JPH0764584A - Automatic reproducing speed adjusting device for speech information - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce or unnecessitate the adjusting work of a reproducing speed by reproducing speech information digital-recorded in a semiconductor memory, detecting a silence interval in the speech information, and automatically adjusting the reproducing speed of the speech information based on the length. CONSTITUTION:At the time of reproducing a voice, data to be reproduced among the data recorded in a voice memory part 6 are read through a memory control part 5, and decoded by an encoding/decoding part 4. At that time, silence part data and sound part data are converted into different data formats, and a system control part 10 can discriminate the silence part from the sound part. The decoded data are returned to an analog voice signal by a D/A converter 9. Then, during the reproducing operation, the silence interval in the voice information is detected, the silence time length is automatically changed by the system control part 10 as a reproducing speed adjusting means based on the length of the silence interval, and the reproducing speed is adjusted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for reproducing voice information in, for example, dictation or transcription, and particularly, in such apparatus, a reproduction speed for automatically adjusting the reproduction speed of the voice information. The present invention relates to an automatic adjusting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In so-called dictation or transcription in which audio data recorded on a recording medium such as a tape is reproduced, and a typist types the dictation contents while listening to it, reproduction is started or stopped or stopped. Fast-forwarding and rewinding have been performed by operating the mode setting button of the playback device directly with a finger or operating a remote switch such as a foot switch.

When the voice information is reproduced by operating a foot switch, for example, the typist performs the type while manually adjusting the reproduction time of the voice according to the skill of each person. Further, when using a playback device capable of adjusting the playback pitch, the typist has adjusted the playback pitch by manually operating a knob or the like in order to play back audio data at a speed suitable for his type.

[0004]

However, since different people have different speaking speeds and sound qualities, the typist frequently controls the start and stop of playback with footswitches in accordance with the speaking style of the recorder, and the content is controlled. I had to listen and type.

Even when a reproducing apparatus capable of adjusting the reproduction pitch is used, the adjustment must be manually repeated several times in order to obtain the optimum reproduction speed. The automatic reproduction speed adjusting apparatus for audio information of the present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object thereof is to automatically adjust the reproduction speed to adjust the reproduction speed. Another object of the present invention is to provide a device for automatically adjusting the reproduction speed of audio information that can reduce or eliminate the above.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an automatic audio information reproduction speed adjusting apparatus according to the present invention comprises a reproducing means for reproducing audio information digitally recorded in a semiconductor memory, and the above audio. A silent section detecting means for detecting a silent section in the information, and a reproduction speed adjusting means for automatically adjusting the reproduction speed of the audio information based on the length of the detected silent section are provided.

[0007]

That is, in the automatic reproduction speed adjusting apparatus for audio information according to the present invention, the audio information digitally recorded in the semiconductor memory is reproduced, the silent section in this audio information is detected, and the detected silent section is detected. Automatically adjust the playback speed of audio information based on the length of.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an automatic audio information reproduction speed adjusting apparatus according to the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a reproduction speed automatic adjustment apparatus of this embodiment. In the figure, a microphone 1 is connected to an A / D converter 3 via a microphone amplifier 2. In addition, the speaker 7
Is connected to the D / A converter via the power amplifier 8. The A / D converter 3 and the D / A converter 9 have a code /
The encoding / decoding unit 4 is connected to the decoding unit 4, and the encoding / decoding unit 4 is connected to the audio memory unit 6 including a semiconductor memory via the memory control unit 5. Further, the above-mentioned encoding / decoding unit 4, memory control unit 5, and audio memory unit 6 are connected to the system control unit 10 so as to receive predetermined control.
An operation input unit 11 is connected to the system control unit 10.

In the above structure, the voice supplied from the microphone 1 at the start of recording is amplified by the microphone amplifier 2, converted into a digital voice signal by the A / D converter 3, and then encoded / decoded by the encoding / decoding unit 4. A predetermined encoding process is performed. Here, when converting the digital audio signal into encoded data, the silent part and the sound part are converted into different data formats. For example, silence data is converted into data with a header indicating silence and data indicating the length of silence, while voice data is converted into PCM data. The obtained encoded data is recorded in the audio memory unit 6 via the memory control unit 5.

At the time of reproducing the voice, of the data recorded in the voice memory unit 6, the data to be reproduced is read out via the memory control unit 5 and decoded by the encoding / decoding unit 4. At this time, as described above, since the silent part data and the sound part data are converted into different data formats, the system control part 10 can easily distinguish the silent part and the sound part. The decoded data is converted back into an analog audio signal by the D / A converter 9,
After being amplified by the power amplifier 8, it is output as sound from the speaker 7.

Here, the timing of recording / playback / stop etc. is set in response to a signal sent from the operation input section 11.
It is controlled by the system controller 10. Writing data to the voice memory unit 6 and the voice memory unit 6 in this embodiment
The operation of reading the data from is performed by dividing it into frames every 250 milliseconds, for example.

The automatic adjusting operation of the reproducing speed according to this embodiment will be described below. This embodiment generally uses 3 for speech.
A method of adjusting the time of a silent portion that is present is used. That is, a silent section in the voice information is detected during the reproducing operation, and the silent period length is automatically changed by the system control unit 10 as the reproduction speed adjusting means based on the detected length of the silent section. Adjust the playback speed by.

The automatic adjusting operation of the reproducing speed will be described in more detail below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the start address is set in an address counter (not shown) depending on the usage status of the voice memory unit 6 during a standby state for the next operation such as after the power is turned on or after the stop operation is completed (step S1). Here, the typist is the operation input unit 1
When the reproduction operation is performed via 1, the system control unit 10 sets the frame counter to 0, and subsequently sets tt = 0 (steps S2 and S3). Here, tt represents the total sum of the silent time lengths indicated by the silent data. Next, in step S4, the voice data indicated by the address counter is read from the voice memory unit 6 at a predetermined reproduction speed.

In this case, the system control unit 10 sets the silence flag to 1 or 0 depending on whether the read voice data is silence data or voiced data. In this embodiment, the silence flag is set to 1 when there is no sound, and the silence flag is set to 0 when there is sound. Therefore, in the next step S5, it is determined whether or not the silence flag = 1.
If there is no sound, the answer is YES, and in this case, the next step S
In step 6, the silent time length ut indicated by the silent data is added to tt, and the process proceeds to step S7. If the determination as to whether or not the silent flag is 1 in step S5 is NO, the process immediately proceeds to step S7.

In step S7, it is determined whether or not the value of the frame counter is smaller than a predetermined number m (for example, m = 6). If the value of the frame counter <m, the value of the frame counter is incremented by 1 (step S8), and the audio data of the next frame is read (step S4). Such a repetitive operation is performed until the frame counter = m, and the silent time length ut is added to tt each time, and the sum of the silent time lengths included in the predetermined frame is calculated. Then, in step 9, the ratio of silence contained in a predetermined frame (silence rate) is calculated by the following equation.

[0016]

[Equation 1]

Next, in step S10, a conversion coefficient corresponding to the silence rate obtained by the above equation is obtained by referring to a silence time change table as shown in FIG. 4, for example, and the silence data indicates the conversion coefficient. This silence duration is changed by multiplying the silence duration. After that, the reproducing operation is performed at a speed according to the changed silent time length (step S1).
2). The above operation sets the value of the address counter to 1
It is repeatedly increased until the reproduction stop operation is performed (steps S12 and S13). In this way, the reproduction speed adjusting operation according to the present embodiment is automatically performed.

Here, the number of changing stages of the silent time changing table in FIG. 4 is five, but the present embodiment is not limited to this, and it is needless to say that more and more are possible. Further, the system control unit 10 has a silent time change table as shown in FIG. 5 having a plurality of types of coefficient modes each having a different speed adjustment rate, and the user can set the speed provided in the operation input unit 11 to the speed setting table. A desired mode can be selected from these modes by the adjustment rate selection switch.

Further, the operation input section 11 is provided with a changeover switch, and the typist can operate the changeover switch to enable or disable the function of the reproduction speed adjusting means. That is, in the flowchart of FIG. 3, when a reproduction operation is performed by the typist through the operation input unit 11, it is first determined whether the changeover switch is ON (step S1). If YES, the reproduction operation is performed after the reproduction speed is adjusted by the method as described above by the system controller 10 as the reproduction speed adjusting means (steps S2 and S3). Step S1
If NO, the reproducing operation is performed without adjusting the reproducing speed.

As described above, the audio information reproduction speed adjusting apparatus according to the present embodiment has an audio memory unit 6 such as a semiconductor memory.
Reproducing means (speaker 7, power amplifier 8, D / A converter 9, encoding / decoding unit 4) for reproducing the digitally recorded audio information, and a silent interval detecting means for detecting a silent interval in the audio information. And a reproduction speed adjusting means for automatically adjusting the reproduction speed of the audio information based on the length of the detected silent section. Here, the silent section detecting means and the reproduction speed adjusting means are configured by the system control unit 10.

Therefore, since the interval of the silent portion during reproduction is automatically adjusted according to the silent time length included in the predetermined frame, the adjustment work is reduced or unnecessary.

Further, a changeover switch (changeover switch means) for disabling the function of the reproduction speed adjusting means is provided, which can cope with, for example, a case where a recording person slowly speaks while conscious of dictation. be able to.

Further, the reproduction speed adjusting means has speed adjusting rate selecting means including a silent time changing table for manually selecting and setting a plurality of different speed adjusting rates and a speed adjusting rate selecting switch. Since the typist can select a desired mode, the reproduction speed can be adjusted more appropriately. Although the method of adjusting the silent part time length is used in the above-described embodiment, other methods can be used.

[0024]

As described above in detail, according to the automatic reproduction speed adjustment apparatus for audio information of the present invention, the reproduction speed adjustment work is automatically performed, so that the reproduction speed adjustment work is reduced or unnecessary. Become.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a reproduction speed automatic adjustment device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining an automatic adjusting operation of a reproduction speed.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining a valid / invalid switching operation of the reproduction speed adjusting means.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a silent time change table.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another configuration of a silence duration change table.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Microphone, 2 ... Microphone amplifier, 3 ... A / D converter, 4
... encoding / decoding section, 5 ... memory control section, 6 ... audio memory section, 7 ... speaker, 8 ... power amplifier, 9 ... D / A converter, 10 ... system control section, 11 ... operation input section.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A reproducing means for reproducing audio information digitally recorded in a semiconductor memory, a silent interval detecting means for detecting a silent interval in the audio information, and a voice information based on a length of the detected silent interval. A reproduction speed automatic adjusting device for audio information, comprising: a reproduction speed adjusting means for automatically adjusting a reproduction speed. 2. The automatic reproduction speed adjusting device for audio information according to claim 1, further comprising changeover switch means for disabling the function of said reproduction speed adjusting means. 3. The audio information according to claim 1, wherein the reproduction speed adjusting means has speed adjusting rate selecting means for manually selecting and setting a plurality of different speed adjusting rates. Automatic playback speed adjustment device.