System and method for synthetically generated speech describing media content

• US 9,875,735 B2
• Filed: 01/27/2017
• Issued: 01/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Roberts, Linda, Nguyen, Hong Thi, Schroeter, Horst J
• Primary Examiner(s): PULLIAS, JESSE SCOTT
• Application Number:
  US15/417,987
• Publication Number:
  US 20170140748A1
• Time in Patent Office: 361 Days
• Field of Search: 704231-257, 704270-275
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/58 Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/033 Voice editing, e.g. manipulating the voice of the synthesiser
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/04 Details of speech synthesis systems, e.g. synthesiser structure or memory management
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/086 Detection of language
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/10 Prosody rules derived from text; Stress or intonation
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2013/083 Special characters, e.g. punctuation marks

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer readable-media for providing an automatic synthetically generated voice describing media content, the method comprising receiving one or more pieces of metadata for a primary media content, selecting at least one piece of metadata for output, and outputting the at least one piece of metadata as synthetically generated speech with the primary media content. Other aspects of the invention involve alternative output, output speech simultaneously with the primary media content, output speech during gaps in the primary media content, translate metadata in foreign language, tailor voice, accent, and language to match the metadata and/or primary media content. A user may control output via a user interface or output may be customized based on preferences in a user profile.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, via a processor, a metadata request associated with media content comprising a group of songs, the metadata request received during a presentation of the media content;

obtaining, according to the metadata request, metadata; and

outputting synthetically generated speech associated with the media content during an audio gap between songs of the group of songs, the synthetically generated speech having a gender selected from a plurality of genders based on the metadata.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the synthetically generated speech is output during an audio gap in the presentation of the media content.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the synthetically generated speech has a language, a lexicon, or a combination thereof selected from a plurality of languages, lexicons or combinations thereof according to a user profile.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata request comprises a gesture.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata request comprises an oral command.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing the media content to determine tone and prosody which indicate the gender.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining of the metadata is based on a selection from among a group of metadata received with the media content.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining of the metadata is based on a selection from among a group of metadata stored.

9. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving a metadata request associated with media content comprising a group of songs, the metadata request received during a presentation of the media content;

obtaining, according to the metadata request, metadata; and

outputting synthetically generated speech associated with the media content during an audio gap between songs of the group of songs, the synthetically generated speech having a gender selected from a plurality of genders based on the metadata.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the synthetically generated speech is output during an audio gap in the presentation of the media content.

11. The systems of claim 9, wherein the synthetically generated speech has a language, a lexicon, or a combination thereof selected from a plurality of languages, lexicons or combinations thereof according to a user profile.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the metadata request comprises a gesture.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the metadata request comprises an oral command.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores additional instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations further comprising:

analyzing the media content to determine tone and prosody which indicate the gender.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the obtaining of the metadata is based on a selection from among a group of metadata received with the media content.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the obtaining of the metadata is based on a selection from among a group of metadata stored by the system.

17. A computer-readable storage device having instructions stored which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a metadata request associated with media content comprising a group of songs, the metadata request received during a presentation of the media content;

obtaining, according to the metadata request, metadata; and

outputting synthetically generated speech associated with the media content during an audio gap between songs of the group of songs, the synthetically generated speech having a gender selected from a plurality of genders based on the metadata.