Patent Publication Number: US-8996377-B2

Title: Blending recorded speech with text-to-speech output for specific domains

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     Text-to-Speech (TTS) systems are becoming increasingly popular. The TTS systems are used in many different applications such as navigation, voice activated dialing, help systems, banking and the like. In many TTS applications, high quality recorded speech is used for specific prompts (e.g. turn left, turn right . . . ) that are specific to the application. This recorded speech is then combined with output from a TTS synthesizer according to definitions provided by a developer. Combining the recorded speech with output from the TTS system can be time consuming and difficult. 
     SUMMARY 
     This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. 
     A text-to-speech (TTS) engine combines recorded speech with synthesized speech from a TTS synthesizer based on text input. The TTS engine receives the text input and identifies the domain for the speech (e.g. navigation, dialing, . . . ). The identified domain is used in selecting domain specific speech recordings (e.g. pre-recorded static phrases such as “turn left”, “turn right” . . . ) from the input text. The speech recordings are obtained based on the static phrases for the domain that are identified from the input text. The TTS engine blends the static phrases with the TTS output to smooth the acoustic trajectory of the input text. The prosody of the static phrases is used to create similar prosody in the TTS output. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary objective intelligibility assessment Text-To-Speech (TTS) system; 
         FIG. 2  shows splitting a non-uniform unit into different parts; 
         FIG. 3  shows blending in statistical parametric text-to-speech; 
         FIG. 4  shows an illustrative process for blending recorded speech with text-to-speech for specific domains; 
         FIG. 5  illustrates an exemplary system for blending recorded speech with TTS; and 
         FIGS. 6-8  and the associated descriptions provide a discussion of a variety of operating environments in which embodiments of the invention may be practiced. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring now to the drawings, in which like numerals represent like elements, various embodiments will be described. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary objective intelligibility assessment Text-To-Speech (TTS) system. As illustrated, system  100  includes input text  105 , TTS engine  110 , voice data  130  and blended speech output  140 . TTS engine  110  includes speech manager  120 , domain detector  122 , static phrase detector  124 , blending unit  126  and TTS synthesizer  128 . 
     Speech manager  120  is configured to combine recorded speech with synthesized speech based on input text. The speech manager  120  illustrated in TTS engine  110  receives input text  105  and identifies the domain for the speech using domain detector  122 . Generally, a domain is specific to a type of application (e.g. navigation, dialing, virtual assistants, and the like . . . ). Each domain typically accesses specific recordings from one or more data stores that includes definitions of the recording units for high frequent phrases and associated waveform data, acoustic trajectory data, and the like. The speech data for each domain may be stored in one or more data stores, such as voice data  130 . 
     Narrators are typically used to create recorded speech of high quality for different domains. The recorded speech is stored within a data store, such as voice data  130 . Some of the voice data may be static prompts for the specific domains. For example, prompts for a specific domain such as a navigation system are stored as static phrases (e.g. turn left, turn left onto, arrive at, stay to the right, merge onto, and the like. Other voice data is also stored in voice data  130  and/or some other data store. The speech is segmented into one or more of: phonemes, diphones, syllables, morphemes, words, phrases and sentences. Generally, each sound in a chosen language is recorded in at least one voice such that the TTS engine can select the appropriate sounds to create the desired speech. 
     Domain detector  122  may determine the domain from an analysis of the input text. For example, if the input text has text phrases such as turn left, turn left onto, arrive at, stay to the right, merge onto, and the like then the domain may be classified as a turn-by-turn navigation domain. According to an embodiment, domain detector  122  is configured to automatically determine the domain without using specific markup instructions within the input text  105 . Domain detector  122  may also utilize one or more classification algorithms (e.g. an Adaboost (Classification) based algorithm) to assist in determining the domain. 
     Speech manager  120  uses the identified domain and unit detector  124  to determine if there are domain specific speech recordings (e.g. pre-recorded static phrases) directly from input text  105 . Speech recordings are obtained from voice data  130  based on the static phrases for the domain that are identified from input text  105 . Unit detector  124  classifies the static parts (or prompts) in the specific domains as non-uniform units as identified from input text  105 . 
     For example, assume a portion of the text input contains the following: Turn left onto Villa street; Bear right onto North road; Depart Gore Orphanage Road; Arrive at Manning Avenue; Drive 1.2 miles; . . . Unit detector  124  and identifies the static parts as non-uniform units (bolded portions are classified as non-uniform units):: Turn left onto Villa street; Bear right onto North road; Depart Gore Orphanage Road; Arrive at Manning Avenue; Drive 1.2 miles; . . . Unit detector  124  locates the recordings of the static phrases within voice data  130 . As can be seen in the current example, the prompts for the domain in this example are classified as non-uniform units. According to an embodiment, not all of the prompts are classified as non-uniform units. For example, some units with a single short word (usually, functional words like “in”, “at”, “on”) may not be defined as non-uniform units. Further, for some units with long phrases where some breaks are located within the phrase (e.g. “take the exit # and follow signs for”, “at the end of the ramp # bear right on”) may be split into several parts based on the breaks, and then each of the split parts may be defined as a non-uniform unit. 
     During runtime of the speech application, unit detector  124  detects the non-uniform units from the input text. Generally, the word and phoneme sequence of non-uniform units are matched. According to an embodiment, context constraints are not used during an initial matching that may result in some errors for the non-uniform units detection. For example, the non-uniform unit “drive” may be located in several different positions (beginning, ending) of phrase. According to an embodiment, the first word at the beginning of phrase is classified as non-uniform units. For example, if the phrase is drive two miles, then drive is classified as a non-uniform unit. 
     Some detected non-uniform units may overlap. For example, the non-uniform units “turn left” and “turn left onto” overlaps. When the input text has the word sequence of “turn left onto”, both non-uniform units (turn left” and “turn left onto”) match with the input text. In the current example, “turn left” is a mismatch. Some identified static phrases may cross overlap (i.e. ABCD-&gt;“ABC”+“D” or “A”+“BCD”). In the cross overlap case, context constraints may be used to distinguish them. The following is an example of context constraints that may be used: Unit position in the phrase: begin, middle, end or single; Left/right word type: such as digit, acronym, . . . A maximum matching length may also be used to help during the non-uniform matching. For example, the non-uniform units are matched using the maximum matching length. 
     Blending unit  126  is configured to blend the static parts of the input text with the dynamic parts of the input text. Blending unit  126  uses the prosody contour (pitch/duration) for the non-uniform units. The prosody contour is stable for a domain since there is limited variation in narration of the static parts. The prosody contour from the non-uniform units is used to refine the target prosody trajectory. The refined target trajectory is used to calculate the target cost. 
     The following is an example of a target trajectory refinement process that refines the pitch contour. (1) For each basic unit related to the non-uniform unit, the candidate F 0  mean is calculated (denote as m i   cand , i=1, . . . , N) from the F 0  values of all non-uniform candidates. (2) Calculate the target F 0  mean (denote as m i   tgt , i=1, . . . , N) for each unit based on the target pitch contour (O t   tgt , t=1, . . . , T). (3) Based on the distance between m i   cand  and m i   tgt  windowed weight functions are used to add the weighted distance to the target pitch contour to obtain the refined pitch contour. 
     The TTS engine blends the static phrases with the TTS output to smooth the acoustic trajectory of the input text. The prosody of the static phrases is used to create similar prosody in the TTS output. 
       FIG. 2  shows splitting a non-uniform unit into different parts. As illustrated,  FIG. 2  includes uniform unit  205 , non-uniform unit  210 , and uniform unit  220 . 
     During unit pre-selection, unit candidates are pre-selected for non-uniform unit  210 . Non-uniform unit  210  is split into different parts comprising transition part  212 , central part  214  and transition part  216 . Transition parts  212  and  216  are located near the boundary between the non-uniform units  210  and uniform units  205  and  220 . The length of transition part is configurable. For example, the length may be set based on a size of the non-uniform unit, a pre-set size, a percentage of size of the non-uniform unit and the like. Other information may also be used to determine the transition length (e.g. use break information). The central part of non-uniform unit  210  is the part of non-uniform unit excluding the part of the non-uniform unit used for transition between the uniform units and the non-uniform unit. 
       FIG. 3  shows blending in statistical parametric text-to-speech. 
     As illustrated,  FIG. 3  comprises static part  310 , transition part  320 , and dynamic part  330 . 
     For each non-uniform unit in the static part  310 , the acoustic trajectory from the recording is extracted. A mean  312  is calculated for the static part  310  and a mean  332  for the dynamic part  330 . Dynamic part  330  includes a variance  334 . During runtime of the application using speech, the acoustic trajectory is used for synthesis instead of prediction from the statistical models after the non-uniform unit detection. For transition part  320 , the variance  314  is enlarged before sending to prediction module. For the static part  310  not in transition part, the variance is set to 0, but for transition part  320 , a small variance  314  is used to smooth the concatenation between the static part  310  and the dynamic part  300 . 
       FIG. 4  shows an illustrative process for blending recorded speech with text-to-speech for specific domains. When reading the discussion of the routines presented herein, it should be appreciated that the logical operations of various embodiments are implemented (1) as a sequence of computer implemented acts or program modules running on a computing system and/or (2) as interconnected machine logic circuits or circuit modules within the computing system. The implementation is a matter of choice dependent on the performance requirements of the computing system implementing the invention. Accordingly, the logical operations illustrated and making up the embodiments described herein are referred to variously as operations, structural devices, acts or modules. These operations, structural devices, acts and modules may be implemented in software, in firmware, in special purpose digital logic, and any combination thereof. 
     After a start operation, process  400  flows to operation  410 , where the input text is received. For example, input text for a turn-by-turn navigation domain may be received. Generally, the input text is associated with a specific domain that includes pre-recorded static prompts for the speech application (e.g. navigation prompts, help prompts, dialing prompts . . . ). 
     Moving to operation  420 , the domain that is associated with the input text is identified. According to an embodiment, the domain is automatically determined from an analysis of the input text without using specific markup instructions to identify the domain. For example, the input text may be searched for prompts that are matched with a specific domain. One or more classification algorithms (e.g. an Adaboost (Classification) based algorithm) may also be used assist in determining the domain. 
     Flowing to operation  430 , the units are detected. The input text is analyzed to identify the non-uniform units in the input text that are static part ( 440 ) such as prompts used for the domain. The portion of the input text that is not pre-recorded and is to be synthesized is determined ( 450 ). 
     Flowing to operation  460 , the static part and dynamic parts are blended together. Generally, the prosody contour (pitch/duration) for the non-uniform units of the static prompts are used to refine the target trajectory of the synthesized speech. 
     The process then flows to an end operation and returns to processing other actions. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates an exemplary system for blending recorded speech with TTS. As illustrated, system  500  includes service  210 , data store  245 , touch screen input device/display  250  (e.g. a slate) and smart phone  230 . 
     As illustrated, service  210  is a cloud based and/or enterprise based service that may be configured to provide services, such as productivity services (e.g. MICROSOFT OFFICE 365 or some other cloud based/online service that is used to interact with items (e.g. messages, spreadsheets, documents, charts, and the like). The service may be interacted with using different types of input/output. For example, a user may use touch input, hardware based input, speech input, and the like. The service may provide speech output that combines pre-recorded speech and synthesized speech. Functionality of one or more of the services/applications provided by service  210  may also be configured as a client/server based application. For example, a client device may include an application that performs operations that utilize recorded speech that is blended with TTS. Although system  500  shows a service relating to productivity applications, other services/applications may be configured. 
     As illustrated, service  210  is a multi-tenant service that provides resources  215  and services to any number of tenants (e.g. Tenants  1 -N). Multi-tenant service  210  is a cloud based service that provides resources/services  215  to tenants subscribed to the service and maintains each tenant&#39;s data separately and protected from other tenant data. 
     System  500  as illustrated comprises a touch screen input device/display  250  (e.g. a slate/tablet device) and smart phone  230  that detects when a touch input has been received (e.g. a finger touching or nearly touching the touch screen). Any type of touch screen may be utilized that detects a user&#39;s touch input. For example, the touch screen may include one or more layers of capacitive material that detects the touch input. Other sensors may be used in addition to or in place of the capacitive material. For example, Infrared (IR) sensors may be used. According to an embodiment, the touch screen is configured to detect objects that in contact with or above a touchable surface. Although the term “above” is used in this description, it should be understood that the orientation of the touch panel system is irrelevant. The term “above” is intended to be applicable to all such orientations. The touch screen may be configured to determine locations of where touch input is received (e.g. a starting point, intermediate points and an ending point). Actual contact between the touchable surface and the object may be detected by any suitable means, including, for example, by a vibration sensor or microphone coupled to the touch panel. A non-exhaustive list of examples for sensors to detect contact includes pressure-based mechanisms, micro-machined accelerometers, piezoelectric devices, capacitive sensors, resistive sensors, inductive sensors, laser vibrometers, and LED vibrometers. 
     According to an embodiment, smart phone  230  and touch screen input device/display  250  are configured to receive text/speech input and output text/speech. Smart phone  230  and touch screen input device/display  250  may also be configured to include speech applications (e.g. applications  235  and  255 ). 
     As illustrated, touch screen input device/display  250  and smart phone  230  shows exemplary displays  252 / 232  showing the use of an application using speech ( 235 ,  255 ). For example, a user associated with slate device  250  may be using application  255  to find a restaurant. A user associated with smartphone  230  may be interacting with application  235  that provides navigation services. Many other types of applications may utilize speech. Data may be stored on a device (e.g. smart phone  230 , slate  250  and/or at some other location (e.g. network data store  245 ). The applications  235 ,  255  may be a client based application, a server based application, a cloud based application and/or some combination. 
     Speech manager  242  is configured to perform operations relating to speech applications. While manager  242  is shown within service  210 , the functionality of the manager may be included in other locations (e.g. on smart phone  230  and/or slate device  250 ). 
     The embodiments and functionalities described herein may operate via a multitude of computing systems, including wired and wireless computing systems, mobile computing systems (e.g., mobile telephones, tablet or slate type computers, laptop computers, etc.). In addition, the embodiments and functionalities described herein may operate over distributed systems, where application functionality, memory, data storage and retrieval and various processing functions may be operated remotely from each other over a distributed computing network, such as the Internet or an intranet. User interfaces and information of various types may be displayed via on-board computing device displays or via remote display units associated with one or more computing devices. For example user interfaces and information of various types may be displayed and interacted with on a wall surface onto which user interfaces and information of various types are projected. Interaction with the multitude of computing systems with which embodiments of the invention may be practiced include, keystroke entry, touch screen entry, voice or other audio entry, gesture entry where an associated computing device is equipped with detection (e.g., camera) functionality for capturing and interpreting user gestures for controlling the functionality of the computing device, and the like. 
       FIGS. 6-8  and the associated descriptions provide a discussion of a variety of operating environments in which embodiments of the invention may be practiced. However, the devices and systems illustrated and discussed with respect to  FIGS. 6-8  are for purposes of example and illustration and are not limiting of a vast number of computing device configurations that may be utilized for practicing embodiments of the invention, described herein. 
       FIG. 6  is a block diagram illustrating example physical components of a computing device  900  with which embodiments of the invention may be practiced. The computing device components described below may be suitable for the computing devices described above. In a basic configuration, computing device  900  may include at least one processing unit  702  and a system memory  704 . Depending on the configuration and type of computing device, system memory  704  may comprise, but is not limited to, volatile (e.g. random access memory (RAM)), non-volatile (e.g. read-only memory (ROM)), flash memory, or any combination. System memory  704  may include operating system  705 , one or more programming modules  706 , and may include a web browser application  720 . Operating system  705 , for example, may be suitable for controlling computing device  900 &#39;s operation. In one embodiment, programming modules  706  may include a speech manager  242 , as described above, installed on computing device  900 . Furthermore, embodiments of the invention may be practiced in conjunction with a graphics library, other operating systems, or any other application program and is not limited to any particular application or system. This basic configuration is illustrated in  FIG. 6  by those components within a dashed line  708 . 
     Computing device  900  may have additional features or functionality. For example, computing device  900  may also include additional data storage devices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, for example, magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated in  FIG. 6  by a removable storage  709  and a non-removable storage  710 . 
     As stated above, a number of program modules and data files may be stored in system memory  704 , including operating system  705 . While executing on processing unit  702 , programming modules  706 , such as the manager may perform processes including, for example, method  400  as described above. The aforementioned process is an example, and processing unit  702  may perform other processes. Other programming modules that may be used in accordance with embodiments of the present invention may include electronic mail and contacts applications, word processing applications, spreadsheet applications, database applications, slide presentation applications, drawing or computer-aided application programs, etc. 
     Generally, consistent with embodiments of the invention, program modules may include routines, programs, components, data structures, and other types of structures that may perform particular tasks or that may implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, embodiments of the invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. Embodiments of the invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices. 
     Furthermore, embodiments of the invention may be practiced in an electrical circuit comprising discrete electronic elements, packaged or integrated electronic chips containing logic gates, a circuit utilizing a microprocessor, or on a single chip containing electronic elements or microprocessors. For example, embodiments of the invention may be practiced via a system-on-a-chip (SOC) where each or many of the components illustrated in  FIG. 6  may be integrated onto a single integrated circuit. Such an SOC device may include one or more processing units, graphics units, communications units, system virtualization units and various application functionality all of which are integrated (or “burned”) onto the chip substrate as a single integrated circuit. When operating via an SOC, the functionality, described herein, with respect to the manager  242  may be operated via application-specific logic integrated with other components of the computing device/system  900  on the single integrated circuit (chip). Embodiments of the invention may also be practiced using other technologies capable of performing logical operations such as, for example, AND, OR, and NOT, including but not limited to mechanical, optical, fluidic, and quantum technologies. In addition, embodiments of the invention may be practiced within a general purpose computer or in any other circuits or systems. 
     Embodiments of the invention, for example, may be implemented as a computer process (method), a computing system, or as an article of manufacture, such as a computer program product or computer readable media. The computer program product may be a computer storage media readable by a computer system and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process. 
     The term computer readable media as used herein may include computer storage media. Computer storage media may include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information, such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. System memory  704 , removable storage  709 , and non-removable storage  710  are all computer storage media examples (i.e., memory storage.) Computer storage media may include, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, electrically erasable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store information and which can be accessed by computing device  900 . Any such computer storage media may be part of device  900 . Computing device  900  may also have input device(s)  712  such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, a sound input device, a touch input device, etc. Output device(s)  714  such as a display, speakers, a printer, etc. may also be included. The aforementioned devices are examples and others may be used. 
     A camera and/or some other sensing device may be operative to record one or more users and capture motions and/or gestures made by users of a computing device. Sensing device may be further operative to capture spoken words, such as by a microphone and/or capture other inputs from a user such as by a keyboard and/or mouse (not pictured). The sensing device may comprise any motion detection device capable of detecting the movement of a user. For example, a camera may comprise a MICROSOFT KINECT® motion capture device comprising a plurality of cameras and a plurality of microphones. 
     The term computer readable media as used herein may also include communication media. Communication media may be embodied by computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” may describe a signal that has one or more characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media may include wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, radio frequency (RF), infrared, and other wireless media. 
       FIGS. 7A and 7B  illustrate a suitable mobile computing environment, for example, a mobile telephone, a smartphone, a tablet personal computer, a laptop computer, and the like, with which embodiments of the invention may be practiced. With reference to  FIG. 7A , an example mobile computing device  800  for implementing the embodiments is illustrated. In a basic configuration, mobile computing device  800  is a handheld computer having both input elements and output elements. Input elements may include touch screen display  805  and input buttons  815  that allow the user to enter information into mobile computing device  800 . Mobile computing device  800  may also incorporate an optional side input element  815  allowing further user input. Optional side input element  815  may be a rotary switch, a button, or any other type of manual input element. In alternative embodiments, mobile computing device  800  may incorporate more or less input elements. For example, display  805  may not be a touch screen in some embodiments. In yet another alternative embodiment, the mobile computing device is a portable phone system, such as a cellular phone having display  805  and input buttons  815 . Mobile computing device  800  may also include an optional keypad  835 . Optional keypad  815  may be a physical keypad or a “soft” keypad generated on the touch screen display. 
     Mobile computing device  800  incorporates output elements, such as display  805 , which can display a graphical user interface (GUI). Other output elements include speaker  825  and LED light  820 . Additionally, mobile computing device  800  may incorporate a vibration module (not shown), which causes mobile computing device  800  to vibrate to notify the user of an event. In yet another embodiment, mobile computing device  800  may incorporate a headphone jack (not shown) for providing another means of providing output signals. 
     Although described herein in combination with mobile computing device  800 , in alternative embodiments the invention is used in combination with any number of computer systems, such as in desktop environments, laptop or notebook computer systems, multiprocessor systems, micro-processor based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, mini computers, main frame computers and the like. Embodiments of the invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network in a distributed computing environment; programs may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices. To summarize, any computer system having a plurality of environment sensors, a plurality of output elements to provide notifications to a user and a plurality of notification event types may incorporate embodiments of the present invention. 
       FIG. 7B  is a block diagram illustrating components of a mobile computing device used in one embodiment, such as the computing device shown in  FIG. 7A . That is, mobile computing device  800  can incorporate system  802  to implement some embodiments. For example, system  802  can be used in implementing a “smart phone” that can run one or more applications similar to those of a desktop or notebook computer such as, for example, browser, e-mail, scheduling, instant messaging, and media player applications. In some embodiments, system  802  is integrated as a computing device, such as an integrated personal digital assistant (PDA) and wireless phoneme. 
     One or more application programs  866  may be loaded into memory  862  and run on or in association with operating system  864 . Examples of application programs include phoneme dialer programs, e-mail programs, PIM (personal information management) programs, word processing programs, spreadsheet programs, Internet browser programs, messaging programs, and so forth. System  802  also includes non-volatile storage  868  within memory  862 . Non-volatile storage  868  may be used to store persistent information that should not be lost if system  802  is powered down. Applications  866  may use and store information in non-volatile storage  868 , such as e-mail or other messages used by an e-mail application, and the like. A synchronization application (not shown) may also reside on system  802  and is programmed to interact with a corresponding synchronization application resident on a host computer to keep the information stored in non-volatile storage  868  synchronized with corresponding information stored at the host computer. As should be appreciated, other applications may be loaded into memory  862  and run on the device  800 , including the speech manager  242 , described above. 
     System  802  has a power supply  870 , which may be implemented as one or more batteries. Power supply  870  might further include an external power source, such as an AC adapter or a powered docking cradle that supplements or recharges the batteries. 
     System  802  may also include a radio  872  that performs the function of transmitting and receiving radio frequency communications. Radio  872  facilitates wireless connectivity between system  802  and the “outside world”, via a communications carrier or service provider. Transmissions to and from radio  872  are conducted under control of OS  864 . In other words, communications received by radio  872  may be disseminated to application programs  866  via OS  864 , and vice versa. 
     Radio  872  allows system  802  to communicate with other computing devices, such as over a network. Radio  872  is one example of communication media. Communication media may typically be embodied by computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. The term computer readable media as used herein includes both storage media and communication media. 
     This embodiment of system  802  is shown with two types of notification output devices; LED  820  that can be used to provide visual notifications and an audio interface  874  that can be used with speaker  825  to provide audio notifications. These devices may be directly coupled to power supply  870  so that when activated, they remain on for a duration dictated by the notification mechanism even though processor  860  and other components might shut down for conserving battery power. LED  820  may be programmed to remain on indefinitely until the user takes action to indicate the powered-on status of the device. Audio interface  874  is used to provide audible signals to and receive audible signals from the user. For example, in addition to being coupled to speaker  825 , audio interface  874  may also be coupled to a microphone  820  to receive audible input, such as to facilitate a telephone conversation. In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, the microphone  820  may also serve as an audio sensor to facilitate control of notifications, as will be described below. System  802  may further include video interface  876  that enables an operation of on-board camera  830  to record still images, video stream, and the like. 
     A mobile computing device implementing system  802  may have additional features or functionality. For example, the device may also include additional data storage devices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated in  FIG. 6B  by storage  868 . Computer storage media may include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information, such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. 
     Data/information generated or captured by the device  800  and stored via the system  802  may be stored locally on the device  800 , as described above, or the data may be stored on any number of storage media that may be accessed by the device via the radio  872  or via a wired connection between the device  800  and a separate computing device associated with the device  800 , for example, a server computer in a distributed computing network such as the Internet. As should be appreciated such data/information may be accessed via the device  800  via the radio  872  or via a distributed computing network. Similarly, such data/information may be readily transferred between computing devices for storage and use according to well-known data/information transfer and storage means, including electronic mail and collaborative data/information sharing systems. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates a system architecture for blending recorded speech with TTS output, as described above. 
     Components managed via the speech manager  242  may be stored in different communication channels or other storage types. For example, components along with information from which they are developed may be stored using directory services  1022 , web portals  1024 , mailbox services  1026 , instant messaging stores  1028  and social networking sites  1030 . The systems/applications  242 ,  1020  may use any of these types of systems or the like for enabling management and storage of components in a store  1016 . A server  1032  may provide communications for managed components and content to clients. As one example, server  1032  may provide speech related services. Server  1032  may provide services and content over the web to clients through a network  1008 . Examples of clients that may utilize server  1032  include computing device  1002 , which may include any general purpose personal computer, a tablet computing device  1004  and/or mobile computing device  1006  which may include smart phones. Any of these devices may obtain display component management communications and content from the store  1016 . 
     Embodiments of the present invention are described above with reference to block diagrams and/or operational illustrations of methods, systems, and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. The functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order as shown in any flowchart. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved. 
     The above specification, examples and data provide a complete description of the manufacture and use of the composition of the invention. Since many embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended.