JP2015125203A - Sound output device and sound output program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sound output device capable of learning the sound of a sentence or a word by having a sentence or a word in text pronounced while changing a tone of voice.SOLUTION: A sound output device 1 comprises: sound data storage means 80 in which sound data 30AM is stored in correlation with text; display means 10, 21 for displaying text; tone of voice discrimination and display control means 20 for exerting control on the basis of the sound data stored in the sound data storage means 80 so that a tone of voice is added to each word in the text and discrimination and display indicating the tone of voice is made; tone of voice change means 20 for changing, by a user operation, the tone of voice of any word discriminately displayed by the tone of voice discrimination and display control means 20; and tone of voice changed sound output control means 20 for exerting control so that the sound data of text is outputted by changing its tone of voice in accordance with the tone of voice of the word changed by the tone of voice change means 20.

Description

  The present invention relates to an audio output device and an audio output program capable of reproducing at least audio.

  Conventionally, as a voice output device such as an electronic dictionary, for example, when a user instructs playback of voices such as displayed texts and words, texts and words in a designated range are output in native voices recorded in advance. Devices that do this are known.

  Further, for example, in the language learning device described in Patent Literature 1, a waveform of a native pronunciation (standard speech) is compared with a waveform uttered and recorded by a user (learner), and a pronunciation or accent error is detected. It has been proposed to present and practice the user's speech.

JP 2003-162291 A

  By the way, in native daily conversation, even if the same sentence or word is pronounced, the tone of the sentence is emphasized by emphasizing a specific part or word in the sentence according to the content of the conversation or the flow of the conversation. By changing the voice, it is often the case that the voice is changed with different nuances of sentences and words. In this specification and the like, the tone means a pronunciation method including broad accents such as dynamics, intonation, intonation, etc., for example, Chinese four voices are also included in the tone in this specification etc. It is.

  However, conventional voice output devices such as electronic dictionaries and language learning devices are not configured to be able to change the tone in voice data of text recorded and stored in the device, for example, texts spoken by native speakers. . For this reason, as described above, it has been impossible for the user to hear and confirm how the pronunciation is produced when the voice is changed in order to change the nuance of the sentence or word.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an audio output device and an audio output program capable of learning the sound of a sentence or word by changing the tone of the sentence or word in the text and generating a pronunciation The purpose is to provide.

In order to solve the above problems, the audio output device of the present invention is:
Voice data storage means for storing voice data in association with text;
Display means for displaying the text;
Based on the voice data stored in the voice data storage means, a tone identification display control means for controlling to add a tone to each word in the text and to perform an identification display representing the tone;
Tone change means for changing the tone of any word identified and displayed by the tone identification display means by a user operation;
Tone change voice output control means for controlling to change the tone of the voice data of the text according to the tone of the word changed by the tone change means;
It is characterized by providing.

In addition, another audio output device of the present invention,
Voice data acquisition means for acquiring model voice data or voice data corresponding to text;
Display means for displaying the text;
Based on the voice data, tone identification display control means for controlling each word in the text to give a tone and to perform identification display representing the tone;
Tone change means for changing the tone of any word identified and displayed by the tone identification display means by a user operation;
Tone change voice output control means for controlling to change the tone of the voice data of the text according to the tone of the word changed by the tone change means;
It is characterized by providing.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to learn the sound of a sentence or word by changing the tone of the sentence or word in the text and generating a pronunciation.

It is a top view which shows the general view of the electronic dictionary as an example of an audio | voice output apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of an electronic dictionary. It is a flowchart showing the basic operation | movement of an electronic dictionary. It is a flowchart showing each process, such as a tone identification display output process and a tone change output process. It is a flowchart showing each process of a recording process. It is a figure which shows the display content etc. on a main display. It is a figure which shows the display content etc. on a main display. It is a figure which shows the display content etc. on a main display. It is a figure which shows the audio | voice output apparatus connected to an external device.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment in which a sound output device according to the present invention is applied to an electronic dictionary will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]
[Appearance configuration]
FIG. 1 is a plan view of an electronic dictionary 1 as an audio output device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic dictionary 1 includes a main display 10, a sub display 11, a card slot 12, a speaker 13, a microphone 14, and a key group 2.

  The main display 10 and the sub display 11 are parts for displaying various data such as text, characters, codes, and the like in color according to the operation of the key group 2 by the user, and are LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and ELD (Electronic Luminescence Display). Etc. are constituted.

  The main display 10 and the sub display 11 in the present embodiment are formed integrally with a so-called touch panel 110 (see FIG. 2 described later), and can accept operations such as handwriting input. In the present embodiment, various icons I are displayed at least on the left side of the main display 10. In the present embodiment and the second embodiment to be described later, a case where the user performs an operation on the main display 10 will be described. However, the operation is performed on the sub display 11 or using both displays. It is also possible.

  The card slot 12 is detachably attached to an external information storage medium 12a (see FIG. 2) that stores various information. The speaker 13 is a part that outputs sound according to the operation of the key group 2 by the user, and the microphone 14 is a part that captures sound from the outside.

  The key group 2 has various keys that receive operations for operating the electronic dictionary 1 from the user. Specifically, the key group 2 includes an enter key 2b, a character key 2c, a cursor key 2e, a voice key 2g, and the like.

  The determination key 2b is a key used for executing a search, determining a headword, and the like. The character key 2c is a key used for inputting characters by the user, and includes "A" to "Z" keys in the present embodiment. The cursor key 2e is a key used for the reverse display position in the screen, that is, the movement of the cursor position. In this embodiment, the up / down / left / right directions can be designated. The voice key 2g is a key used when learning a voice.

[Internal configuration]
Next, the internal structure of the electronic dictionary 1 will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the electronic dictionary 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the electronic dictionary 1 includes a display unit 21, an input unit 22, a voice input / output unit 70, a recording medium reading unit 60, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 20, and a storage unit 80. Each unit is a bus. They are connected to each other so that data communication is possible.

  The display unit 21 includes the main display 10 and the sub display 11 described above, and displays various information such as text on the main display 10 and the sub display 11 based on a display signal input from the CPU 20. .

  The input unit 22 includes the key group 2 and the touch panel 110 described above, and outputs a signal corresponding to the pressed key or the position of the touch panel 110 to the CPU 20.

  The audio input / output unit 70 includes the speaker 13 and the microphone 14 described above, and causes the speaker 13 to output audio based on the audio output signal input from the CPU 20, or based on the recording signal input from the CPU 20. The microphone 14 is made to record the voice uttered by the user.

  The recording medium reading unit 60 includes the card slot 12 described above, and reads information from the external information storage medium 12a attached to the card slot 12 or records information on the external information storage medium 12a. It has become. Here, in the external information storage medium 12a, the teaching material content 30, the model voice data 40M of the word voice, and the like are stored.

  The communication unit 50 can be connected to the external device G via a network (communication network), and the necessary information such as the dictionary database 30 and the exemplary speech data 40M of word speech is received from the external device G. It is possible to acquire or send information to the external device G.

  Note that the teaching material content 30 and the word voice model voice data 40M in the external information storage medium 12a and the external device G are the same as the teaching material content 30 and the word voice model voice data 40M in the storage unit 80 to be described later of the electronic dictionary 1. Therefore, the description is omitted here. Further, the communication unit 50 is not necessarily required when the voice output device is applied to the electronic dictionary 1 as in the present embodiment, but for example, as shown in FIG. 9 described later, the voice output device via a network or the like. 1 and the external device G are connected to each other by wire or wirelessly, and is necessary when acquiring necessary information such as the English conversation content 30A and the model voice data 30AM from the external device G.

  The storage unit 80 is a memory that stores programs and data for realizing various functions of the electronic dictionary 1 and functions as a work area of the CPU 20. In the present embodiment, the storage unit 80 includes a storage area for the audio recording / playback program 81, a storage area for the dictionary database group 3, a storage area for the teaching material content group 3, a storage area for the word audio data group 4, and a strength level. Storage area for color setting data 5 and the like.

  The voice recording / playback program 81 is a voice output program according to the present invention, and is a program for causing the CPU 20 to execute tone identification display output processing, tone change output processing, and the like (see FIGS. 3 to 5) described later.

  The teaching material content group 3 includes a plurality of teaching material contents 30, and in this embodiment, at least the teaching material content 30 </ b> A for English conversation. Then, the teaching material content 30A for English conversation has text data 30AT including a plurality of English sentences to be learned and model voice data 30AM for each sentence for each item related to English conversation. That is, in the present embodiment, the storage unit 80 corresponds to an audio data storage unit according to the present invention in which the exemplary audio data 30AM that is audio data is stored in association with text.

  The word voice data group 4 includes model voice data 40M of each word of the headword in each dictionary database 30. The word voice data group 4 may have a plurality of model voice data 40M for the same word.

  As will be described later, the strong / weak color setting data 5 is used to identify and display each word within a specified range in the text displayed on the main display 10 by color-coded in the order of the strength, or by the user's operation. When the strength of each word is changed by changing the color of the identification display, the data is used for identifying and displaying each word by color. The strong / weak color setting data 5 will be described later.

  In the present embodiment, as described above, the case where the strength of the sound as the tone is changed using the strength color setting data 5 will be described while focusing on only the strength of the word as the tone of the word as described above. In addition, as described above, it is also possible to configure the tone of the word to be changed in a broad sense such as intonation and intonation as described above, and in the present invention, when the tone described below is a sound intensity It is not limited to. Specifically, in order to change word inflection, that is, sound up and down, instead of the above-described intensity setting data 5, for example, as inflection setting data, an arrow or a line representing a flat tone without inflection (that is, → or Although not shown in the figure, the voice setting data includes an arrow and a line that rises to the right to indicate that the sound rises, and an arrow and line to the right that indicates that the sound falls. It is also possible to do.

  In addition to this, the storage unit 80 is provided with a storage area for recording voices (user voices) uttered by the user and storing them as recorded data 6. In other words, in the present embodiment, the storage unit 80 functions as user voice registration means for registering user voice as the recording data 6 according to the present invention. This point will be described in a second embodiment described later.

  In addition, the CPU 20 executes processing based on a predetermined program in accordance with an input instruction, performs an instruction to each function unit, data transfer, and the like, and comprehensively controls the electronic dictionary 1. Yes. Specifically, the CPU 20 reads various programs stored in the storage unit 80 in accordance with an operation signal or the like input from the input unit 22, and executes processing according to the program. The CPU 20 saves the processing result in the storage unit 80 and appropriately outputs the processing result to the voice input / output unit 70 and the display unit 21. In the present embodiment, the CPU 20 functions as a tone identification display control means, a tone change means, a tone change voice output control means, etc. according to the present invention. This will be described in the description of the operation 1.

[Operation]
Next, the operation of the electronic dictionary 1 that is the voice output device according to the present embodiment will be described based on the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 with reference to other drawings. In addition, since the operation | movement of the audio | voice output apparatus (electronic dictionary 1) demonstrated below is performed according to the audio | voice recording / reproducing program 81 shown in FIG. 2, the following description is the audio | voice recording which is an audio | voice output program which concerns on this embodiment. It also explains the reproduction program 81.

[basic action]
First, the basic operation in the CPU 20 of the electronic dictionary 1 according to the present embodiment will be described. An operation unrelated to each process described below (for example, an operation such as a user pressing a button of another content such as a history dictionary in the middle of each process described below) was performed. In this case, the CPU 20 stops the following processes and performs designated processes.

  When the user operates the key group 2 to specify the English conversation content 30A (step S1 in FIG. 3), the CPU 20 reads the text data 30AT from the storage area of the English conversation content 30A in the storage unit 80, for example, FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the text of the English conversation content 30A is displayed on the main display 10 (step S2). At the same time, as shown in FIG. 1, icons I representing various processing contents are displayed on the left side of the main display 10.

  Then, when an icon I other than “speech learning” is selected by touching with a touch pen or a finger by the user (step S3; NO), the CPU 20 ends the process and changes to the selected icon I. Perform other corresponding processing. When the user selects the “speech learning” icon Ia (step S3; YES), the user subsequently specifies the range of the character string in the text he / she wants to hear or want to learn by tracing with a touch pen (step S4). (See FIG. 1). In the icon area on the left, icons for general learning functions of “note”, “further search”, “marker”, “sticky note”, “word book”, and “speech learning” are displayed in order from the top.

  When the user selects the “speech learning” icon Ia (see FIG. 1) in the icon area on the left side (step S3; YES), the CPU 20 displays the icon I on the left side of the main display 10 as shown in FIG. ), In order from the top, the voice functions of “voice switching” I1, “sound comparison” I2, “strong / weak display OFF” I3, “strong reflection OFF” I4, “strong / weak change” I5, and “strong / weak cancellation” I6 Switch to display. In addition, a “conversation voice” icon Ik is displayed in the upper left part of the text. Here, when an icon I other than the “conversation voice” icon Ik is selected by the user touching with a touch pen or the like (step S5; NO), the process ends, and another process corresponding to the selected icon I is performed. I do.

  Further, when the “conversation voice” icon Ik is selected by being touched by the user with the touch pen PI as shown in FIG. 6A (step S5; YES), for example, FIG. As shown, the display of the icon I on the left side of the main display 10 is switched. FIG. 6A shows a case where the range of “do you do” is specified by the user in the text string “How do you do?” In step S4 described above.

  In each figure following FIG. 6A, if there is a shaded part in the figure, the character string (in this case “do you do”), the word, etc. This indicates that the marker is displayed in a specific color (eg, green in the case of FIG. 6A) (green; Mg) by being designated as shown in FIG. .

  Subsequently, the CPU 20 determines whether or not the “voice switching” icon I1 is selected by the user among the icons I on the left side of the main display 10 (step S6), and the “voice switching” icon I1 is selected. In the case where it is (step S6; YES), the display in the frame of the “voice” icon I2 is switched from “comparison” to “recording” (step S7; see FIG. 7C described later). If the display within the frame of the “voice” icon I2 is “recording” and the “voice switch” icon I1 is selected (step S6; YES), the frame within the frame of the “voice” icon I2 is displayed. The display is switched from “recording” to “comparison” (step S7).

  That is, the CPU 20 switches the display within the frame of the “voice” icon I2 between “comparison” and “recording” every time the user selects the “voice switch” icon I1. In this basic operation, each process when the display in the frame of the “voice” icon I2 is “comparison” will be described. Each processing when the display in the frame of the “voice” icon I2 is “recording” will be described in a second embodiment to be described later.

  When the “voice switch” icon I1 has not been selected by the user (step S6; NO) and the “voice” icon I2 has been selected (step S8; YES), the CPU 20 is within the frame of the “voice” icon I2. It is determined whether or not the display is “comparison” (step S9). As described above, in the case of this basic operation, since the display in the frame of the “voice” icon I2 is “comparison” (step S9; YES), the CPU 20 proceeds to the process of step S10.

  Then, the CPU 20 stores the model voice data 30AM corresponding to the text data 30AT (see FIG. 2) including the designated character string (including words; the same applies hereinafter) of the English conversation content selected by the user in the storage unit 80. A portion corresponding to the designated character string (that is, the marker display (green: Mg) portion in FIG. 6A) is read out from the English conversation content 30A and outputted (step S10). In this case, the voice is output with the strength (ie, tone) stored as the model voice data 30AM.

  In the present embodiment, the CPU 20 outputs the portion of the model voice data 30AM corresponding to the character string designated in this manner, and then stores the word 80 in the storage unit 80 for each word of the designated character string. The model voice data 40M are sequentially read out from the word voice data group 4 and are output as voices (step S11).

  In other words, in the present embodiment, the CPU 20 outputs, by voice, the model voice data 30AM in a state in which the native language includes a liaison and the like for the character string “do you do” designated by the user, and “do you do” is spoken. After the output (step S10), subsequently, each word of the designated character string does not include a liaison or the like, and the exemplary voice data 40M in a state of being divided into each word is continuously “do” "You" and "do" are output as voice.

  With this configuration, the user can learn by listening and comparing the pronunciation of a conversation including a liaison and the pronunciation of each word for a designated character string. The above-mentioned “comparison” means this hearing comparison.

[Tone identification display output processing]
Next, a tone identification display output process performed by the CPU 20 of the electronic dictionary 1 will be described. In the tone identification display output process, the CPU 20 determines whether each word of the character string specified in the text is strong or weak (that is, based on the model voice data stored in the storage unit 80 (voice data storage unit) as described above (that is, Control is performed so that the exemplary voice data 30AM is output as voice according to the strength of each word. That is, the CPU 20 functions as a tone identification display control unit according to the present invention. This will be specifically described below.

  The CPU 20 does not select the “voice switch” icon I1 by the user (step S6; NO), that is, in the current state, the display within the frame of the “voice” icon I2 remains “comparison”, and the “voice” icon If I2 is not selected (step S8; NO) and the “strong / weak display” icon I3 (see FIG. 6B) is selected, the character string is based on the model voice data 30AM of the designated character string. Control is performed so that the identification display indicating the strength (ie, the identification display indicating the tone, the same shall apply hereinafter) is performed on each of the words and the identification display is canceled.

  That is, when the “strong / weak display” icon I3 is selected (step S14 in FIG. 4; YES), the CPU 20 determines that the specified character string is displayed if the display in the “strong / weak display” icon I3 is “ON”. Identification display indicating the strength of each word is performed. If the display in the “strength display” icon I3 is “OFF”, the identification display is canceled (step S15). Specifically, the strength (or tone) of each word portion of the voice data stored in association with each word in the text is detected, and the strength (tone) information is attached to each word. A marker (in this case, weak; yellow marker My, medium; blue marker Mb, strong; red marker Mr) indicating the strength (voice tone) is added for identification display.

  Further, the CPU 20 continuously selects the “strength display” icon I3, that is, when the “strength display” icon I3 is continuously selected without selecting another icon I (step S12; YES), “ON” and “OFF” in the “strength display” icon I3 are switched and displayed. That is, if the display in the “strength display” icon I3 is “OFF”, the display is switched to “ON”, and if the display is “OFF”, the display is switched to “ON”. At the same time, the process of step S15 is performed.

  Specifically, for example, when the display on the main display 10 is in the state of FIG. 6A, when the “strong display” icon I3 is selected by touching with a touch pen, a finger, or the like, in this case, “strong display” is displayed. Since the icon I3 is selected for the first time, the CPU 20 makes a NO determination in the determination process in step S12, and proceeds to the determination process in step S14. Then, the “strength display” icon I3 is selected (step S14; YES). In this case, the display in the “strength display” icon I3 is “OFF”, so the strength of each word of the designated character string is displayed. The identification display (that is, the identification display indicating strength in this case) is released (step S15). That is, in this case, since the identification display of the character string has not been performed so far, releasing the identification display means that the display is not changed in the original state of FIG.

  Then, when the user performs a second touch on the “strength display” icon I3 without selecting another icon or the like (step S12; YES), the selection is shown in FIG. 6A. The display of “OFF” in the “strength display” icon I3 is switched to the display of “ON” as shown in FIG. 6B (step S13). At the same time, the CPU 20 performs an identification display indicating the strength of each word of the character string designated on the display 10 (step S15).

  That is, in the present embodiment, the user wants to perform identification display indicating the strength of each word of the character string designated on the display 10 in a state where the display in the “strong display” icon I3 is “OFF”. In this case, the “strong display” icon I3 may be continuously touched with a touch pen or a finger. If the “strong display” icon I3 is continuously selected in this way, the display in the “strong display” icon I3 is switched to “ON” as described above, and each word of the character string designated on the display 10 is switched. It is possible to display an identification indicating the strength of the.

  In the present embodiment, specifically, the strength (or tone) of each word portion of the speech data stored in association with each word in the text is detected, and the strength (tone) information is provided for each word. A marker (here, weak; yellow marker My, middle; blue marker Mb, strong; red marker Mr) indicating the strength (tone) is added and displayed.

  When the CPU 20 performs the identification display indicating the strength of each word of the designated character string, the CPU 20 selects the model voice data 30AM corresponding to the text data 30AT (see FIG. 2) including the designated character string. Then, the content is read from the English conversation content 30A in the storage unit 80, and the strength of each word of the designated character string is determined. Then, based on the intensity color setting data 6, as shown in FIG. 6B, each word of the character string within the specified range in the text displayed on the main display 10 is converted to its strength (voice tone). ), For example, the above-described red, blue, yellow and the like are color-coded and displayed as markers for identification display control.

  Since it cannot be expressed in color on the drawing, it is expressed so that the shading is made finer as the strength of the pronounced word increases. That is, in the case of FIG. 6B, the last “do” is the strongest, the first “do” is the medium strength, and “you” is the weakest.

  As for the model voice data 30AM, as described above, instead of the CPU 20 determining the strength of each word of the read model voice data 30AM, the level of the strength of each word of the model voice data 30AM (that is, in this case) Can be configured such that each word is identified and displayed according to the strength level associated with each word.

  Furthermore, if the user selects the “strong / weak display” icon I3 again without selecting another icon in the state of FIG. 6B, a YES determination is made in the determination processing in step S12, and therefore “strong / weak display” is performed. At the same time that the display of “ON” in the icon I3 is switched to the display of “OFF”, the identification display on the display 10 is canceled. In this way, each time the “strong display” icon I3 is continuously selected, the display of “ON” and “OFF” in the “strong display” icon I3 is switched, and at the same time, the identification display is performed on the display 10. The operation of breaking or releasing is repeated.

  In the present embodiment, the CPU 20 serving as the above-described tone identification display control means, as described above, based on the model voice data 30AM corresponding to the character string designated on the main display 10, each character string (that is, text). Each functional unit such as the display unit 21 is controlled so as to determine the strength of the word and to perform identification display (for example, color-coded) indicating the strength of each word.

  On the other hand, when the “dynamic reflection” icon I4 (see FIGS. 6A and 6B) is selected by the user (step S18; YES), the CPU 20 displays the “dynamic reflection” icon I4. If “ON”, the voice data of the model voice data 30AM is output according to the strength of the word for the portion of the designated character string (text) that is identified and displayed by color-coding the strength of each word as described above. The voice input / output unit 70 and the like are controlled. On the other hand, if the display in the “strong reflection” icon I4 is “OFF”, the model voice data 30AM of the designated character string portion is output as voice (step S19).

  Similarly to the above, the CPU 20 displays “ON” and “OFF” in the “strong reflection” icon I4 when the “strong reflection” icon I4 is continuously selected (step S16; YES). At the same time, the process of step S18 is performed.

  That is, when the user outputs a sound with the display in the “reflection” icon I4 being “ON”, the character string designated on the main display 10 is sounded according to the strength of each word identified and displayed in different colors. Is output. Further, if the voice display is performed while the display in the “strike reflection” icon I4 is “OFF”, the model voice data 30AM corresponding to the designated character string is output as voice.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 6B, the strength of each word identified and displayed by color coding reflects the strength of each word in the model voice data 30AM as it is, so the “strike strength” icon Regardless of whether the display in I4 is “ON” or the voice is output in the “OFF” state, the model voice data 30AM is output as it is. The processing when the “reflection” icon I4 is selected is mainly after the strength of each word in the character string is changed as described below (that is, after the following tone change output processing is performed). When the voice is output, a beneficial effect is exhibited when comparing the voice output after the strength of each word is changed with the voice output of the model voice data 30AM before the change.

[Tone change output processing]
Next, a tone change output process performed by the CPU 20 of the electronic dictionary 1 will be described. In the tone change output process, the CPU 20 changes the tone (in this case, the strength) of one of the words identified and displayed as described above by a user operation (function as a tone change means), or the tone of the changed word. Accordingly, control is performed so as to output the model voice data 30AM of the designated character string (text) (function as a tone change voice output control means). This will be specifically described below.

  That is, when the “change strength” icon I5 (see FIG. 6B) is selected (step S20; YES), the CPU 20 changes the strength of the word in this case as shown in FIG. 6C, for example. For example, a tone-changing pen icon PI is displayed on the main display 10 so as to point to the first word “do” in the character string in which each designated word is identified and displayed (step S21). At the same time, the icons I displayed on the left side of the main display 10 are switched to icons I7 to I10 as shown in FIG. 6C, for example.

  Then, for example, every time the user touches and selects the “color” icon I9 in the state shown in FIG. 6C, the CPU 20 changes the identification display representing the tone, that is, the color representing the strength in this case ( Step S22). That is, for example, when the words are identified and displayed in red, blue, and yellow in the order of strong pronunciation as described above, each time the user touches the “color” icon I9, the CPU 20 The color for identifying and displaying the first “do” is changed in the order of red, blue, and yellow. In the state shown in FIG. 6C, since the first “do” is identified and displayed in blue (a color representing medium intensity), every time the user touches the “color” icon I9. In addition, the identification display color of the first “do” is changed from blue to yellow, red, blue,.

  When the “pen” icon I8 is touched and selected by the user, the CPU 20 moves the display position of the pen icon PI to a position indicating the right word “you”, for example, although not shown. Then, in the same manner as described above, every time the user touches the “color” icon I9, the color for identifying and displaying the word “you” is changed in order. The color of the identification display can be changed by performing the same operation on the last “do” of the designated character string. Note that the user does not need to change the strength of all the words in the designated character string, and can change only the strength of any word in the character string. When the user touches and selects the “eraser” icon I10, the CPU 20 erases the identification display of the word pointed to by the pen icon PI.

  In the present embodiment, the CPU 20 of the electronic dictionary 1 as a voice tone changing means, as described above, the strength (tone) of any word (including all words) of the character string designated by the user. Is changed by the user's operation, and the strength data (tone data) attached to the word is also changed to the color strength data after the change. When the “determine” icon I7 is touched and selected by the user, the CPU 20 stores information on the strength of the changed word in the storage unit 80. At the same time, as shown in FIG. 6D, for example, the display of the pen icon PI is turned off while the changed identification display is maintained, and each icon I displayed on the left side of the main display 10 is replaced with the original icon I. The icons are returned to the icons I1 to I6.

  Then, in this state (see FIG. 6D), as described above, when the “dynamic reflection” icon I4 is selected by the user (step S18; YES), the CPU 20 as the tone change audio output control means If the display in the “dynamic reflection” icon I4 is “ON”, the character string (text) portion identified and displayed by changing the color coding of each word as described above according to the strength of the changed word. The voice input / output unit 70 and the like are controlled so as to output the model voice data 30AM. When the display in the “dynamic reflection” icon I4 is “OFF”, if the “dynamic reflection” icon I4 is touched twice (step S16; YES), the “OFF” display is set to “ON”. ”(Step S17), the user can listen to the voice output of the model voice data 30AM according to the strength of the changed word by operating in this way.

  Further, the user can listen to the voice output of the original model voice data 30AM before the strength is changed by switching the display in the “reflection of strength” icon I4 from “ON” to “OFF”. If the electronic dictionary 1 (speech output device) according to the present embodiment is used, in this way, the user can hear and compare the speech output before and after changing the strength of the word.

  Then, by listening and comparing the voice output before and after changing the strength of the word, learn the character string in the text, that is, the sentence or word voice that is pronounced by changing the tone of the sentence or word It becomes possible. Therefore, in order to change the nuances of a sentence or word, the native pronunciation (i.e. model voice data) indicates how to pronounce or speak when changing the tone of a specific part or word in the sentence. 30AM).

  Note that after the “change strength” icon I5 (see FIG. 6B) is selected and the strength of each word in the character string is changed by the user as described above, for example, as shown in FIG. In the state, when the “voice (comparison)” icon I2 is selected by being touched by the user, as described in [Basic operation] above, the CPU 20 reads the model voice of the portion corresponding to the designated character string. After the data 30AM is output according to the tone (strength) after the change (step S10 in FIG. 3), each word of the designated character string is then changed according to the tone (strength) after the change. The voice is output (step S11).

  On the other hand, for example, in the state shown in FIG. 6D, if the user touches and selects the “strength cancel” icon I6, the setting for changing the strength of each word in the character string can be cancelled. . That is, when the “strength cancel” icon I6 is touched and selected (step S23 in FIG. 4; YES), the CPU 20 cancels the change of the identification display performed as described above (step S24), As shown in FIG. 6A, for example, the display on the main display 10 is returned to a state in which a range of “do you do” is designated (that is, a state in which the range is displayed in green). At the same time, processing such as deleting information about the strength of the changed word stored in the storage unit 80 from the storage unit 80 is performed.

[effect]
As described above, according to the electronic dictionary 1 (voice output device) and the voice output program according to the present embodiment, the CPU 20 is associated with the text data 30AT stored in the storage unit 80 (voice data storage means). Based on the model voice data 30AM of the text, the identification display indicating the tone is performed for each word of the character string (text) designated by the user (function as a tone identification display control means), and any of the identification display The tone of the word is changed by the user's operation (function as a tone changing means), and the voice input / output unit 70 is controlled so as to output the exemplary voice data 30AM of the character string according to the changed tone of the word (tone change) (Function as voice output control means)

  Therefore, the user designates a character string in the text displayed on the main display 10 or the like, changes the tone such as the strength of each word in the character string, and changes the tone of the model voice data 30AM after changing the tone. It becomes possible to hear and compare the output and the sound output of the original model sound data 30AM before changing the tone.

  Then, by listening and comparing the voice output before and after changing the strength of the word, learn the voice of the sentence or word in the state of changing the tone of the character string (ie sentence or word) in the text It becomes possible to do. Therefore, in order to change the nuance of a sentence or word, how to pronounce or utter when a specific part of the sentence or the tone of the word is changed, the native pronunciation (i.e. model voice) It becomes possible to learn effectively based on the data 30AM).

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the CPU 20 as the tone identification display control means, for example, each character string specified in the text on the main display 10 as shown in FIG. By performing marker display color-coded according to the tone of the word (that is, marker display of red, blue, yellow, etc. according to the above-described strength, for example), the identification display indicating the tone is performed. Further, for example, as shown in FIG. 6C or FIG. 6D, the CPU 20 as the tone change unit performs an identification operation when the user performs an operation of changing the color of the marker display for each word. It is configured to change the tone (for example, strength) of the displayed word.

  Therefore, as in the language learning device described in Patent Document 1 described above, in this embodiment, the tone of words such as strength or weakness is displayed by marker display, as compared with the case where the pronunciation of native or user is represented by a waveform. Therefore, there is an effect that the user can learn the pronunciation and the like by accurately recognizing the tone of the word.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, an electronic dictionary 1 (voice output device) according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the first embodiment described above, the user uses the model voice data 30AM related to native pronunciation stored in the storage unit 80 of the electronic dictionary 1, and uses the strength of each word of the character string specified in the text ( That is, the case where the voice is output by changing the tone) has been described. That is, the case where the tone of the model audio data 30AM is changed has been described.

  In the second embodiment, the recording data 6 (refer to FIG. 2) in which the voice uttered by the user is recorded, the identification display indicating the tone is performed on each word of the character string, and the tone of each word is changed. Explain what to do. That is, a case where the tone of his / her voice uttered by the user is changed will be described.

  In this case, for example, the user checks the tone at the time of uttering “How do you do?” By comparing it with the exemplary voice data 30AM, that is, the native tone, or changes the tone of which word. This makes it possible to learn whether it is possible to approximate the native tone. In the following second embodiment, when the same function or the same process as the first embodiment is performed, the same reference numerals and process step numbers as those used in the first embodiment are used. A description will be given with the above.

  In the present embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the user presses the “speech learning” icon Ia with a touch pen or finger while the English conversation content, for example, “How do you do?” Is open as shown in FIG. Touch to select. Then, a text string “How do you do?” Is designated as a range in which the pronunciation of the text displayed on the main display 10 is checked or learned, for example, as shown in FIG. (Step S4). The CPU 20 of the electronic dictionary 1 identifies and displays the designated character string (in this case, “How do you do?”) In, for example, a green color marker display Mg.

  In this state, in order to cause the electronic dictionary 1 to execute, for example, the [tone identification display output process] described in the first embodiment, the user touches and selects the “strong display” icon I3 twice in succession. Then (step S12; YES), the CPU 20 switches the display in the “strong / weak display” icon I3 from “OFF” to “ON” (step S13), and is designated as shown in FIG. 7B. An identification display indicating the strength of each word of the character string (in this case, “How do you do?”) Is performed (step S15).

  In the first embodiment and the present embodiment, as described above, as the strong and weak color setting data 6 (see FIG. 2), the most pronounced word is red, and the pronounced word is medium intensity. As shown in FIG. 7B, data for identifying and displaying the most weakly pronounced word in yellow is provided. As shown in FIG. 7B, “How” in the character string “How do you do?” The first “do” is displayed as a medium blue Mb, “you” is the weakest yellow My, and the last “do” is the strongest red Mr. However, the same applies to the first embodiment, but it is also possible to configure such that sound intensity is further finely classified and identified and displayed.

[Recording process]
On the other hand, when recording learning according to the present embodiment is executed in the state of FIG. 7B, for example, when the user touches and selects the “voice switching” icon I1 in order to record the voice uttered by the user (step) As described above, the CPU 20 switches the display in the frame of the “voice” icon I2 from “comparison” to “recording” (step S7 in FIG. 3).

  In this state, when the user touches and selects the “voice” icon I2 (step S8; YES), the CPU 20 displays the “voice” icon I2 in the frame as described above instead of “comparison” ( Step S9: NO) Since “recording”, the process proceeds to the recording process of step S25 and subsequent steps in FIG.

  In the recording process, for example, as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the CPU 20 determines that the character string “How do you do?” Is designated by the user as shown in FIG. ), The designated character string “How do you do?” Is displayed in two stages on the main display 10 (step S25).

  Then, as shown in FIG. 7C, the CPU 20 displays “exemplary voice” beside the upper character string, and “recorded voice” beside the lower character string. Is displayed (step S26).

  Then, the CPU 20 controls the voice input / output unit 70 (see FIG. 2) to activate the microphone 13 and displays, for example, “Recording is possible” on the main display 10 or displays “Recorded voice”. The user is prompted to utter a specified character string by blinking or the like. Then, the voice uttered by the user is recorded (step S27), and the recorded user voice is stored as recording data 6 in the storage unit 80 and registered. That is, the CPU 20 functions as user voice registration means according to the present invention.

  In this case, for example, the “speech voice” display displayed next to the lower character string displayed in two rows is displayed in a predetermined color on a white background before recording, and is white on a background of the predetermined color after recording. It is also possible to configure so that the user is notified that the recording has been completed, for example, by switching the display so as to be displayed.

  In the present embodiment, when the recording of the user's voice is completed in this way, the CPU 20 reads out the model voice data 30AM of the designated character string and outputs the voice (step S28). Subsequently, the recorded recording data 6 is reproduced, and the recorded user's voice is output as a voice (step S29).

[About strength display and strength change]
Then, the CPU 20 as the above-described tone identification display control means, tone change means, and tone change voice output control means performs model voice data according to the user's operation on the character string (text) described in the first embodiment. A process similar to the process that can be performed on 30AM can be performed on the recording data 6 of the user's voice.

  Specifically, for example, in the state shown in FIG. 7C, the user traces the character string “How do you do?” Of the “recorded voice” on the lower side of the two-stage display with a touch pen. The CPU 20 of the electronic dictionary 1 displays the marker in a specific color such as green, for example, although illustration is omitted. In this state, when the “strong / weak display” icon I3 is selected by the user (step S14; YES), the CPU 20 divides the designated character string “How do you do?” Into each word, As shown in FIG. 7D, for example, as shown in FIG. 7D, the strength of each word in the designated character string is displayed as a marker with, for example, red, blue, yellow, etc., and identification display is performed (step S15). ). That is, the CPU 20 functions as a user tone identification display control unit that performs control so that a tone is given to each word in the text based on the registered user voice and an identification display that represents the tone is performed according to the present invention. It is like that.

  In addition, when the display in the “strong display” icon I3 is “OFF”, if the user continuously selects the “strong display” icon I3 (step S12; YES), the “strong display” icon I3 is displayed. The display inside can be switched to “ON” (step S13) as described in the first embodiment. Further, as shown in FIG. 7C, when the range of the character string is already designated as “How do you do?” In the “model voice” on the upper side of the two-level display, the two-level Even if you do not specify the range for the “recording voice” character string at the bottom of the display, the same range as the character string for the “model voice” at the top is automatically specified to perform identification display. It is also possible to configure.

  Then, for example, as shown in FIG. 7 (D), the user identifies and displays the strength of each word of the character string in the “model voice” on the main display 10 and “recorded voice” that records the voice uttered by the user. By comparing with the strength identification display of each word in the character string, it is possible to visually recognize the tone of his pronunciation, that is, how the strength is different from the model voice in this case.

  That is, in the case of FIG. 7D, in the “model voice”, the last “do” in the character string “How do you do?” Is pronounced most strongly, but “How” is the most pronounced in my pronunciation. It is possible to accurately recognize that the pronunciation is strong by comparing the identification display. At that time, the identification display is color-coded in red, blue, yellow, etc. as described above and displayed as a marker, so that the difference in the identification display can be recognized visually and easily.

  Further, when the user wants to compare the difference between the “model voice” and the “recorded voice”, as described above, for example, in the state shown in FIG. (Step S18; YES), or when the display in the “dynamic reflection” icon I4 is “OFF” as shown in FIG. 7D, the “dynamic reflection” icon I4 is continuously displayed. Then, the display is touched and selected (step S16; YES), and the display in the “strong reflection” icon I4 is switched to “ON” (step S17).

  By operating in this way, the voices are output in a state where the strength of each word of “model voice” and “recorded voice” is reflected (step S19), so that they can be compared. Therefore, in this way, the user can easily and accurately recognize the difference between the “model voice” and the “recorded voice”.

  On the other hand, the user can change the strength of each word in the character string so that the “recorded voice” uttered by the user is closer to the “model voice”. That is, the CPU 20 functions as user tone change means according to the present invention. That is, for example, the user touches and selects the “change strength” icon I5 in the state shown in FIG. 7D (step S20; YES), and the character string “How do you” of the “recorded voice” uttered by himself / herself. By performing the same operation as that shown in FIG. 6C on each word “do?”, the tone of each word “recorded speech” (ie, strength in this case) as shown in FIG. Is changed to match the tone (strength) of each word of “model voice” (steps S21 and S22).

  The CPU 20 also functions as a user tone change voice output control means according to the present invention, and changes and outputs the tone of the user voice according to the tone of the word changed as described above. ing. Then, by performing an operation such as the user touching the “Reflect strength” icon I4 in the same manner as described above, the “recorded voice” whose tone (dynamic strength) has been changed is output as a voice, and the “model voice” is compared and compared. It becomes possible to learn audibly which word should be pronounced strongly when you pronounce it.

[effect]
As described above, according to the electronic dictionary 1 (sound output device) and the sound output program according to the present embodiment, the recorded sound in which native pronunciation is recorded and the sound uttered by the user are recorded and the recorded sound is heard. Compare, change the tone of the recorded voice (strength) to match the tone of the model voice (strength), or change the tone of the recorded voice and model voice (strength) to make it sound correctly It becomes possible to learn accurately and accurately.

  As in this embodiment, a character string (text) corresponding to the model voice (model voice data 30AM) and a character string (text) corresponding to the recorded voice (recorded data 6) are displayed on the main display 10. The two-stage display has an advantage that the user can operate the model voice and the recorded voice independently as described above, and the CPU 20 can easily perform the processing independently.

  Further, as described above, not only the tone (strength) of each word is changed only for the recording voice of the voice uttered by the user, but for example, the first embodiment and the second embodiment described above are combined, Simultaneously with the recorded voice, it is also possible to change the tone of each word of the character string with respect to the model voice, and output the voice in which the tone of each word has been changed to compare them.

  That is, for example, in the state shown in FIG. 8, the “strength change” icon I5 is selected by touching (step S20; YES), and the strength of each word in both the “exemplary voice” and “recorded voice” character strings is determined. By changing in the same way, the tone (that is, strength in this case) of each word of both “exemplary voice” and “recorded voice” is changed (steps S21 and S22). Then, by touching the “Reflect strength” icon I4, etc. and listening to the “model voice” and “recorded voice” with the changed tone (strength), which one is used when changing the nuance, It becomes possible to learn aurally how to pronounce a word strongly.

  The embodiments to which the present invention can be applied are not limited to the above-described embodiments and modifications, and can be appropriately changed without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  For example, although the voice output device according to the present invention has been described as the electronic dictionary 1, those to which the present invention can be applied are not limited to such products, and are not shown in the figure. For example, a desktop or tablet personal computer It can be applied to electronic devices such as notebook computers, mobile phones, smartphones, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), and game machines. Further, the audio recording / playback program 81 according to the present invention may be stored in a memory card, CD, or the like that can be attached to and detached from the electronic dictionary 1.

  In the first and second embodiments described above, as shown in FIG. 2, at least the English conversation content 30A, that is, the text data 30AT and the model voice data 30AM are associated in advance with the voice output device (for example, the electronic dictionary 1). The case where the data is stored in the storage unit 80 (voice data storage means) has been described. However, as shown in FIG. 6D, for example, the audio output device 1 and the external device G are connected by wire or wireless via a network or the like, and the CPU 20 of the audio output device 1 transfers the English conversation content 30A to the external device. Or the voice output device 1 stores only the text data 30AT of the English conversation content 30A in advance, and the model voice data 30AM corresponding to the text data 30AT is acquired from the external device G. Is also possible.

  In such a configuration, the CPU 20 of the audio output device 1 functions as an audio data acquisition unit. With this configuration, it is possible to use a memory or the like having a smaller storage capacity as the storage unit 80 of the audio output device 1, and the audio output device 1 can be manufactured at a lower cost. There are benefits.

As mentioned above, although several embodiment of this invention was described, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, The range of the invention described in the claim, and its equivalent range Including.
The invention described in the scope of claims attached to the application of this application will be added below. The item numbers of the claims described in the appendix are as set forth in the claims attached to the application of this application.
[Appendix]
<Claim 1>
Voice data storage means for storing voice data in association with text;
Display means for displaying the text;
Based on the voice data stored in the voice data storage means, a tone identification display control means for controlling to add a tone to each word in the text and to perform an identification display representing the tone;
Tone change means for changing the tone of any word identified and displayed by the tone identification display means by a user operation;
Tone change voice output control means for controlling to change the tone of the voice data of the text according to the tone of the word changed by the tone change means;
An audio output device comprising:
<Claim 2>
User voice registration means for registering user voice in association with the text displayed by the display means;
User voice tone identification display control means for controlling to add a tone to each word in the text based on the user voice registered by the user voice registration means, and to perform an identification display representing the tone;
The audio output device according to claim 1, further comprising:
<Claim 3>
The user tone identification display control means includes:
A display for performing identification display indicating the tone of each word in the text by the tone identification display control means, and an identification display for expressing the tone of the word in each text in the text by the user voice are performed. The audio output device according to claim 1 or 2.
<Claim 4>
User tone change means for changing the tone of any word identified and displayed by the user tone identification display means by a user operation;
User tone change voice output control means for controlling to change and output the tone of the user voice registered by the user voice registration means according to the tone of the word changed by the user tone change means;
The audio output device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising:
<Claim 5>
Voice data acquisition means for acquiring model voice data or voice data corresponding to text;
Display means for displaying the text;
Based on the voice data, tone identification display control means for controlling each word in the text to give a tone and to perform identification display representing the tone;
Tone change means for changing the tone of any word identified and displayed by the tone identification display means by a user operation;
Tone change voice output control means for controlling to change the tone of the voice data of the text according to the tone of the word changed by the tone change means;
An audio output device comprising:
<Claim 6>
The tone identification display control means performs an identification display representing the tone by performing marker display color-coded according to the tone of the word on each word of the character string,
The said tone change means changes the tone of the said identified and displayed word according to operation which a user changes the color of the said marker display for every said word, The any of Claim 1 to 5 characterized by the above-mentioned. The audio output device according to claim 1.
<Claim 7>
In a computer provided with voice data storage means in which voice data is stored in association with text data,
A display control function for controlling the display of the text;
Based on the voice data, a tone identification display control function for performing control to attach a tone to each word in the text and perform an identification display representing the tone;
A tone change function for changing the tone of any of the identified words by a user operation,
According to the changed tone of the word, a tone change voice output control function for performing control to change and output the tone of the exemplary voice data of the text;
An audio output program characterized by realizing the above.
<Claim 8>
On the computer,
An audio data acquisition function for acquiring audio data or audio data corresponding to text;
Display control means for performing control to display the text;
Based on the voice data, a tone identification display control function for performing control to attach a tone to each word of a character string specified in the text and perform an identification display representing the tone;
A tone change function for changing the tone of any of the identified words by a user operation,
A tone change voice output control function for controlling to change and output the tone of the exemplary voice data of the text according to the changed tone of the word;
An audio output program characterized by realizing the above.

1 Electronic dictionary (voice output device)
6 Recorded data 10 Main display (display means)
20 CPU (tone tone identification display control means, tone change means, tone change voice output control means, user tone identification display control means, user tone change display means, user tone change voice output control means, voice data acquisition means)
21 Display section (display means)
30AM model voice data 30AT text data 80 storage unit (voice data storage means, user voice registration means)
81 Voice recording and playback program (voice output program)

Claims (8)

Voice data storage means for storing voice data in association with text;
Display means for displaying the text;
Based on the voice data stored in the voice data storage means, a tone identification display control means for controlling to add a tone to each word in the text and to perform an identification display representing the tone;
Tone change means for changing the tone of any word identified and displayed by the tone identification display means by a user operation;
Tone change voice output control means for controlling to change the tone of the voice data of the text according to the tone of the word changed by the tone change means;
An audio output device comprising: User voice registration means for registering user voice in association with the text displayed by the display means;
User voice tone identification display control means for controlling to add a tone to each word in the text based on the user voice registered by the user voice registration means, and to perform an identification display representing the tone;
The audio output device according to claim 1, further comprising: The user tone identification display control means includes:
A display for performing identification display indicating the tone of each word in the text by the tone identification display control means, and an identification display for expressing the tone of the word in each text in the text by the user voice are performed. The audio output device according to claim 1 or 2. User tone change means for changing the tone of any word identified and displayed by the user tone identification display means by a user operation;
User tone change voice output control means for controlling to change and output the tone of the user voice registered by the user voice registration means according to the tone of the word changed by the user tone change means;
The audio output device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: Voice data acquisition means for acquiring model voice data or voice data corresponding to text;
Display means for displaying the text;
Based on the voice data, tone identification display control means for controlling each word in the text to give a tone and to perform identification display representing the tone;
Tone change means for changing the tone of any word identified and displayed by the tone identification display means by a user operation;
Tone change voice output control means for controlling to change the tone of the voice data of the text according to the tone of the word changed by the tone change means;
An audio output device comprising: The tone identification display control means performs an identification display representing the tone by performing marker display color-coded according to the tone of the word on each word of the character string,
The said tone change means changes the tone of the said identified and displayed word according to operation which a user changes the color of the said marker display for every said word, The any of Claim 1 to 5 characterized by the above-mentioned. The audio output device according to claim 1. In a computer provided with voice data storage means in which voice data is stored in association with text,
A display control function for controlling the display of the text;
Based on the voice data, a tone identification display control function for performing control to attach a tone to each word in the text and perform an identification display representing the tone;
A tone change function for changing the tone of any of the identified words by a user operation,
According to the changed tone of the word, a tone change voice output control function for performing control to change and output the tone of the exemplary voice data of the text;
An audio output program characterized by realizing the above. On the computer,
An audio data acquisition function for acquiring audio data or audio data corresponding to text;
Display control means for performing control to display the text;
Based on the voice data, a tone identification display control function for performing control to attach a tone to each word of a character string specified in the text and perform an identification display representing the tone;
A tone change function for changing the tone of any of the identified words by a user operation,
A tone change voice output control function for controlling to change and output the tone of the exemplary voice data of the text according to the changed tone of the word;
An audio output program characterized by realizing the above.

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