System and method for testing a TTS voice

• US 7,711,562 B1
• Filed: 09/27/2005
• Issued: 05/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cerence Inc., Cerence Operating Company (Cerence Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fetters, Shane, Davis, Steven Lawrence, Gustafson, Beverly, Schulz, David Eugene, Loney, Louise
• Primary Examiner(s): Hudspeth, David R
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALBERTALLI, BRIAN LOUIS
• Application Number:
  US11/235,822
• Time in Patent Office: 1,680 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 704/258
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems

Abstract

Disclosed are various elements of a toolkit used for generating a TTS voice for use in a spoken dialog system. The invention in each case may be in the form of the system, a computer-readable medium or a method for generating the TTS voice. An embodiment of the invention relates to a method for preparing a text-to-speech (TTS) voice for testing and verification. The method comprises processing a TTS voice to be ready for testing, synthesizing words utilizing the TTS voice, presenting to a person a smallest possible subset that contains at least N instances of a group of units in the TTS voice, receiving information from the person associated with corrections needed to the TTS voice and making corrections to the TTS voice according to the received information.

Claims

1. A method for preparing a text-to-speech (TTS) voice for testing and verification via a computing device, the method comprising:

processing a TTS voice to be ready for testing;

synthesizing words utilizing the TTS voice;

presenting to a person a smallest possible subset that contains at least N instances of a group of units in the TTS voice;

receiving information from the person associated with corrections needed to the TTS voice; and

making corrections with the computing device to the TTS voice according to the received information, wherein each phonetic unit in the TTS voice is exercised.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein synthesizing words further comprises synthesizing at least a million words.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein N equals 1.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein N equals 2.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein all mislabeled units are found and all examples of gross misalignment are found in the TTS voice.

6. A computing device for preparing a text-to-speech (TTS) voice for testing and verification, the computing device comprising:

a module configured to process a TTS voice to be ready for testing;

a module configured to synthesize words utilizing the TTS voice;

a module configured to present to a person a smallest possible subset that contains at least N instances of a group of units in the TTS voice;

a module configured to receive information from the person associated with corrections needed to the TTS voice; and

a module configured to make corrections to the TTS voice according to the received information, wherein each phonetic unit in the TTS voice is exercised.

7. The computing device of claim 6, wherein synthesizing words further comprises synthesizing at least a million words.

8. The computing device of claim 6, wherein N equals 1.

9. The computing device of claim 6, wherein N equals at least 2.

10. The computing device of claim 6, wherein all mislabeled units are found and all examples of gross misalignment are found in the TTS voice.

11. A tangible computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for controlling a computing device to preparing a text-to-speech (TTS) voice for testing and verification, the instructions comprising:

processing a TTS voice to be ready for testing;

synthesizing via a processor words utilizing the TTS voice;

presenting to a person a smallest possible subset that contains at least N instances of a group of units in the TTS voice;

receiving information from the person associated with corrections needed to the TTS voice; and

making corrections to the TTS voice according to the received information, wherein each phonetic unit in the TTS voice is exercised.

12. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein synthesizing words further comprises synthesizing at least a million words.

13. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein N equals 1.

14. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein N equals 2.

15. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein all mislabeled units are found and all examples of gross misalignment are found in the TTS voice.