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SPEECH SYNTHESIS SYSTEM AND SPEECH SYNTHESIS METHOD

  • US 20090018836A1
  • Filed: 03/19/2008
  • Published: 01/15/2009
  • Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2007
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A speech synthesis system comprising:

  • a dividing unit configured to divide a phoneme string corresponding to target speech into a plurality of segments to generate a first segment sequence;

    a selecting unit configured to generate a plurality of first speech unit strings corresponding to the first segment sequence by combining a plurality of speech units based on the first segment sequence and select one speech unit string from said plurality of first speech unit strings; and

    a concatenation unit configured to concatenate a plurality of speech units included in the selected speech unit string to generate synthetic speech,the selecting unit includinga searching unit configured to perform repeatedly a first processing and a second processing, the first processing generating, based on maximum W (W is a predetermined value) second speech unit strings corresponding to a second segment sequence as a partial sequence of the first segment sequence, a plurality of third speech unit strings corresponding to a third segment sequence as a partial sequence obtained by adding a segment to the second segment sequence, and the second processing selecting maximum W third speech unit strings from said plurality of third speech unit strings,a first calculation unit configured to calculate a total cost of each of said plurality of third speech unit strings,a second calculation unit configured to calculate a penalty coefficient corresponding to the total cost for each of said plurality of third speech unit strings based on a restriction concerning quickness of speech unit data acquisition, wherein the penalty coefficient depending on extent in which the restriction is approached, anda third calculation unit configured to calculate a evaluation value of each of said plurality of third speech unit strings by correcting the total cost with the penalty coefficient,wherein the searching unit selects the maximum W third speech unit strings from said plurality of third speech unit strings based on the evaluation value of each of said plurality of third speech unit strings.

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