JPH04353966A - Electronic mail system using radio portable terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To transmit a mail through a radio communication network through the use of a small portable terminal by giving common knowledge on the generation of a document to respective portable terminals and a master station. CONSTITUTION:A document which is generated in a portable terminal 100 is mainly composed of electronic mail sentences. Plural electronic mail sentences and destinations, which become samples, are previously registered in the portable terminal 100 and the master station WS. At the time of generating the electronic mail sentence, the table of transmission electronic mail sentences and the table of the addresses are displayed in the portable terminal 100. A transmission electronic mail sentence number and an address number, which an operator selects by a touch panel among them, are transmitted to a station by a radio channel. Then, a master station WS-side generates the main text based on the mail number received from the radio terminal 100, and the electronic mail having the address corresponding to the received address number is transferred to an electronic mail system 400. In such a case, the generation of the transmission electronic mail sentences and the selection of the addresses-are basically executed by the operation of the touch panel.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an e-mail system using a wireless mobile terminal, and more particularly to an e-mail system in which an e-mail message can be created using a touch panel on the wireless mobile terminal.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Regarding a text input method in a small portable terminal device without a keyboard, for example,
No. 82147 proposes an input method using a touch panel equivalent to a keyboard, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 116543/1983 proposes an input method using handwritten character recognition.

On the other hand, as a conventional technology regarding communication between terminals using a wireless communication network, for example, Maruzen Advanced Technology <Electronics/Information/Communication Edition>"MobileCommunication" pp. 91-112, techniques for registering the location of a mobile terminal, switching zones, etc. are known.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, when the keyboard is omitted in order to make the mobile terminal smaller and lighter, if an input method using a touch panel equivalent to the keyboard described above is adopted, there is a problem with the operability of the keys. The drawback is that it takes time to input a large amount of text. Furthermore, the input method using handwritten character recognition has a problem in that it takes time to recognize handwritten characters.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic mail system that allows mail to be sent via a wireless communication network using a small portable terminal with a simplified or omitted keyboard.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronic mail system using a wireless portable terminal, which is particularly capable of reducing the amount of communication data between devices in a wireless communication network.

Another object of the present invention is to easily create a message using a small mobile terminal whose keyboard is simplified or omitted in order to reduce the size and weight, and to reduce the amount of data in wireless communication. An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic mail system using a wireless mobile terminal.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention positions a fixed station device that communicates with a mobile terminal via a wireless communication network as a master station of the small mobile terminal, and After limiting the contents of the created documents to a certain extent, common knowledge regarding document creation is given to both mobile terminals and the master station, and based on this knowledge, communication between each mobile terminal and the master station is performed by wireless. It is characterized by reducing communication data. More specifically, a document that can be created on a mobile terminal is used as the main e-mail text, and a plurality of sample e-mail texts and destinations are registered in advance in both the mobile terminal and the master station. When creating an e-mail message, a list of e-mail messages to be sent and a list of destinations are displayed on the mobile terminal, and the number of the e-mail message and destination number that the operator selects from these using the touch panel is sent to the station via the wireless channel. The master station side generates a mail text based on the mail number received from the wireless terminal, and transfers the e-mail having the destination corresponding to the received destination number to the e-mail system. In addition, in the system of the present invention, as an optional function of each wireless terminal, when the operator specifies a specific word or phrase in an e-mail message to be sent, the converted word or phrase selected by the touch panel from a group of pre-registered words or phrases or the touch panel key is used. Words input by manipulation or handwriting can be replaced with the designated words.

[0009]

[Operation] According to the present invention, the creation of an e-mail message to be sent and the selection of a destination are basically performed by touch panel operation, so that it is possible to create an e-mail message with an extremely simple operation. In addition, by making it possible to convert specific words and phrases in outgoing e-mail texts to pre-registered conversion words, arbitrary words and phrases entered by touch panel key operation, or handwritten input, a certain degree of freedom is achieved in the content of outgoing e-mail texts. You can also give. In addition, communication between the mobile terminal and the master station,
Basically, the number of the e-mail text to be sent and the destination number can be kept to just the number and destination number. Even when sending arbitrary words, the additional data to be sent is limited to a part of the e-mail text, so the mobile terminal device and the The amount of data transmitted through wireless communication with the station is reduced, and the time required for transmission and communication charges can be reduced.

0010

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a wireless portable terminal system according to the present invention. The wireless mobile terminal system includes a plurality of wireless mobile terminals 100 (only one representative is shown in the figure), a base WS 200, and a wireless communication network 300 that connects these. Above base WS2
00 is connected to the e-mail system 400 via another network. Although the base WS is shown as a workstation with wireless communication capabilities in the figure, it may also be a normal workstation connected by wire to a wireless communication network.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the appearance of the wireless portable terminal 100. The wireless mobile terminal 100 includes a display device 101 with handwriting input and touch panel input functions, and a small portable personal computer 103 equipped with a communication function using a wireless antenna 102.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the wireless portable terminal 100. The wireless mobile terminal includes a calculation unit (CPU) 110 and a storage unit 12 for storing programs and various data, which will be described later.
0, a wireless communication section 130, a display section 140 (101), a touch panel section 150, a handwriting input section 160, and an internal bus 170 that connects them.

[0014] The wireless mobile terminal 100 and the base WS 200 each have a sent e-mail text list file 1 with the same content.
0 (FIG. 4), one or more outgoing e-mail text files 20 (FIG. 5), and a destination file 41 (FIG. 10).

FIG. 4 shows a sent e-mail text list file 10.
The configuration is shown below. The sent e-mail text list file 10 is
It is composed of a field 11 indicating the number of files of transmitted e-mail text, and one or more transmitted e-mail text file fields 12. Each sent email text file field 12 is composed of a sent email text number field 13, a sent email text name field 14, and a sent email text file name field 15.

FIG. 5 shows the structure of the sent e-mail text file 20. The sent e-mail text file 20 is composed of a sent e-mail text name field 21, a sent e-mail body field 22, a specific word count field 23, and a specific word field 24 for the specific number of words.

The transmitted e-mail body field 22 is composed of a length field 25 that records the length of the transmitted e-mail body, and a body field 26 that records the body itself.

The specific word field 23 includes a length field 32 indicating the length of the specific word field, a specific word number field 27, and a starting position of the specific word in the text (byte position from the beginning of the text). A start position field 28, an end position field 29 indicating the end position of the specific word in the text, a specific word type field 30 indicating the type of the specific word, and a specific word option field 31 (existence depending on the type of the specific word). ).

FIG. 6 shows a list of specific word types 30 and type identifiers. In this example, the types of specific words are:
Four types are available: conversion word, numeric value, time, and date. The specific word option field 31 exists only when the type of the specific word is a conversion word.

FIG. 7 shows the specific word option field 31.
The internal configuration of is shown. Specific word option field 31
is a converted word/phrase number field 33 indicating the number of converted words;
It is composed of converted word fields 34 corresponding to the number of converted words. The conversion phrase field 34 includes a length field 35 indicating the length of the conversion phrase field, a conversion phrase number field 36, a conversion phrase type field 37 indicating the type of the conversion phrase, and a conversion phrase option field 3.
8 (which may not exist depending on the type of converted word/phrase).

FIG. 8 shows the type 27 of the converted phrase and the type identifier. In this embodiment, three types of converted words are prepared: ordinary words, arbitrary words, and handwritten words.

FIG. 9 shows the conversion word option field 38.
The internal configuration of is shown. The converted word/phrase type field 38 exists only when the type of the converted word/phrase is a regular word. The converted word/phrase type field 38 includes a length field 39 indicating the length of the normal word and a normal word/phrase field 40 in which the normal word/phrase is recorded.

FIG. 10 shows the structure of the destination file 41. The destination file 41 includes a destination number field 42 indicating the number of registered destinations and a destination field 43 corresponding to the number of destinations.
It is composed of. The destination field 43 includes a destination name field 44 and a destination address field 45.

[0024] Next, an e-mail message to be sent is created by operating the touch panel on the wireless mobile terminal 100, and sent to the wireless communication network 3.
The processing procedure for sending an e-mail to the e-mail system 400 via the base WS 200 and the base WS 200 will be described.

FIG. 11 is a schematic processing flow in the wireless portable terminal 100. The processing in the wireless mobile terminal 100 includes a transmission e-mail text selection process 500, a transmission e-mail text creation process 501, a destination selection process 526, and a communication process 502 to the base WS.

FIG. 12 shows outgoing e-mail text selection processing 500.
The processing flow is shown below. Outgoing e-mail text selection process 500
First, the sent e-mail text list file is read and the sent e-mail text list is displayed on the display screen (step 503). If there are a large number of e-mail messages to be sent, the display is divided into pages. Next, a process of selecting an e-mail text to be sent is performed using the touch panel (504). When an operator selects one of the outgoing e-mail texts by operating the touch panel, the entire file contents of the selected outgoing e-mail text are stored in the storage unit 120, and the contents of the body of the corresponding outgoing e-mail text are displayed. Display it on the screen (505). Note that when reading the file of the transmitted e-mail text, the corresponding position of each specific word in the text on the display screen is shaded based on information indicating the start position and end position of the specific word.

FIG. 13 shows outgoing e-mail text creation processing 501
The processing flow is shown below. Outgoing e-mail text creation process 501
First, select a specific word using the touch panel (
Step 506). This determines the specific word/phrase specified by the operator by comparing the coordinates of the specified position on the touch panel with the pre-stored start and end positions of each specific word/phrase in the text. Next, the attribute of the designated specific word is checked (507). If the attribute of the specific word is a converted word (508), conversion and word processing are performed (5080). In this process, first, the storage unit 1
The conversion word/phrase in the option field corresponding to the specific word/phrase is read from 20 and displayed on the screen. Figure 14 shows an example of the display screen when this converted phrase is displayed.
Shown below. In the figure, 90 is a text display window, 91 is a converted word display window 91, and the text display window 9
0, a transmission file name 92 and a mail body 93 are displayed, and specific words 94 included in the body are shaded. On the other hand, a converted word/phrase window 91 displays a list of converted words/phrases 95 . There are three types of converted words: normal words, arbitrary words, and handwritten words. In the case of normal words (96), the converted words themselves are displayed,
In the case of arbitrary words or handwritten words (97), a message to that effect is displayed.

FIG. 15 shows the processing flow of the above-mentioned converted phrase processing 5080. If the attribute of the designated specific word is a converted word, a list of converted words is displayed and the operator waits for the operator to select a converted word using the touch panel (step 509). If the attribute of the selected converted word is a normal word (510), the number of the selected normal word is stored, and the selected converted word and the specific word in the text are replaced and displayed (511). ). If the attribute of the selected conversion word is an arbitrary word (512), an arbitrary word input window and touch panel keys are displayed (513).
), performs input processing of an arbitrary word in response to touch panel operation (514), replaces the input arbitrary word with the specific word in the text, and displays it (515). If the attribute of the selected conversion word is a handwritten word (516), a handwritten input window is displayed and the handwritten word is inputted (516).
517), the input handwritten phrase and the specific phrase are replaced and displayed (518). After displaying the replacement of the specific word and the converted word, if the specific word length and the converted word length (in the case of handwritten words, the equivalent word length) are different, all the specified words in the text recorded in the storage unit 120 are The start position information and end position information of the phrase are corrected (519).

Returning to FIG. 13, if the attributes of the selected specific word are numerical value (520), time (521), date (52
2), the numeric keypad template (523)
, a clock (524), and a calendar (525), and perform numerical, time, and date input processing (5230-525).
0) respectively.

[0030] When the sending e-mail text creation process 501 by selecting or converting specific words is completed, the destination selection process 526 shown in FIG. 11 is performed. In the destination selection process 526, as shown in FIG. 16, first, the destination file 41 is read and a list of destinations is displayed (527), and then a destination is selected in response to a touch panel operation (528). When a destination is selected, the base WS contact process shown in FIG. 11 is performed.

FIG. 17 shows the wireless mobile terminal 100 and the base WS.
200 shows the sequence of communication performed with the 200. The communication sequence consists of connection setup (529), sending e-mail data transmission (530), confirmation (531), and connection release (532).

FIG. 18 shows a communication frame when a wireless terminal transmits e-mail data. The communication frame when sending e-mail data is the wireless mobile terminal and base W.
Address field 600 for entering the address of S
, an identifier field 601 indicating that it is outgoing e-mail data, and an outgoing e-mail data field 6
02.

The sent e-mail data field 602 includes a destination field 603 for entering the destination number of the e-mail, a sent e-mail text number field 604 for entering the sent e-mail text number, and each of the sent e-mail texts. It is composed of a specific word field 605 for a specific word/phrase number sentence for entering information on a specific word/phrase. The format of the specific phrase field 605 differs depending on the attribute of the specific phrase.

FIG. 19 shows the format of the specific phrase field for each attribute. If the specific word/phrase is a converted word/phrase, the specific word/phrase field 605 is the converted word/phrase number field 6.
Including 06. The converted word/phrase number is numbered sequentially starting from 1, and is "0" if it is not converted (the specific word remains as it is).
is set. If the converted phrase number indicates an arbitrary phrase or a handwritten phrase, an option field 607 follows the converted phrase number field 606. The option field 607 includes a length field 608 for setting the byte length of the option field, and a data field 609 for setting arbitrary word data or handwritten word data. The specific word is a number,
In the case of time and date, the specific phrase field 605 includes a numerical value field 610. Numerical field 610 is
It consists of a length field 611 for storing the byte length of the numerical field, and a data field 612 for storing numerical data.

FIG. 20 shows the structure of each communication frame for connection setting (529), transmission e-mail data confirmation (531), and connection release (532).

FIG. 21 shows a processing flow executed by the base WS 200 when receiving information regarding an e-mail message to be sent from the wireless portable terminal 100. The processing of the base WS 200 consists of a sending e-mail message communication reception process 700 from the wireless mobile terminal 100, an outgoing e-mail message creation process 701, and an e-mail sending process 702. In the sent e-mail text communication reception process 700, the sent e-mail text data shown in FIG. 18 is received according to the communication sequence shown in FIG. Next, outgoing e-mail text creation processing 70
1, reads the mail text from the sent electronic text file 20 according to the received sent e-mail text data,
Performs processing to replace specific words and converted words. lastly,
In the e-mail sending process 702, the corresponding destination address is read from the destination file 41, and the created e-mail text is sent to the e-mail system 400.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the text creation method based on a touch panel according to the present invention can also be applied to applications other than e-mail.

[0038]

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, e-mail text can be created using a touch panel as a base, and with simple operations using touch panel keys and handwritten input. It becomes possible to create sentences. Further, according to the present invention, since communication data on a wireless communication network can be reduced, communication time can be increased even in the future in a wireless communication network where it will be difficult to increase the transmission speed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a wireless mobile terminal system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an external view of the wireless mobile terminal 100.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of the wireless mobile terminal 100.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of a sent e-mail text list file 10 and a sent e-mail text file field 12, which is a part thereof.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of a sent e-mail text file 20, a sent e-mail body text field, and a specific phrase file 23.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing types and identifiers of specific words.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the configuration of a specific word option field 31 and a conversion word field 34.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing types and type identifiers of converted words.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the configuration of a conversion word option field 38.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the configuration of a destination file 41 and a destination field 43.

FIG. 11 is a processing flowchart showing the operation of the wireless mobile terminal 100.

FIG. 12 is a processing flowchart showing details of outgoing e-mail text selection processing 500.

FIG. 13 is a processing flowchart showing details of outgoing e-mail text creation processing 501.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a terminal screen when displaying converted words.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing details of processing 5080 when the attribute of the specified specific word is a conversion word.

FIG. 16 is a process flow chart showing details of destination selection process 526.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a communication sequence between a wireless mobile terminal and a base WS.

FIG. 18 is a configuration diagram of a communication frame when a wireless terminal transmits outgoing e-mail data.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing the format of a specific phrase field for each attribute.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing the structure of a communication frame when setting a connection, confirming sent e-mail data, and releasing a connection.

FIG. 21 is a processing flowchart showing the operation of the base WS 200.

[Explanation of symbols]

100... Wireless mobile terminal, 200... Base WS, 300...
Wireless communication network, 400... E-mail system, 110... Arithmetic unit (CPU), 120... Storage unit, 130... Wireless communication unit, 140... Display unit, 150... Touch panel unit, 160...
Handwritten input section, 170... Internal bus, 10... Outgoing email text list file, 20... Outgoing email text file,
41...Destination file, 11...Sent e-mail text file number field, 12...Sent e-mail text file field, 13...Sent e-mail text number field, 14...
Sending e-mail text name field, 15... Sending e-mail text file name field, 21... Sending e-mail text name field, 22... Sending e-mail body field, 23... Specific words/phrases number field, 24... Specific words/phrases field, 25... Length. Field, 26...Body field, 32...Length field, 27...Specific word/phrase number field, 28...Start position field, 29...End position field, 30...Specific word/phrase type field, 31...Specific word/phrase option field, 33...Number of converted words Field, 34... Conversion word field, 35... Length field, 36... Conversion word number field, 37... Conversion word type field, 38... Conversion word option field, 39... Length field, 40... Normal word field, 42... Number of destinations field. , 43... Destination field, 44... Destination name field, 45... Destination address field, 500... Sending e-mail text selection process, 501... Sending e-mail text creation process, 526... Destination selection process, 50
2... Contact processing to base WS, 90... Main text display window, 91... Converted word display window, 92... Transmission file name, 93... Main text, 94... Specific word/phrase, 95... Converted word/phrase, 6
00... Address field, 601... Identifier field, 602... Sending e-mail data field, 603...
Destination field, 604... Outgoing e-mail text number field, 605... Specific phrase field, 606... Conversion phrase number field, 607... Option field, 60
8...Length field, 609...Data field,
610...Numeric field, 611...Length field, 612...Data field, 700...Outgoing e-mail text communication reception processing, 701...Outgoing e-mail text creation processing,
702...E-mail sending process.

Claims (7)

[Claims] Claim 1: A wireless communication network, a display with a touch panel, and a wireless mobile terminal having a wireless communication function capable of communicating via the wireless communication network, and a wireless mobile terminal for communicating with the wireless mobile terminal via the wireless communication network. In a wireless mobile terminal system consisting of a workstation (hereinafter referred to as base WS) serving as a master station of the wireless mobile terminal, the base WS
to the e-mail system, and register a plurality of pre-numbered outgoing e-mail texts and a plurality of pre-numbered destinations in both the base WS and the wireless mobile terminal. When sending an e-mail from a mobile terminal via the wireless communication network and the base WS, a list of e-mail texts and a list of destinations are displayed on the display of the wireless mobile terminal, and the e-mail text and destinations are entered using the touch panel. When the outgoing e-mail text and destination are selected, the wireless mobile terminal transmits the outgoing e-mail number and destination number to the base WS via the wireless communication network, and The WS selects the outgoing e-mail text and destination according to the outgoing e-mail number and destination number sent from the wireless mobile terminal, and sends the selected outgoing e-mail text to the e-mail system to the selected destination. An e-mail method using a wireless mobile terminal, characterized in that the e-mail is sent to a person. 2. The e-mail system according to claim 1, in which one or more specific words or phrases in the outgoing e-mail text to be registered in both the wireless mobile terminal and the base WS are numbered in advance; , prepare one or more numbered conversion words for the specific word, register the conversion words in both the base WS and the wireless mobile terminal, and display them on the wireless mobile terminal. When a specific outgoing email text is selected from the above outgoing email text list, the selected outgoing email text will be displayed on the display,
The above-mentioned specific words in the sent e-mail text are displayed with shading or underlining to indicate that they are specific words, and the specific words can be selected using the touch panel.
When a certain specific word is selected by the touch panel, a list of converted words corresponding to the specific word is displayed, and one of the converted words can be selected by the touch panel,
When a conversion word is selected, the specific word in the displayed e-mail text is replaced with the selected conversion word, and when the process of replacing all specific words with the conversion word is completed, the wireless Base WS from mobile device
In addition to the sending e-mail text number and destination number, a set of the selected specific word/phrase number and the converted word/phrase number corresponding to the specific word/phrase is transmitted to the base WS from the wireless mobile terminal. An e-mail message using a wireless mobile terminal, characterized in that an e-mail message is assembled from a sent e-mail message number that has been received, and a set of a specific word/phrase number and a converted word/phrase number, and is sent to the e-mail system. method. [Claim 3] In the e-mail system according to claim 1 or 2, the specific words and phrases in the transmitted e-mail text are divided into four types: conversion words, numerical values, time, and date, and the base WS
Also, when registering an e-mail message to be sent to a wireless mobile terminal, the type of specific word or phrase can be registered, and if a conversion word or specific word is selected when creating an e-mail message to be sent to a wireless mobile terminal, a list of converted words will be displayed. When a numeric specific word, time specific word, or date specific word is selected, a touch panel equivalent to a numeric keypad is displayed so that the numeric value, time, or date can be entered respectively. When sending an e-mail text number from the terminal to the base WS, the conversion word number is sent for conversion word specific words, and the input numerical value itself is sent for numerical value specific words, time specific words, or date specific words, An e-mail system using a wireless mobile terminal, characterized in that the base WS replaces the numerical value specific phrase, time specific phrase, or date specific phrase with the transmitted numerical value to assemble the transmitted e-mail text. 4. In the e-mail method according to claim 1, 2, or 3, when a time specifying phrase is selected, a clock is displayed on the display, and a touch panel input is made to the hour hand position corresponding to the input time. An e-mail method using a wireless mobile terminal, which is characterized by inputting the time. 5. In the e-mail method according to claim 1, 2, or 3, when a date specific phrase is selected, a calendar is displayed on the display, and a touch panel is moved to a position on the calendar corresponding to the input date. An e-mail method using a wireless mobile terminal, which is characterized by inputting the date. [Claim 6] In the e-mail system according to claim 1 or 2, an "arbitrary word" is prepared as a selection item for a conversion word for a specific word, and the "arbitrary word" is selected when selecting a conversion word. In this case, a touch panel equivalent to a keyboard is displayed on the display, and any words can be entered using the touch panel equivalent to a keyboard. Regarding the entered specific word/phrase, the specific word/phrase number, an identifier indicating that it was arbitrarily input, and the entered arbitrary word/phrase are sent, and the base WS replaces the specific word/phrase with the sent "arbitrary word" and transmits it electronically. An e-mail method using a wireless mobile terminal characterized by assembling e-mail messages. 7. In the e-mail system according to claim 1, 2, or 6, the wireless mobile terminal is provided with a handwritten input means, and when "any word" is selected when selecting a conversion word, the handwritten input is displayed on the display. When displaying the area, completing handwritten input, and sending an e-mail text number from the wireless mobile terminal to the base WS, for specific words input by hand, the specific word/phrase number, an identifier indicating that the handwritten input was made, and the input Send the handwritten data itself and send it to the base WS.
An e-mail method using a wireless mobile terminal, characterized in that an e-mail message to be sent is assembled by replacing the specific phrase with the transmitted handwritten data.