Voice synthesizing apparatus, voice synthesizing system, voice synthesizing method and storage medium

• US 7,031,924 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2001
• Issued: 04/18/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Kimura, Hiroyuki, Goto, Hironori, Isonuma, Tomoyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Azad, Abul K.
• Application Number:
  US09/891,389
• Publication Number:
  US 20020019736A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,756 Days
• Field of Search: 704258-270
• US Class Current: 704/274
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/04 Details of speech synthesis systems, e.g. synthesiser structure or memory management

Abstract

There are provided a voice outputting apparatus, a voice outputting system, a voice outputting method and a storage medium which, when the synthetic voices of a plurality of text data are to be uttered in overlapping relationship with each other, voice-synthesize the plurality of text data with different kinds of voices and to be outputted, thereby enabling the voices of the plurality of text data to be heard easily. The voice outputting apparatus is provided with a voice waveform generating portion for generating the voice waveform of text data, and a voice output portion for causing, when the overlapping of the voice outputs of a plurality of text data is detected, the respective text data to be outputted in different voices, or from discrete speakers, or in voices of different heights.

Claims

1. A speech synthesizing apparatus for converting a plurality of text data into synthetic speech and outputting it, comprising:

speech waveform generating means for generating synthetic speech waveforms of said plurality of text data;

overlap detecting means for detecting the overlap of the synthetic speech waveforms of the plurality of said text data;

display control means for controlling the displaying of a setting screen configured to set the importance of said plurality of text data in response to the output of said overlap detecting means;

volume determining means for determining the volumes of the synthetic speech waveforms of each of said plurality of text data on the basis of the importance of said plurality of text data set by the setting screen; and

speech output means for speech-synthesizing and outputting synthetic speech waveforms generated from said plurality of text data whose overlap has been detected at the volume determined by said volume determining means,

wherein when two synthetic speech waveforms overlap each other, said speech output means makes the volume of one synthetic speech waveform a/(a+b) and makes the volume of the other synthetic speech waveform b/(a+b), where a is a value of a parameter of the importance of the one synthetic speech waveform, and b is a value of a parameter of the importance of the other synthetic speech waveform.

2. A speech synthesizing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising receiving means for receiving said plurality of text data and data on the importance of the plurality of text data from the outside of said apparatus.

3. A speech synthesizing method applied to a speech synthesizing apparatus for converting a plurality of text data into synthetic speech and outputting it, said method comprising:

a receiving step of receiving the plurality of text data;

a speech waveform generating step of generating synthetic speech waveforms from the received plurality of text data;

an overlap detecting step of detecting the overlap of the synthetic speech waveforms of the plurality of the text data;

a display control step of controlling displaying a setting screen configured to set the importance of the plurality of text data in response to the output of said overlap detecting step;

a volume determining step of determining the volumes of the synthetic speech waveforms of each of the plurality of text data on the basis of the importance of the plurality text data set in the setting screen; and

a speech outputting step of speech-synthesizing and outputting the synthetic speech waveforms generated from the plurality of the text data whose the overlap has been detected at the volume determined by said volume determining step,

wherein when two synthetic speech waveforms overlap each other, said speech outputting step makes the volume of one synthetic speech waveform a/(a+b) and makes the volume of the other synthetic speech waveform b/(a+b), where a is a value of a parameter of the importance of the one speech waveform, and b is a value of a parameter of the importance of the other speech waveform.

4. A speech synthesizing method according to claim 3, further comprising the step of receiving data on the importance of the plurality of text data from the outside of the apparatus.

5. A storage medium storing therein a control program for making a computer perform the speech synthesizing method according to claim 3.

6. A control program for making a computer perform the speech synthesizing method according to claim 3.

7. A speech synthesizing apparatus for converting a plurality of text data into synthetic speech and outputting it, said apparatus comprising:

a speech synthesizer configured to generate synthetic speech waveforms of the plurality of text data in accordance with the importance of the plurality of text data and outputting the synthetic speech waveforms at one time comprising;

display control means for controlling the displaying of a setting screen configured to set the importance of the plurality of text data;

volume determining means for determining the volumes of the synthetic speech waveforms of each of said plurality of text data on the basis of the importance of the plurality of text data set by the setting screen; and

speech output means for speech-synthesizing and outputting synthetic speech waveforms generated from said plurality of text data at the volume determined by said volume determining means,

wherein when two synthetic speech waveforms overlap each other, said speech output means makes the volume of one synthetic speech waveform a/(a+b) and makes the volume of the other synthetic speech waveform b/(a+b), where a is a value of a parameter of the importance of the one synthetic speech waveform, and b is a value of a parameter of the importance of the other synthetic speech waveform.

8. A speech synthesizing apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising receiving means for receiving the plurality of text data and importance data indicative of the importance of the plurality of text data from the outside of the apparatus.

9. A speech synthesizing apparatus for converting a plurality of text data into synthetic speech and outputting it, said apparatus comprising:

a speech waveform generator configured to generate synthetic speech waveforms of the plurality of text data;

a display controller configured to control the displaying of a setting screen configured to set the importance of said plurality of text data;

a volume determining device configured to determine the volumes of the synthetic speech waveforms of each of said plurality of the text data on the basis of the importance of said plurality of text data set by the setting screen; and

a speech output device configured to perform speech-synthesizing synthesizing the synthetic speech waveforms generated from the plurality of text data at different volumes determined by said volume determining device and outputting the synthetic speech waveforms at one time,

wherein when two synthetic speech waveforms overlap each other, said speech output device makes the volume of one synthetic speech waveform a/(a+b) and makes the volume of the other synthetic speech waveform b/(a+b), where a is a value of a parameter of the importance of the one synthetic speech waveform, and b is a value of a parameter of the importance of the other synthetic speech waveform.

10. A speech synthesizing apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising receiving means for receiving the plurality of text data and data indicative of the importance of the plurality of text data from the outside of the apparatus.

11. A speech synthesizing method applied to a speech synthesizing apparatus for converting a plurality of text data into synthetic speech and outputting it, said method comprising:

a speech outputting step of generating synthetic speech waveforms of the plurality of text data in accordance with the importance of the plurality of text data and outputting the synthetic speech waveforms at one time, comprising;

a speech waveform generating step of generating synthetic speech waveforms from the plurality of the text data;

a display control step of controlling the displaying of a setting screen configured to set the importance of the plurality of text data;

a volume determining step of determining the volumes of the synthetic speech waveforms of each of the plurality of text data on the basis of the importance of the plurality text data set by the setting screen; and

a speech outputting step of speech-synthesizing and outputting the synthetic speech waveforms generated from the plurality of the text data at the volume determined by said volume determining step at one time,

wherein when two synthetic speech waveforms overlap each other, said speech outputting step of speech-synthesizing and outputting makes the volume of one synthetic speech waveform a/(a+b) and makes the volume of the other synthetic speech waveform b/(a+b), where a is a value of a parameter of the importance of the one synthetic speech waveform, and b is a value of a parameter of the importance of the other synthetic speech waveform.

12. A speech synthesizing method according to claim 11, further comprising a receiving step of receiving the plurality of text data and importance data indicative of the importance of the plurality of text data from the outside of the apparatus.

13. A storage medium storing therein a control program for making a computer perform the speech synthesizing method according to claim 11 or claim 12.

14. A control program for making a computer perform the speech synthesizing method according to claim 11 or claim 12.

15. A speech synthesizing method applied to a speech synthesizing apparatus for converting a plurality of text data into a synthetic speech and outputting it, said method comprising:

a speech waveform generating step of generating synthetic speech waveforms of said plurality of text data; and

a speech outputting step of speech-synthesizing the synthetic speech waveforms generated from the plurality of text data at different volumes and outputting the synthetic speech waveforms at one time comprising;

a display control step of controlling the displaying of a setting screen configured to set the importance of the plurality of text data;

a volume determining step of determining the volumes of the synthetic speech waveforms of each of the plurality of text data on the basis of the relative importance of the plurality of text data set by the setting screen; and

a step of speech-synthesizing and outputting the synthetic speech waveforms generated from the plurality of text data at the volume determined by said volume determining step at one time,

wherein when two synthetic speech waveforms overlap each other, said speech-synthesizing and outputting step makes the volume of one synthetic speech waveform a/(a+b) and makes the volume of the other synthetic speech waveform b/(a+b), where a is a value of a parameter of the importance of the one synthetic speech waveform, and b is a value of a parameter of the importance of the other synthetic speech waveform.

16. A speech synthesizing method according to claim 15, further comprising a receiving step of receiving the plurality of text data and importance data indicative of the importance of the plurality of text data from the outside of the apparatus.

17. A storage medium storing therein a control program for making a computer perform the speech synthesizing method according to claim 15 or claim 16.

18. A control program for making a computer perform a speech synthesizing method according to claim 15 or claim 16.

19. A speech synthesizing apparatus for converting a plurality of text data into synthetic speech and outputting it, comprising:

speech waveform generating means for generating synthetic speech waveforms of said plurality of text data;

overlap detecting means for detecting the overlap of the synthetic speech waveforms of the plurality of said text data;

display control means for controlling the displaying of a setting screen configured to set the importance of said plurality of text data in response to the output of said overlap detecting means;

volume determining means for determining the volumes of the synthetic speech waveforms of each of said plurality of text data on the basis of the importance of said plurality of text data set by the setting screen; and

speech output means for speech-synthesizing and outputting synthetic speech waveforms generated from said plurality of text data whose overlap has been detected at the volume determined by said volume determining means,

wherein when three or more synthetic speech waveforms overlap one another, said speech output means makes the volume of each output synthetic speech waveform a value obtained by dividing the value of an importance parameter of the importance of the synthetic speech waveform by the sum total of the values of importance parameters of all the synthetic speech waveforms s outputted in overlapping relation with one another.

20. A speech synthesizing method applied to a speech synthesizing apparatus for converting a plurality of text data into synthetic speech and outputting it, said method comprising:

a receiving step of receiving the plurality of text data;

a speech waveform generating step of generating synthetic speech waveforms from the received plurality of text data;

an overlap detecting step of detecting the overlap of the synthetic speech waveforms of the plurality of the text data;

a display control step of controlling displaying a setting screen configured to set the importance of the plurality of text data in response to the output of said overlap detecting step;

a volume determining step of determining the volumes of the synthetic speech waveforms of each of the plurality of text data on the basis of the importance of the plurality text data set in the setting screen; and

a speech outputting step of speech-synthesizing and outputting the synthetic speech waveforms generated from the plurality of the text data whose the overlap has been detected at the volume determined by said volume determining step,

wherein when three or more synthetic speech waveforms overlap one another, said speech outputting step makes the volume of each output synthetic speech waveform a value obtained by dividing the value of an importance parameter of the importance of the synthetic speech waveform by the sum total of the values of importance parameters of all the synthetic speech waveforms s outputted in overlapping relation with one another.

21. A speech synthesizing apparatus for converting a plurality of text data into synthetic speech and outputting it, said apparatus comprising:

a speech synthesizer configured to generate synthetic speech waveforms of the plurality of text data in accordance with the importance of the plurality of text data and outputting the synthetic speech waveforms at one time comprising;

display control means for controlling the displaying of a setting screen configured to set the importance of the plurality of text data;

volume determining means for determining the volumes of the synthetic speech waveforms of each of said plurality of text data on the basis of the importance of the plurality of text data set by the setting screen; and

speech output means for speech-synthesizing and outputting synthetic speech waveforms generated from said plurality of text data at the volume determined by said volume determining means,

wherein when three or more synthetic speech waveforms overlap one another, said speech output means makes the volume of each output synthetic speech waveform a value obtained by dividing the value of an importance parameter of the importance of the synthetic speech waveform by the sum total of the values of importance parameters of all the synthetic speech waveforms s outputted in overlapping relation with one another.

22. A speech synthesizing apparatus for converting a plurality of text data into synthetic speech and outputting it, said apparatus comprising:

a speech waveform generator configured to generate synthetic speech waveforms of the plurality of text data;

a display controller configured to control the displaying of a setting screen configured to set the importance of said plurality of text data;

a volume determining device configured to determine the volumes of the synthetic speech waveforms of each of said plurality of the text data on the basis of the importance of said plurality of text data set by the setting screen; and

a speech output device configured to perform speech-synthesizing synthesizing the synthetic speech waveforms generated from the plurality of text data at different volumes determined by said volume determining device and outputting the synthetic speech waveforms at one time,

wherein when three or more synthetic speech waveforms s overlap one another, said speech output device makes the volume of each output synthetic speech waveform a value obtained by dividing the value of an importance parameter of the importance of the synthetic speech waveform by the sum total of the values of importance parameters of all the synthetic speech waveforms s outputted in overlapping relation with one another.

23. A speech synthesizing method applied to a speech synthesizing apparatus for converting a plurality of text data into synthetic speech and outputting it, said method comprising:

a speech outputting step of generating synthetic speech waveforms of the plurality of text data in accordance with the importance of the plurality of text data and outputting the synthetic speech waveforms at one time, comprising;

a speech waveform generating step of generating synthetic speech waveforms from the plurality of the text data;

a display control step of controlling the displaying of a setting screen configured to set the importance of the plurality of text data;

a volume determining step of determining the volumes of the synthetic speech waveforms of each of the plurality of text data on the basis of the importance of the plurality text data set by the setting screen; and

a speech outputting step of speech-synthesizing and outputting the synthetic speech waveforms generated from the plurality of the text data at the volume determined by said volume determining step at one time,

wherein when three or more synthetic speech waveforms overlap one another, said speech outputting step of speech-synthesizing and outputting means makes the volume of each output synthetic speech waveform a value obtained by dividing the value of an importance parameter of the importance of the synthetic speech waveform by the sum total of the values of importance parameters of all the synthetic speech waveforms s outputted in overlapping relation with one another.

24. A speech synthesizing method applied to a speech synthesizing apparatus for converting a plurality of text data into a synthetic speech and outputting it, said method comprising:

a speech waveform generating step of generating synthetic speech waveforms of said plurality of text data; and

a speech outputting step of speech-synthesizing the synthetic speech waveforms generated from the plurality of text data at different volumes and outputting the synthetic speech waveforms at one time comprising;

a display control step of controlling the displaying of a setting screen configured to set the importance of the plurality of text data;

a volume determining step of determining the volumes of the synthetic speech waveforms of each of the plurality of text data on the basis of the relative importance of the plurality of text data set by the setting screen; and

a step of speech-synthesizing and outputting the synthetic speech waveforms generated from the plurality of text data at the volume determined by said volume determining step at one time,

wherein when three or more synthetic speech waveforms overlap one another, said speech-synthesizing and outputting step makes the volume of each output synthetic speech waveform a value obtained by dividing the value of an importance parameter of the importance of the synthetic speech waveform by the sum total of the values of importance parameters of all the synthetic speech waveforms s outputted in overlapping relation with one another.