DATA-DRIVEN GLOBAL BOUNDARY OPTIMIZATION
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A machine-implemented method comprising:
- extracting portions from segment boundary regions of a plurality of speech segments, each segment boundary region based on a corresponding initial unit boundary;
creating feature vectors that represent the portions in a vector space;
for each of a plurality of potential unit boundaries within each segment boundary region, determining an average discontinuity based on distances between the feature vectors; and
for each segment, selecting a new unit boundary from the plurality of potential unit boundaries, wherein the new unit boundary is associated with a minimum average discontinuity.
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Abstract
Portions from segment boundary regions of a plurality of speech segments are extracted. Each segment boundary region is based on a corresponding initial unit boundary. Feature vectors that represent the portions in a vector space are created. For each of a plurality of potential unit boundaries within each segment boundary region, an average discontinuity based on distances between the feature vectors is determined. For each segment, the potential unit boundary associated with a minimum average discontinuity is selected as a new unit boundary.
29 Citations
96 Claims
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1. A machine-implemented method comprising:
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extracting portions from segment boundary regions of a plurality of speech segments, each segment boundary region based on a corresponding initial unit boundary; creating feature vectors that represent the portions in a vector space; for each of a plurality of potential unit boundaries within each segment boundary region, determining an average discontinuity based on distances between the feature vectors; and for each segment, selecting a new unit boundary from the plurality of potential unit boundaries, wherein the new unit boundary is associated with a minimum average discontinuity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A machine-readable medium having instructions to cause a machine to perform a machine-implemented method comprising:
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extracting portions from segment boundary regions of a plurality of speech segments, each segment boundary region based on a corresponding initial unit boundary; creating feature vectors that represent the portions in a vector space; for each of a plurality of potential unit boundaries within each segment boundary region, determining an average discontinuity based on distances between the feature vectors; and for each segment, selecting a new unit boundary from the plurality of potential unit boundaries, wherein the new unit boundary is associated with a minimum average discontinuity. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. An apparatus comprising:
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means for extracting portions from segment boundary regions of a plurality of speech segments, each segment boundary region based on a corresponding initial unit boundary; means for creating feature vectors that represent the portions in a vector space; for each of a plurality of potential unit boundaries within each segment boundary region, means for determining an average discontinuity based on distances between the feature vectors; and for each segment, means for selecting a new unit boundary from the plurality of potential unit boundaries, wherein the new unit boundary is associated with a minimum average discontinuity. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
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61. A system comprising:
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a processing unit coupled to a memory through a bus; and a process executed from the memory by the processing unit to cause the processing unit to; extract portions from segment boundary regions of a plurality of speech segments, each segment boundary region based on a corresponding initial unit boundary; create feature vectors that represent the portions in a vector space; for each of a plurality of potential unit boundaries within each segment boundary region, determine an average discontinuity based on distances between the feature vectors; and for each segment, select a new unit boundary from the plurality of potential unit boundaries, wherein the new unit boundary is associated with a minimum average discontinuity. - View Dependent Claims (62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80)
where K−
1 is the number of centered pitch periods near the potential unit boundary extracted from each segment, N is the maximum number of samples among the centered pitch periods, M is the number of segments, U is the (2(K−
1)+1)M×
R left singular matrix with row vectors ui (1≦
i≦
(2(K−
1)+1)M), Σ
is the R×
R diagonal matrix of singular values s1≧
s2≧
. . . ≧
sR>
0, V is the N×
R right singular matrix with row vectors vj (1≦
j≦
N), R<
<
(2(K−
1)+1)M), and T denotes matrix transposition, wherein decomposing the matrix W comprises performing a singular value decomposition of W.
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76. The system of claim 75, wherein the centered pitch periods are symmetrically zero padded to N samples.
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77. The system of claim 75, wherein a feature vector ū
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i is calculated as
ū
i=uiΣwhere ui is a row vector associated with a centered pitch period i, and Σ
is the singular diagonal matrix.
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i is calculated as
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78. The system of claim 77, wherein the distance between two feature vectors is determined by a metric comprising a closeness measure, C, between two feature vectors, ū
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k and ū
l, wherein C is calculated asfor any 1≦
k, l≦
(2(K−
1)+1)M.
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k and ū
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79. The system of claim 78, wherein a discontinuity d(S1,S2) between two candidate units, S1 and S2, is calculated as
d(S1,S2)=C(uπ-
− ,uδ
10 )+C(uδ0 ,uσ1 )−
C(uπ
−
1,uπ0 )−
C(uσ0 ,uσ1 )where uπ − is a feature vector associated with a centered pitch period π
1
−
1, uδ0 is a feature vector associated with a centered pitch period δ
0, uσ1 is a feature vector associated with a centered pitch period σ
1, uπ0 is a feature vector associated with a centered pitch period π
0, and uσ0 is a feature vector associated with a centered pitch period σ
0.
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80. The system of claim 79, wherein the same closeness measure, C, is used for optimizing unit boundaries and for unit selection.
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81. A machine-implemented method comprising:
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setting an initial unit boundary for each segment of a plurality of speech segments, each initial unit boundary defining a segment boundary region and a plurality of potential unit boundaries within each segment boundary region; for each segment, determining an average discontinuity over a plurality of concatenations of candidate units defined by the potential unit boundaries; for each segment, selecting a new unit boundary from the plurality of potential unit boundaries, wherein the new unit boundary is associated with a minimum average discontinuity. - View Dependent Claims (82, 83, 84)
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85. A machine-readable medium having instructions to cause a machine to perform a machine-implemented method comprising:
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setting an initial unit boundary for each segment of a plurality of speech segments, each initial unit boundary defining a segment boundary region and a plurality of potential unit boundaries within each segment boundary region; for each segment, determining an average discontinuity over a plurality of concatenations of candidate units defined by the potential unit boundaries; for each segment, selecting a new unit boundary from the plurality of potential unit boundaries, wherein the new unit boundary is associated with a minimum average discontinuity. - View Dependent Claims (86, 87, 88)
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89. An apparatus comprising:
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means for setting an initial unit boundary for each segment of a plurality of speech segments, each initial unit boundary defining a segment boundary region and a plurality of potential unit boundaries within each segment boundary region; for each segment, means for determining an average discontinuity over a plurality of concatenations of candidate units defined by the potential unit boundaries; for each segment, means for selecting a new unit boundary from the plurality of potential unit boundaries, wherein the new unit boundary is associated with a minimum average discontinuity. - View Dependent Claims (90, 91, 92)
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93. A system comprising:
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a processing unit coupled to a memory through a bus; and a process executed from the memory by the processing unit to cause the processing unit to; set an initial unit boundary for each segment of a plurality of speech segments, each initial unit boundary defining a segment boundary region and a plurality of potential unit boundaries within each segment boundary region; for each segment, determine an average discontinuity over a plurality of concatenations of candidate units defined by the potential unit boundaries; for each segment, selecting a new unit boundary from the plurality of potential unit boundaries, wherein the new unit boundary is associated with a minimum average discontinuity. - View Dependent Claims (94, 95, 96)
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Specification