JPH0823396A - Information storage transmitter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the transmitter by which document data and voice data are sent with cross reference. CONSTITUTION:Voice data and document data are entered sequentially by a FAX/telephone terminal 71a connecting to an information transmitter 1 via a telephone line network 70 according to a command by a voice guidance output section 51. The data are cross-referenced by a relation management section 40 and the voice data are stored in a voice storage section 20 and the document data are stored in an image storage section 30. The information transmitter 1 makes automatic dialing of a destination telephone number received via a PB signal detection section 52 and sends the stored voice data and document data according to a reply of a recipient. The processing of adding a supplementary explanation to the document sent by a facsimile equipment and sending an added drawing of a contact item by a phone call is conducted simply by a series of transmission processing and then the information is surely and accurately delivered.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an information transmission system for transmitting and receiving voices and images, and in particular, voice information and documents, drawings and photographs using transmission means such as telephones, facsimile machines (hereinafter referred to as FAX) and electronic mails. The present invention relates to an information storage / transmission device capable of transmitting visual information such as the above.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the development of information processing technology and communication technology, a wide variety of information transmission devices and information transmission services have been provided. For example, a voice mail service that temporarily stores a voice message entered from a telephone in the storage device in the system and transfers it to a designated telephone by a designated method or calls a message addressed to itself from any telephone and listens to it. Is provided. In addition, the documents transmitted by FAX can be stored once and then delivered according to the situation or automatically delivered at a specified time.
Fax that retrieves stored data from any fax
A mail system is also provided.

With the rapid spread of personal computers and word processors in ordinary households, electronic mail systems for connecting them via a network and exchanging information with each other have also spread rapidly.
This e-mail system mainly transmits text data as a character code, but recently, it may also transmit document data including layout information. As described above, telephones transmit voice information, and faxes and e-mails transmit visually recognizable information such as texts, documents, figures, and photographs (hereinafter referred to as visual information), which are very widely used. An information transmission device and an information transmission means.

Generally, in order to accurately transmit the information to be transmitted and the content to be contacted, it is effective to transmit using both visual information and audio information. This is the case where a document, a photograph, a drawing, etc. are passed and an additional explanation is given by voice, or the main contents are informed by voice and the contents are further confirmed by attaching a map, a photograph, a drawing and the like. However, the current information transmission device and information transmission means as described above can normally transmit only either audio information or visual information. A device capable of simultaneously transmitting audio information and visual information has been prototyped and tested as a so-called multimedia device, but it is convenient, priced, standardized,
There are problems with communication lines, etc., and it has not been widely spread in general.

Therefore, when it is desired to transmit the visual information and the audio information together as described above, the above-mentioned telephone and FA
It is common practice to transmit the information by combining means such as X and electronic mail. For example, send a drawing by fax, call a separate phone later to add supplementary explanations or annotations, make a call by phone, send a map etc. by fax, and call again.
A method is used in which an additional explanation is given by voice while confirming that the map has been sent.

[0006]

However, according to the above-mentioned transmitting means, the voice is transmitted by the telephone and the visual information such as the document, the map, the drawing and the photograph is transmitted by the FAX or the electronic mail. The operation became complicated and annoying. In other words, first dial the destination and fax.
・ After transmitting the visual information by e-mail, I had to dial the telephone again and give a supplementary explanation by voice. In some cases, before the FAX / e-mail transmission, it was necessary to make a phone call further informing that the FAX transmission was to be performed.

Further, since a plurality of transmission means are combined for transmission as described above, appropriate correspondence cannot be performed, and there may be a case where the effect transmitted by both visual information and audio information cannot be obtained, or the transmission is appropriately performed. There were also problems such as cases where information could not be transmitted. For example, information transmitted via a storage device such as a fax mail or a voice mail may have a difference in reception time, may not be properly associated with each other, and may be misunderstood. Further, when the receiver is absent and voice information is recorded on the answering machine, the information cannot be confirmed in an interactive manner with the sender, which does not make a supplementary meaning.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an information storing and transmitting apparatus which can easily transmit voice information and visual information by a series of operations in order to reduce the troublesomeness of the operation. Another object of the present invention is to provide an information storage / transmission device capable of associating and transmitting audio information and visual information in order to reliably and accurately transmit information.

[0009]

Telephone, FAX communication, and electronic mail can be transmitted through the same telephone network, but the sequences are completely independent transmission means. Therefore, the sender and the receiver must associate the document transmitted by FAX with the telephone. The association is performed by, for example, transmitting by fax or telephone almost simultaneously in time, or by pointing out the number given to the document transmitted by fax. In the present invention, such association / association is automatically performed. In addition, the sender can perform FAX transmission and telephone call in a series of processes.

The information storing and transmitting apparatus of the present invention comprises means for receiving the voice information and the visual information transmitted simultaneously by the communication line, and means for storing the received voice information.
The means for storing the received visual information, the means for managing the simultaneously transmitted and stored audio information and visual information as related information, and the processing mode for the audio information and visual information are input. And means for controlling each of the means and transmitting, in association with the visual information, audio information managed as related information by the management means based on the processing mode. Specifically, the information storage and transmission device of the present invention transmits the stored audio information and visual information at the same time, or
The audio information and the visual information that are related to each other are specified so that they are related to each other. More specifically, the information storage / transmission device of the present invention receives either or both of the information transmitted by FAX and the information transmitted by electronic mail as visually recognizable visual information.

[0011]

In the information storage / transmission apparatus of the present invention, the sender simultaneously transmits the visual information and the audio information to the information storage / transmission apparatus by a series of operations. The information storage / transmission device stores the visual information and the audio information transmitted at the same time in association with each other. Then, the information storage / transmission device, for example, transmits them at the same time so that the receiver knows their relevance,
Send the response clearly. Therefore, information consisting of visual information and audio information can be transmitted. Also, the sender can send both visual information and audio information by a series of operations.

[0012]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an information storage / transmission apparatus of the present invention.
~ It demonstrates with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an information storage / transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The information storage / transmission device 1 includes a transmission / reception unit 10, a voice storage unit 20, an image storage unit 30, a relationship management unit 40, an input unit 50, and a main control unit 60. The transmission / reception unit 10 includes a polarity reversal detection unit 11, an incoming call detection unit 12, and a modem 13. The voice storage unit 20 includes the voice compression / decompression unit 21 and the voice storage unit 22, and the image storage unit 30 includes the image storage unit 3.
0, an image compression / expansion unit 31. Input section 50
The information storage / transmission device 1 including a voice guidance output unit 51 and a PB signal detection unit 52 is connected to a telephone line network 70. Further, other transmission devices, for example, FAX / telephone terminals 71a to 71z are connected to the telephone line network 70.

First, the configuration of each part of the information storage / transmission apparatus 1
The operation will be described. The transmitting / receiving unit 10 is a telephone network 7.
It is a transmission / reception circuit connected to the 0 line and performing processing such as calling, receiving, and data transmission between the line and the information storing and transmitting apparatus 1. The transmitter / receiver 10 includes a polarity reversal detector 11,
It is composed of an incoming call detection unit 12 and a modem 13. The polarity reversal detection unit 11 detects the polarity reversal to detect whether or not the information storage / transmission device 1 has made a response when the information storage / transmission device 1 makes a call to another terminal device connected to the telephone network 70. Circuit. The incoming call detection unit 12 is an incoming call processing circuit that detects that a call is made from any of the FAX / telephone terminals connected to the telephone line network 70 and performs a connection process.

The modem 13 receives a telephone line network 70 when receiving.
It is a modulation / demodulation circuit for demodulating a modulated signal input thereto and for modulating and outputting the signal at the time of transmission.
In the information storage / transmission apparatus 1 of this embodiment, the modem 13
The image storage unit 30 is connected to the image storage unit 30. When receiving FAX data, the received signal is demodulated and output to the image storage unit 30, and at the time of FAX data transmission, the data stored in the image storage unit 30 is modulated. And outputs to the telephone network 70.

The voice storage unit 20 is a storage means for storing and storing the received voice information and transmitting it again in response to a request. When inputting voice data, the voice compression / expansion unit 21 performs A / D conversion on the transmitted voice data, compresses it, and outputs it to the voice storage unit 22. Further, when outputting audio data, the compressed signal is expanded, restored to an audio analog signal and output. The voice storage unit 22 is a storage device including, for example, a hard disk device, and stores the data input from the voice compression / decompression unit 21.

The image storage unit 30 is a storage means for storing and storing the received image information and transmitting it again in response to a request. The image compression / decompression unit 31 is transmitted to the modem 13
This is a compression / expansion circuit that compresses the image data demodulated by the above in order to store it in the image storage section 32 and expands it in order to output the image data stored in the image storage section 32. The image storage unit 32 is a storage device including, for example, a hard disk device, and includes the image compression / expansion unit 3.
The data compressed by 1 is stored.

The relation management unit 40 is a means for managing the relation between the voice data stored in the voice storage unit 22 and the image data stored in the image storage unit 32. The relationship is managed by the same data number in the header portion of the audio data recorded in the audio storage unit 22 and the image data recorded in the image storage unit 32, which are transmitted in a series of transmission processes. By adding, it is assumed that the two are related data.

The input section 50 is an interface section for inputting a processing mode of the information storage / transmission apparatus 1 from a telephone terminal connected to the information storage / transmission apparatus 1 via the telephone line network 70, and a voice guidance output section. 51 and a PB signal detector 52. Voice guidance output unit 51
Is a voice output unit for prompting input by voice for performing interactive processing when the sender inputs the processing mode, when the data is input, and when the receiver calls the data. The voice guidance output unit 51 of this embodiment is
The voice guidance output circuit stores predetermined guidance contents in a memory and outputs a voice signal by voice synthesis. The PB signal detection unit 52 is a signal detection / conversion circuit that detects a signal input by the sender and the receiver via the telephone network 70, digitizes the signal, and outputs the digitized signal to the main control unit 60. In this embodiment, a button dial signal (hereinafter referred to as PB) transmitted by a key telephone is used.
Signal) and outputs the numerical value corresponding to this signal.

The main control unit 60 is a control unit for controlling each of the above units. When the sender starts data transmission, the main control unit 60 causes the PB signal to select a service, in other words, a processing mode, and stores the processing mode in a storage unit (not shown). Then, thereafter, the processing sequence is sequentially advanced based on the processing mode.

Next, a method / procedure for transmitting information using the information storage / transmission apparatus 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment, the telephone network 70
From the fax / telephone terminal 71a connected to
1z, the telephone terminal 71y, the information storage and transmission device 1 of the present invention
A method of transmitting a document including a drawing that is image data (hereinafter, referred to as document data) and a description in audio (hereinafter, referred to as audio data) related to the drawing is described through. In this embodiment, the FAX / telephone terminal 71a and the telephone terminal 71y are push-button dial telephones, and the PB signal is transmitted.

First, referring to FIG. 2, the FAX / telephone terminal 7
A method of transmitting information from 1a to the information storage / transmission device 1 will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a sequence for transmitting information from the FAX / telephone terminal 71a to the information storage / transmission device 1. First, the sender connects the line to the information storage / transmission device 1 from the FAX / telephone terminal 71a. Specifically, FA
The telephone number of the information storage / transmission device 1 is dialed from the X / telephone terminal 71a to make a call. In the information storage / transmission device 1, the incoming call detection unit 12 detects an incoming call signal, responds to the incoming call, and captures the telephone line.

Next, the voice guidance output unit 51 of the input unit 50 sends a guidance for prompting the input of the processing mode to the line as a voice signal. In the FAX / telephone terminal 71a, processing modes are sequentially input in accordance with the instructions of this guidance. This input is performed by the PB signal detection unit 52 detecting the PB signal transmitted by pressing the push button of the FAX / telephone terminal 71a, inputting it to the main control unit 60, and storing it in a storage unit (not shown). To do. In the present embodiment, the processing mode is the type of information to be transmitted, the transmission order thereof, the handling when the transmission destination does not respond, and the FAX number / telephone number of the transmission destination. In the description, it is assumed that the following processing mode is input as an example. The information to be transmitted is document data and voice data, and the sender inputs voice data and document data in this order. To the recipient, first, the document data is transmitted by FAX, and then the voice data is transmitted. If the recipient is absent, it waits and repeats the redialing at any time at a predetermined interval until a response is received. As for the transmission destination, the FAX and the telephone are connected to different lines.

When the input of the processing mode is completed, data is transmitted. The sender inputs supplementary explanation from the telephone while looking at the drawings transmitted by FAX. In the information storage / transmission device 1, the voice signal input from the FAX / telephone terminal 71a via the line is compressed by the voice compression / expansion unit 21 and stored in the voice storage unit 22. This voice input is started by prompting an input from the information storage / transmission device 1 by voice guidance, and is ended by the sender's PB signal.

When the voice input ends, that is, when the sender sends a PB signal indicating the end of voice input, the document data is transmitted by FAX. In the information storage / transmission device 1, the FAX transmission protocol is started, and the FAX document data is transferred via the modem 13 to the image storage unit 3.
Enter 0. The image storage unit 30 includes an image compression / expansion unit 31.
The document data is compressed by, and the compressed document data is stored in the image storage unit 32. When the transmission of the document data by FAX is completed, the relevance management unit 40 stores the voice data and the voice data stored in the voice storage unit 22 to store the document data as a series of data.
Also, the same document number is assigned to the header portion of each document data stored in the image storage unit 32. Then, the main control unit 60 of the information storage / transmission device 1 disconnects the line and ends the information reception sequence.

Next, a method of transmitting information from the information storage / transmission device 1 to the FAX / telephone terminal 71z will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 shows the information storage / transmission device 1 to the FAX.
71z is a diagram showing a sequence for transmitting information to the telephone terminal 71y. First, the information storage / transmission device 1 uses the FA
Immediately after receiving the information from the X / telephone terminal 71a, the telephone terminal 71y is called based on the telephone number set by the sender. Then, the polarity reversal detection unit 11
Detects whether or not an incoming call is answered from the telephone terminal 71y.

When an incoming call response is detected, the voice guidance output section 51 sends a predetermined voice guidance. This guidance is a guidance that prompts the user to input whether or not to receive the document data and the voice data mail after they are transmitted. At the same time, the PB signal is used as a response to the inquiry. When a signal for receiving data is input by the PB signal, the information storage / transmission device 1 calls the FAX 71z number set by the sender. And
The document data stored in the image storage unit 32 is transmitted to the FAX 71z via the image compression / decompression unit 31 and the modem 13. When the transmission of this document data is completed, the FAX line is disconnected.

Next, the voice information, which is the description of the document data, stored in the voice storage unit 22 is transmitted to the telephone terminal 71y via the image compression / decompression unit 31 via the already connected telephone line. To do. After the end of the transmission of the voice information, when the receiver of the telephone terminal 71y is placed, the line is disconnected and the series of processes is ended.

After the line is connected to the telephone terminal 71y, if the reply by the PB signal to the inquiry as to whether or not the document data and the voice data are received indicates that the data is not received, the handling of future data will be described. After the same explanation is sent from the voice guidance output unit 51, the line is disconnected.
Also, if an appropriate response cannot be obtained by the PB signal,
The receiver is absent, the response is judged to be an answering machine response, and the operation is performed according to the processing mode set by the sender.
In the present embodiment, as described above, when the recipient is absent, it waits and repeats the redial as needed at predetermined intervals until a response is received.

As described above, in the information storage / transmission apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the sender dials the information storage / transmission apparatus 1 and, in a series of processes, both the voice data and the document data which is the image information are processed. Can be entered. Therefore, the time and effort of transmission can be greatly saved. Then, even if the telephone number of the FAX is different from that of the telephone, the recipient can hear the explanation by the voice added by the telephone at the same time when the FAX is transmitted after the transmission is notified by the telephone.
Therefore, since the information is transmitted by the image data and the audio data, the information is accurately transmitted.

The present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and various modifications can be made. For example, various methods are conceivable as a method of transmitting the information transmitted from the sender and stored in the information storing and transmitting apparatus of the present invention to the receiver. In the present embodiment, the relationship is clarified by transmitting the document data and the voice data at the same time, but the present invention is not limited to this, and any suitable method can be used as long as the relationship between the two is clear. The transmission method is good. When the recipient is absent, only the document data is transmitted first by FAX and the voice data is transmitted according to the response of the recipient, or the voice data is recorded on the answering machine. There is no problem if the correspondence between data and voice data is clear. For that purpose, for example, in the information storage / transmission apparatus of the present invention, an ID for clarifying the correspondence of the data may be printed and the ID may be clearly indicated at the beginning of the voice data. .

A system such as a mail box may be used. In other words, the information storage / transmission device of the present invention informs the receiver only that the data to be received is stored, and the receiver who knows the data dials the information storage / transmission device and makes a request. Then, a system for extracting data may be used.

The transmission sequence in the case where the document data and the voice data are not transmitted at the same time will be described with reference to FIG. 4 by exemplifying the case where only the document data is transmitted by FAX when the receiver is absent. To do. FIG. 4 shows information storage / transmission device 1 to telephone terminal 7 when the recipient is absent.
It is a figure which shows the sequence which transmits information to 1y and FAX71z. If the appropriate PB signal is not obtained within the predetermined period, the information storage / transmission device 1 determines that the receiver is absent and the response is the answering machine function. Then, the voice guidance that the voice information is present is transmitted. The telephone line is disconnected immediately after the transmission is completed.

Next, the information storage / transmission device 1 calls the FAX number set by the sender. Then, the document data stored in the image storage unit 32 is transmitted via the image compression / expansion unit 31 and the modem 13. In this case, a predetermined predetermined ID is added to a part of the document data, for example, the upper left, and the document data is transmitted. This ID is composed of a mark and a serial number indicating that it has been transmitted through the information transmission device 1. When the transmission of this document data is completed, the FAX line is disconnected. The information storage / transmission device 1 sequentially repeats redialing to the telephone terminal 71y at predetermined intervals. Then, every time, voice guidance is sent out in the same manner as described above, and a reply by the PB signal is obtained. When a response indicating that the voice information is received can be detected, first, voice information indicating the ID added to the document data is transmitted, and then voice information connected to the voice storage unit 22 is transmitted. After transmitting the voice information, the line of the telephone terminal 71y is placed by placing the receiver of the telephone terminal 71y. By using the above sequence, when the recipient is absent, even if only the document data is transmitted by FAX, the document data and the voice data can be appropriately associated with each other.

As for the processing mode other than the transmission method to the receiver, various designations and various modes may be set according to the configuration of the information storage / transmission device. Further, as the visual information, in addition to the data transmitted by FAX, text data using an electronic mail or the like as an input unit, document data described in a page description language including layout information, or the like may be used. Moreover, even if the receiving device of the recipient is not a fax or telephone terminal connected to independent lines,
The terminal may be a FAX / telephone that is the same as the sender. In that case, the function may be switched by automatic switching of the terminal or by the receiver according to an instruction by voice guidance of the information storing and transmitting apparatus of the present invention. Also, when implementing this information storage and transmission device, it may be configured with dedicated hardware,
It can also be realized by combining a telephone with an answering machine and a FAX with a memory, and further providing a control circuit for interlocking and controlling them.

[0035]

According to the information storing and transmitting apparatus of the present invention, audio information and visual information can be transmitted in association with each other. Therefore, the document image data such as a document can be transmitted together with the supplementary explanation by voice, or the communication by voice can be transmitted by attaching a reference drawing or the like. As a result, information can be transmitted reliably and accurately. Further, according to the information storage / transmission apparatus of the present invention, since it is possible to transmit the voice information and the visual information by a series of operations, it is not necessary to dial the FAX and the telephone many times, so that the operation is considerably troublesome. Reduce to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an information storage / transmission device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a sequence of transmitting information from a FAX / telephone terminal to an information storage / transmission device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a sequence for transmitting information from an information storage / transmission device to a FAX / telephone terminal.

[FIG. 4] F from the information storage / transmission device when the recipient is absent
It is a figure which shows the sequence which transmits information to AX / telephone terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Information storage / transmission device 10 ... Transmission / reception unit 11 ... Polarity inversion detection unit 12 ... Incoming call detection unit 13 ... Modem 20 ... Voice storage unit 21 ... Voice compression / expansion unit 22 ... Voice storage unit 30 ... Image storage unit 31 ... Image compression / expansion Part 32 ... Image storage part 40 ... Relationship management part 50 ... Input part 51 ... Voice guidance output part 52 ... PB signal detection part 60 ... Main control part 60 70 ... Telephone network 71a-71b ... FAX / telephone terminal 71y ... Telephone Terminal 71z ... FAX terminal

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A receiving means for receiving voice information and visual information transmitted simultaneously by a communication line, a voice information storage means for storing the received voice information, and a visual information for storing the received visual information. Storage means, relationship management means for managing the simultaneously transmitted and stored audio information and visual information as related information, and input means for inputting the processing mode of the received audio information and visual information An information storage / transmission apparatus that controls each of the above-mentioned means and has a control means for transmitting the audio information and the visual information, which are related information by the relevance management means, in association with each other, based on the input processing mode. . 2. The control device transmits the stored voice information and visual information at the same time, or transmits the corresponding voice information and visual information by mutually indicating them.
The information storage / transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the information storage / transmission device is associated with and transmitted. 3. The information according to claim 1, wherein the receiving means receives visually recognizable one or both of the information transmitted by facsimile and the information transmitted by electronic mail as visual information. Storage and transmission equipment.