JPH06205042A - Electronic mail communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a system in which it is not necessary for a transmitter to pay attention to media to be used or the change of the address even when each kind of media is used, and the material constitution of each node is differ ent or changed. CONSTITUTION:At the time of transmission, an access is performed to a managing means 21 by using the virtual address of the opposite party or the like as a key, and address information (a bit map, graphic, and voice or the like as the kind of media, and an electronic mail address and telephone number or the like as the address) indicating the kind of the media to be used by an address node ND or the address or the like is obtained. When the transmitter selects the media, a multi-media message prepared by the arbitrary medium by the transmitter is converted into the media by converting means 7-10, and transmitted to the opposite party. The classification of the media of the received message is discriminated, the message is converted into the media to be selected by a reception side node by using the corresponding converting means, and displayed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail communication system, and more particularly to an electronic mail communication system capable of using a plurality of media such as characters, graphics, bitmaps, voices, etc. The present invention relates to an e-mail communication system suitable for a system having different functions and different usable media.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an electronic mail communication system, not only transmission / reception of character information but also graphic information, bitmap information and the like can be mixed in one message to be transmitted / received. For example, in the system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-129946, when character information, graphic information, and bitmap information are transmitted, the message configuration information is used as a header, and the message content is divided into character information and other information and transmitted. . The receiving side refers to this message configuration information to reconstruct the message content. As described above, in the current system, it is possible to send and receive a message in which various media (characters, graphics, bitmaps, etc.) are mixed, and further it is also possible to mix voice information. However, when a message in which a plurality of these media (hereinafter referred to as "multimedia") are mixed is transmitted and received in an electronic mail communication system, the received information may not be reproduced due to a lack of functions of the receiving side equipment. For example, it is assumed that the transmitting side is a workstation, which is provided with a bitmap display device and a bitmap image editor, on which a message containing a mixture of illustrations (bitmap information) and character information is created and transmitted. In this case, the receiving side is TTY
If it were a terminal, the bitmap data could not be reproduced, and the illustration part would be a list of meaningless characters and would not function as a message. As a solution to this problem, for example, there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-170843. By using the means described in this publication, a document containing characters, figures, and bitmaps created on the workstation can be transmitted to the FAX and used as a substitute.

[0003]

However, as mentioned above,
If the equipment available for each node (email communication site) is different, the conversion itself can be performed by the above-mentioned conventional technology, but the confirmation of the configuration of the other party's equipment, the confirmation of the conversion means to adapt it, etc. , The judgment itself must be made by the sender himself. Also,
When the recipient moves due to a relocation or the like, not only the address is changed, but also the equipment configuration is changed, and communication may not be possible with the media used until then. The same applies when the equipment configuration is changed at the same location. Furthermore, if you want to send an email to a person who is temporarily moving to another place for meetings or business trips, you may not be able to communicate by the usual method due to the difference in the equipment composition of the destination, or the equipment composition of the other party is clear. Instead, you may not immediately know which media you can use.

That is, according to the above-mentioned prior art, both the transmitting side and the receiving side have the same equipment structure and create and transmit / receive messages using various media, or send or receive messages to a predetermined equipment (FAX in the above example). It was about doing media conversions for output. Therefore, as described above, various media are used in combination,
The above-mentioned various problems that occur when the configurations are different on the receiving side cannot be solved by the above-mentioned conventional techniques. The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and even if various media are used and each node has a different equipment configuration, the sender does not have to use the environment of the other party to create or send a message. (EN) It is possible to provide a so-called user-friendly electronic mail communication system that does not require a troublesome operation of determining (a transmission environment including a place and equipment) and changing a means to be used according to the judgment.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 provides an electronic mail communication system for communicating a message, which is a combination of one or more kinds of media, through a network. For each connected node, a management unit that holds and manages usable media and destination information including the address of the equipment that receives and plays the media; The transmitting node refers to the destination information obtained by inquiring to the managing means, converts the message into a usable medium of the destination by the converting means, and transmits it at the corresponding address. To do. According to the invention of claim 2, in an electronic mail communication system for communicating a message in which one or more kinds of media are combined through a network, for each node connected to the network,
Management means for holding and managing destination information including usable media and addresses of equipment for receiving and reproducing the media; and conversion means provided in each node for converting a plurality of types of media to each other. The transmitting side node refers to the destination information obtained by inquiring to the managing means, converts the message into a usable medium of the destination by the converting means and transmits the message at the corresponding address, and the receiving side node, The received message is converted into media selectable by the conversion means and disclosed.

[0006]

According to the first and second aspects of the invention, when transmitting, the transmitting side node accesses the management means by using the virtual address of the other party designated by the operator as a key, and the destination information, that is, Get information about the media types and their addresses (email addresses, phone numbers, etc.) that are available to the destination node. This information is presented to the operator, for example in the form of a menu. When the operator selects a desired medium from this list, the multimedia message created by the operator using the arbitrary medium is converted into the selected one type of medium or multimedia message and is transmitted to the partner node. Sent. In the invention of claim 2, the receiving node determines the media type of the message transmitted as described above. Then, the corresponding converting means is used to convert the media into media that can be selected by the receiving node and present the media to the operator. Further, claim 1 and claim 2
In the invention of claim 1, when the operator's message receiving environment changes (for example, when moving from a workstation environment to an environment with only FAX), the destination information stored in the destination information management section is only edited and updated. Then, the message is transmitted from the transmitting side node to the new place by the medium suitable for the new environment.

[0007]

The details of the present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an embodiment ND of a node used in the system of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a message creating unit, which is used by an operator to create a multimedia message in which information such as characters, graphics, bitmaps and voices is mixed. Reference numeral 2 denotes a destination designating unit which designates a destination (virtual address) to which the message is sent. A message information holding unit 3 holds the message information created or specified by the message creating unit 1 and the destination specifying unit 2. If the operator gives an instruction, the held message information is passed to the display control unit 11 via the main control unit 5 and displayed on the display device 12 as character, graphic, and bitmap information. The content of the voice message is passed to the digital voice processing unit 10 and output to the speaker 13.

A conversion type selection unit 4 is used for designating a conversion medium when transmitting / receiving a message. First, in the case of message transmission, the conversion type selection unit 4 is operated by the operator to select a media type that the other party can reproduce. In response to this selection, the main control unit 5 supplies the message in the message information holding unit 3 to the conversion processing units 7 to 10 corresponding to each medium and instructs the conversion. The converted media is stored in the transmission / reception buffer 6. A communication control unit 14 transmits the contents held in the transmission / reception buffer 6, that is, the message contents converted into the medium selected by the operator, to the actual transmission / reception address in a procedure according to each medium. That is, the image information is transmitted by the FAX adapter 16. For characters, graphics, bitmaps, and voices, the modem 15 and the network controller 1
Send via 7. The “actual transmission / reception address” means a mail address, a telephone number, a TELEX number, etc. of the local area network, and is acquired by accessing the destination information management unit 21. In the case of message reception, the message from the outside is stored in the transmission / reception buffer 6 in the reverse flow of the case of transmission. The main control unit 5 discriminates the media type of this message, executes conversion to a media that can be converted by the receiving node, and then stores the content in the message information holding unit 3.

The respective processing units 7 to 10 perform the following mutual conversion of media in order to absorb the difference in performance and function between the transmitting side and receiving side systems. That is, the character processing unit 7
Converts the character code to the corresponding character pattern data,
It also recognizes the characters in the bitmap and converts them into character codes. The raster image processing unit 8 converts graphics (vector information) into a bitmap by vector raster conversion. Also, the bitmap is converted into a graphic by raster vector conversion. The bitmap processing unit 9 performs image processing to absorb the difference in performance and function between the two.
For example, a moving image is converted into a still image (bitmap), and a still image is converted into a moving image. And the digital voice processing unit 10
Converts the character code into digital voice data and the digital voice data into a character code. Reference numeral 18 is a destination information inquiry unit, 19 is a destination information editing unit, and these are respectively sent via the destination information input / output unit 20 to the destination information management unit 2.
1 is accessed, and the contents of the destination information held therein are read out and updated. The destination information in the electronic mail communication system is collectively managed by the destination information management unit 21.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the contents of the destination information management section 21. In the figure, reference numeral 22 denotes a virtual address entry, which represents the virtual address (name on the system: name of the user here in the system) of the operator registered as the user of the system in a table format. 23 to 25 are examples of destination information, which are stored at addresses indicated by pointers (not shown) of virtual address entries, and can be used by nodes currently used by each virtual address (operator). It holds media groups (device configuration) and their real addresses (e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, etc.). It is desirable that the destination information management unit 21 is installed so as to exist only in the electronic mail communication system to which the node ND of this embodiment is connected. Therefore, the destination information management unit 21 may be implemented on a server on the network, for example. If only one exists in this way, it is possible to provide each operator with consistent destination information, and it becomes easy to add / remove information. However, a plurality of destination information management units 21 may be provided, and each destination information may be held in such a manner that each node shares half the node.

Hereinafter, an example of a processing procedure of message communication by the node ND of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 shows an example of a processing procedure when transmitting a message. Here, we create a message that consists of two media, text and graphics, and use it in Figure 2.
For example, the case of sending to "Fujitaro" shown in the virtual address entry 22 of FIG. First, the operator uses various editors provided by the message creating unit 1 to create a message to be transmitted (step 101). Next, the destination of the message is designated using the operator interface provided by the destination designating unit 2. (Step 102) This is performed by selecting a menu of the virtual address list or the like. When the destination is determined, the operator gives an instruction to send a message. (Step 103) In response to this, the destination information inquiry unit 18 accesses the destination information management unit 21 existing on the local area network, wide area network, etc. to which it is connected via the destination information input / output unit 20. , Obtains the destination information 23 regarding the virtual address “Fujitaro” designated by the operator. (Step 104). The acquired destination information 23 is analyzed, and the types of media that can be played back by the destination device are displayed in a menu (step 105).

The operator selects the conversion media type from the displayed menu (step 106). Main controller 5
Instructs each unit 7 to 10 to perform necessary conversion according to the contents of this selection. For example, when FAX is selected, with respect to the character information in the created message, the character information processing unit 7 is instructed to convert the character code into a bitmap. As for the graphic information in the message, the raster image processing unit 8 is instructed to convert the graphic data into a bitmap (step 107). The converted bitmap information is held in the transmission / reception buffer 6. next,
If there is no error in this conversion process (Step 1
08 “none”), F of “Fujitaro” in the destination information 23 in FIG.
The AX telephone number is read. Using this as the real address, the communication control unit 14 transmits the contents of the transmission buffer 6 via the FAX adapter 16 (step 11).
1).

When voice mail is selected as the media type, the main control section 5 instructs the digital voice processing section 10 to convert the character information in the message into an audio digital signal corresponding to the character code. The processing unit 1
In response to this, 0 generates a voice digital signal corresponding to the character code while referring to the dictionary held in the processing unit 10. The converted audio digital signal is stored in the transmission / reception buffer 6. Also, if the message includes graphic information, it cannot be converted into audio digital information. In this case, step 10
Proceeding from 8 to 109, an error message such as "The graphic part of the message could not be converted" is displayed, and reselection of the medium to be converted is requested (step 110). If a new medium is selected, conversion to that medium is performed (steps 106, 10).
7). When the reselection is abandoned, only the character information is stored in the transmission / reception buffer 6. Even if the operator does not select the conversion media type each time, it has a default value and automatically converts, or this media is this media, this media is the media that should be converted in advance. It is easy to use if it is possible to set a certain number of items and automatically convert them according to this.

When the operator confirms the transmission contents and instructs the transmission, the communication control unit 14 reads the telephone number of the voice mail of the destination information 23 "Fujitaro" in FIG. The contents of the transmission buffer 6 are transmitted via (step 111). The transmission for other media is the same, and the communication control unit 14 stores media stored in the transmission / reception buffer 6 via the modem and the network control unit 17 to an address on the network or a mail system on the public line. The converted message is transmitted (step 111). Next, a message including characters and figures is displayed as the virtual address entry 22 in FIG.
Consider an example of sending to "Tokunaiki (anonymous wish)".
As indicated by the destination information 25, the operator "Tokumeiki" is in an environment where only electronic text mail can be received. Therefore, if there is graphic information in the message created for this "Tokumeiki certain", that part cannot be transmitted as in the previous example. When a conversion error message is displayed in step 106 (steps 109 and 110), for example, when the reselection is abandoned, only the character information in the transmission / reception buffer 6 has the specified text mail address "Tokume".
Sent to i @ Fuji Xerox ".

FIG. 4 shows an example of a processing procedure when a message is received. The message transmitted via the telephone line or the network is stored in the transmission / reception buffer 6 via the modem 15, the FAX adapter 16, or the network control unit 17 corresponding to them and the communication control unit (step 20).
1). It is assumed that the operator recognizes the arrival of those messages by displaying icons or the like and gives an instruction to reproduce the messages. In response to this, the main controller 5 responds to the transmission / reception buffer 6
Of the message and the type of the media of the message is determined (step 202). By the way, according to the invention of claim 1, at the time of transmission, a reproducible medium is confirmed on the receiving side, and the message converted into the medium is transmitted on the transmitting side. Therefore, if the receiving side is an environment where only a single medium can be played back, such as a FAX only, it is not necessary to determine the media type of the received message, as in step 202, and the message can simply be read directly by the device. Play it back and show it to the operator.

In the flow of FIG. 4, it is assumed that the receiving side is also equipped with some various converting means such as the processing units 7 to 10 of FIG. In such a receiving environment, it is not necessary for the sender to be bound by the media that he or she chooses.For example, if the department monitors product flow, the message is sent so that it can be heard. For example, it would be convenient if a message with a character code could be converted into voice information. The invention of claim 2 is suitable for such use,
The flow of FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the processing of the receiving side node of the invention of claim 2. That is, when the message type is determined in step 202, the type of media that can be converted from the type of medium is determined and displayed on the display device 12 in the form of a menu (step 203).
It is assumed that the operator uses the conversion type selection unit 4 to select a desired medium from this menu (step 20).
4). In response to this, the main controller 5 responds to the transmission / reception buffer 6
The processing units 7 to 10 are instructed to convert the message stored in (1) to the medium designated by the operator (step 205).

Specific examples will be given. For example, it is assumed that the content of the bitmap data is character information, and conversion of the bitmap data into a character code is instructed in order to facilitate editing and storage. The main control unit 5 instructs the character processing unit 8 to convert the character code. Further, it is assumed that the operator gives an instruction to convert the received bitmap data into graphic data. The main control unit 5 instructs the raster image processing unit 8 to convert the graphic data. Further, as described above, it is assumed that conversion of a message represented by a character code into voice information is instructed in order to listen to the content of the message while performing some operation. The main controller 5 instructs the digital audio processor 10 to convert the audio information. As in the case of transmission, if there is an unconvertible information portion during conversion, a message to that effect is displayed on the display device 12 and the operator is asked to confirm. The converted message is output from an output device corresponding to the medium, such as the display device 12 and the speaker 13 (step 20).
5). Also, as with the case of sending, even if the operator does not select the conversion media type each time, it has a default value in advance and automatically converts, or this media, this is this media It is convenient to set the media to be converted in advance and automatically convert according to this.

Next, the procedure for changing the destination information 23 to 25 will be described. FIG. 5 shows an example thereof. For example, an operator who has received a message at an address of a mail system that can mix texts, graphics, and bitmaps has
It is assumed that the user has moved to an environment for receiving by AX. The change is performed by the following procedure, for example. When the operator operates the keys or the mouse to request the editing / updating of information, the main control unit 5
Via the destination information inquiry unit 18, the destination information management unit 21 is inquired about the information regarding the destination, and the contents thereof are acquired. (Step 301) The acquired information is supplied to the display controller 11 and displayed on the display device 12 (step 302). Destination information 23-
25, etc., the type of media that can be played back by the node, such as FAX and electronic text mail, is stored in the area of the device configuration, and the actual address is a specific mail address such as a telephone number or network address. Is held. The operator inputs new information through the destination information editing unit 19 while checking the displayed contents (step 303). Here, it is assumed that it changes to FAX. The contents of the device configuration area are changed to "FAX" and the contents of the real address are changed to the telephone number of the FAX. The changed information is sent to the destination information management unit 2 via the destination information input / output unit 20.
It is stored in 1 (step 304). By the above operation, the destination information of the operator was changed / updated.

Finally, the correspondence between the constructions of the claims and the constructions of the embodiments will be described (excluding those using the same name). The information stored in the “device configuration” in the destination information 23 to 25 corresponds to “information on usable media”. The information stored in the "real address" of the destination information 23 to 25 corresponds to the address of the equipment to be received and reproduced. Destination information management unit 2
1 is the management means. The character processing unit 7, the raster image processing unit 8, the bitmap processing unit 9, and the digital audio processing unit 10 correspond to the conversion means. In the embodiment, each processing unit 7-
Although 10 is provided, it is not limited to this, and more or less than 10 may be provided.

[0020]

As described above, according to the inventions of claims 1 and 2, for each node connected to the network, the destination information including the media usable there and the address of the equipment for receiving and reproducing it Hold by management means,
In addition to managing, installing conversion means for converting multiple types of media to each other in the node, when sending a message,
The management means is inquired to obtain the destination information, the medium of the message to be transmitted is converted into a medium usable in the destination node according to the information, and the medium is transmitted at the corresponding address. Therefore, according to the conventional method, the message cannot be transmitted unless the sender and the receiver have the same device configuration.
Even if the device configurations of both are different, it is possible to easily exchange messages using multimedia information such as text, graphics, bitmaps, voices, etc., and to construct a flexible message exchange system. In addition, since the media conversion according to the environment of the other party is performed after the message is created, the message itself can be created in the environment that the operator is used to.

Furthermore, since the destination information can be collectively managed in the system and the contents can be changed / updated at any time,
Even if the operating environment changes due to the movement of the operator or the change of the device, the sending side does not need to pay attention to the change of the operating environment of the other party, and the message can be sent in the same procedure as before. Also, the receiving side is in a new place,
You can still receive messages from others in the new device environment. Even if the recipient is temporarily moving to another location due to meetings, business trips, etc., by temporarily changing the destination information, he / she can receive the message addressed to himself / herself at the place where he / she is using the media according to the device environment. You can do it. Further, by utilizing the conversion means provided in the node, it is possible to receive the message on an appropriate medium when going out. For example, an operator can receive a message sent as a text message by a voice mail system. Further, according to the invention of claim 2, the received message can be further converted from a medium usable on the receiving side to a desired one, displayed / reproduced, and stored. Therefore, it is possible to store data for reuse and adapt to the recipient's business form.
Alternatively, the message can be played back on a medium suitable for the recipient's preference, which is useful for improving usability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a node.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of destination information and the like.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a transmission procedure.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a receiving procedure.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure for editing / updating destination information.

[Explanation of symbols]

 ND node 7 to 10 conversion means 21 management means 23 to 25 destination information

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location H04N 1/00 C 7046-5C

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An electronic mail communication system for communicating a message, which is a combination of one or more kinds of media, via a network, wherein each node connected to the network can use the available media and the media. The transmitting side node is provided with a managing means for holding and managing destination information including an address of a device for receiving and reproducing, and a converting means provided in each of the nodes for mutually converting a plurality of types of media. An electronic mail communication system characterized by referring to destination information obtained by inquiring to a management means, converting a message to a usable medium of the destination by the conversion means, and transmitting the message at a corresponding address. 2. An electronic mail communication system for communicating a message, which is a combination of one or more kinds of media, via a network, in which each node connected to the network can use the available media and the media. The transmitting side node is provided with a managing means for holding and managing destination information including an address of a device for receiving and reproducing, and a converting means provided in each of the nodes for mutually converting a plurality of types of media. By referring to the destination information obtained by inquiring the management means, the conversion means converts the message to a usable medium of the destination and transmits it at the corresponding address, and the receiving node selects the received message by the conversion means. An electronic mail communication system characterized by being converted into possible media and disclosed.