JP2002199129A - Portable telephone set and information-sending method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable telephone set and an information-sending method, which minimizes retaining of a silent message in an automatic answering telephone set and enables a person who does not like leaving a message in the automatic answering telephone set to retain only a business call easily without caring about the surroundings or to transmit detailed information in a form of character information, as necessary. SOLUTION: When a receiving side comes into the state of automatic answering telephone and a prescribed operation is given, voice information stored is transmitted to the receiving side (step S14), shifting to character information transmitting function (step S18) to transmit the stored character information which is finally transmitted to the receiving side (step S20).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable telephone and an information sending method, and more particularly to a portable telephone having not only voice information communication but also text information communication function (mail function), and voice using the portable telephone. The present invention relates to an information sending method for sending information and character information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, so-called portable telephones and PHS (Personal
al Handyphone System) (hereinafter collectively referred to as mobile phones) exceeds the number of fixed-line subscribers, and in the future it is becoming a situation to own one mobile phone per person. In recent years, with the spread of the Internet, mobile phones having a function of enabling connection to the Internet have become common. On the Internet, various types of information (contents) are distributed, and it is possible to access them from a mobile phone. In the Internet, an e-mail service has been generally used, but a mobile phone in recent years is provided with a function for easily transmitting / receiving an e-mail.

[0003] When performing communication (conversation) of voice information using a portable telephone, it is usually performed by calling the other party, calling the other party, and responding to the other party. In other words, when communicating voice information, basically, the user of the communication source mobile phone (hereinafter, referred to as a sender)
And a user of a communication destination mobile phone (hereinafter, called a receiver) must be able to talk at the same time.
On the other hand, when character information is communicated using the e-mail function, the sender basically transmits the character information to the receiver using a mobile phone. When the receiver receives the character information, the character information is received using a mobile phone when the receiver is convenient, and the character information is exchanged by replying to the sender if necessary. Thus, when sending and receiving character information using the e-mail function,
Since the transmission and reception of the character information can be performed when the sender and the receiver are convenient, the convenience is high.

[0004] Further, even in the case of communication of voice information, when the receiver is inconvenient and cannot respond to the call of the sender, a so-called answering machine function for saving the sender's message has been conventionally used. Have been. This answering machine function provides a message to the sender that the receiver cannot respond to the call of the sender when the receiver cannot respond to the call of the sender. This is a function for storing a message based on voice information within a predetermined time. Therefore, in a state where the answering machine function is enabled and the message can be stored, the sender cannot transmit character information to the receiver using the mail function.

[0005]

By the way, when a sender calls a receiver using a portable telephone,
When the answering machine function is activated and you enter the answering machine state, and the receiver receives voice information indicating that the sender cannot respond to the call of the sender, the sender immediately considers the contents of the message to be stored for a predetermined time. Need to pronounce clearly within. Generally, the answering machine function realized by a mobile phone can save the voice information emitted from the sender in a short time of about ten and several seconds. Therefore, the sender must accurately summarize the content to be saved.

Further, when the answering machine function is activated and the answering machine is put into the answering machine state, the sender who does not like to store the message can make a call and leave the message several seconds after the answering machine enters the answering machine state. Often, they hang up. In such a case, when the recipient checks the content stored in the answering machine, a state is entered in which a silent message is entered.

[0007] Further, in the case of an answering machine, if a person is around, the tone of the voice changes as compared with a normal spoken language, so it is embarrassing to make a voice on the spot and hesitate to save the message. There was a problem that the contents to be conveyed might be mistaken. If you enter the answering machine and the voice information can be saved, you may want to send the text information to the recipient if you do not want to save the voice information. There was a problem that transmission could not be performed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to reduce the possibility that a silent message is stored in an answering machine as much as possible. It is an object of the present invention to provide a mobile phone and an information transmission method capable of easily storing a message without any need, and transmitting detailed information as character information if necessary.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a portable telephone according to the present invention has a storage unit for storing voice information and character information, and an operation unit for outputting operation information according to a user's operation. When predetermined operation information is output from the operation unit, the voice information stored in the storage unit is transmitted, and the character information stored in the storage unit is transferred to a character information transmission function. And a control unit for transmitting. Also, the mobile phone of the present invention
The storage unit stores a plurality of the voice information and character information, and the control unit selects the voice information and the character information stored in the storage unit according to operation information output from the operation unit. Features. Further, the mobile phone of the present invention is further characterized by further comprising a display unit for displaying character information indicating the contents of the audio information selected by the control unit. Furthermore, the mobile phone of the present invention includes a voice input unit that converts a user's voice into voice information, and the control unit is converted by the voice input unit according to operation information output from the operation unit. The stored voice information or character information is stored in the storage unit. In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, an information sending method according to a first aspect of the present invention provides a method of transmitting voice information stored in advance when a predetermined operation is performed when a receiver enters an answering machine state. And a step of shifting to a character information transmitting function and transmitting previously stored character information to the recipient. Also,
An information transmitting method according to a second aspect of the present invention is a method of transmitting voice information stored in advance to the receiver when a predetermined operation is performed when the receiver enters an answering machine state, And transmitting the inputted character information to the recipient. Further, the information sending method according to the second aspect of the present invention is characterized by further comprising a step of storing character information transmitted to the recipient.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a portable telephone and an information transmitting method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a mobile phone according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a mobile phone according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a communication unit 10, a control unit 12, an operation unit 14, a menu storage unit 16, a storage unit 18, a display unit 20, a voice input unit 22,
And an audio output unit 24.

The communication unit 10 has an antenna, a modulation unit, and a demodulation unit, and transmits and receives various information such as voice information, character information, and image information to and from a base station (not shown). Communication unit 1
0 is output to the control unit 12, and the control unit 1
The voice information and character information output from the communication unit 2 are transmitted from the communication unit 10 to the base station. Further, the control unit 12 generally controls the operation of the mobile phone according to the present embodiment. The control performed by the control unit 12 will be described below as needed.

The operation unit 14 includes a numeric keypad, a call key, and function keys to which predetermined functions are assigned, and outputs operation information corresponding to the operation of the user of the portable telephone with respect to each key. The control unit 12 performs control according to operation information output from the operation unit 14. For example, when a ten-digit number is input and a call key is operated, control is performed to make a call to a mobile telephone or a normal telephone designated by the input telephone number. When a key for executing an e-mail function as a character information transmission function is operated, e-mail transmission / reception control is performed.

The menu storage unit 16 stores various menus for coping with an answering machine functioning when a call is made to a called party, and a program for implementing the menus. Here, various menus for dealing with the answering machine provided by the mobile phone of the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing various menus for dealing with an answering machine provided by a mobile phone according to an embodiment of the present invention. The menu shown in FIG. 2 is called by operating a specific function key.

As shown in FIG. 2, each menu is hierarchically arranged, and a "register" menu M1, a "send" menu M2, and a "character input / transmission / registration" menu M3 are arranged in the first hierarchy. Is provided. Further, a “voice registration” menu M11 and a “character registration” menu M12 are provided as a second layer of the “registration” menu M1, and a “voice transmission” menu M21 is provided as a second layer of the “transmission” menu M2.
And a “character transmission” menu M22.

The "registration" menu M1 is a menu for pre-registering voice information or character information to be transmitted when a telephone call is made to enter the answering machine state. The voice information is registered in a "voice registration" menu M11. The registration of the character information is performed in the “character registration” menu M12. The voice information registered in the “voice registration” menu M11 simply indicates, for example, the name of the user of the mobile phone and the contents of the business. The character information to be registered in the “character registration” menu M12 is character information to be transmitted to the receiver when the power of the mobile phone owned by the receiver is turned off or when the receiver is in the answering machine state, and is frequently used. It is preferable to register a plurality of fixed phrases in advance. The character information registered in the “character registration” menu M12 is described in the display section 20.
The contents can be displayed and confirmed. The voice information registered in the "voice registration" menu M11 is associated with any of the character information registered in the "character registration" menu M12, and the first few characters of the relevant character information are indexed. Is preferably displayed on the display unit 20 so that the user can distinguish the content of the registered audio information. Also, "Character registration"
If there is no relevant character information to be registered in the menu M12, character information other than the already registered character information is input when registering the voice information in the menu M11. It is preferable to use an index that briefly indicates the content.

The "send" menu M2 is a menu for designating voice information or character information to be transmitted when a telephone call is made to enter the answering machine state. Information transmission is performed in the “character transmission” menu M22. Since the voice information is transmitted to the answering machine by the "voice transmission" menu M21, the message can be stored in the answering machine without any utterance even if there are people around.
As a result, the frequency at which silent messages are stored in the answering machine decreases. In addition, the “text transmission” menu M2
By selecting 2, character information registered in advance can be sent when the telephone is actually in the answering machine state.

"Character input / transmission / registration" menu M3
Is a menu that is selected when a new text is created and transmitted on the spot instead of the character information registered in advance when the telephone is actually in the answering machine state. Note that a sentence created by selecting the "character input / transmission / registration" menu M3 can also be registered as character information.

Referring back to FIG. 1, when a specific function key is operated, the control unit 12 reads out the menu stored in the menu storage unit 16, displays the contents of the menu on the display unit 20, and displays each menu. And executes a function provided in each menu. The storage unit 18 stores voice information and character information registered in the “registration” menu M1 and the “character input / transmission / registration” menu M3 described above.

The display unit 20 is an LCD (Liquid Crystal D)
display device such as isplay), and displays character information and image information output from the control unit 12. The voice output unit 22 includes a speaker or the like, and converts voice information received by the mobile phone into voice. The voice input unit 24 includes a microphone or the like, and converts voice into voice information.

Next, the operation of the portable telephone according to one embodiment of the present invention in the above configuration, that is, an information sending method according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described. [Operation at the time of registration of voice information and character information] First, when a user of the mobile phone operates a predetermined function key provided on the operation unit 14, operation information indicating that is output to the control unit 12, The control unit 12 reads the menu from the menu storage unit 16 and causes the display unit 20 to display the menu. The menus displayed here are a “registration” menu M1, a “send” menu M2, and a “character input / transmission / registration” menu M3.

Next, when the user selects the "registration" menu M1 from the menus displayed on the display unit 20, the control unit 12 causes the "voice registration" menu M11 and the "character registration" menu.
The menu M12 is displayed on the display unit 20. Here, when the user selects the “voice registration” menu M11, voice information can be registered. When registering the voice information, the user utters a message, for example, "Oh, we will send an e-mail so please contact us.", And the voice is converted into voice information by the voice input unit 24. You. The control unit 12 causes the storage unit 18 to store the audio information. By performing the above operation, voice information can be registered with the voice of the user. Here, the storage unit 1
In the case where a plurality of pieces of audio information are stored in 8, it is preferable that character information serving as an index indicating each audio information be stored in association with each audio information.

A "voice registration" menu M11 is displayed on the display unit 20.
When the user selects the "character registration" menu M12 while the "character registration" menu M12 is displayed, a character input field is displayed on the display unit 20. When the user operates each key of the operation unit 14 while the character input box is displayed, character information corresponding to the operation of each key is stored in the storage unit 18. For example, it is possible to cause the storage unit 18 to store character information such as “XX.

The registration of the character information can be performed not only by selecting the "character registration" menu M12 in advance but also by directly inputting a character string during a call (answering machine). In this case, at the time of a call, a predetermined function key is operated to operate the “registration” menu M1 and the “send” menu M1.
2, while the menu "character input / transmission / registration" menu M3 is displayed, the "character input / transmission / registration" menu M3 is selected. However, if the receiver's mobile phone is in the answering machine state, character information cannot be transmitted as e-mail, so transmission is performed after shifting to the e-mail function.

"Character input / transmission / registration" menu M3
If is selected, the control unit 12 transmits the character information input by the user to the receiver's mobile phone, and registers the character information in the storage unit 18. "Character registration" menu M
In both cases where character information is registered by selecting “12” and when character information is registered by selecting the “character input / transmission / registration” menu M3, a plurality of character information must be registered. Can be.

[Operation at Transmission of Voice Information and Text Information] The mobile phone of the present embodiment transmits voice information and text information when the receiver's mobile phone is in an answering machine state. Here, when the sender makes a call to the receiver, if the power of the receiver's mobile phone is turned on but the receiver cannot answer the call, the receiver's mobile phone will be (1). ) "Calling until hanging up" or (2) "Calling at first and shift to answering machine by the set time of the other party's mobile phone". Also,
If the receiver is in a power-off state or in a place where radio waves cannot reach, (3) “transition to answering machine from the beginning” is performed.

The information sending method according to the present embodiment can be applied to the above (2) and (3). Hereinafter, the processing flow will be described in detail. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an information sending method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The sender calls the receiver's mobile phone using the mobile phone (step S10), and when the receiver's mobile phone enters the answering machine state (step S12), calls from the answering machine function to the sender's mobile phone. A voice message is sent indicating that the request cannot be met.

When receiving this message, the sender operates a predetermined function key of the mobile phone. When this operation is performed, the control unit 12 reads the menu from the menu storage unit 16 and displays the “registration” menu M1, the “transmission” menu M2, and the “character input / transmission / registration” menu M3 on the display unit 20. Is done. From these menus, the sender selects the “Send” menu M2 and the “Send Audio” menu M2.
When 1 is selected in order, the control unit 12 causes the display unit 20 to display character information as an index associated with the audio information stored in the storage unit 18. Then, when the sender selects desired character information from the character information displayed on the display unit 20, the control unit 12 reads out the voice information associated with the selected character information from the storage unit 18, and reads out the voice information from the communication unit 18. The data is transmitted via the communication terminal 10 (step S14).
With the above operation, the sender can store the message on the answering machine without uttering himself. Here, it is preferable that the message stored in the answering machine has a content that reveals the identity of the sender and a content that indicates that character information will be transmitted by e-mail from now on.

After the transmission of the voice information is completed by the above processing, the sender once operates the on-hook key of the portable telephone to cut off the telephone and disconnect the line (step S16). Then, when the recipient is called again, the control unit 12
Automatically shifts to an e-mail function as a character information transmission function (step S18). In a state where the mobile phone has shifted to the e-mail function, the operator operates a predetermined function key to operate the “registration” menu M1, the “send” menu M2,
And display the character input / transmission / registration menu M3 on the display unit 20 and sequentially select the “transmission” menu M2 and the “character transmission” menu M22 or select the “character input / transmission / registration” menu M3. select.

When the "transmission" menu M2 and the "character transmission" menu M22 are sequentially selected, the control section 12 reads out the character information registered in advance in the storage section 18 and displays the list on the display section 20. The control unit 12 transmits the character information selected by the sender operating the operation unit 14 via the communication unit 10 while the display is being performed. In the above list display, the control unit 12 causes the display unit 20 to display the first few characters that can identify the contents of all the sentences among the character information registered in advance. It is possible to easily select and transmit from among them.

On the other hand, when the "character input / transmission / registration" menu M3 is selected, the control section 12 displays a character input field on the display section 20 to enable the sender to input character information. Therefore, the sender can input new character information on the spot. When the character information is input by the sender, the control unit 12 transmits the character information (Step S20).

When the transmission of the character information is completed, the control unit 12
Displays on the display unit 20 a message as to whether or not to register the input character information in the storage unit 18. Here, if the sender performs an operation to instruct the operation unit 14 not to register, the input character information is discarded. On the other hand, when the sender performs an operation of instructing the operation unit 14 to register, the control unit 12 registers the input character information in the storage unit 18 (step S22). Therefore, even when the sender wants to transmit the same character information again, the character information can be transmitted without inputting the character information again. The newly registered character information can be edited in the “character registration” menu M12.

Although the mobile phone and the information sending method according to one embodiment of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment and can be freely changed within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, referring to FIG. 3, after the sender transmits the voice information, the on-hook key is manually operated to disconnect the line (step S
Although the operation has been shifted from 16) to the e-mail function, the control unit 12 may automatically perform this operation.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the possibility that a silent message is stored in an answering machine as much as possible. There is an effect that the business can be easily saved without performing. Further, if necessary, there is an effect that detailed information can be transmitted as character information.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a mobile phone according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing various menus for dealing with an answering machine provided by a mobile phone according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an information transmission method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 12 control unit 14 operation unit 18 storage unit 20 display unit 22 voice input unit

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Mizuhiro Tobita 2-1-1, Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo NTT Advanced Technology Corporation (72) Inventor Masato Miyoshi Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 2-3-1, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) NN18 NN21 NN34 RR11 SS07 TT06 UU16

Claims (7)

[Claims] A storage unit configured to store voice information and character information; an operation unit configured to output operation information according to a user operation; and a storage unit configured to store predetermined operation information when the operation unit outputs predetermined operation information. A mobile phone, comprising: a control unit that transmits voice information stored in a storage unit and shifts to a text information transmission function to transmit the text information stored in the storage unit. 2. The storage unit stores a plurality of the voice information and character information, and the control unit controls the voice information and the character information stored in the storage unit according to operation information output from the operation unit. 2. The mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein the mobile phone is selected. 3. The mobile phone according to claim 2, further comprising a display unit for displaying character information indicating the contents of the voice information selected by the control unit. 4. An audio input unit for converting a user's voice into audio information, wherein the control unit responds to operation information output from the operation unit and outputs the audio information or the audio information converted by the audio input unit. The character information is stored in the storage unit.
The mobile phone according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 5. A step of transmitting prestored voice information to the recipient when a predetermined operation is performed when the recipient is in an answering machine state, and moving to a character information transmission function and storing the information in advance. Transmitting the received character information to the recipient. 6. A step of transmitting voice information stored in advance to the receiver when a predetermined operation is performed when the receiver is in an answering machine state, and a step of inputting character information. Transmitting the received character information to the recipient. 7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising the step of storing the character information transmitted to the recipient.