APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF GENERATING A MULTIMEDIA EMAIL

• US 20090157830A1
• Filed: 08/12/2008
• Published: 06/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: KIM, Se-hyun
• Application Number:
  US12/189,840
• Publication Number:
  US 20090157830A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/434 using image data, e.g. images, photos, pictures taken by a user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4393 Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

An apparatus for and method of synthesizing multimedia email including an audio file and a video file, and a computer readable recording medium having embodied thereon a computer program to execute the method. The apparatus for synthesizing multimedia email includes an email analysis unit to analyze the content of an email, an audio file synthesis unit to synthesize an audio file by using the analysis result by the email analysis unit, a video file synthesis unit synthesizing a video file by using the analysis result by the email analysis unit, and an audio/video file combining module to combine the audio file and video file. The multimedia email synthesized by the method and apparatus can provide more user-friendly and more various types of information than conventional technology, and increases utilization of an apparatus.

Claims

1. An apparatus to synthesize a multimedia email, the apparatus comprising:

an email analysis unit to analyze the content of an email;

an audio file synthesis unit to synthesize an audio file by using at least part of the analysis result by the email analysis unit;

a video file synthesis unit to synthesize a video file by using at least part of the analysis result by the email analysis unit; and

an audio/video file combining module to combine the audio file and video file.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the email analysis unit comprises:

a keyword extraction module to extract one or more keywords included in the email; and

an email content analysis module to analyze the content of the email by using the one or more keywords.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a file synthesis database (DB) to store audio data to be inserted into an audio file and video data to be inserted into a video file.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an email pre-processing module which comprises;

a tag analyzer to analyze one or more tags of the email;

a token extractor to extract one or more tokens corresponding to the tags; and

a sentence extractor and/or converter to extract, convert, or extract and convert data to be used to generate an audio file or video file from the one or more tokens.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audio file comprises voice data, music data, sound effects data, or background sound data, or any combination thereof.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the video file comprises sender information, an email body, or a background image, or any combination thereof.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the background image is a still image or a moving picture.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audio file synthesis unit comprises a text-to-speech converter, or a background sound selection module, or any combination thereof.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the background sound selection module is configured to select a background sound based at least in part on an analysis result generated by the email analysis unit.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the video file synthesis unit comprises a sender information extraction unit for obtaining additional information on a sender.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the video synthesis unit comprises a background image selection module to select a background image to be inserted into a video file.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the background image selection module selects a background image by using an analysis result by the email analysis unit.

13. A method of synthesizing a multimedia email, the method comprising:

analyzing the content of an email;

synthesizing an audio file by using at least in part the analysis result of the content of the email;

synthesizing a video file by using at least in part the analysis result of the content of the email; and

combining the synthesized audio file and video file.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising email pre-processing which comprises:

classifying one or more items of the email by using tags;

extracting one or more tokens corresponding to the classified items; and

extracting, converting, or extracting and converting data to be used for synthesizing a file from at least the one or more tokens.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the synthesizing of the audio file comprises converting email text into voice data.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the synthesizing of the audio file comprises selecting a background sound based at least in part on the analysis result of the content of the email.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the synthesizing of the video file comprises one or more of:

obtaining email body data;

extracting information on the sender of the email; and

selecting a background image based at least in part on the analysis result of the content of the email.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the synthesizing of the video file further comprises combining two or more of the email body, sender information and a background image.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the sender information comprises one or more of the name of a sender, occupation, importance, workplace information, a photo of a sender, and memos written by a user in relation to a sender.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the synthesizing of the multimedia email further comprises encoding the audio file based at least in part on a received selection of an audio format.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein the synthesizing of the video file further comprises encoding the video file based at least in part on a received selection of a video format.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein the combining of the synthesized audio and video files comprises synchronizing voice data included in the audio file with body data included in the videofile.

23. A computer readable medium having embodied thereon a computer program to execute a method of synthesizing a multimedia email, wherein the method comprises:

analyzing the content of an email;

synthesizing an audio file by using at least part of the analysis result of the content of the email;

synthesizing a video file by using at least part of the analysis result of the content of the email; and

combining the synthesized audio file and video file.