Generating multimedia information from text information using customized dictionaries

• US 7,386,450 B1
• Filed: 12/14/1999
• Issued: 06/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Roberts, Steven Leonard, Malik, Nadeem, Baumgartner, Jason Raymond
• Primary Examiner(s): Dorvil; Richemond
• Assistant Examiner(s): Han; Qi
• Application Number:
  US09/460,832
• Time in Patent Office: 3,101 Days
• Field of Search: 704/260, 704/258, 704/267, 704/243, 704/270
• US Class Current: 704/260
• 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

A system for generating multimedia information including audio information, video information, or both is disclosed. The system includes an interface, a text converter, and a first multimedia dictionary. The interface is suitable for receiving a text-based message, such as an email message, from a transmission medium, such as the internet. The text converter is configured to receive the text-based message from the interface. The converter is adapted to decompose the words of the text-based message into their component diphthongs. The first multimedia dictionary receives a diphthong produced by the text converter and produces a set of digitized samples of multimedia information representative of the received diphthong. The system may include a second multimedia dictionary containing its own set of digitized samples. In this embodiment, the system is configured to determine the author of the text-based message and, in response, to select between the first and second multimedia dictionaries.

Claims

1. A system for generating multimedia information, comprising:

an interface suitable for receiving an email message;

a text converter configured to receive the email message and adapted to decompose text in the message into a set of diphthongs;

a first multimedia dictionary configured to receive diphthongs produced by the text converter and adapted to produce a set of digitized samples of multimedia information representative of the received diphthongs wherein the digitized samples are created by sampling the speech of a first speaker, and a second multimedia dictionary configured to receive diphthongs produced by the text converter and responsive thereto, to retrieve a set of digitized samples created by sampling the speech of a second speaker wherein the set of digitized samples retrieved from the first multimedia dictionary responsive to at least one diphthong differs from the set of digitized samples retrieved from the second multimedia dictionary responsive to the same at least one diphthong, and further wherein the system is configured to select between the first and second multimedia dictionaries responsive to determining an author of the text-based message.

2. A system for generating multimedia information, comprising:

an interface suitable for receiving an email message;

a text converter configured to receive the email message and adapted to decompose text in the message into a set of diphthongs;

a first multimedia dictionary configured to receive diphthongs produced by the text converter and adapted to produce a set of digitized samples of multimedia information representative of the received diphthongs wherein the digitized samples are created by sampling the speech of a first speaker, and a second multimedia dictionary configured to receive diphthongs produced by the text converter and responsive thereto, to retrieve a set of digitized samples created by sampling the speech of a second speaker wherein the set of digitized samples retrieved from the first multimedia dictionary responsive to at least one diphthong differs from the set of digitized samples retrieved from the second multimedia dictionary responsive to the same at least one diphthong and wherein the first multimedia dictionary is selected if the first speaker is the author of the text-based message.