System for generating a wideband signal from a narrowband signal using transmitted speaker-dependent data

• US 7,693,714 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2006
• Issued: 04/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Iser, Bernd, Schmidt, Gerhard Uwe
• Primary Examiner(s): MCFADDEN, SUSAN IRIS
• Application Number:
  US11/343,939
• Publication Number:
  US 20060190254A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,526 Days
• Field of Search: 704/243
• US Class Current: 704/243
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/038 using band spreading techniques

Abstract

An electronic communication system is set forth that includes the transmission of a narrowband speech signal corresponding to a narrowband version of speech utterances of a speaker as well as the transmission of speaker-dependent data. The speaker-dependent data may be used to correlate narrowband versions of the speech utterances of the speaker with corresponding wideband versions of the speech utterances of the speaker. Both the narrowband speech signal and the speaker-dependent data are received by a receiving party. A receiver at the receiving party uses the narrowband speech signal and the speaker-dependent data to generate a wideband speech signal corresponding to a wideband version of the speech utterances of the speaker.

Claims

1. An electronic communication method comprising:

transmitting a narrowband speech signal comprising a narrowband version of speech utterances of a speaker;

transmitting speaker-dependent data comprising data correlating narrowband versions of the speech utterances of the speaker with corresponding wideband versions of the speech utterances of the speaker;

receiving the narrowband speech signal and the speaker-dependent data; and

using the narrowband speech signal and the speaker-dependent data to generate a wideband speech signal corresponding to a wideband version of the speech utterances of the speaker.

2. The electronic communication method of claim 1, where the transmission of the speaker-dependent data comprises:

transmitting a speaker-dependent narrowband codebook having a plurality of speaker-dependent narrowband code vectors; and

transmitting a speaker-dependent wideband codebook having a plurality of speaker-dependent wideband code vectors;

where the speaker-dependent narrowband code vectors of the speaker-dependent narrowband codebook are respectively associated with corresponding speaker-dependent wideband code vectors in the speaker-dependent wideband codebook.

3. The electronic communication method of claim 2, where usage of the narrowband speech signal and the speaker-dependent data to generate the wideband speech signal comprises:

analyzing the received narrowband speech signal to extract a feature vector;

identifying a speaker-dependent narrowband code vector in the speaker-dependent narrowband codebook that best matches the extracted feature vector; and

using the speaker-dependent wideband code vector associated with the identified speaker-dependent narrowband code vector to generate the wideband speech signal.

4. The electronic communication method of claim 1, where the transmission of the narrowband speech signal and the transmission of the speaker-dependent data take place over a single transmission channel.

5. The electronic communication method of claim 1, where the transmission of the narrowband speech signal and the transmission of the speaker-dependent data take place over separate transmission channels.

6. The electronic communication method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing speaker-independent data comprising data correlating narrowband versions of general speech utterances with corresponding wideband versions of the general speech utterances; and

using the narrowband speech signal and the speaker-independent data to generate the wideband speech signal.

7. The electronic communication method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing speaker-independent data comprising data correlating narrowband versions of general speech utterances with corresponding wideband versions of the general speech utterances; and

using the speaker-independent data to generate the wideband speech signal under conditions comprising

corruption of the speaker-dependent data,

production of an unacceptable result using the speaker-dependent data, or

non-receipt of the speaker-dependent data.

8. The electronic communication method of claim 7, where the provision of the speaker-independent data comprises providing a speaker-independent narrowband codebook having a plurality of speaker-independent narrowband code vectors and a corresponding speaker-independent wideband codebook having a plurality of speaker-independent wideband code vectors, where the speaker-independent narrowband code vectors or the speaker-independent narrowband codebook are respectively associated with corresponding speaker-independent wideband code vectors in the speaker-independent wideband codebook.

9. The electronic communication method of claim 8, where usage of the narrowband speech signal and the speaker-independent data to generate the wideband speech signal comprises:

analyzing the received narrowband speech signal to extract a feature vector;

identifying a speaker-independent narrowband code vector in the speaker-independent narrowband codebook that best matches the extracted feature vector; and

using the speaker-independent wideband code vector associated with the identified speaker-independent narrowband code vector to generate the wideband speech signal.

10. The electronic communication method of claim 1, where the transmission of the speaker-dependent data comprises transmitting speaker-dependent parameters of a neural network used in the generation of the wideband speech signal.

11. The electronic communication method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating the speaker-dependent data before transmitting the narrowband speech signal; and

waiting until all of the speaker-dependent data has been generated before transmission of the speaker-dependent data is initiated.

12. The electronic communication method of claim 1, where the transmission of the narrowband speech signal and the transmission of the speaker-dependent data occur in a generally concurrent manner.

13. A method for electronically communicating speech between a first party and a second party, the method comprising:

transmitting a first narrowband speech signal comprising a narrowband version of speech utterances of the first party;

transmitting first speaker-dependent data comprising data correlating narrowband versions of the speech utterances of the first party with corresponding wideband versions of the speech utterances of the first party;

receiving the first narrowband speech signal and the first speaker-dependent data by the second party;

using the first narrowband speech signal and the first speaker-dependent data to generate a first wideband speech signal corresponding to a wideband version of the speech utterances of the first party at a locus of the second party;

transmitting a second narrowband speech signal comprising a narrowband version of speech utterances of the second party;

transmitting second speaker-dependent data comprising data correlating narrowband versions of the speech utterances of the second party with corresponding wideband versions of the speech utterances of the second party;

receiving the second narrowband speech signal and the second speaker-dependent data by the first party; and

using the second narrowband speech signal and the second speaker-dependent data to generate a second wideband speech signal corresponding to a wideband version of the speech utterances of the second party at a locus of the first party.

14. The electronic communication method of claim 13, where the transmission of the first speaker-dependent data comprises:

transmitting a first speaker-dependent narrowband codebook having a first plurality of speaker-dependent narrowband code vectors; and

transmitting a first speaker-dependent wideband codebook having a first plurality of speaker-dependent wideband code vectors;

where the speaker-dependent narrowband code vectors of the first speaker-dependent narrowband codebook are respectively associated with corresponding speaker-dependent wideband code vectors in the first speaker-dependent wideband codebook.

15. The electronic communication method of claim 13, where the transmission of the first speaker-dependent data comprises transmitting first speaker-dependent parameters of a first neural network used in the generation of the first wideband speech signal.

16. The electronic communication method of claim 13, where the transmission of the first narrowband speech signal and the transmission of the first speaker-dependent data take place over a single transmission channel.

17. The electronic communication method of claim 13, where the transmission of the first narrowband speech signal and the transmission of the first speaker-dependent data take place over separate transmission channels.

18. A system for use in communicating speech signals to a receiving party, the system comprising:

a transducer for converting speech utterances of a speaker into a wideband electronic waveform;

a speaker-dependent data generator adapted to generate speaker-dependent data correlating narrowband versions of speech utterances of the speaker with corresponding wideband versions of the speech utterances of the speaker, where the wideband versions of the speech utterances of the speaker correspond to the wideband electronic waveform provided through operation of the transducer;

a transmitter adapted to transmit the speaker-dependent data as well as a narrowband signal corresponding to a narrowband version of the speech utterances of the speaker, where the narrowband version of the speech utterances of the speaker comprise the speech utterances that are to be communicated to a receiving party.

19. The system of claim 18, where the speaker-dependent data generator comprises:

a wideband linear predictive code generator adapted to generate linear predictive codes for wideband versions of the speech utterances using wideband electronic waveforms provided through operation of the transducer;

a narrowband filter generating narrowband versions of speech utterances of the speaker using wideband electronic waveforms provided through operation of the transducer;

a narrowband linear predictive code generator adapted to generate linear predictive codes for narrowband versions of the speech utterances provided by the narrowband filter; and

a correlator for associating the linear predictive codes generated by the wideband linear predictive code generator with the linear predictive codes generated by the narrowband linear predictive code generator.

20. The system of claim 18, further comprising one or more memory storage units storing the speaker-dependent data generated by the speaker-dependent data generator.

21. The system of claim 18, where the transmitter is adapted to transmit the speaker-dependent data and the narrowband signal over a single transmission channel.

22. The system of claim 18, where the transmitter is adapted to transmit the speaker-dependent data and the narrowband signal over separate transmission channels.

23. The system of claim 18, where the speaker-dependent data comprises parameters of a neural network.

24. A system for use in communicating speech signals received from a transmitting party, the system comprising:

a receiver adapted to receive a narrowband signal corresponding to a narrowband version of speech utterances of the transmitting party and to receive speaker-dependent data correlating narrowband versions of the speech utterances of the transmitting party with corresponding wideband versions of the speech utterances of the transmitting party;

an analyzer adapted to identify selected portions of the speaker-dependent data that best correspond to the received narrowband signal; and

a wideband signal generator adapted to generate a wideband speech signal using the selected portions of the speaker-dependent data identified by the analyzer.

25. The system of claim 24, where the speaker-dependent data comprises:

a speaker-dependent narrowband codebook having a plurality of speaker-dependent narrowband code vectors; and

a speaker-dependent wideband codebook having a plurality of speaker-dependent wideband code vectors;

where the speaker-dependent narrowband code vectors of the speaker-dependent narrowband codebook are respectively associated with corresponding speaker-dependent wideband code vectors in the speaker-dependent wideband codebook.

26. The system of claim 24, where the speaker-dependent data comprises speaker-dependent parameters of a neural network used in the generation of the wideband speech signal.

27. The system of claim 24, further comprising one or more memory storage units storing the speaker-dependent data received by the receiver.

28. The system of claim 24, where the receiver is adapted to receive the speaker-dependent data and the narrowband signal over a single transmission channel.

29. The system of claim 24, where the receiver is adapted to save the speaker-dependent data and the narrowband signal over separate transmission channels.

30. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with an executable computer program stored thereon, wherein the computer program instructs a microprocessor to perform a method, the method comprising:

transmitting a narrowband speech signal comprising a narrowband version of speech utterances of a speaker;

transmitting speaker-dependent data comprising data correlating narrowband versions of the speech utterances of the speaker with corresponding wideband versions of the speech utterances of the speaker;

receiving the narrowband speech signal and the speaker-dependent data; and

using the narrowband speech signal and the speaker-dependent data to generate a wideband speech signal corresponding to a wideband version of the speech utterances of the speaker.