JPH10149362A - Information processing method and device therefor, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a user to correctly confirm a sentence that should be translated even when he is kept away from the terminal which holds the sentence by outputting the document that is translated by an asked external translation server via a public line after deciding that the language of the sentence should be translated. SOLUTION: If the language of the document that is held at a read-aloud document holding part 105 is decided as a Japanese language via the described language decision processing, the connection is secured to an external translation server 110 via a translation server connection part 109. Then the document held at the part 105 is sent to the server 110, and the received translation result is connected to the server 110. A translation decision part decides that the translation result held at the part 105 is equal to a proper sentence to be read aloud. If the translation result is equal to the proper sentence, a held document replacement part, replaces the document held at the part 105 with the translation result that is held at a translation result holding part. Then the synthetic voices are produced for the document held at the part 105 and outputted via a voice output part 108 by the operations of a read-aloud operation control part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing method and apparatus for outputting a received electronic mail and a storage medium.

The present invention relates to an information processing method and apparatus for confirming the contents of an e-mail received via a public line using a telephone or the like, and a storage medium.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art With the development of networks, electronic mail has become an indispensable tool.

[0004] For this reason, if the user is away from the computer to which the e-mail addressed to the user is delivered for a long time, such as when going out, the e-mail cannot be output on the computer and important information cannot be known. There is an e-mail reading system in which a user makes a telephone call to connect the user to the system via a public line, and the system converts an e-mail into a voice and reads it out so that the user can confirm it.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, speech synthesis can be performed only on a document written in Japanese or even on a device capable of speech synthesis in a foreign language. However, they lack the ability to listen to the foreign language, and have the disadvantage that they cannot be understood by hearing only the voice from a remote device.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention holds a document, determines whether or not the document is in a language to be translated, and converts the document into a language to be translated. If it is determined that this is the case, the information processing method and apparatus and the storage medium are connected to an external translation server, request translation of the document, and output the document translated by the translation server via a public line. provide.

[0007] In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, according to the present invention, the translation request is made by specifying a translation language.

In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention synthesizes and outputs the held document by voice.

In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, according to the present invention, the document is an electronic mail.

[0010] In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention inputs a command instructing to read out the document via a public line and outputs the synthesized voice via a public line.

[0011] In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention determines whether a document translated by the translation server is appropriate.

In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention determines whether or not the language is a language to be translated according to the determination that the language is not a language specified in advance.

[0013] In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, according to the present invention, whether or not a language is to be translated is determined according to an input command.

In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention determines whether or not the document is in a language specified in advance based on a rate at which characters in the language are used in the document. .

[0015] In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention provides a method for determining whether or not a translated document is appropriate, by determining a rate at which characters of a language to be translated are used in the translated document. based on.

In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, according to the present invention, the command is specified by a push button signal.

In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, according to the present invention, the command is input by a telephone connected via a public line.

In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, according to the present invention, the command is input from an information terminal connected via the public line.

[0019]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information processing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numeral 101 denotes a memory 102 or a disk 10
3 is a central processing unit for executing and controlling each process according to the present invention in accordance with the control program stored in the central processing unit 3. The processes shown in the flowcharts described later are executed under the control of the central processing unit 101. You.

Reference numeral 102 denotes a memory such as a RAM or a ROM, which stores a control program for the central processing unit 101 to execute various processes, parameters necessary for executing the various processes, or data in the middle of the processes. Is a memory that provides a storage area for performing

Reference numeral 103 denotes a disk capable of storing a large amount of data. The disk 103 stores a control program for the central processing unit 101 to execute various types of processing, parameters required for executing various types of processing, a large-capacity database, and the like. A memory that provides a storage area for realizing or storing data being processed.

Reference numeral 104 denotes an external storage medium 105 mounted thereon.
A driver for reading data stored in the external storage medium 105 and writing data to the external storage medium 105.

Reference numeral 105 denotes an external storage medium such as a floppy disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, etc., which is removable from the information processing apparatus. The data stored in the storage medium may be downloaded to the memories 102 and 103 inside the device via a driver and used, or may be used by directly accessing an external storage medium.

Reference numeral 106 denotes a modem that mediates data transfer between an input / output unit such as the telephone 107 and other components.

Reference numeral 107 denotes an input / output unit for inputting / outputting data to / from the information processing apparatus via a public line through the mediation of a modem 106, such as a telephone.

Reference numeral 108 denotes a voice output unit which generates and outputs voice based on a voice synthesized signal, and provides the user with a synthesized voice via a modulation device or the like.

An interface 109 connects the translation server 110 to the information processing apparatus.

Reference numeral 110 denotes a translation server which translates an input document or voice from one language to another and outputs the translated document or voice. The translation server is provided in another terminal connected via a line outside the information processing apparatus. It is a thing.

Reference numeral 111 denotes a mail server that processes electronic mail stored in the electronic mail storage unit 112. Reference numeral 112 denotes an electronic mail storage unit that stores electronic mail distributed to the information processing apparatus.

Reference numeral 113 denotes a bus, which enables transmission and reception of data between the components.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the document reading device according to the present embodiment. In the figure,
Reference numeral 201 denotes an instruction input unit for inputting a signal input from a remote device such as a telephone, for example, the telephone 107 via a modulation device such as the modem 106, and 202 denotes an instruction input to the instruction input unit 201 as shown in FIG. The input analysis unit refers to an input analysis table in the memory 102 and analyzes the control of a reading operation such as a change of a reading document, start, stop, pause (pause), and end of reading. Reference numeral 203 denotes a document search unit that searches for a document to be read out from the external memory 5, for example, the e-mail storage unit 112 via the mail server 111, based on the result analyzed by the input analysis unit 202, and takes in the document.

Reference numeral 204 denotes a reading-out document holding unit (buffer) for holding the document retrieved and retrieved by the document retrieval unit 103, and is realized by the memory 102.

Reference numeral 205 denotes a description language determination unit for determining whether the language describing the document held in the reading document holding unit 204 is Japanese.

When the document description language determining unit 205 determines that the language described in the document held in the read-out document holding unit 204 is a foreign language, it connects to the translation server 110 outside the apparatus. A translation server connection unit for obtaining a translation result of the document held in the reading document holding unit 204;
Is a translation result holding unit that holds the translation result received by the translation server connection unit 106.

Reference numeral 208 denotes a translation result determination unit that determines whether the translation result held in the translation result holding unit 207 is appropriate as a document to be read out.

Reference numeral 209 denotes a reading document holding unit when the translation result determining unit 108 determines that the translation is successful.
A retained document replacement unit that replaces the document stored in 204 with the translation result stored in the translation result storage unit 207.

Reference numeral 210 denotes a reading operation control unit which controls a reading operation of a document, such as reading, stopping, and pause (pause), based on the result analyzed by the input analyzing unit 202.

Reference numeral 211 denotes a speech synthesizing unit which generates a synthesized speech of the document held in the reading document holding unit 204 based on an operation instructed by the reading operation control unit 210, and 108 denotes a speech synthesized by the speech synthesizing unit 211. A voice output unit that outputs the synthesized voice.

The synthesized voice output from voice output unit 108 is output to a remote device such as telephone 107 via a modulator such as a modem.

Here, the designation input unit 201 and the input analysis unit 2
02, the document search unit 203, the description language determination unit 205, the translation result determination unit 208, the read-out document replacement unit 209, the read-out operation control unit 210, and the speech synthesis unit 211
2 or is realized by the central processing unit 101 based on the control program and parameters stored in the disk 103.

Next, the operation of the present apparatus will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the document reading device of the present embodiment.

In FIG. 3, first, in step S201,
It waits for an instruction input from a modulation device such as a modem to the instruction input unit 201, and when the instruction is input, sends the instruction input to the input analysis unit 202. This instruction can be input at any time during the operation of the apparatus.

In step S202, the input analysis unit 202 analyzes the instruction input with reference to the comparison table as shown in FIG. 4 in the memory 102, and starts, ends, suspends, changes the document, etc. Then, the control information of the reading operation is determined.

In step S203, when the input analysis unit 202 determines that the reading is completed, the process ends. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step S204.

In step S204, if the input analysis unit 202 determines that the read-out document has been changed, the process proceeds to step S205; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S212.

In step S205, in accordance with the instruction determined by the input analysis unit 202, a document to be read out is searched from the external memory 5, and a document search and hold process is performed to be held in the read-out document holding unit 205. Move on.

In step S206, the description language determination unit 205 performs a description language determination process as to whether the language described in the document held in the read-out document storage unit 205 is Japanese or not, and proceeds to step S207.

The document description language determination processing in S206 is performed, for example, by determining whether the text of the document held in the reading document holding unit 205 matches the JIS code 2-byte character stored in the disk 103 for all the text characters. The language is determined to be Japanese if 60% or more of the text is described in JIS 2-byte characters, and the language is determined to be foreign if less than 60%.

In step S203, if the language for describing the document held in the reading document holding unit 105 is determined to be Japanese by the description language determination process, the process proceeds to step S201; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S208. Move on.

In step S208, translation server connection unit 109
At the connection to the translation server 110 outside this device, the document held in the reading document holding unit 205 is sent to the translation server 110,
A translation server connection process for holding the received translation result in the translation result holding unit 207 is performed, and the process proceeds to step S209.

In step S 209, the translation result held in the translation result holding unit 207 in the translation result determination unit 208 is
A translation result determination process is performed to determine whether the document is appropriate as a document to be read, and the process proceeds to step S210.

The translation result determination processing in S 209 is performed, for example, in accordance with the translation result and the JIS stored in the disk 103.
All characters are compared with double-byte characters, and if 80% or more of the translation result is described in JIS double-byte characters, it is determined that translation has succeeded. If less than 80%, translation has failed. Is determined.

In step S210, if it is determined by the translation result processing that the translation has been successful, the process proceeds to step S211; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S205.

In step S 211, the held document replacing unit 209 performs a held document replacing process of replacing the document held in the read-out document holding unit 205 with the translation result held in the translation result holding unit 207, and proceeds to step S 201. Move on.

In step S212, the input is made in step S201.
In response to the command recognized in S202, the reading operation control unit 210 controls document reading operations such as start, stop, pause (pause), adjustment of reading speed and volume, and the like, and proceeds to step S213.

In step S213, the speech synthesis unit 211 performs an operation based on the operation instructed by the reading operation control unit 210.
A synthesized voice of the document held in the reading document holding unit 204 is generated. In step S214, the speech output unit 108 outputs the speech synthesis generated by the speech synthesis unit 211. The synthesized voice output from the voice output unit 108 is output to a remote device such as the telephone 107 via a modulation device such as the modem 106.

As described above, the document reading device of the present invention determines the language in which the document to be read is described, and if the document is written in a foreign language, (1) connects to the translation server And read the translation result, or
(2) Since the reading is skipped, it is possible to realize the reading of the document which is easy for the user to understand even when reading the voice from the remote device.

In the above example, the user is in a waiting state while performing the description language determination to translation result determination processing (S206 to S209). However, this processing is performed in the background, and during that time, another document is processed. It may be read aloud.

In the above example, the ratio of the judgment in the description language judgment processing and the translation result judgment processing is 80% and 60%.
You can change the percentage. In addition, the determination may be left to the user. In this case, the automatic language determination is performed, and the beginning of the sentence is uttered according to the language, and a message "Do you want to continue uttering in this language?"
No may be selected.

In the above example, the instruction input using the number input is described assuming a touch-tone telephone. However, for example, a voice recognition device is connected and “operation” in FIG. May be directly input.

Further, in the above example, only the instruction input and the reading process based on the instruction input are described, but a message about the state of the apparatus, information on the document, etc. may be output as appropriate.

In the above example, it is determined in S207 whether the document to be read is in Japanese. However, if the basic is set to “English” according to the user's setting, S2
At 07, it is determined whether or not the language is English.
It is also possible to proceed to step 08 and request a translation into English.

In the above example, it is determined in S207 whether or not the document to be read is in a specific language. However, a plurality of languages that need to be translated are specified (or languages that do not need to be translated are specified by the user). S2)
In 07, “whether or not translation is necessary” may be determined based on this parameter.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of one device. A recording medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or an apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus executes the program code stored in the recording medium. Needless to say, this can also be achieved by executing the reading.

In this case, the program code itself read from the recording medium realizes the function of the above-described embodiment, and the recording medium on which the program code is recorded constitutes the present invention.

As a recording medium for supplying a program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, C
DR, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM
Etc. can be used.

The computer executes the readout program code to implement the functions of the above-described embodiment. In addition, the OS running on the computer may be actually executed based on the instructions of the program code. It goes without saying that a part or all of the above-described processing is performed, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

Further, after the program code read from the recording medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, It goes without saying that the CPU provided in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs a part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0071]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Holding a document, determining whether the document is in a language to be translated, and if determining that the document is in a language to be translated, connecting to an external translation server to request translation of the document Then, by outputting the document translated by the translation server via a public line, a document requiring translation can be correctly confirmed even if the terminal is away from the terminal holding the document.

As described above, according to the present invention, the translation request can automatically provide a document in a language suitable for the user by specifying and requesting the translation language.

As described above, according to the present invention, by synthesizing the held document and outputting it,
Listen in a language appropriate for the user.

As described above, according to the present invention, when the document is an e-mail, the e-mail can be confirmed in a language suitable for the user.

As described above, according to the present invention, a command instructing to read out the document is input via a public line, and the synthesized voice is output via the public line. If it is connected, you can get the appropriate language document anywhere.

As described above, according to the present invention, by judging whether or not a document translated by the translation server is appropriate, it is possible to provide a user with a document whose meaning has become unclear by translation to a user. Disappears.

As described above, according to the present invention, whether or not a language is to be translated is determined in accordance with the determination that the language is not a language specified in advance, so that a document in a language specified by the user is determined. Can be obtained.

As described above, according to the present invention, whether or not a language is to be translated is determined by following an input instruction command to obtain a document in a language corresponding to a user instruction. Can be.

As described above, according to the present invention, whether or not the document is in a language specified in advance is determined based on the rate at which characters in the language are used in the document. The language of the document can be automatically determined.

As described above, according to the present invention, the determination as to whether or not the translated document is appropriate is based on the rate at which characters in the language to be translated are used in the translated document. This makes it possible to automatically determine whether or not the translated document is correct.

As described above, according to the present invention, since the command is specified by the push button signal, the document can be confirmed in an appropriate language anywhere as long as there is means for inputting the push button signal. it can.

As described above, according to the present invention, the command can be input by a telephone connected via a public line so that the document can be confirmed in an appropriate language wherever the telephone is connected. .

As described above, according to the present invention, by inputting the command from the information terminal connected via the public line, the document is confirmed in an appropriate language wherever the information terminal is connected. be able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a document reading device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the document reading device according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an example of a comparison table showing instruction inputs and operation contents according to the present embodiment.

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. A method for holding a document, determining whether the document is in a language to be translated, and determining that the document is in a language to be translated,
An information processing method comprising: connecting to an external translation server to request translation of the document; and outputting the document translated by the translation server via a public line. 2. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the translation request is performed by specifying a translation language. 3. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the held document is synthesized and output as speech. 4. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the document is an electronic mail. 5. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein a command instructing to read the document is input via a public line, and the synthesized voice is output via a public line. 6. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein it is determined whether the document translated by the translation server is appropriate. 7. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the determination as to whether the language is a language to be translated is performed in accordance with a determination that the language is not a language specified in advance. 8. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the determination as to whether or not the language is to be translated is performed according to an input instruction command. 9. The information according to claim 7, wherein the determination as to whether the document is in a language specified in advance is based on a rate at which characters in the language are used in the document. Processing method. 10. The method of claim 6, wherein determining whether the translated document is appropriate is based on a rate at which characters of a language to be translated are used in the translated document. Information processing method. 11. The information processing method according to claim 5, wherein the command is specified by a push button signal. 12. The command according to claim 11, wherein the command is input by a telephone connected via a public line.
An information processing method according to claim 1. 13. The information processing method according to claim 11, wherein the command is input from an information terminal connected via the public line. 14. A storage unit for storing a document, a determination unit for determining whether the document is in a language to be translated, and a determination unit for determining whether the document is in a language to be translated.
An information processing apparatus comprising: a translation requesting unit that connects to an external translation server to request translation of the document; and an output unit that outputs the document translated by the translation server via a public line. 15. A computer-readable storage medium for holding a document, determining whether the document is in a language to be translated, and determining that the document is in a language to be translated. If done,
A storage medium for storing a program for connecting to an external translation server and requesting translation of the document, and for outputting the document translated by the translation server via a public line.