Method and apparatus for assigning word prominence to new or previous information in speech synthesis
First Claim
1. An apparatus for assigning word prominence in synthetic speech comprising:
- a memory having stored thereon a set of instructions; and
a processing device coupled with the memory, the processing device, when executing the set of instructions, togenerate a speech representative of a current sentence,determine whether an information in the current sentence is new or previously given based on a semantic relationship between the current sentence and a number of preceding sentences, andassign a word prominence to a word in the current sentence in accordance with the information determination.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus is provided for generating speech that sounds more natural. In one embodiment, word prominence and latent semantic analysis are used to generate more natural sounding speech. A method for generating speech that sounds more natural may comprise generating synthesized speech having certain word prominence characteristics and applying a semantically-driven word prominence assignment model to specify word prominence consistent with the way humans assign word prominence. A speech representative of a current sentence is generated. The determination is made whether information in the current sentence is new or previously given in accordance with a semantic relationship between the current sentence and a number of preceding sentences. A word prominence is assigned to a word in the current sentence in accordance with the information determination.
187 Citations
25 Claims
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1. An apparatus for assigning word prominence in synthetic speech comprising:
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a memory having stored thereon a set of instructions; and a processing device coupled with the memory, the processing device, when executing the set of instructions, to generate a speech representative of a current sentence, determine whether an information in the current sentence is new or previously given based on a semantic relationship between the current sentence and a number of preceding sentences, and assign a word prominence to a word in the current sentence in accordance with the information determination. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An apparatus for assigning word prominence in synthetic speech comprising:
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means for storing a set of instructions; and means for processing coupled with the means for storing, the means for processing, when executing the set of instructions, to generate a speech representative of a current sentence, determine whether an information in the current sentence is new or previously given based on a semantic relationship between the current sentence and a number of preceding sentences, and assign a word prominence to a word in the current sentence in accordance with the information determination. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification