VOICE-TO-EXPRESSIVE TEXT

• US 20110276327A1
• Filed: 05/28/2010
• Published: 11/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications USA Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications USA Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Foxenland, Eral
• Application Number:
  US12/789,734
• Publication Number:
  US 20110276327A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/235
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/226 using non-speech characteristics

Abstract

A method including receiving a vocal input including words spoken by a user; determining vocal characteristics associated with the vocal input mapping the vocal characteristics to textual characteristics; and generating a voice-to-expressive text that includes, in addition to text corresponding to the words spoken by the user, a textual representation of the vocal characteristics based on the mapping.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a user device, a vocal input including words spoken by a user;

determining, by the user device, vocal characteristics associated with the vocal input;

mapping, by the user device, the vocal characteristics to textual characteristics; and

generating, by the user device, a voice-to-expressive text that includes, in addition to text corresponding to the words spoken by the user, a textual representation of the vocal characteristics based on the mapping.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the vocal characteristics include one or more of pitch, intonation, tonal quality, volume, gender of the user, or age of the user, and the textual characteristics include one or more of font size, font weight, font style, font effects, capitalization, punctuation, or color.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a location of the user; and

including an image or an icon representative of the location with the voice-to-expressive text.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a background ambience associated with a location of the user; and

including an image or an icon representative of the background ambience to the voice-to-expressive text.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the voice-to-expressive text comprises one of an e-mail, a simple messaging service message, a multimedia messaging service message, or an instant message.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a tempo associated with the words spoken by the user; and

displaying the voice-to-expressive text according to the tempo.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the textual characteristics include font style, gender, and age, and the method further comprising:

storing font style categories corresponding to gender and age;

obtaining a facial expression of the user;

determining at least one of a gender of the user or an age of the user based on the facial expression; and

wherein the mapping further comprises;

mapping at least one of a font style to the gender of the user or a font style to the age of the user based on the stored font style categories.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a text communication that includes a first voice-to-expressive text; and

identifying a lingo shared between the user and another user in the first voice-to-expressive text; and

wherein when the vocal input includes the lingo, the generating further comprises;

generating the textual representation of the lingo to correspond to the textual representation of the lingo included in the first voice-to-expressive text.

9. A user device comprising components configured to:

receive a vocal input that includes words spoken by a user;

perform voice analysis to determine vocal characteristics associated with the vocal input;

map the vocal characteristics to textual characteristics; and

generate a voice-to-expressive text that includes text corresponding to the words spoken by the user and a textual representation of the vocal characteristics based on the mapping.

10. The user device of claim 9, wherein the user device comprises a radio telephone.

11. The user device of claim 9, wherein when performing voice analysis the components are configured to:

determine one or more of pitch, intonation, tonal quality, volume, gender of the user, or age of the user; and

wherein the textual characteristics include one or more of font size, font weight, font style, font effects, capitalization, punctuation, or color.

12. The user device of claim 9, wherein the voice-to-expressive text comprises one of an e-mail, a simple messaging service message, a multimedia messaging service message, or an instant message.

13. The user device of claim 9, wherein the components are further configured to:

obtain a facial expression of the user;

determine one or more of a mood of the user, an age of the user, or a gender of the user;

and wherein the textual characteristics include color and font style, and when mapping, the components are further configured to perform one or more of;

map the mood of the user to a color of the text corresponding to the words spoken by the user;

map the age of the user to a font style category corresponding to the age of the user;

or

map the gender of the user to a font style category corresponding to the gender of the user.

14. The user device of claim 9, wherein the components are further configured to:

determine a background ambience associated with a location of the user; and

provide an image or an icon representative of the background ambience to the voice-to-expressive text.

15. The user device of claim 9, wherein the components are further configured to:

determine a location of the user; and

include an image or an icon representative of the location to the voice-to-expressive text.

16. The user device of claim 9, wherein the components are further configured to:

determine a tempo associated with the words spoken by the user; and

display the voice-to-expressive text according to the tempo, wherein if the words spoken by the user includes a pause exceeding a threshold value of time, the displaying includes;

displaying a first portion of the voice-to-expressive text occurring before the pause for a first period of time;

followed by not displaying the first portion of the voice-to-expressive text;

and followed by displaying a second portion of the voice-to-expressive text occurring after the pause for a second period of time.

17. A computer-readable medium containing instructions executable by at least one processing system, the computer-readable medium storing instructions to:

receive a vocal input that includes words spoken by a user;

perform voice analysis to determine vocal characteristics associated with the vocal input;

map the vocal characteristics to textual characteristics; and

generate a voice-to-expressive text that includes text corresponding to the words spoken by the user and a textual representation of the vocal characteristics based on the mapping.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the vocal characteristics include one or more of pitch, tonal quality, volume, gender of the user, or age of the user, and the textual characteristics include one or more of font size, font weight, font style, font effects, capitalization, punctuation, or color.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further storing one or more instructions to:

determine a tempo associated with the words spoken by the user; and

display the voice-to-expressive text according to the tempo.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein a user device in which the computer-readable medium resides comprises a radio telephone.