JPS5834500A - Voice output control system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to an audio output control method.

In recent years, research on speech, including the generation of artificial speech (speech) and the detection and recognition of words, has been actively conducted. Nowadays, digital technology has been introduced to store and reproduce the sound of newspapers, and it has become possible to compress the information into a size of several tens of minutes, store it, and play it back as normal sound.

Along with this, voice response functions are added to computer systems or various control systems to improve operational efficiency and
The development of system products that aim to improve service and reliability is becoming more popular.

Speech synthesis is classified into various methods depending on what kind of mechanism is used to create voice (speech synthesis principle) and how that mechanism is controlled using what kind of information (speech synthesis control method). Ru.

At present, the linear prediction method has relatively good sound quality and high information compression rate.
Synthesis I and SI, such as methods, are also being sold by various companies.

The PARCOR method analyzes and electrically characterizes the mechanisms by which the lungs, trachea, and speech are generated, and the characteristic values (characteristic parameters) can be determined using a computer based on actual speech.

By the way, the above-mentioned synthesis LSI is an LSI that can function as a speech synthesizer by being supplied with a mask ROM.

The sound is generated by supplying the memory address where the corresponding sound is stored and a start signal from the outside. All other synthesis LSIs are intended for use with an internal mask ROM or an external ROM as a storage medium for audio information, and therefore have only a built-in ROM interface.

However, depending on the system, there may be voice information that is used infrequently and would be costly to store in the ROM, or because a wide variety of voices are output depending on the purpose of use, stage, etc., the ROM may not be able to hold the voice information. There are various cases where this is not the case. Therefore, the current situation where only ROM is used as a storage medium for audio information is 1.
SI is often inconvenient.

The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and by adopting a configuration that uses an external file memory connected to the system to obtain and output audio information from a storage medium other than the audio information ROM, The purpose of this invention is to provide an audio output control method that allows flexibility in system construction, allowing the degree of division to be arbitrarily selected depending on the system.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an information processing system to which the present invention is adopted.

In the figure, 1 is a main memory in which programs and data are stored. Reference numeral 12 denotes a central processing unit CPU, which performs calculation control according to programs stored in the main memory 1 and controls each device connected to the system. This is a 13-digit file control device that controls data transfer of the external file memory 4 connected to the input/output port. For example, a small magnetic disk device is used as the external file memory 14, and various data is stored therein.In relation to the present invention, audio information other than audio information stored in a ROM, which will be described later, is stored.

Reference numeral 15 denotes an audio output control device, the details of which will be described later.

The main memory 11, CPU 12, file control device 13
- The audio output control devices are commonly connected to the system path 16. System gas 16 is address ADR/data D
A plurality of lines are provided for the AT/control CNT.

The voice output control device 15 is a voice synthesis LS1151.
”ROM interface 152/ROM75.9
- ROM153 ・Multiplexer 155゜156・
It consists of a gate 157.

Audio information is stored in the ROMf5.9, and the RA
Audio information obtained from the external file memory 14 is temporarily stored in the Ml54. One input terminal (1 side) of the multiplexer 155 is connected to the address line 0DR in the system path 16, and the other input terminal (0 side) is connected to the address line 0DR.
Address line 0AD from M interface 152
Each address information propagated on R is input, and the above CPUJ, ? Under the control of , one of them is selected and outputted to address line AADR as an access address for the ROM 153.

R to one input terminal (O side) of the multiplexer 156
The data line 0DAT obtained from OM153, the information propagated on the data line ADAT obtained from RkM154 is input to the other input terminal (1 side), and the information propagated on the data line ADAT obtained from RkM154 is input.
Under the control of the PUZ2, one of them is selected and output to the data line Ll)A'r as audio information to be supplied to the audio synthesis LS 1151.

The gate 157 is provided between the data line r)AT in the system path I6 and the data line AI")AT of the DAMI 54. In the embodiment of the present invention, C is set to R.A.
M154 is used as having the address of the extension-1 of the main memory 11, and therefore the address of the extension-1 of the main memory 11 is
57 is provided for data line switching.

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

Hereinafter, the operation of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

The sound-volume output is controlled by the CPU I2. For audio output, audio information stored in the audio information ROM 153 is usually obtained, synthesized, and output. Of course, this output is performed by the speech synthesis LS115.

When outputting a voice phrase that is not stored in the voice information ROM 153, the voice information of this phrase is read from the external file memory 14, stored in the RAM 154 built in the voice output control device, and then read from the RAM 154. Speech information is obtained and synthesized and outputted by the speech synthesis LS 1151 in the same manner as above.

The RAM 154 controls the data transfer rate of the external file memory 14 and the voice synthesis unit (hereinafter referred to as voice synthesis LS1151, R
This is necessary because the data transfer speeds required by the OM interfaces 152 (collectively referred to as speech synthesis units) are different.

'First, the procedure for outputting a voice phrase stored in the voice information ROM 753 will be explained using the flowchart shown in FIG.

Now, the first ROM address containing the audio information of the audio phrase to be output is set in the audio synthesis section.

Using Stellan 0C, the upper voice synthesis section reads necessary voice information from the RAM 154, synthesizes voice, and outputs the synthesized voice.

Next, we will explain the case of outputting a voice phrase stored in the external file memory 14. 1. The 1st input is selected by the °C multi-solexer 155 in step 7'E, and as a result, the RAM 75 (is the main input in the system). There is a problem with having an address on the memory 11 extension.

-C date 157 at 7°F ONL, system path (16; data line DAT), RAM 1
．． 54, data can now be written.

In step G, the file control device 13 is informed of the address and data transfer length of the external file memory 14 that stores the audio information of the audio phrase to be output, as well as the main memory address to be transferred (in this case, the RAM 154
address) is set and a read command is issued.

As a result, the file suppression device 13 transfers the information of the designated area in the external file memory 13 to the audio output control device W.
It is built into t15 and transferred to fcALAM754.

After processing in the step (the multiplexer 155 selects the 0 side input), in the step L, the address seen from the °C, ROVI interface 152, that is, the start address in the RAM 754 of the audio information transferred as described above, is synthesized. Set it in the section.

Then, using the Stella fC, the synthesis unit obtains necessary audio information from the RAM 154, performs audio synthesis, and outputs the result to the outside world via the speaker. At this time, the multiplexer 156 has 1
It goes without saying that the side input is selected.As explained above, according to the present invention, in addition to the internal ROM, an external file memory connected to the system can also be used as an audio information storage medium. The system can be made more flexible.

Therefore, in systems where it would be costly to store infrequently used voice information in ROM, or in cases where the ROM cannot store voice information to output a wide variety of voices, etc. By using the present invention, it becomes possible to arbitrarily construct a voice response system using existing voice synthesis LSIs.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an information processing system to which the present invention is adopted, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention. 11...-Things memory, 12... CPU, 73... File control device, 14... External file memory, 1-
:...Audio output control device, 151...L8 for speech synthesis
1.152...ROM interface, 153...
・ROM, 754...RAM, 15.5°156...
・Multiplexer. 111 patent attorneys Takehiko Suzue Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an information processing system in which a CPU, a main memory, an audio output device, and an external file memory are commonly connected via a system path, the audio output device is connected to a ROM in which audio information is stored, and from this ROM, or a voice synthesis unit that obtains voice information from the external file memory and synthesizes and outputs desired voice; a RAM that temporarily stores the voice information stored in the external file memory based on instructions from the CPU; When connecting to a part of the main memory of 10, a first multiplexer provided for address switching and the ROM-RAM output are selectively output as audio information to be supplied to the audio synthesizer. By driving the first and second multiplexers, the CPU transmits audio information in a designated area in the external file memory to TtAM via the system bus.
The first address of the ROM or RAM containing the voice information of the voice phrase to be outputted is set in the voice synthesizer, and this voice synthesizer is transferred to the voice synthesizer.
An audio output control method characterized by extracting necessary information from M or RAM and outputting it as audio.