Reproducing velocity converting apparatus with different speech velocity between voiced sound and unvoiced sound

• US 6,085,157 A
• Filed: 09/12/1997
• Issued: 07/04/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Takeda, Hiroaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Dorvil, Richemond
• Application Number:
  US08/913,326
• Time in Patent Office: 1,026 Days
• Field of Search: 704/208, 704/211, 704/258, 704/267, 704/270, 704/205, 704/206, 704/207, 704/200, 704/214, 704/266, 704/268
• US Class Current: 704/208
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/04 Time compression or expansion

Abstract

The present invention can obtain a clear velocity converted sound in a sound signal which is recorded in recording media, without changing an interval of the sound signal. An input sound signal (1a) is transmitted from a sound signal storage memory (1) to a voiced sound/unvoiced sound deciding portion (2). In the voiced sound/unvoiced sound deciding portion (2), it is decided whether the input sound signal (1a) is a voiced sound or an unvoiced sound. A decision result is transmitted to a speech velocity converter (4) as a switching flag (1b). The speech velocity converter (4) outputs the unvoiced sound as it is. A predetermined windowing and adding processing is performed to the voiced sound, a time compression is carried out so as to output the voiced sound. An output signal (1e) from the speech velocity converter (4) is output as a frame output signal (1g) through an output sound signal frame buffer (8). In another mode, a switch and an adder may be used.

Claims

1. A reproducing velocity converting apparatus comprising:

data recording means (1) for recording and holding a sound signal in the form of a digital signal;

voiced sound/unvoiced sound deciding means (2) for deciding whether said sound signal is a voiced sound or an unvoiced sound in an arbitrary section of said sound signal which is held in said data recording means;

speech velocity converting means (4) for a sound signal being read from said data recording means, said speech converting means outputting a sound as it is in a section which is decided to be an unvoiced sound part by said voiced sound/unvoiced sound deciding means, said speech velocity converting means outputting, by changing only a time length of the sound in the section which is decided to be a voiced sound part by said voiced sound/unvoiced sound deciding means,

wherein said speech velocity converting means has means for controlling a reading of the sound signal from said data recording means, said controlling means uses a decision result of said voiced sound/unvoiced sound deciding means so as to control a voiced sound part reading address in accordance with the time length of the unvoiced sound part so that an output signal may provide a value which approximates to a desired reproducing velocity; and

data output means (8) which can output a signal having a determined frame length of the output signal from said speech velocity converting means.

2. A reproducing velocity converting apparatus comprising:

data recording means (1) for recording and holding a sound signal in the form of a digital signal;

voiced sound/unvoiced sound deciding means (2) for deciding whether said sound signal is a voiced sound or an unvoiced sound in an arbitrary section of said sound signal which is held in said data recording means;

data switching means (3) which can switch an output destination of the sound signal to be transmitted from said data recording means in accordance with the decision result from said voiced sound/unvoiced sound deciding means;

speech velocity converting means (4) for a sound signal being read from said data recording means, said speech velocity converting means outputting a sound as it is in a section which is decided to be an unvoiced sound part by said voiced sound/unvoiced sound deciding means, said speech velocity converting means outputting, by changing a time length of the sound in the section which is decided to be a voiced sound part by said voiced sound/unvoiced sound deciding means,

wherein said speech velocity converting means has means for controlling a reading of the sound signal from said data recording means, said controlling means uses a decision result of said voiced sound/unvoiced sound deciding means so as to control a voiced sound part reading address in accordance with the time length of the unvoiced sound part so that an output signal may provide a value which approximates to a desired reproducing velocity;

data adding means (5) which can add the output signal from said speech velocity converting means to the output signal from data switching means; and

output data recording means (6) which can record the output signal from said data adding means, the processed sound signal.

3. A reproducing velocity converting apparatus comprising:

data recording means (1) for recording and holding a sound signal in the form of a digital signal;

voiced sound/unvoiced sound deciding means (2) for deciding whether said sound signal is a voiced sound or an unvoiced sound in an arbitrary section of said sound signal which is held in said data recording means;

speech velocity converting means (4) for a sound signal being read from said data recording means, said speech velocity converting means outputting a sound as it is in a section which is decided to be an unvoiced sound part by said voiced sound/unvoiced sound deciding means, said speech velocity converting means outputting, by changing a time length of the sound in the section which is decided to be a voiced sound part by said voiced sound/unvoiced sound deciding means,

wherein said speech velocity converting means has means for controlling a reading of the sound signal from said data recording means, said controlling means uses a decision result of said voiced sound/unvoiced sound deciding means so as to control a voiced sound part reading address in accordance with the time length of the unvoiced sound part so that an output signal may provide a value which approximates to a desired reproducing velocity;

signal controlling means (7) for receiving the output signals from said data recording means and speech velocity converting means and for outputting one of them in accordance with the decision result of said voiced sound/unvoiced sound deciding means; and

data output means (8) which can output a signal having a determined frame length of the output signal from said signal controlling means.