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Methods and apparatus for formant-based voice systems

  • US 8,447,592 B2
  • Filed: 09/13/2005
  • Issued: 05/21/2013
  • Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2005
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method of processing a voice signal to extract information to facilitate training a speech synthesis model for use with a formant-based text-to-speech synthesizer, the method comprising acts of:

  • detecting a plurality of candidate features in the voice signal;

    grouping different combinations of the plurality of candidate features into a plurality of candidate feature sets;

    forming a plurality of voice waveforms, each of the plurality of voice waveforms formed, at least in part, by processing a respective one of the plurality of candidate feature sets;

    performing at least one comparison between the voice signal and each of the plurality of voice waveforms;

    selecting at least one of the plurality of candidate feature sets based, at least in part, on the at least one comparison with the voice signal; and

    using the selected at least one of the plurality of candidate feature sets to assist in training the speech synthesis model by incorporating and/or modifying at least one rule in the speech synthesis model, the at least one rule specifying how features should transition over time when synthesizing speech from a given text, wherein the speech synthesis model, when trained, is configured to synthesize the speech from the given text without using pre-recorded voice fragments.

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