Character data transformer and transforming method

• US 6,411,931 B1
• Filed: 12/13/1999
• Issued: 06/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Yamada, Eiichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Chawan, Vijay B
• Application Number:
  US09/269,724
• Time in Patent Office: 925 Days
• Field of Search: 704/260, 704/258, 704/235, 704/277, 704/275, 704/5, 704/6
• US Class Current: 704/260
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/16 Sound input; Sound output speech processing G10L
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/08 Text analysis or generation of parameters for speech synthesis out of text, e.g. grapheme to phoneme translation, prosody generation or stress or intonation determination

Abstract

An apparatus for converting character data into audio data form includes a storage unit for storing the character data supplied, an operating unit manipulated by the user, and a control unit responsive to the entry of command from the operating unit for producing indicator data indicative of unwanted portions of the character data which are not required for conversion to audio data, comparing the indicator data with the character data read out from the storage unit, and converting the portion of the character data not corresponding to the indicator data into its audio data form. As the character data read out from the storage unit has been compared with the indicator data not indicative of the unwanted portions of the character data required for conversion to audio data, its dedicated portion not corresponding to the indicator data is converted into its audio data form. This allows the dedicated portion of the character data to be readily converted into its audio data form while aborting the unwanted portions of the character data, thus enabling quick acquisition of the information.

Claims

1. A character data converting apparatus comprising:

a storage unit for storing character data representing textual sentences supplied thereto;

an operating unit manipulated by a user;

an extracting unit for extracting an end of a sentence from the character data; and

a control unit responsive to entry of a command from the operating unit for producing indicator data indicative of unwanted portions of the character data stored in the storage unit, which are not required for conversion to audio data, and converting data that is not part of the unwanted portions specified by the indicator data of the character data read out from the storage unit into audio data form,

wherein the control unit repeatedly converts into audio data a predetermined number of the character data allocated after the end of the sentence extracted by the extraction unit.

2. The character data converting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit comprises a data converter for converting the character data read out from the storage unit into audio data form.

3. The character data converting apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising an acoustic converting unit for converting data in audio data form released from the data converter into audible sound.

4. The character data converting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the indicator data produced by the control unit is adapted for, in response to entry of the command from the operating unit, indicating that at least a corresponding portion of the character data read out from the storage unit, which represents punctuation marks, should not be converted into audio data form.

5. The character data converting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit repeats the conversion of the character data read out from the storage unit, which is allocated after character data of a punctuation mark, into audio form.

6. The character data converting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit converts the character data read out from the storage unit to audio data form except for a start portion of the character data.

7. The character data converting apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the control unit converts the character data read out from the storage unit to its audio data form except for an end portion of the character data.

8. A method of converting character data representing textual sentences, the method comprising the steps of:

producing indicator data indicative of unwanted portions of the character data stored in a storage unit, which is not required for conversion into audio data, in response to the entry of a command from an operating unit;

extracting an end of a sentence from the character data; and

converting character data other than the unwanted portions specified by the indicator data of the character data read out from the storage unit into audio data form,

wherein the step of converting repeatedly converts into audio data a predetermined number of the character data allocated after the end of the sentence extracted in the step of extracting.

9. The method of converting character data according to claim 8, wherein the indicator data produced is adapted for, in response to the entry of command from the operating unit, indicating that at least a corresponding portion of the character data read out from the storage unit, which represents punctuation marks, should not be converted into audio data form.

10. The method of converting character data according to claim 8, wherein conversion of the character data read out from the storage unit, which is allocated after character data of a punctuation mark, into audio data form is repeated.

11. The method of converting character data according to claim 8, wherein the character data read out from the storage unit is converted into audio data form except for a start portion of the character data.

12. The method of converting character data according to claim 11, wherein the character data read out from the storage unit is converted into its audio data form except for an and portion of the character data.

13. The method of converting character data according to claim 8, wherein the data in audio data form is further converted into audible sound for emission.

14. A character data converting apparatus comprising:

a storage unit for storing character data representing textual sentences supplied thereto;

an extracting unit for extracting an end of a sentence from the character data; and

a control unit responsive to entry of a command from the operating unit for producing indicator data indicative of unwanted portions of the character data stored in the storage unit, which are not required for conversion to audio data, comparing the indicator data with the character data read out from the storage unit, and converting a particular portion of the character data which is not identical to the unwanted portions specified by the indicator data into audio data form,

wherein the control unit repeatedly converts into audio data a predetermined number of the character data allocated after the end of the sentence extracted by the extraction unit.

15. The character data converting apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the control unit comprises a data converter for converting the character data read out from the storage unit into audio data form.

16. The character data converting apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising an acoustic converting unit for converting the data in audio data form released from the data converter into audible sound.

17. The character data converting apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the indicator data produced by the control unit is adapted for, in response to the entry of the command from the operating unit, indicating that at least a corresponding portion of the character data read out from the storage unit, which represents punctuation marks, should not be converted into audio data form.

18. The character data converting apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the control unit repeats the conversion of the character data read out from the storage unit, which is allocated after the character data of the punctuation mark, into audio data form.

19. The character data converting apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the control unit converts the character data read out from the storage unit to audio data form except for a start portion of the character data.

20. A method of converting character data representing textual sentences, the method comprising the steps of:

producing indicator data indicative of unwanted portions of the character data stored in a storage unit, which are not required for conversion into audio data, in response to entry of a command from an operating unit;

comparing the indicator data with the character data read out from the storage unit;

extracting an end of a sentence from the character data; and

converting a particular portion of the character data which is not identical to the unwanted portions specified by the indicator data into audio data form,

wherein the step of converting repeatedly converts into audio data a predetermined number of character data after the end of the sentence extracted in the step of extracting.

21. The method of converting character data according to claim 20, wherein the indicator data produced is adapted for, in response to entry of a command from the operating unit, indicating that at least a corresponding portion of the character data read out from the storage unit, which represents punctuation marks, should not be converted into audio data form.

22. The method of converting character data according to claim 20, wherein the conversion of the character data read out from the storage unit, which is allocated after the character data of a punctuation mark, into audio data form is repeated.

23. The method of converting character data according to claim 20, wherein the character data read out from the storage unit is converted into audio data form except for a start portion of the character data.

24. The method of converting character data according to claim 23, wherein the character data read out from the storage unit is converted into audio data form except for an end portion of the character data.

25. A method of converting character data representing textual sentences, the method comprising the steps of:

comparing supplied character data with at least indicator data indicative of an unwanted portion of the character data not required for conversion into audio data;

repeating the conversion of a portion of the character data which follows the unwanted portion of the character data specified by the indicator data until another portion of the character data corresponding to the indicator is found;

extracting an end of a sentence from the character data; and

converting the data in audio data form to audible sound for emission,

wherein the step of converting repeatedly converts into audio data a predetermined number of the character data allocated after the end of the sentence extracted by the step of extracting.

26. The method of converting character data according to claim 25, wherein when one portion of the character data corresponds to the indicator data, another portion of the character data following the one portion specified by the character data is converted into audio data form and conversion is repeated until a portion of the character data is found that corresponds to the indicator data.

27. The method of converting character data according to claim 25, wherein the indicator data is predetermined at least one.

28. The method of converting character data according to claim 25, wherein when a first quantity of the character data has been converted into audio data form, the conversion of another first quantity of the character data which is spaced by a second quantity from the converted first quantity of the character data into audio data form is repeated.

29. The method of converting character data according to claim 25, wherein the data in audio data form is further converted to audible sound for emission.