JPH05327762A - Electronic mail system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To notify a user of reception of an electronic mail through a telephone by connecting a voice mail station to a computer network. CONSTITUTION:In a decentralized electronic mail system, a voice mail station 6 including a voice signal output means is set into a network. When a user A sends a message to a user C, a mail station 5b which received the message from a mail station 5a produces a message including the telephone number instructed by the user C and sends this message to the station 6. At the station 6, the telephone number is extracted out of the message by an analyzer means 8 and the user C is called by a telephone circuit control means 12 through a dial telephone circuit network 13. Then a routine voice message 10 is transmitted. Thus it is possible to notify the user of reception of the electronic mail.

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 which can be used for notification of reception of electronic mail by telephone and an electronic scheduler for voice guidance by telephone.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Utilizing a computer network,
A function called e-mail for sending and receiving messages between terminals connected to a network has been put into practical use. Specifically, e-mail means that each computer user has an independent address in the network, and by designating this address, the message is transmitted from each terminal to the user of the designated address. It is a thing.

Generally, there are a centralized type electronic mail system as shown in FIG. 5 and a distributed type electronic mail system as shown in FIG. In the case of FIG. 5, a host computer 2 and a terminal 3 are connected to the computer network 1, and a storage device 4 is connected to the host computer 2. In such a centralized system, one host computer 2 centrally stores and manages address information and message information. Also, in the case of FIG. 6, a mail station 5 is connected to the computer network 1, and a terminal 3 is connected to each mail station 5. In this way, the distributed processing is performed by each mail station 5, and since the window processing is distributed to each mail station 5, the responsiveness is good, and the expandability such as enlarging the network scale is large. Is excellent in

By the way, as a method of notifying the user of the arrival of the electronic mail, it is widely known to display the arrival of the electronic mail on the terminal of the user.
For example, as the first conventional example, multimedia information communication under the title "Distributed E-mail System",
Some have been published by Ohmsha under the supervision of Shoichi Noguchi.
Among these, there is a description about voice reception guidance as a mail reception notification function. For this guidance, the voice notification device attached to the mail station emits a synthetic voice at that location. Further, as a second conventional example thereof, there is one which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-944 under the title of "electronic mail system". This is for centralized email systems that store messages on one host computer when the recipient is not using the terminal,
If the call request is registered in advance, the call is made by telephone using the telephone network.

In this case, for the case where the user is not using the terminal, in the first conventional example, when the electronic mail of the user whose mail station is registered is not read, the mail station By using the voice notification device connected to, for example, a message such as the sentence "Mr. Sato, the mail has arrived." Is output by voice.

In the second conventional example, the message is set to 1
In a centralized e-mail system that stores data in one host computer, a file that stores the telephone numbers corresponding to each terminal connected to the network of the host computer and the destination of the message when the message is issued. If the device is not in use, and if it is detected that it is not in use, the phone number corresponding to the device to which the message is addressed is read from the file and automatically called. Is to make a call.

[0007]

However, in the case of the first conventional example, the user must be in a audible position in the vicinity where the voice notification device connected to the mail station emits a voice, and There is a problem that a voice notification device is required for each mail station. In the case of the second conventional example, a file in which the telephone numbers corresponding to the respective terminals are registered is prepared in the host computer, and the distributed electronic mail is used to perform the processing for calling the telephone line network. There is a problem that it cannot be used in the system.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a distributed electronic mail system in which terminals of a plurality of mail stations connected to a computer network send and receive messages to and from each other. A message transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving a connected message, a message analyzing means for analyzing a received message, a dial means for dialing a telephone number extracted from the message by the message analyzing means into a telephone line network, and a predetermined voice. A voice mail station equipped with voice signal output means for outputting a message as a voice signal to a telephone line network was connected to a computer network.

According to a second aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the voice signal converting means is provided for converting the voice data extracted from the message by the message analyzing means into a voice signal and outputting the voice signal to the telephone line network. ..

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the regular voice synthesizing means for converting the text data in the message into a voice signal and converting the text for outputting to the telephone line network into a voice signal. Was established.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a call identification for identifying whether or not the telephone number extracted from the message can be called to the telephone network. Means were provided.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, if no response is received even after a preset time is reached based on the response signal of the telephone line network, the call is stopped and the telephone line is disconnected. A means for disconnecting and calling the call is provided.

According to a sixth aspect of the invention, in the fifth aspect of the invention, the call termination disconnecting means performs the recall after a lapse of a predetermined time when there is no call response.

According to a seventh aspect of the invention, in the fifth aspect of the invention, the call termination disconnecting means, when there is no call response, sends a message to the sender of the message that there is no response. I sent it back.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a passcode receiving means for receiving the passcode from the telephone line network is provided, and the message analyzing means extracts the passcode from the message to extract the passcode from the message. A pass code voice signal conversion means is provided for outputting message information as a voice signal to the telephone line network only when the pass code and the pass code from the telephone line network are equal.

According to a ninth aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, there is provided a telephone line disconnecting means for disconnecting the telephone line network within a predetermined time by receiving a response signal from the telephone line network. ..

[0017]

In the invention according to claim 1, at least one of the mail stations is provided as a voice mail station, so that it is possible to notify the user of the arrival of the electronic mail by telephone.

According to the second and third aspects of the present invention, by using the voice data, not only the incoming notification of the electronic mail but also the contents of the message and the sender can be notified by voice. A message generated by a computer such as a scheduler can be transmitted to a user through a telephone.

According to the invention described in claim 4, the range and type of the telephone network which can be notified on the system side by identifying the telephone number by the call identifying means to determine whether or not the call can be made. Can be limited.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, the voice mail station provides the following services by using the call stop disconnecting means to stop the call at a preset time when there is no response from the telephone. become able to.

In the invention according to claim 6, even when the telephone is not answered, the call is made again after a certain period of time, so that it is possible to deal with the case where the recipient leaves the seat for only a short time. It will be possible.

According to the seventh aspect of the invention, it is possible to notify that the sender of the message has called and that there has been no response.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the message from being read out to anyone other than the recipient of the message by requesting the passcode using the passcode voice signal converting means. Become.

In the present invention, the telephone line disconnecting means is used to limit the time for continuous connection to the telephone line network so that a message that is too long is cut off midway and the next message is processed. It is possible to improve the utilization efficiency of the system.

[0025]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the invention described in claim 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The same parts as those in the conventional example (FIGS. 5 and 6) are designated by the same reference numerals.

FIG. 1 shows a distributed electronic mail system, in which a plurality of mail stations 5a and 5b are connected to a computer network 1 and each mail station 5 is connected.
Are provided with terminals 3a to 3c. As described above, in the distributed electronic mail system in which the terminals 3 exchange messages with each other, the computer network 1
A voice mail station 6 is connected to. In the voice mail station 6, a message transmitting / receiving means 7 connected to the computer network 1 for transmitting / receiving a message.
Message analysis means 8 for analyzing the received message, dial means 9 for dialing the telephone number extracted from the message by the message analysis means 8 to the telephone network 13, and a predetermined voice message 10 as a voice signal. And a voice signal output means 11 for outputting to the telephone network 13. The dial means 9 and the voice signal output means 11 constitute a telephone line control means 12.

A UNIX workstation can be used as the mail station 6, and workstation consoles or the like can be used as the terminals 3a to 3c.
The computer network 1 uses a protocol such as TCP / IP, and the electronic mail system uses a send mail constructed on that protocol.

In such a configuration, the voice mail station 6
The reason for providing will be explained sequentially. Now, for example, when the user A of the terminal 3a tries to send a message to the user B of the terminal 3b using the electronic mail system, A uses the terminal 3a to create a message. ,
The mail station 5a is instructed to send the message to the user B. The mail station 5a transmits a message from the address of the user B to the mail station 5b and stores the message in the mail station 5b (loop). User B can read the message of the mail station 5b from the terminal 3b.

Further, it is assumed that the user C is away from the terminal 3c. In this case, the user C previously informs the mail station 5b of the telephone number at his / her place and sets the mail station 5b so as to notify the arrival of the electronic mail. Specifically, when the message arrives at the user C, a message including the telephone number of the place where the user C is located is automatically generated in a predetermined format so that the message analyzing means 8 of the voice mail station 6 can analyze the message. To be sent out automatically.

Now, user A sends a message to user C. The user A and the mail station 5a send a message to the mail station 5b as usual (loop). Then, the mail station 5b creates a message including the telephone number designated by the user C and transfers it to the voice mail station 6 (loop). When the voice mail station 6 receives the electronic mail, the message analyzing unit 8 extracts the telephone number from the message. Thereafter, the telephone line control means 12 dials the telephone number, and the telephone line network 13
The user C is called through and the voice message 10 stored in advance in the voice mail station 6 is transmitted. This voice message 10 is a fixed sentence, for example, there is a sentence such as "E-mail has arrived."

The telephone network 13 shown as an example here is
In addition to the public telephone line network, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which notification is given by a local telephone or a local broadcast.

As described above, by providing the voice mail station 6 in the distributed electronic mail system, it becomes possible to notify the user of the arrival of the electronic mail by telephone. Moreover, the message generated by the computer such as the electronic scheduler can be transmitted to the user through the telephone.

Next, an embodiment of the invention described in claim 2 will be described with reference to FIG. The description of the same parts as those of the invention according to claim 1 (see FIG. 1) is omitted, and the same reference numerals are used for the same parts.

Here, in the voice mail station 6 of the distributed electronic mail system of FIG. 2, the voice data extracted from the message by the message analysis means 8 is converted into a voice signal and output to the telephone line network 13. A D / A conversion means 14 as a signal conversion means is provided.

Specifically, first, a message is sent to the voice mail station 6. At this time, if the message includes voice data in a format that can be extracted by the message analysis unit 8, this is extracted and sent to the D / A conversion unit 14.
The D / A converter 14 receives the response signal from the telephone line after dialing by the telephone line controller 12, and then sends the voice data to the telephone line network 13 as a voice signal. This is done so that the user does not send a message before picking up the handset.

As described above, by using the voice data by using the D / A conversion means 14, not only the incoming notification of the electronic mail but also the contents of the message and the sender can be notified by the voice. .. It is also possible to transmit a message generated by a computer such as an electronic scheduler to the user via a telephone.

Next, an embodiment of the invention described in claim 3 will be described with reference to FIG. The description of the same parts as those of the invention according to claim 1 (see FIG. 1) is omitted, and the same reference numerals are used for the same parts.

Here, in the voice mail station 6 of the distributed electronic mail system of FIG. 3, the text data in the message is converted into a voice signal and the text to be output to the telephone line network 13 is converted into a voice signal. The regular voice synthesizing means 15 is provided.

Specifically, the message is the voice mail station 6
Sent to. At this time, the text data in the message is extracted by the message analysis means 8 and the regular voice synthesis means 1 is extracted.
Send to 5. The rule voice synthesizing unit 15 receives the response signal from the telephone line after dialing by the telephone line control unit 12, and then sends the voice data as a voice signal to the telephone line. This is done so that the user does not send a message before picking up the handset. Further, the voice message stored in the voice mail station 6 can be stored as text data.

Therefore, also in the case of this embodiment, it is possible to obtain the same effect as that of the invention described in claim 2.

Next, an embodiment of the invention described in claim 4 will be described with reference to FIG. The description of the same parts as those of the invention according to claim 1 (see FIG. 1) is omitted, and the same reference numerals are used for the same parts.

Here, in the voice mail station 6 of the distributed electronic mail system of FIG. 1 described above, with respect to the telephone number extracted from the message, whether the telephone number can be called to the telephone line network 13 or not. The call identifying means (not shown) for identifying the above is provided.

Therefore, the operation contents of the calling identification means will now be described with reference to FIG. After the voice mail station 6 receives the message, the message is analyzed to check whether the extracted telephone number can be called. This inspection method can be realized by giving rules to the voice mail station 6 in advance or by storing a list of telephone numbers that cannot be called. As an example, it is possible to make the telephone number starting with 0 unusable so that the notification can be made only for the extension.

As described above, using the call identification means,
By identifying the telephone number and determining whether or not the call can be made, it becomes possible to limit the range and type of the telephone network 13 that can be notified on the system side.

Next, an embodiment of the invention described in claim 5 will be described. The invention according to claim 1 (see FIG. 1)
The description of the same parts as those of and is omitted, and the same reference numerals are used for the same parts.

Here, in the voice mail station 6 of the distributed electronic mail system of FIG. 1 described above, when there is no response within a preset time based on the response signal of the telephone line network 13, A call stop disconnecting means (not shown) for stopping the call and disconnecting the telephone line is provided.

Specifically, a timer is set at the time of calling or dial start or end, and a response signal from the telephone line control means 12 indicating that the receiver on the receiving side is lifted while the timer elapses for a certain period of time. If is not entered, it will time out, cancel the call, and disconnect the telephone line.

As described above, the voice mail station 6 can provide the next service by stopping the call at a preset time when the telephone is not answered by using the call stop disconnecting means. It will be possible.

Next, an embodiment of the invention described in claim 6 will be described. The invention according to claim 1 (see FIG. 1)
The description of the same parts as those of and is omitted, and the same reference numerals are used for the same parts.

In this case, if the call canceling / disconnecting means provided in the voice mail station 6 according to claim 5 does not respond to the call, the call is canceled after a lapse of a predetermined time. It is the one.

Specifically, when the time expires in the above-mentioned embodiment of the present invention, the received message is stored in the storage means, and after the elapse of a predetermined fixed time, the message in the storage means. I made a call with.

By setting the conditions as described above,
Even if the telephone is not answered, the call is made again after the elapse of a certain period of time, so that it is possible to deal with the case where the receiver leaves the seat for only a short time.

Next, an embodiment of the invention described in claim 7 will be described. The invention according to claim 1 (see FIG. 1)
The description of the same parts as those of and is omitted, and the same reference numerals are used for the same parts.

In this case, when the call canceling / disconnecting means provided in the voice mail station 6 according to the above-mentioned claim 5 does not respond to the call, there is no response to the sender of the message. A message to that effect is sent back.

By setting the conditions as described above,
It is possible to inform that the sender of the message has made a call or has not received a response.

Next, an embodiment of the invention described in claim 8 will be described. The invention according to claim 1 (see FIG. 1)
The description of the same parts as those of and is omitted, and the same reference numerals are used for the same parts.

Here, in the voice mail station 6 of the distributed electronic mail system of FIG. 1 described above, a pass code receiving means (not shown) for receiving a pass code from the telephone line network 13 is provided, and the message analyzing means 8 sends a message. A pass code voice signal conversion means (not shown) is provided for extracting the pass code in the message and outputting the message information to the telephone line network 13 as a voice signal only when the pass code in the message is equal to the pass code from the telephone line network 13. It is a thing.

Specifically, similarly to the invention described in claim 1, first, a message is sent to the voice mail station 6. At this time, consider a case where the message includes a passcode in a format that can be extracted by the message analysis unit 8. Here, the passcode indicates a character string such as a number. After the call is made in the same manner as in the loop, when the message analysis means 8 extracts the passcode, the passcode from the user is requested through the telephone line network 13. A function of receiving a dial tone signal is added to the telephone line control means 12 of the voice mail station 6, and a pass code input by a user with a push button of a telephone is received. Then, this is compared with the pass code in the message, and only when they are equal, the message information is output to the telephone line network 13 as a voice signal. In addition, a voice recognition means is prepared in the voice mail station 6,
The user can also send the passcode by voice instead of the dial tone signal.

As described above, by requesting the passcode by using the passcode voice signal converting means, it becomes possible to prevent the message from being read aloud to anyone other than the recipient of the message. Can be strictly adhered to.

Next, an embodiment of the invention described in claim 9 will be described. The invention according to claim 1 (see FIG. 1)
The description of the same parts as those of and is omitted, and the same reference numerals are used for the same parts.

Here, the voice mail station 6 of the distributed electronic mail system of FIG. 1 described above receives the response signal of the telephone line network 13 to disconnect the telephone line network 13 within a predetermined time. The telephone line disconnecting means (not shown) is provided.

Specifically, a timer is set at the time of making a call, at the start or end of dialing, or at the time of response, and if a message is still being sent when the timer has passed a certain time, the message is sent. Stop and stop processing the message. At this time, for example,
"The message is too long, so I will close it here."
The voice may be sent to the telephone network 13 like the sentence.

As described above, the telephone line disconnecting means is used to limit the time during which the telephone line network 13 is continuously connected, so that a message that is too long is cut off and the next message is processed. It is possible to improve the utilization efficiency of the system.

[0064]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, in a distributed electronic mail system in which terminals of a plurality of mail stations connected to a computer network send and receive messages to and from each other, a message connected to the computer network is transmitted. A message transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving, a message analyzing means for analyzing a received message, a dial means for dialing a telephone number extracted from the message by the message analyzing means into a telephone network, and a predetermined voice message as a voice signal. Since a voice mail station having a voice signal output means for outputting to a telephone network is connected to the computer network, by providing at least one of the mail stations as a voice mail station Notify me that an email has arrived One in which it is bet.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the voice signal converting means for converting the voice data extracted from the message by the message analyzing means into a voice signal and outputting the voice signal to the telephone line network is provided. Therefore, by using voice data, it is possible to notify not only the incoming notification of e-mail but also the content of the message and the sender by voice. Also, the message generated by the computer such as the electronic scheduler can be sent through the telephone. It can be communicated to the user.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the regular voice synthesizing means for converting the text data in the message into a voice signal and converting the text for outputting to the telephone line network into a voice signal. Since this is provided, the same effect as that of the invention of claim 2 can be obtained.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, for the telephone number extracted from the message, it is determined whether or not the telephone number can make a call to the telephone line network. Since the means is provided, it is possible to limit the range and type of the telephone line network that can be notified on the system side by identifying the telephone number and determining whether or not the call can be made.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, if no response is received after a preset time based on the response signal of the telephone line network, the call is stopped and the telephone line is disconnected. Since the call canceling / disconnecting means for performing the call is provided, the voice mail station can provide the next service by canceling the call at a preset time when the telephone is not answered.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the invention, the call canceling disconnecting means performs the recall after a lapse of a predetermined time when there is no call response. Even if the telephone is not answered, the call is made again after the elapse of a certain time, so that it is possible to deal with the case where the receiver leaves the seat for only a short time.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the invention, the call termination disconnecting means, when there is no call response, sends a message to the sender of the message indicating that there is no response. Is sent back so that the sender of the message can notify that the call was made or that there was no response.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a passcode receiving means for receiving the passcode from the telephone line network is provided, and the passcode in the message is extracted by the message analyzing means. Since the pass code voice signal converting means for outputting the message information as a voice signal to the telephone line network only when the pass code and the pass code from the telephone line network are equal, the message receiver You can prevent others from reading the message.

According to a ninth aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, there is provided a telephone line disconnecting means for disconnecting the telephone line network within a predetermined time by receiving a response signal of the telephone line network. Therefore, by limiting the time of continuous connection to the telephone line network, a message that is too long can be cut off midway, and the processing of the next message can be performed, thus improving the utilization efficiency of the system.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic mail system which is an embodiment of the invention described in claim 1.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration in a voice mail station which is an embodiment of the invention described in claim 2;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration in a voice mail station which is an embodiment of the invention described in claim 3;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining an operation of a calling identification means which is an embodiment of the invention described in claim 4;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a first conventional example.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a second conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Computer Network 3a to 3c Terminals 5a, 5b Mail Station 6 Voice Mail Station 7 Message Sending / Receiving Means 8 Message Analyzing Means 9 Dialing Means 11 Voice Signal Outputting Means 13 Telephone Line Network 14 Voice Signal Converting Means 15 Regular Voice Synthesizing Means

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A distributed electronic mail system in which terminals of a plurality of mail stations connected to a computer network send and receive messages to and from each other, and a message sending and receiving means connected to the computer network for sending and receiving messages, and receiving. Message analysis means for analyzing the message, dial means for dialing the telephone number extracted from the message by the message analysis means into the telephone line network, and voice for outputting a predetermined voice message as a voice signal to the telephone line network. An electronic mail system characterized in that a voice mail station having a signal output means is connected to a computer network. 2. The electronic mail system according to claim 1, further comprising voice signal converting means for converting the voice data extracted from the message by the message analyzing means into a voice signal and outputting the voice signal to a telephone line network. 3. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a regular voice synthesizing unit for converting text data in a message into a voice signal and converting the text for outputting to a telephone line network into a voice signal. Mail system. 4. A calling identification means for identifying whether or not the telephone number extracted from the message can be called by the telephone line network.
E-mail system described. 5. A call canceling disconnecting means for canceling a call and disconnecting the telephone line when no response is received within a preset time based on a response signal from the telephone line network. The electronic mail system according to claim 1. 6. The electronic mail system according to claim 5, wherein the call cancellation disconnecting means performs a call again after a lapse of a predetermined time when there is no call response. 7. The electronic device according to claim 5, wherein the call cancellation disconnecting means returns a message indicating that there is no response to the sender of the message when there is no response to the call. Mail system. 8. A passcode receiving means for receiving a passcode from the telephone network is provided, and the passcode in the message is extracted by the message analyzing means, and when the passcode in the message is equal to the passcode from the telephone network. 2. The electronic mail system according to claim 1, further comprising a passcode voice signal conversion means for outputting only the message information as a voice signal to the telephone line network. 9. The electronic mail system according to claim 1, further comprising a telephone line disconnecting means for disconnecting the telephone line network within a predetermined time by receiving a response signal from the telephone line network.