TEXT-TO-SPEECH PROCESSING BASED ON NETWORK QUALITY

• US 20160071509A1
• Filed: 09/05/2014
• Published: 03/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: ZHAO, XUFANG, TSIMHONI, OMER, Talwar, Gaurav
• Granted Patent: US 9,704,477 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/04 Details of speech synthesis systems, e.g. synthesiser structure or memory management

Abstract

A method is disclosed that provides text-to-speech (TTS) functionality to a telematics unit of a telematics-equipped vehicle. The method includes: receiving text content to be played back by an audio system of the telematics-equipped vehicle; determining, by a processor, a TTS rendering process to be used for the text content from a plurality of TTS rendering processes, wherein the plurality of TTS rendering processes include local TTS rendering using a local TTS engine at the telematics-equipped vehicle and remote TTS rendering using a remote TTS engine at a communications center; and causing, by the processor, the text content to be rendered as an audio signal for playback by the telematics-equipped vehicle using the determined TTS rendering process.

Claims

1. A method for providing text-to-speech (TTS) functionality to a telematics unit of a telematics-equipped vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving text content to be played back by an audio system of the telematics-equipped vehicle;

determining, by a processor, a TTS rendering process to be used for the text content from a plurality of TTS rendering processes, wherein the plurality of TTS rendering processes include local TTS rendering using a local TTS engine at the telematics-equipped vehicle and remote TTS rendering using a remote TTS engine at a communications center; and

causing, by the processor, the text content to be rendered as an audio signal for playback by the telematics-equipped vehicle using the determined TTS rendering process.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the TTS rendering process to be used is based on a text-related parameter, the text-related parameter comprising a message type, a message length, or a message classification.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the TTS rendering process to be used is based on a quality of service (QoS)-related parameter, the QoS-related parameter comprising a QoS level associated with an expected future position of the vehicle.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the TTS rendering process to be used is based on a cost-related parameter, the cost-related parameter being associated with a subscriber preference relating to cost of telematics services.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the TTS rendering process to be used is based on a text-related parameter, a QoS-related parameter, and a cost-related parameter.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the TTS rendering process to be used further comprises determining whether remote TTS rendering is to be used in a streaming playback mode without buffering prior to playback or in a delayed playback mode with buffering prior to playback.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein determining the TTS rendering process to be used further comprises determining an amount of content to buffer prior to playback for remote TTS rendering in the delayed playback mode.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the TTS rendering process to be used further comprises determining a start time for remote TTS rendering based on an expected future position of the vehicle and network connectivity data associated with the expected future position of the vehicle.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the processor is part of the communications center, and causing the text content to be rendered as an audio signal for playback by the telematics-equipped vehicle using the determined TTS rendering process comprises utilizing the remote TTS engine to convert the text content to the audio signal.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the processor is part of the telematics unit, and causing the text content to be rendered as an audio signal for playback by the telematics-equipped vehicle using the determined TTS rendering process comprises utilizing the local TTS engine to convert the text content to the audio signal.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having processor-executable instructions stored thereon for providing text-to-speech (TTS) functionality to a telematics unit of a telematics-equipped vehicle, the processor-executable instructions, when executed by a processor, facilitating performance of the following steps:

receiving text content to be played back by an audio system of the telematics-equipped vehicle;

determining a TTS rendering process to be used for the text content from a plurality of TTS rendering processes, wherein the plurality of TTS rendering processes include local TTS rendering using a local TTS engine at the telematics-equipped vehicle and remote TTS rendering using a remote TTS engine at a communications center; and

causing the text content to be rendered as an audio signal for playback by the telematics-equipped vehicle using the determined TTS rendering process.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 11, wherein determining the TTS rendering process to be used is based on a text-related parameter, the text-related parameter comprising a message type or message length.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 11, wherein determining the TTS rendering process to be used is based on a quality of service (QoS)-related parameter, the QoS-related parameter comprising a QoS level associated with an expected future position of the vehicle.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 11, wherein determining the TTS rendering process to be used is based on a cost-related parameter, the cost-related parameter being associated with a subscriber preference relating to cost of telematics services.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 11, wherein determining the TTS rendering process to be used is based on a text-related parameter, a QoS-related parameter, and a cost-related parameter.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 11, wherein determining the TTS rendering process to be used further comprises determining whether remote TTS rendering is to be used in a streaming playback mode without buffering prior to playback or in a delayed playback mode with buffering prior to playback.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 16, wherein determining the TTS rendering process to be used further comprises determining an amount of content to buffer prior to playback for remote TTS rendering in the delayed playback mode.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 11, wherein determining the TTS rendering process to be used further comprises determining a start time for remote TTS rendering based on an expected future position of the vehicle and network connectivity data associated with the expected future position of the vehicle.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 11, wherein the processor is part of the communications center, and causing the text content to be rendered as an audio signal for playback by the telematics-equipped vehicle using the determined TTS rendering process comprises utilizing the remote TTS engine to convert the text content to the audio signal.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 11, wherein the processor is part of the telematics unit, and causing the text content to be rendered as an audio signal for playback by the telematics-equipped vehicle using the determined TTS rendering process comprises utilizing the local TTS engine to convert the text content to the audio signal.