The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 22, 2000
Filed:
Jun. 28, 1996
Edward A Bruckert, Maynard, MA (US);
Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard, MA (US);
Abstract
A method for generating synthetic speech uses detection of natural timing boundaries in words to be spoken by the synthetic speech system, to produce natural timing intervals. Phonemes are identified in the natural timing intervals. Time durations are assigned for each of the phonemes. A time duration of a selected phoneme is changed to achieve a desired time duration for a selected natural timing interval containing the phoneme. The natural timing interval may be selected to be a syllable. The natural timing interval may be selected to be the interval between two stressed phonemes. The natural timing intervals may be set to substantially the same duration between timing boundaries by changing the phoneme durations in accordance with rhythm of the language of synthesized speech. Durations of preselected phonemes, however, may remain unchanged.