Abstract:
A speech interpretation server, and a method for providing a speech interpretation service, are disclosed. The server includes a speech input for receiving an inputted speech in a first language from a mobile terminal, a speech recognizer that receives the inputted speech and converts the inputted speech into a prescribed symbol string, a language converter that converts the inputted speech converted into the prescribed symbol string into a second language, wherein the second language is different from the first language, and a speech output that outputs the second language to the mobile terminal. The method includes the steps of providing an interpretation server having resident thereon a plurality of registered sentences to be interpreted, activating a translation connection between the mobile terminal and the interpretation server, receiving speech, in a first language, inputted to the mobile terminal via the translation connection, at the interpretation server, recognizing and interpreting the speech inputted based on a comparison of the inputted speech to the plurality of registered sentences to be interpreted, and outputting a translation correspondent to the second language.

Description:
PRIORITY TO FOREIGN APPLICATIONS  
         [0001]    This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. P2000-321921.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0003]    The present invention relates to speech interpretation, and, more particularly, to an automatic interpretation service for translating speech pronounced by a user in a first language into a second language and outputting the translated speech in audio.  
           [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0005]    Japanese Patent Application No. 125539/1999 discloses a compact hand-operable speech interpretation apparatus that translates speech entered in a first language by way of a built-in microphone into a second language and outputs the translated speech in audio through a loudspeaker arranged opposite the microphone. However, such a speech interpretation apparatus, because it is a dedicated apparatus that cannot be used for other purposes, increases the total number of a user&#39;s personal effects when the user carries it for actual use, for example, on a lengthy trip.  
           [0006]    Japanese Patent Application No. 65424/1997 discloses a speech interpretation system using a combination speech recognition server and wireless mobile terminal. However, as this speech interpretation system allows the user to input nearly any sentence, it does not achieve high accuracy of interpretation, due to the tremendous number of possible spoken sentences, and the difficulty in finding a speech recognizer that can adequately understand a great number of those possible sentences.  
           [0007]    Therefore, the need exists for a speech interpretation device and system that does not increase inconvenience while travelling, such as by adding to the number of personal effects, and which achieves improved accuracy of translation over existing methods.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0008]    An object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a device and system that does not increase inconvenience while travelling, such as by adding to the number of personal effects, and which achieves improved accuracy of translation over existing methods, through the use of a telephone set for conversation and translation, and preferably through the use of a telephone to which mobile Internet access service is available.  
           [0009]    According to the invention, a user transmits speech by telephone to an automatic interpretation server, and the speech is returned in a translated form to the user&#39;s telephone. When the user first establishes connection from a telephone, preferably a telephone on which mobile Internet access service is available, to a mobile Internet access service gateway server via a mobile Internet access service packet network, the automatic interpretation server allows the user to display a menu of interpretable language on the display screen of the user&#39;s telephone, to thereby enable the user to select from the language classification menu the language into which the translation is to be performed. Also, the server preferably allows the user to display an interpretable model sentence scene on the display screen of the user&#39;s telephone, to thereby enable the user to select from the scene menu an interpretable sentence scene-of-use. Further, the server allows the user to display a model sentence that can be inputted on the display screen of the user&#39;s telephone, to thereby enable the user to input, in audio, that model sentence while watching the model sentence on the screen. Additionally, the automatic interpretation server recognizes the inputted speech using a model sentence dictionary for a limited range of model sentence choices, converts the inputted speech into a translated sentence, and outputs to the telephone terminal, in audio, the translated sentence.  
           [0010]    Thus, the present invention provides a device and system that does not increase inconvenience while travelling, such as by adding to the number of personal effects, and which achieves improved accuracy of translation over existing methods, through the use of a telephone set for conversation and translation, and preferably through the use of a telephone to which mobile Internet access service is available. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]    For the present invention to be clearly understood and readily practiced, the present invention will be described in conjunction with the following figures, wherein like reference characters designate the same or similar elements, which figures are incorporated into and constitute a part of the specification, wherein:  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 1 illustrates the configuration of an automatic interpretation service system;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 2 illustrates an example of data structure of a memory;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 3 illustrates an example of telephone terminal;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 4 illustrates an example of service menu displayed on the display of the telephone terminal;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 5 illustrates an example of interpretable language classification displayed on the display of the telephone terminal;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 6 illustrates an example of an interpretable scene assortment displayed on the display of the telephone terminal;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 7 illustrates an example of an interpretable model sentence assortment displayed on the display of the telephone terminal;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a recognition result assortment displayed on the display of the telephone terminal;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a structure of a table for language conversion;  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 10 illustrates an example interpretation result displayed on the display of the telephone terminal  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 11 illustrates an example of data structure of an accounting table;  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 12 illustrates an example of data structure of a language classification table;  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 13 illustrates an example of data structure of a scene table;  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 14 illustrates an example of data structure of a model sentence table;  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 15 illustrates an example of data structure of a sentence dictionary;  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 16 illustrates an example of data structure of a command dictionary;  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 17 illustrates the configuration of an automatic interpretation service system;  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing the operation of the automatic interpretation service (Part 1); and  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing the operation of the automatic interpretation service (Part 2). 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0031]    It is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of the present invention have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevant for a clear understanding of the present invention, while eliminating, for purposes of clarity, many other elements found in a typical telecommunications system. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that other elements are desirable and/or required in order to implement the present invention. However, because such elements are well known in the art, and because they do not facilitate a better understanding of the present invention, a discussion of such elements is not provided herein.  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 1 is a lock diagram illustrating an automatic interpretation service system. While the present invention relates to speech interpretation, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that a server includes any device provided with a CPU and a memory, and having a configuration such as the one shown in FIG. 1, such as a personal computer or a work station. Further, although the examples presented herein illustrate the automatic interpretation service for translating English into Japanese, any combination of languages may be made available using the present invention.  
         [0033]    The automatic interpretation service includes a telephone terminal  1  to which mobile Internet access service is preferably available, and may include a mobile Internet access service packet network  2  and a mobile Internet access service gateway server  3 , and includes a telephone circuit board  4 , a speech input  5 , a speech recognizer  6 , a language translator  7 , a word dictionary  8 , a grammar table  9 , a table for language conversion  10 , a speech generator  11 , a speech segments set  12 , a speech output  13 , a CPU  14 , a memory  15 , a language classification display  16 , a scene display  17 , a model sentence display  18 , a recognition candidate display  19 , a sentence dictionary  20 , a command dictionary  21 , a table for kinds of languages  22 , a scene table  23 , a model sentence table  24 , an authentication server  31 , an accounting server  32 , and an accounting table  33 . The data structure of the memory  15  is shown in FIG. 2. Further, a typical outline of the telephone terminal to which a mobile Internet access service is available is shown in FIG. 3. An exemplary telephone terminal to which a mobile Internet access service is available is a telephone terminal capable of handling dialogue voice and data in the same protocol, although the present invention is applicable to any telephone having access to an automatic interpretation server, either over IP protocol, the telephone network, or both.  
         [0034]    Referring now to FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, a power supply to the telephone terminal  1  is turned on, and a connection is established to the gateway server  3  of a center via a network, such as, for example, the mobile Internet access service packet network  2 , such as by pressing a button  102  for connection to the mobile Internet access service, and the user is confirmed by the authentication server  31  to be registered for use of the mobile Internet access service. The packet network may allow for the sending of data packets, voice packets, audio signals, or all of these signals, and, as such, may include an I-mode network, a telephone network, or the capability to switch between an I-mode network and the telephone network, such as an automatic switching based on data type, or by a switching at the request of the user. Upon connection to the gateway  3 , the user ID is sent to the accounting server  32 . The user ID may often be linked to the ID of the telephone terminal  1 , such as the caller ID, or the user ID may be entered by the user in combination with a password, for example.  
         [0035]    The accounting server  32  has therein an accounting table  33 . The data structure of the accounting table  33  is shown in FIG. 11. An ID sent from the authentication server  31  is collated with a cell in the user ID column  411  of the accounting table  33 , and the charge column  412  of each cell found matching the ID is reset to zero. For example, if the user ID of the user is “1236”, it is identical with a cell  403  indicating “1236” in the user ID column  411  in the accounting table  411 , and accordingly the cell matching  403  in the charge column  412  is reset to “0”.  
         [0036]    Connection to the mobile gateway server  3  is, for example, by a leased line, a mobile network line, a telephone network wireline, a connection through a server, such as the automatic interpretation server, or an Internet or intranet network.  
         [0037]    When the telephone terminal  1  to which a mobile Internet access service is available is connected to the mobile gateway server  3 , and when the authentication server  31  confirms the user to be registered for use of the mobile Internet access service, the mobile gateway server  3  may display a service menu on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1 , as illustrated in FIG. 4. Although the menus and instructions presented in this exemplary embodiment are generally discussed herein as being displayed as text via, for example, and internet connection gateway server  3 , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the menus and instructions displaed at the phone may be presented as speech or any type of audio via, for example, a voice over IP connection, or a telephonic audio connection gateway server  3 . In the initial service menu, shown in FIG. 4, the first item is preferably shown more conspicuously than the remaining items, such as by the reversal of black and white, to thereby indicate that the first item is selected. Of course, the selected item may be made more conspicuous in any manner known in the art. Alternatively, the options of the menu may be sent in audio to the user as discussed hereinabove.  
         [0038]    The user, such as while watching the service menu, presses prescribed buttons, to which the function of vertically shifting the cursor is then assigned, on the telephone terminal  1 , until the third item, “automatic interpretation”, for example, is highlighted. The user may further press another prescribed button, to which the decision function is assigned, on the telephone terminal  1 , in order to fix the selection, i.e. to select the highlighted text, or to select the desired function sent in audio. When the item “automatic interpretation” is fixed, the telephone terminal  1  is connected to an automatic interpretation server  1000  via the mobile Internet access service gateway server  3 .  
         [0039]    The language classification display  16  of the automatic interpretation server  1000  is then actuated, and interpretable language combinations are displayed on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1 , such as from a table for languages  22 , as shown in FIG. 5. The table for languages  22  has the data structure shown in FIG. 12, and the language classification display  16  sends each item of language classification  812  in the table to the telephone terminal  1 , in order to display the item(s) on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1 , as shown in FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, the first item is shown highlighted in the initial state, to thereby indicate that the first item is selected. The user, preferably while watching the language classification menu, presses the prescribed buttons, to which the function of the shifting cursor is assigned, to select, for example, the item “Japanese-English”, and further presses another prescribed button, to which the decision function is assigned, on the telephone terminal  1 , in order to fix the selection. When this procedure is followed, the language classification display  16  receives the cursor position on the telephone terminal  1 , and stores the number representing that position into LANG  209  on the memory  15 . If, for example, speech in Japanese is to be interpreted into English, “2” is stored into LANG  209  on the memory  15 , because “Japanese-English” is on the second line.  
         [0040]    The designation of language combination may be accomplished by, instead of displaying language classification on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1  and letting the user select the desired language combination with the vertical shift buttons, composing the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1  as a touch panel display, to thereby allow designation of the desired language combination by touching with a finger or pointer or the like. Additionally, a particular language may be assigned a prescribed telephone number, and the user may thereby enter a telephone number matching the desired language combination using the numeral buttons on the telephone terminal  1 .  
         [0041]    When the choice of language combination is fixed, the scene display  17  of the automatic interpretation server  1000  is actuated, and interpretable scenes are displayed on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1  by using a scene table  23  as shown in FIG. 6. The “scene” in this context refers to scenes wherein an interpretation service according to the present invention is likely to be used, such as an “airport”, “hotel” or “restaurant”. The scene table  23  has a data structure such as that shown in FIG. 13, and the scene display  17  sends each item of scene  912  in the table to the telephone terminal  1  for display on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1 , as shown in FIG. 6. In a preferred embodiment, a library of terms is used to create the model sentences discussed hereinbelow, and this library of term, or the model sentences, are preferably divided by scenes in the scene table  23 . In FIG. 6, the first item is shown highlighted in the initial state.  
         [0042]    The user, preferably while watching the scene menu, presses the prescribed buttons, to which the function of shifting the cursor is assigned, on the telephone terminal  1 , in order to shift the reversal in black and white to, for example, the third item “restaurant”, and further presses the another prescribed button, to which the decision function is assigned, on the telephone terminal  1  to fix the selection. When this procedure is followed, the scene display  17  receives the cursor position on the telephone terminal  1 , and stores the number representing that position into SCENE  210  on the memory  15 . If, for example, interpretation in a restaurant scene is desired, “3” is stored into SCENE  210  on the memory  15 , because “restaurant” is on the third line. Alternatively, the designation of scene may be accomplished by, instead of displaying scenes on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1  and letting the user select the desired scene with the vertical shift buttons, composing the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1  of a touch panel display to allow designation of the desired scene by touching with a finger or pointer or the like. Alternatively, a particular scene may be assigned to a prescribed telephone number, and the user may thereby enter a telephone number matching the desired scene with the numeral buttons on the telephone terminal  1 .  
         [0043]    When the scene is fixed, the model sentence display  18  of the automatic interpretation server  1000  is actuated, and the interpretable model sentences are displayed on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1  by using a model sentence table  24  as shown in FIG. 7. Simultaneously, the speech input  5  of the automatic interpretation server  1000  is actuated. The speech input  5  then enables the system to accept a speech input. The user, preferably while watching the model sentences, pronounces in Japanese a sentence the user desires to have interpreted in, for example, the restaurant scene, into a microphone  104  of the mouthpiece of the telephone terminal  1 . For example, the user may desire to have the sentence “Mizu ga hoshii desu” (“I&#39;d like to have a glass of water”) in a restaurant scene interpreted into English.  
         [0044]    The model sentence table  24  has, for example, the data structure shown in FIG. 14, and the model sentence display  18  sends to the telephone terminal  1 , from among the items of scene number  511  in the model sentence table  24 , model sentences  513  of values stored in SCENE  210  on the memory  15 , successively from “1” in model sentence number  512  onward, on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1 . As “3” is stored in SCENE  210  on the memory  15  in the example cited hereinabove, model sentence  513  of scene number  511  is “3” in the model sentence table  24  of FIG. 14, i.e. items  501 ,  502 ,  503  and  504 , “Hello”, “Thank you”, “Where is [ ]” and “I&#39;d like to have [ ]” are sent to the telephone terminal  1 , and M sentences at a time are successively displayed on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1 , as shown in FIG. 7. The variable M is set according to the size of the display  101 , and is M=4 according to the exemplary embodiment hereinabove.  
         [0045]    The model sentences hereinabove include the pattern “I&#39;d like to have [ ]”, and thus the user inputs, via speaking, “I&#39;d like to have a glass of water”, thereby following the pattern of the model sentence. A prescribed button, to which a function to trigger audio input is assigned, on the telephone terminal  1  may be pressed, prior to pronouncing the sentence, in order to enable the speech input  5  of the automatic interpretation server  1000  to accept a speech input, or the speech input  5  of the automatic interpretation server  1000  may remain enabled to accept a speech input at any time once actuated. A model sentence displayed may be one having a blank slot [ ], as in the above-cited example, a word, a grammar rule, or a complete sentence. The blank slot is preferably a box in which a word, a phrase, or the like, can be placed. For example, in the slot [ ] of “I&#39;d like to have [ ]”, the words “water”, “coffee” or “ice-cold water” can be placed, for example. Through the displaying of model sentences, sentence patterns are defined in a limited universe, and thereby the accuracy of speech recognition is significantly improved. Further, the displaying of model sentences provides improved convenience and access to the user.  
         [0046]    It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the displayed model sentences referred to hereinabove may, for example, be scrolled successively by pressing the prescribed buttons to which the cursor shifting function is assigned, or multiple sentences may be displayed at one time. However, when the model sentences are displayed, the value of the model sentence number  512  for the first model sentence displayed on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1 , and that of the last displayed model sentence, are respectively stored into BSENTENCE  211  and ESENTENCE  212  on the memory  15 . Thus, in the example of FIG. 7, “1” is stored into BSENTENCE  211 , and “4”, into ESENTENCE  212 .  
         [0047]    The speech input  5  stores the inputted speech after an analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion on a telephone circuit board  4  into, for example, WAVE  201  on the memory  15 . The sampling rate of A/D conversion on the telephone circuit board  4  may be appropriately determined by the user, or by the manufacturer or service provider, and may be, for example, 8 kHz, 11 kHz, 16 kHz or the like.  
         [0048]    If the user wishes to cancel the inputted speech and to input another sentence, the user may press a prescribed button to which a canceling function is assigned, on the telephone terminal  1 . The prescribed button to which the canceling function is assigned on the telephone terminal  1 , when pressed, resets to an initial state, preferably the same state as just prior to the pressing of the prescribed button to which the function to trigger audio input is assigned.  
         [0049]    The speech recognizer  6  is then actuated. The speech recognizer  6  reads speech data stored in WAVE  201  on the memory  15 , converts&#39; that speech data into a characteristic vector sequence, performs collation using a sentence dictionary having the characteristic vector sequence of each spoken sentence, thereby recognizes the speech data, and outputs the recognition candidates. Methods for speech recognition, including that for conversion into the characteristic vector sequence and the collation method, are described in L. Rabiner and B. H. Juang (translated into Japanese under supervision by Sadahiro Furui),  Basics of Speech Recognition , Book 2, NTT Advance Technology, 1995, pp. 245-304, for example. Other methods for speech recognition may also be used.  
         [0050]    The data structure of the sentence dictionary  20  is shown in FIG. 15. The speech recognizer  6  reads speech data stored in WAVE  201  on the memory  15 , and carries out speech recognition using the value of the characteristic vector sequence  614  for each item of which the value of the model sentence number  611  in the sentence dictionary  20  is within the range of values stored in BSENTENCE  211  and ESENTENCE  212  on the memory  15 . Because “1” is stored in BSENTENCE  211  and “4” in ESENTENCE  212  in the foregoing example, speech recognition is carried out using the value of the characteristic vector sequence  614  for each item of which the value of the model sentence number  611  in the sentence dictionary  20  is from “1” to “4”. As a result, the speech is converted into model sentence numbers and sentence numbers of, for example, character strings “can I see the menu?”, “I&#39;d like to have a glass of water”, “I&#39;d like to have a cup of coffee” and “I&#39;d like to have a spoon”, in descending order. Consequently, the model sentence numbers  611 , sentence numbers  612  and sentences  613  of these candidates are stored into RECOGPNUM (1), RECOGSNUM (1), RECOGS (1), RECOGPNUM (2), RECOGSNUM (2), RECOGS (2), . . . , RECOGPNUM (N), RECOGSNUM (N) and RECOGS (N)  205  on the memory  15  in descending order. Here, N is the total of all items of which the values of the model sentence number  111  in the sentence dictionary  20  are within the range of values stored in BSENTENCE  211  and ESENTENCE  212  on the memory  15 .  
         [0051]    The recognition candidate display  19  is then actuated, and sends the contents of RECOGS (1), RECOGS (2), . . . and RECOGS (M)  205  to the telephone terminal  1  as shown in FIG. 8, and the contents are successively displayed on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1 . At this time, “1” is stored into ICNT  204  on the memory  15 , and the contents of RECOGS (ICNT) are displayed on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1  in highlight. Variable M is M=4 in this embodiment. Further, “0” is stored into INDEX  215  on the memory  15 .  
         [0052]    The user, if the user finds the first candidate as displayed, or announced, identical with, or closely resembling, what the user pronounced, fixes the selection by pressing the prescribed button to which the decision function is assigned. If the first candidate as displayed is not substantially correct, the user, for example, shifts downward the cursor to the location of the correct character string on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1  by pressing the prescribed button to which the function of shifting the cursor is assigned. Thus, each time the user presses the button for downward shifting, the value of ICNT  204  on the memory  15  is incremented, and only the portion of memory  15  in which the content of RECOG (ICNT) is located is displayed on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1  as highlighted. If the value of ICNT  204  surpasses M, “M” is added to the value of INDEX  215  on the memory  15 , the next M candidates RECOGS (INDEX+1), RECOGS (INDEX+2), . . . and RECOGS (INDEX+M) are read out of the memory  15  and sent to the telephone terminal  1  to be successively displayed on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1 . At this time, “1” is stored into ICNT  204  on the memory  15 , and the ICNTth display out of RECOGS (INDEX+1), RECOGS (INDEX+2), . . . and RECOGS(INDEX+M) is displayed on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1  in highlight. Thereafter, the next M candidates may be sent to the telephone terminal  1 , and successively displayed on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1 . Further, each time the upward shifting button is pressed, the value of ICNT  204  on the memory  15  is decremented, and only the ICNTth displayed part out of RECOGS (INDEX+1), RECOGS (INDEX+2), . . . and RECOGS (INDEX+M) on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1  are highlighted. The structure of the sentence dictionary  20  for use in speech recognition shown in FIG. 15 is an exemplary embodiment, and other applicable methods, such as combining a grammar and a word dictionary, are also within the scope of the present invention. Additionally, the designation of the correct candidate sentence may be accomplished by forming the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1  as a touch panel display, to allow designation thereof by a touching with a finger or pointer or the like.  
         [0053]    If the user finds the first candidate as displayed is substantially similar to what the user pronounced, the user fixes this first candidate by pressing the prescribed button to which the decision function is assigned, and stores the values of RECOGPNUM (INDEX+ICNT), RECOGSNUM (INDEX+ICNT) and RECOGS (INDEX+ICNT) on the memory  15  respectively into PCAND  213 , SCAND  214  and JAPANESE  203  on the same memory  15 .  
         [0054]    As “I&#39;d like to have a glass of water” is displayed on the second line in the example of FIG. 8, the highlighted area is shifted to the second line by pressing the downward shifting button, and the decision button is pressed. Then, the INDEX is set to “0”, ICNT is set to “2”, “4”, “1” and “I&#39;d like to have a glass of water”, which are, respectively, the values of RECOGPNUM (2), RECOGSNNUM (2) and RECOGS (2), and these values are stored into PCAND  213 , SCAND  214  and JAPANESE  203  on the memory  15 .  
         [0055]    The user can confirm the content of what was pronounced not only by displaying speech recognition candidates on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1 , as described hereinabove, but additionally by the following method. After the speech recognizer  6  stores model sentence numbers  611 , sentence numbers  612  and sentences  613  into RECOGPNUM (1), RECOGSNUM (1), RECOGS (1), RECOGPNUM (2), RECOGSNUM (2), RECOGS (2), . . . , RECOGPNUM (N), RECOGSNUM (N) and RECOGS (N)  205  of the memory  15  in descending order of likelihood, the speech generator  12  is actuated. At this time, “1” is stored into JCNT  208  on the memory  15 , RECOGS (JCNT) on the memory  15  is read, and the character string is converted into synthesized speech. The waveform data of the speech is converted into analog data by digital-to-analog (D/A) conversion, and the analog data is sent to the telephone terminal  1  via the speech output  13  as speech. A character string can be converted into synthesized speech using, for example, the synthesizing formula described in J. Allen, M. S. Hunnicutt, D. Kkatt et al.,  From Text to Speech  (Cambridge University Press, 1987) pp. 16-150, and the waveform superposing formula described in Yagashira, “The Latest Situation of Text Speech Synthesis” ( Interface,  December, 1996) (in Japanese) pp. 161-165. Other text speech synthesizing formulae may be employed within the present invention. Alternatively, speech models matching recognizable model sentences may be recorded in advance and stored in a storage unit, such as a memory, such as memory  15 .  
         [0056]    The user, upon hearing from a loudspeaker  100  on the telephone terminal  1  the speech outputted, fixes the outputted speech by pressing the prescribed button to which the decision function is assigned, if the user finds the speech conforming to the content inputted. If the speech does not conform to what was pronounced, the user presses a prescribed button, to which the function to present the next candidate is assigned, on the telephone terminal  1 . The speech generator  12  in the automatic interpretation server  1000 , when the prescribed button is pressed to present the next candidate, increments JCNT  208  on the memory  15  to read out RECOGS (JCNT), converts the character string into synthesized speech, converts the waveform data of the speech into analog data by digital-to-analog (D/A) conversion, and sends the analog data to the telephone terminal  1  via the speech output  13  as speech.  
         [0057]    The user, upon hearing from the loudspeaker  100  on the telephone terminal  1  the speech sent as described hereinabove, fixes the speech by pressing the prescribed button to which the decision function is assigned, if the user finds the speech conforming to the content inputted. If the speech does not conform to what the user pronounced, the user presses a prescribed button, to which the function to present the next candidate is assigned, on the telephone terminal  1 , and repeats the foregoing process until the speech conforming to the content inputted is heard.  
         [0058]    When the decision button is pressed, a character string stored in RECOGS (ICNT) on the memory  15  is stored into JAPANESE  203  on the same memory  15 . Rather than press the decision button, the user may input a particular prescribed word, phrase or sentence. Thus the user, hearing from the loudspeaker  100  on the telephone terminal  1  the speech sent as described above, may fix, or not fix, the speech by pronouncing to the microphone  104  on the telephone terminal  1  a prescribed word, phrase or sentence signifying that the speech is, or is not, acceptable. The speech recognizer  6  of the automatic interpretation server  1000  recognizes this user speech by the same method as that for the sentence input described hereinabove. If each candidate presented is below a preset threshold, or the value of ICNT  204  surpasses N, collation with the command dictionary  21  is effected.  
         [0059]    The data structure of the command dictionary  21  is shown in FIG. 16. The characteristic vector sequence of the input speech is collated with that of each item in the command dictionary  21 , and the command number of the candidate having the highest percentage similarity is selected for the command. For example, if the user orally inputs “kakutei” (“fix”), a recognition attempt using the sentence dictionary  20  results in a finding, through collation of the characteristic vector of the speech and that of each item characteristic vector, that the percentage similarity is below the preset threshold, the characteristic vector of each item in the command dictionary  21  is collated to select  701  items as recognition candidates. A command number of 1 signifies that the item is an input representing “fix”.  
         [0060]    If speech is fixed, a character string stored in RECOGS (ICNT) on the memory  15  is stored into JAPANESE  203  on the same memory  15 . If the speech is unfixed, JCNT  208  on the memory  15  is incremented, RECOGS (JCNT) is read, the character string is converted into synthesized speech, the waveform data of the speech is converted into analog data by D/A conversion, and the data is sent to the telephone terminal  1  through the speech output  13  as speech. This process is repeated until fixed speech is obtained.  
         [0061]    The language translator  7  in the automatic interpretation server  1000  is then actuated. The language translator  7 , using the table for language conversion  10 , converts a character string stored in JAPANESE  203  on the memory into another language. The operation of the language translator  7  will be described hereinbelow. The data structure of the table for language conversion  10  is shown in FIG. 9.  
         [0062]    The language translator  7  first successively collates values stored in PCAND  213  and SCAND  214  on the memory  15 , with items in the model sentence number  311  and the sentence number  312  in the table for language conversion  10 , and stores the content of the column of the LANG  209  value in the translated words  312  of the identical item into RESULT  206  of the memory  15 . The language translator  7  displays, as shown in FIG. 10, contents stored in JAPANESE  203  and RESULT  206  of the memory  15 , on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1 . The display in FIG. 10 is shown as an example.  
         [0063]    The values stored in PCAND  213  and SCAND  214  are respectively “4” and “1” in the example hereinabove, and those values are consistent with the item of  303  “Mizu ga hoshii desu”. Furthermore, as the value of LANG  209  is “2”, the matching translated words  312  “I&#39;d like to have a glass of water” are stored into RESULT  206  of the memory  15 . For conversion into translated words, in addition to the above-described method using the table for language conversion, the translation methods described in Japanese Patent Application No. 328585/1991 and in Japanese Patent Application No. 51022/1991 may be used.  
         [0064]    The speech generator  12  in the automatic interpretation server  1000  is then actuated. The speech generator  12  reads a character string stored in ENGLISH  206  on the memory  15 , converts the character string into synthesized speech, and stores waveform data into SYWAVE  207  on the memory  15 . A character string may be converted into synthesized speech by, for example, the synthesizing formula described in J. Allen, M. S. Hunnicutt, D. Kkatt et al.,  From Text to Speech  (Cambridge University Press, 1987) pp. 16-150 and the waveform superposing formula described in Yagashira, “The Latest Situation of Text Speech Synthesis” ( Interface , December, 1996) pp. 161-165, among others. It will additionally be apparent to those skilled in the art that a speech model matching each English version to a foreign version may be created and stored onto a storage unit, such as a memory, in a compressed form, in advance of use.  
         [0065]    The speech generator  12  then converts waveform data of the interpreted speech stored in SYNWAVE  207  on the memory  15  into analog data or packet data, sends the now-converted data to the telephone terminal  1  through the speech output  13  as speech, and stores the interpreted speech, sent as described hereinabove, into a memory of, for example, terminal  1 . The interpreted speech outputted from the speech output  13  may additionally be stored onto the memory  15  of the automatic interpretation server  1000 .  
         [0066]    At this point, a predetermined charge for interpretation is preferably added to the contents of a charge column  412  matching the ID sent from the authentication server  31  for the user ID column  411  of the accounting table  33 . If, for example, a charge of $0.50US per interpretation is set in advance, and the user ID is “1236”, the element of the charge column  412  matching the element  403  indicating “1236” from the elements of the user ID column  411 , will be updated to indicate “0.50”, for example. The charge may be, for example, quoted per use of the interpretation service, or may be a fixed lump sum for which as many jobs of interpretation service as necessary are made available, or may be a charge for all interpretations during a predetermined time period available for interpretation, such as one week, one month, or one vacation period. Following each use, the then-updated charge is billed to the user of each ID. Based upon that charge, a prescribed amount may be paid to the provider of the mobile Internet access service gateway server  3  as a commission, and the remaining amount may be paid to the provider/operator/owner of the automatic interpretation server  1000 .  
         [0067]    Thus, through the use of the present invention, when the user presses a prescribed button, to which the function to output translated words is associated, on the telephone terminal  1 , interpreted speech stored in the memory on the telephone terminal  1  is read, and the interpreted speech is outputted from the loudspeaker or earpiece  100  on the telephone terminal  1 . However, the method for outputting interpreted speech is not limited to pressing a prescribed button, to which the function to output translated words is associated, on the telephone terminal  1 , but may additionally include an audio input from the user of a prescribed word, phrase or sentence.  
         [0068]    In the embodiment wherein the interpreted speech stored in the memory of the telephone terminal  1  is read, and is outputted from the loudspeaker  100  of the telephone terminal  1 , it is preferable that no information be sent to the mobile gateway server  3 , and therefore the user is billed no charge by the accounting server  32 .  
         [0069]    [0069]FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of an automatic interpretation service system. As in the first embodiment, the server is provided with a CPU and a memory and having a configuration such as the one shown in FIG. 17, such as a personal computer or a work station. The automatic interpretation service system includes a telephone terminal  1  to which, for example, a mobile Internet access service is available, may include a mobile Internet access service packet network  2  and a mobile gateway server  3 , such as an Internet access service gateway  3 , and includes a telephone circuit board  4 , a speech input  5 , a speech recognizer  6 , a language translator  7 , a word dictionary  8 , a grammar table  9 , a table for language conversion  10 , a speech generator  11 , a speech segments set  12 , a speech output  13 , a CPU  14 , a memory  15 , a language classification display  16 , a scene display  17 , a model sentence display  18 , a recognition candidate display  19 , a sentence dictionary  20 , a command dictionary  21 , a table for languages  22 , a scene table  23 , a model sentence table  24 , an authentication server  31 , an accounting server  32 , an accounting table  33 , a telephone network  34 , an automatic interpretation server  1000 , a line connected to the mobile Internet access service packet network  1001 , and a line connected to the telephone network  1002 .  
         [0070]    Referring now to FIG. 17 and FIG. 3, the power source  104  of the telephone terminal to which the mobile Internet access service is available is activated. A button  102  for establishing mobile Internet connection may then pressed, and connection to the mobile gateway server  3  is established, for example, via the mobile Internet access service packet network  2 , or via a telephonic audio network  2 . The user is then confirmed by the authentication server  31  to be registered for use of the service. Subsequent actions of the system, with the exception of those actions discussed hereinbelow, are substantially equivalent to the functions discussed hereinbove with respect to FIG. 1, and the figures based thereon.  
         [0071]    With respect to FIG. 17, when a scene is fixed, the model sentence display  18  of the automatic interpretation server  1000  is actuated, and interpretable model sentences are displayed on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1  via the line  1001  by using a model sentence table  24  as shown in FIG. 7. Simultaneously, the speech input  5  of the automatic interpretation server  1000  is actuated. The speech input  5  then enables the system to accept a speech input. The user, preferably while watching the model sentences, pronounces in Japanese, or any first language, a sentence the user desires to have interpreted in, for example, the restaurant scene, into the microphone  104  of the mouthpiece of the telephone terminal  1 . For example, a sentence “Mizu ga hoshii desu” (I&#39;d like to have a glass of water) in a restaurant scene may be desired to be interpreted into English, or any second language. The model sentence table  24  may have the data structure shown in FIG. 14, and the model sentence display  18  sends to the telephone terminal  1 , out of the items of scene number  511  in the model sentence table  24 , model sentences  513  of values stored in SCENE  210  on the memory  15 , successively from “1” in model sentence number  512  onward, to be displayed on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1 . As “3” is stored in SCENE  210  on the memory  15  in the example cited above, model sentences  513  of which the scene number  511  is “3” in the model sentence table  24  of FIG. 14, i.e. items  501 ,  502 ,  503  and  504 , “Hello”, “Thank you”, “Where is [ ]” and “I&#39;d like to have [ ]” are sent to the telephone terminal  1 , and M sentences at a time are successively displayed on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1 , as shown in FIG. 7. The variable M, which may be set according to the size of the display  101 , is M=4 in this example.  
         [0072]    The model sentences in this example include the pattern “I&#39;d like to have [ ]”, and thus the user inputs “I&#39;d like to have a glass of water”, thereby following the pattern of this model sentence. For this audio input from the user, a prescribed button, to which a function to trigger audio input is assigned, on the telephone terminal  1 , may be pressed to enable the speech input  5  of the automatic interpretation server  1000  to accept the speech input, or the speech input  5  of the automatic interpretation server  1000  may remain enabled to accept a speech input at any time once it is actuated. A model sentence displayed may be one having a blank slot [ ] as in the above-cited example, a grammar rule or a sentence complete in itself.  
         [0073]    In one example of the embodiment of FIG. 17, a telephone terminal incapable of handling dialogue voice and data in the same protocol is used, and thus the telephone network  20  must pass the inputted speech to the automatic interpretation server. Therefore, the user preferably establishes connection from the telephone terminal  1  to the automatic interpretation server over the line  1002  via the telephone network  34 , using a different telephone number from that used for connection to the automatic interpretation server  1000  over the line  1001  via the mobile Internet access service gateway server  3 . Instead of requiring the user to establish connection anew, the speech input  5  to the automatic interpretation server  1000  may automatically establish a connection to the user&#39;s telephone terminal  1 . Thus, in this exemplary embodiment, speech pronounced by the user is sent to the automatic interpretation server  1000  over the line  1002  via the telephone network  34 . Following this sending to the automatic interpretation server  1000 , the method is substantially similar to that disclosed hereinabove with respect to FIG. 1, and the figures associated therewith.  
         [0074]    The speech generator  12  in the automatic interpretation server  1000 , upon a pressing of the button to which the function to present the next candidate is assigned, increments JCNT  208  on the memory  15 , reads out RECOGS (JCNT), converts the character string into synthesized speech, converts the waveform data of the speech into analog data by D/A conversion, and sends the data to the telephone terminal  1  through the speech output  13  as speech.  
         [0075]    When the decision button is pressed, a character string stored in RECOGS (ICNT) on the memory  15  is stored into JAPANESE  203  on the same memory  15 . The signal of the decision button may be sent to the automatic interpretation server  1000  via the line  1001  or the line  1002 . Rather than press this decision button, the user may pronounce a certain prescribed word, phrase or sentence. Thus, the user, upon hearing from the loudspeaker  100  on the telephone terminal  1  the speech sent as described above, fixes the speech by pronouncing to the microphone  104  on the telephone terminal  1  a prescribed word, phrase or sentence stating that the speech is to be fixed, if the user finds the speech conforming to the content inputted. If the speech does not conform to what the user pronounced, the user pronounces another prescribed word, phrase or sentence, different from that which would be pronounced in response to fix speech, and this unfixed speech is sent to the automatic interpretation server  1000  over the line  1002 . The speech recognizer  6  of the automatic interpretation server  1000  preferably recognizes this unfixed speech according to the same methodology as that for a sentence input as described hereinabove. If speech is below a preset threshold, or the value of ICNT  204  surpasses N, collation with the command dictionary  21  is started. The language translator  7  in the automatic interpretation server  1000  is then actuated, and the translating operation by the language translator  7  is carried out according to the discussion hereinabove.  
         [0076]    The language translator  7 , as shown in FIG. 10, displays contents stored in JAPANESE  203  and RESULT  206  of the memory  15  on the display  101  of the telephone terminal  1  via the line  1001 . The display shown in FIG. 10 is an example of a typical display.  
         [0077]    The speech generator  12  in the automatic interpretation server  1000  is then actuated, and the operation of the speech generator  12  to generate speech is substantially the same as discussed hereinabove. The speech generator  12  converts the waveform data of interpreted speech stored in SYNWAVE  207  on the memory  15  into analog data or packet data, sends the data as speech to the telephone terminal  1  through the speech output  13  over the line  1002 , and stores the interpreted speech, sent as described, onto the memory of the telephone terminal  1 .  
         [0078]    The present invention provides an interpretation device and system that does not increase inconvenience while travelling, such as by adding to the number of personal effects, and which achieves improved accuracy of translation over existing methods, through the use of a telephone set for conversation and translation, and preferably through the use of a telephone to which mobile Internet access service is available. Other advantages and benefits of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.  
         [0079]    The present invention is not limited in scope to the embodiments discussed hereinabove. Various changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and such changes and modifications fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is to be accorded the broadest scope consistent with the detailed description, the skill in the art and the following claims.