IP Library Granted Patent US 9,691,376
Granted Patent B2
US 9,691,376 · App. 14/962,198 · Granted Jun 27, 2017

Concatenation cost in speech synthesis for acoustic unit sequential pair using hash table and default concatenation cost

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,691,376
App. No.
14/962,198
Granted
Jun 27, 2017
Kind
B2
Abstract

A speech synthesis process can record concatenation costs of unit sequential pairs to a concatenation cost database for speech synthesis by synthesizing speech from a text, identifying an acoustic unit sequential pair in the speech, searching for a concatenation cost for the acoustic unit sequential pair in a database using a hash table for the database, and when the concatenation cost is not found in the database, assigning a default value as the concatenation cost for the acoustic unit sequential pair.

Claims (34)

1. A method comprising:

synthesizing speech from a text;

identifying an acoustic unit sequential pair in the speech;

searching for a concatenation cost for the acoustic unit sequential pair in a database using a hash table for the database; and

when the concatenation cost is not found in the database, assigning a default value as the concatenation cost for the acoustic unit sequential pair.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising synthesizing future speech using the default value as the concatenation cost.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein a most common acoustic unit sequential pair does not have an associated concatenation cost stored in the database prior to the assigning.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the database contains a subset of all possible concatenation costs associated with a list of acoustic units.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein assigning the default value as the concatenation cost further comprises deriving an actual concatenation cost.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the concatenation cost comprises a weighted sum of subcosts across phones.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the database stores acoustic units in linear predictive coding parameters.

8. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

synthesizing speech from a text;

identifying an acoustic unit sequential pair in the speech;

searching for a concatenation cost for the acoustic unit sequential pair in a database using a hash table for the database; and

when the concatenation cost is not found in the database, assigning a default value as the concatenation cost for the acoustic unit sequential pair.

9. The system of claim 8 , the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising synthesizing future speech using the default value as the concatenation cost.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein a most common acoustic unit sequential pair does not have an associated concatenation cost stored in the database prior to the assigning.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the database contains a subset of all possible concatenation costs associated with a list of acoustic units.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein assigning the default value as the concatenation cost further comprises deriving an actual concatenation cost.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the concatenation cost comprises a weighted sum of subcosts across phones.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the database stores acoustic units in linear predictive coding parameters.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device having instructions stored which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

synthesizing speech from a text;

identifying an acoustic unit sequential pair in the speech;

searching for a concatenation cost for the acoustic unit sequential pair in a database using a hash table for the database; and

when the concatenation cost is not found in the database, assigning a default value as the concatenation cost for the acoustic unit sequential pair.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising synthesizing future speech using the default value as the concatenation cost.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein a most common acoustic unit sequential pair does not have an associated concatenation cost stored in the database prior to the assigning.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein the database contains a subset of all possible concatenation costs associated with a list of acoustic units.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein assigning the default value as the concatenation cost further comprises deriving an actual concatenation cost.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein the concatenation cost comprises a weighted sum of subcosts across phones.

Assignments (8)
RELEASE (REEL 052935 / FRAME 0584) Recorded Jan 2, 2025
From: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
To: CERENCE OPERATING COMPANY
Reel/Frame 069797/0818 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE REPLACE THE CONVEYANCE DOCUMENT WITH THE NEW ASSIGNMENT PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL: 050836 FRAME: 0191. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE ASSIGNMENT. Recorded Apr 19, 2022
From: NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
To: CERENCE OPERATING COMPANY
Reel/Frame 059804/0186 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Jun 15, 2020
From: CERENCE OPERATING COMPANY
To: WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A.
Reel/Frame 052935/0584 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 12, 2020
From: BARCLAYS BANK PLC
To: CERENCE OPERATING COMPANY
Reel/Frame 052927/0335 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Nov 7, 2019
From: CERENCE OPERATING COMPANY
To: BARCLAYS BANK PLC
Reel/Frame 050953/0133 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE ASSIGNEE NAME PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL: 050836 FRAME: 0191. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AGREEMENT. Recorded Oct 29, 2019
From: NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
To: CERENCE OPERATING COMPANY
Reel/Frame 050871/0001 →
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AGREEMENT Recorded Oct 23, 2019
From: NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
To: CERENCE INC.
Reel/Frame 050836/0191 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 26, 2017
From: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY II, L.P.
To: NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
Reel/Frame 041498/0316 →