Abstract: Methods and systems for sculpting synthesized speech using a graphic user interface are disclosed. An operator enters a stream of text that is used to produce a stream of target phonetic-units. The stream of target phonetic-units is then submitted to a unit-selection process to produce a stream of selected phonetic-units, each selected phonetic-unit derived from a database of sample phonetic-units. After the stream of sample phonetic-units is selected, an operator can remove various selected phonetic-units from the stream of selected phonetic-units, prune the sample phonetic-database and edit various cost functions using the graphic user interface. The edited speech information can then be submitted to the unit-selection process to produce a second stream of selected phonetic-units.

Abstract: Methods and systems for sculpting synthesized speech using a graphic user interface are disclosed. An operator enters a stream of text that is used to produce a stream of target phonetic-units. The stream of target phonetic-units is then submitted to a unit-selection process to produce a stream of selected phonetic-units, each selected phonetic-unit derived from a database of sample phonetic-units. After the stream of sample phonetic-units is selected, an operator can remove various selected phonetic-units from the stream of selected phonetic-units, prune the sample phonetic-database and edit various cost functions using the graphic user interface. The edited speech information can then be submitted to the unit-selection process to produce a second stream of selected phonetic-units.

Abstract: A high quality speech synthesizer in various embodiments concatenates speech waveforms referenced by a large speech database. Speech quality is further improved by speech unit selection and concatenation smoothing.

Abstract: An adjustable two-way valve device is described that is embodied as a rotary valve. According to the invention the use of the rotary valve as a two-way valve is achieved by the skillful arrangement of passage openings of a valve plate with respect to control openings of a valve element. Thus it is possible to control mass or mixed flows independently of or dependent on one another with only one valve element. In particular a use in the field of exhaust gas recirculation with a bypass line and an exhaust gas cooler is advantageous, since mixed flows and thus temperatures can be run.

Abstract: A method of prosody translation is given. A target input symbol sequence is provided, including a first set of speech prosody descriptors. An instance-based learning algorithm is applied to a corpus of speech unit descriptors to select an output symbol sequence representative of the target input symbol sequence and including a second set of speech prosody descriptors. The second set differs from the first set.

Abstract: An adjustable two-way valve device is described that is embodied as a rotary valve. According to the invention the use of the rotary valve as a two-way valve is achieved by the skillful arrangement of passage openings of a valve plate with respect to control openings of a valve element. Thus it is possible to control mass or mixed flows independently of or dependent on one another with only one valve element. In particular a use in the field of exhaust gas recirculation with a bypass line and an exhaust gas cooler is advantageous, since mixed flows and thus temperatures can be run.

Abstract: A multi-band receiver for receiving an input signal having a frequency situated either in a first band or in a second band. The receiver comprising a mixer for combining an amplified signal having substantially the same frequency as the input signal with a periodical signal generated by a local oscillator. The mixer generates an intermediate frequency signal, the intermediate frequency signal (IF) being inputted to an IF band-pass filter. A central frequency of the band-pass filter is substantially equal to a frequency of the intermediate frequency signal. The receiver is characterized in that the central frequency of the IF band-pass filter is substantially independent of a combining mode of the amplified signal and the periodical signal, the combining mode being selected from an upper heterodyning mode and a lower heterodyning mode.

Abstract: A high quality speech synthesizer in various embodiments concatenates speech waveforms referenced by a large speech database. Speech quality is further improved by speech unit selection and concatenation smoothing.

Abstract: A high quality speech synthesizer in various embodiments concatenates speech waveforms referenced by a large speech database. Speech quality is further improved by speech unit selection and concatenation smoothing.

Abstract: Methods and systems for sculpting synthesized speech using a graphic user interface are disclosed. An operator enters a stream of text that is used to produce a stream of target phonetic-units. The stream of target phonetic-units is then submitted to a unit-selection process to produce a stream of selected phonetic-units, each selected phonetic-unit derived from a database of sample phonetic-units. After the stream of sample phonetic-units is selected, an operator can remove various selected phonetic-units from the stream of selected phonetic-units, prune the sample phonetic-database and edit various cost functions using the graphic user interface. The edited speech information can then be submitted to the unit-selection process to produce a second stream of selected phonetic-units.

Abstract: A method of prosody translation is given. A target input symbol sequence is provided, including a first set of speech prosody descriptors. An instance-based learning algorithm is applied to a corpus of speech unit descriptors to select an output symbol sequence representative of the target input symbol sequence and including a second set of speech prosody descriptors. The second set differs from the first set.

Abstract: A system is disclosed for generating a time scale modification of a digital waveform. A digital waveform provider produces an input digital waveform at a first time resolution, the digital waveform being a sequence of overlapping speech segment windows. A time-domain time scale modification process overlap adds selected windows from the input digital waveform to create an output digital waveform representing a time scale modification of the input digital waveform. The process operates at a second time resolution lower than the first time resolution to determine the relative positions between adjacent windows in the output digital waveform.