AUDIO PLAYBACK DEVICE AND AUDIO PLAYBACK METHOD THEREOF

• US 20200135169A1
• Filed: 11/30/2018
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Institute For Information Industry
• Original Assignee: Institute For Information Industry
• Inventors: DENG, Guang-Feng, TSAI, Cheng-Hung, KU, Tsun, ZHU, Zhi-Guo, LIU, Han-Wen
• Granted Patent: US 11,049,490 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems
• 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 13/0335 Pitch control

Abstract

An audio playback device receives an instruction from a user to select a target voice model from a plurality of voice models and assigns the target voice model to a target character in a text. The audio playback device also transforms the text into a speech, and during the process of transforming the text into the speech, transforms sentences of the target character in the text into the speech of the target character according to the target voice model.

Claims

1. An audio playback device, comprising:

a storage, being configured to store a text;

an input device, being configured to receive a first instruction from a user;

a processor electrically connected with the input device and the storage, being configured to transform the text into an audio, wherein the audio comprises a speech of a target character;

an output device electrically connected with the processor, being configured to play the audio;

wherein the processor is further configured to;

select a target voice model from a plurality of voice models according to the first instruction, and assign the target voice model to the target character in the text; and

transform a plurality of sentences of the target character in the text into the speech of the target character according to the target voice model during the process of transforming the text into the audio.

2. The audio playback device of claim 1, wherein:

the storage is further configured to store a pre-established data for recording a plurality of other characters in the text and a plurality of other voice models corresponding to the other characters, and one of the other voice models is one of the voice models; and

the processor is further configured to transform the sentences of the other characters in the text into a speech of the other characters according to the other voice models during the process of transforming the text into the audio, and the audio comprises the speech of the target character and the speeches of the other characters.

3. The audio playback device of claim 1, wherein each of the voice models is built according to a specific personality and a plurality of acoustic features extracted by the processor or a cloud server coupled with the audio playback device from an audio file, and the acoustic features comprise a pitch feature, a speaking-rate feature and a spectral feature of the audio file.

4. The audio playback device of claim 3, wherein the audio file is a file recorded by a speaker.

5. The audio playback device of claim 1, wherein:

the input device is further configured to receive a second instruction from the user; and

the processor is further configured to label one of the voice models as a favorite voice model according to the second instruction.

6. The audio playback device of claim 1, wherein:

the input device is further configured to receive a third instruction from the user; and

the output device is further configured to play a plurality of audio files for trial listening respectively transformed with the voice models according to the third instruction, so that the user selects one of the voice models as the target voice model based on the audio files for trial listening.

7. The audio playback device of claim 1, wherein each of the voice models comprises a submodel of tone, and the submodel of tone comprises a pitch parameter, a speaking-rate parameter and a spectral parameter.

8. The audio playback device of claim 7, wherein each of the voice models further comprises a submodel of emotion, and the processor is further configured to adjust the submodel of tone with the submodel of emotion according to sentence emotions in the text, and each of the sentence emotions comprises one of doubt, happiness, anger and sadness.

9. The audio playback device of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to identify the target character and sentence emotions of the target character in the text.

10. The audio playback device of claim 9, wherein each of the sentence emotions of the target character in the text is determined by the processor according to at least one emotion-related keyword appearing in the corresponding sentence of the target character in the text.

11. An audio playback method for use in an audio playback device, comprising:

receiving, by the audio playback device, a first instruction from a user;

selecting, by the audio playback device, a target voice model from a plurality of voice models according to the first instruction, and assigning the target voice model to a target character in the text;

transforming, by the audio playback device, the text into an audio, wherein the audio comprises a speech of the target character; and

playing, by the audio playback device, the audio;

wherein during the process of transforming the text into the audio, the audio playback method further comprises;

transforming, by the audio playback device, a plurality of sentences of the target character in the text into the speech of the target character according to the target voice model.

12. The audio playback method of claim 11, further comprising:

storing, by the audio playback device, a pre-established data for recording a plurality of other characters in the text and a plurality of other voice models corresponding to the other characters, wherein one of the other voice models is one of the voice models; and

transforming, by the audio playback device, the sentences of the other characters in the text into a speech of the other characters according to the other voice models during the process of transforming the text into the audio, wherein the audio comprises the speech of the target character and the speeches of the other characters.

13. The audio playback method of claim 11, wherein each of the voice models is built according to a specific personality and a plurality of acoustic features extracted by the audio playback device or a cloud server coupled with the audio playback device from an audio file, and the acoustic features comprise a pitch feature, a speaking-rate feature and a spectral feature of the audio file.

14. The audio playback method of claim 13, wherein the audio file is a file recorded by a speaker.

15. The audio playback method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving, by the audio playback device, a second instruction from the user; and

labeling, by the audio playback device, one of the voice models as a favorite voice model according to the second instruction.

16. The audio playback method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving, by the audio playback device, a third instruction from the user; and

playing, by the audio playback device, a plurality of audio files for trial listening respectively transformed with the voice models according to the third instruction, so that the user selects one of the voice models as the target voice model based on the audio files for trial listening.

17. The audio playback method of claim 11, wherein each of the voice models comprises a submodel of tone, and the submodel of tone comprises a pitch parameter, a speaking-rate parameter and a spectral parameter.

18. The audio playback method of claim 17, wherein each of the voice models further comprises a submodel of emotion, and the audio playback method further comprises:

adjusting, by the audio playback device, the submodel of tone with the submodel of emotion according to sentence emotions in the text, wherein each of the sentence emotions comprises one of doubt, happiness, anger and sadness.

19. The audio playback method of claim 18, further comprising:

identifying, by the audio playback device, the target character and sentence emotions of the target character in the text.

20. The audio playback method of claim 19, wherein each of the sentence emotions of the target character in the text is determined by the audio playback device according to at least one emotion-related keyword appearing in the corresponding sentence of the target character in the text.