Speech segmentation
First Claim
1. A method of speech segmentation comprising processing speech data so as to detect pauses and characterised by forming speech block boundaries at a selected subset of the pauses, wherein said subset of said pauses is selected so as to approximate each speech block to a preselected target speech block length.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to the management of voice data.
Voice messages left on a recipient'"'"'s answerphone or delivered via a voicemail system are a popular form of person-to-person communication. Such voice messages are quick to generate for the sender but are relatively difficult to review for the recipient; speech is slow to listen to and, unlike inherently visual forms of messages such as electronic mail or handwritten notes, cannot be quickly scanned for the relevant information. The present invention aims to make it easier for users to find relevant information in voice messages, and other kinds of voice record, such as recordings of meetings and recorded dictation.
According to the present invention we provide a method of speech segmentation comprising processing speech data so as to detect putative pauses and characterised by forming speech block boundaries at a selected subset of the pauses, said selection being based on a preselected target speech block length.
The invention may be applied in an application where speech is represented visually.
-
Citations
16 Claims
- 1. A method of speech segmentation comprising processing speech data so as to detect pauses and characterised by forming speech block boundaries at a selected subset of the pauses, wherein said subset of said pauses is selected so as to approximate each speech block to a preselected target speech block length.
-
10. A method of speech segmentation comprising:
-
processing speech data so as to detect pauses; forming speech block boundaries at a selected subset of the pauses, selection being based on a preselected target speech block length, said selection accomplished by dividing the total duration of the speech data in a file by the target speech block length to derive a desired pause number n, and detecting the n most significant pauses in that file and forming speech block boundaries at these n pauses in the speech data. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A system for implementing a method of speech segmentation comprising:
-
detector means for processing speech data so as to detect pauses; and segmenter means for forming speech block boundaries at a selected subset of the pauses, said selected subset being selected so as to aproximate each speech block to a preselected target speech block length. - View Dependent Claims (15)
-
-
16. A system for implementing a method of speech segmentation comprising:
-
detector means for processing speech data so as to detect pauses; and segmenter means for forming speech block boundaries at a selected subset of the pauses, selection of said selected subset being such as to approximate each speech block to a preselected target speech block length, said selection accomplished by dividing the total duration of the speech data in a file by the target speech block length to derive a desired pause number n, and detecting the n most significant pauses in that file and forming speech block boundaries at these n pauses in the speech data.
-
Specification