call is received, and
A voice sample data generation unit that recognizes a voice of a caller during the voice call, generates voice sample data from the voice signal that has been voice-recognized, and stores the voice sample data in association with the acquired caller identification information; The mobile terminal device according to claim 1, comprising: a mobile terminal device according to claim 1. The identification information extraction unit also extracts the voice sample data when voice sample data is attached to the received e-mail;
The voice generation unit generates a voice signal using voice sample data extracted from the email,
If there is no voice sample data in either the data storage unit or the received email, the identification information extraction unit generates voice sample data in the next voice call associated with the extracted caller identification information. Set up a reservation flag to book,
The portable terminal device according to claim 6, wherein the voice sample data generation unit generates voice sample data regarding caller identification information for which the reservation flag is set.   The portable terminal device according to claim 1, further comprising an output restriction unit that restricts voice output by the voice output unit based on a voice output rule set by a callee.   9. The portable terminal device according to claim 8, wherein in the voice output rule, sender identification information and / or message identification information of the received e-mail is associated with availability of voice output. .   The portable terminal device according to claim 1, further comprising a re-output unit that causes the sound output unit to re-output the sound generated by the sound generation unit. A ringtone output method for outputting voice using a portable terminal device including a data storage unit, an email receiving unit, and a voice output unit,
The data storage unit stores an address table in which caller identification information including one or more identifiers for specifying a caller is stored, and there is audio sample data including message identification information and corresponding audio information. A data storage step of storing the voice sample data in association with each sender identification information of the address table;
When the e-mail receiving unit receives an e-mail having caller identification information and message identification information embedded in the body or mail header by the caller,
An identification information extraction step of extracting caller identification information and message identification information from the received e-mail;
If there is voice sample data associated with the caller identification information extracted from the e-mail with reference to the address table, the voice sample data is read, and the voice sample data is used to extract the voice sample data. A voice generation step of generating a voice signal based on the voice information associated with the message identification information;
A voice output step of outputting the generated voice signal from the voice output unit as a ringtone of the received e-mail;
A ring tone output method comprising:

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