Homograph filter for speech synthesis system
First Claim
1. A computer program product for use with a computer system capable of converting text data into synthesized speech, the computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having program code embodied in the medium and configured to determine a preferred pronunciation of a homograph in the text data, the program code further comprising:
- program code which examines the text data to identify the homograph within the text data and to extract words surrounding the identified homograph in the text data;
program code responsive to the identified homograph which identifies the possible parts of speech that the identified homograph can assume;
program code responsive to the possible parts of speech that the identified homograph can assume that obtains a set of rules, each rule based on a pair of possible parts of speech of the identified homograph and a word order and position of one of the surrounding words;
program code which sequentially applies the rules in the obtained rule set until a rule is satisfied to determine a part of speech for the homograph in the text data; and
program code which is responsive to the homograph and the determined part of speech usage for determining a preferred pronunciation for the identified homograph.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A homograph filter and method which increase the probability that homographs are pronounced correctly in a speech synthesis system utilizes a filter engine operating in conjunction with a set of rules. The filter engine parses a textual sentence to extract any present homographs and applies a correct set of rules to the homograph, based on an optimal search algorithm. The engine then carries out any appropriate substitution of phonetic data. Rules are primarily based on syntactic analisis, based on a priori knowledge of how each homograph is used. The rule set is classified into different categories in order to optimize the search algorithm and to allow the rules to be modified and updated incrementally without effecting the engine construction and/or performance. The search algorithm utilizes syntactic analysis to achieve optimum results. If syntactic analysis does not yield a satisfactory result, semantic analysis could also be utilized to determine the usage of the homograph based on the contents of the items which surround the homograph. The rule set contains a set of grammatical rules to perform syntactic analysis. If syntactic or semantic analysis does not yield a result, the result will be based on the statistical usage of the given homograph.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. A computer program product for use with a computer system capable of converting text data into synthesized speech, the computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having program code embodied in the medium and configured to determine a preferred pronunciation of a homograph in the text data, the program code further comprising:
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program code which examines the text data to identify the homograph within the text data and to extract words surrounding the identified homograph in the text data; program code responsive to the identified homograph which identifies the possible parts of speech that the identified homograph can assume; program code responsive to the possible parts of speech that the identified homograph can assume that obtains a set of rules, each rule based on a pair of possible parts of speech of the identified homograph and a word order and position of one of the surrounding words; program code which sequentially applies the rules in the obtained rule set until a rule is satisfied to determine a part of speech for the homograph in the text data; and program code which is responsive to the homograph and the determined part of speech usage for determining a preferred pronunciation for the identified homograph. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for use with a computer system capable of converting text data into synthesized speech, the method comprising:
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A. examining the text data to identify the homograph within the text data and to extract words surrounding the identified homograph in the text data; B. using the identified homograph to identify the possible parts of speech that the identified homograph can assume; C. using the possible parts of speech that the identified homograph can assume to obtain a set of rules, each rule based on a pair of possible parts of speech of the identified homograph and a word order and position of one of the surrounding words; D. sequentially applying the rules in the obtained rule set until a rule is satisfied to determine a part of speech for the homograph in the text data; and E. using the identified homograph and the determined part of speech usage for determining a preferred pronunciation for the identified homograph. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. Apparatus for use with a computer system capable of converting text data into synthesized speech, the apparatus comprising:
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a parser which examines the text data to identify the homograph within the text data and to extract words surrounding the identified homograph in the text data; an attribute retriever responsive to the identified homograph which identifies the possible parts of speech that the identified homograph can assume; a rules mechanism that uses the possible parts of speech that the identified homograph can assume and obtains a set of rules, each rule based on a pair of possible parts of speech of the identified homograph and a word order and position of one of the surrounding words; a rules engine which sequentially applies the rules in the obtained rule set until a rule is satisfied to determine a part of speech for the homograph in the text data; and a lookup mechanism which is responsive to the homograph and the determined part of speech usage for determining a preferred pronunciation for the identified homograph. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave for use with a computer system capable of converting text data into synthesized speech, the computer data signal comprising:
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program code which examines the text data to identify the homograph within the text data and to extract words surrounding the identified homograph in the text data; program code responsive to the identified homograph which identifies the possible parts of speech that the identified homograph can assume; program code that uses the possible parts of speech that the identified homograph can assume and obtains a set of rules, each rule based on a possible pair of parts of speech of the identified homograph and a word order and position of one of the surrounding words; program code which sequentially applies the rules in the obtained rule set until a rule is satisfied to determine a part of speech for the homograph in the text data; and program code which is responsive to the homograph and the determined part of speech usage for determining a preferred pronunciation for the identified homograph. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification