JP4605609B2 - E-mail creation device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates generally to an electronic mail system, and more particularly to an electronic mail creation apparatus for creating an electronic mail.

In recent years, with the spread of the electronic mail function of the Internet, the electronic mail function has also been developed in mobile phones, and not only simple messages but also long sentences of several hundred characters or more can be transmitted and received. (In this specification, electronic mail is also simply referred to as mail.) In addition, the use of multimedia is rapidly progressing, and various media data such as music, images, and moving images can be transmitted and received together with mail.
JP 2002-132664 A

  However, when viewed from the mail recipient, long sentences (text) are only displayed slowly at a time, and sound and images are only received as mail attachments.

As an example, consider the following email: The mail body is composed of the following sentences (texts) A, B, and C, and sound A is attached.
Sentence A: “I've seen the university announcement today.”
Sentence B: “Suddenly find your number!”
Sentence C: “If I thought…, it was another department…”
Sound A: Theme of Joy

  If the writer and reader of this e-mail actually talked about the same content, the listener had a sense of expectation and excitement after listening to the content of sentence B, and then was disappointed after listening to the content of sentence C. Should have. However, in the conventional mail reproducing apparatus, the sentences A, B, and C are displayed on the screen in a staggered manner, and this expectation, excitement, disappointment, and the like are not reproduced as expected.

  Sound A is played at the same time as the start of reading the mail, or when the reader performs an operation of “open attached file”. For this reason, although the sound A should play a role of increasing the content of the sentence B, the sound A is not reproduced at an effective timing.

  As described above, in the conventional mail reproducing apparatus, the display considering the change in the feeling of the reader of the mail is not performed, and the impression, excitement, disappointment, etc. experienced by the writer are not transmitted to the reader.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-132664 discloses a technique for reproducing an image or sound when reproducing an electronic mail. However, the purpose of this is to output an image or sound based on specific information representing something other than the image or sound itself, even if special information specifying the image or sound is not attached to the e-mail. However, it does not set an effective reproduction timing for each content portion of the e-mail in accordance with the intention of the writer as described above.

  The present invention has been made in such a background, and an object of the present invention is to provide an e-mail creating apparatus suitable for composing mail so that a new mail can be reproduced according to the intention of the writer.

  In the electronic mail system according to the present invention, the electronic mail created by the electronic mail creating apparatus and transmitted via the network is reproduced by the electronic mail reproducing apparatus. The e-mail creating device creates a mail according to the user's operation, sets an explicit or implicit reproduction stop unit in the mail, the e-mail reproducing device reproduces the received mail, When the reproduction stop unit is recognized during the reproduction, the reproduction of the mail is paused, and the reproduction of the mail is resumed after waiting for the user's instruction.

  In this system, a playback stop unit is explicitly or implicitly set in a mail created by the electronic mail creating apparatus. On the electronic mail reproducing apparatus side that reproduces this mail, the reproduction is paused when the reproduction stop unit is recognized during the reproduction of the mail, and the mail reproduction is resumed when the user gives an instruction. Thus, the mail writer can intentionally set the playback stop portion when composing the mail, thereby producing the playback timing of the mail element when the mail is played.

  The email created by the email creation device includes, for example, at least two elements of a text element made up of a character string, an image element made up of an image, and a sound element made up of sound, and the email playback device is When the elements in the mail are sequentially reproduced, the reproduction is paused at the element boundary. The boundary of this element constitutes the implicit reproduction stop section. That is, the preparation of the playback stop unit is to prepare an element for each mail element separately.

  Each element is sandwiched between a start tag and an end tag in a mail body created by the electronic mail creation apparatus. Thus, the electronic mail reproducing apparatus can recognize the start point and the end point of the element by using these tags.

  A specific mark embedded in the text may constitute the explicit playback stop unit, and in this case, the e-mail playback device can display individual text parts separated by the specific mark. Treat as an independent text element. Thus, the mail writer can set the playback stop unit at any desired position in the text.

  The sound element may not be stopped at the boundary between the element and the next element. This is because the sound can be reproduced in parallel with other elements, and it may be more effective to reproduce the sound in parallel.

  An e-mail reproducing apparatus that receives the e-mail includes a reproducing unit that reproduces the received e-mail, a unit that detects an explicit or implicit reproduction stop unit in the e-mail, and a unit that receives a user instruction input And a playback control means for temporarily stopping the playback of the mail when the playback stop unit is detected, and then restarting the playback of the mail when receiving the instruction input. When a playback stop unit is detected during mail playback, this mail playback device pauses mail playback and resumes playback after waiting for a user instruction.

  Preferably, the reproduction control unit controls the reproduction unit to display on the screen identification information indicating that it is waiting for a user instruction when reproduction of mail is stopped. Thereby, the user can recognize that the reproduction of the mail is interrupted and that the operation instruction is requested.

  The first e-mail creating apparatus according to the present invention allows a user to select an arbitrary element of a text element made up of a character string, an image element made up of an image, and a sound element made up of sound as an input target element type on the display screen. Input means for causing the user to input the contents of the element, and mail composing means for composing a mail by combining a plurality of inputted elements.

  In this apparatus, first, the user selects the element type to be input, and then the user selects the content of the element. The mail composing means composes mail by combining these inputted elements.

  The second e-mail creating apparatus according to the present invention includes an input unit that allows a user to input a character string that constitutes a mail text using a conversion candidate area and a character input area that display candidate words for predictive conversion; Area switching means for switching the conversion candidate area between text input and at least image element or sound element input, and from the conversion candidate area in the character string input to the character input area according to a user operation And a mail composing means for embedding the selected image element or sound element.

  This device uses a conversion candidate area that displays candidate words for predictive conversion. When inputting an image element or a sound element, these conversion candidates are displayed in the conversion candidate area, and the selected word or phrase is selected when inputting text. As with, you can select images and sounds. The mail composing means composes the mail by embedding the image element or sound element selected from the conversion candidate area in the character string input to the character input area.

  Preferably, when the conversion candidate area is switched for inputting an image element or a sound element, this is indicated by an icon display. As a result, the user can immediately recognize what input the conversion candidate area is currently used for.

The following effects can be expected from the electronic mail creating apparatus of the present invention.
1. An e-mail reproducing apparatus that has received an e-mail created by the e-mail creating apparatus of the present invention pauses reproduction at a designated position of the writer when reproducing the mail text for the reader, and operates the reader Continue playback according to (button pressed). As a result, the mail writer can reproduce the “interval” used when actually speaking on the mail. Readers can continue reading while maintaining their expectation without having to look at the end of the story (such as a punch) on the way.
2. The e-mail reproducing device created by the e-mail creating device of the present invention regards an attached file as a part of the mail body, and reproduces mail elements such as text, images, and sounds at a timing designated by the writer. Thus, the writer can produce the contents of the story while combining the conventional text and the image / sound. The reader can view mail elements such as text, images, and sounds at the most effective timing designated by the writer.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<Overall mechanism>
FIG. 12 shows a schematic configuration of the electronic mail system in the present embodiment.

  This electronic mail system includes a plurality of mail devices 100 a and 100 b and one or more mail servers 110. The mail devices 100a and 100b owned by the user a and the user b are simply referred to as the mail device 100 when they are not distinguished from each other. The mail device 100 can be an information device having an arbitrary electronic mail function, such as a personal computer, a PDA, a mobile phone, and a game machine. In this embodiment, a mobile phone is assumed.

  Each mail apparatus 100 includes a mail creation apparatus 101 that supports user mail creation, a mail transmission apparatus 102 that transmits the created mail to a transmission destination via the mail server 110, and a self-address via the mail server 110. A mail receiving device 102 for receiving the mail and a mail reproducing device 104 for displaying the contents of the received mail. In addition to displaying text and images, email playback can include sound playback.

  The mail reproducing device 104 receives a mail text and an attached file (if any) from the mail receiving device 103, creates a list of elements for each medium as described later, and a mail composed of a plurality of mail elements according to the element list. Play back. The reader can read the mail content by pressing the enter key.

  The mail creation device 101 creates an email composed of a mail text and an attached file by creating an element box for each medium in accordance with a user operation. The mail is transmitted to the mail transmitting apparatus 102 and then transmitted. The writer can easily create a mail by repeatedly selecting with the jog dial (or up / down key) and pressing the enter key.

  Images and sounds in emails that are sent and received are not attached files, but it is also possible to specify a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) that indicates the presence of files on the network when creating emails and download them when playing emails ( The following explanation will be given as being attached to the email).

  Hereinafter, the mail reproducing device and the mail creating device will be specifically described.

<Mail playback device>
The mail reproducing device receives the mail body and attached file as shown in FIG. 10B from the mail receiving device, creates a list of elements as shown in FIG. 10C, and stores the mail contents according to this element list. Perform playback.

An element is a component of this mail, and mail is expressed by a list of this element. There are three types of elements:
-Text element: An element that holds a character string of the mail body. As will be described in detail later, when there is a stop mark 89 (explicit playback stop portion) in the text in the mail body, the character string becomes a separate text element at that position. Therefore, when a text element created in one text box at the time of mail creation includes a stop mark, it is divided into a plurality of text elements at the time of reproduction.
-Image element: Element that holds an image attached to an email-Sound element: Element that holds a sound attached to an email

  The boundary between these elements constitutes a playback stop section. However, the boundary between the sound element and the other elements that follow is not treated as a playback stop unit in the present embodiment.

<Flow chart of mail playback processing>
FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing processing during mail reproduction. Such a mail reproduction process can be realized by a CPU (not shown) executing a mail reproduction program stored in the mail device.

  In step S1, it is determined whether or not the enter key is pressed while a specific received mail is selected on the mail reception list display screen. When a predetermined key operation is performed as an instruction input by the user, for example, when the enter key is pressed, reproduction of the mail content is started.

  In step S2, the next element is acquired from the element list, and the type (media) of the element is determined.

In step S3, if the element determined in step S2 is “text element”, the process of step S4 is performed. In this process, the text held by the text element is displayed. At this time, the entire text element may be displayed at once, or may be displayed character-by-character like a typewriter.
-If it is "image element", the process of step S5 is performed. In this process, the image held by the image element is displayed.
-If it is "sound element", the process of step S6 is performed. In this process, the sound held by the sound element is reproduced.

  In step S7, it is determined whether or not the enter key has been pressed following step S4 or S5. In the case of the sound reproduction in step S6, the reason that the process does not go through step S7 is that the process proceeds to the reproduction of the next element immediately after the reproduction is started without waiting for the sound reproduction to end. Thereby, it is possible to display text and images while reproducing sound.

  In step S8, it is determined whether the next element exists based on the element list.

In step S9, the result determined in step S8 is
-If "next element exists", the process returns to step S2 to reproduce the next element.
-If “the next element does not exist”, the reproduction of the mail is terminated.

<Example of mail playback processing>
FIG. 2 shows an example of mail content reproduction corresponding to the element list of FIG. Hereinafter, the operation at the time of mail content reproduction will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the mail reproducing device displays the date of the mail, the sender, the subject, etc. as shown in FIG.

  When the reader presses the enter key in the state shown in FIG. 2A, the process of each step of S1, S2, S3, S4, and S7 in FIG. 1 is performed, and the state shown in FIG. In step S7, while waiting for the determination key to be pressed, on the screen of FIG. 2B, the symbol 21 indicating the waiting state (the user is informed that the mail reproduction is stopped and the user is waiting for the instruction). Identification information). In the present embodiment, the same symbol as the stop mark 89 described above is used as the symbol 21, but it is not necessary to be the same. Any display object or display mode may be used as long as the system can inform the user that the system is waiting for the user's instruction (here, pressing of the enter key).

  When the reader presses the enter key in the state shown in FIG. 2 (b), the process of each step of S7.fwdarw.S8.fwdarw.S9.fwdarw.S2.fwdarw.S4.fwdarw.S7 is performed, and the state shown in FIG. 2 (c) is obtained. Similarly, a symbol 21 representing a waiting state is displayed on the screen of FIG.

  When the reader presses the enter key in the state shown in FIG. 2C, the process of each step of S7.fwdarw.S8.fwdarw.S9.fwdarw.S2.fwdarw.S3.fwdarw.S6 is further performed to reproduce the sound. (Sound reproduction image 23 in FIG. 2 (c) is merely shown for explanation and is not displayed on the screen.) After the sound reproduction is started, it is not waited for the determination key to be pressed. → S9 → S2 → S3 → S5 → S7 The process of each step is performed, and the state shown in FIG. FIG. 2D shows the image 24 on the screen displayed in step S5.

  When the reader presses the enter key in the state shown in FIG. 2D, each step is further processed in the order of S7, S8, S9, S2, S3, S4, and S7, and the state shown in FIG. . Similarly, a symbol 21 representing a waiting state as shown in FIG.

  When the reader presses the enter key in the state shown in FIG. 2 (e), the processing of each step is further performed in steps S7 → S8 → S9 → S2 → S3 → S4 → S7, and the state shown in FIG. 2 (f) is obtained. . In this state, when the reader presses the enter key, the reproduction of the mail content is terminated through S8 → S9.

  As described above, in the mail reproduction process according to the present embodiment, the elements are reproduced in the order defined in the element list, and the reproduction is temporarily stopped for each element reproduction, and the next element is waited for after a user instruction. Transition to playback (however, in this embodiment, it does not stop after sound playback). This makes it possible to reproduce the mail element of the desired medium at a desired timing.

<Mail creation device>
The mail creation device generates each element box as shown in FIG. 10 (a) according to the user's operation, thereby generating a mail composed of the mail text and the attached file as shown in FIG. 10 (b). To do. As can be seen from the example of the mail text in the figure, each element is sandwiched between a start tag <> and an end tag </>. For example, the start tag and end tag of the text element are <txt></txt>, respectively, and the start tag and end tag of the sound element are <snd></snd>, respectively. Similarly, the start tag and end tag of the image element are <pic></pic> respectively. As described above, the generated mail is transmitted to the mail transmission device and then transmitted. The “element box” is an input means for determining the contents held by the element. In the present embodiment, there are the following three types corresponding to different media.
-Text box: Input area for inputting the character string of the mail body-Image box: Pull-down menu for selecting one of a plurality of pre-registered images-Sound box: Among a plurality of pre-registered sounds Pull-down menu to select one of

  These element boxes are created by the writer as needed. The creation is performed by selecting which element box to create from the element type menu (element type list 82 in FIG. 8).

<Flow chart of mail creation process>
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing processing at the time of mail creation. Such mail creation processing can be realized by a CPU (not shown) executing a mail creation program stored in the mail device.

  In the first step S10, it is determined whether or not the enter key is pressed on the mail creation screen (not shown). If the enter key is pressed, the process of step S11 is performed. In step S11, it is determined what is selected.

In step S12, the result determined in step S11 is
-If "Element menu is selected", the process of step S13 is performed.
-If "No element menu is selected", the process of step S14 is performed.

  In step S13, element selection processing is performed. This process will be described later with reference to FIG.

  In step S14, it is determined which element box is selected.

In step S15, the element box determined in step S14 is
-If it is a "text box", the text input process (FIG. 5) of step S16 is performed.
-If it is "image box", the image selection process (FIG. 6) in step S17 is performed.
-If it is a "sound box", the sound selection process (FIG. 7) in step S18 is performed.

  In step S19, it is determined whether or not the send button has been pressed. If not, the process returns to step S10 to continue creating the mail. If the button is pressed, the mail generation process in step S20 is performed. In this mail generation process, a mail composed of a mail body and an attached file as shown in FIG. 10B is generated from each element box created as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a specific example of element selection processing corresponding to step S13 in FIG.

  In step S21, selectable elements (text element, image element, sound element) are displayed. In subsequent step S22, it is determined whether or not the enter key is pressed. If the enter key is pressed, the process of step S23 is performed. In the process of step S23, it is determined what element has been selected and the determination key has been pressed.

In step S24, the element determined in step S23 is
-If it is "text element", the process of step S25 is performed. In this process, a text input box is created and displayed.
-If it is "image element", the process of step S26 is performed. In this process, an image selection box is created and displayed.
-If it is "sound element", the process of step S27 is performed. In this process, a sound selection box is created and played.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a specific example of the text input process corresponding to step S16 of FIG.

  In step S28, a text input screen is displayed. In a succeeding step S29, it is determined whether or not the text input is completed. When the text input is completed, in step S30, it is determined that the character string for which the input has been completed is text to be put in the text box.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a specific example of the image selection process in step S17 of FIG.

  In step S31, selectable images are displayed in a menu. In step S32, it is determined whether or not the enter key has been pressed for the selected image. If the determination key is pressed, it is determined in step S33 that the selected image is an image to be placed in the image box.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a specific example of the sound selection process in step S18 of FIG.

  In step S34, selectable sounds are displayed in a menu. In step S35, it is determined whether or not the enter key is pressed for the selected sound. If the determination key is pressed, it is determined in step S36 that the selected sound is a sound to be put in the sound box.

<Example of mail creation processing>
FIG. 8 shows an example of a screen for creating mail. Hereinafter, the operation at the time of mail creation will be described in correspondence with the flowcharts of FIGS. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

  First, the mail creation device displays an input field for a destination (To) and a subject (Sub), and an element menu 81 on a mail creation screen as shown in FIG. In FIG. 8A, the element menu 81 is selected (hereinafter, it is assumed that reverse display is selected).

  When the writer presses the enter key in the state shown in FIG. 8A, the process of each step of S10 → S11 → S12 → S13 → S21 → S22 is performed, and the state shown in FIG. 8B is obtained. In FIG. 8B, a list 82 of selectable elements is displayed. In this example, the element type list 82 includes three items, “Insert Text!”, “Insert Picture!”, And “Insert Sound!”.

  When the writer presses the enter key in the state shown in FIG. 8B, the process of each step of S22 → S23 → S24 → S25 → S19 → S10 is performed, and the state shown in FIG. 8C is obtained. Since “Insert Text!” Has been selected in the example of FIG. 8B, a text box 84 as shown in FIG. 8C and an icon 83 indicating that it is a text box are created in step S25. ,Is displayed.

  When the writer presses the enter key in the state shown in FIG. 8 (c), the process of each step of S10-> S11-> S12-> S14-> S15-> S16-> S28-> S29 is performed, and the state shown in FIG. Become. On this screen, the writer enters the actual text.

  When the writer inputs text on the character input screen shown in FIG. 8D, the state shown in FIG. Here, when the writer inserts a stop mark 89 as shown in the character input screen of FIG. 8E in the middle of the character string, the mail reproducing apparatus displays the text up to that point at the position of the stop mark. Pause. In the example of FIG. 8 (e), after displaying “Today's West ○ -Day × Battle was amazing!”, The display is paused, and after the determination key of the reader is pressed, the subsequent character string “ "The back of 9th greeted by 0-3, batter is Suzuki!"

  When the writer presses the enter key in the state shown in FIG. 8 (e), the process of each step S29 → S30 → S19 → S10 is performed, and the state shown in FIG. 8 (f) is obtained. In the text box 84, a part of the input text (a predetermined number of character strings at the beginning of the text in this example) is displayed so that the user can easily identify the input text box.

As in the case of creating a text box in the state shown in FIG.
-Select the element menu and press the enter key (S10->S11->S12->S13->S21-> S22).
-Select “Insert Sound!” And press the enter key (S22 → S23 → S24 → S27 → S19 → S10).
Is performed, each step is processed, and the state shown in FIG. 9A is obtained. A sound box 92 and an icon 91 as shown in FIG. 9A are created and displayed in step S27.

  When the writer presses the enter key in the state shown in FIG. 9 (a), the process of each step of S10-> S11-> S12-> S14-> S15-> S18-> S34-> S35 is performed, and the state shown in FIG. Become. FIG. 9B shows a list 90 of selectable sounds. In this example, sound names (for example, file names) such as “win”, “recovery”, “growth”, “failure”, “explosive pronunciation”, etc. are assigned to a plurality of sound files. 90.

  In the state shown in FIG. 9B, when the writer selects “explosive sound” and presses the enter key, the processing of each step S35 → S36 → S19 → S10 is performed, and the state shown in FIG. Become. In the sound box 92 of FIG. 9C, the selected sound name is displayed so that the user can understand the contents of the created sound element.

As in the case of the sound box 92 in the state shown in FIG.
-Select the element menu and press the enter key (S10 → S11 → S12 → S13 → S21 → S22)
-Select “Insert Picture!” And press the Enter key (S22 → S23 → S24 → S26 → S19 → S10)
-Select the created image box and press the enter key (S10->S11->S12->S14->S15->S17->S31-> S32)
-Select “Sports / Suzuki” and press the Enter key (S32 → S33 → S19 → S10)
Is performed, each step is processed, and the state shown in FIG. 9D is obtained. In this case, the selected image name is displayed in the image box 94 so that the user can understand the contents of the created image element. An icon 93 indicating that the media type is an image is also displayed.

  From the state shown in FIG. 9D, when the writer proceeds with the creation of the mail and presses the send button after the mail is completed, the processing of each step from S10 → S19 → S20 is performed. As shown in FIG. “Transmission” state.

  In step 20, based on each element box created as shown in FIG. 10A, a mail composed of the mail text and attached file as shown in FIG. 10B is generated. When the mail transmitting apparatus finishes transmitting the mail, a screen indicating “transmission complete” as shown in FIG.

<Modification of mail creation process>
The above-mentioned mail creation processing is performed by repeating “create each element box → enter text / select image / sound”.

  By the way, a predictive conversion method for predicting a phrase that a user intends to input with respect to a character input by the user and outputting it as a selection candidate has been proposed. For example, when the first character of the target word is input, all the words including the character are read from the dictionary and output as a list on the display screen as selection candidates. If there is a target word in this list output, the user can select the word by moving the cursor or the like, and can confirm the selection of the word by key operation. If the second character before the confirmation is input, the dictionary is searched again for the two characters, and the corresponding selection candidate is output as a list. In this case, the number of selection candidates (number of hits) output in the list decreases. As the number of input characters increases, the number of selection candidates decreases. It is known that the matching of readings is not an exact match, but a search that is somewhat ambiguous, such as ignoring the difference between clear sound, muddy sound, and semi-voiced sound. For example, POBox (Predictive Operation Based On eXample) is known as one of predictive conversion methods employing such “prediction” and “fuzzy search” (POBox is a registered trademark of Sony Corporation).

  As a modification of the present invention, it is also possible to realize a simpler and more efficient input method for elements other than text by using a predictive conversion method such as POBox. FIG. 11 shows an example of a modified mail creation screen. The mail creation method will be described below.

FIG. 11A shows a state after the text having the same contents as those in FIG. 8E is input on the mail creation screen of the modification. This mail creation screen has a text input area 95 and a conversion candidate area 96. If you want to insert a sound in this state, do the following:
-For example, when the user presses a “POBox switching key” (area switching means) (not shown) from the operation unit of the apparatus, the user can change the candidates displayed on the POBox from normal text input to sound input. Switch to the sound list that includes the sound name. At this time, the fact that the conversion candidate group displayed in the conversion candidate area 96 is a sound list is indicated by an icon 98 (note mark here) at the head position in the conversion candidate area 96.
-From the sound list displayed in the POBox, the user selects an arbitrary sound from the sounds registered in advance.
-When the user presses the enter key, the selected sound (sound name) is inserted at the current cursor position in the mail text. In addition, an icon 97 indicating the media type is displayed along with the sound name. As above, a file corresponding to this sound name is attached to the mail as an attached document.

  A screen after the sound insertion is shown in FIG. In FIG. 11B, an icon 97 indicating the type is also added to the head of the sound name in the text input area 95. Images can be inserted in the same way as sound.

  FIG. 11C shows a state in which a list of images is displayed in the conversion candidate area 96 by pressing the POBox switching key. That the displayed conversion candidate group is an image list is indicated by an icon 99 (a pencil mark in this case) at the head position in the conversion candidate area 96. FIG. 11D shows a state where the selected image (image name) is inserted in the text. Also in FIG. 11D, an icon 111 indicating the type is added to the head of the image name in the text input area 95. A file corresponding to this image name is also attached to the mail as an attached document.

  In the conversion candidate area 96, no icon is displayed when text is input, or a text icon (not shown) may be displayed.

  After creating the mail in this way, as in the case of using the element box, a mail composed of the mail body and the attached file as shown in FIG. Send the email. In this way, the efficiency of input processing can be improved by using POBox. However, use of POBox is not essential in the present invention.

  The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, but various modifications and changes other than those mentioned above are possible. For example, the stop mark constituting the explicit playback stop unit is input in the middle of creating the mail text, but may be added at an arbitrary position after the mail text is created. If different text boxes are used before and after the intended playback stop at the time of mail creation, it is not always necessary to use a playback mark that defines an explicit playback stop. Only three types of elements, text, sound, and image, are shown, but other types of elements may include moving images. The character string of the tag for identifying the element in the mail text is merely an example, and is not limited to the illustrated one. Further, even if it is not a tag, any form of information may be used instead of the tag as long as the boundary of the element can be identified.

It is the flowchart which showed the process at the time of mail reproduction | regeneration in embodiment of this invention. FIGS. 10A to 10F are views showing examples of mail content reproduction corresponding to the element list of FIG. It is the flowchart which showed the process at the time of mail preparation in embodiment of this invention. 6 is a flowchart showing a specific example of element selection processing corresponding to step S13 in FIG. 3. It is the flowchart which showed the specific example of the text input process corresponding to step S16 of FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a specific example of image selection processing corresponding to step S17 in FIG. 3. It is the flowchart which showed the specific example of the sound selection process of step S18 of FIG. It is figure (a)-(f) which shows the example of a screen in the mail preparation in embodiment of this invention. FIG. 9 is a diagram (a) to (f) illustrating screen examples in mail creation and transmission following FIG. 8. It is figure (a) (b) (c) which shows the example of preparation of the mail in embodiment of this invention. It is figure (a)-(d) which shows the example of the mail preparation screen of the modification by this invention. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the electronic mail system in embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  100a, 100b ... mail device, 101 ... mail creation device, 102 ... mail transmission device, 103 ... mail reception device, 104 ... mail display device, 110 ... mail server

Claims (6)

An input means for allowing a user to select an arbitrary element of a text element composed of a character string, an image element composed of an image, and a sound element composed of sound on the display screen as an element type to be input;
Means for allowing the user to input the content of the element;
A mail composing means for composing a mail by combining a plurality of input elements ;
An e-mail creating apparatus comprising means for setting an explicit and implicit reproduction stop section in an e-mail. An input means for allowing a user to input a character string that constitutes a mail text using a conversion candidate area and a character input area for displaying candidate words for predictive conversion;
An area switching means for switching the conversion candidate area between text input and at least image element or sound element input;
A mail composing unit that embeds an image element or a sound element selected from the conversion candidate area in a character string input to the character input area according to a user operation ;
An e-mail creating apparatus comprising means for setting an explicit and implicit reproduction stop section in an e-mail.   3. The electronic mail creating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the conversion candidate area is switched for inputting an image element or a sound element, this is indicated by an icon display.   The electronic mail creating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the setting unit embeds a specific mark input by a user in the text as the explicit playback stop unit.   The e-mail creating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the setting unit sets boundaries between the plurality of elements as the implicit reproduction stop unit. The mail configuration unit, in the mail text, the e-mail creation device according to claim 1, 2 or 5, characterized in that the clamping by the start and end tags for each element.

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