JP3321578B2 - Voice synthesis guidance device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention
For example, the present invention relates to a voice synthesizing guidance device that performs guidance broadcasting using a speaker in a bus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a conventional voice synthesis guidance device. This voice synthesis guidance device is used to provide a destination name, a next stop name, and other various types of guidance by a speaker in a bus, for example. It is. In FIG. 6 , reference numeral 1 denotes a guidance start detecting means which is operated by a switch operation of a bus driver or the like. 2 is a storage means (memory), for example, it is composed of a ROM or the like, to the phrase content showing a plurality of guide contents as shown in FIG. 7 (for example, "Thank you every time.""Please note that" ...) The corresponding binary data is stored in advance in the phrase numbers indicating the addresses. The data extracting unit 30 extracts a plurality of data to be reproduced from the storage unit 2 in a preset order, and is constituted by a CPU or the like. The data from the data extracting means 30 is reproduced as voice by the reproducing means 4, and the reproducing means 4 includes a D / A converter,
It is composed of an amplifier, a speaker and the like.

[0003] Upon sensing intention of guiding the beginning of an operator where the guidance start detecting unit 1, a plurality data extraction means 30 corresponding to the plurality of word number as shown in FIG. 7 which has been previously stored in the storage means 2 Data is sequentially extracted, and the
, And sounds corresponding to a plurality of phrase number numbers are successively broadcast as a message.

FIG. 7 shows the storage contents of the storage means 2 shown in FIG. 6. The storage means 2 stores binary data corresponding to the order of words for generating broadcast contents and the level of the audio signal of each word. Have been. The data extraction means 30 is a CP
U, and the order of words (00
1,005,009,006,010,007 ...)
The binary data is read according to. Binary data corresponds to the level of every predetermined sampling time of the audio signal, the predetermined word content for each phrase number, as shown in FIG. 7 are associated. Therefore, when the binary data is read out and played back in the order of the above words and phrases, the message "Thank you every time. This bus is bound for XXXXX" is sent.

[0005]

When a plurality of words are reproduced in order to broadcast such a message, if the words are connected and heard, the contents are difficult to hear and unnatural. Therefore, it is necessary to put a space before or after the word in order to avoid hearing the words connected to each other, so that data including a silent part before and after the word is created and stored in the storage means 2. Is common. That is, after the audio data (phrase content) of the binary data of each phrase number indicating the address in FIG. 7 , the necessary number of binary data of silence data (for example, 08) is stored during silence time. For example, if the sampling frequency is 8 KHz and silent time of 0.5 seconds is generated, 4000 pieces of silent data are required, and the amount of silent data proportional to the silent time must be stored for each phrase. . Therefore, as the number of words increases,
The data size increases accordingly, and the memory capacity of the storage means 2 needs to be increased, resulting in a problem that the cost is increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, and has as its object to separately store speech data and silence data of words and phrases, thereby reducing the memory capacity of the storage means. It is an object of the present invention to provide a voice synthesizing guide device capable of performing the above.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a voice synthesizing guidance apparatus wherein a plurality of types of voice data having different contents and the voice data are separately stored in address order and have different lengths of time. Storage means for storing a plurality of silence data in advance, data extraction means for reading out any audio data and silence data in a predetermined order from the storage means in time series, and converting the data from the data extraction means into speech And reproducing means for reproducing the data.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the silent data is stored in advance in the storage means separately in the order of addresses, and the voice data stored in the storage means is data from the beginning to the end of the voice. The stored arbitrary voice data and silence data are reproduced in a preset order. Therefore, the memory capacity of the storage means can be reduced and cost can be reduced as compared with a case where a silent portion is always added before and after a word of voice data as in the related art. Moreover, by providing silent data between words, a natural guide broadcast can be realized.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, a specific embodiment of the speech synthesizing guide device of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the guidance start detecting means 1 has the same configuration as the conventional one, and a plurality of types of voice data and silence data corresponding to the contents of words and phrases are stored separately in advance in the address order in the storage means 2 as binary data. I have. The data extracting means 3 alternately reads audio data and silence data from the storage means 2 in a preset order, and extracts a plurality of audio data to be reproduced.
And silence data extraction means 3b for extracting silence data. Then, the data from the audio data extracting means 3a and the silence data extracting means 3b are input to the reproducing means 4 and are broadcast by audio.

The audio data for reproduction stored in the storage means 2 is, as shown in FIG. 3, only a sound part without a silent part before and after the audio. Is reduced in size (memory capacity). Silence data, which is a silence part inserted between words, is separately stored at addresses 101 and after. For example, the address 101 has a silence time of 0.
1 second, the address 102 has a silence time of 0.2 second,
The address 103 is set and stored in advance so that the silence time is 0.5 seconds. Although the silent time is described only up to 0.5 seconds in FIG. 3, binary data corresponding to an arbitrary silent time is set thereafter.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of the entire guide system when the speech synthesis guide system of the present invention is used as a route bus guide system. Reference numeral 13 denotes a system setting for setting a guide system (bus route). A switch 12 is a system read report switch for declaring reading of the set system, a guide start switch 11 is operated when the user wants to start guidance, and a system set switch 13, a system read report switch 12 and a guidance start are provided. This is an input port connected to the switch 11. Reference numeral 41 denotes a buffer for temporarily storing data for performing audio reproduction, and reference numeral 42 denotes a buffer 4.
1 is a D / A converter for converting a digital signal into an analog signal, and 31 is a CPU which is a main component of the data extracting means 3.
And the input port 14, the storage means 2, the buffer 41,
The D / A converter 42 is controlled. 43, a power amplifier for amplifying the analog signal from the D / A converter 42;
Reference numeral denotes a speaker that emits a sound by the analog signal amplified by the power amplifier 43 and performs broadcasting.

FIG. 3 shows the contents stored in the storage means 2. In FIG. 3, the system numbers of the system 1, the system 2,.
・ Corresponds to the bus operation route, guidance addresses 001, 0
02 ... correspond to each guidance. The guide address information described above is stored in each system, and in each guide address information, a phrase number of a plurality of types of voice data and a phrase number of silence data having a plurality of time lengths are preset. They are stored in the order in which they were performed.

The phrase numbers (eg, "Thank you every time", "Please be careful" ...) are stored as binary data in the phrase numbers corresponding to the addresses 001, 002, 003,... The binary data stored in this phrase number stores voice data that does not include a silent portion before and after the phrase, and the silent data is stored in independent phrase number (101, 102, 103...) Addresses. The above phrase numbers (001, 002 ...)
Corresponds to the voiced part A of the voice data not including the silent part B shown in FIG.
2, 103...) Correspond to the silent part B.

If the guide address of the system 1 in FIG. 3 is "001", the word number is "001, 10".
3,005,101,009,101,006,10
1, 010, 101, 007 ... ", and when the audio data and the silence data binary data corresponding to these phrase numbers are read out, the content is" Thank you very much (0.5 second silence). Is (0.1 second silence) 経 由 (0.1 second silence) via (0.1 second silence) ××××
(No sound for 0.1 second) ... " With the phrase number of this guidance address, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, ...
The 100th word number is silence data for reproducing silence for a predetermined time. Note that silent data of 0.1 seconds corresponds to a memory capacity of 400 bytes, silent data of 0.2 seconds corresponds to a memory capacity of 800 bytes, and 0.
The 5-second silence data corresponds to a memory capacity of 2000 bytes.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the guidance system is set by the system setting switch 13, and the CPU 3 is set by the system read report switch 12.
Numeral 1 reads the set system, and thereafter, the declared system is held until the next reading is declared.

When the guidance start switch 11 is depressed in step S1, the CPU 31 reproduces the voice corresponding to the phrase number of the content of the first guidance address of the system through the input port 14 in order. Here, as shown in FIG.
Under the control of U31, first, audio data (only the sound portion A shown in FIG. 5) is extracted by the audio data extracting means 3a (step S3), and the extracted audio data is reproduced in step S4. Then, if the reading of the audio data has not been completed in step S5, the silent data extracting means 3b extracts the silent data (step S6), and extracts the extracted silent data (the silent portion B shown in FIG. 5) in step S7. To play. Even if the extracted silence data is reproduced, it is not a voiced part, and therefore, is reproduced for a predetermined time (for example, 0.
(5 seconds) Silence continues. Then, voice data and silence data are alternately reproduced, and a series of messages is broadcast until the end of the phrase number (steps S2 and S5).

As described above, the audio data extraction means 3a and the silence data extraction means 3b alternately extract and reproduce the sound data of the sound part and the silence data of the silence part. Reduces the size of data (memory capacity) by eliminating silence before and after the word,
Silences stored separately and independently between words can be reproduced. Also, the reproduction time of the reproduced silence data is switched according to the content (type) of the audio data reproduced before that, so that the words and phrases are not connected and heard, and natural broadcasting can be performed. That is, since the output of the reproduced sound is a sound in which a sound part and a silent part whose silence time is slightly different from each other are alternately included, a guide message in which the delimitation between words and phrases is clear can be broadcast as in the related art.

Next, if the guidance start switch 11 is pressed,
Through the input port 14, the CPU 31 sequentially reproduces the data of the phrase number indicated by the contents of the next guide address 002 of the same system in the same manner as the previous case.

In the conventional system, binary data of a sound part and a silent part are stored with the same phrase number, and the binary data of the silent part needs a data amount corresponding to a silent period. In the above, as described above, the data of the silent part is stored in an independent word number (address) separately from the data of the sound part, and the word numbers of the sound part and the silent part are stored in the guide address, Since the data in the silent section is read out by designating the phrase number one by one, the memory capacity of the storage unit 2 can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the guide broadcast is a bus is described. However, the present invention is not limited to the bus guide broadcast, and the present invention is also applied to a guide broadcast using a voice synthesizing method, for example, a train or an in-house broadcast. be able to.

[0021]

As described above, in the voice synthesizing guidance apparatus according to the first aspect, silence data is separately stored in the storage means in advance in address order, and the voice data stored in the storage means is data from the beginning to the end of the voice. The audio data and the silence data stored in the storage means are reproduced in a preset order. Therefore, the memory capacity of the storage means can be reduced and cost can be reduced as compared with a case where a silent portion is always added before and after a word of voice data as in the related art. Moreover, by providing silent data between words, a natural guide broadcast can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a main block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing data stored in a storage unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a waveform diagram of a sound including a silent portion according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a main part of a conventional example.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing data stored in a storage unit of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 guidance start detection means 2 storage means 3 data extraction means 3a voice data extraction means 3b silent data extraction means 4 reproduction means

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A storage means in which a plurality of types of audio data having different contents and a plurality of silence data which are separately stored in the order of addresses and which have different lengths of time are stored in advance, and this storage is provided. Data extracting means for reading arbitrary voice data and silence data in a predetermined order from the means in a time series, and reproducing means for reproducing data from the data extracting means by voice. Voice synthesis guidance device.