JP4862573B2 - Message creation support apparatus, control method and control program therefor, and recording medium recording the program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a message creation support apparatus that supports message creation, a control method and control program therefor, and a recording medium on which the program is recorded. Specifically, the present invention relates to a message creation support apparatus that provides an image attached to an e-mail.

  Currently, there are sites on the Internet that can download images to be attached to e-mails. The site stores a large number of images and provides them to the user's terminal in order to meet various needs of the user. In order to make it easier for users to find what they want from a large number of images, the sites often include image search means. General examples of image search performed by the image search means include keyword search and narrow search. However, if the number of search objects is excessively large, it is difficult to narrow down images sufficiently for these searches.

For example, in Patent Document 1, when a desired image input by an image scanner is transmitted from a PC (Personal Computer), the server captures an image on each rental photo site. An image search system is disclosed in which a captured image is compared with a desired image, an image similar to the desired image is searched, and the search result is provided to an image applicant. According to this image search system, the image applicant only needs to transmit the captured image data, and does not need to search for the desired image while searching for a keyword. Therefore, the image search can be easily performed.
JP 2003-216648 A (published July 31, 2003) JP 2005-182400 A (published July 7, 2005) JP 2001-056792 A (published February 27, 2001) JP-A-8-21860 (published on August 20, 1996)

  A search method such as that disclosed in Patent Document 1 is effective when an image applicant has confirmed an outline of a desired image. However, the image applicant does not always determine the outline of the desired image when searching for the image.

  For example, when creating HTML (HyperText Markup Language) e-mails that are exchanged on a daily basis, images may be retrieved from simple motives such as "let's insert some images because there is no problem with e-mails with only letters". . At this time, it is not appropriate to search for an image using a search method such as that disclosed in Patent Document 1. This is because, in order to search for an image to be inserted, it is necessary to consider the outline of the image, and it takes time to create a mail.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a message creation support device that can easily provide message related information such as an image attached to an e-mail.

  A message creation support apparatus according to the present invention is a message creation support apparatus that supports message creation. In order to solve the above-described problem, the message creation support apparatus relates to a feature related to a certain transmission source and a transmission message transmitted to the transmission source. A storage unit that stores feature-related correspondence information that is associated with message-related information that is information to be acquired, an acquisition unit that acquires a received message from the transmission source, and analyzes the acquired information about the received message to transmit the transmission It is characterized by comprising determination means for determining features related to the source, and search means for searching for message related information corresponding to the determined characteristics related to the transmission source from the feature related correspondence information.

  Also, the control method of the message creation support apparatus according to the present invention is a message creation support apparatus that supports message creation, and includes characteristics relating to a certain transmission source and information related to a transmission message transmitted to the transmission source. A method for controlling a message creation support apparatus including a storage unit that stores feature-related correspondence information associated with certain message-related information, in order to solve the above-described problem, obtain a received message from the transmission source A step of analyzing the information related to the acquired received message and determining a feature related to the transmission source, and a search step of searching message related information corresponding to the determined characteristic related to the transmission source from the feature related correspondence information It is characterized by including.

  Here, as an example of the characteristics regarding the transmission source, the relationship between the user of the communication terminal of the transmission source and the user of the communication terminal of the transmission destination (for example, family, acquaintance, etc.), the tendency of the format in the received message from the transmission source Etc. Examples of message related information include the content of a transmission message, the format of the transmission message, the content of a file attached to the transmission message, and the like.

  According to the above configuration and method, a received message from the transmission source is acquired, information on the acquired received message is analyzed, characteristics regarding the transmission source are determined, and message related information corresponding to the determined characteristics regarding the transmission source is obtained. Searching from feature-related correspondence information. As a result, it is possible to search for message related information corresponding to the characteristics related to the transmission source using the received message from the transmission source. Therefore, when a certain request source requests the message related information, the message related information is searched. There is no need to provide various conditions for the message creation support apparatus. Therefore, the message related information can be provided easily.

  Note that the message creation support device may be executed based on a request from a certain user, or may be executed every time a message is received. The received message may be acquired from the outside, but may be acquired from the storage unit when stored in the storage unit. In addition, it is desirable that the received message is a plurality of messages transmitted in the past by the transmission source in the past in order to perform analysis with high accuracy.

  The message creation support apparatus according to the present invention may further include message creation means for creating the transmission message based on the message related information searched by the search means. In this case, it is possible to save the trouble of creating a message at the request source that requests the message related information.

  The message creation support apparatus according to the present invention further includes an output unit that outputs information, and the determination unit preferably outputs the determined characteristics regarding the transmission source via the output unit. Here, as the output of the output unit, any output form such as display output, print output, recording on an external recording medium, transmission to an external device, or the like can be used. According to the above configuration, since the feature regarding the transmission source is output to the outside, the feature regarding the transmission source can be used separately. For example, by transmitting a feature related to a transmission source to a request source that requests message related information, the request source can create a transmission message based on the message related information and the characteristics related to the transmission source.

  As described above, since it takes time and labor to search for an image, it is preferable to apply the present invention to the search for an image. Specifically, in the message creation support apparatus according to the present invention, the message related information is preferably image information attached to the transmission message.

  In the message creation support apparatus according to the present invention, the feature relating to the transmission source is a tendency of a format in a received message from the transmission source, and the message related information may be format information of the transmission message. .

  The format of the transmitted message may or may not be similar with respect to the format of the received message. Therefore, in the message creation support apparatus according to the present invention, the feature-related correspondence information includes the format information of the transmission message that is similar and the format information of the transmission message that is dissimilar with respect to the format tendency of the received message. Preferably, the search means searches for one of the format information of the similar transmission message and the format information of the dissimilar transmission message based on an instruction from the outside.

  Each means in the message creation support apparatus can be functioned on a computer by a control program. Furthermore, the control program can be executed on any computer by storing the control program in a computer-readable recording medium.

  As described above, since the message creation support apparatus according to the present invention can search for message related information corresponding to characteristics related to a transmission source using a received message from the transmission source, a certain request source can receive the message related information. , It is not necessary to provide the message creation support apparatus with various conditions for searching for the message related information. Therefore, the message related information can be provided easily.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of the mail creation support system of the present embodiment. The mail creation support system 10 supports creation of a reply mail for a received mail that is an electronic mail (message) received by a certain communication terminal 11.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the mail creation support system 10 has a configuration in which one or a plurality of communication terminals 11 and a mail creation support server (message creation support apparatus) 13 are communicably connected via a communication network 12. It is.

  The communication terminal 11 transmits various requests to the mail creation support server 13 via the communication network 12. The mail creation support server 13 transmits information for the request to the communication terminal 11 via the communication network 12.

  In the present embodiment, the communication terminal 11 requests the mail creation support server 13 for support for creating a reply mail for a received mail from a certain transmission source. At this time, the communication terminal 11 converts the received mail to be returned and a part or all of the received mail received in the past from the transmission source (hereinafter referred to as “past received mail”) to the mail creation support server. 13 to send.

  On the other hand, based on the request, the mail creation support server 13 transmits candidates for various elements such as the body, background, and attached image of the reply mail to the requesting communication terminal 11. The requesting communication terminal 11 can easily create the reply mail by selecting various element candidates from the mail creation support server 13.

  Note that the communication terminal 11 has the same configuration as a known communication terminal including a communication unit for performing communication, a display unit for performing display, an operation unit for performing operation, and the like, and thus the details thereof are omitted. . Examples of such communication terminal 11 include a PC, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), and a mobile phone terminal.

  As the communication network 12, a known communication network such as the Internet or a LAN (Local Area Network) can be used. In addition, as a communication line used for the communication network 12, a publicly known communication line such as a public communication line, a dedicated line, or an ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) can be used.

  FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of the mail creation support server 13. As illustrated, the mail creation support server 13 includes a communication unit (output unit) 14, a control unit 15, and a storage unit 16. In FIG. 1, the communication network 12 between the mail creation support server 13 and the communication terminal 11 is omitted.

  The communication unit 14 is for performing data communication with the communication terminal 11 via the communication network 12. The control unit 15 controls the operation of each unit in the mail creation support server 13 in an integrated manner, and is configured by, for example, a PC-based computer. And operation control of each part is performed by making a computer run a control program. The storage unit 16 stores various types of information and is configured by a non-volatile recording medium such as a hard disk device.

  Next, details of the control unit 15 and the storage unit 16 will be described. The control unit 15 includes a mail acquisition unit (acquisition unit) 20, a relationship analysis unit (determination unit) 21, a format analysis unit (determination unit) 22, a text analysis unit (determination unit) 23, an image search unit (search unit) 24, The configuration includes a form search unit (search unit) 25, a text search unit (search unit) 26, and a candidate sending unit (email creation unit) 27. The storage unit 16 includes a mail storage unit 30, an analysis dictionary DB (database) 31, an image DB (feature related correspondence information) 32, a format correspondence table (feature related correspondence information) 33, and a reply sentence DB (feature related correspondence). Information) 34. Furthermore, the storage unit 16 stores various tables as will be described later.

  The mail storage unit 30 stores electronic mail acquired from the communication terminal 11. Further, the analysis dictionary DB 31 stores word analysis rules necessary for performing morphological analysis. Here, morpheme analysis means dividing a sentence into morpheme (word) units. Note that pictograms and emoticons (face marks) may be included in the morphemes. Further, details of the morphological analysis are described in, for example, Patent Document 2, and thus description thereof is omitted in the present application.

  The image DB 32 stores image data attached to an email in association with information related to the image. The format correspondence table 33 stores the format of the received mail and the format of the reply mail in association with each other. The reply sentence DB 34 classifies and stores reply sentence data that can be described in the body of the reply mail.

  The mail acquisition unit 20 acquires an email from the communication terminal 11 via the communication unit 14. The mail acquisition unit 20 stores the acquired electronic mail in the mail storage unit 30.

  In the present embodiment, when a certain communication terminal 11 requests the mail creation support server 13 for support for creating a reply mail for a received mail from a certain sender, the mail acquisition unit 20 relates to the sender. The received mail to be returned and the past received mail are acquired from the requesting communication terminal 11. The mail acquisition unit 20 sends the acquired past received mail to the relationship analysis unit 21 and the format analysis unit 22, while sending the acquired received mail to be returned to the text analysis unit 23. It should be noted that the received mail to be returned can be included in the past received mail.

  In the present embodiment, HTML mail is used as electronic mail. HTML mail is an e-mail message part that is described in HTML format. The size and thickness of characters are set, images are displayed between characters, and various colors and images are used for the background of messages. Can be displayed. Therefore, HTML mail can express richer than simple text-format electronic mail. Note that an e-mail in another description format composed of figures and characters may be used.

  The relationship analysis unit 21 analyzes the text and attached images of the past received mail received from the mail acquisition unit 20 using the analysis dictionary DB 31 and the image DB 32, and communicates between the user of the communication terminal 11 and the transmission source. A relationship with a user of a terminal (not shown) (hereinafter referred to as “target relationship”) is determined. The relationship analysis unit 21 sends the determination result of the target relationship to the image search unit 24. The relationship analysis unit 21 may transmit the determination result of the target relationship to the requesting communication terminal 11 via the communication unit 14.

  The format analysis unit 22 analyzes the tendency of the format in the past received mail received from the mail acquisition unit 20. The format analysis unit 22 sends the analysis result to the format search unit 25. The format analysis unit 22 may transmit the analysis result to the requesting communication terminal 11 via the communication unit 14.

  The format search unit 25 searches the format correspondence table 33 for the format of the reply mail based on the analysis result of the format analysis unit 22. The format search unit 25 sends the searched format to the image search unit 24 and the candidate sending unit 27.

  The image search unit 24 searches the image DB 32 for an image to be attached to the reply mail based on the determination result from the relationship analysis unit 21 and the search result from the format search unit 25. The image search unit 24 sends the searched image to the candidate sending unit 27.

  The text analysis unit 23 analyzes the text part in the received mail to be returned received from the mail acquisition unit 20 by using the analysis dictionary DB 31. The text analysis unit 23 sends the analysis result to the text search unit 26.

  The text search unit 26 searches the reply text DB 34 for a reply text corresponding to the received mail to be returned based on the analysis result from the text analysis section 23. The text search unit 26 sends the searched reply text to the candidate sending unit 27.

  The candidate sending unit 27 requests the image searched by the image search unit 24, the format searched by the format search unit 25, and the reply text searched by the text search unit 26 as a reply mail candidate via the communication unit 14. This is transmitted to the original communication terminal 11. When there are a plurality of the candidates, the candidate sending unit 27 may transmit the plurality of candidates at once, or may sequentially transmit the candidates based on an instruction from the communication terminal 11.

  Next, the operation of the mail creation support system 10 having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 shows processing operations of the communication terminal 11 and the mail creation support server 13 in the mail creation support system 10. As shown in the figure, first, the communication terminal 11 transmits a reply received mail and a past received mail related to a certain transmission source to the mail creation support server 13 (step S10, hereinafter simply referred to as “S10”). The same goes for the other steps).

  On the other hand, when the mail creation support server 13 acquires the received mail to be returned and the past received mail at the mail acquisition unit 20 (S20), the relation analysis unit 21 analyzes the text and attached image of the past received mail. Then, the target relationship is determined (S21). Further, the mail creation support server 13 analyzes the format of the past received mail by the format analysis unit 22 and determines the format tendency in the received mail from the transmission source (S21). Next, the mail creation support server 13 searches the reply mail format and attached image candidates in the image search unit 24 and the format search unit 25 based on these determination results (S22).

  Further, the mail creation support server 13 analyzes the body of the received mail to be returned by the text analysis unit 23 (S23), and searches for a reply sentence candidate corresponding to the body by the text search unit 26 (S24). ). Then, the mail creation support server 13 transmits the retrieved reply sentence, format, and attached image candidate from the candidate sending unit 27 to the communication terminal 11 (S25). Thereafter, the processing operation of the mail creation support server 13 is terminated.

  On the other hand, the communication terminal 11 displays the received reply text, format, and attached image candidates, and makes the user select or edit to create the reply mail (S11). The communication terminal 11 transmits the completed reply mail to the transmission source (S12). Thereafter, the processing operation of the communication terminal 11 is terminated.

  The mail creation support server 13 may create the reply mail. In this case, the mail creation support server 13 selects a reply sentence, a format, and an attached image based on an instruction from the communication terminal 11, creates a reply mail, and transmits the created reply mail to the transmission source. become.

  Therefore, the mail creation support system 10 according to the present embodiment uses the past received mail from the sender to determine the target relationship and the format tendency of the received mail, and uses these determination results to reply. Search for and provide candidate email formats and attached images. Thereby, since it is not necessary to acquire various conditions for the search from the requesting communication terminal 11 in the search, it is possible to simply provide a reply mail format and attached image candidates.

  Next, details of the control unit 15 in the mail creation support server 13 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 4 shows details of the relationship analysis unit 21. As illustrated, the relationship analysis unit 21 includes an image ID acquisition unit 40, an image content analysis unit 41, a morpheme analysis unit 42, a text content analysis unit 43, and a determination unit 44. In addition, the relationship analysis unit 21 uses the analysis dictionary DB 31, the image DB 32, and the determination correspondence table 35 in the storage unit 16.

  As described above, the analysis dictionary DB 31 stores word analysis rules necessary for performing morphological analysis. In the analysis dictionary DB 31, some of the analyzed morphemes are associated with increase / decrease values of the familiarity. Here, the familiarity is a numerical value for evaluating the intimacy between the user of the communication terminal 11 and the user of the transmission source communication terminal.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of various information stored in the image DB 32. As illustrated, the image DB 32 stores an image ID, an increase / decrease value of intimacy, a target relationship, main colors, and related images in association with each other. Here, the image ID is image identification information included in the image DB 32. The primary color indicates the primary color used in the image. The related image indicates a related image by an image ID.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of various information stored in the determination correspondence table 35. As illustrated, the determination correspondence table 35 stores a total value of closeness and a target relationship in association with each other.

  Returning to FIG. 4, the image ID acquisition unit 40 acquires an image ID from the attached image attached to the past received mail. As a method for obtaining the image ID, a method for extracting what is included in the data of the attached image, or matching between the attached image and the image stored in the image DB 32, and an image ID of a matching or similar image is performed. And a method of reading out the image from the image DB 32. The image ID acquisition unit 40 sends the acquired image ID to the image content analysis unit.

  The image content analysis unit 41 evaluates the target relationship from the content of the attached image. Specifically, the image content analysis unit 41 refers to the image DB 32 and acquires an increase / decrease value of the familiarity corresponding to the image ID from the image ID acquisition unit 40. In the example of FIG. 5, when the image ID is “A”, “+2” is acquired as the increase / decrease value of the familiarity. The image content analysis unit 41 sends the acquired increase / decrease value of the familiarity to the determination unit 44.

  The morpheme analysis unit 42 performs morpheme analysis on the text of the past received mail. The morpheme analysis unit 42 sends the analysis result to the sentence content analysis unit 43. In the above text, the morphological analysis unit 42 may recognize an important place and set the place as a main target of morphological analysis. For example, the morphological analysis unit 42 may recognize a portion of “kanji” or “jukugo”, which is relatively important in Japanese, and analyze the portion with priority. In this case, since the target of morphological analysis can be narrowed down, morphological analysis processing can be performed efficiently.

  The sentence content analysis unit 43 evaluates the target relationship from the contents of the text. Specifically, the sentence content analysis unit 43 refers to the analysis dictionary DB 31 and acquires an increase / decrease value of the familiarity corresponding to the morpheme from the morpheme analysis unit 43. For example, when the morpheme is “thank you”, the sentence content analysis unit 43 acquires “+1” as the increase / decrease value of the familiarity, and when the morpheme is “dislike”, the increase / decrease value of the familiarity As a result, “−5” is acquired. The sentence content analysis unit 43 sends the acquired increase / decrease value of the familiarity to the determination unit 44.

  The determination unit 44 determines the target relationship. Specifically, the determination unit 44 obtains a total value of familiarity by accumulating the increase / decrease values of the familiarity from the image content analysis unit 41 and the sentence content analysis unit 43, and refers to the determination correspondence table 35. The object relationship corresponding to the total value of intimacy is acquired. For example, if the total value of the intimacy is 150, the target relationship is determined to be “friend” with reference to the determination correspondence table 35 shown in FIG. The determination unit 44 sends the determination result to the image search unit 24.

  Note that the determination unit 44 may transmit the total value of the familiarity or the determination result to the communication terminal 11 via the communication unit 14. In this case, the user of the requesting communication terminal 11 can obtain an index for objectively determining the relationship with the user of the transmitting communication terminal. Further, the determination unit 44 may transmit the total value of closeness to another device. For example, when the determination unit 44 transmits the total value of familiarity to a known affinity fortune-telling device, the affinity fortune-telling device can realize more accurate fortune-telling using the received total value of familiarity. it can.

  FIG. 7 shows details of the format analysis unit 22 and the format search unit 25. As illustrated, the format analysis unit 22 includes a background color determination unit 22a. The format search unit 25 includes a format inquiry unit 45 and a format setting unit 46. In addition, the format search unit 25 uses the format correspondence table 33 in the storage unit 16.

  As described above, the format analysis unit 22 analyzes the tendency of the format in the past received mail received from the mail acquisition unit 20. Examples of this format include background color, character state, attached image state, and the like. Examples of character states include color, size (pixel), typeface (font), use of pictograms, use of emoticons, and the like. Further, examples of the state of the attached image include a color tendency (main color), a size, and the like.

  The background color determination unit 22a determines a background color tendency in the past received mail. This determination can be performed using a basic color determination technique (see, for example, Patent Document 4). The background color determination unit 22 a sends the determination result to the format setting unit 46. The format analysis unit 22 may further include a configuration for determining other formats. In this case, the format of the past received mail can be analyzed in more detail.

  The format inquiry unit 45 inquires of the communication terminal 11 via the communication unit 14 whether or not the format of the reply email is similar to the format of the past received email analyzed by the format analysis unit 22. Note that any format can be used as the format of the inquiry. The format inquiry unit 45 sends the query result to the format setting unit 46.

  The format correspondence table 33 stores a similar color and a dissimilar color for a certain color. For example, for a red color, “red color” is stored as a similar color, and “green color” is stored as a dissimilar color. Further, for the vivid tone, “bright tone” is stored as a similar color, and “gray tone” is stored as a dissimilar color.

  The format setting unit 46 refers to the format correspondence table 33 based on the analysis result from the format analysis unit 22 and the query result from the format query unit 45, and sets the format of the reply mail. The format setting unit 46 sends the set format to the image search unit 24 and the candidate sending unit 27.

  For example, when the background color determination unit 22a determines that “the background color is red” and the query result of the format query unit 45 is “similar”, the format setting unit 46 sets the background color of the reply mail to “red” Set to “System”. Also, it is desirable that the attached image of the reply mail has a color that is dissimilar to the background color so that it can stand out from the background. Therefore, the format setting unit 46 sets the color of the attached image of the reply mail to “green system”. The “blue system” may be set.

  FIG. 8 shows details of the image search unit 24. As illustrated, the image search unit 24 includes a relationship analysis image search unit 47 and a format setting image search unit 48. The relationship analysis image search unit 47 and the format setting image search unit 48 use the image DB 32 of the storage unit 16.

  The relationship analysis image search unit 47 searches the image DB 32 for an image ID corresponding to the target relationship determined by the relationship analysis unit 21. The relationship analysis image search unit 47 sends the searched image ID to the candidate sending unit 27. For example, when the relationship analysis unit 21 determines that the target relationship is “friend”, the relationship analysis image search unit 47 acquires an image ID including “friend” as the target relationship in the image DB 32 illustrated in FIG. 5. To the candidate sending unit 27.

  The format setting image search unit 48 searches the image DB 32 for an image ID corresponding to the format searched by the format search unit 25. The format setting image search unit 48 sends the searched image ID to the candidate sending unit 27. For example, when the format search unit 25 sets the color of the attached image of the reply mail to “green”, the format setting image search unit 48 uses “green” as the main color in the image DB 32 shown in FIG. Is sent to the candidate sending unit 27.

  The image search unit 24 searches the image DB 32 for image IDs corresponding to both the target relationship determined by the relationship analysis unit 21 and the format searched by the format search unit 25, and sends the image ID to the candidate transmission unit 27. May be. Further, only one of the relationship analysis image search unit 47 and the format setting image search unit 48 may be caused to function in accordance with an instruction from the requesting communication terminal 11.

  FIG. 9 shows details of the text analysis unit 23 and the sentence search unit 26. As illustrated, the text analysis unit 23 includes a morpheme analysis unit 50. The text search unit 26 includes a candidate text search unit 51 and a text editing unit 52. The text analysis unit 23 uses the analysis dictionary DB 31 of the storage unit 16 as described above. Moreover, the text search unit 26 uses the reply text DB 34 of the storage unit 16 as described above. Further, the text search unit 26 uses the candidate sentence correspondence table 36 of the storage unit 16.

  The morpheme analysis unit 50 of the text analysis unit 23 performs morpheme analysis on the body of the received mail to be returned using the analysis dictionary DB 31. For example, a sentence “thank you always” is divided into “always” (adverb) and “thank you” (verb). The morpheme analysis unit 50 sends the analysis result to the text search unit 26.

  The reply sentence DB 34 classifies and stores reply sentence data that can be described in the body of the reply mail. For example, the reply sentence group a includes a plurality of reply sentences that gently cancel the words of gratitude and apology, such as “you are welcome” and “don't worry”. The candidate sentence correspondence table 36 stores morphemes, reply sentence groups, and words in association with each other. For example, the reply sentence group a is associated with the morpheme “thank you”. In the candidate sentence correspondence table 36, pictograms and emoticons may be associated with morphemes. In this case, since the reply mail can include pictograms or emoticons, emotional expressions can be added to the reply mail.

  The candidate sentence search unit 51 searches the candidate sentence correspondence table 36 for information on a reply sentence group corresponding to the morpheme from the morpheme analysis unit 50. The candidate sentence search unit 51 sends information on the retrieved reply sentence group to the sentence editing unit 52.

  The sentence editing unit 52 uses the reply sentence group information from the candidate sentence search unit 51 and the reply sentence DB 34 of the storage unit 16 to edit the reply mail sentence. The sentence editing unit 52 sends the edited sentence to the candidate sending unit 27.

  Specifically, the text editing unit 52 first searches for a reply sentence group from the reply sentence DB 34 based on the reply sentence group information from the candidate sentence search unit 51. Next, by making an inquiry to the communication terminal 11 via the communication unit 14, a reply sentence is selected from the retrieved reply sentence group. Then, a reply email text is created by combining the selected reply texts.

  Note that details of the method of creating the body of the reply mail corresponding to the body of the received mail are described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-133830, and thus the description thereof is omitted here.

[Example 1]
Next, an example of processing operation in the control unit 15 will be described. For example, it is assumed that the relationship analysis unit 21 determines that the target relationship is “friend” and the format analysis unit 22 determines that the background color tendency of the transmission source is “red”. Further, it is assumed that “similar” is selected as the relationship between the format of the received mail to be returned and the format of the reply mail in the format inquiry unit 45 of the format search unit 25.

  In this case, the relationship analysis image search unit 47 of the image search unit 24 searches the image DB 32 for “friend” determined by the relationship analysis unit 21 and acquires the images B and E. On the other hand, the format setting unit 46 of the format search unit 25 sets “red” as the background color of the reply mail and “green” as the color of the attached image. Accordingly, the format setting image search unit 48 of the image search unit 24 searches the image DB 32 for “green” set by the format setting unit 46 and acquires the images B and D.

  Accordingly, the candidate sending unit 27 is an image B corresponding to both the image searched by the relationship analysis image search unit 47 and the image searched by the formatting image search unit 48 as the attached image of the reply mail. Select. Then, the candidate sending unit 27 sends the mail whose attached image is the image B and whose background color is red to the communication terminal 11 as a reply mail candidate.

[Example 2]
Next, another example of the processing operation in the control unit 15 will be described. For example, when the transmission source and the communication terminal 11 of the request source exchange mails with the theme of soccer, the images attached to these mails are highly likely to be images related to soccer. The present embodiment is suitable for implementation in such a situation.

  For example, it is assumed that the relationship analysis unit 21 determines that the target relationship is “friend”. Further, in this embodiment, it is assumed that the electronic mail shown in FIG. 10 is a received mail to be returned. In the illustrated received mail, the image A is attached, and the letters “Thank you!” Are written in a large size, red, and pop. As a result, the format analysis unit 22 sets the background color as “white”, the character color as “red”, the character size as “large”, and the typeface as the format in the received mail to be returned. It can be determined that the image is “popped” and the attached image is “image A”. Further, it is assumed that “similar” is selected as the relationship between the format of the received mail to be returned and the format of the reply mail in the format inquiry unit 45 of the format search unit 25.

  In this case, the relationship analysis image search unit 47 of the image search unit 24 searches the image DB 32 for “friend” determined by the relationship analysis unit 21 and acquires the images B and E. On the other hand, the format setting unit 46 of the format search unit 25 sets “red” as the character color of the reply mail, “large” as the character size, and “green” and “image” as the attached images. A related image ". As a result, the format setting image search unit 48 of the image search unit 24 searches the image DB 32 for “green” set by the format setting unit 46 to acquire the images B and D, and the format setting unit 46 sets the settings. The “related image of image A” is searched from the image DB 32, and images B, C, and D are acquired.

  Accordingly, the candidate sending unit 27 is an image B corresponding to both the image searched by the relationship analysis image search unit 47 and the image searched by the formatting image search unit 48 as the attached image of the reply mail. Select. Further, the candidate sending unit 27 may enlarge the selected image B in accordance with the character size set by the format setting unit 46. Then, the candidate sending unit 27 sends an email whose attached image is an enlargement of the image B and whose character color is red to the communication terminal 11 as a reply mail candidate.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope shown in the claims. That is, embodiments obtained by combining technical means appropriately modified within the scope of the claims are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  For example, in the present embodiment, the received mail from the transmission source is analyzed, but not limited thereto, the past transmission mail from the request source may be analyzed, such as a reply mail to the received mail. .

  Specifically, first, the mail acquisition unit 20 acquires the past transmission mail from the requesting communication terminal 11 via the communication unit 14. Next, the format analysis unit 22 analyzes the acquired past transmission mail in the same manner as the above reception mail, and based on the analysis result, the format search unit 25 corresponds to the past transmission mail, such as color, text, etc. Search for the format. Then, the candidate sending unit 27 transmits the retrieved format information to the requesting communication terminal 11 via the communication unit 14. On the other hand, the requesting communication terminal 11 creates an outgoing mail based on the received format information.

  In this case, a transmission mail can always be transmitted to a certain destination in the same format. For example, the transmission mail sent in the past to a certain destination is "Hello (^ 0 ^) /, is A child. (The following text omitted) goodbye" If it is, even this time of the reply mail "Hello (^ 0 ^) / , is a child. (below, this time the text shown) can be a good-bye ", for example," Hello! (below, this time the text shown) as in was a child! ", etc., sent to every outgoing e-mail Can be prevented from changing. As a result, the user of the destination communication terminal can always become familiar with the format of the outgoing mail from the requesting communication terminal 11 and can become familiar with the format. You can continue reading.

  In addition, the emotion that the transmission source person has in the transmission destination person may be different from the emotion that the transmission destination person has in the transmission source person. For example, the sender person may favor the recipient person, but the sender person may be indifferent to the sender person. In this case, the target relationship determined by the relationship analysis unit 21 is different between the received mail and the transmitted mail.

  Therefore, the relationship analysis unit 21 analyzes the past outgoing mail to determine the target relationship, and the text search unit 26 searches the reply text DB 34 based on the determined target relationship, thereby requesting communication. A reply mail suitable for the user of the terminal 11 can be created.

  Further, the mail creation support server 13 in the above embodiment may be a mail server having a mail box for the communication terminal 11 to receive received mail. If the received mail is stored in the mailbox, the communication terminal 11 sends the received mail and the past received mail related to the sender to the mail creation support server 13 instead of sending the received mail to the mail creation support server 13. Send an address. In this case, the mail acquisition unit 20 of the mail creation support server 13 acquires the received mail corresponding to the mail address received from the communication terminal 11 from the mailbox. Similarly, the mail creation support server 13 may store outgoing mail from the communication terminal 11 in the mailbox.

  Further, the mail creation support server 13 may have a function of changing the destination mail address to a mail address desired by the user and transferring the e-mail to another mail server desired by the user.

  Further, every time an e-mail is received, the mail creation support server 13 performs a relationship analysis of the relationship analysis unit 21 and a format analysis of the format analysis unit 22, and corresponds the analysis result to the mail addresses of the transmission source and the transmission destination. In addition, it may be stored in the storage unit 16. In this case, since it is not necessary to store past received mails in the storage unit 16 for a long time in order to perform the relationship analysis and the format analysis, the burden on the server can be reduced.

  In the above embodiment, the format search of the format search unit 25 and the image search of the image search unit 24 are performed based on the analysis result of the relationship analysis unit 21 and the analysis result of the format analysis unit 22. In addition, known search means such as keyword search and narrow search may be used. In this case, the format and the image can be more effectively narrowed down. The format search and the image search may be performed after narrowing down to some extent by a known search means.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the relationship analysis part 21 determines the said target relationship using familiarity, the said target relationship is combined using other elements, such as "hobby" and "politeness". May be determined. In this case, the target relationship can be determined with higher accuracy.

  By the way, there is a case where the amount of data that can be transmitted by e-mail is limited as in a mobile phone system. Therefore, the image search unit 24 may search for an image, or the candidate transmission unit 27 may reduce the image in consideration of the amount of data such as a reply sentence. For example, it is conceivable that the image search unit 24 searches for an image using a data amount obtained by subtracting a reply text or other data amount from a transmittable data amount as a data amount of an attachable image. In this case, it is possible to prevent e-mail transmission failure frequently occurring in the mobile phone system.

  In the above embodiment, the mail creation support server 13 includes the image DB 32 as shown in FIG. 5 in the storage unit 16 in advance, but receives the image and its related information from the communication terminal 11, You may enable it to add to DB32. In this case, the number of images that can be analyzed and searched can be increased.

  In the above embodiment, e-mail has been described as an example. However, the present invention can be applied to an arbitrary message whose data is clearly defined at the beginning and end for the purpose of information transmission. it can.

  Finally, each block of the mail creation support server 13, particularly the control unit 15, may be configured by hardware logic, or may be realized by software using a CPU as follows.

  That is, the mail creation support server 13 includes a CPU (central processing unit) that executes instructions of a control program that realizes each function, a ROM (read only memory) that stores the program, and a RAM (random access memory) that expands the program. ), A storage device (recording medium) such as a memory for storing the program and various data. An object of the present invention is a recording medium in which a program code (execution format program, intermediate code program, source program) of a control program of the mail creation support server 13 which is software that realizes the above-described functions is recorded in a computer-readable manner. Can also be achieved by reading the program code recorded on the recording medium and executing it by the computer (or CPU or MPU).

  Examples of the recording medium include a tape system such as a magnetic tape and a cassette tape, a magnetic disk such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk / hard disk, and an optical disk such as a CD-ROM / MO / MD / DVD / CD-R. Card system such as IC card, IC card (including memory card) / optical card, or semiconductor memory system such as mask ROM / EPROM / EEPROM / flash ROM.

  The mail creation support server 13 may be configured to be connectable to a communication network, and the program code may be supplied via the communication network. The communication network is not particularly limited. For example, the Internet, intranet, extranet, LAN, ISDN, VAN, CATV communication network, virtual private network, telephone line network, mobile communication network, satellite communication. A net or the like is available. Further, the transmission medium constituting the communication network is not particularly limited. For example, even in the case of wired such as IEEE 1394, USB, power line carrier, cable TV line, telephone line, ADSL line, etc., infrared rays such as IrDA and remote control, Bluetooth ( (Registered trademark), 802.11 wireless, HDR, mobile phone network, satellite line, terrestrial digital network, and the like can also be used. The present invention can also be realized in the form of a computer data signal embedded in a carrier wave in which the program code is embodied by electronic transmission.

  Since the present invention can search for message-related information corresponding to characteristics related to a transmission source using a received message from the transmission source, various attachment files such as an audio file, a template file, and a document file as well as an attached image. It can be applied to search.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the mail preparation assistance server in the mail preparation assistance system which is one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the said mail preparation assistance system. It is a flowchart which shows the processing operation of the said mail preparation assistance system. It is a block diagram which shows the detail of the relationship analysis part in the control part of the said mail preparation assistance server. It is a figure which shows an example of the various information memorize | stored in image DB in the memory | storage part of the said mail preparation assistance server in a table format. It is a figure which shows an example of the various information memorize | stored in the correspondence table for determination in the said memory | storage part by a table format. It is a block diagram which shows the detail of the format analysis part in the said control part, and a format search part. It is a block diagram which shows the detail of the image search part in the said control part. It is a block diagram which shows the detail of the text analysis part and sentence search part in the said control part. It is a figure which shows an example of the received mail of a reply object.

Explanation of symbols

10 Mail Creation Support System 13 Mail Creation Support Server (Message Creation Support Device)
14 Communication unit (output unit)
16 storage unit 20 mail acquisition unit (acquisition means)
21 Relationship analysis unit (determination means)
22 Format analysis part (determination means)
23 Text analysis part (determination means)
24 Image search unit (search means)
25 Format search part (search means)
26 Text search part (search means)
27 Candidate sending part (mail creation means)
32 Image DB (feature related correspondence information)
33 Format correspondence table (feature related correspondence information)
34 Reply sentence DB (feature related correspondence information)

Claims (7)

A message creation support device for supporting message creation,
Feature-related correspondence information that associates a feature related to a source that is a background color tendency in a received message from a certain source with message-related information that is attached image information attached to a transmission message transmitted to the source. A storage unit for storing;
Obtaining means for obtaining a received message from the sender;
A determination means for determining a feature regarding the transmission source that is a tendency of the background color from the received message;
A message creation support apparatus comprising: search means for searching for message related information corresponding to the determined characteristic relating to the transmission source from the characteristic related correspondence information. The feature-related correspondence information includes the attached image information of the transmitted message that is similar and the attached image information of the transmitted message that is dissimilar with respect to the background color tendency of the received message.
The search means searches for either one of the attached image information of the similar transmission message or the attached image information of the dissimilar transmission message based on an instruction from the outside. message creation support apparatus according to 1. 3. The message creation support apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising message creation means for creating the transmission message based on the message related information searched by the search means. An output unit for outputting information;
The determination means, the features of the determined above source, the message creation supporting device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 and outputs via the output unit. A control program for operating the message creation support device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein the control program causes a computer to function as each of the means. A computer-readable recording medium on which the control program according to claim 5 is recorded. A message creation support apparatus for supporting message creation, including a feature relating to a transmission source that is a tendency of a background color in a received message from a certain transmission source, and attached image information attached to a transmission message transmitted to the transmission source A method for controlling a message creation support apparatus comprising a storage unit that stores feature-related correspondence information associated with certain message-related information,
An acquisition step of acquiring a received message from the sender;
A determination step of determining a feature regarding the transmission source that is a tendency of the background color from the received message;
A method for controlling a message creation support apparatus, comprising: a search step for retrieving message related information corresponding to the determined feature relating to the transmission source from the feature related correspondence information.

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