JPH09114836A - Electronic mail translation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To specify the translation condition of a mail text in detail by allowing a translation means to translate a prescribed part in the mail text segmented by a segmenting means to a language specified by a corresponding translating language specifying command and allowing an electronic mail transmission means to transmit the translated mail text in accordance with address information of a mail header. SOLUTION: This electronic mail translation system can consist of a normal computer system and consists of CPU 11 and a memory 12. The memory 12 stores an execution program 13 for executing various kinds of processings, a buffer for input 15, a buffer for reading one sentence 16, a buffer for output 17, etc. On the other hand, CPU 11 processes text data stored in each buffer in accordance with the execution program 13 within the memory 12. Then the buffer for input 15 constitutes an electronic mail storing means, and the execution means 13 constitutes the segmenting means, the translation means and a mail preparing means.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic mail translation system suitable for processing an electronic mail when the recipient's language is different from the sender's language.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, this type of electronic mail system is composed of an electronic mail transmission system, an electronic mail delivery system, an electronic mail reception system and the like.

The electronic mail handled by the electronic mail system is composed of a mail header part and a mail body part. The mail body part is a mail body which is an electronic document created by the sender using an editor or the like. The mail header part is information necessary for mail delivery written by the e-mail sending system or e-mail delivery system, such as sender's address, recipient's address, and size of mail body part. Information is described.

Further, the electronic mail transmission system adds information necessary for delivery (address of recipient, etc.) to the mail header portion and passes the electronic mail to the electronic mail delivery system. Then, the electronic mail delivery system sends the electronic mail delivered from the electronic mail transmission system to the recipient's mailbox specified in the mail header portion.

In the electronic mail system as described above,
If the language used by the recipient is different from the language used by the sender, it was necessary for either the recipient or the sender to translate the email body of the email.

In recent years, research on machine translation systems has progressed, and machine translation systems that have become commercial products have become easily available. However, even a user who possesses both a machine translation system and an electronic mail system takes time and effort to extract only the text of an email and apply it to the machine translation system each time an email is sent (or received). There was a problem.

Therefore, when exchanging electronic mail between users who use different languages, the mail text of the electronic mail can be automatically translated according to the language used by the recipient, and the recipient can receive the received electronic mail. There is a demand for an e-mail translation system that can read mail in its own language regardless of the language used by the sender. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-120335 discloses one of the systems that achieves the purpose.

[0008]

However, in the system disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-120335, the language used by the sender and the language used by the recipient are described in the mail header part, and the e-mail is sent. Is configured to automatically apply the entire mail body part to the machine translation system when sending. However, this Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-1
In the system of Japanese Patent No. 20335, since the entire body of the email is translated at once, if the email body contains a sentence that is not desired to be translated, or if one email body needs to be translated into a different language, It is inconvenient.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is an electronic mail translation system for exchanging electronic mail between users who use different languages. The purpose is to provide an e-mail translation system in which the translation conditions can be specified in detail.

[0010]

In order to achieve this object, the electronic mail translation system according to claim 1 of the present invention divides the mail text and the mail text into a plurality of parts and translates the parts corresponding to each part. A mail storage unit for storing an E-mail composed of a mail body including a translation language designation command for designating a language and the like, and a mail header in which address information regarding the sender and the recipient is set, and the mail storage unit. The electronic mail is read from, and the delimiter that divides the mail text of the electronic mail into the translation language designation command is divided into the parts, and the part of the mail text delimited by the delimiter corresponds to the corresponding translation. A translation unit that translates into a language designated by a language designation command, and an email translated into each part by the translation processing unit. Sentences, and a, and e-mail transmission means for transmitting according to the destination information of the mail header.

According to this structure, the translation means translates the part of the mail text delimited by the delimiter into the language designated by the corresponding translation language designation command, and the translated mail text is translated by the translation means. Since the electronic mail transmitting means transmits according to the destination information of the mail header, it is possible to finely specify the translation condition of the mail body.

Further, in the electronic mail translation system according to the second aspect of the invention, since the translation language designation command includes a command for designating the need for translation, the translation of the mail text can be efficiently performed without performing unnecessary translation. It can be performed.

Further, the electronic mail translation system according to the third aspect of the invention is provided with the mail creating means for reconstructing the result sentence translated by the translation means and creating the mail text for transmission. It is possible to save the trouble of reading the result sentence and reconstructing it to create a mail text for transmission.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the electronic mail translation system of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the electronic mail translation system of this embodiment. The e-mail translation system of this embodiment can be configured by an ordinary computer and includes a CPU 11 and a memory 12.
The memory 12 stores an execution program 13 for executing various processes, an input buffer 15, a one-sentence reading buffer 16, an output buffer 17, and the like. Further, the CPU 11 processes the text data stored in each buffer according to the execution program 13 in the memory 12. The input buffer 15 constitutes the electronic mail storage means of the present invention, and the execution program 13 constitutes the delimiter means, translation means, and mail creation means of the present invention.

The CPU 11 is connected to the recipient's mailbox 50 via a communication line 51,
This communication line 51 constitutes the electronic mail transmitting means of the present invention.

Next, the format of the electronic mail of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The electronic mail 20 is composed of a mail header 21 and a mail body 22. Most of the mail body 22 is the mail body 23, but the translation control command 24 is sandwiched between places. This translation control command 24 always starts with a specific character "#", so that it can be easily distinguished from the mail body 23. For example, the translation control command 24 "#Trans JE" is then followed by E-mail Message "Hello. The answer to your question is as follows."
"# Trans no" is a command to instruct to translate from Japanese to English.
It is a command that specifies that "a translation soft are" is not translated.

Next, the process of translating the mail body 22 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, step 1 (hereinafter abbreviated as S1).
In other steps as well), various initial settings are performed. For example, the buffer 1 for reading one sentence in the memory 12
6 and the output buffer 17 are cleared, and the mail body 22 to be translated is stored in the input buffer 15 and the like. Next, the input buffer 15 is examined to determine whether or not there is an unprocessed sentence (S).
2). If there is no unprocessed sentence (S2: NO), the process proceeds to S7.

If there is an unprocessed sentence in the input buffer 15 (S2: YES), one line of the sentence is read and stored in the one-line reading buffer 16 (S3). Then, it is determined whether the read line is a translation control command (S4), and if it is a translation control command (S4: YE
S) and S6, otherwise go to S5. In S5, the sentence stored in the one-line reading buffer 16 is translated, and the translation result is stored in the output buffer 17. In S6, according to the read translation control command,
Change the language setting of the sentence to be translated next.

The above operations S2 to S6 are repeated until the contents of the input buffer 15 become empty. When the content of the input buffer 15 becomes empty (S2: NO), S
The process shifts to the editing process of 7. In this editing process, the translation result sentences stored in the output buffer 17 are put together so that there is no inconvenience on the sentence, and the mail body 23 for output is created. The e-mail 20 having the translated mail body 23 is sent to the recipient's mailbox indicated by the mail header 21, and the entire process ends.

Among the above processes, the processes of S3 and S5 function as the separating means of the present invention, the process of S5 functions as the translating means of the present invention, and the process of S7 functions as the mail creating means.

For example, the mail body 22 of an electronic mail as shown in FIG. 2 is set in the input buffer 15,
When the processing of the flowchart shown in FIG. 3 is executed, first,
In step S3, "# Trans JE" is read and stored in the one-line reading buffer 16. Then, it is judged whether or not the read content is a translation control command (S4), and since the read sentence is attached with #, it is regarded as a translation control command (S4: YES), and the translated language is determined in S6. Change the setting to the language indicated by the translation control command.
In the case of "# Trans JE", it means to translate from Japanese to English, so set it to Japanese-English translation. Then, subsequently reads the "Hello.", Stored in the sentence read buffer 16, when similarly determines whether translational control command, because it is not a translation control command (S4: NO),
In S5, to translate "Hello.". At this time,
Since the translation language is set to English, the translation result “Good afternoon.” Is stored in the output buffer 17.

Then, in S3, "The answer to your question is as follows." Is read, and since this sentence is not a translation control command, it is translated into English and the translation result "The answer of the question is as the followin
g. ”is stored in the output buffer 17. Furthermore, S
When "# Trans no" is read in step 3, this is regarded as a translation control command, and the subsequently read "translation software a translation software" is stored in the output buffer 17 as it is without being translated. When the necessary parts are translated for the entire mail body 23 shown in FIG. 2 by the same process, NO is determined in S2, and the sentence as shown in FIG. Will be sent to the recipient's mailbox 50 via.

As described above, according to the e-mail translation system of this embodiment, each sentence in a single mail body 22 is translated into a different language, or is directly output without being translated. Since it is possible to specify such as, it improves usability.

[0026]

As is clear from the above description,
According to the electronic mail translation system of the first aspect of the present invention, the translation means translates the part of the mail text delimited by the delimiter into the language designated by the corresponding translation language designation command, and Since the electronic mail transmitting means transmits the translated mail body according to the destination information of the mail header, the translation condition of the mail body can be specified in detail.

Further, according to the electronic mail translation system of the second aspect, since the translation language designation command includes a command for designating the need for translation, the text of the email can be efficiently processed without performing unnecessary translation. Can be translated.

Furthermore, according to the electronic mail translation system of the third aspect, since the result sentence translated by the translation means is reconstructed and a mail creating means for creating a mail text for transmission is provided, it is used. Person reads the result sentence,
It is possible to save the trouble of reconstructing and creating a mail body for sending.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic mail translation system of this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a format of an electronic mail according to this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the electronic mail translation system.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a translation result sentence of the electronic mail shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 12 memory 13 execution program 15 input buffer 16 one-sentence reading buffer 20 e-mail 21 mail header 22 mail body

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A mail body composed of a mail body and a translation language designation command for designating a translation language and the like by dividing the mail body into a plurality of parts and corresponding to each part, and destination information about a sender and a recipient. A mail storing unit configured to store an E-mail composed of a set mail header, the E-mail being read from the mail storing unit, and the mail body of the E-mail being associated with the translation language designation command. Delimiting means for delimiting each of the parts, translating means for translating the portion of the mail text delimited by the delimiting means into a language designated by a corresponding translation language designation command, and translating each portion by the translation processing means. And an electronic mail sending means for sending the mail text according to the destination information of the mail header. E-mail translation system that butterflies. 2. The electronic mail translation system according to claim 1, wherein the translation language designation command includes a command that designates no translation is required. 3. The electronic mail translation system according to claim 1, further comprising a mail creating unit that reconstructs a result sentence translated by the translation unit and creates a mail text for transmission. .