Voice processing apparatus for varying the speed with which a voice signal is reproduced
First Claim
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1. A voice processing apparatus for increasing the speed of synthesized speech synthesized by a voice synthesizer, comprising:
- memory means for storing a plurality of sets of feature parameters, and for storing information for enabling speech speed control in such a manner as not to skip at least each set of the feature parameters in accordance with whether each set of feature parameters represents the timing of a non-stable portion of generated speech, the information being established based on the duration of speech generated using at least one feature parameter; and
speed control means for, during voice synthesis in which a voice signal is synthesized by the voice synthesizer, skipping the sets of the feature parameters, for which the speed control is enabled by the information.
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Abstract
A voice processing apparatus capable of varying the speed of speech, in which a voice of a predetermined duration is represented by feature parameters and propriety information indicating whether a change in the speech speed is permitted or not. During voice synthesis, the speech speed is varied by skipping or repeating only the feature parameters for which the variation in speech speed is permitted by the associated propriety information.
15 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A voice processing apparatus for increasing the speed of synthesized speech synthesized by a voice synthesizer, comprising:
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memory means for storing a plurality of sets of feature parameters, and for storing information for enabling speech speed control in such a manner as not to skip at least each set of the feature parameters in accordance with whether each set of feature parameters represents the timing of a non-stable portion of generated speech, the information being established based on the duration of speech generated using at least one feature parameter; and speed control means for, during voice synthesis in which a voice signal is synthesized by the voice synthesizer, skipping the sets of the feature parameters, for which the speed control is enabled by the information. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A voice processing apparatus for decreasing the speed of synthesized speech synthesized by a voice synthesizer, comprising:
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memory means for storing a plurality of sets of feature parameters, an for storing information for enabling speech speed control in such manner as not to repeat at least each set of the feature parameters in accordance with whether each set of feature parameters represents the timing of a non-stable portion of generated speech, the information being established based on the duration of speech generated using at least one feature parameter; and speed control means for, during voice synthesis in which a voice signal is synthesized by the voice synthesizer, repeating the sets of the feature parameters, for which the speed control is enabled by the information. - View Dependent Claims (4)
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5. A voice processing apparatus comprising:
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memory means for storing a plurality of sets of feature parameters, used for voice synthesis by a voice synthesizer and for storing multi-value information for enabling or disabling speech speed control for at least each set of the feature parameters; threshold value setting means for setting a threshold value in response to the speed with which a voice signal is to be synthesized by the voice synthesizer; and speed control means for, during voice synthesis in which the voice signal is synthesized by the voice synthesizer, skipping or repeating the sets of feature parameters whose corresponding multi-value information are smaller than the threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
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9. A voice processing method for increasing the speed of synthesized speech synthesized by a voice synthesizer, comprising the steps of:
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storing a plurality of sets of feature parameters, and storing information for disabling speech speed control in such a manner that the set of feature parameters are not skipped for at least each set of the feature parameters in accordance with whether each set of feature parameters represents the timing of a non-stable portion of generated speech, the information being established based on the duration of speech generated using at least one feature parameter; and skipping the sets of the feature parameters, for which the speed control is enabled by the information, during voice synthesis in which a voice signal is synthesized by the voice synthesizer. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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11. A voice processing method for decreasing the speed of synthesized speech synthesized by a voice synthesizer, comprising the steps of:
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storing a plurality of sets of feature parameters, and storing information for enabling speech speed control in such a manner that the set of feature parameters are not repeated for at least each set of feature parameters in accordance with whether each set of feature parameters represents the timing of a non-stable portion of generated speech, the information being established based on the duration of speech generated using at least one feature parameter; and repeating the sets of the feature parameters, for which the speed control is enabled by the information, during voice synthesis in which a voice signal is synthesized by the voice synthesizer. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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13. A voice processing method comprising the steps of:
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storing a plurality of sets of feature parameters used for voice synthesis by a voice synthesizer, and storing multi-value information for enabling or disabling speech speed control for at least each set of the feature parameters; setting a threshold value in response to the speed with which a voice signal is to be synthesized by the voice synthesizer; and skipping or repeating the sets of feature parameters whose corresponding multi-value information are smaller than the threshold value, during voice synthesis in which the voice signal is synthesized by the voice synthesizer. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification