JPH06175943A - Information exchange processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the utility and convenience of a message. CONSTITUTION:A message processing part 10 prepares message information including receiver information indicating the receiver of the message information and reading time limit information indicating the reading time limit of the message information, and transmits it from a communication line 32. And also, the message transmitted from the other information exchange processor through the communication line 32 is stored in a message storage part 16. The message processing part 10 discriminates whether or not the reading time limit of the message information passes based on the reading time limit information in the message information stored in the message storage part 16, and communicates the message by voice from a telephone line 30 to the pertinent receiver based on the receiver information in the message information when the reading time limit has passed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information exchange processing apparatus capable of exchanging messages such as characters and voice information using a local area network (LAN) and a communication path such as a telephone line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a LAN (local area network), a telephone line, and other communication channels have been used to provide a variety of information including character information created by a text creating device and graphic image information created by an image editing device. Various kinds of messages have been exchanged.

In order to simplify the procedure for transmitting a message, a device for realizing message exchange has a means for exchanging a message with another information (message) exchange processing device separated by a communication path. A means to allow the sender to select a destination by looking at the list of destinations when sending a message, a means to send a message of the same content to multiple parties with a single operation, A means for displaying the received messages in order of arrival and a means for classifying the received messages and storing them so that they can be referred to at any time are provided for various conveniences required when exchanging the messages.

More recently, a means for recording a human voice or various sounds by a microphone or the like for digital conversion, and, conversely, an analog conversion of the information recorded by the digital conversion processing for a speaker or the like as a voice or sound. It has a means to reproduce by, and stores in advance the vocal symbols corresponding to the extremely short time speech units collected by analyzing human voice elements, and after converting from character information to vocal symbols, supports vocal symbols A device has also appeared, which combines voice units to produce character information as voice, and by combining this with a message exchange processing device, characters, voice, images, etc. can be utilized by using a communication path such as a LAN and a telephone line. It has become easier to exchange messages that combine the two.

Unlike the transmission method by telephone, this type of message exchange processing apparatus accumulates messages on the receiving side even when the other party is absent, and can read the arrived message at any time according to the instruction of the recipient. Is characteristic.

However, although it is preferable that the recipient read the message at any time, if the recipient is absent for a while or neglected to read the document for a certain period of time, depending on the content of the message. It may become useless because the reading time limit has expired. In this case, the stored message could not be confirmed whether the message reading deadline had expired unless the receiver confirmed the arrival of the message at any time and read the message.

[0007]

As described above, in the conventional message exchange processing device, the receiver has to read the message to be exchanged at any time and confirm the content of the message to judge the deadline. did not become. However, when the amount of accumulated messages becomes large due to the absence or failure to read the messages, a great deal of labor and time are required to confirm the contents.

[0008] Some messages have a designated date and time, such as conference notification, but it does not make sense to read such a message after the deadline. However, no means has been provided so far for setting a reading deadline for a message or notifying a recipient of a message whose reading deadline has expired. For this reason,
This has led to a decrease in the usability and convenience of the message exchange processing device. The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide an information (message) exchange processing device capable of improving usability and convenience.

[0009]

According to the present invention, in an information exchange processing device capable of transmitting and receiving message information via a communication path, recipient information indicating a recipient of the message information, and the message information A message transmitting unit that creates message information including read time limit information indicating a read time limit and sends the message information through the communication channel, and a message storage for storing a message transmitted from another information exchange processing device through the communication channel. Means, a deadline discriminating means for discriminating whether or not the reading deadline of the message information is exceeded based on the reading deadline information in the message information stored in the message storing means, and the reading deadline by the deadline discriminating means. If it is determined that the message is over, it is determined that the message is applicable based on the recipient information in the message information. Using a predetermined contact methods the recipient is to configured by including a message notifying means for notifying a message.

[0010]

According to this structure, a message which has not been read within the time limit specified by the sender can be automatically notified to the recipient via the telephone by the message exchange processing device on the receiving side. This makes it possible to prevent inadvertence such as being read after the specified date and time of the message.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an information (message) exchange processing device according to this embodiment. here,
A message exchange processing device provided as a partial function of a workstation connected to a LAN will be described as an example. Further, this workstation (message exchange processing device) is shared by a plurality of names, and the person who should receive the message is specified by the destination name (recipient name) included in the message data.

In FIG. 1, the message processing unit 10 is
It controls the entire message exchange processing device.
The message processing unit 10 includes a display unit 12 and a character input unit 1.
4, a message storage unit 16, a voice processing unit 18, a network control unit 20, a communication control unit 22, and a built-in clock 24 are connected. The voice processing unit 18 is connected to a voice input unit 26 including a microphone and the like, and a voice output unit 28 including a speaker device and the like.

The message processing unit 10 includes a voice data buffer 101, a character data buffer 102, a message processing buffer 103, and a read time limit information buffer 10.
4, destination database 105, notification destination database 10
6, a message list processing buffer 107, and a sender information buffer 108 are provided.

The voice data buffer 101 is for temporarily storing voice data exchanged with the voice processing unit 18. The character data buffer 102 is for temporarily storing character information exchanged between the display unit 12 and the character input unit 14.

The message processing buffer 103 is for temporarily storing message data exchanged between the message storage unit 20 and the communication control unit 22.
The read time limit information buffer 104 is for storing the read time limit information indicating the read time limit of the message stored in the message storage unit 16.

The destination database 105 is for registering the destination, the message exchange processing device number of the message transmission destination, and the recipient name in association with each other. The notification destination database 106 is for registering a telephone number to be notified when a message reading deadline has passed, a notification designated time zone, and the like.

The message list processing buffer 107 is
It is used for processing for collecting the messages stored in the message storage unit 16 by destination (recipient), displaying a list of senders and the subject of the message, and notifying an outline including the subject. . The sender information buffer 108 is for storing information such as a number indicating a sender of a message, a sender name, and a sending time.

The display unit 12 is composed of a CRT, a liquid crystal display or the like and is used for displaying a message or the like. The character input unit 14 is composed of a keyboard and the like and is used for inputting characters such as commands.

The message storage unit 16 is composed of an external storage device such as a hard disk device and is for storing data relating to a message. The message storage section 16 is provided with a message storage status list 16a. The message storage status list 16a indicates the storage status of the message storage unit 16, and includes the destination name,
The message number, the read flag, and the storage position are associated and recorded. The read flag indicates whether the corresponding message has been read ("1") or not ("0").
Indicates.

The voice processing unit 18 converts the voice signal input from the voice input unit 26 from an analog signal to a digital signal (voice data), and the voice data from the message processing unit 10 to an analog signal (voice output). Then, the processing of converting to and outputting to the voice output unit 28 is executed. The voice processing unit 18 is provided with a voice synthesizing unit 18a.
The voice synthesis unit 18a generates a voice signal output to the voice output unit 28 based on the character string data.

The network control unit 20 controls the interface between the telephone line 30 and the message processing unit 10.
The network control unit 20 includes a dial function unit 20a for automatically calling by sending PT (push tone) or DP (dial pulse) to the telephone line 30, and the telephone line 3
A PT detector 20b for detecting a PT (push tone) signal from 0 is included.

The communication control section 22 is composed of a LAN controller or the like, and controls the interface between the communication path 30 composed of a LAN cable or the like and the message processing section 10. The communication control unit 22 includes a transmission buffer 2 for temporarily holding data output from the message processing unit 10 to another message exchange processing device.
A reception buffer 22b for temporarily holding data 2a and data from another message exchange processing device input via the communication path 32 is provided. Next, FIGS.
The operation of the message exchange processing device will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, the input transmission operation of a time-limited message on the transmission side will be described with reference to FIG. First, depending on the sender of the message, the character input unit 2
A message input instruction is given via. When the message processing unit 10 detects a message input instruction from the character input unit 2, the message processing unit 10 initializes the character data buffer 102. Further, the message processing unit 10 stores caller information such as the caller name, input device number, and call time of the message in the caller information buffer 108, and prompts the display unit 12 to input the content (character string) of the message. Display,
Input of a message from the character input unit 14 is started (step A1). When a message (character string) is input from the character input unit 2 according to this display, the message processing unit 10 stores the character data in the character data buffer 102.

Next, the message processing unit 10 displays on the display unit 12 a message prompting the user to input the transmission destination (addressee) of the message. The message processing unit 10 converts the destination information input from the character input unit 2 according to this display into a specific data format by referring to the destination database 105 and stores it in the character data buffer 102 (step A2). ).

Subsequently, the message processing unit 10 displays on the display unit 12 a message prompting the user to set whether to set a deadline for the message (step A3). Here, it is assumed that the message sender sets a read time limit for the message previously input via the character input unit 14. The message processing unit 10 temporarily stores the read time limit information in the read time limit information buffer 104 (step A4).

The message processing unit 10 stores data stored in each of the character data buffer 102, the read time limit information buffer 104, and the sender information buffer 108,
And the contents of the destination database 105, which is a correspondence table between the destination and the message processing device number of the destination of the message,
It is converted into a data structure for message exchange as shown in FIG. 5 and stored in the message processing buffer 103 (step A5). Furthermore, the message processing unit 10
Confirm the destination entered in step A2 (step A6)
Or final confirmation of message transmission (Step A
7).

Finally, the message processing unit 10 instructs the communication control unit 22 to transmit the data in the message processing buffer 103. The communication control unit 22 checks the contents of the message processing buffer 103 to sequentially send data to the transmission buffer 2
2a, and sequentially transmits the data to the message exchange processing device of the transmission destination through the communication path 32 (step A).
8).

FIG. 5 shows an example of the data structure of a message exchanged between the message exchange processing devices. Figure 5
In the middle part 501, the contents of the sender information buffer 108 (source device number, sender name, origination time) and the device number and recipient name of the recipient of the message are stored. The content of the information buffer 104 is stored, and the content of the character data buffer 102 (character data of message, number of character data bytes) is stored in a portion 503. In the portion 504, the number of bytes of all data is stored. The message transmitted in this manner is received by the message exchange processing device on the receiving side having the same configuration as the message exchange processing device on the transmitting side. Next, a message receiving operation in the message exchange processing device on the receiving side will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The communication control unit 22 monitors the communication path 32, and temporarily stores the message transmitted via the communication path 32 in the reception buffer 22b (step B1).
The received message has the format shown in FIG. 5 as described above, and the message exchange processing device number (reception device number) 505 of the reception destination is stored. The communication control unit 22 determines whether the reception device number 505 in the message stored in the reception buffer 22a is the own system number. When it is determined that the receiving device number 505 is the own system number and the received message is addressed to the own system (step B2), the message processing unit 1
Notify 0. Accordingly, the message processing unit 10 transfers the message data stored in the reception buffer 22a to the message processing buffer 103 (step B).
3).

The message processing unit 10 includes a reception buffer 2
The data stored in 2a is additionally transferred to the message processing buffer 103 until the total number of bytes 504 is reached (step B3). When all the messages are prepared (step B4), the message processing unit 10 transfers the contents of the message processing buffer 103 to the message storage unit 16. At this time, the message processing unit 10 also corresponds to the recipient name (that is, the destination name) and the message number of the recipient in the message storage status list 16a so that the messages in the message storage unit 16 can be sequentially fetched. The initial value "0" of the read flag indicating the storage location of the message and the read status is recorded (step B
5). The format of the information recorded in the message storage status list 16a is shown in FIG.

In the example shown in FIG. 6, two messages having the destination name "taro" are stored. The first message is stored from the storage position 10 and the second message is stored from the storage position 1002. One message of the destination name “tana” is stored, and the message is stored from the storage position 3003. A message having the data structure shown in FIG. 5 is stored in each storage position.

In the case of FIG. 6, since the read flag of the message has the initial value "0", it indicates that the reading has not been performed yet. When the message is read, the read flag is set to "1".

Next, the communication operation to the recipient when the message received by the message exchange processing device and stored in the message storage unit 16 is not read even after the read time limit is explained with reference to FIG. .

The message processing unit 10 periodically retrieves the message storage status list 16a (step C
1), a message which is not read is detected by the read flag (see FIG. 6) therein (step C2).

Here, if there is no corresponding message, the notification operation ends. On the other hand, if there is a corresponding message, the message processing unit 10 continues to
The corresponding message is taken out from, the read time limit 502 is read from the message, and transferred to the read time limit information buffer 104 (step C3). The message processing unit 10
The date and time are compared between the data stored in the read time limit information buffer 104 and the time indicated by the built-in clock 11 (step C4). As a result, if the read time limit has not expired, the notification operation is not performed, and if the read time limit has expired, the message is sent to the character data buffer 1.
02 (step C5).

Next, the message processing unit 10 retrieves the notification destination information (see FIG. 7) of the corresponding recipient from the notification destination database 106 (step C6), and whether the notification destination of the relevant recipient is registered. It is determined (step C7).

In the notification destination database 106, as shown in FIG. 7, a receiver name, a personal identification number, a notification destination name, a notification time zone, and a notification destination telephone number are registered in association with each other.

If the recipient of the message is not registered, the notification operation is not performed. If it is registered, the notification time zone is read out from the notification destination information, and the internal clock 11 is read.
Then, it is determined whether or not it is in the current notification time zone (step C8). If it is not in the notification time zone, another notification destination is searched for, and the process returns to step C6. If it is determined that it is in the notification time zone, the notification operation is started.

First, the message processing unit 10 issues a command to the network control unit 20 in order to read out the notification destination telephone number from the notification destination information and automatically dial the telephone. In response to this, the network control unit 20 causes the dial function unit 20a to perform a PT (push-phone tone) corresponding to the notified telephone number,
Alternatively, automatic dialing is realized by transmitting DP (dial pulse) to the telephone line 30 (step C
9).

When it is determined that the telephone of the notification destination is busy or that the other party is not the recipient (step C1)
0), and returns to the process of step 46 to search for another notification destination again. The procedure for confirming whether the recipient is the recipient is as follows.

When the call to the notification destination is established, the network control unit 20 outputs the voice signal from the voice processing unit 18 to the telephone line 30 in order to output the guide voice for calling the receiver.
Switch the connection to output to. The message processing unit 10 outputs a guide for calling the recipient to the voice processing unit 18 as character string data or voice digital data. If the guide is voice digital data, it is simply converted from digital to analog and sent to the network controller 20, and if the guide is character string data, the voice synthesizer 18b synthesizes a voice signal from the character string. Then, the data is converted into an analog signal and sent to the network control unit 20.

To call the recipient, for example, "This is the Tokyo Institute's message exchange processor No. 5, I would like Mr. Taro Suzuki. If Mr. Taro Suzuki is himself, please press the [#] button. Suzuki If you do not have Taro, please cut it as it is. "
It is sent to the connected telephone of the notification destination via the telephone line 30. This guide voice is repeated several times, and if the telephone is cut off or there is no response from the other party, it is determined that the person is not the person himself, and the PT (push tone) detection unit 20b detects that the [#] button has been pressed. If the answer is yes, a guide voice prompting the user to enter a personal identification number is played to confirm whether or not the person is still awaiting a response from the other party.

When the PT detection unit 202 detects the response of the personal identification number from the other party, the message processing unit 10 subsequently collates the personal identification number (see FIG. 7) registered in the notification destination database 106 in advance. As a result, if the personal identification number is correct, it is determined that the other party of the call is the recipient himself.

Confirmation of the recipient is realized by the above procedure. If you can confirm that you are the recipient,
The message processing unit 10 uses the message processing buffer 107 to summarize the recipient name and subject of the message and sends them to the voice processing unit 18. In the voice processing unit 18, the outline of the message is synthesized by the voice synthesizing unit 18b from the character string into a voice signal, converted into an analog signal, and then voice output to the telephone line 30 via the network control unit 20 (step C
11).

Here, in order to indicate that the reading has been performed, the corresponding reading flag of the message storage status list 16a is set to "1" (step C12). Then, the message processing unit 10 sends a guide voice to the recipient as to whether or not to read the entire sentence of the message, and confirms it by a response such as the [#] button, for example, as in the case described above (step). C13). If there is a response not to read the entire text of the message, the notification operation of this message is ended. If there is an instruction to read the entire text of the message, the message processing unit 10
Outputs the voice of the entire text of the message through the telephone line 30 by the same procedure as the voice output of the outline of the message (step C14). By the above operation, when there is a message whose read time limit has expired, the recipient can be automatically notified via the telephone.

In this way, the message from the message exchange processing device on the transmission side includes data indicating the read time limit, and the message exchange processing device on the reception side has passed the time limit based on this data. When it is determined that the message exists, the recipient is automatically notified via the telephone. Therefore, the message is read within the valid period, and it is possible to prevent unnecessary accumulation of messages and increase of the burden of confirmation work.

[0047]

As described above, according to the present invention, when there is a message that has not been read even after the reading deadline designated by the sender has passed, the message exchange processing device on the recipient side informs the recipient. In contrast, by automatically notifying the message that the reading time limit has expired, it becomes possible to notify the recipient before the message that has not been read due to the error of the recipient becomes invalid. Therefore, a great deal of practical effects can be obtained such that the serviceability and usability of the message exchange processing device can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a message exchange processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining a message creation / transmission processing operation.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining a message reception processing operation.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining notification of a read-out deadline message.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of data exchanged between message exchange processing devices.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a message storage status list 16a.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of notification destination information stored in a notification destination database 106.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Message processing unit, 101 ... Voice data buffer, 102 ... Character data buffer, 103 ... Message processing buffer, 104 ... Read-out information buffer, 1
05 ... Destination database, 106 ... Notification destination database, 107 ... Message list processing buffer, 108 ...
Caller information buffer, 12 ... Display unit, 14 ... Character input unit, 16 ... Message storage unit, 16a ... Message storage status list, 18 ... Voice processing unit, 18a ... Voice synthesis unit,
20 ... Network control unit, 20a ... Dial function unit, 20b ... P
T detection unit, 22 ... Communication control unit, 24 ... Built-in clock, 26
... voice input unit, 28 ... voice output unit, 30 ... telephone line, 3
2 ... Communication path.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Akira Fukumine 1381 Shinmachi, Ome-shi, Tokyo 1 Toshiba Computer Engineering Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Akira Nakayama 1381 Shinmachi, Ome-shi, Tokyo 1 Toshiba Computer Ta Engineering Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masaki Egawa 1381 Shinmachi, Ome-shi, Tokyo Toshiba Computer Engineering Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yukio Nakamoto 1381 Shinmachi, Ome-shi, Tokyo Toshiba Computer Within Engineering Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Ichiro Sakai 1381 Shinmachi, Ome-shi, Tokyo Within Toshiba Computer Engineering Co., Ltd. (72) Hirofumi Tsujimoto 1381 Shinmachi, Ome-shi, Tokyo 1 Toshiba Computer Engineering Co., Ltd. In the company

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An information exchange processing device capable of transmitting and receiving message information via a communication path, comprising: recipient information indicating a recipient of the message information, and read time limit information indicating a read time limit of the message information. Message transmitting means for creating message information including the message and transmitting the message information from the communication path; message storing means for storing a message transmitted from another information exchange processing device via the communication path; Based on the read time limit information in the stored message information, a time limit determination unit that determines whether or not the read time limit of this message information is exceeded, and the time limit determination unit determines that the read time limit is exceeded. In case of contact, based on the recipient information in the message information, contact the applicable recipient with the prescribed contact information. Information exchange processing apparatus characterized by comprising a message notification unit, a notifying message using. 2. The message notifying means performs voice synthesis based on character data included in the message information, and notifies the message by voice through a telephone line. Information exchange processing device.