Speech synthesis apparatus for rapid speed reading

• US 5,396,577 A
• Filed: 12/22/1992
• Issued: 03/07/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Oikawa, Yoshiaki, Akagiri, Kenzo
• Primary Examiner(s): Knepper, David D.
• Application Number:
  US07/994,113
• Time in Patent Office: 805 Days
• Field of Search: 381/51-53, 395/2.67-2.78
• US Class Current: 704/260
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/047 Architecture of speech synthesisers
• 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

In a speech synthesizing apparatus, importance degree information indicative of a degree of importance with respect to each text portion of input original text data is added to this text portion. Then, the original text data with such importance degree information is input. When a rapid reading process, or a head searching process is carried out for the original text input, speech synthesis is carried out by controlling several stages which text portion should be skipped, or at which speed, the text portions should be synthesized, in response to a speed instruction and importance degree information which are being input into the speech synthesizing apparatus.

Claims

1. A speech synthesizing apparatus for recording text input data comprising:

recorded text input data containing a recorded importance degree information indicator and a text portion, wherein said recorded importance degree information indicator reflects the level at which the corresponding text portion can be skipped,

means for synthesizing speech based on the recorded text input data, wherein text portions are selected according to the recorded importance degree information indicator, and

input means for designating synthesizing speed information, wherein the speech is synthesized by skipping the text portion having the low importance degree based on said synthesizing speed information and said recorded importance degree information indicator during speech synthesis.

2. A speech synthesizing apparatus, comprising:

recorded input text data containing a recorded importance degree information indicator and a text portion, wherein said recorded importance degree information indicator reflects the level at which the corresponding text portion can be skipped,

text portion selecting means for separating the input text data into text portions and associated importance degree information to select a reading segment of said text data according to said importance degree information,

sentence analyzing means which receives an output signal from said text portion selecting means, said sentence analyzing means including a text analysis section for analyzing a series of input characters into at least words and basic accents with reference to a dictionary to output a signal representative of said words and said basic accents,

speech synthesizing rule means which receives an output signal from said sentence analyzing means, said speech synthesizing rule means including a phoneme rule block, a phoneme symbol series block for forming a series of phoneme symbols according to a phoneme rule and a synthesizing speed instruction, and for supplying said series of phoneme symbols to a phoneme control parameter generating block to form a synthesizing parameter, and a rhythm rule block, which generates a series of phrases, accents and pauses according to a rhythm rule and an input from said sentence analyzing means and outputs the series to a rhythm control parameter generating block to form a basic pitch pattern,

speech synthesizing means including a speech synthesizing filter for outputting a synthesized speech according to said synthesizing parameter and said basic pitch pattern; and

speed instruction generating means for altering a reading segment according to said recorded importance degree information and for outputting a speed instruction which specifies a synthesizing speed to said phoneme control parameter generating block and said rhythm control parameter generating block.

3. A speech synthesizing apparatus, comprising:

recorded input text data containing a recorded importance degree information indicator and a text portion, wherein the recorded importance degree information indicator reflects the level at which the corresponding text portion can be skipped,

text portion selecting means for separating the input text data into text portions and associated importance degree information to select a reading segment of the text data according to the importance degree information,

sentence analyzing means which receives an output signal from the text portion selecting means, the sentence analyzing means including a text analysis section for analyzing a series of input characters into at least words and basic accents with reference to a dictionary to output a signal representative of the words and the basic accents,

speech synthesizing rule means which receives an output signal from the sentence analyzing means, the speech synthesizing rule means including a phoneme rule block, a phoneme symbol series block for forming a series of phoneme symbols according to a phoneme rule and a synthesizing speed instruction, and for supplying the series of phoneme symbols to a phoneme control parameter generating block to form a synthesizing parameter, and a rhythm rule block, which generates a series of phrases, accents and pauses according to a rhythm rule and an input from the sentence analyzing means and outputs the series to a rhythm control parameter generating block to form a basic pitch pattern,

speech synthesizing means including a speech synthesizing filter for outputting a synthesized speech according to the synthesizing parameter and the basic pitch pattern,

speed instruction generating means for altering a reading segment according to the recorded importance degree information and for outputting a speed instruction which specifies a synthesizing speed to the phoneme control parameter generating block and the rhythm control parameter generating block, and

wherein the input text data contains one recorded importance degree information corresponding to each of the text portions, and the recorded importance degree information includes a code representative of the level at which the associated text portion may be skipped for the purposes of rapid reading or searching.

4. A speech synthesizing apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said code comprises codes at two different values, and said speech synthesizing means skips one or more of said text portions to which a same code is added according to said synthesizing speed to synthesize speech.