Text presentation apparatus, text presentation method, and computer program product

• US 8,655,664 B2
• Filed: 08/11/2011
• Issued: 02/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Coestation Inc.
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Tachibana, Kentaro, Hirabayashi, Gou, Kagoshima, Takehiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Paras D
• Assistant Examiner(s): THOMAS-HOMESCU, ANNE L
• Application Number:
  US13/207,575
• Publication Number:
  US 20120065981A1
• Time in Patent Office: 922 Days
• Field of Search: 704230-275, 715/229, 715/210, 715/260, 715/251, 715/764, 715/745, 715/723, 715/751, 715/753
• US Class Current: 704/270
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/08 Text analysis or generation of parameters for speech synthesis out of text, e.g. grapheme to phoneme translation, prosody generation or stress or intonation determination

Abstract

According to an embodiment, a text presentation apparatus presenting text for a speaker to read aloud for voice recording includes: a text storing unit for storing first text; a presenting unit for presenting the first text; a determination unit for determining whether or not the first text needs to be replaced, on the basis of a speaker'"'"'s input for the first text presented; a preliminary text storing unit for storing preliminary text; a select unit configured to select, if it is determined that the first text needs to be replaced, second text to replace the first text from among the preliminary text, the selecting being performed on the basis of attribute information describing an attribute of the first text and on the basis of at least one of attribute information describing pronunciation of the first text and attribute information describing a stress type of the first text; and a control unit configured to control the presenting unit so that the presenting unit presents the second text.

Claims

1. A text presentation apparatus presenting text for a speaker to read aloud for voice recording, the apparatus comprising:

a text storing unit configured to store first text;

a presenting unit configured to present the first text;

a determination unit configured to determine whether or not the first text needs to be replaced, on the basis of a speaker'"'"'s input for the first text presented;

a preliminary text storing unit configured to store preliminary text;

a select unit configured to select, if it is determined that the first text needs to be replaced, second text to replace the first text from among the preliminary text, the selecting being performed on the basis of attribute information describing an attribute of the first text and on the basis of at least one of attribute information describing pronunciation of the first text and attribute information describing a stress type of the first text; and

a control unit configured to control the presenting unit so that the presenting unit presents the second text, wherein;

the pieces of attribute information are associated with respective degrees of importance; and

the select unit, if it is determined that the first text needs to be replaced,

calculates, for each piece of the preliminary text that is associated with the attribute information having an attribute value matching that of at least one of the pieces of attribute information on the first text, the sum of the degrees of importance that are associated with pieces of attribute information having matching attribute values, and

selects the second text that maximizes the sum of the degrees of importance.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1,

further comprising an input accepting unit configured to accept an operation input from the speaker, wherein

the determination unit determines that the first text needs to be replaced in at least one of cases when a speaker'"'"'s operation input to give an instruction to replace the first text is accepted by the input accepting unit and when an operation input to give an instruction to retake the first text is accepted by the input accepting unit a given number of times or more.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a voice input unit into which speaker'"'"'s voice is input, wherein

the determination unit determines that the first text needs to be replaced when a speaker'"'"'s voice to give an instruction to replace the first text is input into the voice input unit.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1,

further comprising a voice input unit into which speaker'"'"'s voice is input, wherein

the determination unit determines whether the first text needs to be replaced or not depending on quality of the voice input into the voice input unit.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the text storing unit stores the first text in association with the attribute information;

the preliminary text storing unit stores the preliminary text in association with the attribute information; and

the select unit, if it is determined that the first text needs to be replaced, selects the second text with reference text, the selecting being performed on the basis of the attribute information that is stored in the text storing unit in association with the first text.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the select unit, if it is determined that the first text needs to be replaced,

compares an attribute value of at least one of the pieces of attribute information on the first text with an attribute value of at least one of the pieces of attribute information on the preliminary text, and

selects the second text that maximizes the number of matching attribute values or that provides the number of matching attribute values more than a predetermined threshold.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the select unit, if it is determined that the first text needs to be replaced, selects predetermined second text from the preliminary text on the basis of the attribute information on the first text.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the attribute information is necessary to create a synthesis dictionary, the synthesis dictionary being used to create a synthesized speech, and

the attribute information includes, as the attribute value, pronunciation, stress type of a stress key phrase, type of a low-frequency phoneme included in a text, and number of stressed phrases that constitute a text.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the degree of importance is set in association with each attribute value.

8. A text presentation method to be performed by a text presentation apparatus presenting text for a speaker to read aloud for voice recording,

the method comprising:

presenting, by a system comprising a processor, first text on a presenting unit;

determining, by the system, whether or not the first text needs to be replaced, on the basis of a speaker'"'"'s input for the first text presented;

selecting, by the system, if it is determined that the first text needs to be replaced, second text to replace the first text from among preliminary text, the selecting being performed on the basis of at least one of attribute information describing pronunciation of the first text and attribute information describing a stress type of the first text; and

controlling, by the system, the presenting unit so that the presenting unit presents the second text, wherein;

the pieces of attribute information are associated with respective degrees of importance; and

the selecting includes, if it is determined that the first text needs to be replaced,

calculating, for each piece of the preliminary text that is associated with the attribute information having an attribute value matching that of at least one of the pieces of attribute information on the first text, the sum of the degrees of importance that are associated with pieces of attribute information having matching attribute values, and

selecting the second text that maximizes the sum of the degrees of importance.

9. A non-transitory computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium including programmed instructions for presenting text for a speaker to read aloud for voice recording, wherein the instructions, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform:

presenting first text on a presenting unit;

determining whether or not the first text needs to be replaced, on the basis of a speaker'"'"'s input for the first text presented;

selecting, if it is determined that the first text needs to be replaced, second text to replace the first text from among preliminary text, the selecting being performed on the basis of at least one of attribute information describing pronunciation of the first text and attribute information describing a stress type of the first text; and

controlling the presenting unit so that the presenting unit presents the second text, wherein;

the pieces of attribute information are associated with respective degrees of importance; and

the selecting includes, if it is determined that the first text needs to be replaced,

calculating, for each piece of the preliminary text that is associated with the attribute information having an attribute value matching that of at least one of the pieces of attribute information on the first text, the sum of the degrees of importance that are associated with pieces of attribute information having matching attribute values, and

selecting the second text that maximizes the sum of the degrees of importance.