IP Library Patent Application 12041302
Patent Application
App. No. 12/041,302

SPEECH SYNTHESIS SYSTEM HAVING ARTIFICIAL EXCITATION SIGNAL

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US None
App. No.
12/041,302
Filed
Mar 3, 2008
Art Unit
2626
USPC
704/261
Abstract

A speech synthesis system synthesizes a speech signal corresponding to an input speech signal based on a spectral envelope of the input speech signal. A glottal pulse generator generates a time series of glottal pulses, that are processed into a glottal pulse magnitude spectrum. A shaping circuit shapes the glottal pulse magnitude spectrum based on the spectral envelope and generates a shaped glottal pulse magnitude spectrum. A harmonic null adjustment circuit reduces harmonic nulls in the shaped glottal pulse magnitude spectrum and generates a null-adjusted synthesized speech spectrum. An inverse transform circuit generates a null-adjusted time-series speech signal. An overlap and add circuit synthesizes the speech signal based on the null-adjusted time-series speech signal.

Claims (56)

1 . A speech synthesis system adapted to synthesize a speech signal corresponding to an input speech signal, based on a spectral envelope of the input speech signal, the system comprising:

a glottal pulse generator configured to generate a time series of glottal pulses;

a transform circuit configured to generate a glottal pulse magnitude spectrum based on the time series of glottal pulses;

a shaping circuit configured to shape the glottal pulse magnitude spectrum in accordance with the spectral envelope to generate a shaped glottal pulse magnitude spectrum;

a harmonic null adjustment circuit configured to reduce harmonic nulls in the shaped glottal pulse magnitude spectrum to generate a null-adjusted synthesized speech spectrum;

an inverse transform circuit configured to transform the null-adjusted synthesized speech spectrum to the time domain and generate a null-adjusted time-series speech signal; and

an overlap and add circuit configured to synthesize the speech signal based on the null-adjusted time-series speech signal.

2 . The system of claim 1 , where the time series of glottal pulses are generated based on pitch information of the input speech signal.

3 . The system of claim 2 , where the harmonic null adjustment circuit reduces the harmonic nulls based on a background noise signal corresponding to the input speech signal.

4 . The system of claim 3 , where the spectral envelope, the pitch information, and the background noise signal are processed on a frame-by-frame basis.

5 . The system of claim 4 , where the overlap and add circuit compensates for frame shift of the pitch value, the spectral envelope and the background noise signal.

6 . The system of claim 1 , where the transform circuit generates a glottal pulse phase spectrum.

7 . The system of claim 6 , further comprising a phase randomizing circuit configured to randomize a phase of the glottal pulse phase spectrum.

8 . The system of claim 7 , where randomizing the phase of the glottal pulse phase spectrum reduces harmonic nulls in the null-adjusted synthesized speech spectrum.

9 . A speech synthesis system for synthesizing a speech signal corresponding to an input speech signal, based on a pitch value, a spectral envelope and a noise signal of the input speech signal, the system comprising:

a glottal pulse generator configured to generate a time series of glottal pulses based on the pitch value;

a time domain to frequency domain transform circuit configured to generate a glottal pulse magnitude spectrum based on the time series of glottal pulses;

a shaping circuit configured to shape the glottal pulse magnitude spectrum in accordance with the spectral envelope and generate a shaped glottal pulse magnitude spectrum;

a harmonic null adjustment circuit configured to reduce harmonic nulls in the shaped glottal pulse magnitude spectrum based on background noise signal, to generate a null-adjusted synthesized speech spectrum;

a frequency domain to time domain transform circuit configured to transform the null-adjusted synthesized speech spectrum to the time domain and generate a null-adjusted time-series speech signal; and

an overlap and add circuit configured to synthesize the speech signal based on the null-adjusted time-series speech signal.

10 . The system of claim 9 , where the pitch value, a spectral envelope and a background noise signal correspond to the input speech signal.

11 . The system of claim 9 , where the synthesized speech signal approximates the input speech signal.

12 . The system of claim 10 , where the pitch value, the spectral envelope and the background noise signal are provided on a frame-by-frame basis.

13 . The system of claim 12 , where the overlap and add circuit compensates for frame shift of pitch value, the spectral envelope and the background noise signal.

14 . The system of claim 9 , where the transform circuit generates a glottal pulse phase spectrum.

15 . The system of claim 14 , further comprising a phase randomizing circuit configured to randomize a phase of the glottal pulse phase spectrum.

16 . The system of claim 15 , where randomizing the phase of the glottal pulse phase spectrum reduces harmonic nulls in the null-adjusted synthesized speech spectrum.

17 . A method for synthesizing a speech signal corresponding to an input speech signal based on a spectral envelope of the input speech signal, the method comprising:

generating a time series of glottal pulses;

transforming the time series of glottal pulses into a glottal pulse magnitude spectrum;

shaping the glottal pulse magnitude spectrum in accordance with the spectral envelope to generate a shaped glottal pulse magnitude spectrum;

reducing harmonic nulls in the shaped glottal pulse magnitude spectrum to generate a null-adjusted synthesized speech spectrum;

transforming the null-adjusted synthesized speech spectrum to the time domain to generate a null-adjusted time-series speech signal; and

processing the null-adjusted time-series speech signal on a frame-by-frame basis to synthesize the speech signal.

18 . The method of claim 17 , where the time series of glottal pulses are generated based on pitch information corresponding to the input speech signal.

19 . The method of claim 18 , where a harmonic null adjustment circuit reduces the harmonic nulls based on a background noise signal corresponding to the input speech signal.

20 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising processing the spectral envelope, the pitch information, and the background noise signal on a frame-by-frame basis.

21 . The method of claim 20 , where the overlap and add circuit compensates for frame shift of the pitch value, the spectral envelope and the background noise signal.

22 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising generating a glottal pulse phase spectrum by transforming the time series of glottal pulses into the frequency domain.

23 . The method of claim 22 , further comprising randomizing a phase of the glottal pulse phase spectrum.

24 . The method of claim 23 , where randomizing the phase of the glottal pulse phase spectrum reduces harmonic nulls in the null-adjusted synthesized speech spectrum.

25 . A speech synthesis system adapted to synthesize a speech signal corresponding to an input speech signal, based on a spectral envelope of the input speech signal, the system comprising:

a glottal pulse generator configured to generate a time series of glottal pulses;

means for transforming the time series of glottal pulses into the frequency domain to generate a glottal pulse magnitude spectrum;

means for shaping the glottal pulse magnitude spectrum in accordance with the spectral envelope to generate a shaped glottal pulse magnitude spectrum;

means for reducing harmonic nulls in the shaped glottal pulse magnitude spectrum to generate a null-adjusted synthesized speech spectrum;

means for transforming the null-adjusted synthesized speech spectrum into the time domain to generate a null-adjusted time-series speech signal; and

an overlap and add circuit configured to synthesize the speech signal based on the null-adjusted time-series speech signal.

26 . The system of claim 25 , where the time series of glottal pulses are generated based on pitch information of the input speech signal.

27 . The system of claim 26 , where the means for reducing harmonic nulls reduces the harmonic nulls based on a background noise signal corresponding to the input speech signal.

28 . The system of claim 27 , where the spectral envelope, the pitch information, and the background noise signal are processed on a frame-by-frame basis.

29 . The system of claim 28 , where the overlap and add circuit compensates for frame shift of the pitch value, the spectral envelope and the background noise signal.

30 . The system of claim 25 , where the means for transforming the time series of glottal pulses into the frequency domain generates a glottal pulse phase spectrum.

31 . The system of claim 30 , further comprising means for randomizing phase configured to randomize a phase of the glottal pulse phase spectrum.

32 . The system of claim 31 , where randomizing the phase of the glottal pulse phase spectrum reduces harmonic nulls in the null-adjusted synthesized speech spectrum.

Assignments (5)
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Feb 27, 2012
From: QNX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS CO.
To: QNX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS LIMITED
Reel/Frame 027768/0863 →
CONFIRMATORY ASSIGNMENT Recorded Jul 9, 2010
From: QNX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS (WAVEMAKERS), INC.
To: QNX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS CO.
Reel/Frame 024659/0370 →
PARTIAL RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 3, 2010
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
To: HARMAN INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIES, INCORPORATED; QNX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS (WAVEMAKERS), INC.; QNX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS GMBH & CO. KG
Reel/Frame 024483/0045 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded May 8, 2009
From: HARMAN INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIES, INCORPORATED; BECKER SERVICE-UND VERWALTUNG GMBH; CROWN AUDIO, INC.; HARMAN BECKER AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS (MICHIGAN), INC.; HARMAN BECKER AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS HOLDING GMBH; HARMAN BECKER AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS, INC.; HARMAN CONSUMER GROUP, INC.; HARMAN DEUTSCHLAND GMBH; HARMAN FINANCIAL GROUP LLC; HARMAN HOLDING GMBH & CO. KG; HARMAN MUSIC GROUP, INCORPORATED; HARMAN SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL BETEILIGUNGS GMBH; HARMAN SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT GMBH; HBAS INTERNATIONAL GMBH; HBAS MANUFACTURING, INC.; INNOVATIVE SYSTEMS GMBH NAVIGATION-MULTIMEDIA; JBL INCORPORATED; LEXICON, INCORPORATED; MARGI SYSTEMS, INC.; QNX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS (WAVEMAKERS), INC.; QNX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS CANADA CORPORATION; QNX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS CO.; QNX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS GMBH; QNX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS GMBH & CO. KG; QNX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION; QNX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS, INC.; XS EMBEDDED GMBH (F/K/A HARMAN BECKER MEDIA DRIVE TECHNOLOGY GMBH)
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.
Reel/Frame 022659/0743 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 4, 2008
From: LI, XUEMAN; HETHERINGTON, PHILLIP A.; PARVEEN, SHAHLA; CHUN CHIU, TOMMY TSZ
To: QNX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS (WAVEMAKERS), INC.
Reel/Frame 020594/0342 →