Speech synthesis and analysis of dialects
First Claim
1. A method of operating a speech synthesis system comprising the steps of:
- generating a string of linguistic units containing pitch data by selecting linguistic units from a first memory segment of the system which correspond to characters in a text string and concatenating the selected linguistic units together in a second memory segment of the system;
selecting locations within the pitch data of the string of linguistic units;
retrieving a first set of dialect intervals for a first selected dialect, the first set of dialect intervals selected from a set of melodic intervals as being indicative of the first selected dialect and stored in a dialect table in a third memory segment of the system; and
applying the first set of dialect intervals to the pitch data at the selected locations so that synthesized speech of the first selected dialect produced.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A set of intonation intervals for a chosen dialect are applied to the intonational contour of a phomene string derived from a single set of stored linguistic units, e.g., phonemes. Sets of intonational intervals are stored to simulate or recognize different dialects or languages from a single set of stored phonemes. The interval rules preferably use a prosodic analysis of the phoneme string or other cues to apply a given interval to the phoneme string. A second set of interval data is provided for semantic information. The speech system is based on the observation that each dialect and language possess its own set of musical relationships or intonation intervals. These musical relationships are used by a human listener to identify the particular dialect or language. The speech system may be either a speech synthesis or speech analysis tool or may be a combined speech synthesis/analysis system.
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Citations
42 Claims
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1. A method of operating a speech synthesis system comprising the steps of:
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generating a string of linguistic units containing pitch data by selecting linguistic units from a first memory segment of the system which correspond to characters in a text string and concatenating the selected linguistic units together in a second memory segment of the system; selecting locations within the pitch data of the string of linguistic units; retrieving a first set of dialect intervals for a first selected dialect, the first set of dialect intervals selected from a set of melodic intervals as being indicative of the first selected dialect and stored in a dialect table in a third memory segment of the system; and applying the first set of dialect intervals to the pitch data at the selected locations so that synthesized speech of the first selected dialect produced. - View Dependent Claims (2, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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3. A method of operating a speech recognition system comprising the steps of:
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providing a digitized speech sample of human speech; selecting a set of melodic intervals in the digitized speech sample; retrieving a first set of dialect intervals for a first selected dialect, the first set of dialect intervals being melodic intervals which are indicative of the first selected dialect and stored in a dialect table; and comparing the set of melodic intervals to the first set of dialect intervals to determine whether the digitized speech sample is from human speech of the first selected dialect. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 15)
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20. A computer program product on a computer readable medium for speech synthesis, the computer program product executable in a computer system comprising:
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program code means for generating a string of linguistic units containing pitch data by selecting linguistic units from a first memory segment of the system which correspond to characters in a text string and concatenating the selected linguistic units together in a second memory segment of the system; program code means for selecting locations within the pitch data of the string of linguistic units; program code means for retrieving a first set of dialect intervals for a first selected dialect, the first set of dialect intervals selected from a set of melodic intervals as being indicative of the first selected dialect stored in a dialect table in a third memory segment of the system; and program code means for applying the first set of dialect intervals to the set of melodic intervals. - View Dependent Claims (21, 27)
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22. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for speech recognition, the computer program product executable in a computer system, comprising:
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program code means for providing a digitized speech sample of human speech; program code means for selecting a set of melodic intervals in the digitized speech sample; program code means for retrieving a first set of dialect intervals for a first selected dialect, the first set of dialect intervals being melodic intervals which are indicative of the first selected dialect and stored in a dialect table in a third memory segment of the system; and program code means for comparing the set of melodic intervals to the first set of dialect intervals to determine whether the digitized speech sample is from speech of the first selected dialect. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26)
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28. A speech synthesis system comprising:
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a memory for storing set of instructions to perform speech processing and speech data; a processor coupled to the memory for executing the sets of instructions; means for generating a string of linguistic units containing pitch data by selecting dialect neutral linguistic units from a first memory segment of the system which correspond to characters in a text string and concatenating the selected linguistic units together in a second memory segment of the system; means for selecting locations within the pitch data of the string of linguistic units; means for retrieving a first set of dialect intervals for a first selected dialect, the first set of dialect intervals selected from a set of melodic intervals as being indicative of the first selected dialect and stored in a dialect table in a third memory; and means for applying the first set of dialect intervals to the pitch data at the selected locations so that synthesized speech of the first selected dialect produced. - View Dependent Claims (29, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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30. A speech recognition system comprising:
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a memory for storing set of instructions to perform speech processing and speech data; a processor coupled to the memory for executing the sets of instructions; means for providing a digitized speech sample of human speech; means for selecting a set of melodic intervals in the digitized speech sample; means for retrieving a first set of dialect intervals for a first selected dialect, the first set of dialect intervals being melodic intervals which are indicative of the first selected dialect and stored in a dialect table; and means for comparing the set of melodic intervals to the first set of dialect intervals to determine whether the digitized speech sample is from human speech of the first selected dialect. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification