Systems and methods for multiple language document narration

• US 8,498,866 B2
• Filed: 01/14/2010
• Issued: 07/30/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: T Play Holdings LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: K-NFB Reading Technology Inc.
• Inventors: Kurzweil, Raymond C., Albrecht, Paul, Chapman, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Desir, Pierre-Louis
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sirjani, Fariba
• Application Number:
  US12/687,220
• Publication Number:
  US 20100324904A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,293 Days
• Field of Search: 704/258, 704/260, 704/270, 704/271, 704/272, 434156-185, 434/308
• US Class Current: 704/260
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems

Abstract

Disclosed are techniques and systems to provide a narration of a text in multiple different languages where the portions of the text narrated using the different voices associated with different languages are selected by a user.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, the method comprising:

displaying a sequence of words on a user interface rendered on a display device, the sequence of words comprising a first group of words and a second group of words;

associating, by one or more computers, a first character to the first group of words in the sequence of words, the first group of words in the sequence of words being selected by a user, the first character being a structure comprising a graphical depiction of an entity and a voice model to render speech in a first language, and the character structure being stored on computer storage;

associating, by the one or more computers, a, different second character to the second group of words in the sequence of words, the second group of the words in the sequence of words being different from the first group of words in the sequence of words, the second character being a structure comprising a second graphical depiction of a second, different entity and a second different voice model to render speech in a second, different language, and the second character structure stored on the computer storage;

narrating, by the one or more computers, the first group of words in the first language using the first voice model; and

narrating, by the one or more computers, the second group of words in the second language using the second voice model.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying, in response to the user-based selection of the first group of words in the sequence of words, a first indicia to the user-selected first group of words in the sequence of words.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second group of the words in the sequence of words is a non-selected group.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first character and the second character are two of a plurality of characters and, associating the first character with the first group of words in the sequence of words comprises receiving a user selection of one of the plurality characters from a drop down menu that renders graphic depictions of the plurality of characters.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first character and the second character are two of a plurality of characters and, associating the second character to the second group of words in the sequence of words comprises receiving a user selection of one of the plurality characters from a drop down menu that renders graphic depictions of the plurality of characters.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein narrating the first group of words in the first language using the first voice model comprises generating an audible output corresponding to first group of words using a text-to-speech application;

and

narrating the second group of words in the second language using the second voice model comprises generating an audible output corresponding to second group of words using the text-to-speech application.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first voice model comprises a first text-to-speech voice model;

and the second voice model comprises a second text-to-speech voice model that is different from the first text-to-speech voice model.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the audible output comprises using an audio recording.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the audio recording is an audio recording of a person speaking the selected words.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the sequence of words comprises a sequence of words selected from the group consisting of an electronic version of a book, an electronic version of a magazine, an electronic version of a play, and an electronic version of a newspaper.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a graphical user interface that depicts a plurality of characters with the first character and the second character being two of the plurality of characters, the plurality of characters having different associated voice models and enabling a user to select characters from the plurality of characters to associate with different groups of the sequence of words using the graphical user interface.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying one or both of the first and second voice models by at least one of modifying a reading speed associated with the voice model, modifying a volume associated with the voice model, modifying the gender of the character associated with the voice model, modifying the age of the character, and modifying a language of the voice model.

13. A computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable storage device, the computer program product comprising instructions for causing a processor to:

display a sequence of words on a user interface rendered on a display device, the sequence of words comprising a first group of words and a second group of words;

associate a first character to the first group of words in the sequence of words, the first character, the first group of words in the sequence of words being selected by a user and with the first character being a structure comprising a graphical depiction of an entity and a voice model to rendered speech in a first language, and the character structure being stored on computer storage;

associate a, different second character to the second group of words in the sequence of words, the second group of the words in the sequence of words being different from the first group of words in the sequence of words, the second character being a structure comprising a second graphical depiction of a second, different entity and a second different voice model to render speech in a second, different language, and the second character structure stored on the computer storage;

narrate the first group of words in the first language using the first voice model; and

narrate the second group of words in the second language using the second voice model.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the second group of the words in the sequence of words is a non-selected group.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the instructions to narrate the first group of words in the first language using the first voice model comprise instructions to generate an audible output corresponding to the first group of words using a text-to-speech application;

and

the instructions to narrate the second group of words in the second language using the second voice model comprise instructions to generate an audible output corresponding to the second group of words using the text-to-speech application, wherein the first voice model comprises a first text-to-speech voice model; and

the second voice model comprises a second text-to-speech voice model that is different from the first text-to-speech voice model.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising instructions to cause the processor to provide a graphical user interface to depict a plurality of characters with the first character and the second character being two of the plurality of characters, the plurality of characters having different associated voice models and enable a user to select characters from the plurality of characters to associate with different groups of the sequence of words using the graphical user interface.

20. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising instructions to cause the processor to receive a user selection of one of a plurality characters from a drop down menu on a graphical user interface to associate the first character with the first group of words in the sequence of words with the first character and the second character being two of the plurality of characters.

21. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising instructions to cause the processor to generate the audible output from an audio recording.

22. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising instructions to cause the processor to

modify one or both of the first and second voice models by instruction to modify at least one of a reading speed associated with the voice model, a volume associated with the voice model, the gender of the character associated with the voice model, the age of the character, and a language of the voice model.

17. A system comprising:

a memory; and

a computing device configured to;

display a sequence of words on a user interface rendered on a display device, the sequence of words comprising a first group of words and a second group of words;

associate a first character to the first group of words in the sequence of words, the first character, the first group of words in the sequence of words being selected by a user and with the first character being a structure comprising a graphical depiction of an entity and a voice model to rendered speech in a first language, and the character structure being stored on computer storage;

associate a, different second character to the second group of words in the sequence of words, the second group of the words in the sequence of words being different from the first group of words in the sequence of words, the second character being a structure comprising a second graphical depiction of a second, different entity and a second different voice model to render speech in a second, different language, and the second character structure stored on the computer storage;

narrate the first group of words in the first language using the first voice model; and

narrate the second group of words in the second language using the second voice model.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the second group of the words in the sequence of words comprises a non-selected group.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to render a graphical user interface to provide a plurality of characters with the first character and the second character being two of the plurality of characters, the plurality of characters having different associated voice models and enable a user to select characters from the plurality of characters to associate with different groups of the sequence of words using the graphical user interface.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the computing device is further configured to receive a user selection of one of a plurality characters from a drop down menu on a graphical user interface to associate the first character with the first group of words in the sequence of words with the first character and the second character being two of the plurality of characters.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the computing device is further configured to generate the audible output from an audio recording.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein the computing device is further configured to modify one or both of the first and second voice models by modifying at least one of a reading speed associated with the voice model, a volume associated with the voice model, the gender of the character associated with the voice model, the age of the character, and a language of the voice model.