JP2001268175A - Telephone set having speaking speed converting function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a telephone set capable of performing speaking speed converting processing at a speaking speed preset for each opposite speaking party by automatically recognizing the opposite speaking party while utilizing a number display service on a telephone set having a speaking speed converting function. SOLUTION: The telephone number information of a caller is extracted by a telephone number extracting part 4 and the information of speaking speed setting stored corresponding to matched telephone number information is read out of a data storage part 6 and outputted to a speaking speed converting processing part 5 while using the extracted telephone number as a retrieval key by a data managing part 7. The speaking speed converting processing part 5 performs speaking speed converting processing by extending the time base of the audio signal of the opposite speaking party on the basis of the acquired speaking speed setting information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a telephone capable of converting the voice speed of a received voice signal, in particular, to identify a communication partner and to appropriately change the voice speed of the reception voice signal in accordance with the identified communication partner. Phone capable.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a telephone having a function of converting a speech speed, a telephone disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-311211 is known. In the telephone disclosed in this publication, a "slow listening" mode is selected by operating a mode key, and during the selection of the mode, the time axis of the voice signal from the other party is extended by the speech speed conversion processing circuit, and Is configured to be able to be heard with a slow voice.

[0003] Here, the speech speed conversion means that the time axis of an audio signal is extended to make its reproduction speed (speech speed) lower than the original speed. In general, the present invention is not limited to this, and conversely, the time axis of the audio signal may be compressed to make the reproduction speed (speech speed) faster than the original speed.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional telephone, the operation of the mode key causes "slow listening".
When the mode is selected, regardless of who the caller is, the speech speed conversion process (the amount by which the time axis of the voice signal is extended) is uniform, so if the caller is a very fast talker However, there is a problem that the speech speed does not become sufficiently low, or, in the case of a person who does not speak too fast, the speech speed becomes too slow.

In general, the speed at which a person speaks (speaks) is usually determined to some extent by a person. For example, a person who usually speaks at a high speed tends to speak at a high speed unless he / she speaks slowly. Conversely, those who speak slowly usually tend to speak generally slowly unless they are consciously and slowly speaking. Therefore, it was considered that the extent to which the time length of the audio signal should be extended by the speech speed conversion process can be determined according to the other party.

[0006] Further, since February 1998, a service has been started nationwide to enable a receiver (recipient) to confirm the caller's telephone number of a caller before answering, and this service is generally called a number. Widely known as a display service. In this number display service, the telephone exchange of the caller is notified from the exchange on the transmitting side to the exchange on the receiving side, and this is notified to the telephone of the called party by a modem signal.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a telephone capable of automatically recognizing a call partner using a number display service and performing a speech speed conversion process at a speech speed preset for each call partner. The purpose is to:

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, the information arrives via a telephone line and information storage means storing telephone number information and speech speed information associated therewith. Telephone number information extracting means for extracting telephone number information of the caller; and searching the information stored in the information storing means based on the telephone number information extracted by the telephone number information extracting means to extract speech speed information. An information retrieval means, and a speech speed conversion means for changing a time axis of a voice signal arriving via a telephone line based on the speech speed information extracted by the information retrieval means.

Further, according to the present invention, information storage means for storing telephone number information, speech speed information and calling device information associated with the telephone number information, and a caller arriving via a telephone line. Telephone number information extracting means for extracting telephone number information, and searching the information stored in the information storage means on the basis of the telephone number information extracted by the telephone number information extracting means, to obtain speech speed information and calling device information. Information retrieval means to be retrieved, device calling means for calling a device based on the calling device information retrieved by the information retrieval means, and speech signal arriving via a telephone line based on the speech speed information retrieved by the information retrieval means. A speech speed conversion means for changing a time axis.

Further, in the present invention, the speech speed conversion means includes:
The time axis of a voice signal arriving via a telephone line is extended based on the speech speed information extracted by the information search means.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a telephone having a speech speed conversion function according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a speaker, 2 is a microphone, and the speaker 1 and the microphone 2 constitute a so-called handset.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a communication control unit which controls transmission and reception of various signals via the telephone line L.
The communication control unit 3 transmits a voice signal of the sender input through the microphone 2 to the telephone line L, and conversely, transmits a voice signal from the other party or a modem transmitted from the exchange by a number display service. The signal is received and output to a subsequent circuit. Note that the telephone line L is not limited to a wired one, but may be a wireless one such as a mobile phone or a PHS phone.

Next, reference numeral 4 denotes a telephone number extracting unit, which extracts telephone number information of the other party (caller) from the voice signal and the modem signal sent from the communication control unit 3 by the modem signal. Note that the audio signal is output from the telephone number extraction unit 4 to a circuit further downstream.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a speech speed conversion processing unit, which receives a voice signal from the telephone number extraction unit 4, extends the time axis of the input voice signal by a predetermined amount, and outputs it. Thus,
The speech speed is converted into a slow voice signal by extending the time axis in the speech speed conversion processing section 5 and then emitted from the speaker 1. The audio signal amplifier circuit and the like are omitted here.

Further, reference numeral 6 denotes a data storage unit, as shown in Table 1 below, for a caller number, a name, information on a speech speed setting,
Information on speed dial settings and the like are stored. These pieces of information can be registered by the user of the telephone by operating means (not shown) or the like.

[0017]

[Table 1]

In this example, the information on the speech speed setting is selected from four levels of [large, medium, small, none], and is "large" (slowest) and "medium". Modes such as (slow), "small" (slightly slow), and "none" (output as it is without converting speech speed) are prepared on the telephone side.

Therefore, for example, in the case of No. In one,
Caller number: “xx-xxxx-xxxx”, name: “Yamada”, speech speed setting: “large”, speed dial setting: “01” are stored. That is, since "Yamada" always speaks fast, the speech speed setting is set to "large" as described above.

Further, in Table 1, No. In 2, caller number "yy-yyyy-yyyy", name: "Takanaka", speech speed setting:
“Medium”, speed dial setting: “02” is stored.
`` Tanaka '' does not speak quickly, but since he often calls people who want to talk slowly in the family (such as elderly people), the speech speed setting is set to `` medium '' as described above There is.

Then, in Table 1, No. In 3, the caller number: "zz-zzzz-zzzz", the name: "Mika", and the speech speed setting:
“Small”, speed dial setting: “03” is stored.
“Mika” speaks a little faster, so the degree setting is set to “small” as described above.

Further, when the caller number cannot be extracted (when the caller has set the telephone number to "non-notification" or when the call is from a public telephone), or when the telephone number is not stored in the data storage section, In case the number comes in,
No. 1 in Table 1 above. 4 are stored. In this example, the speech speed is not converted in such a case (speech speed setting: “none”).

The speech speed setting information is not limited to the above four stages, but may be divided into smaller stages and selected from among them, or a desired set value may be stored by a numerical value. It may be. In any case, it is important that speech speed setting information can be stored in association with each caller number.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a data management unit which receives telephone number information from the telephone number extracting unit 4, compares this information with telephone number information stored in the data storage unit 6, If there is a number, the information on the speech speed setting is output to the speech speed conversion processing unit. The data management unit 7
Causes the display unit 7 to display telephone number information and the like input from the telephone number extraction unit 4.

The speech rate conversion processing section 5 performs speech rate conversion by extending the time axis of the voice signal of the other party based on the speech rate setting information input from the data management section 7. As a method for expanding the time axis of the audio signal used here, for example, an overlap addition method (Pointer Interval Control Overlap and Add
: PICOLA) and TDHS (Time Domain Harmonic Sc
By using a known method such as the aling method, the time axis of the audio signal can be extended without changing the pitch of the audio signal.

However, the method for extending the time axis of the audio signal is not limited to the above method, and any method can be used as long as the time axis of the audio signal can be extended to change the speech speed. Can be. For example, a simple configuration may be adopted in which a voice signal of a communication partner is temporarily stored in a semiconductor memory, and is read out and output at a desired speed.

Next, the operation of the telephone according to the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, when the other party attempts to make a telephone call, a modem signal including the telephone number information of the caller (the other party) arrives at the telephone of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 through the telephone line L. This is received by the communication control unit 3 and the modem signal is output to the telephone number extraction unit 4 at the subsequent stage. And
Immediately thereafter, in response to a call signal arriving after the modem signal, the communication control unit 3 generates a ringing tone by means (not shown) to notify that a call is present (S1).

While the communication control unit 3 is generating a ringing tone, the telephone number extracting unit 4 extracts the telephone number information of the caller from the modem signal and displays the telephone number on the display unit 8 (telephone). If the number is anonymous call, for example, "
"Notify" or, if a call is made from a public telephone, display "Public", for example, and output the extracted telephone number information to the data management unit 7 (S2).

Next, the data management unit 7 having obtained the telephone number information of the caller from the telephone number extraction unit 4 searches the data (see Table 1) in the data storage unit 6 using the telephone number as a search key. Then, the voice speed setting information stored in association with the corresponding telephone number information is read out from the data storage unit 6, and this information is output to the voice speed conversion processing unit 5 (S3). As described above, if no matching telephone number information is found, in the example of Table 1 above, No. The information on the speech speed setting stored in the column No. 4 (that is, the speech speed setting “none”) is output.

The speech speed conversion processing unit 5 having acquired the speech speed setting information from the data management unit 7, based on the acquired speech speed setting information, has a communication partner input via the telephone number extracting unit 4. Is extended, that is, the speech speed conversion process is started (S4), and the speech speed conversion process is continued until the call ends (S5).

Subsequently, Table 2 below shows an example in which call destination setting information is added to the various information shown in Table 1 above.

[0033]

[Table 2]

Here, the call destination setting information is information for determining a telephone to be called according to the telephone number of a caller when a call is received. Specifically, No. 2 in Table 2 above. In the example of 1, in the case where the caller is "Yamada", the communication control unit 3 controls so that only the slave A among the plurality of slaves emits a ringing tone. Similarly, when the caller is "Takanaka", only the parent device and the child device B emit a ringing tone, and when the caller is "Mika", only the child device C emits a ringing tone. .

With such a configuration, for example, when a parent device is shared by a family and each child device is installed in each person's room, a telephone call directed to one's own room can be made. Since only the handset can emit a ringing tone, a family member other than himself or herself mistakenly picks up the telephone (in the case where the information of the caller telephone number and the speech speed setting is stored in the data storage unit 6). , The speech speed is converted, which may cause a further problem that the speech speed becomes difficult to hear for the person who picked up the phone.) There is an advantage that speed conversion processing is performed.

[0036]

As described above, according to the present invention, according to the present invention, an information storage means for storing telephone number information and speech speed information associated therewith, and a call arriving via a telephone line. Telephone number information extracting means for extracting telephone number information of a person,
Information retrieval means for retrieving information stored in the storage means based on the telephone number information extracted by the telephone number information extraction means and retrieving speech speed information; A speech speed conversion means for changing a time axis of an audio signal arriving via a telephone line based on the speech signal, so that a speech speed conversion process can be appropriately performed according to a caller.

Further, according to the present invention, telephone number information and
Information storage means for storing speech speed information and calling device information associated with the telephone number information; telephone number information extraction means for extracting telephone number information of a caller arriving via a telephone line; Information retrieval means for retrieving information stored in the information storage means based on the telephone number information extracted by the telephone number information extraction means to retrieve speech speed information and calling device information; and information retrieved by the information retrieval means. Device calling means for calling a device based on calling device information; and speech speed conversion means for changing a time axis of an audio signal arriving via a telephone line based on the speech speed information extracted by the information search means. Therefore, only a desired device can be called when a call is received, and the speech speed conversion processing can be appropriately performed according to the caller.

According to the present invention, the speech speed conversion means extends the time axis of the voice signal arriving via the telephone line based on the speech speed information extracted by the information retrieval means, so Speaking speed can be appropriately reduced depending on the person.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a configuration of a telephone having a speech speed conversion function of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the telephone having the speech speed conversion function of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 speaker 2 microphone 3 communication control unit 4 telephone number extraction unit 5 speech speed conversion processing unit 6 data storage unit 7 data management unit 8 display unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04M 1/57 G10L 3/02 A (72) Inventor Naoya Iwasaki 2-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka No. 5 F-term in Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (reference) 5D045 AB04 BA02 5K027 BB01 DD14 FF01 FF25 HH23 5K036 DD11 DD33 DD46 DD48 JJ01 JJ15 9A001 HH15 HH34

Claims (3)

[Claims] An information storage means for storing telephone number information and speech speed information associated therewith, and a telephone number information extracting means for extracting telephone number information of a caller arriving via a telephone line. Information retrieval means for retrieving information stored in the information storage means based on the telephone number information extracted by the telephone number information extraction means and retrieving speech speed information; and speech speed information retrieved by the information retrieval means And a speech speed conversion means for changing a time axis of an audio signal arriving via a telephone line based on the telephone number. 2. An information storage means for storing telephone number information, speech speed information and calling device information associated with the telephone number information, and telephone number information of a caller arriving via a telephone line. Telephone number information extracting means for extracting information stored in the information storage means based on the telephone number information extracted by the telephone number information extracting means, and extracting speech speed information and calling device information. A device calling unit that calls a device based on the calling device information extracted by the information searching unit; and a time axis of a voice signal that arrives via a telephone line is changed based on the speech speed information extracted by the information searching unit. A telephone having a speech speed conversion function, comprising: 3. The speech speed conversion means for extending a time axis of a voice signal arriving via a telephone line based on the speech speed information retrieved by the information retrieval means. Item 3. A telephone having a speech speed conversion function according to item 2.