USER INTERFACE FOR GENERATING EXPRESSIVE CONTENT
Generation of expressive content is provided. An expressive synthesized speech system provides improved voice authoring user interfaces by which a user is enabled to efficiently author content for generating expressive output. An expressive synthesized speech system provides an expressive keyboard for enabling input of textual content and for selecting expressive operators, such as emoji objects or punctuation objects for applying predetermined prosody attributes or visual effects to the textual content. A voicesetting editor mode enables the user to author and adjust particular prosody attributes associated with the content for composing carefully-crafted synthetic speech. An active listening mode (ALM) is provided, which when selected, a set of ALM effect options are displayed, wherein each option is associated with a particular sound effect and/or visual effect. The user is enabled to rapidly respond with expressive vocal sound effects or visual effects while listening to others speak.
Latest Microsoft Patents:
- SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMMERSION-COOLED DATACENTERS
- HARDWARE-AWARE GENERATION OF MACHINE LEARNING MODELS
- HANDOFF OF EXECUTING APPLICATION BETWEEN LOCAL AND CLOUD-BASED COMPUTING DEVICES
- Automatic Text Legibility Improvement within Graphic Designs
- BLOCK VECTOR PREDICTION IN VIDEO AND IMAGE CODING/DECODING
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/347,653, filed Nov. 9, 2016, which is incorporated herewith by reference.
BACKGROUNDAlternative and augmentative communication (AAC) includes forms of communication other than oral speech that are used to express thoughts, needs, wants, or ideas. An individual may rely on an AAC system as an aid to communicate when the individual is not able to communicate orally, for example, due to a speech disability. Some AAC systems are operative to synthesize speech from the individual's input.
Conveying emotions, attitude, or tone through speech is oftentimes dependent on non-verbal communicative features, such as gestures and speech prosody; however, current speech-generating AAC systems do not support conveyance of non-verbal information, and generally only provide users with a text-to-speech engine and voice fonts that synthesize a single flat tone of speech that is mostly devoid of emotion and expressivity regardless of the input text that the AAC user is intending to convey. For example, synthesized speech generated from an AAC user's input may sound robotic and lack volume and vocal inflection, which makes it difficult for the AAC user to effectively communicate in a way that represents the user's internal voice. As can be appreciated, this can negatively impact AAC users' quality of life, specifically in their interactions with other individuals.
Oftentimes, to try to convey emotion or expressivity, an AAC user will type and speak an additional explanatory phrase, such as “I am angry” before typing and speaking the phrase that the user intended to speak originally. As can be appreciated, this is inefficient and can present a significant burden to AAC users, particularly when using gaze-based text entry, for which AAC users have a typical text entry rate of between 10-20 words per minute.
SUMMARYThis summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description section. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Aspects are directed to an automated system, method, and device for generating expressive content. By employing aspects of the present disclosure, an improved user experience is provided, where a user is enabled to efficiently and effectively compose expressive content, such as prosody-enhanced speech, sound effects, or visual effects, using voicesetting editing.
An expressive synthesized speech system provides an expressive keyboard for enabling the user to input textual content and for selecting expressive operators, such as emoji objects or punctuation objects for applying predetermined prosody attributes, sound effects, or visual effects to the user's textual content. In some examples, the user may selectively enter a voicesetting editor mode, where a voicesetting editor UI is displayed for enabling the user to author or adjust particular prosody attributes associated with the user's content. In some examples, an active listening mode is provided. When the user selects to launch the active listening mode, a set of active listening mode effect options are displayed, wherein each effect option is associated with a particular sound effect and/or visual effect. In conversations, the user is enabled to easily and rapidly respond with expressive vocal sound effects or visual effects while listening to others speak. Because the user does not have to type and speak additional explanatory phrases to communicate emotions or expressivity, fewer processing resources are expended to provide input to the expressive synthesized speech system, and the functionality of the computing device used to provide the expressive synthesized speech system is thereby expanded and improved.
Examples are implemented as a computer process, a computing system, or as an article of manufacture such as a device, computer program product, or computer readable media. According to an aspect, the computer program product is a computer storage media readable by a computer system and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process.
The details of one or more aspects are set forth in the accompanying drawings and description below. Other features and advantages will be apparent from a reading of the following detailed description and a review of the associated drawings. It is to be understood that the following detailed description is explanatory only and is not restrictive of the claims.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate various aspects. In the drawings:
The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the following description refers to the same or similar elements. While examples may be described, modifications, adaptations, and other implementations are possible. For example, substitutions, additions, or modifications may be made to the elements illustrated in the drawings, and the methods described herein may be modified by substituting, reordering, or adding stages to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, the following detailed description is not limiting, but instead, the proper scope is defined by the appended claims. Examples may take the form of a hardware implementation, or an entirely software implementation, or an implementation combining software and hardware aspects. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.
Aspects of the present disclosure are directed to a method, system, and computer storage media for providing intuitive synthesized speech-authoring user interface for generating expressive content. While many of the examples described herein are directed to generating expressive content in an alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) system, as should be appreciated, aspects are equally applicable in a variety of alternative use cases and systems. For example in addition to providing synthesized speech-authoring user interfaces to users who are reliant on an AAC system to generate content, such as users who have communication challenges stemming from severe motor disabilities, synthesized speech-authoring user interfaces may also be used for authoring or marking up documents that are to be rendered to audio by automated or semi-automated means (e.g., marking up a print edition book to be rendered to an audio book, authoring a document to be rendered by a screen reader program, authoring content in a web-based communication service, and authoring content that is to be read aloud by learning tool systems). With reference now to
The example operating environment 100 includes an electronic computing device 102. The computing device 102 illustrated in
According to aspects, the user 104 utilizes the computing device 102 for executing the expressive synthesized speech system 108, which in association with a text-to-speech engine (i.e., speech generation engine 118), generates expressive synthesized speech from the user's input. The computing device 102 includes or is in communication with the expressive synthesized speech system 108. In one example, the computing device 102 includes an expressive synthesized speech application programming interface (API), operative to enable an application executing on the computing device to employ the systems and methods of the present disclosure via stored instructions.
In examples, the synthesized speech system 108 is operative to receive input (e.g., text input, mode selections, on-screen object selections, and prosody cue input) from a user-controlled input device 106 via various input methods, such as those relying on mice, keyboards, and remote controls, as well as Natural User Interface (NUI) methods, which enable a user to interact with the computing device 102 in a “natural” manner, such as via technologies including touch sensitive displays, voice and speech recognition, intention and goal understanding, motion gesture detection using depth cameras, motion gesture detection using accelerometers/gyroscopes, facial recognition, 3D displays, head, eye, and gaze tracking, immersive augmented reality and virtual reality systems, all of which provide a more natural interface, as well as technologies for sensing brain activity using electric field sensing electrodes (EEG and related methods). In specific examples, the user 104 uses gaze-based input methods or head mouse input methods, which are typically used by individuals who have communication challenges stemming from paralysis or severe motor disabilities, such as people who have advanced amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Aspects of the expressive synthesized speech system 108 generate and provide a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows the user 104 to interact with functionality of the expressive synthesized speech system 108. According to examples, the expressive synthesized speech system 108 comprises an expressive keyboard UI engine 110, illustrative of a software module, system, or device operative to generate a GUI display of an expressive keyboard. According to one aspect, the expressive keyboard UI engine 110 provides a keyboard that extends an on-screen keyboard, which is used to input text for speech synthesis, by providing a set of selectable icons or emoji objects that can be selectively inserted into the user's text. Each emoji object illustrates a particular emotion (e.g., sad, calm, happy, funny, sarcastic, surprised, irritated, angry), and is associated with a predefined operation or operations that can change the tone of voice of the user's text to a specified emotional state (e.g., sad, calm, happy, funny, sarcastic, surprised, irritated, angry). For example, certain prosodic attributes are applied to the user's text based on the selected emoji object. According to one example, the expressive synthesized speech system 108 is operative to apply a tone and emotion of output speech corresponding to a selected emoji object at a sentence level. According to an aspect, the expressive keyboard UI engine 110 is operative to intelligently display a set of emoji objects on the expressive keyboard, for example, based on linguistic properties of the user's textual input or based on a recognized emotional state of the user detected via a sensor (e.g., biometric sensors, facial expression sensors, body posture sensors, gesture sensors). For example, the set of emoji objects may include emoji objects associated with an emotion corresponding to the user's recognized emotional state. In some examples, one or more emoji objects are associated with a vocal sound effect (e.g., laughter, sarcastic scoff, sharp breath in, grunt, sigh, or a disgusted “ugh” sound). When the user 104 selectively inserts an emoji object, a corresponding vocal sound effect is inserted at the beginning, end, or within the user's synthesized speech.
According to an aspect, the expressive keyboard UI engine 110 is operative to receive the user's text input and selection of an emoji object, and communicate the input and selection to a voicesetting engine 114. The voicesetting engine 114 is illustrative of a software module, system, or device operative to receive user input, apply the predefined operation associated with the selected emoji object to apply speech or prosodic properties to the text input, and output a representation of the user's speech to a speech generation engine 118 for generating audible output 126 embodied as expressive synthesized speech. In some examples, the voicesetting engine 114 comprises an index of emoji objects and their corresponding operation(s), which includes prosodic attributes and/or vocal sound effects. The voice setting engine 114 is operative to reference the index for applying the appropriate prosodic attributes and/or vocal sound effect to the user's text. According to an aspect, the voicesetting engine 114 specifies the text input and prosodic attributes and/or vocal sound effects via a markup language, such as Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML), which is output to a speech generation engine 118. The audible output 126 is played on an audio output device 128, which may be integrated with the user's computing device 102, or may be incorporated in another device utilized by a communication partner 120.
In some examples, the expressive synthesized speech system 108 works in association with a visualization generation engine 116 for generating expressive visual output 122 for display on a visual output device 124 from the user's input. For example, the predefined operation or operations associated with each emoji object may include providing a visual feature, wherein, each emoji object may be associated with one or more visual features (e.g., text, emoji, graphics, animations, video clips). When the user 104 selectively inserts an emoji object into the user's text input, the expressive keyboard UI engine 110 is operative to communicate the text input and the selected emoji object to the voicesetting engine 114, wherein the voicesetting engine applies the predefined operation associated with the selected emoji object to apply visual features to the text input, and output a representation of the visual features to a visualization generation engine 116 for generating visual output 122 for display on a visual output device 124. The visual output device 124 may be integrated with the user's computing device 102, or may be incorporated in another device utilized by a communication partner 120. In some examples, the visual output device 124 and the audio output device 128 are incorporated in a single device.
According to another aspect, the expressive keyboard UI engine 110 is further operative to provide a plurality of punctuation objects (e.g., a period, comma, question mark, exclamation point), which when selectively inserted into the user's text, change prosodic attributes (e.g., silent space, pitch, speed, emphasis) of surrounding words. In some examples, a settings menu is provided for enabling the user to customize the prosodic attributes or vocal sound effects associated with emoji objects or to customize the prosodic attributes associated with punctuation objects.
According to another aspect, the expressive keyboard UI engine 110 is further operative to provide a selectable active listening mode (ALM) for enabling the user 104 to select vocal sound effects and/or visual effects for communicating information when a communication partner 120 is speaking. For example, akin to using gestures, such as nodding, or non-verbal vocalizations, such as laughing, in standard communication, the user 104 is enabled to use ALM effects to provide feedback to the user's communication partner 120. According to examples, the expressive keyboard UI engine 110 is operative to provide an ALM command, which when selected, causes the expressive keyboard UI engine to display a plurality of selectable ALM effect options, wherein each ALM effect option is associated with a particular sound effect and/or visual effect. In some examples, the ALM effect options and associated sound or visual effects are customizable by the user 104. For example, the user 104 is enabled to select specific ALM effect options to display on the keyboard. In one example, voice-banked recordings may be associated with sound effect options. For example, a voice-banked phrase or other sound effect may be previously recorded by the user 104 or another individual and saved as a sound effect that can be selectively played or spoken by the expressive synthesized speech system 108 during a conversation with a communication partner 120. In another example, an expression-banked reaction may be previously recorded by the user 104 or another individual and saved as a visual effect that can be selectively displayed by the expressive synthesized speech system 108 during a conversation with a communication partner 120. Further, the user 104 may save a static image or a video clip as a visual effect.
According to an aspect, the expressive keyboard UI engine 110 is operative to receive the user's ALM effect option selection, and communicate the selection to the voicesetting engine 114 for outputting a representation of the associated ALM effect to an audio output device 128 and/or to a visual output device 124. The expressive keyboard UI engine 110 is operative to communicate the selected ALM effect option to the voicesetting engine 114, wherein the voicesetting engine applies the predefined operation associated with the selected ALM effect option to provide audible features or visual features associated with the selected ALM effect option as output to a visualization generation engine 116 for generating visual output 122 for display on a visual output device 124 or to an speech generation engine 118 for generating audible output 126 for playback on an audio output device 128.
Aspects of the expressive keyboard UI engine 110 enable single-click input by the user 104 to quickly and easily specify the expressive nature of their speech and to rapidly respond with expressive vocal sound effects while listening to others speak. Aspects of the expressive keyboard including the emoji objects, punctuation objects, and the ALM effect options will be described in further detail below with reference to
With reference still to
As described above, the expressive synthesized speech system 108 is operative to provide intuitive synthesized speech-authoring user interfaces via which the user 104 is enabled to efficiently and effectively author content for generating expressive output, such as prosody-enhanced speech, sound effects, and visual effects. Examples of synthesized speech-authoring user interfaces provided by the expressive synthesized speech system 108 are described below with reference to
Examples of the expressive keyboard 206 further include a plurality of selectable punctuation objects 208a-n (collectively, 208), which the user 104 is enabled to include with textual input 210 to specify the expressive nature of the textual input. According to aspects, each punctuation object 208 has a predetermined operation associated with it that specifies how particular prosodic attributes are to be applied to surrounding text, thus changing the expressive nature of the speech that will be generated from the text.
For example, inclusion of a period, comma, or exclamation point punctuation object 208 may operate to insert a default or user-customizable amount of silent space between pronouncing words or sentences, thus allowing the user 104 to set the cadence of his/her speech. As another example, inclusion of a single question mark punctuation object 208 may operate to raise the pitch of a word located immediately prior to the question mark, and inclusion of two question mark punctuation objects may operate to raise the pitch of the two words located immediately prior to the question marks to emphasize that the textual content 210 is a question. As can be appreciated, this can be useful in scenarios in which the user 104 asks a question that could be interpreted as a statement if not for the question mark(s) (e.g., “She is meeting us there.” vs “She is meeting us there?”). As another example, inclusion of an exclamation point punctuation object 208 may operate to increase the emotional tone, volume, or rate of speech of at least a portion of the textual content 210, or to place emphasis on a specific word of the textual content. As should be appreciated, the punctuation objects 208 illustrated in the figures and described herein are non-limiting examples. Other punctuation objects 208 and other corresponding operations are possible and are within the scope of the present disclosure.
According to an aspect, the user 104 may enter textual content 210, select a punctuation object 208, and then select to play the text with the punctuation object functionality applied. For example, the user 104 may select a play command 212, which when selected, causes the expressive keyboard UI engine 110 to pass the textual content 210 and the selected punctuation object 208 to the voicesetting engine 114 for application of the prosodic attributes or prosodic properties corresponding to the selected punctuation object to the textual content.
As illustrated in
According to an example and as illustrated in
According to aspects, a variety of ALM effect options 216 may be provided in the expressive keyboard 206, and a variety of corresponding audio (sound) effects/output 126 and visual effects/output 122 may be provided responsive to a selection of an ALM effect option. Various examples of visual effects/output 122 corresponding to various ALM effect options 216 are illustrated in
According to another example and with reference to
According to another example and with reference to
According to another example and with reference to
According to another example and with reference to
As should be appreciated, the examples described above and illustrated in
As described above and with reference now to
In some examples, emoji objects 228 are further associated with predefined visual operations, wherein selection and insertion of an emoji object 228 in the user's text 210 causes the expressive synthesized speech system 108 to provide a particular visual feature for display on the communication partner's device. Examples of various visual features that may be displayed in response to the user's selection of emoji objects 228 are illustrated in
With reference now to
With reference now to
With reference now to
With reference now to
With reference now to
As described above, the voicesetting editor 112 is operative to provide a GUI that allows the user 104 to modify various prosodic properties associated with individual words within input text 210 for explicitly authoring expressivity of synthesized speech. With reference now to
In response and with reference now to
Selection of a single token, for example, by dwell-clicking on a specific token 305, opens a token editing interface, such as the example token editing interface 316 illustrated in
Aspects of the voicesetting editor UI 304 allow for selecting a range of tokens 305 for editing. In one example and as illustrated in
According to examples, in the token editing interface 316, 320, a set of prosodic properties 314 are displayed that the user 104 is enabled to adjust. According to an aspect, only the properties 314 that can be adjusted for a selected token 305 are displayed. Some prosodic properties 314 can be applied to all three types of token 305, for example, emotional tone, rate of speech, volume, and pitch. Other prosodic properties 314 are adjustable for particular token types. For example, word tokens 308 have an emphasis property 314b that allows the user 104 to specify which words should be emphasized. As another example, punctuation tokens 310 have a pause property 314 that allows the user 104 to specify an amount of silent time to synthesize between the pronunciations of words.
Upon selection of a prosodic property 314, the voicesetting editor 112 provides functionalities for enabling the user 104 to adjust the value of the property. According to an aspect, a set of predetermined value ranges are provided for prosodic properties 314. In an example and as illustrated in
With reference to
Having described an operating environment and various user interface display examples with respect to
The method 400 proceeds to OPERATION 406, where textual input 210 is received from the user 104. Further, a selection of an expressive operator may be received. For example, the user 104 may select an emoji object 228 or a punctuation object 208 for insertion into the textual input.
At DECISION OPERATION 408, a determination is made as to whether to launch the voicesetting editor 112 for editing prosodic properties 214 associated with the user's textual content 210. For example, the determination may be made based on whether the user 104 selects a voicesetting editor command 302. When a determination is made to launch the voicesetting editor 112, the method 400 proceeds to OPERATION 410, where the voicesetting editor 112 parses the textual content 210 and any selected punctuation objects 208 or emoji objects 228, and displays a voicesetting editor UI 304 for allowing the user 104 to adjust or refine prosodic properties 214 for crafting the rendering of the user's content by a synthetic voice.
The method 400 proceeds to OPERATION 412, where the user 104 makes one or more prosodic property 214 selections, and at OPERATION 414, the prosodic attributes, vocal sound effects, or visual effects associated with selected emoji object 228 and/or punctuation object 208 are applied to the textual input 210.
At OPERATION 416, the combined textual input 210 and prosodic attributes, vocal sound effects, or visual effects are output to a speech generation engine 118 for generating expressive audible output 126 for playback on an audio output device 128 or to a visualization generation engine 116 for generating expressive visual output 122 for display on a visual output device 124. The method 400 ends at OPERATION 418.
With reference now to
The method 420 proceeds to OPERATION 426, where a selection to launch the active listening mode (ALM) is received. For example, the user 110 may select an ALM command 214 displayed on the expressive keyboard 206.
The method 420 proceeds to OPERATION 428, where responsive to the ALM command 214 selection, the expressive synthesized speech system 108 enters an active listening mode and the expressive keyboard UI engine 110 displays a plurality of selectable ALM effect options 216, wherein each ALM effect option 216 is associated with a particular sound effect and/or visual effect that can be selectively communicated to a communication partner 120.
The method 420 proceeds to OPERATION 430, where a selection of an ALM effect option 216 is received. At OPERATION 432, the expressive synthesized speech system 108 identifies the vocal sound effect and/or visual effect corresponding to the selected ALM effect option 216, and outputs the corresponding vocal sound effect and/or visual effect to a speech generation engine 118 or visualization generation engine 116 for generating audible output 126/visual output 122 for playback/display on a communication partner's 120 device 128/124. The method 420 ends at OPERATION 434.
While implementations have been described in the general context of program modules that execute in conjunction with an application program that runs on an operating system on a computer, those skilled in the art will recognize that aspects may also be implemented in combination with other program modules. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, and other types of structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.
The aspects and functionalities described herein may operate via a multitude of computing systems including, without limitation, desktop computer systems, wired and wireless computing systems, mobile computing systems (e.g., mobile telephones, netbooks, tablet or slate type computers, notebook computers, and laptop computers), hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, and mainframe computers.
In addition, according to an aspect, the aspects and functionalities described herein operate over distributed systems (e.g., cloud-based computing systems), where application functionality, memory, data storage and retrieval and various processing functions are operated remotely from each other over a distributed computing network, such as the Internet or an intranet. According to an aspect, user interfaces and information of various types are displayed via on-board computing device displays or via remote display units associated with one or more computing devices. For example, user interfaces and information of various types are displayed and interacted with on a wall surface onto which user interfaces and information of various types are projected. Interaction with the multitude of computing systems with which implementations are practiced include, keystroke entry, touch screen entry, voice or other audio entry, gesture entry where an associated computing device is equipped with detection (e.g., camera) functionality for capturing and interpreting user gestures for controlling the functionality of the computing device, and the like.
As stated above, according to an aspect, a number of program modules and data files are stored in the system memory 504. While executing on the processing unit 502, the program modules 506 (e.g., expressive synthesized speech system 108) perform processes including, but not limited to, one or more of the stages of the methods 400 and 420 illustrated in
According to an aspect, aspects are practiced in an electrical circuit comprising discrete electronic elements, packaged or integrated electronic chips containing logic gates, a circuit utilizing a microprocessor, or on a single chip containing electronic elements or microprocessors. For example, aspects are practiced via a system-on-a-chip (SOC) where each or many of the components illustrated in
According to an aspect, the computing device 500 has one or more input device(s) 512 such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, a sound input device, a touch input device, etc. The output device(s) 514 such as a display, speakers, a printer, etc. are also included according to an aspect. The aforementioned devices are examples and others may be used. According to an aspect, the computing device 500 includes one or more communication connections 516 allowing communications with other computing devices 518. Examples of suitable communication connections 516 include, but are not limited to, radio frequency (RF) transmitter, receiver, and/or transceiver circuitry; universal serial bus (USB), parallel, and/or serial ports.
The term computer readable media as used herein include computer storage media. Computer storage media include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information, such as computer readable instructions, data structures, or program modules. The system memory 504, the removable storage device 509, and the non-removable storage device 510 are all computer storage media examples (i.e., memory storage.) According to an aspect, computer storage media includes RAM, ROM, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other article of manufacture which can be used to store information and which can be accessed by the computing device 500. According to an aspect, any such computer storage media is part of the computing device 500. Computer storage media does not include a carrier wave or other propagated data signal.
According to an aspect, communication media is embodied by computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and includes any information delivery media. According to an aspect, the term “modulated data signal” describes a signal that has one or more characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, radio frequency (RF), infrared, and other wireless media.
According to an aspect, one or more application programs 650 are loaded into the memory 662 and run on or in association with the operating system 664. Examples of the application programs include phone dialer programs, e-mail programs, personal information management (PIM) programs, word processing programs, spreadsheet programs, Internet browser programs, messaging programs, and so forth. According to an aspect, the expressive synthesized speech system 108 is loaded into memory 662. The system 602 also includes a non-volatile storage area 668 within the memory 662. The non-volatile storage area 668 is used to store persistent information that should not be lost if the system 602 is powered down. The application programs 650 may use and store information in the non-volatile storage area 668, such as e-mail or other messages used by an e-mail application, and the like. A synchronization application (not shown) also resides on the system 602 and is programmed to interact with a corresponding synchronization application resident on a host computer to keep the information stored in the non-volatile storage area 668 synchronized with corresponding information stored at the host computer. As should be appreciated, other applications may be loaded into the memory 662 and run on the mobile computing device 600.
According to an aspect, the system 602 has a power supply 670, which is implemented as one or more batteries. According to an aspect, the power supply 670 further includes an external power source, such as an AC adapter or a powered docking cradle that supplements or recharges the batteries.
According to an aspect, the system 602 includes a radio 672 that performs the function of transmitting and receiving radio frequency communications. The radio 672 facilitates wireless connectivity between the system 602 and the “outside world,” via a communications carrier or service provider. Transmissions to and from the radio 672 are conducted under control of the operating system 664. In other words, communications received by the radio 672 may be disseminated to the application programs 650 via the operating system 664, and vice versa.
According to an aspect, the visual indicator 620 is used to provide visual notifications and/or an audio interface 674 is used for producing audible notifications via the audio transducer 625. In the illustrated example, the visual indicator 620 is a light emitting diode (LED) and the audio transducer 625 is a speaker. These devices may be directly coupled to the power supply 670 so that when activated, they remain on for a duration dictated by the notification mechanism even though the processor 660 and other components might shut down for conserving battery power. The LED may be programmed to remain on indefinitely until the user takes action to indicate the powered-on status of the device. The audio interface 674 is used to provide audible signals to and receive audible signals from the user. For example, in addition to being coupled to the audio transducer 625, the audio interface 674 may also be coupled to a microphone to receive audible input, such as to facilitate a telephone conversation. According to an aspect, the system 602 further includes a video interface 676 that enables an operation of an on-board camera 630 to record still images, video stream, and the like.
According to an aspect, a mobile computing device 600 implementing the system 602 has additional features or functionality. For example, the mobile computing device 600 includes additional data storage devices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated in
According to an aspect, data/information generated or captured by the mobile computing device 600 and stored via the system 602 is stored locally on the mobile computing device 600, as described above. According to another aspect, the data is stored on any number of storage media that is accessible by the device via the radio 672 or via a wired connection between the mobile computing device 600 and a separate computing device associated with the mobile computing device 600, for example, a server computer in a distributed computing network, such as the Internet. As should be appreciated such data/information is accessible via the mobile computing device 600 via the radio 672 or via a distributed computing network. Similarly, according to an aspect, such data/information is readily transferred between computing devices for storage and use according to well-known data/information transfer and storage means, including electronic mail and collaborative data/information sharing systems.
Implementations, for example, are described above with reference to block diagrams and/or operational illustrations of methods, systems, and computer program products according to aspects. The functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order as shown in any flowchart. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.
The description and illustration of one or more examples provided in this application are not intended to limit or restrict the scope as claimed in any way. The aspects, examples, and details provided in this application are considered sufficient to convey possession and enable others to make and use the best mode. Implementations should not be construed as being limited to any aspect, example, or detail provided in this application. Regardless of whether shown and described in combination or separately, the various features (both structural and methodological) are intended to be selectively included or omitted to produce an example with a particular set of features. Having been provided with the description and illustration of the present application, one skilled in the art may envision variations, modifications, and alternate examples falling within the spirit of the broader aspects of the general inventive concept embodied in this application that do not depart from the broader scope.
Claims
1. A computer-implemented method for generating expressive content comprising:
- displaying an expressive keyboard, wherein the expressive keyboard includes an alpha-numeric keyboard for receiving textual input and a plurality of expressive operators for selectively applying an emotional tone or a vocal sound effect associated with each of the plurality of expressive operators to received textual input;
- receiving textual input;
- in response to receiving a selection of an expressive operator, identifying a predefined set of one or more prosody attributes and vocal sound effects associated with the selected expressive operator;
- combining the associated predefined set of prosody attributes or the vocal sound effect with the received textual input; and
- outputting the combined set of prosody attributes or the vocal sound effect and textual input to a speech generation engine for generating expressive synthesized speech.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the expressive keyboard including the plurality of expressive operators comprises displaying a plurality of emoji objects, wherein each emoji object is illustrative of an emotion.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising displaying a plurality of emoji objects for selectively providing a visual effect associated with a selected emoji object as output.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein in response to a selection of an emoji object:
- identifying a visual effect associated with the selected emoji object; and
- outputting the visual effect to a visualization generation engine for generating an expressive display of the visual effect.
5. The method of claim 2, wherein displaying the plurality of emoji objects comprises: displaying the set of emoji objects.
- determining a set of emoji objects to display based on data associated with a user's emotional state, wherein the set includes emoji objects associated with an emotion corresponding to the user's emotional state; and
6. The method of claim 1, wherein combining the associated predefined set of prosody attributes with the received textual input comprises applying at least one of pause length, pitch, speed, and emphasis properties to the textual input.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein combining the vocal sound effect with the received textual input comprises combining a vocal sound effect selected from a group comprised of:
- a laugh;
- a sarcastic scoff,
- a sharp breath in;
- a disgusted “ugh” sound;
- an angry “argh” sound; and
- one or more user-provided sound effects.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the expressive keyboard including the plurality of expressive operators comprises displaying a plurality of punctuation objects.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising;
- providing a voicesetting editor interface;
- in response to receiving a selection to launch the voicesetting editor interface: parsing the textual input and any received expressive operator selections; displaying the parsed textual input and any received expressive operator selections as selectable tokens; in response to receiving a selection of a token, displaying a set of prosodic properties that can be applied to the selected token; and in response to receiving a selection of a prosodic property, displaying a value associated with the selected prosodic property for allowing a user to adjust the value for controlling expressivity of the textual input when rendered.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving textual input comprises receiving an upload of an existing text file.
11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
- providing an active listening mode; and
- in response to receiving a selection to launch the active listening mode, displaying a plurality of selectable active listening mode effect options, wherein each active listening mode effect option has an associated sound effect;
- in response to receiving a selection of an active listening mode effect option: identifying the associated sound effect; and outputting the associated sound effect to a speech generation engine for playing the associated sound effect on a conversation partner's audio output device.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein:
- displaying the plurality of selectable active listening mode effect options comprises displaying a plurality of selectable active listening mode effect options wherein each active listening mode effect option has an associated visual effect; and
- in response to receiving a selection of an active listening mode effect option: identifying the associated visual effect; and outputting the associated visual effect to a visualization generation engine for rendering the associated visual effect on a visual output device.
13. A system for generating expressive content, the computing device comprising:
- at least one processing device; and
- at least one computer readable data storage device storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processing device, cause the computing device to provide an expressive synthesized speech system, the expressive synthesized speech system operative to: display an expressive keyboard, wherein the expressive keyboard includes an alpha-numeric keyboard for receiving textual input and a plurality of expressive operators for selectively applying an emotional tone or a vocal sound effect associated with each of the plurality of expressive operators to received textual input; receive textual input; in response to receiving a selection of an expressive operator, identify a predefined set of one or more prosody attributes and vocal sound effects associated with the selected expressive operator; combine the associated predefined set of prosody attributes or the vocal sound effect with the received textual input; and output the combined set of prosody attributes or the vocal sound effect and textual input to a speech generation engine for generating expressive synthesized speech.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein:
- the plurality of expressive operators comprises a plurality of emoji objects, each emoji object illustrating an emotion;
- one or more of the plurality of emoji objects has an associated visual effect; and
- in response to a selection of an emoji object, the expressive synthesized speech system is further operative to: identify a visual effect associated with the selected emoji object; and output the visual effect to a visualization generation engine for generating an expressive display of the visual effect.
15. The system of claim 13, wherein in combining the associated predefined set of prosody attributes with the received textual input, the expressive synthesized speech system is operative to apply at least one of pause length, pitch, speed, and emphasis properties to the textual input.
16. The system of claim 13, wherein the expressive synthesized speech system is further operative to:
- provide a voicesetting editor interface;
- in response to receiving a selection to launch the voicesetting editor interface: parse the textual input and any received expressive operator selections; display the parsed textual input and any received expressive operator selections as selectable tokens; in response to receiving a selection of a token, display a set of prosodic properties that can be applied to the selected token; and in response to receiving a selection of a prosodic property, display a value associated with the selected prosodic property for allowing a user to adjust the value for controlling expressivity of the textual input when rendered.
17. The system of claim 13, wherein the expressive synthesized speech system is further operative to:
- provide an active listening mode; and
- in response to receiving a selection to launch the active listening mode, display a plurality of selectable active listening mode effect options, wherein each active listening mode effect option has an associated sound effect or visual effect;
- in response to receiving a selection of an active listening mode effect option: identify the associated sound effect or visual effect; and output the associated sound effect to a speech generation engine for playing the associated sound effect on a conversation partner's audio output device or to a visualization generation engine for generating a display of the associated visual effect on a visual output device.
18. A computer readable storage device including computer readable instructions, which when executed by a processing unit is operative to:
- display an expressive keyboard, wherein the expressive keyboard includes an alpha-numeric keyboard for receiving textual input and a plurality of emoji objects and punctuation objects for selectively applying an emotional tone or a vocal sound effect associated with each of the plurality of emoji objects and punctuation objects to received textual input;
- receive textual input;
- in response to receiving a selection of an emoji object or punctuation object, identify a predefined set of one or more prosody attributes and vocal sound effects associated with the selected emoji object or punctuation object;
- combine the associated predefined set of prosody attributes or the vocal sound effect with the received textual input; and
- output the combined set of prosody attributes or the vocal sound effect and textual input to a speech generation engine for generating expressive synthesized speech.
19. The computer readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the device is further operative to:
- provide a voicesetting editor interface;
- in response to receiving a selection to launch the voicesetting editor interface: parse the textual input and any received expressive operator selections; display the parsed textual input and any received expressive operator selections as selectable tokens; in response to receiving a selection of a token, display a set of prosodic properties that can be applied to the selected token; and in response to receiving a selection of a prosodic property, display a value associated with the selected prosodic property for allowing a user to adjust the value for controlling expressivity of the textual input when rendered.
20. The computer readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the device is further operative to:
- provide an active listening mode; and
- in response to receiving a selection to launch the active listening mode, display a plurality of selectable active listening mode effect options, wherein each active listening mode effect option has an associated sound effect or visual effect;
- in response to receiving a selection of an active listening mode effect option: identify the associated sound effect or visual effect; and output the associated sound effect to a speech generation engine for playing the associated sound effect on a conversation partner's audio output device or to a visualization generation engine for generating a display of the associated visual effect on the conversation partner's visual output device.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 5, 2022
Publication Date: Jul 21, 2022
Applicant: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC (Redmond, WA)
Inventors: Ann M. PARADISO (Shoreline, WA), Jonathan CAMPBELL (Redmond, WA), Edward Bryan CUTRELL (Seattle, WA), Harish KULKARNI (Redmond, WA), Meredith MORRIS (Bellevue, WA), Alexander John FIANNACA (Seattle, WA), Kiley Rebecca SOBEL (Seattle, WA)
Application Number: 17/713,749
