JP2003069718A - System for supporting remote interaction between person handicapped in hearing and person having no difficulty in hearing - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system for supporting mutual character and audio communication, for which no third person is required, since there is no direct contact means for a person handicapped in hearing and the repetition of the third person is required when a party has only a telephone. SOLUTION: A speaking state is provided by repeating a character communication terminal and a telephone set in the remote call support system, characters are converted to voices and digital numbers from key telephone signals are made correspondent to the sentences so that intentions can be transmitted between two persons. The Internet is utilized for the communication means of the character communication terminal and the remote call support system.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention makes it possible to make a telephone call to a telephone for a hearing impaired person. By accessing the system of the present invention from a character communication terminal, the telephone user can communicate with the telephone user without intervention of a third party. It relates to a service that establishes communication by characters and voice.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a hearing-impaired person contacts a remote party, he / she should use a fax machine, an electronic mail machine, or with the cooperation of a third party, change the characters into voice and represent him / herself. However, it was difficult to communicate with the telephone user directly because there was only a way to get the telephone contact. Also, fax and e-mail are not one-way communication methods in real time, and it is impossible to reliably determine whether or not the other party has received the communication.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the present invention provides a system that enables real-time communication with the other party of a call and can automatically perform a series of telephone call work such as making and disconnecting a call. . By using this system, deaf people can communicate with other parties who cannot contact them by fax or e-mail, and by using a mobile phone terminal, the burden of carrying a dedicated text communication device etc. can be reduced. .

[0004]

The present invention provides a chat server for transmitting / receiving characters to / from a character communication terminal and recording text data, and a program control unit for analyzing text data transmitted from the character transmission / reception terminal and instructing program execution. And a call originating / receiving section that is instructed and executed by the control section, a voice synthesizing section that synthesizes and reproduces text data, and a file reproducing section that reproduces a voice file and displays a text message corresponding to the voice. And a touch-tone signal analysis unit for analyzing the touch-tone signal and displaying it as a character.

In the access from the mobile phone terminal capable of Internet communication using claim 2, the chat server is accessed and the text is stored in the server by inputting characters from the terminal. Therefore, by sending a command statement for executing each program to the program control unit by inputting characters, a program for telephone call, voice synthesis, and voice file reproduction is executed. The touch-tone signal transmission on the telephone side is monitored by the program control unit, and the input information is reflected on the chat server. If the touch-tone signal is a command sentence, it is reflected in the chat server after the program corresponding to the command is executed.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a remote dialogue assistance system according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a remote dialogue assistance system according to the present invention, 2 is a character communication terminal, 3 is a chat server having a text recording unit of 4, 5 is a program control unit, 6 is a telephone call receiving / receiving unit, and 7 is an 8 A modem for calling a telephone, 9 is a touch-tone signal analysis unit, 10 is a voice synthesis unit, 11 is a file reproduction unit, 12 is a voice file group reproduced by the file reproduction unit, and 13 is a text message group corresponding to the voice file. Is.

[0007]

[Embodiment] Next, a processing operation of the remote dialogue assistance system 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to flowcharts of FIGS. In order to make the explanation easier to understand, a procedure for a hearing-impaired person to make a call for asking a telephone partner for a fax number from a mobile phone that can use the Internet will be described as an example.

The deaf person first accesses the chat server in the system of the present invention from the Internet connection function of the mobile phone, and logs in to actually use the system (steps S1 and S2). The chat server that has received the login from the outside displays a character input form on the screen of the mobile phone and rejects the access of others so that only the logged-in person can input commands to the program control unit (S3).

Since it is possible to input characters on the mobile phone side, first enter a command for executing the call originating / receiving unit to call the other party, and immediately after that enter the telephone number and send it to the server. To do. In the case of this example, "3 * 12"
In "345", "3 *" is a command to make a call. S
The process from 5 to S12 is performed until a call with the other party becomes possible. In other words, the program control unit analyzes the command sentence transmitted from the mobile phone, acquires the telephone number, executes the telephone call receiving / transmitting unit, and transmits to the transmitted telephone number. The character "I am making a call" is displayed on the mobile phone (S6). After the call is made, the file reproducing section is executed and a voice is heard on the telephone side, saying, "This is a call from a deaf person. To accept, press 1 to reject, or press 2" (S7). Waiting for the touch-tone signal from the telephone in S8, write 1 to S11 if 1 is pressed, and write "disconnected" to the data recording section if 2 is pressed,
The telephone is disconnected (S10). In S11, the voice "Start a call" is played on the phone side, and "Connected" is displayed on the mobile side, and the actual call is possible (S1
2).

First, in steps S13 to S15 of FIG. 3, the phone reproduces the voice "I'm Toru Takei" from the mobile phone. Enter "Toru Takei" in the input form from the mobile side and send it to the server. The program control unit executes the voice synthesis unit to read the text from the data recorded in the data recording unit by the server in S14, and the voice is transmitted to the telephone side (S15).

Next, in steps S16 to S19 of FIG. 3, the text "I'm sorry for the long time" is reproduced from the telephone side to the cell phone. Input the touch-tone signal "5 * 123 #" from the telephone. In this example, “5 *” is a command for executing the file reproducing unit, “123” is a file number, and “#” is a command for ending text input. The program control unit, which has analyzed the touch-tone signal by the touch-tone signal analysis unit, searches for the file name “123” in the audio file group and causes the file reproduction unit to reproduce it. At the same time, "It's been a long time."
Search for the message and write this in the data recording section, and the mobile phone will display "It's been a while."

Next, in steps S20 to S25 of FIG. 4, the portable telephone side inquires the telephone side about the fax number. Enter "5 * 333" on the input form from the mobile phone and send it to the server. In the same way as above, the specified file is played back with "5 *", in this case the voice of "Please tell me the fax number, please enter the number on the touchtone and press Sharp" is played on the phone side, and also on the mobile side A similar sentence is displayed (S22). The telephone side receives it and calls "32165.
When "4 #" is input, the touch-tone analysis unit converts the characters into numbers and the numbers are displayed on the telephone side (S25).

Next, the call is disconnected in steps S26 to S30 of FIG. Enter "2 *" in the input form from the mobile phone and send it to the server. In the case of this example, "2 *" executes the call originating / receiving unit to disconnect the call. The program control unit analyzes the command, first plays the voice file of "Thank you for ending the call" from the file playing unit, and then executes the call originating / receiving unit to disconnect the call. Write "Disconnected" in the data recording part of the server.

Since the call is completed, the portable side logs out in S31, and the server unit receiving the call confirms the exit in S32 and waits for a new login.

[0015]

By using the system according to the present invention, the following excellent services can be received: (1) Since it is an automatic system, a 24-hour system can be used and telephone contact can be made even at midnight. You can (2) By using the mobile phone according to the second aspect, it is possible to make a call in a wide range without being limited to the place of use. (3) Since an automatic program can be executed by a simple command sentence, a simple conversation can be freed from complicated character input. Also, by increasing the number of programs, if the conversation is formalized to some extent, such as calling a taxi or delivering a car, the system automatically advances the dialogue. This will be effective for contact in case of emergency. (4) The present invention is effective not only for hearing impaired persons but also for situations where inconvenience occurs in a voice call.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a remote dialogue assistance system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of processing operations until a call is made to the other party and a call state is actually established.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a processing operation of synthesizing text transmitted from a character communication terminal, converting a numeric number transmitted from a telephone side into text, and transmitting the text to the character communication terminal.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing operation of an example of asking a telephone number for a fax number.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of processing operations from ending a call to logging out of the system.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Remote dialogue support system 2-character communication terminal 3 chat server 4 Data recording section 5 Program control section 6 telephone call department 7 modem 8 telephones 9 Touch-tone signal analysis unit 10 Speech synthesizer 11 File playback section 12 audio files 13-character message file group 14 Internet 15 telephone lines

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Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A chat server unit for performing character communication with a character communication terminal, which relays between the character communication terminal and a telephone, and a program control unit for analyzing text data transmitted from the character communication terminal and instructing program execution. A call origination / termination unit that is instructed and executed by the control unit, a voice synthesis unit that synthesizes and reproduces text data, and a file reproduction unit that reproduces a voice file and displays a text message corresponding to the voice. , A remote dialogue assistance system characterized by having a touch-tone signal analysis unit for analyzing touch-tone signals and displaying them as characters 2. The remote dialogue assistance system according to claim 1, wherein a mobile telephone capable of transmitting and receiving information via the Internet is used as a text communication terminal.