Method and apparatus for sculpting synthesized speech
First Claim
1. A speech processor, comprising;
- a unit-selection device that processes a stream of target phonetic-units to produce a stream of respective selected phonetic-units, the selected phonetic-units being selected on the basis of at least a set of target-cost functions that determine target-costs between each target phonetic-unit and respective groups of sample phonetic-units; and
a phonetic editor configured to enable an operator to selectively designate one or more selected phonetic-units in the stream of selected phonetic-units.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems for sculpting synthesized speech using a graphic user interface are disclosed. An operator enters a stream of text that is used to produce a stream of target phonetic-units. The stream of target phonetic-units is then submitted to a unit-selection process to produce a stream of selected phonetic-units, each selected phonetic-unit derived from a database of sample phonetic-units. After the stream of sample phonetic-units is selected, an operator can remove various selected phonetic-units from the stream of selected phonetic-units, prune the sample phonetic-database and edit various cost functions using the graphic user interface. The edited speech information can then be submitted to the unit-selection process to produce a second stream of selected phonetic-units.
-
Citations
40 Claims
-
1. A speech processor, comprising;
-
a unit-selection device that processes a stream of target phonetic-units to produce a stream of respective selected phonetic-units, the selected phonetic-units being selected on the basis of at least a set of target-cost functions that determine target-costs between each target phonetic-unit and respective groups of sample phonetic-units; and
a phonetic editor configured to enable an operator to selectively designate one or more selected phonetic-units in the stream of selected phonetic-units. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A method for processing speech information, comprising:
-
selecting a stream of selected phonetic-units from a database of sample phonetic-units, wherein the step of selecting is based on a stream of target phonetic-units with respective target-costs relating to the sample phonetic-units; and
performing an editing function on the stream of selected phonetic-units, the editing function including selectively designating one or more selected phonetic-units. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 35, 36, 40)
-
-
28. A graphic user interface associated with a speech synthesis system, comprising:
-
a first display area that can display a portion of symbols representing a stream of selected phonetic-units; and
an editing tool configured to enable an operator to edit the stream of selected phonetic-units. - View Dependent Claims (29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 37, 38)
-
-
39. A graphic user interface substantially as described herein with reference to FIGS. 2 to 17.
Specification