METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING SPEECH OUTPUT FOR SPEECH-ENABLED APPLICATIONS

• US 20150106101A1
• Filed: 12/16/2014
• Published: 04/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cerence Operating Company (Cerence Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Meyer, Darren C., Bos-Plachez, Corinne, Staessen, Martine Marguerite
• Granted Patent: US 9,424,833 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/260
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/02 Methods for producing synthetic speech; Speech synthesisers
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/04 Details of speech synthesis systems, e.g. synthesiser structure or memory management
• 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

Techniques for providing speech output for speech-enabled applications. A synthesis system receives from a speech-enabled application a text input including a text transcription of a desired speech output. The synthesis system selects one or more audio recordings corresponding to one or more portions of the text input. In one aspect, the synthesis system selects from audio recordings provided by a developer of the speech-enabled application. In another aspect, the synthesis system selects an audio recording of a speaker speaking a plurality of words. The synthesis system forms a speech output including the one or more selected audio recordings and provides the speech output for the speech-enabled application.

Claims

1-30. -30. (canceled)

31. A method for providing a speech output for a speech-enabled application, the method comprising:

receiving from the speech-enabled application a text input comprising a text transcription of a desired speech output;

selecting, using at least one computer system, an audio recording of a speaker speaking a plurality of words, the audio recording corresponding to at least a first portion of the text input; and

providing for the speech-enabled application a speech output comprising the audio recording.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the audio recording is of the speaker reading at least a portion of a script, the at least a portion of the script corresponding exactly to the plurality of words, the plurality of words corresponding exactly to words of the at least the first portion of the text input.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the audio recording is stored in a single audio file.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein the plurality of words were spoken consecutively by the speaker when forming the audio recording.

35. The method of claim 31, wherein the audio recording comprises the plurality of words spoken naturally by the speaker.

36. A method for providing a speech output for a speech-enabled application, the method comprising:

receiving at least one input specifying a desired speech output;

selecting, using at least one computer system, at least one audio recording corresponding to at least a first portion of the desired speech output, the at least one audio recording being selected based at least in part on at least one constraint regarding a desired contrastive stress pattern in the desired speech output, the at least one constraint being indicated by metadata associated with the at least one audio recording; and

providing for the speech-enabled application a speech output comprising the at least one audio recording.

37. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with a plurality of computer-executable instructions that, when executed, perform a method for providing a speech output for a speech-enabled application, the method comprising:

receiving from the speech-enabled application a text input comprising a text transcription of a desired speech output;

selecting an audio recording of a speaker speaking a plurality of words, the audio recording corresponding to at least a first portion of the text input; and

providing for the speech-enabled application a speech output comprising the audio recording.

38. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 37, wherein the audio recording is of the speaker reading at least a portion of a script, the at least a portion of the script corresponding exactly to the plurality of words, the plurality of words corresponding exactly to words of the at least the first portion of the text input.

39. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 37, wherein the audio recording is stored in a single audio file.

40. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 37, wherein the plurality of words were spoken consecutively by the speaker when forming the audio recording.

41. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 37, wherein the audio recording comprises the plurality of words spoken naturally by the speaker.