JP2012134855A - Mail relay apparatus and mail relay method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a mail relay apparatus and a mail relay method capable of transmitting a sound-added e-mail to a destination without taking time and effort to a sender.
A mail relay apparatus connected to a transmission terminal apparatus and a reception terminal apparatus, wherein the reception section receives an e-mail including a sentence and image information inserted into the sentence from the transmission terminal apparatus. An extraction unit for extracting the image information inserted in the sentence from the electronic mail, and sound information previously associated with the image information or link information for acquiring the sound information. A generation unit that generates a sound-added e-mail incorporated in a mail and a transmission unit that transmits the sound-added e-mail to the receiving terminal device.
[Selection] Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a mail relay apparatus and a mail relay method that are connected to a transmission terminal apparatus and a reception terminal apparatus and transmit an electronic mail with sound to the reception terminal apparatus.

  It is common to exchange e-mails using a terminal device such as a mobile phone. In the terminal device, it is possible to easily insert an image such as a pictograph into the text included in the e-mail.

  In recent years, a technique has also been proposed in which a transmitting-side terminal device generates a sound-attached e-mail attached with sound information such as a sender's voice and transmits it to a destination (for example, Patent Document 1). .

  According to such a technique, since the voice of the sender can be output in the terminal device on the receiving side, a message can be transmitted by voice in addition to the text of the e-mail. Communication can be improved.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-22215

  However, in the prior art, it is necessary to record the sender's voice and generate sound information in the terminal device on the transmission side, and attach the generated sound information to the e-mail. There was a problem that it took a lot of work to do.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and provides a mail relay apparatus and a mail relay method capable of transmitting a sound-added e-mail to a destination without taking time and effort to the sender. The purpose is to provide.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention has the following features. First, the mail relay apparatus according to the present invention is characterized by a mail relay apparatus (mail relay apparatus 200) connected to a transmission terminal apparatus (for example, terminal apparatus 151) and a reception terminal apparatus (for example, terminal apparatus 152). A receiving unit (receiving unit 211) that receives an e-mail including a sentence and image information inserted in the sentence from the transmitting terminal device, and the image information inserted into the sentence from the e-mail. An e-mail with sound is generated by incorporating sound information pre-associated with the image information or link information for acquiring the sound information into the e-mail. The gist of the present invention is to include a generation unit (generation unit 233) that performs the transmission, and a transmission unit (transmission unit 212) that transmits the electronic mail with sound to the reception terminal device.

  According to such a mail relay device, the sending terminal device simply sends an e-mail containing text and image information inserted in the text to the mail relay device, and sends the sound-added e-mail to the receiving terminal device of the other party. Therefore, it is possible to transmit the sound-added e-mail to the other party very easily without taking time and effort to the sender.

  Another feature of the mail relay device according to the present invention is the mail relay device according to the above feature, wherein the generating unit selects the image information inserted in the sentence by a user of the receiving terminal device. In this case, the electronic mail with sound is generated so that the sound information is output from the receiving terminal device.

  According to such a mail relay device, when the user selects image information by a predetermined operation of the user while referring to the sound-added e-mail in the receiving terminal device, it is associated with the image information. Sound information can be output. Therefore, when the user wants to output sound information, the sound information can be output at a desired timing.

  The relay method according to the present invention is a mail relay method in a mail system comprising a transmission terminal device, a reception terminal device, the transmission terminal device and a mail relay device connected to the reception terminal device, wherein the transmission terminal device Transmitting an e-mail including a sentence and image information inserted in the sentence (step S120), and the e-mail relay device includes an e-mail including the sentence and image information inserted in the sentence Are received from the transmitting terminal device (step S131), the mail relay device extracts the image information to be inserted into the text from the electronic mail (step S132), and the mail relay A device in which sound information pre-associated with the image information is incorporated into the e-mail to generate an e-mail with sound. (Step S134), the mail relay device transmitting the sound-attached electronic mail to the receiving terminal device (step S135), and the receiving terminal device outputting the sound information (step S180). ).

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the mail relay apparatus and mail relay method which can transmit an electronic mail with a sound to an other party can be provided, without requiring a sender | worker.

It is a schematic block diagram which shows the structure of the mail system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is the information memorize | stored in the material provision server which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a graph for demonstrating the mail relay apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the mail system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the display of the electronic mail with a sound displayed in the receiving terminal device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the mail relay apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

  Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Specifically, (1) mail system configuration, (2) mail relay device configuration, (3) mail system operation, (4) mail relay device operation, (5) action and effect, (6) other The embodiment will be described. In the description of the drawings in the following embodiments, the same or similar parts are denoted by the same or similar reference numerals.

(1) Configuration of Mail System FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a mail system 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the mail system 1 includes a network 50, a material providing server 100, terminal devices 151 to 152, and a mail relay device 200.

  The network 50 is assumed to be a mobile phone network or the Internet. The network 50 is connected to the material providing server 100, the terminal devices 151 to 152, and the mail relay device 200.

  The material providing server 100 is connected to the network 50. The material providing server 100 stores image information such as pictographs that can be included in e-mail text. Specifically, information stored in the material providing server 100 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 shows an example of information stored in the material providing server 100.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the material providing server 100 stores sound information, image information, and identification information in association with each other.

  Here, the sound information indicates information that can be output as a sound from the speaker in the terminal devices 151 to 152. Examples of the sound information include music, voice, and onomatopoeia. FIG. 2 shows an example of sound output by sound information in parentheses in the sound information column.

  For example, in FIG. 2, “sound information 1” is information indicating a shimmering onomatopoeia such as “glitter”. Also, the sound information is not limited to the above-described information, and may be, for example, a famous speech. Note that the sound information may include meta information indicating a file format, a sound type, a size, and the like.

  Here, the image information is information indicating pictographs, photographic images, moving images, mark images, and the like, and is information that can be incorporated into e-mail texts transmitted from the terminal devices 151 to 152. In FIG. 2, an example of image information is shown in parentheses in the image information column. For example, in FIG. 2, “image information 1” is information indicating a star image. The image information may include meta information indicating a file format, an image type, a size, and the like.

  The identification information is information for identifying specific image information and specific sound information. For example, the identification information is indicated as “ID001. Note that the number is not limited to three digits.

  The terminal devices 151 to 152 are assumed to be mobile phones, PDAs, smartphones, personal computers, and the like, and the terminal devices 151 to 152 have the same configuration. The terminal devices 151 to 152 can be connected to the material providing server 100 and the mail relay device 200 via the network 50. Communication between the terminal devices 151 to 152 and the network 50 may be wireless or wired.

  Also, the terminal devices 151 to 152 according to the present embodiment can insert image information into an email text and transmit it to the email relay device 200. Each of the terminal devices 151 to 152 has a speaker and can output a sound such as music or voice.

  Further, the terminal devices 151 to 152 according to the present embodiment can receive the sound-attached e-mail generated based on the e-mail from the mail relay apparatus 200. The method for generating the sound-added e-mail will be described later in detail.

  Also, the terminal devices 151 to 152 according to the present embodiment are connected to the material providing server 100 via the network 50 by user operation, and the image information stored in the material providing server 100 is displayed on the terminal device 151. To 152 displays. At this time, the terminal devices 151 to 152 can output sound information associated with the image information from the speaker as sound while displaying the image information.

  The terminal devices 151 to 152 can also download image information stored in the material providing server 100 and store the downloaded image information in the terminal devices 151 to 152. The terminal devices 151 to 152 can insert image information into an e-mail text and generate an e-mail including the text and the image information inserted in the text. The terminal devices 151 to 152 can also generate an e-mail including only image information.

  In the following description, it is assumed that the terminal device 151 is a transmission terminal device that transmits an electronic mail, and the terminal device 152 is a reception terminal device that receives an electronic mail with sound.

  The mail relay apparatus 200 is connected to the terminal apparatuses 151 to 152 and the material providing server 100 via the network 50. The mail relay apparatus 200 receives the electronic mail transmitted from the terminal apparatus 151, and generates a sound-attached electronic mail based on the received electronic mail. Further, the mail relay device 200 can transmit the generated electronic mail with sound to the terminal device 152 of the other party. The detailed configuration of the mail relay device 200 will be described later.

(2) Configuration of Mail Relay Device The configuration of the mail relay device 200 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the mail relay apparatus 200. As shown in FIG. 2, the mail relay device 200 includes a communication unit 210, a storage unit 220, and a processing unit 230.

  The communication unit 210 is connected to the network 50 and communicates with the terminal devices 151 to 152. In addition, the communication unit 210 includes a reception unit 211 and a transmission unit 212.

  The receiving unit 211 receives an e-mail from the terminal device 151. The e-mail includes text and image information inserted in the text. The transmission unit 212 transmits the sound-added e-mail generated by the generation unit 233, which will be described later, to the counterpart terminal device 152.

  The storage unit 220 stores a program executed by the processing unit 230 and is used as a work area during execution of the program by the processing unit 230. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the storage unit 220 stores identification information, image information, and sound information in association with each other.

  The processing unit 230 performs processing according to a program stored in the storage unit 220. The processing unit 230 includes an extraction unit 231, an acquisition unit 232, a generation unit 233, and a sound distribution unit 234.

  The extraction unit 231 extracts image information such as pictographs inserted in the text from the electronic mail received by the reception unit 211.

  The acquisition unit 232 acquires sound information and identification information associated with the image information in advance based on the image information extracted by the extraction unit 231. Specifically, the acquisition unit 232 refers to the storage unit 220 and acquires sound information and identification information associated with the image information. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 2, when the image information extracted by the extraction unit 231 is “image information 1”, the acquisition unit 232 includes the associated sound information “sound information 1” and the identification information “ID0001”. And get.

  The production | generation part 233 incorporates the link information for acquiring sound information in an electronic mail, and produces | generates an electronic mail with a sound. Here, the link information includes address information of the mail relay apparatus 200 from which sound information is acquired and identification information for identifying the sound information. As address information, URL etc. are mentioned, for example.

  Further, the generation unit 233 incorporates link information into the image information extracted by the extraction unit 231. Here, as a method of incorporating the link information into the image information, there is a method of writing the link information in the meta information of the image information, but any method may be used.

  In addition, the generation unit 233 receives sound information from the terminal device 152 when the user of the terminal device 152 that has received the sound-attached e-mail selects image information inserted in the sentence of the sound-added e-mail. Is generated so that is output.

  Specifically, the generation unit 233 specifies position information indicating the position of the image information inserted in the character string in the sentence. The generation unit 233 archives the electronic mail, the link information incorporated in the image information, and the position information of the text in which the image information is inserted, and generates an electronic mail with sound. The generation unit 233 transmits the generated electronic mail with sound to the counterpart terminal device 152 via the transmission unit 212.

  In the above-described example, the generation unit 233 generates the sound-attached e-mail by incorporating the link information into the e-mail. However, the sound information itself may be incorporated into the image information instead of the link information. Specifically, the generation unit 233 may generate sound-added e-mail by incorporating sound information previously associated with image information of the e-mail into the e-mail. In this case, the generation unit 233 includes the text included in the e-mail, the image information inserted in the text, the sound information embedded in the image information, and the position information of the text in which the image information is inserted. And create an email with sound. At this time, the generation unit 233 generates an electronic mail with sound in, for example, the SWF format or the JAR format.

  In addition, the generation unit 233 may determine which of the link information and the sound information is included in the image information according to what function the terminal device 152 of the transmission destination has. For example, the determination may be made according to whether the destination terminal device 152 is compatible with an environment such as a Flash application format, a Java (registered trademark) application format, or a Brew application format.

  The sound distribution unit 234 transmits sound information to the terminal device 152 based on the sound request information transmitted from the terminal device 152 that has received the electronic mail with sound. Here, the sound request information is information that the terminal device 152 that has received the sound-added e-mail requests the sound distribution unit 234 to transmit the sound information. The sound request information includes identification information for identifying the sound information.

  When receiving the sound request information, the sound distribution unit 234 refers to the storage unit 220 based on the identification information included in the sound request information, and identifies the sound information associated with the identification information. The sound distribution unit 234 transmits the specified sound information to the terminal device 152.

(3) Mail system operation,
Next, the operation of the mail system 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of the mail system 1. Here, the terminal device 151 is described as a transmitting terminal device that transmits an electronic mail, and the terminal device 152 is described as a receiving terminal device that receives an electronic mail with sound.

  In step S110, the terminal device 151 generates an e-mail according to a predetermined operation by the user. Note that this e-mail includes a sentence and image information inserted in the sentence.

  In step S <b> 120, the terminal device 151 transmits an e-mail to the mail relay device 200. Here, it is assumed that the mail address of the terminal device 152 is “AAA@BBB.ne.jp”. Further, the terminal device 151 can transmit an e-mail to the mail relay device 200 by changing the mail address of the terminal device 152 to the mail address “AAA@BBB.neXjp.XXXX.jp”. As described above, if the address for sending an e-mail to the mail relay device 200 and the address for sending an e-mail to the terminal device 152 can be easily distinguished, the address can be easily managed in the terminal device 151.

  In step S <b> 130, the mail relay device 200 receives an email from the terminal device 151. The mail relay apparatus 200 extracts image information inserted in the sentence from the received electronic mail. The mail relay apparatus 200 incorporates link information for acquiring sound information associated with the image information into the image information of the e-mail, and generates an e-mail with sound.

  In step S <b> 140, the mail relay device 200 transmits the sound-attached electronic mail to the terminal device 152. At this time, the mail relay apparatus 200 corrects the character of “X” in the mail address “AAA@BBB.neXjp.XXXX.jp” of the electronic mail transmitted from the terminal apparatus 151, and The mail address “AAA@BBB.ne.jp” is specified. In addition, the mail relay apparatus 200 sets the mail address “AAA@BBB.ne.jp” as the transmission destination address of the sound-added e-mail and transmits the sound-added e-mail to the terminal device 152.

  In step S150, the terminal device 152 receives the sound-attached e-mail and displays the sound-added e-mail on the display.

  In step S160, when the image information in the text is selected by the user's predetermined operation, the terminal device 152 transmits the sound information based on the link information incorporated in the image information of the sound-added email. Requests to the mail relay apparatus 200.

  Here, the operation of the terminal device 152 in step S160 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 shows an example of the display of the sound-attached electronic mail displayed on the terminal device 152. As shown in FIG. 5, in the terminal device 152, the cursor 500 can be moved for each character of the sentence by a predetermined operation of the user. Further, the terminal device 152 can identify one piece of image information as one character and move the cursor 500.

  For example, as illustrated in FIG. 5, in the terminal device 152, when the cursor 500 is placed on the image information “★” indicating a star, it is determined that the image information is selected by the user. Specifically, the terminal device 152 determines that the image information has been selected when the position information of the image information included in the sound-attached e-mail matches the position information of the cursor 500.

  Then, the terminal device 152 extracts link information embedded in the image information. The terminal device 152 identifies the mail relay device 200 based on the address information included in the link information. The terminal device 152 generates sound request information including the identification information based on the identification information included in the link information, and transmits the generated sound request information to the mail relay device 200.

  For example, the link information incorporated in the image information “★” includes the identification information “ID001”. The terminal device 152 transmits the sound request information including the identification information “ID001” to the mail relay device 200, thereby transmitting the “sound information 1” and “glitter” associated with the identification information “ID001” to the mail relay device. Request to 200.

  In step S <b> 170, the mail relay device 200 specifies sound information based on the identification information included in the sound request information transmitted from the terminal device 152. The mail relay device 200 transmits the specified sound information to the terminal device 152.

  In step S180, the terminal device 152 receives the sound information transmitted from the mail relay device 200 and outputs the sound information. At this time, as shown in FIG. 5, the terminal device 152 outputs the sound information while displaying the text of the electronic mail with sound and the image information.

(4) Operation of Mail Relay Device Next, the operation of the mail relay device 200 in step S130 described above will be specifically described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of the mail relay apparatus 200.

  In step S <b> 131, in the mail relay device 200, the receiving unit 211 receives an e-mail from the terminal device 151. Note that the e-mail includes text and image information inserted in the text.

  In step S <b> 132, the extraction unit 231 extracts image information such as pictographs inserted in the text from the electronic mail received by the reception unit 211.

  In step S133, the acquisition unit 232 acquires sound information previously associated with the image information based on the image information extracted by the extraction unit 231. Specifically, the acquisition unit 232 refers to the storage unit 220 and acquires sound information and identification information associated with the image information.

  In step S134, the generation unit 233 generates link-added e-mail by incorporating link information for acquiring sound information into the e-mail. Specifically, the generation unit 233 incorporates link information including identification information and address information acquired by the acquisition unit 232 into the image information extracted by the extraction unit 231.

  The generation unit 233 archives the text included in the e-mail, the image information inserted in the text, the link information embedded in the image information, and the position information of the text in which the image information is inserted. To generate an electronic mail with sound.

  Note that the generation unit 233 may generate sound-added e-mail by incorporating sound information itself into image information instead of the link information described above. In this case, since the terminal device 152 does not need to transmit the sound request information to the mail relay device 200, the sound information can be output earlier.

  In step S <b> 135, the transmission unit 212 transmits the sound-attached electronic mail generated by the generation unit 233 to the counterpart terminal device 152.

(5) Operation and Effect In the above-described embodiment, the mail relay device 200 receives the email transmitted from the terminal device 151 on the transmission side, and extracts the image information inserted in the text of the email. In addition, the mail relay device 200 incorporates link information for acquiring sound information associated with image information in advance into the electronic mail to generate an electronic mail with sound. In addition, the mail relay device 200 transmits the generated electronic mail with sound to the terminal device 152 on the receiving side.

  When the image information is selected while displaying the sound-added e-mail, the receiving-side terminal device 152 requests the mail relay device 200 for sound information corresponding to the link information incorporated in the image information. The terminal device 152 on the receiving side receives the sound information transmitted from the mail relay device 200 and outputs the sound information.

  In this way, according to the mail relay apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment, the transmission-side terminal apparatus 151 simply sends an email including a sentence and image information inserted into the sentence to the mail relay apparatus 200. Since the sound-attached e-mail can be transmitted to the destination terminal device 152, it is possible to send the sound-added e-mail to the destination terminal device 152 very easily and without any trouble for the sender. become.

  Moreover, according to the mail relay apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment, not only can the sender's emotions and feelings be visually conveyed, but also easily transmitted auditorily, This message can be communicated more directly to further improve communication between the two.

(6) Other Embodiments As described above, the present invention has been described according to the embodiment. However, it should not be understood that the description and drawings constituting a part of this disclosure limit the present invention. From this disclosure, various alternative embodiments, examples and operational techniques will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

  For example, in the mail relay apparatus 200 according to the above-described embodiment, the position of the image information is such that the generation unit 233 outputs sound information when image information is selected by the user of the terminal device 152 on the receiving side. An electronic mail with sound was generated by archiving location information indicating

  However, the configuration is not limited to the above-described configuration. For example, the generation unit 233 decomposes the text of the e-mail text and the image information inserted in the text, and a specific display designator is located at the position of the image information. May be assigned. In this case, the generation unit 233 outputs sound information corresponding to the link information when an event occurs in the terminal device 152 where the cursor 500 stops at the position of the image information corresponding to the specific display specifier. In addition, the control information of the event corresponding to the cursor control is archived to generate an electronic mail with sound. The display specifier and event control information may be generated in a format according to the environment of the terminal device 152, such as a Flash application format, a Java (registered trademark) application format, or a Brew application format.

  Further, the mail relay device 200 according to the above-described embodiment may have the function of the material providing server 100. Specifically, the processing unit 230 of the mail relay device 200 provides image information and sound information stored in the storage unit 220 to the terminal devices 151 to 152 in response to connections from the terminal devices 151 to 152, The image information may be downloaded to the terminal devices 151 to 152.

  In the above-described embodiment, in the terminal devices 151 to 152, the cursor 500 is configured to move in units of one character in a sentence by a predetermined operation by the user. You may move to hit only. Further, when the terminal devices 151 to 152 are of the touch panel type, when the position of the image information is touched by the user, it may be determined that the image information has been selected and sound information may be output.

  Thus, it should be understood that the present invention includes various embodiments and the like not described herein. Therefore, the present invention is limited only by the invention specifying matters in the scope of claims reasonable from this disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Mail system, 50 ... Network, 100 ... Material provision server, 151-152 ... Terminal device, 200 ... Mail relay apparatus, 210 ... Communication part, 211 ... Reception part, 212 ... Transmission part, 220 ... Memory | storage part, 230 ... Processing unit, 231 ... extraction unit, 232 ... acquisition unit, 233 ... generation unit, 234 ... sound distribution unit, 500 ... cursor

Claims (3)

A mail relay device connected to a transmitting terminal device and a receiving terminal device,
A receiving unit for receiving an e-mail including a sentence and image information inserted in the sentence from the transmitting terminal device;
An extraction unit for extracting the image information inserted into the sentence from the e-mail;
Sound information associated in advance with the image information or link information for acquiring the sound information is incorporated into the electronic mail to generate an electronic mail with sound,
A mail relay device comprising: a transmission unit that transmits the electronic mail with sound to the receiving terminal device. The generating unit is configured to output the sound-attached electronic device so that the sound information is output from the receiving terminal device when the image information inserted in the sentence is selected by a user of the receiving terminal device. The mail relay apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mail is generated. A mail relay method in a mail system comprising a transmission terminal device, a reception terminal device, and a mail relay device connected to the transmission terminal device and the reception terminal device,
The transmitting terminal device transmitting an e-mail including a sentence and image information inserted in the sentence;
The e-mail relay device receiving an e-mail including a text and image information inserted in the text from the transmitting terminal device;
The mail relay device extracting the image information inserted in the sentence from the electronic mail;
The mail relay device incorporating sound information pre-associated with the image information into the electronic mail to generate an electronic mail with sound;
The mail relay device transmitting the sound-added e-mail to the receiving terminal device;
The e-mail relay method comprising: the receiving terminal device outputting the sound information.

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