KR20020004337A - Electronic mail information method and system based on text to speech technique - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An e-mail notification method based on text-to-speech(TTS) and a system thereof are provided to notify a user of the arrival of an e-mail and allow the user to check the details of the e-mail. CONSTITUTION: A transmission terminal(21-2n) of a remote site is used for inputting e-mail related information. An e-mail service server(8) is connected to the transmission terminal via the Internet network(4) to provide an e-mail service tool to the transmission terminal, and stores the e-mail related information received from the transmission terminal in a database(10) and transmits the same. A text-to-speech synthesizer(12) recognizes the details of a text message in the e-mail related information to convert it to a speech message according to the speech of the kind selected by a user, and inserts an advertising voice message for advertising a predetermined article into the converted speech. A call box(14) stores the speech message outputted from the text-to-speech synthesizer and notifies a reception terminal of the fact that the speech message is stored by a text message.

Description

E-mail notification method and system based on speech synthesis technology {ELECTRONIC MAIL INFORMATION METHOD AND SYSTEM BASED ON TEXT TO SPEECH TECHNIQUE}

The present invention relates to an e-mail notification method and system based on Text To Speech.

In recent years, e-mail using the Internet network has become an essential means of delivering information to Internet users, and the variety and frequency of information exchange through such e-mails are increasing day by day.

However, in order to check e-mail, it is difficult to connect to the network such as when the recipient is on a business trip, since the personal computer (PC) needs to be started and the e-mail server connected to the Internet network must be connected and the recorded contents checked. At this time, it is impossible to check whether the e-mail has been reached to the user, and even if it is confirmed, there is a problem in that the contents are unknown. Moreover, the conventional method of confirming e-mail through the connection of the Internet network imposes a separate network connection cost on the recipient.

The present invention is to overcome the above-mentioned problems, the first object of the present invention is to notify the arrival of the e-mail, the e-mail notification method and system based on the speech synthesis technology that can confirm the content In providing.

A second object of the present invention is to provide an e-mail notification method based on speech synthesis technology that allows a sender to arbitrarily select the type of speech to be converted so that the receiver can have fun of listening without disgusting the machine sound; and In providing a system.

A third object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for notifying an e-mail based on a speech synthesis technology that can be read in the form of a text message using a personal computer at the same time as the receiver listens to the received e-mail.

A fourth object of the present invention is to provide an e-mail notification method and system based on a speech synthesis technology in which an advertiser can efficiently advertise a product and a receiver can use communication at low cost.

1 is a diagram illustrating an e-mail notification system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating an e-mail notification method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a block diagram illustrating an overview of speech technology in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a block diagram for explaining in detail the speech synthesizer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a block diagram illustrating a voice mailbox (VMS) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

2 ₁ to 2 _n : terminal for transmission

4: internet network

6: email service device

8: email service server

10: Database

12: speech synthesizer

14: voicemail

16: mobile communication network

18 _{1 to} 18 _n : receiving terminal

The above objects are achieved by the following features of the present invention.

First, a first object of the present invention is to provide an email notification method based on speech synthesis technology.

1) a first step in which a sender accesses an e-mail service server through an internet network using a web browser and inputs and transmits e-mail related information using an e-mail service tool provided by the e-mail service server; ,

2) a second step in which a voice synthesizer receives the e-mail related information transmitted from the e-mail service server, recognizes the text message content in the information, and converts it into a voice message according to the type of voice selected by the sender;

3) a third step of storing the voice message in a voice mailbox;

4) a fourth step of, by the voice mailbox, notifying a remote receiving terminal that the voice message is stored as a text message;

5) The present invention is accomplished by a fifth step in which a receiver uses a receiving terminal to listen to a voice message stored in the voice mailbox.

According to the configuration of the present invention, the arrival of the e-mail from the sender can be confirmed as a text message through a mobile communication terminal such as a mobile phone, and the contents of the voice message stored in the voice mailbox can be listened to using the mobile phone. Therefore, it is possible to be freely provided with an e-mail service without restriction of a place.

A second object is achieved by the present invention, further comprising the step of the sender selecting at least one of various types of voices provided by the electronic mail service server in the first step.

According to the configuration of the present invention, since the sender can arbitrarily select and transmit the type of the voice to be converted, it is possible to give the receiver the pleasure of listening without the disgust of the machine sound.

A third object further includes the step of storing the e-mail related information in its database by the e-mail service server such that in the first step the recipient can read the e-mail related information created by the sender in the form of a text message. It is achieved by the present invention.

According to the configuration of the present invention, since the electronic mail related information is stored in the database of the electronic mail service server, it is possible to read directly in the form of a text message using a personal computer.

A fourth object is achieved by the present invention, further comprising the step of inserting an advertising voice message for advertising a predetermined product in the voice converted in the second step.

According to the configuration of the present invention, since the advertisement can be inserted into the converted voice message, and the corresponding advertising cost can be covered by the communication cost, the advertiser can efficiently advertise the product and the receiver can use the communication at low cost. Will be.

In addition, the present invention, the e-mail-related information preferably includes at least the sender's e-mail address, the subject, the recipient's e-mail address, the recipient's terminal number, the contents.

In addition, the present invention provides an email notification system based on a speech synthesis technology.

A remote transmitting terminal used to input e-mail related information;

An e-mail service server connected to the transmitting terminal through an internet network to provide an e-mail service tool to the transmitting terminal, and storing and transmitting the e-mail related information received from the transmitting terminal in a database;

Recognizes the contents of the text message in the e-mail related information received from the e-mail service server, converts it into a voice message according to the type of voice selected by the user, and inserts an advertisement voice message for advertising a predetermined product in the converted voice. A voice synthesizer for transmitting;

A voice mailbox for storing the voice message output by the voice synthesizer and notifying a receiving terminal of the storage of the voice message as a text message;

Remote reception for displaying a text message notified from the voice mailbox and listening to a voice message stored in the voice mailbox or connecting to the e-mail service server to display the e-mail related information stored in its database in the form of a text message. Characterized in that it comprises a terminal.

According to the configuration of the present invention, the arrival and the contents of the e-mail can be confirmed through a terminal such as a mobile phone, and the receiver can listen to various types of converted voices instead of hard machine sounds, and directly using a PC Text messages can be read, advertisers can effectively advertise their products, and recipients can use communications at low cost.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The features of the present invention described above will be more readily understood from the following examples.

1 is a diagram illustrating an e-mail notification system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Fig. 1, the e-mail notification system of the present invention includes an e-mail service device 6 including an e-mail service server 8, a database DB 10, a voice synthesizer 12, and a voice mail box 14; And a plurality of remote transmitting terminals 2 ₁ to 2 _n and a plurality of remote receiving terminals 18 ₁ to ₁ respectively connected to the e-mail service device 6 via an Internet network 4 and a mobile communication network 16. 18 _n ).

First, the plurality of remote transmitting terminals 2 ₁ to 2 _n are accessible to the Internet network 4, and view a Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) document or a Navigator for the World Wide Web, A personal computer (PC) with a web browser such as Mosaic or Internet Explorer.

The internet network 4 is a communication protocol based on TCP / IP, and is a network of a network connected in a point-to-point manner by a dedicated line and a router.

The e-mail service server 8 is provided with a database 10 for data storage and management, and is stored in advance in a customer's transmitting terminal 2 ₁ to 2 _n connected via an Internet network 4. By providing a service tool, it helps the customer, ie, the sender, to easily fill out the e-mail related information. Although the e-mail service tool is not shown, a field for entering a pre-accounted member ID and password, and a field for entering an e-mail address consisting of a user account, a separator, and a domain name for the sender are listed. And a title field for mail contents, a field for filling in an e-mail address and a call number of a recipient, a field for filling in mail contents, and the like. At this time, the recipient's e-mail address and call number can be registered in the address book or the like, and the sender does not have to enter the information each time by selecting the registered list. It is also possible to send e-mail to several people at the same time. In addition, the e-mail service tool provides a variety of voices that can be converted and sent to recipients, including voices of age and gender, celebrity lovers, ghost voices, and mischievous voices. do. The contents created in accordance with the electronic mail service tool are stored in the database 10 of the electronic mail service server 8 so that the receiver can view them as text messages.

The voice synthesizer 12 receives the e-mail related information created by the sender from the e-mail service server 8, and uses an e-mail address in the e-mail related information by using the voice synthesis technique described with reference to Figs. It recognizes text message contents such as e-mail address, subject, and mail contents, and converts them into voices according to the type of voice selected by the sender. In addition, the speech synthesizer 12 may insert a voice advertisement for a product of a pre-stored advertiser into the converted voice message. As shown in FIG. 3, a speech synthesis technology (TTS: Text To Speech) converting the text 40 into the speech 42 and a speech recognition technology (ASR :) converting the speech 42 into the text 40 as shown in FIG. 3. Automatic Speech Recognition. TTS is a technology that converts characters on a computer into natural words that can be understood by humans. TTS includes conversation speed processing, space spacing, height processing, word dictionary processing, word dictation and sentence dictation processing techniques. ASR is a technology that recognizes people's words and converts them into digital signals that can be understood by a computer. The technology includes the same technology for recognizing phone voices, voices of specific people, voices under noise, and loud and small sounds.

The e-mail notification system of the present invention applies the above-described TTS technology. As shown in Fig. 4, the TTS uses a voice as a voice in the following order: preprocessor → morpheme analyzer → parser → letter / phonic converter → rhyme symbol, speech symbol, pause processing → duration processing of phonemes → basic frequency control → synthesis sound generation. Process. In brief, the preprocessor 44 analyzes an input character using an abbreviation or symbol table and a dependent noun table, and then converts non-Hangul characters into Hangul. The morpheme analyzer 46 separates each morpheme using a lexical dictionary and outputs information on Hangul characters, parts of speech, morpheme separation results, types of morphemes, and the like for each word. The parser 48 extracts syntax information of sentences to generate natural rhyme information such as intonation and duration. The text / phonic converter 50 converts the characters converted into Hangul through the preprocessor 44 as phonetic. At this time, the reading rules are largely divided into four types: pronunciation of vowels, long sound processing, phonological fluctuation rules, and addition of sounds. Rhythm symbols, vocal symbols, and stop processing 52 generate rhyme symbols using the syntax information created by parser 48, select the synthesized unit in which variation sounds are considered, and select the appropriate length for the boundary of sentences, clauses, phrases, or specific sentence symbols. Add a stop. Sound duration processing 54 controls the duration of phonemes and syllables. The basic frequency control 56 controls the intonation of the synthesized sound, that is, the pitch of the sound. The synthesized sound generator 58 finds the input sentence, joins the synthesized units using a speech signal processing technique, and modifies the synthesized unit to generate a desired synthesized sound. The synthesized sound generated in this way is stored in the voice mailbox 14.

Referring back to FIG. 1 again to describe the voice mailbox 14, the voice mailbox 14 stores the voice message output by the voice synthesizer 12 and stores the voice message in the receiving terminals 18 _{1 to} 18 _n . Notify you as a text message of your storage As shown in FIG. 5, the voice mailbox 14 includes a voice compression unit 60, a control unit 62, and a memory unit 64. As shown in FIG. The voice compressing unit 60 compresses the voice message generated from the speech synthesizer 12 in the form of Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation (ADPCM) and applies it to the memory unit 64. In addition, the voice compression unit 60 decompresses the ADPCM message applied from the memory unit 64 into a PCM message and transmits it to the receiving terminal 18. The control unit 62 stores the ADPCM message applied from the voice compression unit 60 in the memory unit 64, reads the ADPCM message stored in the memory unit 64, and applies it to the voice compression unit 60. When the voice message is sent, the voice compression unit 60 reads the compressed ADPCM message stored in the memory unit 64 by the control signal of the control unit 62 in response to a request from the receiving terminal. After decompressing the PCM voice message, the voice message is sent out at high speed using the direct memory access (DMA) method to the receiver requesting the service.

Again, reference is made to FIG. 1. Subsequently, the receiving terminals 18 _{1 to} 18 _n are mobile communication terminals that can display text messages sent from the voice mailbox and listen to the voice message stored in the voice mailbox. However, this is not necessarily the case. That is, if a text message from the voice mailbox can be displayed, and the voice mail can be accessed again and the message stored therein can be listened to, a wired telephone connected to the telephone line is also possible. In addition, when it is confirmed by the receiving terminal 18 that the e-mail has been reached, the receiver can access the e-mail service server using a PC, and then read the e-mail related information stored in the database in the form of a text message. have.

Hereinafter, an e-mail notification method according to the above-described configuration will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

The sender accesses the homepage of the e-mail service server connected to the Internet network by using a predetermined web browser (S20). The e-mail service server provides a pre-built e-mail service tool to the transmitting terminal through the homepage (S22). The sender easily inputs e-mail related information by using an e-mail service tool such as selecting a list of sent recipients (S24). At this time, the sender can select various kinds of voices. It is also possible to select whether or not an advertisement message is to be inserted into the voice. For example, when an advertising message is inserted into a voice, call charges for accessing a voice mailbox of a receiver may be reduced or exempted.

Subsequently, when the writing is completed, the sender clicks the send button to transmit the e-mail prepared by the sender (S26). The e-mail related information is stored in the database of the e-mail service server and then transmitted to the voice synthesizer (S28). The voice synthesizer converts the text message contents into the voice message according to the voice type selected by the sender (S30). The converted voice message is stored in a compressed state in the memory unit of the voice mailbox (S32). At the same time, the voice mailbox notifies the receiving terminal of the storage of the voice message as a text message (S34). Subsequently, the voice mailbox checks whether the recipient wants to listen to the contents of the voice mailbox by continuously detecting whether a call is received from the receiving terminal. If the receiver wishes to listen, the e-mail notification method is terminated by transmitting a voice message stored in the voice mailbox to the receiving terminal.

According to the present invention, the arrival of the e-mail from the sender can be confirmed by a text message through a mobile communication terminal such as a mobile phone, and the mobile phone can be used to listen to the contents of a voice message stored in a voice mail mailbox. It is possible to be freely provided with an e-mail service without restriction.

In addition, according to the present invention, since the sender can arbitrarily select and transmit the type of voice to be converted, it is possible to give the receiver the pleasure of listening without the disgust of the machine sound.

Further, according to the present invention, since the e-mail related information is stored in the database of the e-mail service server, the recipient can listen to the received e-mail and can read it in the form of a text message directly using a personal computer.

In addition, according to the present invention, since the advertisement can be inserted in the converted voice message and the corresponding advertising cost can be covered by the communication cost, the advertiser can efficiently advertise the product and the receiver can use the communication at low cost. do.

What has been described above is only one embodiment for implementing the e-mail notification method and system according to the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and as claimed in the following claims, the present invention Without departing from the gist of the present invention, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains to the technical spirit of the present invention to the extent that various modifications can be made.

Claims (6)

In an email notification method based on speech synthesis technology, A first step in which a sender accesses an e-mail service server through an internet network using a web browser, and inputs and transmits e-mail related information using an e-mail service tool provided by the e-mail service server; A second step in which a voice synthesizer receives the e-mail related information transmitted from the e-mail service server, recognizes the text message content in the information, and converts the text message into a voice message according to a voice type selected by the sender; A third step of storing the voice message in a voice mailbox; A fourth step of, by the voice mailbox, notifying a remote receiving terminal of the storage of the voice message as a text message; A fifth step in which the receiver listens to the voice message stored in the voice mailbox using a receiving terminal; E-mail simultaneous notification method based on the speech synthesis technology, characterized in that provided. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of the sender selecting at least one of a plurality of types of voices provided by the e-mail service server in the first step. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storing the e-mail related information in its database by the e-mail service server such that in the first step the recipient can read the e-mail related information created by the sender in the form of a text message. An email notification method based on speech synthesis technology. The method of claim 1, further comprising inserting an advertising voice message for advertising a predetermined product in the voice converted in the second step. 2. The e-mail based speech synthesis technology of claim 1, wherein the e-mail related information includes at least an e-mail address of a sender, a subject, an e-mail address of a recipient, a terminal number of a recipient, and contents thereof. Notification method. In an email notification system based on speech synthesis technology, A remote transmitting terminal used to input e-mail related information; An e-mail service server connected to the transmitting terminal through an internet network to provide an e-mail service tool to the transmitting terminal, and storing and transmitting the e-mail related information received from the transmitting terminal in a database; Recognizes the contents of the text message in the e-mail related information received from the e-mail service server, converts it into a voice message according to the type of voice selected by the user, and inserts an advertisement voice message for advertising a predetermined product in the converted voice. A voice synthesizer for transmitting; A voice mailbox for storing the voice message output by the voice synthesizer and notifying a receiving terminal of the storage of the voice message as a text message; Remote reception for displaying a text message notified from the voice mailbox and listening to a voice message stored in the voice mailbox or connecting to the e-mail service server to display the e-mail related information stored in its database in the form of a text message. terminal An email notification system based on speech synthesis technology, characterized in that it comprises a.