Patent ID: 9275631
Filing Date: 2016-03-01
CPC Classification: G10L

Claim Text:
1. At least one computer-readable storage device encoded with a speech synthesis program which causes a system for synthesizing speech from text to perform: determining a first speech segment sequence corresponding to an input text, by selecting speech segments from a speech segment database according to a first cost calculated based at least in part on a statistical model stochastically representing frequency slope variations, wherein each segment in the first speech segment sequence is to be used in generating speech corresponding to the input text; determining prosody modification values for the first speech segment sequence, after the first speech segment sequence is selected, by using a second cost calculated based at least in part on the statistical model stochastically representing frequency slope variations, wherein the first cost is different from the second cost; and applying the determined prosody modification values to the first speech segment sequence to produce a second speech segment sequence having a same number of speech segments as the first speech segment sequence and whose prosodic characteristics are different from prosodic characteristics of the first speech segment sequence, wherein the second cost for determining the prosody modification values includes a sum of an absolute frequency likelihood cost, a frequency slope likelihood cost, a frequency linear approximation error cost, and a prosody modification cost.