Text to speech conversion system and method that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position

• US 6,012,028 A
• Filed: 01/28/1998
• Issued: 01/04/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Kubota, Syuji, Kojima, Yuichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Hudspeth, David R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chawan, Vijay B
• Application Number:
  US09/014,711
• Time in Patent Office: 706 Days
• Field of Search: 704/260, 704/235, 704/261, 704/270, 704/275, 704/277, 364/449, 364/443, 434/130
• US Class Current: 704/260
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/02 Methods for producing synthetic speech; Speech synthesisers

Abstract

The text to speech conversion system distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position and includes a text input unit for inputting text data, a position coordinator input unit for inputting present location information of the text to speech conversion system, and a text normalizer connected to the text input unit and the position coordinator input unit for capable of generating a plurality of pronunciation signals indicative of a plurality of pronunciations for a common portion of the text data, the text normalizer selecting one of the pronunciation signals based upon the present location information.

Claims

1. A text to speech conversion system that distinguishes geographical names based upon a present position, comprising:

a text input unit for inputting text data;

a position coordinator input unit for inputting present location information of the text to speech conversion system; and

a text normalizer connected to said text input unit and said position coordinator input unit capable of generating a plurality of pronunciation signals indicative of a plurality, of pronunciations for a common portion of the text data, said text normalizer selecting one of the pronunciation signals based upon the present location information.

2. A text to speech conversion system that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position according to claim 1, wherein said text normalizer generates phonetic symbols indicative of a plurality of pronunciations for a common portion of the text data.

3. A text to speech conversion system that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position according to claim 2, further comprising:

a phonetic rules synthesizer connected to said text normalizer for converting the phonetic symbols to phonetic signals.

4. A text to speech conversion system that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position according to claim 1, further comprising:

a geographical dictionary operationally connected to said text normalizer for storing text data having plural pronunciations with the same notation and geographical data corresponding to the text data.

5. A text to speech conversion system that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position according to claim 3, further comprising:

a voice generator connected to said text normalizer via said phonetic rules synthesizer for generating a voice output on the basis of said phonetic signals.

6. A text to speech conversion system that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position according to claim 4, further comprising:

a distance calculator connected in said text normalizer for calculating distances between the present location of the text to speech conversion system and positions corresponding to each plural pronunciations with the same notation.

7. A text to speech conversion system that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position according to claim 6, further comprising:

a distance comparator connected to said geographical dictionary via said distance calculator in said text normalizer for comparing said distances between the present coordinates of the text to speech conversion system and positions corresponding to each plural pronunciations with the same notation;

wherein

said text normalizer selecting an appropriate pronunciation based upon the comparison of said distance comparator.

8. A text to speech conversion system that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position according to claim 6, further comprising:

a weight assignment processor connected to said geographical dictionary via said distance calculator for assigning each of the distances one of weight parameters stored in said geographical dictionary, when the text which have plural pronunciations with the same notation is detected.

9. A text to speech conversion system that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position according to claim 8, wherein said distance comparator connected to said weight assignment processor for comparing the assigned distances between the present coordinates of the text to speech conversion system and positions corresponding to each plural pronunciations with the same notation wherein

said text normalizer selecting an appropriate pronunciation based upon the comparison of said distance comparator.

10. A text to speech conversion system that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position comprising according to claim 1, further comprising:

a present position update device connected to said text normalizer and said position coordinator input unit for renewing the present location information corresponding to the text data which is outputted from the text input unit when the text input unit inputs the text data including geographical names.

11. A text to speech conversion system that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position comprising:

a text input unit for inputting text data;

a phonetic rules synthesizer connected to said text input unit for converting phonetic symbols to phonetic signals;

a voice generator connected to said phonetic rules synthesizer generating a voice output on the basis of the phonetic signals;

a position coordinator input unit for inputting present location information of the text to speech conversion system and operationally connected to a geographical dictionary storing text having plural pronunciations with the same notation and coordinate data corresponding to the text data;

a text normalizer connected to said text input unit and said phonetic rules synthesizer for converting the text data to the phonetic symbols based upon a morpheme analysis as well as a phoneme and prosody rules operation, said text normalizer selecting a pronunciation according to the present location information; and

a present position update device connected to said text normalizer and said position coordinator input unit for renewing the location information corresponding to the text data which is outputted from the text input unit when the text input unit inputs the text data including geographical names.

12. A text to speech conversion apparatus that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position, comprising:

text input means for inputting text data;

position coordinator input means for inputting present location information of the text to speech conversion system; and

text normalizing means for capable of generating a plurality of pronunciation signals indicative of a plurality of pronunciations for a common portion of the text data, said text normalizing means selecting one of the pronunciation signals based upon the present location information.

13. A text to speech conversion apparatus that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position according to claim 12, wherein said text normalizing means generates phonetic symbols indicative of a plurality of pronunciations for a common portion of the text data.

14. A text to speech conversion apparatus that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position according to claim 13, further comprising:

phonetic rules synthesizing means for converting the phonetic symbols to phonetic signals.

15. A text to speech conversion apparatus that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position according to claim 14, further comprising:

voice generating means for generating a voice output on the basis of said phonetic signals which said phonetic symbols are converted by said phonetic rules synthesizing means.

16. A text to speech conversion apparatus that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position according to claim 12, further comprising:

geographical dictionary means for storing text data having plural pronunciations with the same notation and geographical data corresponding to the text data.

17. A text to speech conversion apparatus that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position according to claim 16, further comprising:

distance calculating means for calculating distances between the present coordinates of the text to speech conversion system and positions corresponding to each plural pronunciations with the same notation.

18. A text to speech conversion apparatus that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position according to claim 17, further comprising:

distance comparing means for comparing said distances between the present coordinates of the text to speech conversion system and positions corresponding to each plural pronunciations with the same notation wherein said text normalizing means selecting an appropriate pronunciation based upon the comparison of said distance comparing means.

19. A text to speech conversion apparatus that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position according to claim 16, further comprising:

weight assigning means for assigning each of the distances weight parameters stored in said geographical dictionary means, when the text which have plural pronunciations with the same notation is detected.

20. A text to speech conversion apparatus that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position according to claim 19 wherein said distance comparing means for comparing the weight assigned distances between the present coordinates of the text to speech conversion system and positions corresponding to each plural pronunciations with the same notation wherein said text normalizing means selecting an appropriate pronunciation based upon the comparison of said distance comparing means.

21. A text to speech conversion apparatus that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position comprising according to claim 12 further comprising:

present position update means for renewing the present location information corresponding to the text data which is outputted from the text input unit when the text input unit inputs the text data including geographical names.

22. A text to speech conversion apparatus that distinguishes geographical names based upon the present position comprising:

text input means for inputting text data;

phonetic rules synthesizing means for converting phonetic symbols to phonetic signals;

voice generating means for generating a voice output on the basis of the phonetic signals;

position coordinator input means for inputting present location information of the text to speech conversion system;

text normalizing means for converting the text data to phonetic symbols based upon a morpheme analysis as well as a phoneme and prosody rules operation, said text normalizing means selecting a pronunciation according to the present situation; and

present position update means for renewing the coordinates data corresponding to the text data which is outputted from the text input means when the text input means inputs the text data including georaphical names.

23. A method of converting text to speech, comprising the steps of:

inputting text data;

inputting a present location information;

converting a common portion of the text data to multiple pronunciations;

selecting one of the multiple pronunciations based upon the present location information;

converting the text data to phonetic symbols on the basis of a morpheme analysis operation and a phoneme and prosody rules operation;

inputting a present coordinates of the text to speech conversion system; and

outputting a phonetic symbol that matches the inputted present coordinates of the text to speech conversion system and one of the coordinates data of plural pronunciations with the same notation, in the case that plural pronunciations are extracted with the same notation in a geographical dictionary, when the inputted text data have plural pronunciations as the consulting result of the geographical dictionary during morpheme analysis.

24. A method of converting text to speech, according to claim 23 further comprising the steps of:

converting the phonetic symbols to phonetic signals; and

generating voices on the basis of the phonetic signals.

25. A method of converting text to speech, according to claim 23 further comprising the steps of:

calculating distances between the present coordinates of the text to speech conversion system and positions corresponding to each plural pronunciations with the same notation of the text data;

comparing the calculated distances; and

selecting a proper pronunciation based upon the comparison result.

26. A method of converting text to speech, according to claim 25 further comprising the steps of:

preserving parameters to which are assigned weight corresponding to each of plural pronunciations with the same notation.

27. A method of converting text to speech, according to claim 26 further comprising the steps of:

assigning the distances on the basis of the preserved parameters, when the text data have plural pronunciations with the same notation.

28. A method of converting text to speech, according to claim 23 further comprising the steps of:

renewing the coordinates data corresponding to the text to speech conversion system when the inputted text data contains geographical names.