JPH06217007A - Telephone message transmitting equipment for electronic mall equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a telephone message transmitting equipment for electronic mail equipment which can change an electronic mail into a telephone message when a callee does not require the electronic mail. CONSTITUTION:The telephone message transmitting equipment consists of a mail separating part 102 which separates an electronic mail into the header information and the message main body, a header information storing part 103, a message main body storing part 104, a storing part 105 which stores the prescribed information at every user, a header processing part 106 which extracts the address information out of the header information, a transmitting method judging part 107 which compares the address information with the prescribed information stored for each user to judge the electronic mail transmission or the telephone transmission, a message processing part 112 which changes the message main body into a voice file when the telephone transmission is decided, and a telephone transmission part 113 which transmits by telephone the contents of the voice file based on the address information received from the part 106.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for automatically converting messages between different types of communication terminals.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, introduction of LAN system, ISDN
Along with the development of network forms such as network services, communication devices connected to the network have been diversified. At the same time, as communication devices have become more portable and have evolved into personal usage patterns, e-mail,
It is required to enable mutual communication between different types of communication terminals without being aware of the difference in service modes such as telephone. In line with this request, if you want to notify a remote party of the information output as a report from an electronic mail device, you can convert this information from character or text information to the corresponding image or image information, and then directly Facsimile machines that send to facsimile machines have been proposed. Similarly, a system combining electronic mail communication and facsimile communication, in which the text of the electronic mail is output to the facsimile receiver by transmitting the electronic mail from the terminal of the electronic mail device to the facsimile number. Is also proposed.
For example, in the facsimile apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 03-106172, the operation unit confirms information about the receiving side (called side) terminal selected by the operator, and then notifies this information to the text information storage unit. To do. Upon receiving this notification, the electronic mail information storage unit passes the corresponding electronic mail information to the information conversion unit that converts the image information. The information conversion unit converts the transferred information and transfers it to the transmission control unit. The transmission control unit transmits this information to the partner facsimile machine.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional device, firstly, when the recipient is blind, it requires the help of a third party to understand the contents. . In addition, this is not preferable depending on the received contents such as confidential information. Second, facsimile receivers are still too large and heavy to carry, even today. This is even more so for email receiving devices. For this reason, when the recipient is a salesperson who is out all the time, email transmission may become impossible in practice.

Thirdly, as a side effect, the user of the communication terminal on the transmission side always designates the transmission destination after storing or investigating the model of the communication terminal on the reception side or the state of the receiver at the time of transmission. Must. Further, manual selection and designation processing depending on the type and function of the receiving side communication terminal are required. For this reason, it is desired to realize a means capable of reliably transmitting electronic mail even in such a situation without human intervention.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide an automated telephone message transmitting device for an electronic mail device.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, in the invention of claim 1, a mail separating section for separating electronic mail into header information and a message body, and header information is received from the mail separating section. The header information storage unit that stores the message body, the message body storage unit that stores the message body after receiving the message body from the mail separating unit, and stores the predetermined information in association with each recipient user. After receiving the header information from the user information storage unit and the mail separating unit, the header processing unit for extracting the destination information from the header information, and the destination information from the header processing unit, the user information storage unit A transmission method determination unit that compares the predetermined information of the corresponding user stored in the information storage unit and determines whether to perform mail transmission or telephone transmission. When the transmission method determination unit determines that the transmission is a telephone transmission, a message processing unit that is activated by a signal to that effect and converts the message body stored in the message body storage unit into an audio file, and the message. A telephone message transmitting device for an electronic mail device, comprising: a telephone transmitting unit for transmitting the contents of the voice file converted by the processing unit by telephone based on the destination information received from the header processing unit. There is.

According to the invention of claim 2, in the telephone message transmitting device for an electronic mail device according to claim 1, the header processing unit further extracts sender information from the header information, and determines the transmission method. In response to a notification from the department that it is a telephone transmission, the message processing unit has a transmission guide creation unit that creates a voice transmission guide based on the destination information and the sender information obtained from the header processing unit. The telephone message transmitting device for an electronic mail device according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit further attaches the transmission guide of the voice received from the transmission guide creating unit to the voice file.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the telephone message transmitting device for an electronic mail apparatus according to the second aspect, a format storage section for storing a format format of a voice transmission guide, and a separate instruction from a sender. A format for receiving the information about the format format from the recipient user information storage section based on the destination information or from the sender information itself and selecting the corresponding format format from the format storage section based on this information. 3. The electronic device according to claim 2, further comprising: a selection unit, wherein the transmission guidance creating unit further creates a voice transmission guidance by also using information about the format format selected by the format selection unit. It is used as a telephone message conversion device for mail devices.

[0009]

With the above structure, in the invention of claim 1,
The mail separator separates the email into header information and message body. The header information storage unit stores the separated header information. Similarly, the message body storage unit stores the message body. The user information storage unit stores predetermined information for each recipient user. The header processing unit receives the header information from the header information storage unit and extracts the destination information from this.

The transmission method determination unit obtains the destination information from the header processing unit, obtains predetermined information about the corresponding user in the user information storage unit based on the destination information, and then performs electronic mail transmission or telephone transmission. Determine whether to do it. The message processing unit is activated by the transmission method determination unit when it determines that the message should be transmitted by telephone. The message processing unit extracts the message body stored in the message body storage unit and then converts the message body into an audio file.

The telephone transmitting unit transmits the voice file converted and created by the message processing unit by telephone to the destination received from the header processing unit. According to the invention of claim 2, in addition to the operation of the invention of claim 1, the header processing section further comprises:
The sender information is extracted from the header information. The transmission guidance creating unit creates a voice transmission guidance based on the destination information and the sender information obtained from the header processing unit, in response to the notification from the transmission method determination unit that the transmission is a telephone transmission. The message processing unit further attaches the voice transmission guide received from the transmission guide creation unit to the voice file.

According to the third aspect of the invention, in addition to the operation of the second aspect of the invention, the format storage section further stores the format format of the voice transmission guide. The format selection unit receives information about the format format from either the recipient user information storage unit based on the sender's separate instruction or destination information, or from the sender information itself, and from the format storage unit based on this information. After selecting the corresponding format, the transmission guide creation unit is notified of this. The transmission guide creation unit also reflects the information on this format in the voice transmission guide creation.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A telephone message conversion device for an electronic mail device according to the present invention will be described below based on embodiments. By the way, the invention of claim 2 is the invention of claim 1 with the addition of a transmission guide creation unit, and the invention of claim 3 is the invention of claim 2 with the addition of a format storage unit and a format selection unit. . Therefore, the present embodiment relates to the invention of claim 3, and a part to be added to the invention of each claim will be described together. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of this embodiment.
In the figure, 101 is an electronic mail transmitting device in which the telephone message transmitting device for an electronic mail device of this embodiment is integrally incorporated, and a mail separating unit 102, a header information storing unit 103, a message body storing unit 104, a user. An information storage unit 105, a header processing unit 106, a transmission method determination unit 107, an electronic mail transmission unit 108, a format storage unit 109, a format selection unit 110, a transmission guide creation unit 111, a message processing unit 112, a telephone transmission unit 113,
The error notification processing unit 114 is included. In addition to the above, CRT, keyboard, RFC required as an electronic mail device
Of course, it also has a ROM or the like that incorporates the 821 communication protocol and the like, but these are not shown because they are self-evident techniques. In principle, the explanation of the operation and structure will be omitted.

Next, the above-mentioned components will be described. The mail separating unit 102 receives an electronic mail created by any electronic mail creating means such as mh-Email, X-mh, etc., and receives a sending instruction, and then separates this into header information and a message body, The header information is output to the header information storage unit 103 and the header processing unit 106, and the message body is output to the message body storage unit 104. The header information storage unit 103 stores the header information as it is as information to be originally transmitted. Similarly, the message body storage unit 104 stores the message body as it is as information to be originally transmitted. Here, as the header information stored in the header information storage unit 103,
For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the information 300 that can be extracted by field is referred to, and the message body stored in the message body storage unit 104 refers to information 310 other than the header information 300. The user information storage unit 105 stores corresponding predetermined information about a communication terminal or the like for each recipient user, and has a database function that can be accessed whenever necessary. The predetermined information stored is a user address (user identifier) for user identification, a company name of the user, a department name, a name, a mail address, a telephone number, style file information, and the like. Usually, a mail address is used as a user address, and an appropriate identifier is given to a user who does not have a mail address. For example, the user information storage unit 10
5 indicates 401, for each user, as shown in FIG.
It has various information as shown in 402. In 401, a mail address (sato @ isl.
mei. co. jp) is used, and in 402, an arbitrary identifier (matsumo) is used. As information in each style file name column, a voice transmission guide style file name is stored. The header processing unit 106 extracts destination information and sender information from the header information received from the mail separating unit 102.
The destination information and the sender information are extracted from To: field (address entry field) and From: field (sender name entry field). For example, in FIG. 3, the destination information is 301 and the sender information is 302. The transmission method determination unit 107 outputs the destination information received from the header processing unit 106 to the user information storage unit 105, receives various types of information about the corresponding user by comparison with the destination user address number, and performs mail transmission. Or whether to make a telephone call. The process of the transmission method determination unit 107 will be described in detail. First, it is checked whether or not the user address that matches the destination information is stored in the user information storage unit 105. If stored, the various information is taken in, and if the e-mail address is stored therein, it is determined that the e-mail can be transmitted, and the e-mail transmission request is sent to the e-mail transmission unit 108. I will This is because it is preferable to send the e-mail as much as possible because the original is the e-mail text that was input to be sent to the e-mail sending device. If there is no e-mail address and only the telephone number is stored, it is determined that the transmission is a telephone transmission, and together with the telephone transmission request, the destination information and the sender information are output as they are to the transmission guidance creating unit 111. . Further, when neither the mail address nor the telephone number is stored, the error notification request is output to the error notification processing unit 114. For example, the destination information 301 of the email shown in FIG. 3 is received from the header processing unit 106, and the user information storage unit 105 receives
If the transmission method determination unit 107 has various information
Various information 402 is fetched. Since the mail address is not stored in the various information 402 and only the telephone number is stored, the transmission method determination unit 107 determines that the transmission is a telephone transmission, and together with the telephone transmission request, the destination information and the sender. The information is directly output to the transmission guidance creating unit 111. When the electronic mail transmission unit 108 receives the electronic mail transmission request from the transmission method determination unit 107,
The header information is retrieved from the header information storage unit 103, the message body is retrieved from the message body storage unit 104, and then the e-mail is transmitted. Format storage unit 10
9 stores the format of the voice transmission guide in advance and stores it. The format selection unit 110 selects a corresponding format form from the format storage unit 109 based on the destination information and the sender information. The transmission guide creation unit 111 outputs the destination information and the sender information received from the transmission method determination unit 107 to the user information storage unit 105, receives various kinds of information about the user corresponding to the user address, and the format selection unit 110. Inquires about the format, and creates a voice transmission guide using the received various information and the format. For example, when the destination information 301 and the sender information 302 shown in FIG. 3 are received from the header processing unit 106 via the transmission method determination unit 107 and the user information storage unit 105 stores various information shown in FIG. Information 3
By outputting the information (voice \ _form2) in the style file name column in the various information 402 corresponding to 01 to the format selection unit 110, the style file conceptually shown in FIG. 5 is received, and the destination information and the sender information are received. Based on various kinds of information corresponding to the above, a voice transmission guide of a format conceptually shown in FIG. 6 is created. At the same time, the transmission guidance creating unit 111 causes the user information storage unit 105 to
Of the various information received from the message processing unit 11 the telephone number corresponding to the destination information and the created voice transmission guide.
Output to 2. The message processing unit 112 converts the message body stored in the message storage unit 104 into a voice file and attaches the voice transmission guide received from the transmission guide creating unit 111 to the voice file. At the same time, the message processing unit 112 outputs the telephone number received from the header processing unit 106 or the user information storage unit 105 via the transmission guidance creating unit 111 and the created transmission guidance voice file to the telephone transmission unit 113. . The error notification processing unit 113 is a telephone transmission unit that telephone-transmits the voice file with transmission guide generated by the message processing unit 112 to a designated telephone number. 114
Receives the error notification request from the transmission method determination unit 107, extracts the header information from the header information storage unit 103 and the message body from the message body storage unit 104, creates an original mail, and sends the original mail to the sender. Error notification is sent together with.

Next, the procedure of separating the header information of the electronic mail from the message body and the separation of the separated message body into a voice signal will be described. The email is
As coded information consisting of a combination of 0 and 1,
It is stored at a predetermined position in the cell according to the communication protocol and the creating means. Moreover, in this case, not only the header information and the message body are stored behind the header information, but conceptually speaking, predetermined symbols such as "[" and "]" in the specification of the patent application are It is attached. Therefore, the header separating unit 102 can easily detect both pieces of information and then separate them. Further, the extraction of the destination information and the specification of the destination can be easily detected as well. In this case, whether the destination is an e-mail or a telephone, it is specified by a series of numbers consisting of a combination of numerical values. Since the code information corresponding to the series of numbers is determined by JIS, etc., the header processing unit 106 will also be easy to implement.

Next, when the destination information or the transmission destination is confirmed, the transmission destination is compared with the information stored in the user information storage unit 105 by electronically searching or collating a dictionary or a correspondence table. It is done by doing. Although it is a concrete conversion procedure to voice, e-mail is basically CR
It is a sentence whose contents are expressed by the characters input by the keyboard on T, and each character including "." And "Space" on the CRT is decomposed into syllables, and the syllables are recorded in advance. Then, it is taken out from a voice dictionary that is capable of uttering. Next, by assembling these on a buffer memory for voice, the words are reworded rather than voice signals. For example, the information in an email, the word "invention" as part of a sentence, is broken down into the corresponding syllabic characters "hatsume" and then "ha", "tsu", "me" from the voice recording dictionary. ”,“ I ”syllables are taken out in order. Further, in this order, the data is properly packed in the buffer memory and recorded, and is reconstructed into a word "hatsume" rather than a combination of audio signals. Furthermore, it is assumed that the "space in which no character is entered" part has no pronunciation, and the voice information has a space (") for this minute, and the". "Part is confirmed to be the end of the sentence, which is not converted into a syllable. The phonetic text is created after the necessary processing is performed such that the possible figures are created in advance as oral cautionary statements to that effect.

However, the conversion of the concrete contents, for example, the Chinese character "invention" into the corresponding voice "Hatsume" is basically the reverse operation of the voice input word processor (Kanji → syllable character). (→ pronunciation), that is, since this is a well-known technique, a detailed description up to the code conversion process will be omitted. Hereinafter, the automatic message conversion device configured as described above will be described using the operation flow shown in FIG. (201) The mail separating unit 102 receives an electronic mail created by an arbitrary electronic mail creating unit and instructed to send. (20
2) The mail separating unit 102 separates the received electronic mail into header information and a message body. (2
03) The mail separation unit 102 outputs the header information to the header information storage unit 103 and the header processing unit 106, and the message body to the message body storage unit 104. (204) The header processing unit 106 extracts the destination information / sender information from the header information To: field / From: field. (205) The transmission method determination unit 107 uses the user information storage unit 10 based on the destination information.
The information in 5 is searched and it is checked whether or not the address of the corresponding user is stored. If stored,
The operation moves to the next (206). If it is not stored, the operation moves to (216) described later. (206)
The transmission method determination unit 107 receives various information corresponding to the destination information stored in the user information storage unit 105. (207) The transmission method determination unit 107 checks whether or not the e-mail address is stored in the received various information. If it is stored, the next (20
Move on to operation 8). If it is not stored, the operation moves to (209) according to the gist of the present invention. (208) The e-mail transmission unit 108 extracts the header information from the header information storage unit 103 and the message body from the message body storage unit 104, combines the two pieces of information to create an e-mail as a transmission sentence, and transmits the e-mail. I do. (209)
The transmission method determination unit 107 checks whether or not the telephone number is stored in the received various information. If it is stored, the operation proceeds to the next operation (210). If it is not stored, the operation moves to (216) described later.
(210) In the transmission guide creation unit 111, the information in the user information storage unit 105 is searched again based on the destination information and the sender information, and compared with the stored user address, so that each corresponding various Information (company name, department name,
Receive name, phone number, style file name, etc.).
(211) The transmission guide creation unit 111 outputs the received style file name to the format selection unit 110. (212) The format selection unit 110 receives the file information about the format of the voice transmission guidance style corresponding to the received style file name from the format storage unit 109 and outputs it to the transmission guidance creation unit 111. (213) The transmission guide creation unit 111 creates a voice transmission guide according to various information received from the user information storage unit 105 and file information regarding the style format received from the format selection unit 110. (21
4) The message processing unit 112 converts the message body into a voice file, attaches the voice transmission guidance created by the transmission guidance creating unit 111 to the voice file, and generates a voice file with transmission guidance. (215) Telephone sending unit 113
Then, the contents of the voice file with the predetermined voice transmission guide are transmitted by telephone to the designated telephone number. (216) In the error notification processing unit 114, when the address number is not registered or the transmission is impossible because the receiver is busy,
After extracting the header information from the header information storage unit 103 and the message body from the message storage unit to restore the original e-mail, the sender is notified of an error indicating that it cannot be sent together with the restored mail.

Although the present invention has been described above based on the embodiments, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. That is, for example, as the storage information of the user information storage unit, various kinds of information such as a facsimile number and an alternative telephone number are held. The user address stored in the user information storage unit is not limited to a normal mail address, but may be any one that can be extracted as the destination information of an electronic mail. For example, when a dedicated communication line is used, it may be a private number or employee number individually assigned to each recipient. It is possible to extract only the header information, limit the destination information and sender information to other date information, etc. as the information used when creating the voice transmission guide, and to limit the information to the fact that there is a separate email body. . In this case,
The conversion into a voice file in the message processing unit is not complete, and the called party receives the e-mail text separately after returning home and confirms the content. As the determination method of the transmission method determination unit, the transmission method and the time may be registered in advance. For example, the call is sent between 9:00 and 16:00 when the recipient is often absent,
At other times, e-mail transmission is performed. When selecting a voice transmission guide format in the format selection part, the user does not explicitly store the stored style file information, but the user explicitly sets the information in the body of the email, or various information / messages. Other formats such as selecting the most suitable format for the contents of the main body (for example, selecting an overseas format for an overseas mail) may be used. In this case, it goes without saying that a function for automatically determining whether the message body is in Japanese or English is added. For this reason, the telephone voice file to be converted need not be Japanese, but English, Chinese, or the like. The called end is not limited to the telephone, and may be an electronic mail device for a blind person or a visually impaired person having a sounding function.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, the information about the communication device or the like that can be used by each user of the receiving destination is registered and stored in advance, and the communication service is automatically determined according to the stored information. To do. As a result, it becomes possible to automatically switch to a voice message by telephone communication for a partner who cannot use e-mail communication or facsimile transmission for some reason. Further, by utilizing the header information of the conventional electronic mail communication, it can be said to have an attachment function such as voice transmission guide necessary for identifying the sender / receiver of a message. Therefore, when making a call, the user on the sending side can perform mutual communication of messages without designating or recognizing the information of the receiving side communication terminal or the recipient. In addition, the voice transmission guide attachment function makes it possible to identify the sender / recipient of the message and realize reliable message transmission.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of an automatic message conversion device for an electronic mail device according to the invention of claim 3;

FIG. 2 is an operation flow chart of the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a method of separating / extracting information of an electronic mail in the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of various information stored in a user information storage unit in the above embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a voice transmission guide format format in the above embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of voice transmission guidance generated by an extended transmission guidance generation unit in the above embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 Email Sending Device Incorporating Telephone Message Sending Device Integrally 102 Mail Separation Unit 103 Header Information Storage Unit 104 Message Main Body Storage Unit 105 User Information Storage Unit 106 Header Processing Unit 107 Transmission Method Judgment Unit 108 Email Sending Unit 109 Format Storage unit 110 Format selection unit 111 Transmission guide creation unit 112 Message processing unit 113 Telephone transmission unit 114 Error notification processing unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A mail separating unit that separates an electronic mail into header information and a message body, a header information storage unit that stores the header information after receiving the header information from the mail separating unit, and a message from the mail separating unit. A message body storage unit that stores the body after receiving it, a user information storage unit that stores predetermined information corresponding to each recipient user, and header information that is received from the mail separating unit ,
A header processing unit for extracting destination information from the header processing unit, and receiving the destination information from the header processing unit, comparing this with predetermined information of the corresponding user stored in the user information storage unit, and A transmission method determination unit that determines whether to perform transmission or telephone transmission, and when the transmission method determination unit determines that the transmission is a telephone transmission, it is activated by a signal to that effect and stored in the message body storage unit. A message processing unit for converting the message body being converted into a voice file, and a telephone transmitting unit for transmitting the contents of the voice file converted by the message processing unit by telephone based on the destination information received from the header processing unit. A telephone message transmitting device for an electronic mail device, characterized by having. 2. The telephone message transmitting device for an electronic mail device according to claim 1, wherein the header processing unit further extracts caller information from the header information, and the transmission method judging unit makes a telephone transmission. In response to the notification that it is determined that, the message processing unit further includes a transmission guidance creating unit that creates a voice transmission guidance based on the destination information and the sender information obtained from the header processing unit, and the message processing unit further includes: 2. The telephone message transmitting device for an electronic mail device according to claim 1, wherein the voice transmission guide received from the transmission guide creating unit is attached to the voice file. 3. The telephone message transmitting device for an electronic mail device according to claim 2, further comprising a format storage section for storing a format format of voice transmission guidance, and a separate instruction and destination information of the sender. And a format selection unit that receives information about the format format from the recipient user information storage unit or from the sender information itself, and selects a corresponding format format from the format storage unit based on this information. 3. The transmission guide creation unit further creates a voice transmission guide by also using information about the format format selected by the format selection unit.
A telephone message conversion device for the described electronic mail device.