JPH05274233A - Electronic mail system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To transmit and to receive the electronic mails in which pictures and characters coexist easily by adding image information to the electronic mails and transmitting them. CONSTITUTION:A keyboard 51 or a mouse 61 of a terminal 21 is operated, a text 12 constituted of characters only and a picture 13 are drawn on a letter paper 11 displayed on a CRT31 and the transmission command of the electronic mail is generated by operating the keyboard 51 or the mouse 61. Then, whether an address is entered on the top row of the text 12 or not is judged, and when it is judged that the address is entered. the header of the electronic mail constituted of an address B, a sender A, and a present date is generated. Next, whether the picture is drawn on the letter paper 11 or not is judged, and when it is judged that the picture is drawn, image information data constituted of page information to indicate the page of the letter paper 11 on which the picture 13 is drawn, position information to indicate the position of the picture 13, and the name of the picture 13 is generated, added to the header of the electronic mail and transmitted with the text added.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail system suitable for use in transmitting and receiving electronic mail between terminals such as computers connected to a network.

[0002]

[Prior art] At elementary, junior high, and high schools and cram schools throughout Japan,
The introduction of personal computers (personal computers) is urgent,
Learning time using this computer is increasing year by year. Along with this, learning materials (software) for computers that make full use of multimedia have been developed, and various CAI systems that integrate these have emerged.

The conventional CAI system has a drill form in which textbooks and problem books are simply put on a computer as they are, and there are few things in which a learner can learn with interest. .. Therefore, as a CAI system (learning teaching material system) that allows learners to enjoy and study by making full use of the characteristics and functions of computers, there is a knowledge database, and a bilaterally led dialogue system, such as an English learning system, is available. is there.

This English learning system is an environment-providing and communication-type (bilateral initiative type) system in which a learner can actively think while freely making trial and error. ○ Simulation function ○ Search function ○ It has a user-friendly interface and is able to provide various learning methods that are not limited to the range and various learning methods by making full use of multimedia.

Further, this English learning system is composed of five subsystems called "STUDY", "POST OFFICE", "LIBRARY", "PLAYROOM", and "LABORATORY" in order to create a pleasant school atmosphere. It

The subsystem "STUDY" learns the grammatical basics of English based on textbooks, understands the contents, and carries out problem exercises for the purpose of establishing knowledge.
It is a basic learning room.

Subsystem "POST OFFICE"
Simulates writing and sending letters in English to help you learn practical English expressions and letter formats.

The subsystem "LIBRARY" is a support tool which has a database of words used in the system (each subsystem) and which can be freely searched / referenced from other subsystems. This subsystem also provides pictures and sounds so that the learner can capture the image of the words without the help of Japanese and with the aid of visual and auditory senses.

The subsystem "PLAYROOM" is intended to prevent the learner's interest in studying English from being lost, and he / she can play English games without hesitation. You are able to learn.

Subsystem "LABORATORY"
Is an experiment for English conversation. By combining images and sounds, we create a situation (virtual situation) as if we were actually talking to a person, and let the learner experience the conversation in it. Is becoming In addition, this subsystem allows training of English conversation through human-to-human dialogue rather than human-computer.

By the way, the subsystem "POST OF
In "FICE", it is possible to simulate writing and sending a letter in English by using, for example, the UNIX mail system. In order to cope with the presence / absence of envelopes, address writing, and the like, a user interface shown in FIG. 8 is further provided, which allows the user to operate as if writing an address on an envelope and writing a message on a notepaper.

The mail handler 31 uses the mailbox 3
2. Comprehensively manage the envelope editor 33, the letter paper editor 34, and the spell checker 35 to display received e-mails in the form of envelope and letter paper, and to send and reply to the envelope editor 33 or letter paper. The editor 34 is activated. The mail box 32 manages mail received in the past and creates and displays a mail list. Envelope editor 33 or stationery editor 34
Is an editor dedicated to writing envelopes or writing stationery, which can be operated as if writing on an actual envelope or stationery. Envelope editor 33 and stationery editor 3
In 4, the entry position is displayed for items such as an address where the entry location is determined. The spell checker 35 is an editor 34 for notepaper.
Corrects spelling errors by pointing out misspellings in emails created by.

Subsystem "POST OFFICE"
First, in the mail handler 31, the mailbox 32, the envelope editor 33, and the letter paper editor 3
4 is activated. When the mail has arrived, a list of mails is displayed in the mailbox 32. When the displayed mail is selected by the selection command, in the envelope editor 33 and the letter paper editor 34,
The selected mail is displayed.

When sending a mail, the envelope editor 3
3 or the editor 34 for notepaper, the address and sender name of the envelope, or the headnote, text and trailer of the notepaper are created. When the send command for sending the mail is operated, the spell checker 35 checks the spelling of the document created by the letter paper editor 34. As a result, if there is no spelling error, the data created by the envelope editor 33 is checked. It is output together with the mail system of UNIX.

In the UNIX mail system, the mail address in the envelope and the sender's name are referenced, and a mail according to a predetermined format is created in which the address corresponding to the mail address and the address corresponding to the sender name are added to the header. Sent.

[0016]

As described above, the conventional
For example, an electronic mail system such as the subsystem "POST OFFICE" can send and receive a message (document) more quickly than in actual mail.

However, in such a system,
Messages that can be sent and received are generally limited to characters (text), and there is a problem that messages including images cannot be handled.

Further, in a CAI system to which such an electronic mail system is applied as a subsystem,
Since the message including the image cannot be handled, the e-mail cannot be used in the same way as the actual mail, which causes a problem that the learner feels uncomfortable.

The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and makes it possible to easily send and receive an electronic mail including a mixture of images and characters.

[0020]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An electronic mail system of the present invention is an electronic mail having a sending terminal for sending an electronic mail containing a mixture of images and characters and a receiving terminal for receiving the electronic mail sent from the sending terminal. In the system, the transmission terminal sends an e-mail to the processing step S3 of the program as a detection means for detecting an image from the e-mail and the e-mail in response to the detection result of the processing step S3 of the program.
Page information indicating the page on which the image is drawn, position information indicating the position where the image is drawn on the page, and processing step S4 of the program as image information adding means for adding the name of the image. And

[0021]

In the electronic mail system configured as described above, the sending terminal detects an image from the electronic mail, and in the electronic mail, the page information indicating the page on which the image is drawn and the position where the image is drawn on the page are displayed. The position information to be shown and the name of the image are added. Therefore, it is possible to easily send and receive an electronic mail in which images and characters are mixed.

[0022]

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of an electronic mail system of the present invention. The N terminals 2 _{1 to} 2 _N are connected to each other via a bus 1 to form a computer network, and include a CRT 3 _{1 to} 3 _N , for example, a workstation (EWS) 4 _{1 to} 4 _N for UNIX, a keyboard. 5 _{1 to} 5 _N , and mouse 6 _{1 to} 6
Each is composed of _N.

Since all the terminals 2 _{1 to} 2 _N have the same configuration, the terminal 2 ₁ will be described below.

The EWS4 ₁ is a CP that controls the entire device.
U, a ROM storing system programs and the like, and a RAM (none of which is shown) storing data necessary for the operation of the apparatus, etc., for example, UNIX operating system as an operating system,
For example, the message handler (MH) programs as a control program, and CRT 3 ₁ For example X Window system as a control program for controlling the display is installed to control the transmission and reception of e-mail.

The CRT 3 ₁ is controlled to the X Window system installed on EWS4 _1, in response to the signals outputted from EWS4 _1, displays a received electronic mail and send e-mail. The keyboard 5 ₁ and mouse 6 ₁ are connected to the EWS 4 ₁ and are operated when composing an e-mail or issuing a command for sending and receiving.

Next, the operation of the terminal 2 ₁ as a transmitting terminal when an electronic mail is transmitted from the terminal 2 ₁ to the terminal 2 _N will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First,
The keyboard 5 ₁ or mouse 6 _{1 of the} terminal 2 ₁ is operated,
For example, as shown in FIG. 2 (a), on the stationery 11 displayed on the CRT 3 _1, consisting of characters only the body 12 and the image 13
Is drawn further, it is operated keyboard 5 ₁ or mouse 6 ₁ of the terminal 2 _1, issued electronic mail transmission command. Then, in step S1, it is determined whether or not the address as the destination of the electronic mail is entered in the top line of the body 12. If it is determined in step S1 that the address has not been entered, it is determined that the destination is unknown and the process ends.

If it is determined in step S1 that the address has been entered, the process proceeds to step S2 and the text 12
A header of an electronic mail including the address B entered in the uppermost line of the above, the sender A entered in the lowermost line of the body 12, and the current date is created, and the process proceeds to step S3. In step S3, it is determined whether or not a drawing (image) is drawn on the notepaper 11 (created e-mail). When it is determined in step S3 that a drawing (image) is drawn on the notepaper 11, the process proceeds to step S4,
An image consisting of page information indicating the page of the notepaper 11 on which the image 13 is drawn, position information indicating the position of the image 13 drawn on the page, and the name of the image 13 (name given to the data of the image 13) Information data is created,
It is added to the email header. Furthermore, step S
In FIG. 4, an identifier is added after the body 12 as text data, and after the identifier, the bit data of the image 13 is, for example, UNIX such as “uuencode”.
The image data converted into the character code is added (added) by the encoding program of the operation system or the like, and the process proceeds to step S5.

The name of the image 13 is automatically determined by the CPU incorporated in the EWS 4 ₁ .

When it is determined in step S3 that the drawing (image) is not drawn on the notepaper 11, step S4 is skipped and the process proceeds to step S5.

In step S5, as shown in FIG. 4, the address, sender, current date, image information data (image 13
In the header consisting of page information indicating the page of the notepaper 11 on which is drawn, position information indicating the position of the image 13 drawn on that page, and the name of the image 13 (name given to the data of the image 13)). , The text (the text to which the image data was added in step S4) is added, and the step S
Proceeding to step 6, the electronic mail is transmitted (transmitted).

Next, the operation of the terminal 2 _N as the receiving terminal will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Terminal 2
_{In N} , when the keyboard 5 _N or mouse 6 _N is operated and an e-mail capture command is issued,
In step S11, the e-mail is read into EWS4 _N, the process proceeds to step S12. In step S12, the sender of the email header is referred to, and the CRT
The sender A is displayed on the 3 _N sender display unit 17 (FIG. 2B), and the process proceeds to step S13. In step S13, it is determined whether or not the image information data is included in the header of the email. If it is determined that the image information data is not included in the header of the email, steps S14 to S16 are skipped and the process proceeds to step S17.

When it is determined in step S13 that the image information data is present in the header of the electronic mail, the process proceeds to step S14, and the image data added to the text is a decoding program of the UNIX operation system such as "uudecode". It is expanded to bit data by, for example. In step S15, the page information of the image information data is referred to, and it is determined whether the page to be displayed on the CRT 3 _N is the page on which the image is drawn. When it is determined in step S15 that the page to be displayed on the CRT 3 _N is not the page on which the image is drawn, step S16 is skipped and the process proceeds to step S17.

If it is determined in step S15 that the page to be displayed on the CRT 3 _N is the page on which the image is drawn, the process proceeds to step S16, where the position information of the image information data and the name of the image are referred to, The image with that name is displayed at the position indicated by the position information. In step S17, the text is displayed on the CRT 3 _N and the process ends.

[0034] By the above process, was created in the terminal 2 _1, e-mail shown in FIG. 2 (a), the terminal 2 _N CRT of
In 3 _N , as shown in FIG. 2 (b), the body 15 consisting of only letters and the image 16 are displayed on the notepaper 14, and the sender A is displayed on the sender display unit 17.

Further, the terminals 2 _{1 to} 2 _N can be made to be able to write a reply to the received electronic mail while displaying the received electronic mail. The terminal 2 ₁ will be described below.

That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the CR of the terminal 2 ₁
T3 ₁ of the half on the left, received e-mail stationery 29
And the sender of the e-mail is displayed on the sender display unit 26. Furthermore, the right half of the CRT 3 _1, together with the stationery 30 Write message for reply (transmission) is displayed, the envelope 21 for writing address and the sender is displayed.

Thus, the user of the terminal 2 ₁ writes the reply message (text 23 and image 24) on the notepaper 30 by operating the keyboard 5 ₁ or the mouse 6 ₁ while watching the received e-mail. You can

When the received mail extends over a plurality of pages, the notepaper 2 displaying the received mail is displayed.
The previous page mark 27 or the next page mark 28 of 9 pages are turned by clicking with the mouse 6 _1,
You can read multi-page emails. Similarly, the previous page mark 2 of the letter paper 30 in which a reply message is written
2 or next page mark 25 pages are turned by clicking with the mouse _61, it is possible to create a mail multiple pages. In addition, the keyboard 5 ₁
Or mouse ₆₁ to manipulate, by emitting image paste command, it is possible to arrange the image 24 at an arbitrary position of an arbitrary page of stationery 30.

Although the electronic mail system of the present invention has been described above, by applying the present invention to, for example, the above-mentioned CAI system, it becomes possible to handle a message including an image. It can be used in the same way as a postal mail, and allows learners to learn how to write actual letters more effectively.

In this embodiment, only the data format (FIG. 4) in the case where there is only one image in the e-mail message has been described, but when there are plural images, as shown in FIG. The image information data of the plurality of images are all added to the header, and all the image data is added after the body text. As in the case where there is only one image, it is possible to send and receive e-mail. You can do it. Further, in the data format shown in FIG. 4 or 7, instead of adding the image data after the text, the corresponding image data can be added immediately after the image information data.

Further, if the sending terminal side controls the page information and the position information of the image information data so that a plurality of images are displayed at the same position on the same page on the receiving terminal side, a plurality of images can be obtained. It is possible to send an e-mail including a pseudo moving image in which the image (still image) is replaced with time.

[0042]

As described above, according to the electronic mail system of the present invention, the transmitting terminal detects the image from the electronic mail, and the page information and the image indicating the page in which the image is drawn are displayed in the electronic mail. The position information indicating the position drawn on the page and the name of the image are added. Therefore, it is possible to easily send and receive an electronic mail in which images and characters are mixed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of an electronic mail system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an electronic mail transmitted or received in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a terminal 2 ₁ as a transmission terminal of FIG.

4 is a diagram showing a data format of an electronic mail transmitted or received in the embodiment of FIG.

5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a terminal 2 _N as a receiving terminal in FIG.

[6] CRT 3 ₁ of the terminal 2 ₁ as the transmitting and receiving terminals in FIG. 1
It is a figure which shows the electronic mail displayed in.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a data format of an electronic mail transmitted or received in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of an example of a user interface of a conventional electronic mail system.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Bus 2 _{1 to} 2 _N Terminal 3 _{1 to} 3 _N CRT 4 _{1 to} 4 _N Work Station (EWS) 5 _{1 to} 5 _N Keyboard 6 _{1 to} 6 _N Mouse 11 Stationery 12 Body 13 Image 14 Stationery 15 Body 16 Image 17 From Display 21 Envelope 22 Previous page mark 23 Main text 24 Image 25 Next page mark 26 From display section 27 Previous page mark 28 Next page mark 29,30 Stationery

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Reference number within the agency FI Technical indication location H04L 12/54 12/58 (72) Inventor Fumitaka Kawate 6-7 35 Kitashinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo No. Sony Corporation

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An electronic mail system comprising: a sending terminal for sending an electronic mail including a mixture of images and characters; and a receiving terminal for receiving the electronic mail sent from the sending terminal, wherein the sending terminal is the electronic mail. From the detection means for detecting the image from the, in response to the detection result of the detection means, in the e-mail, page information indicating the page in which the image is drawn,
An electronic mail system comprising: position information indicating a position where the image is drawn on the page; and image information adding means for adding a name of the image.