| 摘要 |
1,263,523. Speech synthesis. RCA CORPORATION. 12 Feb., 1969 [26 Feb., 1968 (2)], No. 7608/69. Heading H4R. A speech synthesizer has a library of phonemes stored at selected locations of a data store to be read out in any desired sequence to synthesize desired audible information. Each phoneme is truncated at the beginning and/or the end to provide continuity of formants across the junctions between the phonemes in the desired sequence. The phonemes are read out in sequence as determined manually, by punched card, paper, or magnetic tape, or computer output. Each phoneme to be reproduced is represented by three numbers, one defining the position of the phoneme in the library and the other two the beginning and end respectively of the desired portion of the phoneme. Preferably the phonemes are stored in digital, i.e. pcm, form on a magnetic drum with core memories used as an intermediate store during reading in and reading out of the stores. Fig. 9 shows a system used for recording phonemes the analogue waveforms of which are fed as 7 bit pcm signals into a core memory A. The core memory can store 4096 seven bit signals which represent one phoneme. The signals are fed into the core memory in defined locations commencing when a record command pulse 707 is received. When the core memory is full, flip-flop 709 is tripped and further storage ceases. After an index pulse is received from the drum 21 the core memory is read out in predetermined sequence to store on the drum 21, in locations defined by the sector pulses permanently recorded on the drum, the digital signals defining the phoneme. Further phonemes are recorded in further tracks of the drum. Fig. 10 shows apparatus for reading phonemes from the drum 821 under manual, 831, or paper tape, 833, control. The phenomes requested by the manual or paper tape control are read alternately into the core memories 17 and 827 and while one phoneme is being read into one core memory the desired portion of the previous phoneme, as defined by the second and third numbers read out of the manual or paper tape control, is read out from the other core memory, functions of the core memories being interchanged as soon as the phoneme has been read out of the core store for reproduction. Reading in from the drum to the core store takes place faster than reading out providing allowance for the truncation of the reproduced phoneme. It is suggested that the phoneme might be recorded in analogue fashion on the drum. |
