JP3558034B2 - E-mail telephone relay system and e-mail telephone relay method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for converting the contents of an electronic mail into voice and relaying the contents to a general telephone.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, when a caller cannot make a voice call (for example, when the caller has a speech problem or is in a meeting), an emergency call is made to a remote receiver who has only a general telephone. to send a FAX or e-mail to the relay who can receive a FAX or e-mail, there is a method of getting a phone call instead to the people.
[0003]
FIG. 8 is a system configuration diagram for realizing a conventional electronic mail reading system disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-303969. In FIG. 8, reference numeral 31 denotes an e-mail reading center system, 32 denotes a voice terminal (telephone), and 33 denotes another e-mail server. The e-mail reading center system 31 includes a voice recognition server 34, a voice synthesis server 35, an e-mail server 36, and a voice response device 37. In such a conventional electronic mail system, a voice instruction from the audio terminal 32 and recognized by the speech recognition server 34, the voice synthesis server 35 on the basis of this recognition by voice synthesis email obtained from e-mail server 36, The data is transferred to the voice response device 37. Thus, the voice response device 37 transmits the voice converted from the electronic mail to the voice terminal 32.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the conventional method, and when no appropriate intermediaries, when the relay person can not see even received a FAX or e-mail in the absence, there is a problem that can not be used. Also, in order for the sender to know if the message was relayed and delivered to the intended recipient, the sender would have to wait for the relay to reply to the sender that the message had been transmitted, and There was a problem that the reply had to be a reliable relay. Further, there is a problem that the relayer must bear the trouble and cost required for relaying the message.
[0005]
Further, in the conventional e-mail reading system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-303969, although a function of converting an e-mail into a voice is provided, a receiver having the voice terminal 32 transmits the e-mail to the e-mail reading center system 31. It had to be registered. When the voice terminal 32 accesses the e-mail reading center system 31, the receiver needs to access the e-mail converted voice at any time because of the method of receiving the converted voice. I couldn't respond when I wanted to contact.
[0006]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an electronic mail which allows a remote receiver who has only a general telephone to hear the contents of an e-mail sent by a sender. An object of the present invention is to provide a relay system for mail and general telephone. It is another object of the present invention to enable a sender to confirm whether or not the receiver has been able to hear the contents of an e-mail. It is another object of the present invention to provide a voice which is uttered as a reply when the receiver picks up the telephone to the caller.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In the electronic mail telephone relay system according to the present invention, mail receiving means for receiving the electronic mail transmitted from the source,
Control means for reading the telephone number of the destination specified in the e-mail,
Voice synthesis means for converting the content of the e-mail into voice,
When it is confirmed that the telephone is connected to the transmission destination by using the telephone number, it is confirmed whether or not to notify the voice converted by the voice synthesizing unit to the transmission destination. Telephone response means for transmitting the voice to the destination when there is an answer to notify the voice,
Mail transmission means for transmitting the first text message created by the control means to the transmission source;
The telephone response means detects a listening state of the transmission destination when transmitting the voice to the transmission destination,
The control means is for creating the first text message corresponding to the listening state of the transmission destination.
[0009]
Furthermore, after the transmission of the voice to the transmission destination is completed, there is provided voice recognition means for converting a voice response message transmitted from the transmission destination into a second text message,
The mail transmitting means transmits the second text message converted by the voice recognition means to the transmission source .
[0010]
In the electronic mail telephone relay method according to the present invention, a mail receiving step of receiving an electronic mail transmitted from a source,
A reading step of reading a destination telephone number specified in the e-mail;
A conversion step of converting the content of the e-mail into voice;
When it is confirmed that the call is connected by making a call to the transmission destination using the telephone number, the transmission destination is checked whether or not to notify the voice converted in the conversion step. A voice transmitting step of transmitting the voice to the destination when there is an answer to notify the voice;
A mail sending step of sending the first text message created by the reading step to the sender;
The audio transmitting step detects a listening state of the transmission destination when transmitting the audio to the transmission destination,
In the reading step, the first text message corresponding to the listening state of the transmission destination is created.
[0012]
Further, the method further comprises a message conversion step of converting a voice response message transmitted from the destination to a second text message after the transmission of the voice to the destination is completed,
The mail transmitting step is for transmitting the second text message converted by the message converting step to the transmission source .
[0013]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram for realizing the relay system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes a relay system, and 2 denotes a mail terminal of an electronic mail sender (sender), such as a personal computer or a mobile phone having a mail function. The mail terminal 2 and the relay system 1 are connected via a computer network such as the Internet, for example. Reference numeral 3 denotes a general telephone set of a transmission destination (recipient) specified in the electronic mail, and is connected to the relay system 1 by a telephone line.
[0014]
Mail receiving means for receiving e-mail from the mail terminal 2 4, control means for controlling to send the e-mail accepted phone 3 5, speech synthesis means for converting the contents of the e-mail to voice 6, 7 mail storage means for storing the received electronic mail, 8 mail file mail storage means 7 creates, 9 dials the telephone 3 is a telephone answering means for transmitting the converted voice.
[0015]
Next, in the signal sequence example shown in FIG. 2, a flow of processing until the electronic mail received from the mail terminal 2 of the sender is transmitted as voice to the telephone 3 of the receiver will be described.
First, in step S1, a sender sends an e-mail to a mail address determined by the relay system 1. At this time, the relay system 1 describes the telephone number of the telephone 3 of the receiver at a specific place in the e-mail determined in advance. The specific part is, for example, the first line of the mail text or a mail tag such as Cc :. The mail receiving means 4 of the relay system 1 receives the electronic mail and activates the control means 5. Thereafter, the control means 5 activates the mail storage means 7, and the mail storage means 7 stores the received e-mail in the mail file 8.
[0016]
In step S2, the control means 5 reads the telephone number of the telephone 3 described in the e-mail, and calls the telephone 3 using the telephone response means 9. After confirming that the receiver picks up the telephone set of the telephone 3 in step S3, the telephone answering means 9 checks the following in step S4 to confirm with the recipient whether or not to reproduce the voice converted from the electronic mail. Notify such voice. As an example,
"This is the e-mail relay service. ×××× has sent you e-mail from (caller name) 's. When it comes to ask you, please dial the number 1." A. At this time, the number to be dialed can be arbitrarily determined by the relay system 1. The reason for confirming with the recipient in step S4 is to confirm that the telephone 3 is not an answering machine, an automatic answering phone, a facsimile or the like.
[0017]
If it is not confirmed in step S2 that the receiver has picked up the handset of the telephone 3 even after ringing for a predetermined number of times, the telephone answering means 9 stops the calling and after a predetermined time has elapsed, The processing from step S2 is performed again. This process is repeated until it is confirmed that the receiver picks up the handset. At this time, the predetermined time can be arbitrarily determined by the relay system 1.
[0018]
Then, when the recipient No. 1 telephone answering means 9 that have dialed is confirmed at step S5, and notifies the control unit 5, the control means 5 of the relevant from the mail file 8 via mail storage means 7 Retrieve email.
[0019]
Then, in step S6, the voice synthesizing unit 6 converts the content of the corresponding e-mail into a voice, and the telephone response unit 9 reproduces the voice converted to the telephone 3. Thus, the contents of the e-mail can be transmitted to the recipient. The method by which the voice synthesizing means 6 converts the contents of the e-mail into voice is realized by software using, for example, conventional "text-to-speech conversion software" (not shown).
[0020]
Also, in step S5, when the telephone answering means 9 is waiting for the dialing of a specific number from the telephone 3, or when the telephone is not dialed after a predetermined time, the telephone answering means 9 sends a message notifying the suspension of the service. Notify and hang up. At this time, the predetermined time can be arbitrarily determined by the relay system 1. Thereafter, after a predetermined time has elapsed, the processing from step S2 is performed again. This process is repeated until it is confirmed that the recipient has dialed the specific number. At this time, the predetermined time can be arbitrarily determined by the relay system 1.
[0021]
When the reproduction of the sound is completed, in step S7, the following notification is made and the receiver is confirmed. As an example,
To notify the "×××× the contents of the e-mail from (caller's name) 's is over. The No. 1 when you would like to ask you again, please dial the number 9 is when you exit.". Thereafter, when the recipient dials No. 1, the process from step S5 is repeated. In step S8, when the receiver dials the number 9, the telephone is disconnected. Further, it is also possible to configure so that the telephone answering means 9 automatically hangs up after the converted sound is reproduced without notifying.
[0022]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, by providing a relay system between an e-mail and a general telephone, the contents of the e-mail sent by the sender can be transmitted to a remote receiver having only a general telephone. Can be transmitted. Further, since the received mail is processed as needed, it is possible to quickly respond even when the sender wants to contact the recipient urgently.
Embodiment 2 FIG.
FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram for realizing the relay system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3, 1 to 9 are the same as those described in FIG. 1 used in the first embodiment. Reference numeral 10 denotes a mail transmitting unit for notifying the mail terminal 2 of the sender of the listening state of the receiver.
[0023]
The signal sequence example shown in FIG. 4 describes the flow of processing from transmitting an e-mail received from the sender's mail terminal 2 as voice to the receiver's telephone 3 and notifying the sender of the receiver's listening state. It was done. 4, steps S1 to S8 are the same as those described in FIG. 2 used in the first embodiment.
[0024]
During the processing from step S2 to step S8, the telephone answering means 9 sets the listening state of the receiver to the fact that the receiver picked up the telephone and answered the telephone 3 and was busy when the telephone 3 was called. And that the receiver hangs up the telephone and hangs up the telephone 3. Thereafter, the listening state recipient telephone answering means 9 detects, the control unit 5 creates a text message in step S9, the mail sending unit 10 sends back the text message to the mail terminal 2 of the caller as an e-mail . Further, according to the listening state of the receiver, the processing is repeated until the contents of the e-mail are transmitted to the receiver as described in the first embodiment, and a text message is transmitted to notify the sender of the listening state as needed. .
[0025]
FIG. 5 is an example of a text message created by the control means 5 and returned to the mail terminal 2. 11 When you play all the contents of the e-mail, 12 is when the recipient during playback the contents of the e-mail was hung up the phone, 13 did not dial a specific number for the e-mail playback start from the recipient 14 is an example of a text message when the telephone is called but no recipient is answered, and 15 is when the recipient is busy. In this way, the text message predetermined by the relay system 1 is transmitted to the sender in the listening state.
[0026]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, by notifying the sender of the listening state of the receiver, the sender can surely know whether the contents of the e-mail have been transmitted to the receiver.
Embodiment 3 FIG.
FIG. 6 is a system configuration diagram for realizing the relay system according to the third embodiment of the present invention. 6, 1 to 9 are the same as those described in FIG. 1 used in the first embodiment. 10 is the same as that described in FIG. 3 used in the second embodiment. Speech recognition means for converting the voice received by the telephone answering device 9 to a text document 21, 22 voice storage means for storing speech received by the telephone answering device 9, 23 stores the text that the voice recognition unit 21 converts It is a text storage means.
[0027]
The signal sequence example shown in FIG. 7 is a process of transmitting an e-mail received from the sender's mail terminal 2 as voice to the receiver's telephone 3, and notifying the sender of the uttered voice as a response of the receiver. This is an explanation of the flow. 7, steps S1 to S6 are the same as those described in FIG. 2 used in the first embodiment.
[0028]
After the sound reproduction is completed in step S6, the telephone response means 9 issues the following notification in step S11 and confirms with the receiver whether or not to reply. As an example,
"The contents of the e-mail is over. The number 1 when it comes to ask you once again, the No. 2 when it is sent a reply message, please dial the number 9 is when you exit." To notify. Thereafter, when the recipient dials No. 1 in step S12, the processing from step S5 is repeated. When the recipient dials number 9, hang up. Further, when the recipient dials the number 2, in step S13, the following notification for guiding the start of recording the reply message is given. As an example,
"You can send a message of up to n minutes. Please put the handset when you exit. Leave a message after the sound a beep. Copy.," Said the notice. It is assumed that the maximum recording time of n minutes can be arbitrarily determined by the relay system 1. Thereafter, in step S14, the recipient of the reply message is converted into a text message by the voice recognition unit 21, audio by the voice storage means 22, also converted text message by text storage means 23, are stored, respectively.
[0029]
Next, in step S14, when the receiver hangs up or the recording time reaches the limit, the control means 5 ends the recording of the reply message. Then, the mail transmission means 10 transmits to the mail terminal 2 that the recipient listening state and recipient of the reply message described in the embodiment 2 was converted into a text message as an e-mail in step S15. In addition, the voice stored by the voice storage unit 22 may be transmitted in the form of voice as an attached document of an e-mail.
[0030]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, the sender of the e-mail can reliably know the reply of the recipient by notifying the sender of the voice uttered by the recipient as a reply.
[0031]
Further, in this embodiment, contrary to the foregoing description, when transmitting a message to a recipient having an e-mail terminal 2 from the caller having a telephone 3 can be constructed as follows. It is assumed that the recipient is registered in advance in the relay system 1 and has a unique password. The caller makes a call to a specific telephone number determined by the relay system 1 and dials the password of the receiver. The telephone answering means 9 receives a specific telephone number and a password of the recipient, converts the voice uttered by the caller into a text message in the voice recognition means 21, and sends the text message to the recipient's mail terminal 2 in the mail transmitting means 10. Send as email.
[0032]
【The invention's effect】
Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.
[0033]
By providing a relay system for e-mail and general telephone, the contents of e-mail sent by the sender can be transmitted to remote recipients who only have general telephones, and the received e-mail can be processed as needed Therefore, even when the caller urgently wants to contact the receiver, it is possible to respond quickly.
[0034]
In addition, by notifying the sender of the listening state of the receiver, the sender of the e-mail can surely know whether the contents of the e-mail have been transmitted to the receiver.
[0035]
Further, by notifying the sender of the voice uttered by the receiver as a reply, the sender of the e-mail can surely know the reply of the receiver.
In addition, the transmission destination confirms whether or not to notify the voice converted by the voice synthesis unit, and when the transmission destination answers that the voice is to be notified, the voice is transmitted to the transmission destination. It is possible to confirm that the receiver's telephone is not an answering machine, an automatic answering telephone, a facsimile or the like.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram for realizing a relay system according to a first embodiment.
FIG. 2 is an example of a signal sequence showing a flow of processing until an electronic mail received from a sender's mail terminal 2 is transmitted as voice to a receiver's telephone 3 in the first embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram for realizing a relay system according to a second embodiment.
FIG. 4 shows a flow of processing from transmitting an e-mail received from a sender's mail terminal 2 as voice to a receiver's telephone 3 in a second embodiment, and notifying the sender of a listening state of the receiver. It is a signal sequence example.
FIG. 5 is an example of a text message created by control means 5 and returned to mail terminal 2 in the second embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a system configuration diagram for realizing a relay system according to a third embodiment.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a process of transmitting an e-mail received from a sender's mail terminal 2 as a voice to a receiver's telephone 3 in a third embodiment, and notifying the sender of a voice uttered as a response of the receiver. It is a signal sequence example showing a flow.
FIG. 8 is a system configuration diagram for realizing a conventional electronic mail reading system.
[Explanation of symbols]
4 E-mail receiving means 5 Control means 6 Voice synthesis means 9 Telephone response means 10 E-mail sending means

Claims (4)

An e-mail receiving means for receiving an e-mail sent from the sender,
Control means for reading the telephone number of the destination specified in the e-mail,
Voice synthesis means for converting the content of the e-mail into voice,
Once it using the telephone number to call to the destination call is connected is confirmed, confirms on whether the destination notifies the voice converted by the voice synthesis section, from the transmission destination A telephone answering unit that transmits the voice to the destination when there is a response to notify the voice;
Mail transmission means for transmitting the first text message created by the control means to the transmission source;
The telephone response unit detects a listening state of the transmission destination when transmitting the voice to the transmission destination,
The electronic mail telephone relay system, wherein the control means creates the first text message corresponding to a listening state of the transmission destination. A voice recognition means for converting the voice response message transmitted from the transmission destination after transmission of the speech has ended the transmission destination to the second text message,
It said email transmitting means, electronic mail telephone relay system according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting the converted the second text message by the voice recognition unit to the originator. An e-mail receiving step of receiving an e-mail sent from the sender,
  A reading step of reading a destination telephone number specified in the e-mail;
A conversion step of converting the content of the e-mail into voice,
When it is confirmed that the telephone is connected to the transmission destination by using the telephone number, it is confirmed whether or not to notify the voice converted in the conversion step to the transmission destination. A voice transmitting step of transmitting the voice to the destination when there is an answer to notify the voice;
A mail sending step of sending the first text message created by the reading step to the sender;
  The audio transmitting step detects a listening state of the transmission destination when transmitting the audio to the transmission destination,
The reading step, the e-mail telephone relay method characterized by creating the first text message corresponding to the listening state of the destination. A message converting step of converting a voice response message transmitted from the destination to a second text message after the transmission of the voice to the destination is completed,
4. The electronic mail telephone relay method according to claim 3, wherein the mail transmitting step transmits the second text message converted by the message converting step to the transmission source .

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