JPH08172450A - Store voice communicating method utilysing voice electronic mail - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a store voice communicating method utilysing a voice electronic mail which is capable of performing the store communication of a voice electronic mail between the computer on a computer network and the telephone set on an ISDN line. CONSTITUTION: The voice data from a user computer 3 is transmitted as a voice electronic mail 6 to a mediating computer via a computer network 5. The voice electronic mail 6 is stored in a mediating computer 2. The telephone set 1 on an ISDN line 4 is connected with the mediating computer 2 by a line. A voice reproduction is performed for the voice electronic mail stored in the mediating computer 2. The line connection from the telephone set 1 on the ISDN line 4 to the mediating computer 2 is performed. The voice from the telephone set 1 is stored as a voice file on the mediating computer 2. Voice data is transmitted as a voice electronic mail from the mediating computer 2 to the user computer 3 on the computer network 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a computer connected to a computer network and an ISDN (Integrated Secular
rvices Digital Network) The present invention relates to a storage type voice communication method using voice e-mail for storing and communicating voice e-mail with a telephone connected to a line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A voice input by a computer can be processed as encoded digital data of a voice signal by adding a device for encoding voice which is analog data. The audio output from the computer can be treated as an audio signal by adding a device for decoding the audio data, which is digital data inside the computer.

The voice data in the ISDN line is digital data of non-linear coding, sampling frequency of 8000 Hz and 8-bit precision.

Conventionally, electronic mail was used to transfer only characters (text), but MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Exte), which is one of the Internet protocols, is used.
Proposal of multimedia mail format by ntions) uses an electronic mail format to send voice data as text.

[0005] MIME is an electronic mail format for communicating multimedia data such as voices and images as electronic mail on the Internet. At present, standardization work is being carried out as a RFC1521 by a technical study organization on the Internet. Also, in consideration of interoperability, it is defined as an extension of RFC822, which is the currently used Internet mail format. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, a field indicating that the mail is a MIME mail in the header part of the mail, the type and format of the data included in the mail, and binary data Transmission and reception are possible by adding a field indicating the 7-bit encoding method.

[0006] The telephone is a real-time communication, and communication is possible if an opposite party exists, but communication is impossible when the other party is absent. On the other hand, electronic mail is non-real-time communication, and even if the other party is absent, the electronic mail arrives and the electronic mail can be read at any time of the other party. NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation) provides a "message dialing service" to use the telephone as non-real-time communication. By connecting to a dedicated center, messages can be exchanged through the center. It is being appreciated.

[0007]

As described above, since the telephone is a real-time communication, it is impossible to communicate when the other party is absent. NTT's "message dial service" is a service that complements this. , The stored voice is not recognized unless a call is made to the center where the voice is stored.

Conventionally, e-mail can be used in computers only in a computer network environment, or can be used in telephones only in a telephone environment, so that e-mail communication between a computer on a computer network and a telephone can be performed. Was impossible.

The present invention has been made in view of the above,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a storage type voice communication method using voice electronic mail, which enables the storage communication of voice electronic mail between a computer on a computer network and a telephone on an ISDN line.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a storage type voice communication method using voice electronic mail according to the present invention is a computer and a digital computer which are connected to a network in which a plurality of computers can communicate with each other. A storage-type voice communication method using voice e-mail for performing storage-type voice communication with a telephone connected to an ISDN line which is an integrated communication network, wherein voice data from the telephone connected to the ISDN line is used. Or outputting voice data to the telephone, converting the voice data in the serial data format on the ISDN line received from the telephone into a parallel data format on the network, or a computer in the network. In order to convert the parallel data format voice data transmitted from An intermediary computer connected between a work and the ISDN line is provided, and voice data is transmitted from the computer on the network to the intermediary computer as a voice electronic mail, and the voice electronic mail is transmitted as a voice file by the intermediary computer. The telephone on the ISDN line is connected to the intermediary computer, the voice e-mail, which is a voice file stored in the intermediary computer, is reproduced by voice, and the telephone on the ISDN line to the intermediary computer. The gist of the present invention is to connect the line, store the voice from the telephone as a voice file on the intermediary computer, and transmit the voice data from the intermediary computer to the computer on the network as a voice electronic mail.

[0011]

According to the storage type voice communication method using voice electronic mail of the present invention, the voice data is transmitted from the computer on the network to the intermediary computer as the voice electronic mail, and the voice electronic mail is stored in the intermediary computer.
The telephone on the SDN line is connected to the intermediary computer, the voice e-mail stored in the intermediary computer is reproduced as voice, the line from the telephone on the ISDN line is connected to the intermediary computer, and the voice from the telephone is voiced on the intermediary computer. It is stored as a file, and voice data is transmitted as voice e-mail from the intermediary computer to a computer on the network.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a storage type voice communication system for implementing a storage type voice communication method using voice electronic mail according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the storage-type voice communication method system is a computer network 5 and a computer of a user who is connected to the computer network 5 and has a function of transmitting and receiving electronic mail, and who uses voice electronic mail. A user computer 3, an ISDN line 4 which is an ISDN telephone network, an ISDN telephone 1 connected to the ISDN line 4, an intermediary computer 2 connected between the computer network 5 and the ISDN line 4, and the intermediary computer 2. The audio data file 7 is provided.

The intermediary computer 2 uses the ISDN.
Mediating between the line 4 and the computer network 2, it has an interface with the ISDN line 4 for inputting / outputting voice data, and has an interface with the computer network 5 for inputting / outputting data. It has a function, a function of converting serial data on the ISDN line 4 into parallel data that can be processed in a computer, a voice data file function of a data storage medium, and an e-mail transmission / reception function.

There are two types of creation of voice e-mail, that is, the user computer 3 and the intermediary computer 2. In the user computer 3, a voice is input from a voice input / output device added to the computer. Then, since the characters are stored as voice data on the computer and the e-mail transmits characters (text), the accumulated voice data is converted into text and transmitted as a voice e-mail.

Further, in the creation of the intermediary computer, the intermediary computer 2 sends the stored voice data from the telephone as an electronic mail, and the electronic mail sends characters (text). And send it as a voice email.

The voice from the telephone 1 passes through the ISDN line interface added to the intermediary computer, undergoes serial / parallel conversion, and is transferred and stored as data in the computer. In this case, the data format such as the sampling frequency, the number of precision bits, and the encoding method is ISD.
Accumulation is performed according to the data format on the N line.

The voice electronic mail received from the user computer 3 is stored as a file. At this time, an index is added as an identifier.

When transmitting the accumulated voice to the telephone, it is converted into the data format on the ISDN line and transmitted.
If the stored voice has the same data format as the ISDN line, no conversion is performed.

The voice electronic mail that has reached the user computer 2 is played back by using a dedicated playback tool, or the voice electronic mail which is text is saved as voice data in a file and played back by the playback tool. To do.

An example of the ISDN line 4 provided by NTT is composed of a line control channel (D channel) and two data transfer channels (B channel). And
The audio data on the ISDN line 4 is encoded by the μ-law system, the sampling frequency is 8000 Hz, and the precision bit number is 8 bits.

The computer network 5 is Ethernet. The computer 3 to be connected is a UNIX workstation that has TCP / IP and has an Ethernet interface.

The intermediary computer 2 which acts as an intermediary between the ISDN line 4 and the computer network 5 is also a UNIX workstation equipped with TCP / IP and having an Ethernet interface. Further, voice input for inputting / outputting voice data on the ISDN line 4 is performed. Output device and ISDN line 4
I having a data format conversion device for converting the above serial data into parallel data that can be processed inside a computer
It has an SDN line interface. The intermediary computer 2 and the user computer 3 have an e-mail transmission / reception function.

Next, the operation of the storage type voice communication system configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, the case where the telephone 1 on the ISDN line 4 communicates with the user computer 3 on the computer network 5 via the intermediary computer 2 will be described (step S10).

The telephone 1 on the ISDN line 4 is connected to the intermediary computer 2 via the ISDN line 4, and the voice input from the telephone 1 is μ-L on the ISDN line 4.
aw system encoding, sampling frequency 8000 Hz,
It is transferred to the intermediary computer 2 as serial data having a precision bit number of 8 bits (step S11). This serial data is received by the intermediary computer 2 via the ISDN line 4, the intermediary computer 2 converts the serial data into parallel data, and the intermediary computer 2
It is stored as the voice data file 7 in the inside (step S13). When the intermediary computer 2 finishes the storage in the voice data file 7, the ISDN line 4 with the telephone 1
Is cut (step S15).

Then, in the intermediary computer 2, the data stored in the voice data file 7 is converted into text to create a voice electronic mail 6 (step S17), and the voice electronic mail 6 is transmitted to the user computer 3 ( Step S19).

The user computer 3 receives the voice electronic mail (step S21). The recipient who is the user of the user computer 3 retrieves the voice e-mail at any time, and the retrieved e-mail is μ
-Law encoding, sampling frequency 8000H
Decoding is performed with z and the number of precision bits is 8 bits, and reproduced as voice (step S23).

Next, a case where communication is performed from the user computer 3 on the computer network 5 to the telephone 1 of the ISDN line 4 via the intermediary computer 2 will be described (step S10).

The voice from the user computer 3 of the computer network 5 is encoded by the μ-law system similar to the data on the ISDN line 4, and the sampling frequency is 80.
It is assumed that encoding is performed at 00 Hz and a precision bit number of 8 bits, voice data is created, converted into text, and a voice electronic mail 6 is created (step S31). This voice electronic mail 6 is transmitted from the user computer 3 to the computer network 5 Is transmitted to the intermediary computer 2 via (step S33).

The intermediary computer 2 receives the voice electronic mail 6 (step S35), extracts voice data, and stores it in the voice data file 7 (step S3).
7). The user connects the ISDN line 4 from the telephone 1 to the intermediary computer 2 at an arbitrary time (step S3).
9) The voice data from the voice electronic mail addressed to the user is transmitted from the intermediary computer 2 to the telephone 1, and the telephone 1
Is reproduced as a voice (step S41). in this case,
Voice email from user computer 3 is ISDN
Since it is the same as the data on the line, no data conversion is performed.

As described above, in the present invention, attention is paid to the fact that the communication by e-mail is non-real time and can be distributed to the computer used by the user, and since the data processing in the computer is digital data, the telephone call IS where voice data on the line is digital data
Storage-type voice communication between a voice electronic mail and a telephone is performed via a computer that stores voice using a DN line.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Voice data sent from a computer on the network to the intermediary computer as voice electronic mail, the voice electronic mail is stored in the intermediary computer, the telephone on the ISDN line is connected to the intermediary computer, and the voice electronic mail is stored in the intermediary computer. Is played back as voice
Since the line from the telephone on the DN line is connected to the intermediary computer, the voice from the telephone is stored as a voice file on the intermediary computer, and the voice data is transmitted as an e-mail from the intermediary computer to the computer on the network. Stored voice communication between mail and telephone is possible, and non-real time communication is also possible on the telephone. In addition, voice e-mail from the telephone is not stored in the intermediary computer but sent to the user's computer, so the storage capacity in the intermediary computer can be reduced, and the user computer can use it without having to contact the intermediary computer. You can receive voice email directly on your computer.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a storage-type voice communication system for implementing a storage-type voice communication method using a voice electronic mail according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of the storage type voice communication system shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a MIME mail format.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Telephone 2 Mediation Computer 3 User Computer 4 ISDN Line 5 Computer Network 6 Voice E-mail 7 Voice Data File

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical indication H04M 3/42 J (72) Inventor Eiji Kuwana 1-6 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nihon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Use of voice e-mail for performing stored voice communication between a computer connected to a network in which a plurality of computers can communicate with each other and a telephone connected to an ISDN line which is a digital integrated communication network. The storage-type voice communication method according to claim 1, wherein voice data from the telephone connected to the ISDN line is received, voice data is output to the telephone, and serial data is received from the telephone on the ISDN line. Between the network and the ISDN line to convert voice data in a data format into a parallel data format on the network, or to convert voice data in a parallel data format transmitted from a computer in the network into a serial data format. And a computer on the network. Computer transmits voice data as a voice electronic mail to the intermediary computer, the voice electronic mail is stored as a voice file in the intermediary computer, and the telephone on the ISDN line is connected to the intermediary computer to perform the intermediary. The voice e-mail that has become a voice file stored in the computer is played back as voice, the line from the telephone on the ISDN line is connected to the intermediary computer, and the voice from the telephone is stored as a voice file on the intermediary computer, A storage-type voice communication method using voice e-mail, characterized in that voice data is transmitted as voice e-mail from the intermediary computer to a computer on the network.