Abstract: The present invention provides a speech-synthesizing apparatus that synthesizes various types of voices and words, such as a dialect, on the basis of more compact databases, and a storage medium that has an electronic circuit making the speech-synthesizing apparatus feasible. The storage medium is an intelligent disk having part for storing information and part of an electronic circuit for processing the information. The disk stores at least parameters for controlling speech synthesis in an external apparatus or information to be speech-synthesized and a voice database that are used in the speech synthesis. The electronic circuit part selects the parameters corresponding to information to be speech-synthesized.

Abstract: A monolithic integrated circuit for providing enhanced audio performance in personal computers. The monolithic circuit includes a wavetable synthesizer; a full function stereo coding and decoding circuit including analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion; data compression, and mixing and muxing of analog signals; a local memory control module for interfacing with external memory; a game-MIDI port module; a system bus interface; and a control module for compatibility and circuit control functions.

Abstract: A method of identifying homophones of a word uttered by a user from at least a portion of existing words of a vocabulary of a speech recognition engine comprises the steps of: a user uttering the word; decoding the uttered word; computing respective measures between the decoded word and at least a portion of the other existing vocabulary words, the respective measures indicative of acoustic similarity between the word and the at least a portion of other existing words; if at least one measure is within a threshold range, indicating, to the user, results associated with the at least one measure, the results preferably including the decoded word and the other existing vocabulary word associated with the at least one measure; and the user preferably making a selection depending on the word the user intended to utter.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a markup language to provide interactive services. A markup language document in accordance with the present invention includes a dialog element including a plurality of markup language elements. Each of the plurality of markup language elements is identifiable by at least one markup tag. A step element is contained within the dialog element to define a state within the dialog element. The step element includes a prompt element and an input element. The prompt element includes an announcement to be read to the user. The input element includes at least one input that corresponds to a user input. A method in accordance with the present invention includes the steps of creating a markup language document having a plurality of elements, selecting a prompt element, and defining a voice communication in the prompt element to be read to the user. The method further includes the steps of selecting an input element and defining an input variable to store data inputted by the user.

Abstract: A technique for verifying a user's voice prior to permitting the user to conduct a business transaction over a data network. An order is received via the data network, and a voice verification unit is contacted to (i) access a prestored voice print, (ii) obtain a present voice sample from the consumer desiring the transaction and compare said present voice sample to the prestored voice sample, and (iii) issue a signal indicating whether the voice correctly verifies.

Abstract: An adapter circuit PSA includes a comparator module OA, and a regulation module RM for normally adjusting the value of an output voltage Vout intended to be applied to an external circuit to a predetermined nominal regulation value Vreg0. In response to a measuring module SC sensing a reverse current flow at the output which is produced when an external power supply source in the external circuit connected to the output of the adapter circuit PSA includes an effective voltage source Vext which imposes on the output a voltage VDD which has a higher value than the nominal regulation value Vreg0, feedback coupled to an input to the comparator module OA is activated to raise the value to which the output voltage VDD is regulated to equality with the value of the effective voltage source Vext, thereby nulling the output current.

Abstract: A multiple description (MD) joint source-channel (JSC) encoder in accordance with the invention encodes n components of an audio signal for transmission over m channels of a communication medium, where n and m may take on any desired values. In an illustrative embodiment, the encoder combines a multiple description transform coder with elements of a perceptual audio coder (PAC). The encoder is configured to select one or more transform parameters for a multiple description transform, based on a characteristic of the audio signal to be encoded. For example, the transform parameters may be selected such that the resulting transformed coefficients have a variance distribution of a type expected by a subsequent entropy coding operation. The components of the audio signal may be quantized coefficients separated into a number of factor bands, and the transform parameter for a given factor band may be set to a value determined based on a transform parameter from at least one other factor band, e.g.

Abstract: An audio signal encoding device is provided comprising an input for receiving a sub-frame of an audio signal, a voiced audio signal synthesis stage, an unvoiced audio signal synthesis stage, and a processing unit. The voiced audio signal synthesis stage is operative for producing a first synthetic audio signal approximating the sub-frame of an audio signal received at the input on the basis of a first set of parameters. The unvoiced audio signal synthesis stage is operative for producing a second synthetic audio signal approximating the sub-frame of an audio signal received at the input on the basis of a second set of parameters. The processing unit is operative for releasing a set of parameters allowing to generate a selected one of the first synthetic audio signal and the second synthetic audio signal.

Abstract: A speech recognition apparatus and the method thereof for correctly recognizing an English word from a non-native English pronunciation, for example. A vector data generating part and a label generating part processes speech data of a sentence of English speech pronounced by a Japanese speaker to convert it to a label string. A candidate word generating part correlates the label string of the sentence to a first candidate word comprising one or more English words. An analogous word adding part uses a word database to search an English word analogous the pronunciation of the first candidate word, such as a analogous word “lead” for a first candidate word “read”, for example, (it is difficult for a Japanese speaker to discriminate between “l” and “r” in pronunciation), and adds the obtained analogous word to the first candidate word to make it be a second candidate word.

Abstract: A device is provided, which, ancillary to functionality means (used in normal operation) comprises message reproduction means. The message reproduction means as they are used for example in providing on line help information or in rendering annotations to visually displayed information render in speech form a message which elaborates an aspect current in the functionality means. In order to reduce the time needed to locate a desired passage in the message, the device allows the user selectively to activate the message reproduction means for rendering said message in speech form at least either according to a first standard velocity or to a second, time saving velocity.

Abstract: A power feeding system includes a line state detector for detecting an operation state of each of a pair of 2-wire subscriber lines connected to the exchange equipment and a transformer for supplying the DC power to the subscriber terminal through each of the pair of 2-wire subscriber lines connected to the subscriber terminal. When the detector detects a subscriber line test state, a switch circuit detaches the transformer from each of the pair of 2-wire subscriber lines and directly connecting the exchange equipment to the subscriber terminal through each of the pair of 2-wire subscriber lines.

Abstract: This invention is a system that enables handicapped and disabled individuals to control and use office photocopiers. The foregoing is accomplished by coupling a interface to a diagnostic communication port on the photocopier. The diagnostic port may be used to simulate the pressing of keys on the photocopier control panel. A software program running on a personal computer is coupled to the interface so that the interface may duplicate the actions of the photocopier control panel. A voice, keyboard and touch screen interface is added to the software program to permit several keys to be issued with a single phrase or touch. The user may use voice or the keyboard or the touch screen or any combination of the above to operate the photocopier. The addition of wireless audio may also be utilized to allow hands-free operation of the photocopier. An audio voice feedback provides information about what command was exactly executed. The system audibly reports the status of the photocopier.

Abstract: It is an objective of the present invention to provide an optimized method of selection of the encoding mode that provides rate efficient coding of the input speech. It is a second objective of the present invention to identify and provide a means for generating a set of parameters ideally suited for this operational mode selection. Third, it is an objective of the present invention to provide identification of two separate conditions that allow low rate coding with minimal sacrifice to quality. The two conditions are the coding of unvoiced speech and the coding of temporally masked speech. It is a fourth objective of the present invention to provide a method for dynamically adjusting the average output data rate of the speech coder with minimal impact on speech quality.

Abstract: A speech communication system using a code excited linear prediction speech decoder. The decoder using a first codebook containing a first digital value sequence selected from the set of binary values {0, 1}. The decoder also using a second codebook containing a second digital value sequence having values selected from the set of binary values {−1, 0}. The first digital value sequence and the second digital value sequence are combined to become a third digital value sequence having a set of ternary values from the set of {−1, 0, 1}.

Abstract: A method and device for producing audio control parameters from symbolic representations of desired sounds includes presenting symbols to multiple input windows of a learning machine, where the multiple input windows comprise a lowest window, a higher window, and possibly additional higher windows. The symbols presented to the lowest window represent audio information having a low level of abstraction (e.g., phonemes), and the symbols presented to the higher window represent audio information having a higher level of abstraction (e.g., words or phrases). The learning machine generates parameter contours and temporal scaling parameters from the symbols presented to the multiple input windows. The parameter contours are then temporally scaled in accordance with the temporal scaling parameters to produce the audio control parameters. The techniques can be used for text-to-speech, for music synthesis, and numerous other applications.

Abstract: A system for enhancing low frequency spectral content of a digitized signal which identifies a fundamental frequency component in the signal and selectively boosts signals within a predetermined range thereof. In the illustrative embodiment, the digitized signal is a frequency domain transformed speech signal. The invention amplifies the low frequency components of the speech signal. The speaker unique fundamental frequency of the speech is computed using pitch delay information and is thus dynamic from frame to frame and also speaker to speaker. This fundamental frequency defines the center point of a gain window which is applied to select frequency components. Only such fundamental frequency components which exhibit a large enough signal to noise ratio have the amplification function applied. Thus, this function can be applied directly following a noise suppression system which has knowledge of the signal quality in each frequency bin.

Abstract: The invention is a tactile communication system which provides a method and apparatus for presenting tactile communications in real time to people who lack the senses of sight, hearing, or both, but who have a functional tactile sense. To facilitate real-time communications, a new Phonetic Braille Code is provided which replaces the existing alphabet-based braille codes. The Phonetic Braille Code uses braille symbols which represent word sounds or phonemes, rather than letters. There is also provided an apparatus which enables the user to change from one-finger braille reading to two-finger or multiple-finger braille reading. The two-finger braille reading method facilitates the simultaneous perception of two-letter phonemes. By reading phonemes using a two finger method, rather than reading letter-by-letter with a single finger, communication speed can be increased to the point of real time. The apparatus of the invention includes several embodiments of portable tactile communication devices.

Abstract: The content of a speech sample is recognized using a computer system by evaluating the speech sample against a nonparametric set of training observations, for example, utterances from one or more human speakers. The content of the speech sample is recognized based on the evaluation results. The speech recognition process also may rely on a comparison between the speech sample and a parametric model of the training observations.

Abstract: In a method for tracking pitch in a speech signal, first and second window vectors are created from samples taken across first and second windows of the speech signal. The first window is separated from the second window by a test pitch period. The energy of the speech signal in the first window is combined with the correlation between the first window vector and the second window vector to produce a predictable energy factor. The predictable energy factor is then used to determine a pitch score for the test pitch period. Based in part on the pitch score, a portion of the pitch track is identified.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for displaying a telephone directory. A main menu is used to display the names of a telephone directory, and each of the names is associated with a primary number. A sub menu is used to display the numbers associated with each of the names in the main menu. The primary number is denoted and automatically selected in the second menu.