Patent ID: 9721558
Date: 2017-08-01
CPC Classifications: G10L

Claim:
1. A method comprising: receiving, at a first time, a selection of an animated character to guide a user on a website; collecting text data from a pre-existing text data source, to yield collected text data, wherein the collected text data is associated with a domain of the website, wherein the pre-existing text data source exists at the first time, and wherein no in-domain inventory of speech units exists at the first time; selecting synthesis speech units specific to the domain from a pre-existing inventory of synthesis speech units existing at the first time, wherein the selecting occurs using the collected text data to yield selected synthesis speech units, wherein the synthesis speech units comprise one or more of phonemes, diphones, triphones and syllables; caching the selected synthesis speech units specific to the domain to generate an in-domain inventory of synthesis speech units; and generating, via a processor and at a second time which is later than the first time, a custom text-to-speech voice for use by the animated character when performing a specific task in the domain utilizing the in-domain inventory of synthesis speech units.