Patent Document ID: 4799261
Application ID: 07094028
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A speech encoding apparatus comprising: input means for receiving speech including one or more words of human language; analysis means connected to said input means for analyzing said received speech, generating a sequence of phonological linguistic unit indicia corresponding to said received speech, grouping and phonological linguistic unit indicia into syllables, and generating duration data corresponding to the duration of said received speech for each phonological linguistic unit indicia, said analysis means including: a linear predictive coding analyzer connected to said input means for providing linear predictive coding speech parameters including energy parameters, pitch parameters, and reflection coefficient parameters from the received speech, phonological linguistic unit recognition means connected to said linear predictive coding analyzer for receiving said linear predictive coding speech parameters therefrom, phonemic memory means having a plurality of templates of digital signals representative of phonological linguistic unit speech parameters and including standard durations corresponding to each of said phonological linguistic unit speech parameters, said phonemic memory means being connected to said phonological linguistic unit recognition means, and said phonological linguistic unit recognition means producing speech parameters indicative of the sequence of phonological linguistic unit indicia in response to comparing said linear predictive coding speech parameters with said plurality of templates in said phonemic memory means to select the template from said phonemic memory means providing the best match to respective linear predictive coding speech parameters and generating said duration data as duration parameters based upon a standard duration of the corresponding phonological linguistic unit data stored in said phonemic memory means; syllable recognition means connected to the output of said phonological linguistic unit recognition means and being responsive to the sequence of phonological linguistic unit indicia produced therefrom to determine syllables in which said phonological liguistic unit indicia are grouped; duration pattern memory means storing a plurality of predetermined duration patterns corresponding to each syllable grouping of phonological linguistic unit indicia; duration pattern recognizer means operably connected to said analysis means via said syllable recognition means and to said duration pattern memory means for selecting a duration pattern from said plurality of predetermined duration patterns for each syllable grouping of phonological linguistic unit indicia as generated by said analysis means, said duration pattern being selected in dependence upon said duration data corresponding to each syllable grouping of phonological linguistic unit indicia; and transmission means operably connected to said analysis means and said duration pattern recognizer means for transmitting said speech parameters indicative of said phonological liguistic unit indicia and duration parameters indicative of duration pattern indicia corresponding to said selected duration patterns as encoded speech data from which audible synthesized speech having a duration contour approximating the duration contour of the original speech as received by said input means may be produced while employing a relatively low data rate.