KR102267651B1 - Method and apparatus for providing audio content - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing audio content are disclosed. A method of providing audio content according to an embodiment includes the steps of: receiving a request for reproduction of audio content; obtaining a content sound source corresponding to the audio content; generating a title sound source corresponding to a user based on the type of audio content; and providing audio content by combining the content sound source and the title sound source.

Description

Method and apparatus for providing audio content {METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING AUDIO CONTENT}

The following embodiments relate to a method and apparatus for providing audio content, and more particularly, to a method for reproducing a storytelling including a person's name.

The use of an audiobook service in which book contents are output as voice to a terminal is increasing day by day as mobile terminals become popular. The audio book service has the advantage that not only can the contents of the book be delivered using earphones while on the move without continuing to focus on the terminal screen, but also the visually impaired can easily obtain the contents of the book. In particular, audiobook services are being actively used in the field of oral fairy tales, which tell children stories in a fun and realistic way.

However, in the conventional audiobook service, the contents of a book are directly recorded with the voice of a voice actor or a specific person, and a predetermined storage medium storing the recorded voice information is executed in the terminal to output the voice information.

In the case of oral fairy tales provided by the conventional audiobook service, since a method is used to simply record and reproduce a single voice, it cannot take into account the diverse emotional development of children, which is already standardized through popular media. have. Furthermore, the conventional oral fairy tales do not attract children's attention because of a different feeling from the children's stories read by parents, and thus do not fulfill their functions.

Embodiments do not simply reproduce audio content, but provide audio content in which a title sound source (eg, a child's name) is combined with the content.

Embodiments intend to provide a title sound source suitable for an audio content type when providing audio content combined with a title sound source.

Embodiments intend to provide more natural audio content by differently setting the silence interval between the title sound source and the content sound source according to the type of irradiation combined with the title when providing audio content combined with the title sound source.

A method of providing audio content according to an embodiment includes: receiving a request to reproduce audio content; obtaining a content sound source corresponding to the audio content; generating a title sound source corresponding to the user based on the type of the audio content; and providing the audio content by combining the content sound source and the title sound source.

The audio content may include a script for combining the title sound source and the content sound source, and providing the audio content may include combining the title sound source and the content sound source based on the script. .

The generating of the title sound source may include: obtaining a title text of the user; The method may include generating the title sound source corresponding to the title character of the user through a Text-to-Speech (TTS) engine built based on a title sound source database corresponding to the type of audio content. .

The title sound source may be generated based on a voice actor voice of the content sound source and a tone corresponding to the type of the audio content.

The generating of the title sound source may include generating a title sound source corresponding to the pre-registered title character when the title character of the user is previously registered; and when the user's title character is not previously registered, generating a title sound source corresponding to a predetermined title character.

The generating of the title sound source may include, based on the script, determining an irradiation coupled to the title sound source; determining a silence interval corresponding to the irradiation; and generating a title sound source including the user's title character, the irradiation, and the silence interval.

The script includes a title of the audio content, a type of the audio content, an output order of the audio content, voice actor information of the audio content, a type of sound source according to the output order in the audio content, and the content sound source according to the output order may include at least one of a file name of , a file length of the content sound source according to the output order, and a type of irradiation coupled to the title sound source according to the output order.

The type of the audio content may include at least one of general audio content, sleep audio content, foreign language audio content, action audio content, pansori audio content, and musical audio content.

When the type of the audio content is foreign language audio content, the generating of the title sound source may include: converting title characters into foreign language title characters; converting the foreign language name character into a phonetic symbol form; and converting the title character into the title sound source based on the phonetic symbol type and the type of the audio content.

An audio content providing server according to an embodiment includes a microphone for receiving an audio content reproduction request; a speaker for playing the audio content; and obtaining a content sound source corresponding to the audio content from a server, generating a title sound source corresponding to a user based on the type of the audio content, and combining the content sound source and the title sound source to reproduce the audio content It contains a processor that controls the speaker.

The audio content may include a script for combining the title sound source and the content sound source, and the processor may combine the title sound source and the content sound source based on the script.

The processor acquires the title text of the user, and through a Text-to-Speech (TTS) engine built based on a title sound source database corresponding to the type of the audio content, the title text of the user It is possible to generate the title sound source corresponding to .

The processor generates a title sound source corresponding to the previously registered title character when the user's title character is pre-registered, and when the user's title character is not pre-registered, corresponding to a predetermined title character It can be created as a title sound source.

The processor, based on the script, determines the irradiation coupled to the title sound source, determines the silence interval corresponding to the irradiation, and generates a title sound source including the title character of the user, the irradiation and the silence interval can do.

The processor converts a title character into a foreign-language title character, converts the foreign-language title character into a phonetic symbol form, and converts the title character into the title sound source based on the phonetic symbol form and the type of the audio content. have.

Embodiments may not simply reproduce audio content, but may provide audio content in which a title sound source (eg, a child's name) is combined with the content.

In embodiments, when providing audio content combined with a title sound source, a title sound source suitable for an audio content type may be provided.

In embodiments, when providing audio content combined with a title sound source, a more natural audio content may be provided by differently setting a silence interval between the title sound source and the content sound source according to the type of irradiation combined with the title.

1 is a diagram for explaining a method of providing audio content to a user according to an exemplary embodiment.
2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a relationship between an audio content providing server and a terminal according to an exemplary embodiment.
3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing audio content according to an exemplary embodiment.
4 is a diagram for explaining a method of generating a title sound source and acquiring a content sound source according to an embodiment.
5 is a diagram for explaining a method of generating a title sound source in case of English audio content according to an embodiment.
6 is a diagram for explaining a method of differently setting a silence interval between a title sound source and a content sound source according to a type of irradiation combined with a title according to an embodiment.

Specific structural or functional descriptions disclosed in this specification are merely illustrative for the purpose of describing embodiments according to technical concepts, and the embodiments may be embodied in various other forms and are limited to the embodiments described herein. doesn't happen

Terms such as first or second may be used to describe various elements, but these terms should be understood only for the purpose of distinguishing one element from another element. For example, a first component may be termed a second component, and similarly, a second component may also be termed a first component.

When a component is referred to as being “connected” or “connected” to another component, it is understood that the other component may be directly connected or connected to the other component, but other components may exist in between. it should be On the other hand, when it is mentioned that a certain element is "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another element, it should be understood that the other element does not exist in the middle. Expressions describing the relationship between elements, for example, “between” and “between” or “neighboring to” and “directly adjacent to”, etc. should be interpreted similarly.

The singular expression includes the plural expression unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In this specification, terms such as "comprise" or "have" are intended to designate that the described feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or combination thereof exists, and includes one or more other features or numbers, It should be understood that the possibility of the presence or addition of steps, operations, components, parts or combinations thereof is not precluded in advance.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Terms such as those defined in a commonly used dictionary should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the meaning in the context of the related art, and should not be interpreted in an ideal or excessively formal meaning unless explicitly defined in the present specification. does not

The embodiments may be implemented in various types of products, such as personal computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, smart phones, televisions, smart home appliances, intelligent cars, kiosks, wearable devices, and the like. Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Like reference numerals in each figure indicate like elements.

1 is a diagram for explaining a method of providing audio content to a user according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1 , a terminal 110 according to an embodiment may provide audio content to a user 120 . Audio contents may refer to contents that can be audibly generated, such as voice. An audio book corresponds to a representative audio content, and the audio book may refer to digital content produced so that a professional voice actor or an author directly reads a book and listens to the book instead of reading it with the eyes. Audio content may be converted to an aurally-produced audio format (e.g. WAV, AIFF, AU, FLAG, MPS, other formats capable of lossless or lossy compression) and/or an aurally-produceable format. It can contain data in text format (eg doc, pdf, txt, html, xml, other formats). Hereinafter, for convenience of description, audio content will be described as an audio book and an audio moving picture in an audio book as an example. However, the audio content according to an embodiment does not need to be limitedly applied to an audio moving picture, and may be applied to various types of audio content.

The terminal 110 may provide an audio moving picture to the user 120 . In the conventional case, after recording a preset voice (eg, a voice actor or an author) as a wav file and storing it in the server, the terminal accesses the server and downloads the recorded file through an audio assimilation request. ) were provided with an audio fairy tale. However, since the audio fairy tale provided in the prior art provides only the experience of a voice actor reading the contents of a book, it has a different feel from a fairy tale read by parents, and thus does not attract children's attention, and thus does not fulfill its function.

The terminal 110 according to an embodiment goes beyond simply playing the content of the moving picture to the user 120, and puts the user 120's name (for example, the child's name) in the middle of the moving picture to make the audio animation more lively. can provide

In addition, in recent years, the types of fairy tales are increasing in various forms such as traditional fairy tales and famous fairy tales, as well as sleep fairy tales (stories heard in bed) and English fairy tales. In such an environment, regardless of the type of fairy tale, if the same voice synthesis sound source is always used for the child's name, there may be a problem that the tone of the voice of the child's name and the child's name does not match.

The terminal 110 according to an embodiment may generate a title sound source suitable for the type of the moving picture to the user 120 and provide an audio moving picture in which the title sound source and the moving picture sound source are naturally connected.

2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a relationship between an audio content providing server and a terminal according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 2 , an audio content providing service according to an exemplary embodiment may include a terminal 210 capable of communicating through a communication network 220 and an audio content providing server 230 as main subjects. The terminal 210 may be the terminal 110 described with reference to FIG. 1 , and the user 120 may access the audio content providing server 230 through the terminal 210 in which the audio content application is installed. FIG. 2 is for explaining an example of the invention, and a terminal or a server is not limited as shown in FIG. 2 .

The communication network 220 may include not only a communication method using a communication network (eg, a mobile communication network, a wired Internet, a wireless Internet, a broadcasting network) that the network may include, but also short-range wireless communication between devices. For example, the network is a personal area network (PAN), a local area network (LAN), a campus area network (CAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network (WAN), a broadband network (BBN), the Internet, etc. may include any one or more of the networks of Further, the network may include, but is not limited to, any one or more of a network topology including, but not limited to, a bus network, a star network, a ring network, a mesh network, a star-bus network, a tree or a hierarchical network, and the like. .

The terminal 210 is a device that receives a predetermined command from the user 120 and drives an operation corresponding thereto, and may be a digital device including an audio output function, a wired/wireless communication function, or other functions. According to an embodiment, the terminal 210 may include an artificial intelligence speaker, a tablet PC, a smartphone, a personal computer (eg, a notebook computer, etc.), a smart TV, a mobile phone, a navigation system, a web pad, a PDA, a workstation, etc. It may be a concept including all digital devices having a memory means and a microprocessor mounted thereon to have arithmetic capabilities.

The terminal 210 may refer to any user device capable of installing and executing an audio content application related to the audio content providing server 230 . In this case, the terminal 210 may perform overall service operations such as configuration of a service screen, data input, data transmission/reception, data storage, etc. under the control of the audio content application. The audio content application is implemented to be usable in the mobile environment as well as the PC environment, and is implemented in the form of a program that operates independently or is configured in the form of an in-app of a specific application so that it can be operated on the specific application. can be implemented.

The terminal 210 may be a device including a microphone for receiving an acoustic speech signal and a speaker for playing audio content. The terminal 210 may provide various services (or functions) through voice recognition technology. For example, the terminal 210 may provide audio content through a speaker based on a voice command of the user 120 received through a microphone.

The terminal 210 may provide the user 120 with an interface related to an audio content providing service. For example, the terminal 210 may provide the user 120 with an intuitive user interface corresponding to the audio content application being executed. The terminal 210 may provide an interface capable of executing the audio content application step by step by recognizing the voice of the user 120 to identify an operation for achieving the user's intention and purpose. Alternatively, the terminal 210 is an interface for receiving an operation for achieving an intention and purpose from the user 120 (eg, an interface that provides an audio content list to receive audio content selection from the user 120) and An interface for visually displaying the operation process of the audio content application according to the input to the user 120 may be provided. The interface may be provided by the terminal 210 itself. For example, it may be provided by an OS (Operation System) of the terminal 210 or may be provided by an application installed in the terminal 210 . Also, the interface may be provided by the audio content providing server 230 , and the terminal 210 may simply receive and display the interface provided from the audio content providing server 230 .

As will be described in detail below, the audio content providing apparatus according to embodiments may be provided in the terminal 210 or the audio content providing server 230 , and the audio content providing apparatus selects an appropriate title sound source according to the type of content. It is possible to provide audio content in which the title sound source and the content sound source are naturally connected.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing audio content according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 3 , steps 310 to 330 according to an exemplary embodiment may be performed by the audio content providing apparatus described above with reference to FIG. 2 . The audio content providing apparatus may be implemented by one or more hardware modules, one or more software modules, or various combinations thereof. As described above, the audio content providing apparatus may be provided in a server or a terminal, and for convenience of explanation, it is assumed that the audio content providing apparatus is provided in the server, and the embodiment of FIG. 3 will be described.

In step 310, the audio content providing apparatus receives a request to reproduce the audio content. The terminal may receive an audio moving image reproduction command from the user, and the audio content providing apparatus may receive an audio content reproduction request from the terminal. For example, the terminal may provide an audio moving picture list to the user and may receive an audio moving picture to be played back from the user.

The type of audio content means the classification of audio content divided according to arbitrary criteria. For example, audio fairy tales may be classified into general fairy tales, sleep fairy tales, foreign language fairy tales, action fairy tales, pansori fairy tales, and musical fairy tales. An audio content type may also be referred to as an audio content style. As a concept distinct from the audio content type, there may be an audio content title. The audio content title may be a unique name given to each audio content, such as Snow White and Cinderella. One Snow White audio content may include several types, such as a Snow White general fairy tale, a Snow White sleep fairy tale, and a Snow White English fairy tale.

The terminal may receive input from the user along with the type of audio content to be reproduced. For example, the terminal may receive a selection of the audio content and its type to be reproduced from the user at once, or may provide the user with a list of audio content types after receiving the selection of the audio content to receive the selection of the audio content type from the user.

The terminal may include a microphone, and may receive an audio content reproduction request through the microphone. For example, the terminal may be an artificial intelligence speaker, and in this case, the artificial intelligence speaker may receive a voice signal such as "Read Snow White's sleep fairy tale" from the user. Upon receiving the audio content reproduction request from the user, the terminal may transmit the audio content reproduction request to the audio content providing apparatus.

When the user does not select the type of audio content, the audio content providing apparatus may consider that the user has selected a predetermined type. For example, when the user does not select a type of an audio moving picture, the audio content providing apparatus may consider that the user selects a general moving picture.

In operation 320, the audio content providing apparatus may acquire a content sound source corresponding to the type of audio content. The content sound source may be a sound source corresponding to the audio content content. The content sound source may be recorded with the voice of a voice actor or a specific person and stored in the content sound source database, and the content sound source database may be built for each type of audio content. The audio content providing apparatus may select a database corresponding to the type of audio content from the content sound source database, and may acquire the content sound source from the selected database.

In step 330, the audio content providing apparatus generates a title sound source corresponding to the user based on the audio content type. The title sound source may be a sound source corresponding to a user's title (eg, name or nickname) inserted in the middle of audio content to provide more lively audio content. For example, the content sound source may be a sound source corresponding to the contents of a Snow White fairy tale, and the title sound source may be a sound source corresponding to a child's name such as "Jeon Ji-ah".

The audio content providing apparatus may acquire a different content sound source according to the type of audio content and may generate a title sound source. For example, when receiving a request to play Snow White, the audio content providing device may acquire different content sound sources according to the type of audio content, such as Snow White's general fairy tale, Snow White's sleep fairy tale, and Snow White's English fairy tale, and create a title sound source. have. More specifically, the audio content providing device obtains a content sound source composed of a normal voice tone in the case of a general fairy tale, a sleepy tone in the case of a sleep fairy tale, and English pronunciation in the case of an English fairy tale. have.

The title sound source may be generated based on a voice actor voice of the content sound source and a tone corresponding to the type of audio content. Through this, the audio content providing apparatus may provide audio content in which the title sound source and the content sound source are naturally connected. For example, when the audio content providing apparatus receives a sleep assimilation request, the title sound source may generate the same voice actor voice as the content sound source and the same sleepy tone as the content sound source. A more specific method of acquiring a content sound source and generating a title sound source will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4 below.

In step 340, the audio content providing apparatus provides audio content by combining the content sound source and the title sound source. In order to listen to one audio content, the content part and the title part should be played in order according to the audio content content. For this, a script defining the order of the content part and the title part for each audio content may be required. The audio content may include a script for combining the title sound source and the content sound source, and the audio content providing apparatus may generate the audio content by combining the title sound source and the content sound source based on the script.

The script is the title of the audio content, the type of audio content, the output order of the audio content, the voice actor information of the audio content, the type of sound source according to the output order in the audio content, the file name of the content sound source according to the output order, the content sound source according to the output order It may include at least one of a type of irradiation coupled to a title sound source according to a file length of , and an output order. As an example, the script may be configured in the form shown in Table 1.

The output order of the audio content may mean the order in which the title sound source and the content sound source are provided. The voice actor information of the audio content may mean information (name or index) of a voice actor who recorded the corresponding audio content. The type of sound source may be information on whether the corresponding sound source is generated by the TTS engine or an audio file. The file name of the content sound source may be a unique name assigned to the content sound source file. The file length of the content sound source may mean the total playback time of the corresponding content sound source file.

As shown in Table 1, the script may exist for each audio content title and type. The audio content providing device can know the file length of each content sound source and the title sound source through the script, and through this, the next operation can be executed immediately after the playback of each sound source is finished, so that the streaming of the moving picture is possible without interruption. For example, the audio content providing apparatus may immediately execute the next operation immediately after the end of each sound source reproduction without waiting for a request to play the next sound source since the sound source currently being reproduced from the terminal has ended.

According to an embodiment, when the apparatus for providing audio content is provided in the terminal, step 310 is interpreted as receiving an audio content reproduction request through a microphone of the terminal, and step 320 is a step of obtaining a content sound source from a server , step 330 is interpreted as a step of generating a title sound source by using the TTS engine mounted on the terminal or interworking with the server, and step 340 can be interpreted as a step of providing audio content to the user. have.

4 is a diagram for explaining a method of generating a title sound source and acquiring a content sound source according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 4 , the right drawings 450 and 455 based on the dotted line are diagrams for explaining the operation in the playback device (eg, artificial intelligence speaker) area, and the left drawings 410 to 446 are audio content providing It may be a drawing for explaining an operation in the device area. The audio content providing apparatus shown in the left drawing based on the dotted line may be configured in a server or a terminal. When the audio content providing apparatus is configured in a terminal, the player 450 may be included in the corresponding terminal.

The audio content providing apparatus receiving the moving picture reproduction request 410 may determine the type of moving picture ( 415 ).

The audio content providing apparatus may select a database corresponding to the type of audio content from the content sound source databases 425 and 435 constructed for each audio content type, and select the content sound source based on the selected database and sound source acquisition modules 445 and 446. can be obtained The sound source acquisition modules 445 and 446 are modules for loading content sound sources from the content sound source databases 425 and 435 according to the type of audio content. The type of audio content may be determined, for example, in response to the type of a moving picture requested to be reproduced. For convenience of explanation, an embodiment has been shown in which the audio content providing apparatus includes a plurality of sound source acquisition modules, and any one sound source acquisition module corresponding to the type of audio content is selectively activated, but according to the embodiment, a plurality of sound sources The acquisition modules may be implemented in the form of a single sound source acquisition module. In this case, the single sound source acquisition module may acquire the content sound source by accessing the databases 425 and 435 according to the type of audio content.

A database in which a content sound source is stored may be referred to as a content sound source database. The content sound source database may be built for each title and type of content. For example, there is a content sound source database for each of Snow White's general fairy tale, Snow White's sleep fairy tale, and Snow White's English fairy tale, and the audio content providing device provides the requested audio content title and type (eg, Snow White's sleep fairy tale). A content sound source may be obtained based on the database 435 and the sound source acquisition module 446 corresponding to .

The audio content providing apparatus may select a database corresponding to the type of audio content from the name sound source databases 420 and 430 constructed for each audio content type, and may generate a title sound source based on the selected database. A database in which a title sound source is stored may be referred to as a title sound source database. The title sound source database may be built for each type of audio content.

For example, each content sound source database exists for a general fairy tale, a sleep fairy tale, and an English fairy tale, and the audio content providing device is based on the database 430 corresponding to the requested audio content type (eg, sleep fairy tale). You can create a title sound source.

The audio content providing apparatus may generate a title sound source through the text-to-speech (TTS) engines 440 and 441 constructed based on the title sound source database. The user may pre-register the title character corresponding to the title sound source in the audio content providing apparatus. For example, the title character may be stored in the title sound source database (420, 430) or may be stored in a separate storage space. According to embodiments, the user requesting registration of the title character and the user called by the corresponding title character may be the same or different from each other. For example, the user may set the title character (child name) through the 'service setting-kids setting-child setting' path of the audio content application. In this case, the user requesting registration of the title character may be a parent, and the user called by the title character may be a child.

The audio content providing apparatus may select a title sound source database corresponding to the type of audio content, and may generate a title sound source corresponding to a title character registered in advance through a TTS engine built based on the selected title sound source database.

For example, the audio content providing apparatus may select a title database 430 corresponding to a sleep assimilation, and a title corresponding to a title character registered in advance through the TTS engine 441 engine constructed based on the title database 430 . You can create a sound source.

When the user does not register a title character, a predetermined title character may be generated as a title sound source. For example, when the user does not register a title character, predetermined titles such as “friend” and “child” may be used instead.

According to an embodiment, a plurality of title sound sources may also be generated. For example, if there are a plurality of children, a plurality of title characters may be registered. For example, two title characters “support” and “minsu” may be registered. In general, the audio content providing apparatus may generate only a title sound source corresponding to a title character registered as a representative title character. For example, Upon receiving an input of "Play Snow White's Sleeping Fairy Tale", the audio content providing apparatus may generate only a title sound source corresponding to "Support" set as a representative title character.

Alternatively, when a user requests audio content by designating a specific title character, only a title sound source corresponding to the designated title character may be generated. For example, when receiving an input of "Play Snow White's fairy tale to Minsu", the audio content providing device may generate only a title sound source corresponding to "Minsu".

Alternatively, a title sound source corresponding to any one title character selected according to a predetermined method among a plurality of title characters may be generated from parts outputting a title sound source in the audio content. For example, various methods may be used, such as alternately selecting "Support" and "Minsu" or selecting one of the title characters of "Support" or "Minsu" for each chapter of the audio content.

Alternatively, in specific audio content, title sound sources corresponding to a plurality of title characters may be generated. For example, in the case of audio content in which a plurality of main characters appear, such as "Hansel and Gretel," and the main character can be matched with a title character according to the characteristics of the main character, such as gender, the audio content providing device is "Support" and "Minsu" " can be created as a sound source, and the female protagonist "Hansel" and the male protagonist "Gretel" can be played by substituting the female user "Jiwon" and the male user "Minsu".

The TTS engine can be equipped with a text-to-speech automatic conversion technology that converts text into sound and delivers it. The TTS engine may exist for each title sound source database, and may be an artificial neural network module learned based on 'title character-name sound source' of each title sound source database. In the case of an audio content providing apparatus using a TTS engine for which learning is completed, the title sound source database may not be included. Although not shown in the drawing, when the TTS engine is an artificial neural network module, the TTS engine may be mounted in the terminal. The TTS engine may generate a title sound source in real time, or may generate and store a title sound source in advance at the time the title character is generated.

According to another embodiment, the audio content providing apparatus may use a pre-recorded title sound source without using the TTS engine. For example, when receiving a title text from the user, the audio content providing apparatus may pre-record a title sound source corresponding to the title text for each type, and may select a title sound source corresponding to the corresponding type when requesting to reproduce the audio content.

Furthermore, the content sound source database and the title sound source database may be constructed for each voice actor who recorded the content sound source and the title sound source. For example, a version of Snow White's sleep fairy tale recorded by 'Voice Actor 1' and a version of Snow White's sleep fairy tale recorded by 'Voice Actor 2' may be built separately.

In FIG. 4 , a method of acquiring a content sound source and generating a title sound source has been described using general style and sleep style audio content as an example, but in the case of foreign language audio content, an operation other than the method described in FIG. 4 may be further required. In the case of foreign language audio content, a method of generating a title sound source will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 5 .

5 is a diagram for explaining a method of generating a title sound source in case of English audio content according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 5 , the apparatus for providing audio content according to an embodiment may receive an English audio content reproduction request (eg, an English moving picture reproduction request) 510 . When providing English audio content, the title sound source should be provided in the form of English pronunciation like the content sound source so that more natural audio content can be reproduced.

The audio content providing device receiving the English audio content reproduction request may convert the title character into the title sound source by further using the English converter 515 , the English pronunciation converter 520 , and the pronunciation dictionary 525 . The English converter 515 may receive the Hangul title character, convert the Hangul title character into an English title character, and output it. The English pronunciation converter 520 may receive an English title character from the English converter 515, convert the English title character into an English phonetic symbol, and output it. Furthermore, the English pronunciation converter 520 may refer to the pronunciation dictionary 525 including pronunciation information of the title character when converting the English title character into the English phonetic symbol.

For example, when the user registers the title character as “minsu”, the English converter 515 may automatically convert “minsoo” to “min soo”. “Minsu” may be input to the pronunciation dictionary 525 , and “min soo” may be input to the English pronunciation converter 520 . The English pronunciation converter 520 that received “min soo” refers to the output of the pronunciation dictionary 525, and refers to the pronunciation symbols for “min soo” [m], [i], [n], [s], [ u] can be converted to The TTS engine 530 built based on the English title sound source database 535 may generate title sound sources corresponding to the phonetic symbols [m], [i], [n], [s], and [u].

A method of generating a title sound source and acquiring a content sound source to provide audio content in which the title sound source is combined has been described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 . With reference to FIG. 6 below, when providing audio content in which a title sound source is combined, a method of providing more natural audio content by setting a silence interval between a title sound source and a content sound source differently according to the type of irradiation combined with a title is described. do.

6 is a diagram for explaining a method of differently setting a silence interval between a title sound source and a content sound source according to a type of irradiation coupled to a title according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 6 , the apparatus for providing audio content according to an exemplary embodiment may determine a survey combined with a title character. Naturalness is important when reproducing by connecting the title section and the content section, and the silence interval between the title sound source and the content sound source can be set differently depending on the type of irradiation attached to the title character. The silence interval 620 may mean an interval between a calling section (eg, a name section) 610 and a content section (eg, a moving picture section) 630 .

The title character is mostly used in conjunction with the proposition. At this time, depending on whether the last syllable of the title character has a backing, “i” is sometimes inserted between the name and the verb. For example, in the case of “like chulsu +”, the proposition “i” is not inserted, but in the case of “like English + yi+”, the proposition “i” may be inserted. In addition, when the title sound source and the content sound source are continuously reproduced, a slight silence section is created between them. In fact, since the title section and the content section are not read in one sentence, there is some prosody awkwardness, but the awkwardness can be reduced by using the silence interval. An appropriate silence interval may vary depending on the content of a sentence in the content. For example, the audio content providing apparatus may determine the irradiation to be combined with the title character based on the script, and the empty interval may be set differently according to the type of the irradiation attached to the title character as shown in Table 2.

Referring to Table 2, it can be natural that the silent proposition like “Chulsu-ya” has a long silence (0.3 seconds), and the nominative proposition like “Chul-su” has a short silence (0.1 second).

The audio content providing apparatus may determine a survey to be attached to the title character based on the script, and the silence interval may be determined based on the survey. For example, the audio content providing apparatus may generate a title sound source of "to [name]" by using the TTS engine in step 2 according to the script of Table 1. In this case, since the type of irradiation is “to”, the audio content providing apparatus may determine 0.2 seconds corresponding to “to” as the silence interval with reference to Table 2. The audio content providing apparatus may generate a title sound source including the user's title character, survey, and silence interval.

Although not shown in the drawings, the audio content providing apparatus includes a processor and a memory. The processor may perform at least one method described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6 . The memory may include a content sound source database and a title sound source database. The memory may be volatile memory or non-volatile memory.

The processor may execute a program and control the audio content providing apparatus. The code of the program executed by the processor may be stored in the memory. The audio content providing apparatus may be connected to an external device (eg, a personal computer or a network) through an input/output device (not shown) and exchange data.

The embodiments described above may be implemented by a hardware component, a software component, and/or a combination of a hardware component and a software component. For example, the apparatus, methods and components described in the embodiments may include, for example, a processor, a controller, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a digital signal processor, a microcomputer, a field programmable gate (FPGA) array), a programmable logic unit (PLU), a microprocessor, or any other device capable of executing and responding to instructions, may be implemented using one or more general purpose or special purpose computers. The processing device may execute an operating system (OS) and one or more software applications running on the operating system. The processing device may also access, store, manipulate, process, and generate data in response to execution of the software. For convenience of understanding, although one processing device is sometimes described as being used, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the processing device includes a plurality of processing elements and/or a plurality of types of processing elements. It can be seen that can include For example, the processing device may include a plurality of processors or one processor and one controller. Other processing configurations are also possible, such as parallel processors.

The software may comprise a computer program, code, instructions, or a combination of one or more thereof, which configures a processing device to operate as desired or is independently or collectively processed You can command the device. The software and/or data may be any kind of machine, component, physical device, virtual equipment, computer storage medium or device, to be interpreted by or to provide instructions or data to the processing device. , or may be permanently or temporarily embody in a transmitted signal wave. The software may be distributed over networked computer systems, and stored or executed in a distributed manner. Software and data may be stored in one or more computer-readable recording media.

The method according to the embodiment may be implemented in the form of program instructions that can be executed through various computer means and recorded in a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, etc. alone or in combination. The program instructions recorded on the medium may be specially designed and configured for the embodiment, or may be known and available to those skilled in the art of computer software. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks and magnetic tapes, optical media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs, and magnetic such as floppy disks. - includes magneto-optical media, and hardware devices specially configured to store and execute program instructions, such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of program instructions include not only machine language codes such as those generated by a compiler, but also high-level language codes that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like.

As described above, although the embodiments have been described with reference to the limited drawings, those skilled in the art may apply various technical modifications and variations based on the above. For example, the described techniques are performed in a different order than the described method, and/or the described components of the system, structure, apparatus, circuit, etc. are combined or combined in a different form than the described method, or other components Or substituted or substituted by equivalents may achieve an appropriate result.

Therefore, other implementations, other embodiments, and equivalents to the claims are also within the scope of the following claims.

Claims (16)

receiving a request to play audio content;
obtaining a content sound source corresponding to the audio content;
generating a title sound source corresponding to the user based on the type of the audio content; and
providing the audio content by combining the content sound source and the title sound source
including,
The name sound source is
It is generated based on the voice actor voice of the content sound source and a tone corresponding to the type of the audio content,
The above steps are performed by at least one processor.
According to claim 1,
The audio content includes a script for combining the title sound source and the content sound source,
The step of providing the audio content
Combining the title sound source and the content sound source based on the script
Including, an audio content providing method.
According to claim 1,
The step of generating the title sound source is
obtaining the title text of the user;
generating the title sound source corresponding to the title character of the user through a Text-to-Speech (TTS) engine built based on a title sound source database corresponding to the type of the audio content
Including, an audio content providing method.
delete According to claim 1,
The step of generating the title sound source is
generating a title sound source corresponding to the pre-registered title character when the user's title character is pre-registered; and
If the user's title character is not registered in advance, generating a title sound source corresponding to a predetermined title character
A method of providing audio content, comprising at least one of.
3. The method of claim 2,
The step of generating the title sound source is
Based on the script, determining the irradiation coupled to the title sound source;
determining a silence interval corresponding to the irradiation; and
generating a title sound source including the user's title character, the irradiation, and the silence interval
Including, an audio content providing method.
3. The method of claim 2,
the script is
The title of the audio content, the type of the audio content, the output order of the audio content, voice actor information of the audio content, the type of sound source according to the output order in the audio content, the file name of the content sound source according to the output order, A method for providing audio content, comprising at least one of a file length of the content sound source according to the output order, and a type of irradiation coupled to the title sound source according to the output order.
According to claim 1,
The type of audio content is
A method of providing audio content including at least one of general audio content, sleep audio content, foreign language audio content, action audio content, pansori audio content, and musical audio content.
According to claim 1,
When the type of the audio content is foreign language audio content, the step of generating the title sound source includes:
converting the title character into a foreign language title character;
converting the foreign language name character into a phonetic symbol form; and
converting the title character into the title sound source based on the phonetic symbol type and the type of the audio content
Including, an audio content providing method.
A computer program stored in a medium for executing the method of any one of claims 1 to 3 and 5 to 9 in combination with hardware.
a microphone for receiving an audio content playback request;
a speaker for playing the audio content; and
The speaker obtains a content sound source corresponding to the audio content from a server, generates a title sound source corresponding to a user based on the type of the audio content, and combines the content sound source and the title sound source to reproduce the audio content processor to control
including,
The name sound source is
An audio content providing apparatus generated based on a voice actor voice of the content sound source and a tone corresponding to the type of the audio content.
12. The method of claim 11,
The audio content includes a script for combining the title sound source and the content sound source,
the processor
Based on the script, the audio content providing apparatus for combining the title sound source and the content sound source.
12. The method of claim 11,
the processor
Obtaining the title text of the user, and using a Text-to-Speech (TTS) engine built based on a title sound source database corresponding to the type of the audio content, corresponding to the title text of the user An audio content providing apparatus for generating the title sound source.
12. The method of claim 11,
the processor
When the user's title character is previously registered, a title sound source corresponding to the previously registered title character is generated, and when the user's title character is not previously registered, a title sound source corresponding to a predetermined title character is used. A device for providing audio content.
13. The method of claim 12,
the processor
Based on the script, determining the irradiation coupled to the title sound source, determining the silence interval corresponding to the irradiation, and generating a title sound source including the title character of the user, the survey, and the silence interval, audio content delivery device.
12. The method of claim 11,
the processor
Converting a title character into a foreign language title character, converting the foreign language title character into a phonetic symbol form, and converting the title character into the title sound source based on the phonetic symbol form and the type of the audio content, providing audio content Device.

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