JPH05232982A - Time length specification type description reading method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to read out the contents of respective descriptions at a natural speed within a specified time. CONSTITUTION:Description data having the different degree of details (only heading sentence, up to leading sentence, summay A, summary B, whole document) in the contents of each description identification(ID) and the reading time (each numeral (sec) in the shown matrix) of the description data are stored as a pair. When a total reading time is specified as 1200sec e.g. the 'overall document' reading time values of respective descriptions are added. Since the total reading time becomes 2100sec in this case and exceeds the specified total reading time, the degree of details is dropped only by one step. Then the reading time values of 'summary B' are added. Since the total reading time becomes 1000sec in this case and is included within the specified reading time, the description data of 'summary B' are selected from respective description IDs and the selected data are outputted by voice.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of reading the article contents of each article at a natural speed so that the total reading time designated by the user can be accommodated.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when reading aloud an article, for example, the entire content of the article is read out. If the reading speed is fixed, the reading time from the start of reading the article to the completion of reading is inevitably determined. ..

[0003]

However, in the conventional reading method, the reading time of an article is inevitably determined as described above. Therefore, even when reading the content of an article for a plurality of articles one after another, the total is read. There was a problem that the last article could not be heard if the reading time was inevitably fixed and the user had no time to spare. On the other hand, if the reading speed is increased, the total reading time is shortened, but since it is not a natural reading speed, there is a problem in that it is difficult to hear, which is not practical.

[0004]

The present invention has been made in order to solve such problems, and provides article data in which the degree of detail of the article content is changed for each article, and reading time for the article data. Is stored as a pair, the total reading time is specified, and article data with an appropriate level of detail is selected for each article so that the total reading time falls within this total reading time. The audio is output.

[0005]

According to the present invention, therefore, when the total reading time is designated, article data having an appropriate degree of detail is selected for each article so that the total reading time falls within the total reading time.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The time length designation type article reading method according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to embodiments. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a time length designation type newspaper article reading device to which this time length designation type article reading method is applied.

In the figure, 1 is an article database section,
Reference numeral 2 is an input unit, 3 is an editing unit, 4 is a voice synthesis unit, and 5 is a voice output unit.

In the article database unit 1, article data in which the degree of detail of the article content is changed for each article and reading time for the article data (reading time at a natural reading speed) are accumulated as a pair. There is.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of accumulated contents (table) in the article database unit 1. In FIG. 1, there are five levels of detail of the content of the article: “headline only”, “up to read sentence”, “summary sentence A”, “summary sentence B”, and “whole sentence”. Then, each article (article ID 101, 10
2, 201, 202), the reading time (numerical value in the matrix: seconds) is determined for article data in which the degree of detail of the article content is changed.

In FIG. 1, "summary sentence A" and "summary sentence B" are summaries of all articles, and "summary sentence B" includes more detailed contents than "summary sentence A". There is.
Such summaries can be created manually,
It can also be created automatically from the text using natural language processing technology.

In this time length designation type newspaper article reading device, the user specifies the total reading time through the input unit 2. Then, in response to the designation of the total reading time, the editing unit 3 reads the article database unit 1, and the article data having an appropriate level of detail for each article so that the total reading time falls within the designated total reading time. Is selected, and character data representing the content of the article data is sent to the voice synthesis unit 4.

For example, if the total reading time is specified as 1200 seconds, article IDs 101, 102, 201, 20
For 2, the reading time of the "full text" with the maximum level of detail is added. In this case, the total reading time is 210
Since it will be 0 seconds and it will not fit in the specified total reading time, the detail level is downshifted by one step and the article ID 10
The reading time of "Summary sentence B" is added for 1, 102, 201 and 202. In this case, the total reading time is 1000 seconds, which is within the designated total reading time. Therefore, the article data of “abstract sentence B” is selected for the article IDs 101, 102, 201, and 202, and the content of the article data is displayed. The character data is sent to the voice synthesizer 4.

The voice synthesis unit 4 converts the sent character data into a voice signal and sends it to the voice output unit 5. The voice output unit 5 converts the voice signal into voice and outputs the voice.

That is, according to the present embodiment, when the total reading time is designated through the input unit 2, the article ID 1 is set so that the total reading time falls within the total reading time.
For 01, 102, 201, and 202, article data shifted to an appropriate level of detail is selected, and the voice output unit 5 outputs the voice data. As a result, the user can listen to the article contents of each article to the end at a natural reading speed, according to his / her own time margin.

In the above description, the article data shifted to an appropriate level of detail is selected for each article so that the total reading time is within the designated total reading time. It is also possible to add a priority indicating that the article data is selected with an appropriate degree of detail for each article in consideration of this priority.

There are various possible methods for considering the priority. For example, as shown in FIG.
It is assumed that a priority lower than the priority is set for D102 and 201.

In this case, when 600 seconds is designated as the total reading time via the input unit 2, the reading time of "full text" having the highest degree of detail is added to the article IDs 101 and 202 having the priority. In this case, the addition result is 1100 seconds, which does not fit within the designated total reading time.

Therefore, the article ID 101 whose priority is
For 202 and 202, the level of detail is downshifted by one level, and the reading time of "Summary sentence B" is added. In this case, the addition result is 550 seconds, which is within the designated total reading time. Here, the designated total reading time is 600 seconds, and there is still 50 seconds remaining time.

Therefore, the article ID 102 whose priority is
For article 201 and 201, the article data “up to read sentence” is selected as the article data whose addition result of the reading time is within the remaining time (50 seconds).

That is, when 600 seconds is designated as the total reading time through the input unit 2, the article data of "Summary sentence B" is selected for the article IDs 101 and 202 having the priority, and the article having the priority is ID 102 and 20
For 1, the article data “up to the lead sentence” is selected, and the total reading time is 550 seconds + 50 seconds,
It fits within the specified total reading time.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the total reading time is designated without considering the article field, but the total reading time may be designated for each article field. According to such a designation method, it is possible to listen to detailed information in the fields of interest and simple content in the fields of little interest, according to the interests of the user.

For example, the article IDs 101 and 102 are the field type I, the article IDs 201 and 201 are the field type II,
It is assumed that the total reading time for the field type I is 500 seconds and the total reading time for the field type II is 50 seconds. In this case, article IDs 101 and 102
For, the article data of “summary sentence B” having the total reading time of 500 seconds and falling within the total reading time of 500 seconds is selected. On the other hand, for the article IDs 201 and 202, the article data of “up to read sentence”, which has a total reading time of 40 seconds and a total reading time of 50 seconds, is selected.

In this embodiment, the input unit 2 may be a communication terminal and the editing unit 3 may be connected by a communication line. The input unit 2 and the voice output unit 5 may be the same terminal device. For example, assuming that the input unit 2 and the voice output unit 5 are also used as a touch-tone telephone, if the line is connected to the editing unit 3, the total reading time is designated by the push button, and the article data of each selected article is specified. Can be heard on the handset.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a specific processing operation when article data of an appropriate degree of detail is selected for each article in consideration of the priority (without being aware of the article field).

The processing operation will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 according to this flowchart.

First, in step 301, the table (including the priority) shown in FIG.
Is stored in advance.

When the total reading time of 600 seconds is designated through the input unit 2, this is set as the designated reading time (step 302).

Next, in step 303, the priority y
Set to the highest. That is, in the table shown in FIG. 1, since the highest priority is, the priority y is set to.

Next, in step 304, the detail level x
To the maximum. That is, in the table shown in FIG. 1, the maximum detail level is "full text", so the detail level x is set to "full text".

Then, the process proceeds to step 305, where the reading time of the article data of "full text" of the article IDs 101 and 202 is read from the article database unit 1 as the reading time of the article data corresponding to the detail level x in the article ID having the priority y. The time is read, and the total reading time is 110
Get 0 seconds.

Then, in step 306, it is determined whether the total reading time in step 305 exceeds the designated reading time (total reading time). In this case, the total reading time is 1100 seconds, which exceeds the designated reading time of 600 seconds, so the process proceeds to step 307.

Then, in step 307, it is confirmed whether the detail level x is the minimum detail level. In this case, since the level of detail is not the minimum, the process proceeds to step 308, the level of detail is downshifted by one step and set to "summary sentence B", and the process returns to step 305.

In step 305 executed again, the reading time of the "abstract sentence B" of the article IDs 101 and 202 is read, and 550 seconds is obtained as the total reading time.

Then, in step 306, it is determined whether the total reading time in step 305 exceeds the designated reading time (total reading time). This time, the total reading time is 550 seconds and the specified reading time is 60
Since it is within 0 seconds, the process proceeds to step 312.

In step 312, the article ID is assigned as the article ID having the priority y and the detail x.
The contents of the article data of “Summary sentence B” 101 and 202 are fetched from the article database unit 1, and the character data representing the contents is sent to the voice synthesis unit 4.

The character data sent to the voice synthesizer 4 is converted into a voice signal and sent to the voice output unit 5 (step 313). The voice output unit 5 converts the transmitted voice signal into voice and outputs the voice (step 314).

On the other hand, when the character data is sent to the voice synthesizer 4 in step 312, the process branches to the route to step 313 and proceeds to step 309.

In step 309, the designated reading time 6
The time 50 seconds obtained by subtracting the total read time 550 seconds from 00 seconds is set as the new designated reading time.

Then, an article I having a lower priority than the priority y
It is confirmed whether or not there is D, and if there is a low priority, the process proceeds to step 311, the priority is lowered by one step, and step 30
Return to 5. In this case, the priority y is, and there is a lower priority than this, so that the priority y is set and the process returns to step 305.

The article ID having the priority is the article ID 102.
And 201, and in this case, in the degree of detail of “abstract sentence B” and “abstract sentence A”, if YES in step 306, the process proceeds to step 307. On the other hand, when the level of detail is “up to the read sentence”, the total reading time is 50 seconds, which does not exceed the designated reading time, so the process proceeds to step 312. In step 312, the content of the article data regarding the “up to read sentence” of the article IDs 102 and 201 is fetched from the article database unit 1, and the character data representing the content is sent to the voice synthesis unit 4.

After this, through step 309, step 3
Although the process proceeds to step 10, since there is no article ID having a priority lower than the priority, the series of processes ends according to NO in step 310.

In this way, when the total reading time of 600 seconds is designated, the article data and the article IDs 102 and 201 for the "abstract sentence B" of the article IDs 101 and 202 are specified.
The article data about "to the lead sentence" of is selected,
The contents are read aloud.

[0043]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, when the total reading time is designated, an article having an appropriate level of detail is included so that the total reading time falls within the total reading time. Since the data is selected, the user can listen to the content of each article to the end at a natural reading speed, according to his / her own time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of accumulated contents (table) in an article database unit.

FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram of a time length designation type newspaper article reading device to which a time length designation type article reading method according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a specific processing operation in the case of selecting article data having an appropriate degree of detail for each article in consideration of priority.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Article database section 2 Input section 3 Editing section 4 Speech synthesis section 5 Speech output section

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Article data in which the degree of detail of the article content is changed for each article and reading time for the article data are accumulated as a pair, and when the total reading time is designated, the total reading time is received. A time length designation type article reading method, characterized in that article data having an appropriate degree of detail is selected for each article so that the total reading time can be accommodated, and the selected article data is output as voice.