Method and apparatus for expanding the vocabulary of a speech system
First Claim
1. A computer-based method of adding a new word to a vocabulary of a speech system, the vocabulary including words and corresponding acoustic patterns for a language or a language domain, the method comprising the steps of:
- determining, for the new word, a regularity value measuring a conformity with respect to a pronunciation in the language or the language domain;
comparing the regularity value to a threshold value to determine a sufficiency of the conformity;
prompting for additional information on the pronunciation of the new word, when the conformity is insufficient; and
adding the new word and an acoustic pattern of the new word to the vocabulary.
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Abstract
A computerized method is provided for adding a new word to a vocabulary of a speech system, the vocabulary comprising words and corresponding acoustic patterns for a language or language domain. Within a determination step for the new word, a regularity value is determined which measures the conformity with respect to the pronunciation in the language or language domain. In a comparison step, the regularity value is compared to a threshold value to decide whether the conformity is insufficient. Only in the affirmative case of insufficient conformity, a prompting step is performed, prompting for additional information on the pronunciation of the new word. Finally, in an extension step, the new word and an acoustic pattern of the new word are added to the vocabulary.
142 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A computer-based method of adding a new word to a vocabulary of a speech system, the vocabulary including words and corresponding acoustic patterns for a language or a language domain, the method comprising the steps of:
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determining, for the new word, a regularity value measuring a conformity with respect to a pronunciation in the language or the language domain;
comparing the regularity value to a threshold value to determine a sufficiency of the conformity;
prompting for additional information on the pronunciation of the new word, when the conformity is insufficient; and
adding the new word and an acoustic pattern of the new word to the vocabulary. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
determining regularity values for test words of a test corpus of words not part of the vocabulary;
determining a frequency distribution of the regularity values;
determining, from the frequency distribution, a reference regularity value as a relative maximum corresponding to the lowest conformity; and
choosing, as a threshold value, a value with a lower conformity than the reference regularity value.
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7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining step further comprises determining a multitude of regularity values with respect to a multitude of candidate vocabularies such that a selected vocabulary is chosen as the candidate vocabulary for which the regularity value indicates the largest conformity, and further wherein the added acoustic pattern is derived using the selected vocabulary.
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8. The method of claim 1, wherein the speech system is one of a speech recognition system and a speech synthesis system.
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9. Apparatus for adding a new word to a vocabulary of a speech system, the vocabulary including words and corresponding acoustic patterns for a language or a language domain, the apparatus comprising:
at least one processor operative to;
(i) determine, for the new word, a regularity value measuring a conformity with respect to a pronunciation in the language or the language domain;
(ii) compare the regularity value to a threshold value to determine a sufficiency of the conformity;
(iii) prompt for additional information on the pronunciation of the new word, when the conformity is insufficient; and
(iv) add the new word and an acoustic pattern of the new word to the vocabulary.- View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An article of manufacture for adding a new word to a vocabulary of a speech system, the vocabulary including words and corresponding acoustic patterns for a language or a language domain, comprising a machine readable medium containing one or more programs which when executed implement the steps of:
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determining, for the new word, a regularity value measuring a conformity with respect to a pronunciation in the language or the language domain;
comparing the regularity value to a threshold value to determine a sufficiency of the conformity;
prompting for additional information on the pronunciation of the new word, when the conformity is insufficient; and
adding the new word and an acoustic pattern of the new word to the vocabulary. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
determining regularity values for test words of a test corpus of words not part of the vocabulary;
determining a frequency distribution of the regularity values;
determining, from the frequency distribution, a reference regularity value as a relative maximum corresponding to the lowest conformity; and
choosing, as a threshold value, a value with a lower conformity than the reference regularity value.
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23. The article of claim 17, wherein the determining step further comprises determining a multitude of regularity values with respect to a multitude of candidate vocabularies such that a selected vocabulary is chosen as the candidate vocabulary for which the regularity value indicates the largest conformity, and further wherein the added acoustic pattern is derived using the selected vocabulary.
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24. The article of claim 17, wherein the speech system is one of a speech recognition system and a speech synthesis system.
Specification