JP2007006238A - Telephone contact method and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique for converting a message described in an e-mail into voice and transmitting information through a telephone.
SOLUTION: This is a telephone contact method implemented by a service center 120 that extracts text from a received mail to create voice data, calls a specified telephone number, and transmits the voice data. An input step for inputting mail, a text extraction unit 104 for extracting text from the mail by a text extraction unit 104, a voice conversion step for converting text into voice data by a voice conversion unit 105, and a telephone number extraction unit 112 for acquiring a telephone number from the mail. A telephone number extracting step to be extracted; a calling step for calling a telephone number extracted by the telephone number calling unit 106; a response detecting step for detecting whether a terminal having a telephone number extracted by the telephone response detecting unit 107 has responded; The voice data converted when the calling unit 114 determines that the terminal having the telephone number extracted in the response detection step has responded. The voice transmission step for transmitting data is performed.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a mechanism for making a call from a mail to a specific or unspecified number of people in real time in the field where the Internet and the telephone network are fused, and relates to a telephone contact technique performed by mail.

  Conventionally, when checking a mail received from the Internet, there is a technique for selecting the mail, converting it to voice on the terminal side (PC side) using a special device, and outputting the voice to the earphone terminal of the PC. . In this technique, it is necessary for the receiving side to actively perform an operation of confirming the mail. Therefore, the contents of the mail are not transmitted unless the receiving side takes action (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

In addition, by having a special device on the calling side, it was possible to make a call in order and automatically reproduce the messages stored in advance. However, a service for making a simple call using the existing mail system and controlling on the telephone network side / IP telephone network side has not yet been realized (for example, see Patent Document 2).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-327872 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-24144

  In the above technology, when checking an e-mail, it is common to select the e-mail, convert it to audio on the terminal side (PC side) using a special device, and output it as audio to the earphone terminal of the PC. There was a problem that the contents could not be communicated without the action on the receiving side.

  At present, telephones are widely used, but PCs are not as popular as telephones, and it is not always possible to receive them by e-mail. Fortunately, however, almost all of them are in a situation where telephones are connected at homes or offices. Furthermore, recently, with the spread of mobile phones, it is possible to receive calls while moving.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a technique for converting a message described in an e-mail into voice and transmitting information through the other party's telephone.

  Accordingly, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 is a telephone that extracts text from a received mail to create voice data, and calls the designated telephone number to send the voice data. An input step in which the input unit inputs mail; a text extraction unit in which the text extraction unit extracts text from the email; and a voice conversion step in which the voice conversion unit converts the text into voice data. A telephone number extracting unit that extracts a telephone number from an email, a telephone number calling unit that makes a call to the extracted telephone number, and a telephone response detection unit that makes a call to the telephone number A response detection step for detecting whether the terminal has responded, and the conversion when the voice transmission unit determines that the terminal that has called the telephone number has responded in the response detection step. And having a voice transmission step of transmitting the voice data, was.

  Further, in the invention according to claim 2, the text extraction unit further extracts a requester's email address from the email, and the collation unit compares the email address with the email address recorded in the database to extract the requester's email address. A mail address collating step for determining whether the received mail address is registered, and performing the calling step when it is determined that the extracted mail address is registered in the collating step. It is characterized by.

  Further, in the invention according to claim 3, the text extraction unit further extracts the client's key code from the mail, and the collation unit compares the key code and the key code recorded in the database to extract the key code. A key code collating step for determining whether the key code is registered, and performing the calling step when it is determined that the extracted key code is registered in the collating step. It is characterized by.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the collation unit compares the extracted telephone number with a telephone number recorded in a database, and determines whether the extracted telephone number is registered. The calling step is performed when it is determined that the extracted telephone number is registered in the collating step.

  Further, the invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that the text extraction unit can further extract a service type from the mail and set a plurality of telephone numbers in the mail according to the description of the service type.

  Further, the invention according to claim 6 does not have a telephone number extracting step performed by the telephone number extracting unit, records a telephone number in a database corresponding to the key code, and stores the telephone number calling unit. Calls a telephone number corresponding to the extracted key code.

  The invention according to claim 7 is characterized in that a plurality of telephone numbers can be recorded in association with the key code.

  The invention according to claim 8 is characterized in that broadcast transmission of the plurality of telephone numbers is possible.

  The invention described in claim 9 is a recording medium on which a program for executing the telephone contact method according to any one of claims 1 to 8 is recorded.

  In the invention according to claim 1, by converting the text extracted from the received mail into voice data, calling the designated telephone number, and sending the voice data when there is a response, Tell the text in the email by voice.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, processing such as calling is performed only when the mail address is registered.

  According to the third aspect of the invention, processing such as calling is performed only when the key code is registered.

  In the invention according to claim 4, processing such as calling is performed only when the telephone number is registered.

  In the invention described in claim 5, a plurality of telephone numbers can be set.

  In the invention described in claim 6, even if the telephone number is not described in the mail, it is possible to call the telephone number to the other party to whom the message should be transmitted.

  In the invention described in claim 7, a plurality of telephone numbers can be set.

  In the invention described in claim 8, it is possible to broadcast a plurality of telephone numbers.

  According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the program for carrying out the first aspect of the present invention can be provided on a recording medium.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to notify the other party of information by voice by sending mail.

  According to the second to fourth aspects of the present invention, only a pre-registered user can notify the other party of information, and it is possible to prevent unwanted calls, fraud, and the like.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to notify a plurality of opponents of information by sending a mail once.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to notify the other party of information without describing a telephone number.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, it is possible to notify information to a plurality of opponents by sending an e-mail once without writing a telephone number.

  According to the invention described in claim 8, it is possible to notify information to a plurality of opponents simultaneously.

  Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a telephone contact system by e-mail. As shown in FIG. 1, the telephone contact system includes a terminal unit 101, the Internet 102, a service center 120, a telephone network / IP telephone network 115, and a message receiving house 116.

  The service center 120 is connected to the terminal unit 101 via the Internet 102 and is connected to the message receiving home 116 via the telephone network / IP telephone network 115. The service center 120 also includes an input unit 103 for inputting mail, a text extraction unit 104 for extracting text from the mail, a voice conversion unit 105 for converting text to speech, a telephone number calling unit 106 for making a call, A telephone response detection unit 107 that detects whether or not a call has occurred, a control unit 108 that controls the system, a telephone number storage unit 109 that stores a telephone number, and a key code for determining permission conditions between a client and a caller A key code storage unit 110, a permitted address storage unit 111 for storing the permitted address of the client, a telephone number extraction unit 112 for extracting a telephone number from an email, a verification unit 113 for verifying the key code, the permitted address, and the telephone number, In addition, a voice transmission unit 114 that utters the converted voice is provided.

  For example, a network card or the like can be used for the input unit 103. Further, a CPU can be used as the control unit 108. Further, the text extraction unit 104, the voice conversion unit 105, the telephone number extraction unit 112, and the collation unit 113 can be realized by a program recorded in an HDD or the like. The telephone number calling unit 106, the telephone response detection unit 107, and the voice transmission unit 114 can be installed in a modem. Further, the telephone number storage unit 109, the key code storage unit 110, and the permitted address storage unit 111 may be installed in the service center 120, or may be installed outside the service center 120 to be accessible. Each process performed by the control unit 108 can be described as a program and recorded on a recording medium.

  Processing in this telephone contact system will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, in the terminal unit 101, using a mail delivery terminal such as a PC, a mobile phone, or a PDA, a process of sending a mail from a pre-registered mail address is executed (S201).

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of mail transmitted from the terminal unit 101. The mail address 301 of the center shown in FIG. 3 is a special mail address for using this service. A mail transmitted to this mail address is transmitted through the Internet 102, and processing for inputting the sent mail to the service center 120 is executed by the input unit 103 (S202).

  Next, in response to a command from the control unit 108, the telephone number extraction unit 112 and the text extraction unit 104 make a request from the input mail to the “phone number” 304 of the destination, “service type” 303, “key code” 305, request The process of extracting the “mail address” 302 of the user and the transmission message “message text” 306 is executed (S203).

  In order to prevent spoofing of the requester in the verification unit 113, the data of the permitted address storage unit 111 and the key code storage unit 110 are used to verify the registered contents and qualifications of the requester by “mail address” and “key code”. A process for checking is executed (S204).

  Then, in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 108, similarly, the collating unit 113 executes a process of confirming whether or not the other party who makes a call is registered in advance by using the other party “phone number” and “key code” (S205).

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the key code table. As shown in FIG. 4, a user name, a key code, a destination telephone number, and a destination list are recorded in association with each other.

  Here, when the collation process in the collation unit 113 fails, the control unit 108 stops the subsequent processes.

  If the collation is successful, the voice conversion unit 105 converts the “message text” into a voice according to an instruction from the control unit 108, and executes a process of creating a synthesized voice (S206).

  Note that collation can be performed by extracting only the phone number, collating by extracting only the key code, extracting the mail address and performing collation, and combining these. Is possible.

  Thereafter, the control unit 108 executes a process of making a call to the telephone number registered with the telephone number calling unit 106 (S207).

The number of telephone numbers to be called at this time may be not only one but also plural. If you have more than one phone number,
(1) As shown in FIG. 5, when multiple emails are sent in an individual-to-multiple email,
(2) As shown in FIG. 6, in the case of a telephone number list that is registered in advance in the center in the outgoing mail of personal LIST1,
(3) As shown in FIG. 7, there are cases where a plurality of lists are used in the outgoing mail of the personal pair LIST2.

  As an example of the telephone number list, FIG. 8 shows an example of a telephone number list of the other party. In the case of such a list, calls are made in the order of the list. At this time, the telephone number to be called is not limited to the number registered in advance, but may be the other party telephone number extracted by the telephone number storage unit 112. It is also possible to broadcast to a plurality of telephone numbers.

  After the telephone call is made, an operation for answering the telephone is performed at the message receiving home 116 through the telephone network / IP telephone network 115. At this time, the control unit 108 instructs the telephone response detection unit 107 to execute processing for confirming that the other party of the telephone has answered the telephone (S208).

  After confirming that the other party of the telephone has answered the call, the control unit 108 instructs the voice transmitting unit 114 to execute a process of transmitting a message as synthesized voice (S209).

  However, if S208 times out, the control unit 108 waits for a predetermined number of seconds in accordance with the protocol of the telephone network, and then issues a calling process again, and executes steps S207 and S208.

  At this time, when a predetermined number of calls are made and a timeout occurs and the telephone connection is not completed, a reply to the terminal unit 101 is sent to the terminal unit 101 by mail (S210).

  Similarly, when the process of sending a message as synthesized speech (S209) is executed, the control unit 108 sends a reply to the terminal unit 101 by e-mail that the message sending has been completed (S210).

Here, using the following format of the mail format example, the command and data are extracted and interpreted, and the command is executed.
<Command>: Data <Data name>: Data or file name, and processing is performed in units of one line separated by a delimiter such as a colon (:).

  When the data after the colon (:) extends over a plurality of lines (for example, the transmission message 306 in FIG. 3), the data is a series of data enclosed by symbols such as brackets (“”) and double quotations (“). The key code is set by a combination of the user and the other party of the telephone, but if a plurality of destinations are set to the same key code, it is equivalent to performing only user authentication.

  It is also possible to express commands and data names with XML tags or metadata.

  The voice conversion method of “message text” is about to follow the progress of the times, but at present, it uses a synthesis method that synthesizes speech from characters but becomes mechanical speech, or the actual voice of a specific speaker And a synthesis method for creating voice. Particularly in the latter case, it is technically possible to send a message close to the real voice by using the client's voice registered in advance as a phoneme.

  In order to confirm the requester and the calling party, impersonation may occur only with the “mail address” and “phone number”, so it is important to give a “key code” registered in advance. In other words, a broadcast call to an unspecified number of people may become a hotbed for nuisance calls, and it is important to take preventive measures properly by collating with “mail address” and “key code”.

  According to the embodiment described above, a message can be transmitted by voice to a person who cannot use mail.

  Even if you can't speak, you can communicate your message by voice. You can also send voice messages to people who can't use mail.

  Even in situations where the caller cannot make a phone call by voice or it is difficult to make a call, the message can be delivered by voice using mail. For example, by sending an e-mail, a voice message can be automatically transmitted to the home phone, and a deaf person can also call the home by e-mail. In addition, working mothers can e-mail from the company, so that the child waiting at home can listen to the contents of the message over the phone.

  Also, by accepting voice calls only from specific “key code (number or symbol)” setters and “mail address” setters authorized by the receiving home, it is possible to prevent unwanted unwanted calls. It becomes.

  In addition, one-to-many multi-point telephone communication is possible as well as one-to-one, so there is no need to dial the same message over and over again in the event of a disaster or emergency. There is an advantage that it is possible to contact a branch office where PCs are not yet popular.

  Note that it is not always possible to connect a phone call as with a normal phone. The re-calling is performed up to three times / three minutes and follows the same protocol as other transmitting devices connected to the normal telephone network. However, if there is an existing answering machine, it is possible to leave a message. For example, it is possible to leave a message such as notifying a child who has returned from school whether a snack is present.

  Further, by having this mechanism not in the telephone network side but in the Internet network, communication to the IP telephone becomes possible. Also in that case, if a device for making a call to the existing telephone network is added from the Internet network side, there is an advantage that the telephone call to either one can be made.

The block diagram of the telephone contact system performed by mail. The processing flowchart of the telephone contact system performed by mail. The figure which shows the example of an individual-to-person transmission mail. The figure which shows the example of a key code table. The figure which shows the example of the transmission mail of a person vs. multiple person. The figure which shows the example of the transmission mail of individual vs. LIST1. The figure which shows the example of the transmission mail of individual vs. LIST2. The figure which shows the telephone number list example of an other party.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Terminal part 102 Internet 103 Input part 104 Text extraction part 105 Voice conversion part 106 Telephone number calling part 107 Telephone response detection part 108 Control part 109 Telephone number storage part 110 Key code storage part 111 Permitted address storage part 112 Telephone number extraction part 113 Verification unit 114 Voice transmission unit 115 Telephone network / IP telephone network 116 Message receiving home 120 Service center 301 Center mail address 302 Requester mail address 303 Service type 304 Telephone number 304 of the other party
305 Key code 306 Message text

Claims (9)

A telephone contact method for extracting text from a received mail to create voice data, calling a specified telephone number, and sending the voice data,
An input step in which the input unit inputs an email;
A text extraction unit that extracts text from the email;
A voice conversion step in which the voice conversion unit converts the text into voice data;
A phone number extraction step in which the phone number extraction unit extracts a phone number from the email;
A calling step in which a telephone number calling unit calls the extracted telephone number;
A response detection step of detecting whether the terminal that called the telephone number has responded by the telephone response detection unit;
A telephone communication method, comprising: a voice transmission step of transmitting the converted voice data when the voice transmission unit determines that the terminal that has called the telephone number has responded in the response detection step. The text extraction unit further extracts the requester's email address from the email,
The collation unit further includes a mail address collation step of comparing the mail address and the mail address recorded in the database to determine whether the extracted mail address is registered,
The telephone call method according to claim 1, wherein the calling step is performed when it is determined that the extracted mail address is registered in the collating step. The text extraction unit further extracts the client's key code from the email,
A verification unit further comprising a key code verification step of comparing the key code and the key code recorded in the database to determine whether the extracted key code is registered;
3. The telephone contact method according to claim 1, wherein the calling step is performed when it is determined that the extracted key code is registered in the collating step. The collation unit further compares the extracted telephone number with the telephone number recorded in the database, and further includes a telephone number collation step for determining whether the extracted telephone number is registered;
4. The telephone contact method according to claim 1, wherein the calling step is performed when it is determined that the extracted telephone number is registered in the collating step. The text extraction unit further extracts a service type from the email,
5. The telephone contact method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of telephone numbers can be set in the mail according to the description of the service type. There is no telephone number extraction step performed by the telephone number extraction unit,
Record the phone number in the database corresponding to the key code,
6. The telephone contact method according to claim 2, wherein the telephone number calling unit calls a telephone number corresponding to the extracted key code.   7. The telephone contact method according to claim 6, wherein a plurality of telephone numbers can be recorded in correspondence with the key code.   The telephone contact method according to claim 5 or 7, wherein the plurality of telephone numbers can be broadcast.   A recording medium storing a program for executing the telephone contact method according to claim 1.

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