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Text-to-speech apparatus

A technology of equipment, text data, applied in speech analysis, speech synthesis, instrumentation, etc., capable of solving problems such as unpleasant, undisclosed or implied needs and problems, undisclosed or implied needs and problems solutions, etc.

Inactive Publication Date: 2008-12-31
FUJITSU LTD
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Setting the relationship between utterance speed and phoneme length to such a simple relationship that the aforementioned utterance speed and phoneme length are in simple inverse proportion to each other may cause hearing difficulties, unpleasant feeling, and high-speed or low-speed reading Recognition decay when , even if it sounds natural (i.e. easily audible) at normal speaking speed
[0005] However, the Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication neither discloses nor suggests such needs and problems, nor discloses or suggests solutions for solving such needs and problems.

Method used

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Examples

Experimental program
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Effect test

no. 1 example

[0040] The following will refer to Figure 1 and figure 2 A first embodiment of the present invention is described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a structural example of a text-to-speech reading device. figure 2 is a block diagram showing a structural example of the phoneme length control unit in the text-to-speech reading device.

[0041] The speech reading device (speech reading device, text-to-speech reading device) 2 is an example of the device structure, program and method for text-to-speech reading according to the present invention, and is implemented by a computer. For example, the text-to-speech reading device 2 includes speech synthesis means that converts character data such as text sentences (for example, text with kanji and kana in Japanese) into speech and outputs the speech. The phoneme length of the phoneme immediately after the pause in the character data is controlled according to the utterance speed (ie, the reading speed) to enhance the ease of listeni...

no. 2 example

[0074] The following will refer to Figure 7 A second embodiment of the present invention is described. Figure 7 is a flowchart showing one example of a processing procedure for controlling phoneme lengths according to the second embodiment.

[0075] This process is an example of a program or method for text-to-speech reading, and utilizes text-to-speech reading device 2 (FIG. 1) and phoneme length controller 18 ( figure 2 ) to execute. In the second embodiment, in addition to the phoneme length adjustment performed in the first embodiment, a determination is made to determine whether a phoneme is a fricative. Further, when the speaking speed is the high reading speed, the determined phoneme length of the fricative is increased to adjust the phoneme length. This arrangement can enhance the ease of listening without additionally increasing the total amount of reproduction time of the text-to-speech reading.

[0076] In the second embodiment, in order to identify a phoneme ...

no. 3 example

[0086] The following will refer to Figure 8 A third embodiment of the present invention is described. Figure 8 is a flowchart showing one example of a processing procedure for controlling phoneme lengths according to the third embodiment.

[0087] This process is an example of a program or method for text-to-speech reading, and utilizes text-to-speech reading device 2 (FIG. 1) and phoneme length controller 18 ( figure 2 ) to execute. In the third embodiment, in addition to the phoneme length adjustment performed in the first embodiment (that is, the phoneme length about the phoneme is increased), the phoneme lengths of other phonemes are reduced, thereby enhancing the ease of listening without Increases the amount of time it takes to convert spoken text to speech. In this embodiment, vowels are used as other phonemes whose phoneme lengths are reduced.

[0088] In the third embodiment, in order to identify a phoneme whose phoneme length is to be adjusted, the phoneme dete...

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PUM

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Abstract

The invention relates to a text-to-voice device. An apparatus for converting text data into speech signal, comprises: a phoneme determiner for determining phoneme data corresponding to a plurality of phonemes and pause data corresponding to a plurality of pauses to be inserted among a series of phonemes in the text data to be converted into speech signal; a phoneme length adjuster for modifying the phoneme data and the pause data by determining lengths of the phonemes, respectively in accordance with a speed of the speech signal and selectively adjusting the length of at least one of the phonemes which is placed immediately after one of the pauses so that the at least one of the phonemes is relatively extended timewise as compared to other phonemes; and a output unit for outputting speech signal on the basis of the adjusted phoneme data and pause data by the phoneme length adjuster.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to a text-to-speech reading device, program and method for converting character data including phonetic characters in a document and outputting voice. More specifically, the present invention relates to a text-to-speech reading device, program and method for controlling phoneme length (specifically, increasing / decreasing specific phoneme length, etc.) according to reading speed (eg, high reading speed). Background technique [0002] As is well known, the so-called "text-to-speech reading" technology analyzes character data including phonetic characters, synthesizes speech from the character data through speech synthesis technology, and outputs the character data in the form of speech. For mobile terminal devices such as mobile phones, speech synthesis functions for reading aloud arbitrary sentences in e-mails and the like have come to be widely used. For personal computers (PCs), software called "screen readers" has becom...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): G10L13/02G10L13/08G10L13/00G10L13/10
CPCG10L13/08
Inventor 西池理香佐佐木均片江伸之村濑健太郎野田拓也
Owner FUJITSU LTD