Speech synthesis with incremental databases of speech waveforms on user terminals over a communications network
First Claim
1. A method of generating synthesized speech from textual information on a user terminal, said user terminal being provided with a speech synthesis engine having a basic database of speech waveforms, comprising the steps of:
- starting speech synthesis of said textual information employing said basic database of speech waveforms;
sending to a context server a request related to the textual information to be synthesized, the request seeking an incremental database based on a context of said textual information to be synthesized, wherein the context is to be determined from context information extracted from said textual information to be synthesized;
receiving the incremental database of speech waveforms associated with said context;
managing the composition of an enlarged database of speech waveforms comprising said basic and said incremental databases of speech waveforms; and
continuing speech synthesis of said textual information employing said enlarged database of speech waveforms, wherein at least part of the basic database and at least part of the incremental database are used to synthesize the speech.
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Abstract
Service architecture for providing to a user terminal of a communications network textual information and relative speech synthesis, the user terminal being provided with a speech synthesis engine and a basic database of speech waveforms includes: a content server for downloading textual information requested by means of a browser application on the user terminal; a context manager for extracting context information from the textual information requested by the user terminal; a context selector for selecting an incremental database of speech waveforms associated with extracted context information and for downloading the incremental database into the user terminal; a database manager on the user terminal for managing the composition of an enlarged database of speech waveforms for the speech synthesis engine including the basic and the incremental databases of speech waveforms.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method of generating synthesized speech from textual information on a user terminal, said user terminal being provided with a speech synthesis engine having a basic database of speech waveforms, comprising the steps of:
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starting speech synthesis of said textual information employing said basic database of speech waveforms; sending to a context server a request related to the textual information to be synthesized, the request seeking an incremental database based on a context of said textual information to be synthesized, wherein the context is to be determined from context information extracted from said textual information to be synthesized; receiving the incremental database of speech waveforms associated with said context; managing the composition of an enlarged database of speech waveforms comprising said basic and said incremental databases of speech waveforms; and continuing speech synthesis of said textual information employing said enlarged database of speech waveforms, wherein at least part of the basic database and at least part of the incremental database are used to synthesize the speech. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A communications system for synthesizing speech from textual information, comprising:
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a user terminal, the user terminal further comprising; a speech synthesis engine, a basic database of speech waveforms, and a database manager for managing the composition of an enlarged database of speech waveforms for said speech synthesis engine comprising said basic database of speech waveforms and an incremental database of speech waveforms; and a context server for downloading, over a communications network, said incremental database of speech waveforms into said user terminal, said incremental database being based on a context of said textual information to be synthesized determined from context information extracted from said textual information to be synthesized; and
wherein the speech synthesis engine is configured to use at least part of the basic database and at least part of the incremental database to synthesize the speech, said speech synthesis engine starting speech synthesis of said textual information employing said basic database of speech waveforms and continuing speech synthesis of said textual information employing said enlarged database of speech waveforms. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A user terminal of a communications network comprising:
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a speech synthesis engine; a basic database of speech waveforms; and an application for retrieving textual information to be converted into synthesized speech comprising; a database manager configured to; download an incremental database of speech waveforms from a database server, said incremental database being based on a context of said textual information to be synthesized determined from context information extracted from said textual information to be synthesized, and manage the composition of an enlarged speech waveforms database for said speech synthesis engine, comprising said basic and said incremental databases of speech waveforms, wherein the speech synthesis engine is configured to use at least part of the basic database and at least part of the incremental database to synthesize the speech, said speech synthesis engine starting speech synthesis of said textual information employing said basic database of speech waveforms and continuing speech synthesis of said textual information employing said enlarged database of speech waveforms. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
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Specification