Name synthesis

• US 20080208574A1
• Filed: 02/28/2007
• Published: 08/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Soong, Frank Kao-Ping, Chen, Yining, Chu, Min, Li, Yusheng
• Granted Patent: US 8,719,027 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/221
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/08 Text analysis or generation of parameters for speech synthesis out of text, e.g. grapheme to phoneme translation, prosody generation or stress or intonation determination

Abstract

An automated method of providing a pronunciation of a word to a remote device is disclosed. The method includes receiving an input indicative of the word to be pronounced. The method further includes searching a database having a plurality of records. Each of the records has an indication of a textual representation and an associated indication of an audible representation. At least one output is provided to the remote device of an audible representation of the word to be pronounced.

Claims

1. An automated method of providing a pronunciation of a word to a remote device, comprising:

receiving an input indicative of the word to be pronounced;

searching a database having a plurality of records each having an indication of a textual representation and an associated indication of an audible representation; and

providing at least one output to the remote device of an audible representation of the word to be pronounced.

2. The automated method of claim 1, wherein searching the database includes comparing the input against the indication of the textual representation of at least one of the plurality of records.

3. The automated method of claim 1, wherein providing at least one output of an audible representation comprises:

retrieving an indication of an audible representation from the database; and

creating an audio representation from the retrieved indication of an audible representation.

4. The automated method of claim 3, wherein retrieving an indication of an audible representation is performed on a record having an indication of a textual representation that matches the received input.

5. The automated method of claim 4, wherein the database includes more than one record having an indication of a textual representation that matches the received input and further comprising:

retrieving an audible representation from each of the records having a textual representation that matches the received input; and

wherein providing at least one output to the remote device of an audible representation includes providing an output of each of the retrieved audible representations.

6. The automated method of claim 5, wherein providing an output of each of the retrieved audible representations includes providing the outputs according to a pre-established priority.

7. The automated method of claim 1 and further comprising:

receiving an indication of a desired pronunciation from a remote device;

associating the indication with the previously received input indicative of the word to be pronounced; and

creating a record in the database including the associated indications.

8. A method of providing a database of pronunciation information for use in an automated pronunciation system, comprising:

receiving an indication of a textual representation of a given word;

creating an indication of an audio representation of the given word;

associating the indication of an audio representation with the indication of a textual representation; and

storing the associated indications in a record.

9. The method of claim 8, and further comprising:

determining an origin for the given word; and

applying a set of pronunciation rules associated with the origin to the textual representation to create the indication of an audio representation.

10. The method of claim 8, and further comprising:

retrieving a previously stored record including indications of a textual representation and an audio representation;

providing the indications to a remote device;

receiving data from the remote device including the indication of the textual representation and a modified indication of the audio representation; and

storing the received data in a record.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein receiving the modified indication of the audio representation includes receiving a phoneme string.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein receiving the modified indication of the audio representation includes receiving an audio file.

13. The method of claim 12 and further comprising:

creating textual representation of the audio file; and

wherein string the received data includes storing an indication of the textual representation.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein receiving the modified indication of the audio representation includes receiving a textual representation of a different word and further comprising:

creating an indication of an audio representation of the different word; and

associating the indication of the of an audio representation of the different word with the textual representation of the previously stored record.

15. A system adapted to provide an audible indication of a proper pronunciation of a word to a remote device, comprising:

a database having a plurality of records each having a first data element indicative of a textual representation of a given word and a second data element indicative of an audible representation of the given word;

a database manager for communicating information with the database; and

a text to speech engine capable of receiving a textual representation of a word and providing an audible representation of the input; and

a communication device capable of receiving an input from the remote device indicative of a textual representation of a word and providing the remote device an output indicative of an audible representation of the input.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein at least one of the plurality of records includes a third data element associated with the first data element and indicative of an origin for the given word.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein at least one of the plurality of records includes a fourth data element having information indicative of a priority of the record.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the second data element of at least one of the plurality of records includes information relating to a phoneme string.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the second data element of at least one of the plurality of records includes information relating to an audio file.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein at least two of the plurality of records have first data elements indicative of the textual representation of the same word and second data elements indicative of different audible representations of the same word.