Method, apparatus, and computer program product for reducing the load on a text-to-speech converter in a messaging system capable of text-to-speech conversion of e-mail documents

摘要

A messaging system comprises a storage unit for storing e-mail messages, a text-to-speech converter for converting the different text segments of e-mail messages into speech signals for playback to a user via a telephone handset, and a cache for storing the speech signals of selected ones of previously converted text segments. Upon a subsequent request by a user to convert the text segments of a new e-mail message to speech signals for playback via a telephone handset, the speech signals of previously converted text segments that are identical to any text segments of the new e-mail message are played back from the cache thus avoiding the need for the text-to-speech converter to convert those text segments of the new e-mail message to speech. The load on the text-to-speech converter is thereby reduced.