Patent ID: 7099828
Filing Date: 2006-08-29
Classification: G10L

Abstract:
1. A computer-implemented method for composing a pronunciation of a portion of text by generating pronunciation information, the method comprising: graphically displaying a first set of activatable visual identifiers, wherein the visual identifiers of said first set are simultaneously displayed in a single display, wherein each of the visual identifiers of said first set uniquely correspond to one of a plurality of phonemes, and wherein each visual identifier of said first set has a label that identifies the corresponding phoneme and that provides an explanatory word representing a sound of the corresponding phoneme; graphically displaying a second set of activatable visual identifiers simultaneously with said first set of activatable visual identifiers, wherein each of the activatable visual identifiers of the second set uniquely corresponding to one of a plurality of prosodic parameters and has a label identifying the corresponding prosodic parameter; graphically displaying a third set of activatable visual identifiers simultaneously with said first and second sets of activatable visual identifiers, wherein each of the activatable visual identifiers of the third set uniquely corresponds to one of a plurality or pronunciation stress parameters and has a label identifying the corresponding pronunciation stress parameter; graphically displaying a fourth set of activatable visual identifiers simultaneously with said first, second, and third sets of activatable visual identifiers, wherein the visual identifiers of said fourth set are simultaneously displayed in said single display, and wherein each of the visual identifiers of the fourth set corresponds to one of a set of actions, said set of actions comprising an adding action, a removing action, and a reordering action for adding, removing, and reordering phonemes, prosodic parameters, and pronunciation parameters to a pronunciation presented in the single display when at least one activatable identifier of the first, second, and third sets is activated in combination with one of the visual identifiers of the fourth set; responsive to a selection of at least one of said visual identifiers, generating said pronunciation information in accordance with said selected visual identifier, said pronunciation information comprising at least one of a phoneme selected from said plurality of phonemes, an ordering of selected phonemes, a pronunciation stress parameter, and a prosodic parameter; enabling a user to compose said pronunciation by selectively performing at least one of adding a particular one of the plurality of phonemes, prosodic parameters, and pronunciation stress parameters, removing a particular one of the plurality of phonemes, prosodic parameters, and pronunciation stress parameters, and reordering at least two phonemes by activating at least two activatable visual parameters, said user's selection being based upon said pronunciation information and based upon at least one of an audible rendering of a portion of said pronunciation during said user's composing said pronunciation and without compiling said pronunciation information, an audible rendering of an exemplary word illustrative of a particular phoneme, and a visual rendering of an exemplary word illustrative of the particular phoneme; and compiling said pronunciation information responsive to a selection of one of said plurality of visual identifiers.