System and method for variable text-to-speech with minimized distraction to operator of an automotive vehicle
First Claim
1. A text-to-speech (TTS) control system for use in an automotive vehicle comprising:
- at least one vehicle sensor adapted for measuring at least one operating state of the automotive vehicle;
a TTS voice synthesizer for synthesizing a TTS voice;
a TTS phrase database operatively coupled to the TTS voice synthesizer for providing data to be synthesized, the data comprising at least a plurality of phrases; and
a TTS processing engine comprising;
a TTS parameter database operatively coupled to the TTS voice synthesizer and adapted for storing at least one TTS voice parameter for controlling a characteristic of the TTS voice;
a TTS parameter calculation module operatively coupled to the at least one vehicle sensor and adapted for calculating a value of the at least one TTS voice parameter based on the at least one operating state of the automotive vehicle; and
a phrase break detector operatively coupled to the TTS phrase database and adapted for detecting at least one break in the plurality of phrases and for controlling an update of the at least one TTS voice parameter stored in the TTS parameter database with the value of the at least one TTS voice parameter calculated by the TTS parameter calculation module.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A text-to-speech (TTS) system implemented in an automotive vehicle is dynamically tuned to increase intelligibility over a wide variety of vehicle operating states and environmental conditions by tuning characteristics of the synthesized voice in response to measured operating states. To decrease distractions to an operator of the vehicle, an embodiment of the invention prevents updates to the synthesized voice character from taking effect while a message phrase is being played. Instead, voice characteristics are updated only during natural phrase breaks. In another embodiment of the invention, a damping filter is applied to calculated changes in voice characteristics to prevent excessively rapid changes from being applied, reducing the likelihood of distracting the vehicle operator. In another embodiment of the invention, both phrase-break detectors and damping filters are employed.
81 Citations
27 Claims
-
1. A text-to-speech (TTS) control system for use in an automotive vehicle comprising:
-
at least one vehicle sensor adapted for measuring at least one operating state of the automotive vehicle; a TTS voice synthesizer for synthesizing a TTS voice; a TTS phrase database operatively coupled to the TTS voice synthesizer for providing data to be synthesized, the data comprising at least a plurality of phrases; and a TTS processing engine comprising; a TTS parameter database operatively coupled to the TTS voice synthesizer and adapted for storing at least one TTS voice parameter for controlling a characteristic of the TTS voice; a TTS parameter calculation module operatively coupled to the at least one vehicle sensor and adapted for calculating a value of the at least one TTS voice parameter based on the at least one operating state of the automotive vehicle; and a phrase break detector operatively coupled to the TTS phrase database and adapted for detecting at least one break in the plurality of phrases and for controlling an update of the at least one TTS voice parameter stored in the TTS parameter database with the value of the at least one TTS voice parameter calculated by the TTS parameter calculation module. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
-
-
6. A text-to-speech (TTS) control system for use in an automotive vehicle comprising:
-
at least one vehicle sensor adapted for measuring at least one operating state of the automotive vehicle; a TTS voice synthesizer for synthesizing a TTS voice; a TTS phrase database operatively coupled to the TTS voice synthesizer for providing data to be synthesized; and a TTS processing engine comprising; a TTS parameter database operatively coupled to the TTS voice synthesizer and adapted for storing at least one TTS voice parameter for controlling a characteristic of the TTS voice; a TTS parameter calculation module operatively coupled to the at least one vehicle sensor and adapted for calculating a value of the at least one TTS voice parameter based on the at least one operating state of the automotive vehicle; and a TTS parameter damping module adapted for filtering the value of the at least one TTS voice parameter calculated by the TTS parameter calculation module and for controlling an update of the at least one TTS voice parameter stored in the TTS parameter database. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A text-to-speech (TTS) control system for use in an automotive vehicle comprising:
-
at least one vehicle sensor adapted for measuring at least one operating state of the automotive vehicle; a TTS voice synthesizer for synthesizing a TTS voice; a TTS phrase database operatively coupled to the TTS voice synthesizer for providing data to be synthesized, the data comprising at least a plurality of phrases; and a TTS processing engine comprising; a TTS parameter database operatively coupled to the TTS voice synthesizer and adapted for storing at least one TTS voice parameter for controlling a characteristic of the TTS voice; a TTS parameter calculation module operatively coupled to the at least one vehicle sensor and adapted for calculating a value of the at least one TTS voice parameter based on the at least one operating state of the automotive vehicle; a phrase break detector operatively coupled to the TTS phrase database and adapted for detecting at least one break in the plurality of phrases and for controlling an update of the at least one TTS voice parameter stored in the TTS parameter database; and a TTS parameter damping module adapted for filtering the value of the at least one TTS voice parameter calculated by the TTS parameter calculation module and for further controlling the update of the at least one TTS voice parameter stored in the TTS parameter database. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. In an automotive vehicle equipped with a text-to-speech (TTS) control system adapted to adjust characteristics of a TTS voice in response to a measured state of the automotive vehicle, a method of adjusting at least one TTS voice characteristic while reducing distraction to an operator of the automotive vehicle includes the steps of:
-
measuring at least one operating state of the automotive vehicle; calculating a value of at least one parameter characterizing the TTS voice to produce a calculated value based on the measured operating state of the automotive vehicle such that intelligibility of the TTS voice would be increased; processing a message to be synthesized by the TTS voice synthesizer to detect at least one break within the message to be synthesized; storing a processed value in a memory device wherein the processed value is equal to a previous value of the at least one parameter if the at least one break is not yet detected and is equal to the calculated value if the at least one break is detected; and applying the processed value to a TTS voice synthesizer. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
-
Specification