Patent Document ID: 4833716
Application ID: 06665204
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A speech waveform analyzer comprising: an input device for generating an alternating current (AC) signal representative of a phoneme received by the input device; a plurality of filters connected to the input device for dividing the AC signal into corresponding frequency band signals; a converting means connected to each of the plurality of filters for converting the amplitude of the energy in each of said frequency band signals to direct current (DC) voltage levels; an acquiring means connected to the converting means for acquiring and converting to digital values said DC voltage levels and for temporarily storing in said acquiring means a set of digital values representative of each DC voltage level produced by said converting means; processing means connected to said acquiring means for processing said digital values wherein said processing means comprises: a threshold means which receives a digital value from said acquiring means for testing whether said digital value exceeds a predetermined threshold thereby indicating the presence of a spoken phoneme, a collecting means for collecting and for temporarily storing, in response to an indication of the presence of a spoken phoneme from said threshold means, said set of digital values acquired and stored by said acquiring means, means for generating a tri-coordinate system comprising three axes and an origin, and a piercing plane which intersects each axis equidistant from said tri-coordinate system origin, and a computing means, for using said set of digital values received from said collecting means for plotting a pierce point in said tricoordinate system, and for computing a representation of said phoneme, wherein said computing means comprises: a selecting means for selecting a set of three values from said set of digital values representing said frequency band signal energy amplitudes, a vector computing means for computing a vector in said tri-coordinate system, said vector defined by said tri-coordinate system origin and a point whose coordinates are determined by said set of three values representing said frequency band signal energy amplitudes of said AC signal, wherein each of said values in said set of three values defines a distance from said tricoordinate origin along one of said tricoordinate axes, and a plotting means for plotting said pierce point where said vector pierces said piercing plane of said tri-coordinate system; and a display device, connected to said processing means, for visually presenting said computed representation.