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Speech translation method and apparatus utilizing prosodic information

  • US 9,342,509 B2
  • Filed: 10/30/2009
  • Issued: 05/17/2016
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2008
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method, comprising:

  • receiving source speech with a computer system having a processing device; and

    using said processing device, performing steps of;

    electronically marking a relative position of and extracting non-text information in the source speech, said non-text information comprising both;

    (a) at least one emotional utterance lacking a word; and

    (b) prosodic information of at least one speech unit in the source speech comprising at least one of emphasis, intonation, duration, fundamental frequency, pitch and energy;

    obtaining a relative value of the prosodic information of the at least one speech unit in the source speech by comparing the prosodic information of the at least one speech unit in the source speech with reference prosodic information for the at least one speech unit, the reference prosodic information representing prosodic information of a sample speech unit under defined conditions;

    translating the source speech into target speech; and

    adjusting the target speech based on the at least one emotional utterance lacking a word and the prosodic information to preserve the non-text information in the source speech, including adjusting prosodic information of at least one speech unit of the target speech based on the relative value of the prosodic information of the at least one speech unit of the source speech,wherein adjusting the target speech based on the at least one emotional utterance lacking a word and the prosodic information comprises adding a corresponding emotional utterance lacking a word to the target speech at a location of the target speech corresponding to the relative position of the at least one emotional utterance lacking a word in the source speech.

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