Patent · US Active

System and method for preparing a pronunciation dictionary for a text-to-speech voice

US7630898B1 · kind B1 · utility

16Cited by
15References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 27, 2005
Grant dateDec 8, 2009
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 9, 2027

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG10L13/08
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Disclosed are various elements of a toolkit used for generating a TTS voice for use in a spoken dialog system. The embodiments in each case may be in the form of the system, a computer-readable medium or a method for generating the TTS voice. One embodiment of the invention relates to a method of generating a database for a TTS voice. The method comprises matching every spoken word associated with a TTS voice database with a smallest set of possible pronunciations for each word. The smallest set is generated by automatically determining a dialect and linguistic context using linguistic rules, empirically determining idiosyncratic speaker characteristics and determining a subject domain. The method further comprises dynamically generating a pronunciation dictionary on a word-by-word basis using the smallest set.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.