Apparatus and methods for converting textual information to audio-based output

• US 7,454,346 B1
• Filed: 10/04/2000
• Issued: 11/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Martin, Steven J., Danner, Ryan A., Dodrill, Lewis D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dorvil; Richemond
• Assistant Examiner(s): Han; Qi
• Application Number:
  US09/679,109
• Time in Patent Office: 2,967 Days
• Field of Search: 704/270, 704/275, 704/270.1, 704258-269, 704/260, 455/563
• US Class Current: 704/260
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/047 Architecture of speech synthesisers

Abstract

A system for providing text-to-speech conversion of a body of text is presented. The system includes a first executable resource which generates text portions from the body of text in response to receiving an initial web request to convert the body of text to speech and provides an output in response to generating the text portions comprising a sequence of resource identifiers suitable for use in the text-to-speech conversion of the text portions. The system further includes a second executable resource which receives a text portion web request that requests the conversion of at least one text portion to an audio format, the text portion web request comprising the at least one text portion and one of the resource identifiers, and further provides at least one media file suitable for audio output based on the text portion web request.

Claims

1. A system for providing text-to-speech conversion of a body of text, the system comprising:

a first executable resource; and

a second executable resource, wherein;

the first executable resource generates text portions from the body of text in response to receiving an initial web request to convert the body of text to speech;

the first executable resource provides an output in response to generating the text portions, the output comprising a sequence of resource identifiers for the text-to-speech conversion of the text portions, each of the resource identifiers comprising a corresponding one of the text portions and an identity of a resource for use in performing the text-to-speech conversion;

the second executable resource receives a text portion web request that requests the conversion of at least one text portion to an audio format, the text portion web request comprising the at least one text portion and one of the resource identifiers;

the second executable resource provides at least one media file for audio output based on the text portion web request; and

wherein the first executable resource generates text portions from the body of text by dividing the body of the text into the text portions, and the output of the first executable resource is a sequences of uniform resource locators for each text portion, the uniform resource locator comprising a name of a resource for converting text-to-speech and the words of a divided text portion separated by delimiters.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the first executable resource generates the text portions in response to receiving an initial hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) request to convert the body of text to speech;

the first executable resource provides a hypertext markup language (HTML) page comprising uniform resource locators (URL'"'"'s), wherein each URL comprises a text character string for conversion to the audio format and an HTTP address of the resource; and

the second executable resource receives at least one HTTP request comprising at least one of the URL'"'"'s.

3. A method for providing text-to-speech conversion of a body of text, the method comprising the steps of:

generating text portions from the body of text in response to receiving an initial web request to convert the body of text to speech;

providing an output in response to generating the text portions, the output comprising a sequence of resource identifiers for the text-to-speech conversion of the text portions, each of the resource identifiers comprising a corresponding one of the text portions and an identity of a resource for use in performing the text-to-speech conversion;

receiving a text portion web request that requests the conversion of at least one text portion to an audio format, the text portion web request comprising the at least text portion and one of the resource identifiers in response to the step of providing the output;

providing at least one media file for audio output in response to the step of receiving the text portion web request; and

wherein the generating text portions from the body of text is performed by dividing the body of the text into the text portions, and the output of the first executable resource is a sequences of uniform resource locators for each text portion, the uniform resource locator comprising a name of a resource for converting text-to-speech and the words of a divided text portion separated by delimiters.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein

the step of generating text portions comprises generating text portions in response to receiving an initial hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) request to convert the body of text to speech;

the step of providing the output comprises providing a hypertext markup language (HTML) page comprising uniform resource locators (URL'"'"'s), each URL comprising a text character string for conversion to the audio format and an HTTP address of the resource; and

the step of receiving the text portion web request comprises receiving at least one HTTP request comprising at least one of the URL'"'"'s in response to the step of providing the output.