Data processing: speech signal processing – linguistics – language – Speech signal processing – For storage or transmission
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-30
2002-07-23
Dorvil, Richemond (Department: 2654)
Data processing: speech signal processing, linguistics, language
Speech signal processing
For storage or transmission
C704S205000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06424937
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fundamental frequency pattern generating method used in speech synthesis.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional fundamental frequency pattern generating method is such that, paying attention to the accent type, the fundamental frequency pattern is decided by the critical damping quadratic linear system on the logarithmic frequency axis with the start point or the vowel start point of the mora concerned as the reference like Japanese Laid-open Patent Application Hei5-173590. Another conventional method is such that the fundamental frequency of each mora is decided with attention paid to the accent type, the kind of the phonological segment and the mora position of the word or the phrase like Japanese Laid-open Patent Application Hei5-88690.
According to these methods, however, it is impossible to accurately decide variation in fundamental frequency in a mora, or distortion is caused on the real time axis due to the difference in time length among morae, so that the rhythm typified by the accent becomes unnatural.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned problem of the conventional fundamental speech frequency pattern generating methods.
An aspect of the present invention is a fundamental frequency pattern generating method for generating a fundamental frequency of an accent phrase,
wherein a fundamental frequency data base is referred to that stores (1) a fundamental frequency pattern obtained by standardizing a fundamental frequency pattern of at least one of the following phonological segments by a time length of the phonological segment: a first phonological segment of the accent phrase; a phonological segment where the fundamental frequency takes a maximum value; a phonological segment of an accent nucleus and a phonological segment next to the accent nucleus; and one phonological segment at an end, or (2) a fundamental frequency pattern obtained by standardizing a fundamental frequency pattern of a phoneme included in at least one of said phonological segments by a time length of the phoneme,
wherein (3) fundamental frequency patterns of all or part of the following phonological segments: the first phonological segment of the accent phrase for which the fundamental frequency is to be generated; the phonological segment where the fundamental frequency takes the maximum value in the accent phrase; the phonological segment of the accent nucleus and the phonological segment next to the accent nucleus in the accent phrase; and the phonological segment of the end of the accent phrase, or (4) a fundamental frequency pattern of each phoneme included in said phonological segments is set, and
wherein a fundamental frequency pattern between the phonological segments or between the phonemes which fundamental frequency pattern has not been set in a stage of the fundamental frequency pattern setting is interpolated by a function on a real time axis.
Another aspect of the present invention is a fundamental frequency pattern generating method for generating a fundamental frequency of an accent phrase,
wherein all or part of a rise reference point of the accent phrase for which the fundamental frequency is to be generated, a fall reference point generating an accent, an accent phrase end reference point deciding fundamental frequency patterns of a plurality of phonological segments including any of one phonological segment at an end of the accent phrase, and a word end reference point generating a fundamental frequency pattern of a word end are set on a time axis standardized by a time length of a phoneme included in each phonological segment,
wherein a fundamental frequency data base is referred to that stores, of fundamental frequencies extracted from fundamental frequency patterns obtained by standardizing the fundamental frequency patterns of the phonemes included in the phonological segments by time lengths of the phonemes, a fundamental frequency pattern of at least one of the rise reference point of the accent phrase, the fall reference point, the accent phrase end reference point and the word end reference point,
wherein a fundamental frequency at the set reference point is set with reference to the fundamental frequency data base, and
wherein a fundamental frequency between the reference points which fundamental frequency has not been set in a stage of the fundamental frequency setting is interpolated by a function on a real time axis or by a fundamental frequency pattern plotted on the real time axis.
Still another aspect of the present invention is a fundamental frequency pattern generating method for generating a fundamental frequency of an accent phrase,
wherein a fundamental frequency data base is referred to that stores a fundamental frequency pattern obtained by standardizing a fundamental frequency pattern corresponding to a vowel portion included in at least one of the following phonological segments by a time length of the vowel included in the phonological segment: a first phonological segment of the accent phrase; a phonological segment where the fundamental frequency takes a maximum value; a phonological segment of an accent nucleus and a phonological segment next to the accent nucleus; and one phonological segment at an end or a plurality of phonological segments which are four or less phonological segments from the end,
wherein in all or part of the following phonological segments: the first phonological segment of the accent phrase for which the fundamental frequency is to be generated; the phonological segment where the fundamental frequency is the maximum value in the accent phrase; the phonological segment of the accent nucleus and the phonological segment next to the accent nucleus in the accent phrase; and the phonological segment of the end of the accent phrase, a fundamental frequency pattern for each vowel included in the phonological segments is set, and
wherein a fundamental frequency between the phonological segments for which the fundamental frequency pattern setting is not performed is interpolated by a function on a real time axis.
Still yet another aspect of the present invention is a fundamental frequency pattern generating method for generating a fundamental frequency of an accent phrase,
wherein all or part of a rise reference point of the accent phrase for which the fundamental frequency is to be generated, a fall reference point generating an accent, an accent phrase end reference point deciding a fundamental frequency pattern of an end of the accent phrase, and a word end reference point generating a fundamental frequency pattern of a word end are set on a time axis standardized by a time length of a phoneme included in each phonological segment,
wherein a fundamental frequency data base is referred to that stores, of fundamental frequencies extracted from fundamental frequency patterns obtained by standardizing fundamental frequency patterns of vowels included in the phonological segments by time lengths of the vowels, a fundamental frequency of at least one of the rise reference point of the accent phrase, the fall reference point, the accent phrase end reference point and the word end reference point,
wherein a fundamental frequency at the set reference point is set with reference to the fundamental frequency data base, and
wherein a fundamental frequency between the reference points for which the fundamental frequency setting is not performed is interpolated by a function on a real time axis or by a fundamental frequency pattern plotted on the real time axis.
A further aspect of the present invention is a fundamental frequency pattern generating method for generating a fundamental frequency of an accent phrase,
wherein a fundamental frequency pattern of each accent phrase is set with reference to a fundamental frequency data base that stores a fundamental frequency pattern standardized by a time length of each phoneme included in a phonological segment classified according to one or both of the
Hara Noriyo
Kamai Takahiro
Kato Yumiko
Matsui Kenji
Dorvil Richemond
Nolan Daniel A.
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