MEDIA PROCESS SERVER APPARATUS AND MEDIA PROCESS METHOD THEREFOR

• US 20110093272A1
• Filed: 04/02/2009
• Published: 04/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Inventors: Isobe, Shin-ichi, Yabusaki, Masami
• Application Number:
  US12/937,061
• Publication Number:
  US 20110093272A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/258
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/027 Concept to speech synthesisers; Generation of natural phrases from machine-based concepts generation of parameters for speech synthesis out of text G10L13/08
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/10 Prosody rules derived from text; Stress or intonation

Abstract

A media process server apparatus has a speech synthesis data storage device for storing, after categorizing into emotions, data for speech synthesis in association with a user identifier, a text analyzer for determining, from a text message received from a message server apparatus, emotion of text, and a speech data synthesizer for generating speech data with emotional expression by synthesizing speech corresponding to the text, using data for speech synthesis that corresponds to the determined emotion and that is in association with a user identifier of a user who is a transmitter of the text message.

Claims

1. A media process server apparatus for generating a speech message by synthesizing speech corresponding to a text message transmitted and received among plural communication terminals,

the apparatus comprising:

a speech synthesis data storage device for storing, after categorizing into emotion classes, data for speech synthesis in association with a user identifier uniquely identifying respective users of the plural communication terminals;

an emotion determiner for, upon receiving a text message transmitted from a first communication terminal of the plural communication terminals, extracting emotion information for each determination unit of the received text message, the emotion information being extracted from text in the determination unit, and for determining an emotion class based on the extracted emotion information; and

a speech data synthesizer for reading, from the speech synthesis data storage device, data for speech synthesis corresponding to the emotion class determined by the emotion determiner, from among data pieces for speech synthesis that are in association with a user identifier indicating a user of the first communication terminal, and for synthesizing speech data with emotional expression corresponding to the text of the determination unit by using the read data for speech synthesis.

2. A media process server apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the emotion determiner, in a case of extracting an emotion symbol as the emotion information, determines an emotion class based on the emotion symbol, the emotion symbol expressing emotion by a combination of plural characters.

3. A media process server apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the emotion determiner, in a case in which an image to be inserted into text is attached to the received text message, extracts the emotion information from the image to inserted into the text in addition to the text in the determination unit, and, when an emotion image is extracted as the emotion information, the emotion image expressing emotion by a graphic, determines an emotion class based on the emotion image.

4. A media process server apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the emotion determiner, in a case in which there are plural pieces of emotion information extracted from the determination unit, determines an emotion class for each of the plural pieces of emotion information, and selects, as a determination result, an emotion class that has the greatest appearance number from among the determined emotion classes.

5. A media process server apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the emotion determiner, in a case in which there are plural pieces of emotion information extracted from the determination unit, determines an emotion class based on emotion information that appears at a position that is the closest to an end point of the determination unit.

6. A media process server apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the speech synthesis data storage device additionally stores a parameter for setting, for each emotion class, the characteristics of a speech pattern for each user of the plural communication terminals, and

wherein the speech data synthesizer adjusts the synthesized speech data based on the parameter.

7. A media process server apparatus according to claim 6,

wherein the parameter is at least one of the average of volume, the average of tempo, the average of prosody, and the average of frequencies of voice in data for speech synthesis stored for each of the users and categorized into the emotion classes.

8. A media process server apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the speech data synthesizer separates the text in the determination unit into plural synthesis units and executes the synthesis of speech data for each of the synthesis units,

wherein the speech data synthesizer, in a case in which data for speech synthesis corresponding to the emotion class determined by the emotion determiner is not included in data for speech synthesis in association with the user identifier indicating the user of the first communication terminal, selects and reads, from among the data for speech synthesis in association with the user identifier indicating the user of the first communication terminal, data for speech synthesis for which pronunciation partially agrees with the text of the synthesis unit.

9. A media process method for use in a media process server apparatus for generating a speech message by synthesizing speech corresponding to a text message transmitted and received among plural communication terminals,

wherein the media process server apparatus comprises a speech synthesis data storage device for storing, after categorizing into emotion classes, data for speech synthesis in association with a user identifier uniquely identifying respective users of the plural communication terminals,

the method comprising:

a determination step of, upon receiving a text message transmitted from a first communication terminal of the plural communication terminals, extracting emotion information for each determination unit of the received text message, the emotion information being extracted from text in the determination unit, and of determining an emotion class based on the extracted emotion information; and

a synthesis step of reading, from the speech synthesis data storage device, data for speech synthesis corresponding to the emotion class determined in the determination step, from among data pieces for speech synthesis that are in association with a user identifier indicating a user of the first communication terminal, and of synthesizing speech data corresponding to the text of the determination unit by using the read data for speech synthesis.