Voice mail system, voice synthesizing device and method therefor

• US 6,289,085 B1
• Filed: 06/16/1998
• Issued: 09/11/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Miyashita, Shichiro, Saito, Takashi
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Escalante, Ovidio
• Application Number:
  US09/097,867
• Time in Patent Office: 1,183 Days
• Field of Search: 379/100.08, 379/88.13, 379/88.16, 379/88.2, 379/88.22, 379/127, 379/67.1, 379/70, 379/88.02, 379/88.18, 379/88.19, 379/88.21, 379/88.26, 379/88.27, 379/93.24, 704/231, 704/258
• US Class Current: 379/88.02
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/033 Voice editing, e.g. manipulating the voice of the synthesiser
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/04 Details of speech synthesis systems, e.g. synthesiser structure or memory management
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/651 with speech synthesis

Abstract

The reception part 30 outputs the text and the header of the received electronic mail to the voice synthesizing part 32. The voice font switching part 326 outputs the sander ID contained in the header to the voice font searching part 328. The voice font searching part 328 searches the voice feature data in the voice font database part 330 to have voice feature data in which the user ID contained in the header of the voice feature data matches the sender ID sent to the rhythm control part 322 and the voice generating part 324. The rhythm control part 322, the voice generating part 324 and the voice output part 38 read the content of the text in a voice feature indicated by the phonemes contained in the supplied voice feature data and generates a voice signal characterized by rhythm data contained in the header of the voice feature data for output.

Claims

1. A voice mail system comprising a plurality of terminal devices connected through a network of communications nodes, in which said terminal devices each comprises:

voice feature control means for controlling voice feature data which indicates voice features of a plurality of voices in correlation with one or more identifiers which are unique within the network;

mail reception means for receiving a mail containing at least a communication message and said identifier;

voice synthesizer means for synthesizing a voice which represents the content of the communication message contained in the received mail in a voice feature indicated by said voice feature data which is controlled in correlation with said identifier contained in the received mail;

voice output means for outputting said synthesized voice wherein each of said communication nodes comprises clock means for measuring an operating time;

each of said voice feature data including time limit data indicating a limit of using the voice feature data; and

said voice synthesizer means synthesizing the voice using said voice feature data only when said operating time is within the use limit indicated by said time limit data contained in said voice feature data.

2. A voice mail system of claim 1 in which each of said terminal devices is provided with mail sending means for sending said mail to other communications node through said network.

3. A voice mail system of claim 1 in which;

said mail contains at least a communication message and said identifier of the sending party, and

said voice synthesizer means synthesizing a voice representing the content of the communication message contained in said received mail in a voice feature which said voice feature data indicates in correlation with said identifier of the sending party contained in said received mail.

4. A voice mail system of claim 1 further comprising voice data extracting means for extracting voice feature data indicating each of voices inputted and sending it to each of said communication nodes through said network in correlation with one or more identifiers each being unique within said network, and

said voice feature data control means receiving said extracted voice feature data through the network for controlling the received voice feature data in correlation with one or more identifiers which are unique within the network.

5. A voice mail system of claim 1 which;

said mail containing an identifier of the destination,

each of said voice feature data containing use permission data which indicates the identifier of the destination which is permitted to use that voice feature data, and

said voice synthesizer means synthesizing the voice using said voice feature data when the identifier of the destination contained in said mail is the identifier of the destination which said use permission data permits to use.

6. A voice mail system comprising one or more terminal devices and one or more voice mail server devices connected through a network as communication nodes, in which said voice mail server device comprises:

voice feature control means for controlling voice feature data for voice features of a plurality of voices in correlation with one or more identifiers which are unique within the network;

mail reception means for receiving a mail containing at least a communication message and said identifier;

voice synthesizer means for synthesizing a voice which represents the content of the communication message contained in the received mail in a voice feature indicated by said voice feature data which is controlled in correlation with said identifier contained in the received mail;

voice output means for outputting said synthesized voice to one or more of said plurality of terminal devices in response to a request from one or more of said plurality of terminal devices;

wherein each of said communication nodes comprises clock means for measuring an operating time;

each of said voice feature data including time limit data indicating a limit of using the voice feature data; and

said voice synthesizer means synthesizing the voice using said voice feature data only when said operating time is within the use limit indicated by said time limit data contained in said voice feature data.

7. A voice mail system of claim 6 in which each of said terminal devices is provided with mail sending means for sending said mail to other communication node through said network.

8. A voice mail system of claim 6 in which;

said mail contains at least a communication message and said identifier of the sending party, and

said voice synthesizer means synthesizing a voice representing the content of the communication message contained in said received mail in a voice feature which said voice feature data indicates in correlation with said identifier of the sending party contained in said received mail.

9. A voice mail system of claim 6 further comprising voice data extracting means for extracting voice feature data indicating each of voices inputted and sending it to each of said communication nodes through said network in correlation with one or more identifiers each being unique within said network, and

said voice feature data control means receiving said extracted voice feature data through the network for controlling the received voice feature data in correlation with one or more identifiers which are unique within the network.

10. A voice mail system of claim 6 in which;

said mail containing an identifier of the destination,

each of said voice feature data containing use permission data which indicates the identifier of the destination which is permitted to use that voice feature data, and

said voice synthesizer means synthesizing the voice using said voice feature data when the identifier of the destination contained in said mail is the identifier of the destination which said use permission data permits to use.

14. The voice synthesizing method of claim 10 including the step of limiting the use of a given voice feature data to a period of time within a time use period specified in that given voice feature data.

11. A voice synthesizer means for synthesizing a voice of a communication message of a mail containing at least a communication message and an identifier comprising:

voice feature data control means for controlling voice feature data for voice features of a plurality of voices in correlation with one or more identifiers which are unique within the network which transmits said mails;

voice synthesizer means for synthesizing a voice representing the content of a communication message contained in the received mail in a voice feature indicated by said voice feature data which is controlled in connection with said identifier; and

time limit data means for limiting the use of voice feature data for at least one of the synthesized voices to an operating time within a time use limit period.

16. The computer readable recording medium of claim 11 including the step of limiting the use of a given voice feature data to a period of time in a time use period specified in the given voice feature data.

12. A voice mail communication method comprising:

controlling voice feature data indicating each voice feature of a plurality of voices in correlation with one or more identifiers which are unique within a network;

receiving a mail containing at least a communication message and one or more identifiers;

synthesizing a voice representing the content of a communication message contained in the received mail in a voice feature indicated by said voice feature data which is controlled in correction to said identifier contained in said received mail; and

providing permission use data in the voice feature data which indicates identifiers of destinations in the network which are permitted to use the voice feature data.

13. A voice synthesizing method for synthesizing a voice of a communication message of a mail which contains at least a communication message and an identifier comprising:

generating voice feature data by users speaking into a microphone and distributing the voice feature data to destinations within a network;

controlling voice feature data indicating each voice feature of a plurality of voices in correlation with one or more identifiers which are unique within the network which transmit each of said mails providing permission use data in the voice feature data for a voice which indicates the identifiers of destinations in the network permitted to use the voice feature data; and

synthesizing a voice representing the content of a communication message contained in the received mail in a voice feature indicated by said voice feature data which is controlled in correlation to said identifier.

15. A computer readable recording medium which records therein a program for causing the computer to execute the steps of:

generating voice feature data by users speaking into a microphone;

distributing the generated voice feature data to destinations within a network;

controlling each voice feature data indicating each voice feature of a plurality of voices in correlation with one or more identifiers which are unique within the network;

providing permission data in the voice feature data which limits use of the voice feature data to only some of the destinations in the network;

receiving a mail containing at least a communication message and one or more identifiers; and

synthesizing a voice representing the content of a communication message contained in the received mail in a voice feature indicated by said voice feature data which is correlated to said identifier and the voice permission data contained in said received mail.