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Speech synthesis using concatenation of speech waveforms

  • US 6,665,641 B1
  • Filed: 11/12/1999
  • Issued: 12/16/2003
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/13/1998
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A speech synthesizer comprising:

  • a. a large speech database referencing speech waveforms;

    b. a speech waveform selector in communication with the speech database that selects waveforms referenced by the database using criteria that (i) favor waveform candidates based, at least in part, directly on high-level linguistic features, and (ii) favor approximately equally all waveform candidates in respect to low-level prosody features except those wherein the low-level prosody features are unlikely, wherein the criteria include a requirement favoring waveform candidates having pitch within a range determined as a function of high-level linguistic features, and wherein the criteria are implemented by cost functions, and the requirement is implemented using a function having steep sides and a region that approximates a flat bottom; and

    c. a speech waveform concatenator in communication with the speech database that concatenates the waveforms selected by the speech waveform selector to produce a speech signal output.

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