Patent Abstract:
An audio-book playback method includes buffering text data that is to be played back by speech, converting the buffered text data to speech data, performing speech-playback by using the speech data, and buffering next text data for continuous playback. The provided audio-book playback method and an apparatus enable a user to enjoy reading a book while also listening to content of the book being voiced by a multimedia playback device. Moreover, double buffering technology is employed to provide seamless text and speech-playback services.

Full Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2007-0113190, filed on Nov. 7, 2007, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present general inventive concept relates to an audio-book, and more particularly, to an audio-book playback method and apparatus to provide a text-playback mode and a speech-playback mode simultaneously when an audio-book is played back. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0005]    Conventional portable multimedia playback devices such as MP3 players mainly focus on playback of either an animated picture file or an audio file. However, recent portable multimedia playback devices further include a text-viewer function and thus contents of various books may be visually communicated to a user in either a textual or visual form. 
         [0006]    Meanwhile, due to development of text-to-speech (TTS) conversion technology, a user can easily convert text data to speech data (or voice data), so that the user can ‘read’ a book not only visually but also aurally. 
         [0007]    However, conventional portable multimedia playback devices fail to provide a convenient and efficient audio-book function providing merits of both the text viewer and the TTS conversion technology. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    The present general inventive concept provides an audio-book playback method and apparatus to provide both a text viewer function and a book teller function to enable a user to read a book more conveniently and efficiently. 
         [0009]    The present general inventive concept also provides a user being able to read a book while also listening to the content of the book being voiced by a portable multimedia playback device by using the audio-book playback method and apparatus. 
         [0010]    The present general inventive concept also provides a seamless text/speech-playback mode by employing a double buffering technology. 
         [0011]    Additional aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the general inventive concept. 
         [0012]    The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the general inventive concept may be achieved by providing an audio-book playback method including buffering text data that is to be played back by speech, converting the buffered text data to speech data, performing speech-playback by using the speech data, and buffering next text data that is to be played back by speech. 
         [0013]    The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing an audio-book playback method including selecting an audio-book playback mode, and performing one of a text-playback operation, a speech-playback operation, and a text and speech playback operation based on the selection. 
         [0014]    The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing a computer-readable recordable medium having embodied thereon a computer program to execute a method, wherein the method including buffering of text data that is to be played back by speech, converting of the buffered text data to speech data, performing of speech-playback using the converted speech data, and buffering of next text data. 
         [0015]    The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing an audio-book playback apparatus including a display to display text data, a buffer to buffer text data that is to be played back by speech, and a TTS converter to convert the text data stored in the buffer to speech data, and the apparatus outputs the text data and converted speech data simultaneously with buffering text data that is to be played back next. 
         [0016]    The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing an audio-book playback apparatus having a display and a speaker, the apparatus including a text-viewer function to provide text data to the display to be displayed to a user, and a book teller function to provide speech data corresponding to the text data to the speaker to be transmitted to the user, wherein the text data is displayed by the display and the speech data is transmitted by the speaker simultaneously. 
         [0017]    The audio-book playback apparatus may further include a buffer to buffer a next set of text data and speech data while a previous set of text data and the speech data are being respectively displayed and transmitted. 
         [0018]    The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing a method of playing back an audio book, the method including providing text data to be displayed to a user, and providing speech data corresponding to the text data to be transmitted to the user such that the text data is displayed and the speech data is transmitted simultaneously. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0019]    The above and other features and utilities of the present general inventive concept will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which: 
           [0020]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a physical configuration of an audio-book playback apparatus according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept; 
           [0021]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating an audio-book playback method according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept; 
           [0022]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating an audio-book speech-playback operation illustrated in  FIG. 2 ; 
           [0023]      FIG. 4  is a detailed flowchart of the audio-book speech-playback operation illustrated in  FIG. 2 ; 
           [0024]      FIGS. 5A-5H  are examples of a graphic user interface (GUI) through which the audio-book playback methods illustrated in  FIGS. 2 and 4  are implemented; 
           [0025]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart illustrating an audio-book playback method according to another embodiment of the present general inventive concept; and 
           [0026]      FIG. 7  is an example of a GUI through which the audio-book playback method illustrated in  FIG. 6  is implemented. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0027]    The present general inventive concept will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the general inventive concept are illustrated. 
         [0028]    Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present general inventive concept, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present general inventive concept by referring to the figures. 
         [0029]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a physical configuration of an audio-book playback apparatus according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept. 
         [0030]    The audio-book playback apparatus  1  includes a memory  11 , a text-to-speech (TTS) converter  12 , a liquid crystal display (LCD)  13 , a data bus  14 , a buffer  15 , a user input device  16 , and a speaker  17 . 
         [0031]    The LCD  13  displays a text viewer program, and the buffer  15  buffers text data of a page that is to be played back by speech. 
         [0032]    The TTS converter  12  converts the text data stored in the buffer  15  to speech data, and the speaker  17  outputs the converted speech data. The user input device  16  denotes a remote control having keys, such as a menu key, directional keys, and a confirm key, or a control panel. 
         [0033]    The audio-book playback apparatus  1  plays back text data and speech data and simultaneously buffers and/or converts next text data. Detailed functions of components of the audio-book playback apparatus will now be described in greater detail. 
         [0034]    While the audio-book playback apparatus  1  may be embodied as an independent electronic device, the audio-book playback apparatus  1  may also be embodied as a portion of a portable multimedia playback device such as an MP3 player, a portable multimedia player (PMP), a personal digital assistant (PDA), or a cellular phone. 
         [0035]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating an audio-book playback method according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept. 
         [0036]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , a user turns the audio-book playback apparatus  1  on (operation  21 ), and selects an audio-book playback mode (operation  22 ). User-selectable audio-book playback modes can be, for example, a text-playback mode, a speech-playback mode, and a text/speech-playback mode. 
         [0037]    If the user selected the text-playback mode in operation  22 , the audio-book playback apparatus  1  only performs text-playback (operation  23 ). Meanwhile, if the speech-playback mode is selected, the audio-book playback apparatus  1  performs only speech-playback (operation  24 ). Also, if the text/speech-playback mode is selected, the text-playback and the speech-playback are simultaneously performed in operation  23  and operation  24 , respectively. 
         [0038]      FIGS. 5A and 5B  illustrate graphic user interfaces (GUIs) through which the audio-book playback mode selecting operation  22  is implemented. If a user presses the menu key included in the user input device  16  of the audio-book playback apparatus  1 , a playback mode selecting window  51  is displayed on the LCD (or a text viewer)  13 . 
         [0039]    Referring to  FIG. 5A , a current playback mode is set to a text-playback mode  511 . If a user wants to select a text/speech-playback mode  513  as the audio-book playback mode, the user needs to press directional keys included in the user input device  16  so as to relocate a cursor in the playback mode selecting window  51  to the text/speech-playback mode  513  and press the confirm key as illustrated in  FIG. 5B . 
         [0040]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating detailed operations of speech-playback operation  24  illustrated in  FIG. 2 . 
         [0041]    Referring to  FIG. 3 , the audio-book playback apparatus  1  buffers a portion of text data included in an audio-book file in the buffer memory  15  (operation  31 ). 
         [0042]    The buffered text data is converted to corresponding speech data by performing TTS conversion (operation  32 ). The speech data has an audio file format from among one or more audio file formats, such as MP3, Windows Media Audio (WMA), and OGG. A format in which seamless playing and real time playing are guaranteed, for example, can be used. Also, factors such as the processing capability of the TTS converter  12 , and storage capacities of the memory  11  and the buffer  15 , etc. should be considered in selecting the audio file format. 
         [0043]    The speech data is played back via the speaker  17  (operation  33 ). At this point, text displayed on the LCD  13  and the voice output via the speaker  17  can be synchronized. 
         [0044]    Once speech-playback begins, the audio-book playback apparatus  1  determines whether data currently in playback is the last data of the audio-book file (operation  34 ). 
         [0045]    If the data currently in playback is the last data, the speech-playback is terminated. However, if the data currently in playback is not the last data, the audio-book playback apparatus  1  returns to operation  31  and buffers a certain amount of text data next to the data currently in playback in the buffer  15 . 
         [0046]    Buffering of the next text data in operation  31  may be performed while the current data speech-playback operation  33  is being performed, which is so-called “double buffering.” Moreover, the TTS conversion of the next text data in operation  32  may also be performed while the speech-playback operation  33  of the current data is being performed. This enables seamless audio-book playback. That is, the buffering of the next text data should start before data currently being buffered is completely played back. 
         [0047]    An amount of current data or next data buffered in operation  31  should be determined such that seamless playback of the data can be guaranteed. 
         [0048]    Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 3 , the amount of data to be buffered each time should be determined in consideration of factors such as the processing capability of the TTS converter  12 , the storage capacities of the memory  11  and the buffer  15 , and an amount of data displayable on the LCD (or a text viewer)  13  at once. 
         [0049]    Hereinafter, an embodiment wherein the text-playback operation  23  and the speech-playback operation  24  are simultaneously performed when the text/speech-playback mode  513  has been selected by the user in operation  22  of  FIG. 2  will be described with reference to  FIGS. 2 ,  4 , and  5 A- 5 H. 
         [0050]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart of another embodiment illustrating detailed operations of the speech-playback operation  24  illustrated in  FIG. 2 . 
         [0051]      FIGS. 5A-5H  are examples of a GUI through which the audio-book playback methods illustrated in  FIGS. 2 and 4  are implemented. 
         [0052]    A page  1  to be first played back as the text-playback in operation  23  is displayed on the LCD (or the text viewer)  13 , as illustrated in  FIG. 5C . 
         [0053]    Referring to  FIG. 4 , while the audio-book playback apparatus  1  performs the text-playback operation  23  and the speech-playback operation  24  simultaneously, a number of a page to be first played back is set as a page number (operation  41 ). Referring to  FIGS. 5A-5H , in an embodiment of the present general inventive concept, the page number is set to be “1,” because the page to be first played back is page  1 . 
         [0054]    Text data of the page  1  is buffered in the buffer  15  (operation  42 ). An amount of data buffered in the operation  42  should be determined within a scope which can guarantee seamless playback of the data. 
         [0055]    Therefore, if a size of the text viewer on the LCD  13  is changed, or if a type or a size of a text font displayed is changed, an amount of data to be buffered at once should also be changed. For example, if 50 Korean characters may be displayed at a time on the LCD  13  or per page, the amount of data to be stored in the buffer at one time should be at least 100 bytes, which is equivalent to an amount of text per page. If the size of the text font is doubled, at least 50 bytes of the text data must be buffered since 25 characters can be displayed per page. In this case, buffering 100 bytes of data is equal to buffering an amount of text data worth 2 pages. 
         [0056]    TTS conversion is performed on the buffered text data to generate speech data corresponding to the text data (operation  43 ). 
         [0057]    The speech data obtained by TTS conversion in operation  43  is played back via the speaker  17  (operation  44 ). 
         [0058]    The text displayed on the LCD  13  and the voice output via the speaker  17  are synchronized. In the case of  FIGS. 5A-5H , a voice saying “rampant” is being output via the speaker  17 , while the word “rampant” on the LCD  13  synchronized to the voice is being displayed in a different text size and/or text font so as to be distinguishable from other words. 
         [0059]    Once the speech-playback begins in operation  44 , the audio-book playback apparatus  1  determines whether the page currently in playback is the last page of the audio-book (operation  45 ). 
         [0060]    If the current page is the last page of the audio-book, the speech-playback operation  44  will be terminated. If the current page is not the last page, the page number will be changed to the next page number (operation  46 ), and text data of the next page will be buffered. By doing so, once page  1  is played back as illustrated in  FIG. 5E , and page  2  may be played back without delay in  FIG. 5F . The text data of page  2  is displayed on the LCD  13 , and the corresponding speech data synchronized to the text data is output via the speaker  17  as illustrated in  FIG. 5F . 
         [0061]    If the user wants to cease the speech-playback during the audio-book playback and return to the text-playback mode, the user may switch the speech-playback mode to the text-playback mode by using the user input device  16  as illustrated in  FIGS. 5F and 5G . 
         [0062]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart illustrating an audio-book playback method according to another embodiment of the present general inventive concept. 
         [0063]    The embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 6  and the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 4  share many common features in terms respective operation details thereof. Therefore, the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 6  will be described by focusing on differences between the embodiments illustrated in  FIGS. 4 and 6 . 
         [0064]    Initially, the user turns the audio-book playback apparatus  1  on (operation  61 ), and plays back an audio-book in a text-playback mode (operation  62 ). If the user wants to listen to what he or she was reading while reading the audio-book in a text-only mode, the user should switch the current audio-book playback mode to the text/speech-playback mode by using the user input device  16  (operation  63 ). When the user selects the text/speech-playback mode, the next operations  64  through  69 , which are identical to operations  41  through  46  illustrated in  FIG. 4  respectively, are performed. The only difference is that a number of the page being currently played back is set as the page number (operation  64 ), while in operation  41  the number of the page first played back is set as the page number. 
         [0065]      FIGS. 7A-7H  are examples of a GUI through which the audio-book playback method illustrated in  FIG. 6  is implemented. 
         [0066]    Initially, an audio-book is being played back in a text-playback mode as illustrated in  FIG. 7A . 
         [0067]    If the user wants to listen to content of the audio-book in voice as well as read the text, the user may relocate the cursor in a selecting window to a text/speech-playback mode by pressing the menu key and the directional keys included in the user input device  16 , and then press the confirm key as illustrated in  FIGS. 7B and 7C . Meanwhile,  FIGS. 7F and 7G  illustrate a process wherein the user terminates the text/speech-playback method. 
         [0068]    The audio-book playback method according to the present general inventive concept can also be embodied as computer-readable codes on a computer-readable recording medium. The computer-readable medium can include a computer-readable recording medium and a computer-readable transmission medium. The computer-readable recording medium is any data storage device that can store data which can be thereafter read by a computer system. Examples of the computer readable recording medium include read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, and optical data storage devices. The computer-readable recording medium can also be distributed over network coupled computer systems so that the computer-readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion. The computer-readable transmission medium can transmit carrier waves or signals (e.g., wired or wireless data transmission through the Internet). Also, functional programs, codes, and code segments for accomplishing the present general inventive concept can be easily construed by programmers of ordinary skill in the art to which the present general inventive concept pertains. 
         [0069]    While this present general inventive concept has been particularly illustrated and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims. The preferred embodiments should be considered in descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. Therefore, the scope of the general inventive concept is defined not by the detailed description of the general inventive concept but by the appended claims, and all differences within the scope will be construed as being included in the present general inventive concept.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6