JP2002157200A - Message transmitting/receiving system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow a user to transmit his or her photograph even to a perfect stranger, with peace of mind, and convey even a matter hard to broach. SOLUTION: A plurality of user terminals A to D are connected to a server 1 by a communication network 2 and the server 1 includes an input/output part for direct connection to the user terminals and a processing part 4 for connection to the input/output part 3. The processing part 4 includes a user storage part 5 for storing data about users registered as members, a transmission number storage part 8 for storing the number of times that web mails are transmitted to a specific user, and a photograph storage part 9 for storing photograph data. When a photograph is displayed on a display screen, the photograph data is processed by the processing part 4 so that the photograph is masked. This masking is classified into a few levels ranging from a level at which the contents of the photograph are hardly recognizable to that at which they are clear. The level of the masking varies depending on the number of times that messages are transmitted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for transmitting and receiving a message via a communication network, and more particularly to a message transmitting and receiving system for transmitting and receiving the message alone or with a photograph.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, people who do not know at all
For example, sending and receiving messages using Web mail,
Frequently, if they like each other, they become friends. Under such circumstances, recently, a picture of one's own face has been attached to a message and transmitted.

[0003]

However, it is often difficult to attach a photograph to a person who does not know it at all.
That said, sometimes you may want to let others know because you don't need to know your mood. In such a case, the conventional system has a problem that it cannot meet user needs.

[0004] In addition, although it is a mail, it is difficult to directly tell the other party. In the conventional system, there is no means for telling the other party what it is difficult to say directly. An object of the present invention is to provide a message transmission / reception system that can transmit a photograph of one's own with a sense of security to a person who does not know it at all, and can convey contents that are difficult to say to the other party.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there are provided a plurality of user terminals for transmitting and receiving messages via a communication network, and control means, wherein the control means includes an input terminal directly connected to the user terminal. An output unit, a processing unit connected to the input / output unit, a user storage unit for storing user data registered as a member via the processing unit, and a transmission count storage for storing the number of message transmissions and receptions between specific users And a photo storage unit for storing the photo data. The photo data is masked in several steps from a level where the content of the photo is hardly recognizable to a level where the content of the photo is clearly recognizable. Depending on the number of times,
It is characterized in that it is determined which of the masking steps of the photo data is to be selected, and the determined photo data is attached to the message and transmitted / received.

A second invention comprises a plurality of user terminals for transmitting and receiving messages via a communication network, and control means. The control means includes an input / output unit directly connected to the user terminal, and an input / output unit. A processing unit connected to the output unit, a user storage unit for storing user data registered as a member via this processing unit, a message storage unit for storing a patterned message, and a character for storing a character selected by the user And a storage unit, wherein the message selected from the message storage unit is expressed in the tone of the selected character.

According to a third aspect, the messages stored in the message storage unit include a message having a degree of freedom in which a user can input a word and a message having no degree of freedom in which the user does not input a word. It is characterized by.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIGS. 1 to 6 show an embodiment of the present invention, and show a system in which a plurality of users transmit and receive messages as Web mail via a server 1. . In this embodiment, the server 1 is used as control means. This system uses Web mail to find a new friend, and exchanges a message with a photo with the friend.

As shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment,
A plurality of user terminals A to D and a server 1 are connected by a communication network 2. The server 1 is provided with an input / output unit 3 connected to the user terminals A to D.
Is connected to the processing unit 4. The processing unit 4 is connected to a user storage unit 5, a message storage unit 6, a character storage unit 7, a transmission count storage unit 8, and a photograph storage unit 9.

[0010] The user storage section 5 stores user information of registered members, so that only registered users can use this system. The character storage unit 7 stores several types of characters so that the user can select an arbitrary character. The message can be delivered to the other party in such a manner that the selected character chats on its own.

The photograph storage unit 9 digitally stores the photograph data of the user input from the input / output unit 3. Further, when the photograph is displayed on the display screen, the processing unit 4 processes the photograph data so that the photograph is masked. The masking includes the following four steps. In other words, a photo that has the highest masking degree and hardly recognizes the contents of the photo is Level 1
If the level of masking is less than that of level 1, but the level of the content of the photo is not so recognizable, level 2 is set. If the level of the level of the photo is recognizable, level 3 is set. In addition, those which can clearly recognize the contents of the photograph are designated as level 4.

The message storage unit 6 stores We
A plurality of patterned messages used for b-mail are stored. This patterned message allows it to be sent in a tone characterized by the character described above. In other words, a plurality of messages are associated with each character, and when the character and the content of the message are determined, the message is transmitted in a tone corresponding to the characteristics of the character. However, it is natural that the use of the character is left to the user's will.

Further, the patterned messages include a pattern having a degree of freedom and a pattern having no degree of freedom. A message with a pattern of freedom is defined only by a sentence pattern such as who did what and where, and where "who", "where" and "what"
The user has to enter the phrase himself. The message of the pattern with no degree of freedom is a fixed phrase such as “Good morning” or “How are you?”, Which is selected and does not require the user to input characters. In any case, these patterned messages can be transmitted in the tone of a specific character.

In addition, the user selects a message having contents desired to be transmitted to the other party sending the Web mail from the above-mentioned patterned messages, and inputs a word or phrase when a pattern having a degree of freedom is selected. By
Create a message. Further, when the user enters the Web
When a picture is attached to an e-mail, the processing unit 4 attaches the picture data stored in the picture storage unit 9 to the message created as described above. And this W
The e-mail is transmitted to another user as a transmission partner via the input / output unit 3.

The transmission count storage unit 8 specifies which user sent a message to which user, counts how many times a message has been transmitted between the users, and stores the count. ing. Then, the processing unit 4 determines which level of the photo data of the above level 1 to 4 is to be transmitted in accordance with the count number.

In the above embodiment, a specific example in which the user actually searches for a friend will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. A portable telephone is used as the user terminal, and a telephone line is used as the communication network 2. The portable telephone is equipped with a digital camera, and photographs taken by the portable telephone can be input to the server 1 as photograph data.

In step 101, the user A inputs user data to the input / output unit 3 of the server 1 using the portable telephone. User A as user data
Name, phone number, age, gender, address, hobbies, and the like. When the user data is input to the server 1 in step 101, the user data is stored in the user storage unit 5 via the processing unit 4 in step 102, and the user A is registered as a member. Step 1 above
When the user A is registered as a member in 02, the processing unit 4 issues a user ID to the user A. This user ID
Is used as a password when using this system, and can also be used as a Web mail address.

Next, in step 103, user A selects whether to use a character in this system. When using a character, user A:
In step 104, a character to be used is selected, and this character selection signal is input to the input / output unit 3. When a character selection signal is input in step 104,
In step 105, the processing unit 4 sets the character storage unit 7
, The selected character is selected, and the routine proceeds to step 106. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 103 that the character is not used, the process proceeds directly from step 103 to step 106.

Then, in step 106, the user A
Choose whether to make new friends. This step 1
If the user selects not to make a new friend in 06, other menus such as a compatibility test with other users and character education can be selected. Detailed descriptions of other menus are omitted. Assuming that a new friend is to be made in step 106, the process proceeds to step 107, where the user A inputs a friend recruitment signal to the input / output unit 3. When a friend recruitment signal is input to the input / output unit 3, the processing unit 4 selects a character selected by the user A from the character storage unit 7, and the message storage unit 6.
Displays the above menu for recruiting friends on the display screen.
FIG. 3 shows the display screen displayed at this time.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the selected message, items to be input when recruiting friends are displayed in the tone of the character. The items that need to be entered are user characteristics of a person who wants to be friends, and specifically, gender, address, hobbies, and the like. In FIG. 3, the user A who is trying to recruit friends using this system is "Marina". The character chosen by "Marina" is "Pee-chan". And, as shown in FIG.
The character "Poo-chan" asks User A "Marina" what kind of friends she wants. In FIG. 3a, the gender of the person who wants to be a friend is asked.
b asks for an address, and FIG. 3d asks if a person with the same hobby is good.

As described above, the user A, "Marina", answers the question of the character, "Pee-chan", and proceeds on the screen to input the user characteristics of the person who wants to be a friend. be able to. Then, in step 108, the user A inputs the user characteristics of the partner desired as the friend to the input / output unit 3 as a user characteristic signal.

In this way, when the user characteristic signal of the partner desired as a friend is input, in step 109, the processing unit 4 selects a partner matching the specific signal. That is, the user (the other party) that matches the characteristic signal specified as the other party to be a friend is selected from the user data stored in the user storage unit 5.
The number of users selected here may be one or more. The user thus selected is output to the terminal of the user A as friend candidate data.

Next, in step 110, it is determined whether or not the user A selects a friend from the friend candidates. If a friend is selected from the friend candidates, the process proceeds to step 111. If a friend is not selected from the friend candidates,
The process returns to step 108. In step 111, a selection signal of the user who wants to be a friend is input to the input / output unit 3. The user selected here is assumed to be a user B. When the selection signal of the user B is input, in step 112, the processing unit 4 sets the selected user B as a transmission destination of the Web mail.

Next, a specific example of sending a Web mail to the user B set as the transmission destination as described above will be described with reference to the flow of FIG. First, user A
In step 201, it is selected whether to create a message. If a message is created in step 201, the process proceeds to step 202, where user A inputs a message creation signal to input / output unit 3 to create a message for user B.

When the above message creation signal is input,
In step 203, the processing unit 4 selects a patterned message for message creation from the message storage unit 6,
Output to the user A's terminal together with the character. FIG. 5 shows a character displayed on the display screen, which is the terminal of the user A, and a patterned message.
In FIG. 5, “Marina” is the user A, “Pee-chan” is the character selected by the user A, and “Takeru” is the user B selected by the user A as a friend. By proceeding from a to h in FIG.
I try to guide the input of.

As shown in FIG. 5, in FIG. 5A, the character "Pee-chan" is the user A "Marina".
In FIG. 5b, "marina" selects a genre to be transmitted from the message genres in FIG. 5b. Here, when the message genre “Ososoi” is selected, a sentence for the invitation is displayed (FIG. 5C). “Marina” of the user A may determine what kind of invitation to make and select it. Next, the character "Pee-chan" asks where to go (Fig. 5e). This question must be entered by User A as User A's original message.

Next, "-chan" asks where to go in FIG. 5f and what to do in FIG. 5g. User A, "Marina" only needs to answer that question. By answering the question in this way, as shown in FIG. 5h, the character “Pee-chan” creates a sentence and expresses the content in the tone of the character.

As described above, the character A asks a question necessary for input, and the user A can create a Web mail message only by proceeding to the next screen so as to answer this question. At this time, the character asks questions in a unique tone. Also, this character may be moved in accordance with the content of the question. On the other hand, if it is selected not to create a message in step 201,
The message creation in 203 is omitted, and the process jumps to step 204. As described above, when the message is not created, only the photograph is attached to the Web mail and sent.

Next, in step 204, the user A selects whether to attach a photograph to a Web mail. If the photograph is to be pasted, the process proceeds to step 205, where the user A takes a photograph of his / her own face with a digital camera of a portable telephone and inputs this photograph data to the input / output unit 3. However,
The photograph data input here may be photograph data photographed by another camera, and does not specify the photographing means.

In step 205, when the photograph data is input, in step 206, the processing section 4 processes the photograph data and performs a masking process on the photograph. More specifically, a mosaic is applied as the masking process. As described above, this masking process is provided with four stages from level 1 to level 4. After the photo data has been processed at each stage as described above, all of the four types of processed photo data are stored in the photo storage unit 9 in step 207.

When the photograph data is processed as described above, the photograph is attached to the created message and transmitted to the user B. That is, a transmission signal for transmitting a Web mail to the user B in step 208 is input to the input / output unit 3. When the above transmission signal is input,
The processing unit 4 sets the number of Web mail transmissions n from the user A to the user B to n = n + 1 in step 209, and
The number of transmissions is stored in the storage unit 8. However, when the user A transmits a Web mail to the user B for the first time, that is, when there is no record in the transmission count storage unit 8, n = 0.
Is stored in the transmission count storage unit 8.

Next, in step 210, the number of transmissions n =
The processing unit 4 determines whether it is 0 to 3 or not. n = 0
If it is 3, the process proceeds to step 211 and the processing unit 4
Selects the photo data of level 1 from the photo data stored in the photo storage unit 9. Level 1 has many mosaics, and the face of the user A in the photograph is most difficult to confirm. If the number of transmissions n is not 0 to 3 in step 210, step 212
Proceed to. When the number of transmissions n is 4 to 6, the process proceeds to step 213 to select the level 2 photo data.

In step 212, the number of transmissions n = 4 to 6
Otherwise, the process proceeds to step 216, where the number of transmissions n
= 7 to 10 is determined. Number of transmissions n = 7
If it is -10, the process proceeds to step 215, where the processing unit 4 selects level 3 photograph data. When the number of transmissions n is other than 7 to 10 in step 224, that is,
If the number of transmissions n is 11 or more, step 21
Proceeding to 6, the photo data of level 4 is selected. The level 4 is a state in which all the mosaics have disappeared and the face photograph of the user A can be clearly recognized.

As described above, each of the steps 211, 213,
After selecting any one of the photo data at 215 and 216, the processing unit 4 combines the selected photo data with the message completed at step 203 at step 217. That is, the photograph is attached to the message. Then, in step 218, the processing unit 4
Outputs a Web mail composed of the above-mentioned photograph and message to the terminal of the user B. However, the above step 20
If the photograph is not pasted in step 4, the process jumps from step 204 to step 218. Therefore, the message is not attached and the message only Web
The mail will be sent by user B.

As described above, by transmitting the Web mail to the user B in the flow of FIG. 4, the mosaic of the photograph attached by the user A decreases according to the number of times of transmission. Therefore, the user B gradually becomes able to clearly recognize the photograph of the user A.

The messages stored in the message storage unit 6 include a message having a degree of freedom in which a user inputs a word and a sentence is completed, as described above.
There are messages that do not require the user to enter a phrase and are all stylized and inflexible. This inflexible message has, for example, a greeting such as "Good morning", but prepares a hidden word such as "How is your condition today?" That is, when the user A selects “Good morning” and transmits this as a Web mail, the received user B will be displayed “Good morning, how are you today?” This hidden word is randomly selected by the processing unit 4.

Further, in FIG. 5, it is assumed that the message genre "Abalone" has been selected instead of the message genre "Osazoi". Select "Abalone" like this,
When this is transmitted to the user B as a Web mail, the message "Sorry" is transmitted to the user B.

Next, the user B receives the We
The following describes what display screen of the user B is displayed when the b-mail is received. Step 1 in FIG. 2 above
When a message patterned in step 09 is selected, the message includes a response column from the user B. That is, when the Web invitation for a movie is received from the user A as described above, the character of the user A is displayed on the display screen of the terminal of the user B as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 6, "Marina" is the user A who sent the Web mail, and "Takeru" is
User B who received the b-mail. And “Pee-chan” is the character selected by “Marina”. FIG. 6 shows a screen displayed on the display screen of “takeru” as the user B. Therefore, the character "Poo-chan" is the user B "Takeru"
Talking to In FIG. 6a, “P-chan” introduces “Marina” which is the user A, and FIG.
At c, the user B asks how he feels about the user A's Marina. And in FIG. 6d, "Poo-chan" is "Takeru"
Heard the reply to the message from Marina. "Marina" mosaiced in FIGS. 6e and 6f
The photos are shown.

As described above, the user B is the user A
By simply answering the question of the selected character, a reply to the Web mail from the user A can be created. Then, when a reply is created in accordance with the guidance of the character of the user A, the reply Web
A mail transmission signal is input to the input / output unit 3. User B
Is input, the processing unit 4 incorporates the reply from the user B into a patterned message, and makes this one sentence at a time. Then, the written message is output to the user A's terminal. In this way, Web mail is transmitted and received between the user A and the user B.

Further, the user B sends the user A a We
When sending b-mail, as described above, in addition to replying to the message from user A, it is possible to select a character or paste a photo.
Since this is the same as that described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 4, a detailed description thereof will be omitted here. Further, the photo sent from the user B to the user A can be masked like a mosaic. This is the same as the case of the user A described above.

According to the system of this embodiment, the message can be created by the guidance of the character, so that the other party who transmits the Web mail for the first time does not have to worry about what to write. In addition, since necessary input items are presented depending on the message genre to be selected, input omission is eliminated. Therefore, for example, even when inviting to a movie or the like, the purpose of the invitation, the meeting time, and the like are reliably transmitted to the other party. Furthermore, even when it is difficult to say the word to invite, the message is conveyed in the tone of the selected character, making it easier to invite than inviting with your own words.

Further, since a hidden sentence is attached to a simple sentence such as a greeting and transmitted to the other party, the swelling of Web mail exchanges occurs. In addition, since the hidden word is randomly selected by the processing unit 4, the user can enjoy the next word. Furthermore, simply by selecting "Obibi", the words of apology will be displayed to the other party, so that a message can be easily created. In addition, the apologies in particular are often irrelevant, but this can be resolved by choosing a standard sentence. Also,
Even a fixed sentence with no degree of freedom as described above can be made fun and less boring by communicating it in the tone of the character.

The mosaic is attached to the photograph attached to the Web mail. The mosaic gradually disappears according to the number of times the message is transmitted by the Web mail, and the face of the user is gradually revealed. be able to. In this way, by gradually revealing the photograph of the face, the recipient of the message can be interested, and the transmission and reception of the Web mail including the message becomes more enjoyable.

Further, since the user B returns a reply according to the pattern selected by the user A, the user B can answer the question of the user A without fail. Moreover, since the response from the user B is also in the tone of the character, even when it is difficult to convey it in his / her own words, it can be conveyed without resistance.

In the above embodiment, the server 1
Is used as the control means, but this control means may be provided in each user's terminal. When the control means is provided in the user's terminal in this way, the message transmission / reception system as in this embodiment can be used without using a server. That is, messages can be directly exchanged between the terminals, and a photo can be attached to the message or the message can be transmitted using a character.

When the user registers as a member, W
When creating an e-mail message, the character guides the user's work. However, the character may guide the user in all work performed on the display screen by the user. Further, the number-of-transmissions storage unit 8 stores the number of transmissions of the user A, and changes the masking level of the photo data of the user A to be attached. , The masking level of the photo of the user A may be changed. In addition, the user A
The masking level of the photo data of the user B may be changed depending on the number of times of transmission of the user B.

As a method of masking a photograph, mosaic processing is used. However, the present invention is not limited to the mosaic processing, and a blur may be provided or a partial display may be performed. . Also, it may be displayed for each part of the face like a montage, or those that are divided and the order may be different may be arranged in a correct arrangement. In short, it is only necessary that a face of a photograph is indistinguishable and that it can be gradually identified.

Further, in the above embodiment, when the photograph data is input to the input / output unit 3, the photograph data is processed and masked. When the masking is performed, the photograph is attached to the Web mail. The photo data may be processed at some times, or at other times. In short, it may be processed before sending the Web mail to the user B. Although a telephone line is used as a communication network, a communication network using the Internet or the like may be used.

[0050]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the photo data attached to the message is masked in several steps from the extent that the content of the photo is hardly recognizable to the extent that the content of the photo is clearly recognizable. In accordance with the number of transmissions, it is determined which of the above masking stages is to be selected for the photograph data. Since the determined photo data is attached to the message and transmitted via the communication network, the photo of the other party exchanging the message is gradually revealed. As described above, the picture gradually becomes clear according to the number of times the message is transmitted, and the enjoyment of exchanging the message increases.

According to the second invention, there is provided a message storage unit for storing a patterned message, and a character storage unit for storing a character selected by a user, wherein the message selected from the message storage unit is It will be expressed in the tone of the selected character. Therefore, it became easier to convey that it is hard to say. Also, because you can convey the contents along with the patterned message, there is no doubt about what to write, and by transmitting this message in the tone of the character, you can make it fun and less tired can do.

According to the third aspect, the messages stored in the message storage unit include a message having a degree of freedom in which the user can input a word and a message having no degree of freedom in which the user does not input a word. Therefore, in the case of a message that does not require the user to input a phrase, the message can be easily created.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an overall system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart when a user A searches for a new friend.

FIG. 3 shows a terminal of a user A and a display screen thereof.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart when the user A sends an e-mail to a new friend.

FIG. 5 shows a terminal of a user A and a display screen thereof.

FIG. 6 shows a terminal of a user B and a display screen thereof.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A terminal B terminal C terminal D terminal 1 server 2 communication network 3 input / output unit 4 processing unit 5 user storage unit 6 message storage unit 7 character storage unit 8 transmission count storage unit 9 photo storage unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] A plurality of user terminals for transmitting and receiving messages via a communication network; and control means. The control means includes an input / output unit directly connected to the user terminal, and an input / output unit connected to the input / output unit. Processing unit, a user storage unit for storing user data registered as a member via the processing unit, a transmission count storage unit for storing the number of times of message transmission / reception between specific users, and a photo storage for storing photo data. And masking the photographic data in several stages from an extent that the content of the photograph is hardly recognizable to an extent that it is clearly recognizable. Message transmission / reception characterized in that it is determined whether or not to select the photo data, and the determined photo data is attached to the message and transmitted / received. system. 2. A communication system comprising: a plurality of user terminals for transmitting and receiving messages via a communication network; and control means, wherein the control means includes an input / output unit directly connected to the user terminal, and a connection to the input / output unit. Processing unit, a user storage unit for storing user data registered as a member via the processing unit, a message storage unit for storing a patterned message, and a character storage unit for storing a character selected by the user. A message transmission / reception system, wherein the message selected from the message storage unit is expressed in the tone of the selected character. 3. The message stored in the message storage unit includes a message having a degree of freedom in which a user can input a word and a message having no degree of freedom in which the user does not input a word. Claim 2
The message transmission / reception system as described.