Information processing apparatus, information processing method, recording medium, and program

• US 20030014252A1
• Filed: 05/08/2002
• Published: 01/16/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kato, Yasuhiko, Fujimura, Satoshi, Shizuka, Utaha
• Granted Patent: US 7,305,342 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/258
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/301 Management of recordings
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/4536 Voicemail combined with text-based messaging
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5307 for recording messages comprising any combination of audio and non-audio components
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53333 Message receiving aspects

Abstract

A setting window that is displayed when a mail tab is selected includes check boxes for selecting items to read when an electronic mail is read, and a check box and a drop-down list box for setting automatic checking of electronic mails. Contents corresponding to checked boxes among the check boxes are converted into speech data. Furthermore, the contents corresponding to the checked boxes among the check boxes, except for the body of the electronic mail, are used for generating a title to be added when the speech data is output to an external apparatus, etc. If none of the check boxes is checked, a predetermined character string is set as a title.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus comprising:

text input means for receiving input of text data;

speech generation means for executing speech synthesis to generate speech data corresponding to the text data;

setting means for setting predetermined information associated with the text data as additional information of the speech data generated by said speech generation means; and

file creation means for creating a single speech data file from the speech data generated by said speech generation means and the additional information set by said setting means.

2. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the additional information includes information corresponding to an item representing a song title in a case where digital music data is managed.

3. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the additional information includes information corresponding to an item representing an artist name in a case where digital music data is managed.

4. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the text data includes data of an electronic mail, and said setting means sets the additional information of the speech data based on information included in header information of the electronic mail.

5. An information processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising:

display control means for controlling a display screen that aids a user to select a predetermined item in the header information of the electronic mail so that the item will be set as the additional information; and

input means for receiving input of the item selected by the user with reference to the display screen controlled by said display control means;

wherein said setting means sets the item selected by the user, input via said input means, as the additional information of the speech data.

6. An information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said input means receives input of a plurality of items selected by the user, and said setting means generates single title information from the plurality of items selected by the user, input via said input means, setting the title information as the additional information of the speech data.

7. An information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the item includes information regarding a sender of the electronic mail.

8. An information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the item includes a subject of the electronic mail.

9. An information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the item includes information regarding date and time of transmission of the electronic mail.

10. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

information input means for receiving input of information written in a markup language;

parsing means for parsing tag information of the information written in the markup language, input via said information input means; and

extraction means for extracting text data from the information written in the markup language based on the result of the parsing by said parsing means;

wherein said text input means receives input of the text data extracted by said extraction means, and said setting means sets the additional information of the speech data based on the result of the parsing by said parsing means.

11. An information processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the markup language is Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

12. An information processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the information written in the markup language, input via said information input means, includes an electronic mail written in a markup language format.

13. An information processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the information written in the markup language, input via said information input means, includes data of a Web page, and said setting means sets a title of the Web page as the additional information of the speech data based on the result of the parsing by said parsing means.

14. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the additional information includes first information and second information, and said setting means sets title information as the first information and sets a predetermined character string for distinction from ordinary music data as the second information.

15. An information processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the first information corresponds to an item representing a song title in a case where digital music data is managed, and the second information corresponds to an item representing an artist name in a case where digital music data is managed.

16. An information processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said setting means uses a name of an application program as the predetermined character string.

17. An information processing apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising:

recording control means for controlling recording of various information;

obtaining means for obtaining additional information of the various information, recording of which is controlled by said recording control means;

extraction means for extracting information that has the predetermined character string as additional information from the additional information of the various information obtained by said obtaining means; and

record deletion means for deleting information, recording of which is controlled by said recording control means, based on the result of the extraction by said extraction means.

18. An information processing method comprising:

a text input step of receiving input of text data;

a speech generation step of executing speech synthesis to generate speech data corresponding to the text data;

a setting step of setting predetermined information associated with the text data as additional information of the speech data generated in said speech generation step; and

a file creation step of creating a single speech data file from the speech data generated in said speech generation step and the additional information set in said setting step.

19. A recording medium having recorded thereon a computer-readable program comprising:

a text input step of receiving input of text data;

a speech generation step of executing speech synthesis to generate speech data corresponding to the text data;

a setting step of setting predetermined information associated with the text data as additional information of the speech data generated in said speech generation step; and

a file creation step of creating a single speech data file from the speech data generated in said speech generation step and the additional information set in said setting step.

20. A program for having a computer execute a process comprising:

a text input step of receiving input of text data;

a speech generation step of executing speech synthesis to generate speech data corresponding to the text data;

a setting step of setting predetermined information associated with the text data as additional information of the speech data generated in said speech generation step; and

a file creation step of creating a single speech data file from the speech data generated in said speech generation step and the additional information set in said setting step.