Crowd-sourcing pronunciation corrections in text-to-speech engines

• US 9,275,633 B2
• Filed: 01/09/2012
• Issued: 03/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Cath, Jeremy Edward, Harris, Timothy Edwin, Tisdale, James Oliver III
• Primary Examiner(s): YEN, ERIC L
• Application Number:
  US13/345,762
• Publication Number:
  US 20130179170A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,513 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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

Technologies are described herein for providing validated text-to-speech correction hints from aggregated pronunciation corrections received from text-to-speech applications. A number of pronunciation corrections are received by a Web service. The pronunciation corrections may be provided by users of text-to-speech applications executing on a variety of user computer systems. Each of the plurality of pronunciation corrections includes a specification of a word or phrase and a suggested pronunciation provided by the user. The pronunciation corrections are analyzed to generate validated correction hints, and the validated correction hints are provided back to the text-to-speech applications to be used to correct pronunciation of words and phrases in the text-to-speech applications.

Claims

1. A system for providing validated text-to-speech correction hints to text-to-speech applications, the system comprising:

one or more application servers;

a correction submission service executing on the one or more application servers and comprising computer-executable instructions that cause the system to

receive a plurality of pronunciation corrections, wherein each pronunciation correction of the plurality of pronunciation corrections comprises a specification of a single phrase, wherein the single phrase comprises at least a word, wherein each pronunciation correction of the plurality of pronunciation corrections also comprises a suggested pronunciation of the single phrase, wherein each pronunciation correction of the plurality of pronunciation corrections is provided by a user of one of the text-to-speech applications, and wherein each of the text-to-speech applications executes on a user computer system, and

store the plurality of pronunciation corrections in a data storage system; and

a correction validation module executing on the one or more application servers and comprising computer-executable instructions that cause the system to

analyze the plurality of pronunciation corrections,

generate a validated correction hint when a threshold number of pronunciation corrections are received for the single phrase, wherein each of the threshold number of pronunciation corrections comprises substantially similar suggested pronunciations of the single phrase, and

provide the validated correction hint to each text-to-speech application, and thereby correcting, in each of the text-to-speech applications, a pronunciation of the single phrase.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each pronunciation correction of the plurality of pronunciation corrections further comprises a specification of a single locale of usage, wherein the validated correction hint is generated for the single locale when another threshold number of pronunciation corrections are received for the phrase, and wherein each of the other threshold number of pronunciation corrections further comprises a substantially similar suggested pronunciation and further comprises the single locale of usage.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein each pronunciation correction of the plurality of pronunciation corrections further comprises a specification of a single class of submitter, wherein the validated correction hint is generated for the single class when another threshold number of pronunciation corrections are received for the phrase, and wherein each of the other threshold number of pronunciation corrections further comprises a substantially similar suggested pronunciation and further comprises the single class of submitter.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein each pronunciation correction of the plurality of pronunciation corrections further comprises a specification of a submitter, and wherein submitter ratings regarding a submitter are utilized in generating the validated correction hint.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the correction submission service comprises a Web service.

6. A computer-implemented method for providing validated text-to-speech correction hints to text-to-speech applications, the method comprising:

receiving, from user computer systems, a plurality of pronunciation corrections, wherein each pronunciation correction of the plurality of pronunciation corrections is provided by a user of one of the text-to-speech applications;

analyzing the plurality of pronunciation corrections;

generating one or more validated correction hints; and

providing the one or more validated correction hints to the text-to-speech applications, and thereby correcting, in each of the text-to-speech applications, one or more phrase pronunciations, wherein each of the phrase pronunciations corresponds to one of the one or more validated correction hints and is a pronunciation of at least one word.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein each pronunciation correction of the plurality of pronunciation corrections comprises a specification of a phrase and wherein each pronunciation correction of the plurality of pronunciation corrections also comprises a suggested pronunciation provided by a user.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein a validated correction hint of the one or more validated correction hints is generated when a confidence level for a suggested pronunciation is determined from a number of pronunciation corrections received for a same phrase.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein each pronunciation correction of the plurality of pronunciation corrections further comprises a specification of a locale of usage, and wherein a validated correction hint is generated for the locale when a confidence level for the suggested pronunciation is determined from a number of pronunciation corrections received for a same phrase, the same phrase having a same locale of usage as the specification of the locale of usage.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein each pronunciation correction of the plurality of pronunciation corrections further comprises a specification of a class of submitter, and wherein a validated correction hint is generated for the class when a confidence level for the suggested pronunciation is determined from a number of pronunciation corrections received for a same phrase, wherein the same phrase has a same class of submitter as the specification of the class of submitter.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein each pronunciation correction of the plurality of pronunciation correction further comprises a specification of a submitter, and wherein submitter ratings regarding submitters are utilized in determining a confidence level of a suggested pronunciation.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein each suggested pronunciation of the plurality of pronunciation corrections comprises a phonetic spelling of a phrase, and wherein each phonetic spelling is selected, by a user, from a list of alternate phonetic spellings of a phrase.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein a suggested pronunciation of the plurality of pronunciation corrections comprises a recording of a user speaking a phrase.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the text-to-speech applications utilize the one or more validated correction hints to update local pronunciation dictionaries utilized by the text-to-speech applications.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of pronunciation corrections are received from the text-to-speech applications through a Web service.

16. A computer-readable storage medium comprising one of an optical disk, a solid state storage device, or a magnetic storage device, wherein the optical disk, the solid storage device, or the magnetic storage device are encoded with computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive a plurality of pronunciation corrections provided by users of text-to-speech applications, wherein each text-to-speech application comprises an application executing on a user computer system, wherein each pronunciation correction of the plurality of pronunciation corrections comprises a specification of a phrase, wherein the phrase comprises at least a word, and wherein each pronunciation correction of the plurality of pronunciation corrections also comprises a suggested pronunciation provided by a user;

store the plurality of pronunciation corrections in a data storage system;

analyze the plurality of pronunciation corrections;

generate one or more validated correction hints based, at least in part, on the plurality of pronunciation corrections; and

provide the one or more validated correction hints to the text-to-speech applications, and thereby correcting, in each of the text-to-speech applications, one or more phrase pronunciations, wherein each of the phrase pronunciations corresponds to one of the one or more validated correction hints and is a pronunciation of at least one word.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein a validated correction hint is generated when a confidence level for a suggested pronunciation is determined from a number of pronunciation corrections received for a same phrase.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein each pronunciation correction of the plurality of pronunciation corrections further comprises a specification of a locale of usage, wherein a validated correction hint is generated for the locale when a confidence level for a suggested pronunciation is determined from a number of pronunciation corrections received for a same phrase, and wherein the same phrase has a same locale of usage as the specification of the locale of usage.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the validated correction hint for the locale is utilized by a text-to-speech application to correct a pronunciation of a phrase, wherein a text-to-speech application is utilized, by a user, in the locale.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein each pronunciation correction of the plurality of pronunciation corrections further comprises a specification of a class of submitter, and wherein a validated correction hint is generated for the class of submitter when a confidence level for a suggested pronunciation is determined from a number of pronunciation corrections received for a same phrase, wherein the same phrase has a same class of submitter as the specification of the class of submitter.