Computer method and apparatus for translating text to sound
First Claim
1. In a digital processing system, a method for creating phonemic data from text, comprising the steps of:
- receiving input text;
providing a plurality of rule sets, one rule set for processing one portion of the input text and different rule sets for processing respective different portions of the input text, each rule set having one or more rules for processing a respective portion of the input text;
for each rule set, iteratively applying the rules of the rule set to the input text by comparing the input text with at least one of the rules of the rule set to produce respective phonemic data portions corresponding to portions of the input text, different rule sets producing different phonemic data portions; and
combining the produced phonemic data portions to form a phonemic data sequence corresponding to the input text.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A computer method and apparatus provide fast and efficient conversion (translation) of text to phonemes. The method and apparatus employ a plurality of rule sets, each formed of rules designed for specific portions of an input text string. A suffix rule set is used to match substrings from the end of an input text string to suffix rules. A prefix rule set is used to match substrings from the beginning of the input text to prefix rules. And an infix rule set is provided to match substrings taken from the middle of the input text or any remaining text not matched by either the suffix of prefix rules. Phonemic data is produced for any portion of the input text that matches a particular rule. The phonemic data may be used by a speech synthesizer to vocalize or read aloud the input text. Dictionary lookup of any portions of the input text string in conjunction with rule matching is also provided.
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Citations
38 Claims
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1. In a digital processing system, a method for creating phonemic data from text, comprising the steps of:
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receiving input text; providing a plurality of rule sets, one rule set for processing one portion of the input text and different rule sets for processing respective different portions of the input text, each rule set having one or more rules for processing a respective portion of the input text; for each rule set, iteratively applying the rules of the rule set to the input text by comparing the input text with at least one of the rules of the rule set to produce respective phonemic data portions corresponding to portions of the input text, different rule sets producing different phonemic data portions; and combining the produced phonemic data portions to form a phonemic data sequence corresponding to the input text. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 38)
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23. A method of translating an incoming text string to corresponding phonemic data representing the input text string for use in a speech synthesizer, comprising the steps of:
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in a computer medium, providing a suffix rule set, a prefix rule set and an infix rule set, each rule set having a respective plurality of rules for specifying phonemes for respective text strings; in a digital processor, comparing substrings of an incoming text string to rules of the suffix rule set and when a match is found, placing phonemes specified by a matching rule into a work storage area and modifying the incoming text string by effectively removing from the incoming text string the substring of the incoming text string which matched the rule in the suffix rule set, such that a modified incoming text string is formed; for each time the incoming text string is modified, repeating the comparing step with the modified incoming text string as last modified and the suffix rule set until there are no more matches for the suffix rule set in the modified incoming text string as last modified; comparing substrings of the incoming text string to rules of the prefix rule set and when a match is found, placing phonemes specified by a matching rule into the work storage area and modifying the incoming text string by effectively removing from the incoming text string the substring of the incoming text string which matched the rule in the prefix rule set such that a modified incoming text string is formed; for each time the incoming text string is modified, repeating the comparing step with the modified incoming text string as last modified and the prefix rule set until there are no more matches for the prefix rule set in the modified incoming text string as last modified; comparing substrings of the incoming text string to rules of the infix rule set and when a match is found comparing substrings of the incoming text string to rules of the infix rule set and when a match is found, placing phonemes specified by a matching rule into the work storage area and modifying the incoming text string by effectively removing from the incoming text string the substring of the incoming text string which matched the rule in the infix rule set such that a modified incoming text string is formed; for each time the incoming text string is modified, repeating the comparing step with the modified incoming text string as last modified and the infix rule set until there are no more matches for the infix rule set in the modified incoming text string as last modified; until each substring of the incoming text string has a corresponding phonemes stored in the work storage area, such that a phonemic data sequence representing the incoming text string is formed and held in the work storage area for use in a speech synthesizer. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
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27. In a data processing system having a digital processor, an apparatus for translating incoming text to phoneme data, the apparatus comprising:
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a source of incoming text; a letter-to-sound processor executable by the digital processor and coupled to receive incoming text from the source, the letter-to-sound processor including a rule engine and a plurality of rule sets, each rule set including rules encoding translation of portions of incoming text to corresponding portions of phoneme data for representing the incoming text; an input device for obtaining the incoming text; in response to the letter-to-sound processor receiving the incoming text, the rule engine comparing portions of the incoming text to the rules in each of the plurality of rule sets, for different portions of the incoming text the rule engine comparing to different rule sets depending on location of the portion in the incoming text, and upon the rule engine determining a match between a rule and a subject portion of the incoming text, the rule engine producing a corresponding portion of the phoneme data according to the rule that was matched, such that the letter-to-sound processor combines the portions of the phoneme data and on output, provides the phoneme data representing the incoming text. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification