APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SUPPORTING READING OF DOCUMENT, AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM

• US 20120239390A1
• Filed: 09/14/2011
• Published: 09/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Digital Solutions Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Suzuki, Masaru, Mori, Kouichirou, Kagoshima, Takehiko, Tamura, Masatsune, Yamasaki, Tomohiro, Fume, Kosei, Morita, Masahiro, Tachibana, Kentaro, Shimizu, Yuji
• Granted Patent: US 9,280,967 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/220
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/63 for estimating an emotional state

Abstract

According to one embodiment, an apparatus for supporting reading of a document includes a model storage unit, a document acquisition unit, a feature information extraction, and an utterance style estimation unit. The model storage unit is configured to store a model which has trained a correspondence relationship between first feature information and an utterance style. The first feature information is extracted from a plurality of sentences in a training document. The document acquisition unit is configured to acquire a document to be read. The feature information extraction unit is configured to extract second feature information from each sentence in the document to be read. The utterance style estimation unit is configured to compare the second feature information of a plurality of sentences in the document to be read with the model, and to estimate an utterance style of the each sentence of the document to be read.

Claims

1. An apparatus for supporting reading of a document, comprising:

a model storage unit configured to store a model which has trained a correspondence relationship between a first feature information and an utterance style, the first feature information being extracted from a plurality of sentences in a training document;

a document acquisition unit configured to acquire a document to be read;

a feature information extraction unit configured to extract a second feature information from each sentence in the document to be read; and

an utterance style estimation unit configured to compare the second feature information of a plurality of sentences in the document to be read with the model, and to estimate an utterance style of the each sentence of the document to be read.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the first feature information used for the model'"'"'s training includes a feature information extracted from a training target sentence corresponded with an utterance style, and

the second feature information of the plurality of sentences in the document to be read includes a feature information extracted from an estimation target sentence of the utterance style.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the first feature information used for the model'"'"'s training includes a feature information extracted from a training target sentence corresponded with an utterance style and sentences before and after adjacent to the training target sentence, and

the second feature information of the plurality of sentences in the document to be read includes a feature information extracted from an estimation target sentence of the utterance style and sentences before and after adjacent to the estimation target sentence.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the second feature information includes a format information extracted from the document to be read.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the utterance style is at least one of a sex distinction, an age, a spoken language and a feeling, or a combination thereof.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a synthesis parameter selection unit configured to select a speech synthesis parameter matched with the utterance style of the each sentence.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein

the speech synthesis parameter is at least one of a speech character, a volume, a speed and a pitch, or a combination thereof.

8. A method for supporting reading of a document, comprising:

storing a model which has trained a correspondence relationship between a first feature information and an utterance style, the first feature information being extracted from a plurality of sentences in a training document;

acquiring a document to be read;

extracting a second feature information from each sentence in the document to be read;

comparing the second feature information of a plurality of sentences in the document to be read with the model; and

estimating an utterance style of the each sentence of the document to be read.

9. A computer readable medium for causing a computer to perform a method for supporting reading of a document, the method comprising:

storing a model which has trained a correspondence relationship between a first feature information and an utterance style, the first feature information being extracted from a plurality of sentences in a training document;

acquiring a document to be read;

extracting a second feature information from each sentence in the document to be read;

comparing the second feature information of a plurality of sentences in the document to be read with the model; and

estimating an utterance style of the each sentence of the document to be read.