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Method for letter-to-sound in text-to-speech synthesis

  • US 6,029,132 A
  • Filed: 04/30/1998
  • Issued: 02/22/2000
  • Est. Priority Date: 04/30/1998
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for generating at least one phonetic pronunciation for an input sequence of letters selected from a predetermined alphabet, said sequence of letters forming words which substantially adhere to a predetermined syntax, said apparatus comprising:

  • an input device for receiving syntax data indicative of the syntax of said words in said input sequence;

    a computer storage device for storing a plurality of text-based decision trees having questions indicative of predetermined characteristics of said input sequence;

    said predetermined characteristics including letter-related questions about said input sequence, said predetermined characteristics also including characteristics selected from the group consisting of syntax-related questions, context-related questions, dialect-related questions or combinations thereof,said text-based decision trees having internal nodes representing questions about predetermined characteristics of said input sequence;

    said text-based decision trees further having leaf nodes representing probability data that associates each of said letters with a plurality of phoneme pronunciations; and

    a text-based pronunciation generator connected to said text-based decision trees for processing said input sequence of letters and generating a first set of phonetic pronunciations corresponding to said input sequence of letters based upon said text-based decision trees.

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