Synthesis of time-domain signals using non-overlapping transforms

• US 6,311,158 B1
• Filed: 03/16/1999
• Issued: 10/30/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Creative Technology Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Creative Technology Ltd.
• Inventors: Laroche, Jean
• Primary Examiner(s): Korzuch, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Storm, Donald L.
• Application Number:
  US09/268,878
• Time in Patent Office: 959 Days
• Field of Search: 704/266-269, 700/94, 84/623, 84/624
• US Class Current: 704/269
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/02 Methods for producing synthetic speech; Speech synthesisers

Abstract

Techniques for synthesizing a time-domain signal. The time-domain signal is partitioned into a number of time-domain frames and a waveform in generated for each time-domain frame. Each waveform includes one or more sinusoids. The waveform is generated by selecting a sinusoid for synthesis and computing a set of parameter values (e.g. the start and end amplitude, frequency, and phase values) for the selected sinusoid. A template is determined for the selected sinusoid based on the computed parameter values and a selected window function. The frequency-domain template is such that the amplitude of the selected sinusoid in the time domain matches, at a time-domain frame boundary, the amplitude of a corresponding sinusoid in an adjacent time-domain frame. The template is added to a frequency-domain frame. The process is repeated for each sinusoid in the waveform. After all sinusoids have been processed, the frequency-domain frame is transformed to a time-domain frame. The time-domain frame is re-normalized with a re-normalization function that is generated based on the selected window function. A predetermined number of samples from each end of the time-domain frame can be discarded. The waveform is defined by the non-discarded samples in the time-domain frame. The waveforms from the time-domain frames are concatenated to generate the time-domain signal.

Claims

1. A method for synthesizing a time-domain signal comprising:

partitioning the time-domain signal into a plurality of time-domain frames;

generating a waveform for each of the plurality of time-domain frames, wherein each waveform includes one or more sinusoids, and wherein the generating a waveform includes

selecting a sinusoid to synthesize,

computing a set of parameter values for the selected sinusoid,

determining a frequency-domain template for the selected sinusoid, wherein

the frequency-domain template is based on the computed parameter values and a selected window function, and wherein the determined frequency-domain template is such that an amplitude of the selected sinusoid in the time-domain matches, at a time-domain frame boundary, an amplitude of a sinusoid, corresponding to the selected sinusoid, in an adjacent time-domain frame,

adding the frequency-domain template to a frequency-domain frame, and

transforming the frequency-domain frame to a time-domain frame, wherein

the waveform is defined by the time-domain frame; and

generating the time-domain signal using waveforms from the plurality of time-domain frames.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the generating a waveform further includes repeating the selecting, computing, determining, and adding for each of the one or more sinusoids in the waveform.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the generating the time-domain signal includes concatenating the waveforms from the plurality of time-domain frames.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the generating a waveform further includes discarding a predetermined number of samples from each end of the time-domain frame, wherein the waveform is defined by non-discarded samples in the time-domain frame.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the generating a waveform further includes re-normalizing the time-domain frame with a re-normalization function generated based on the selected window function.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the template includes a first component corresponding to a sinusoid having constant amplitude.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the template further includes a second component corresponding to a sinusoid having linearly varying amplitude.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the second component is based on a derivative of the selected window function.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the first and second components are precomputed for the selected window function and stored in a memory.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected window function is selected from the set consisting of Hanning, Hamming, Kaiser, Gaussian, Dolph-Tchebyshev, Kaiser-Bessel, Blackman-Harris, triangular, and rectangular window functions.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected window function is oversampled by an oversampling factor of S, where S is greater than one.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein S is a power of two.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of parameter values includes start amplitude, end amplitude, frequency, and phase values.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of parameter values is selected to match amplitude of pairs of corresponding sinusoids in adjacent time-domain frames.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of parameter values is selected to match phase of pairs of corresponding sinusoids in adjacent time-domain frames.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the one or more sinusoids in a particular waveform is turned on in a prior time-domain frame.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the one or more sinusoids in a particular waveform is turned off in a subsequent time-domain frame.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the adding includes translating the template to a frequency bin in the frequency-domain frame that most closely approximates a particular frequency of the selected sinusoid.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the translating includes offsetting the template to account for difference between the particular frequency of the selected sinusoid and the approximated frequency bin.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the translating includes interpolating samples in the template based, in part, on the particular frequency of the selected sinusoid.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the interpolating is performed using a linear interpolator.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein the transforming is performed using a fast Fourier transform.

23. A computer program product for synthesizing a time-domain signal comprising:

an electronic storage unit encoded with

code configured to partition the time-domain signal into a plurality of time-domain frames;

code configured to generate a waveform for each of the plurality of time-domain frames, wherein each waveform includes one or more sinusoids, and wherein the code configured to generate a waveform

select a sinusoid to synthesize,

compute a set of parameter values for the selected sinusoid,

determine a frequency-domain template for the selected sinusoid, wherein the frequency-domain template is based on the computed parameter values and a selected window function, and wherein the determined frequency-domain template is such that an amplitude of the selected sinusoid in the time-domain matches, at a time-domain frame boundary, an amplitude of a sinusoid, corresponding to the selected sinusoid, in an adjacent time-domain frame,

add the frequency-domain template to a frequency-domain frame, and

transform the frequency-domain frame to a time-domain frame, wherein the waveform is defined by the time-domain frame; and

code configured to generate the time-domain signal using waveforms from the plurality of time-domain frames.

24. The product of claim 23 wherein the code configured to generate a waveform further repeat the select, compute, determine, and add for each of the one or more sinusoids in the waveform.

25. The product of claim 23 wherein the code configured to generate the time-domain signal concatenates the waveforms from the plurality of time-domain frames.

26. The product of claim 23 wherein the code configured to generate a waveform further discard a predetermined number of samples from each end of the time-domain frame, wherein the waveform is defined by non-discarded samples in the time-domain frame.

27. The product of claim 23 wherein the code configured to generate a waveform further re-normalize the time-domain frame with a re-normalization function generated based on the selected window function.

28. A signal synthesizer comprising:

an electronic storage unit configured to store values of a spectral pattern corresponding to a sinusoid;

a processor coupled to the electronic storage unit, the processor configured to generate a sequence of waveforms, each waveform corresponding to a time-domain frame and including one or more sinusoids, wherein each time-domain frame is synthesized by;

determining a frequency-domain template for each of the one or more sinusoids, wherein each determined frequency-domain template is such that an amplitude of the sinusoid in the time-domain matches, at a time-domain frame boundary, an amplitude of a corresponding sinusoid in an adjacent time-domain frame,

adding the frequency-domain templates to generate a frequency-domain frame, and

transforming the frequency-domain frame to the time-domain.