Information service with text-to-speech conversion

摘要

An information output method switching unit (105) checks whether or not an audio output device (103) is connected to an audio output device connection unit (104). When the audio output device (103) is connected to an information service apparatus, the information output method switching unit (105) sends text information stored in an information holding unit (102) to a text-to-speech synthesis unit (106), which generates synthetic speech using a known text-to-speech synthesis technique, and sends the generated synthetic speech to the audio output device connection unit (104). On the other hand, when the audio output device (103) is not connected to the information service apparatus, the information output method switching unit (105) sends text information stored in the information holding unit (102) to an information display output unit (107), which displays the received text information.