RU2425330C2 - Text to speech device and method - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: information technology.

SUBSTANCE: navigation device has apparatus for digital processing of sounds and audible transmission thereof, memory which stores multiple data in form of text pointers and pre-recorded sounds, apparatus for transmitting data between the processor of the device and memory, an operating system for controlling processing and flow of data between the processor and memory, and determining whether said sounds are reproduced in an audible manner through repeated determination of physical conditions comparable with reference values built into the memory, so that satisfaction of the condition causes the device to generate a sound through the pre-recorded sounds stored on the device, or a sound which is digitally presented by a text to speech (TTS) program component by transmitting a text point to it, which corresponds to an event, a combination of the above said, wherein when determining the event which requires reproduction of sound by the TTS program component, the operating system invokes a set of options selected or marked by the device user during its configuration in order to determine the extent to which this event can be audibly indicated.

EFFECT: possibility of audible indication during enroute navigation of user-predefined information.

14 cl, 6 dwg

Description

This invention relates to a device and method for performing text-to-speech speech (TTS).

BACKGROUND

TTS software is well known. Typically, the TTS mechanism is capable of decoding or interpreting plain text or a document created by a word processor (for example, with the extension “.txt”, “.doc”, etc.) and converting what is essentially a binary representation of the text into an alternative binary presentation in the form of commands to the sound processor, which, ultimately, produces the corresponding electrical signals to a traditional loudspeaker. The interpretation of the original text document is independent if it is isolated for the reason that it contains only a short phrase or title, or is more extensive and contains one or more paragraphs of text, typically may entail analysis at a granular level, for example, consonants, vowels and syllables and may also include grammar and punctuation analysis, so that the resulting synthetic speech is formed with the correct inflections and intonations and, thus, sounded as much as possible realistic.

In general, there are two ways of speech synthesis using electronic hardware and software. In concatenative synthesis, synthesized speech is created by interlocking pieces of pre-recorded speech that are stored in a database. Systems vary in the size of the stored speech blocks; a system that stores only smaller backgrounds or diphones will provide the largest output range, but may lack intelligibility, while storing complete words or sentences provides a high-quality output. Alternatively, in formant synthesis, the synthesizer incorporates a model of the speech path and other characteristics of the human voice to create a fully “synthetic” voice output signal. Parameters such as the fundamental frequency, pronunciation, and noise levels change over time to create an oscillatory artificial speech signal. This method is sometimes called rule-based synthesis; however, many concatenative systems also have rule-based components.

One of the most common uses of speech synthesis since its inception has been to provide blind or partially sighted people with the ability to understand a written word. More precisely, the abundance of modern devices, in fact, any device with relatively modest processing power and memory, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), more advanced mobile phones, such as so-called smartphones, game consoles and car satellite navigation systems (SNS ), provide some means for playing pre-recorded fragments of human voices or executing TTS software to interpret any text or processed text processor of a document stored on the device in real time.

This invention has particular application in automotive SNS devices, and although the following description is almost entirely directed at them, one skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the application of the invention can have a much wider scope and should not be considered a limited partial description.

Automotive SNS devices have become widespread in the previous 5 or so years, and most devices include either one or more map databases for specific countries, or the ability to store a number of pre-recorded phrases, possibly in a variety of different voices, for example masculine, feminine, and on different basic tones or with different levels of seriousness or gaiety. Moreover, many devices also enable the user to record such phrases in his or her own voice, and there can be a simple procedure in the device’s system software to train the user to write down each and every phrase sequentially that is required for the device to function properly. For example, a user may be asked to record a variety of different phrases or fragments of spoken words, such as “Turn left”, “Turn right”, “After 400 meters”, etc., and as soon as the recording is completed, the device’s system software ensures that fragments of the user's voice are selected for playback at the appropriate time, as opposed to the default or pre-selected pre-recorded fragments. Such technology has been available on the basis of mobile phones for some time, albeit on a simpler basis, while the user can record his own voice and use this recording instead of the default ringtone of a device’s call when a specific person or, in fact, any a person makes a call to a mobile phone.

The above pre-recorded systems are usually more than sufficient for most routing operations, but are limited because they do not offer the ability to audibly identify non-standard or country-specific information.

Therefore, the purpose of this invention is to overcome this drawback and offer a more comprehensive sound solution for, among other devices, automotive SNS.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, there is provided a processor-equipped device for generating sounds from data, said device comprising:

means for processing sounds in digital form and means for audible transmission thereof,

a memory in which a database of a plurality of data is stored, at least some of which are in the form of text pointers, and one or more pre-recorded sounds,

data transmission means by which data is transferred between the device processor and said memory, and

operating system software that controls the processing and flow of data between the processor and the memory and whether the sounds are reproduced in an audible manner,

said device is further capable of re-determining one or more physical conditions that are compared with one or more reference values provided in the memory, so that a positive comparison result causes an event requiring the sound to be generated by the device,

characterized in that

the device further includes a TTS software component that interacts with an operating system or program running on it, said operating system or program decides according to user input whether the event should be indicated in an audible manner, by

one or more pre-recorded sounds stored on the device,

sound digitally represented by the TTS component from a text pointer extracted from the database and corresponding to the event, or

combinations of the above.

In a preferred embodiment, the operating system or program running on it is provided with an additional, more accurate user input to enable the selection of the type of events that should be audibly indicated to the user. In particular, the operating system of a program running on it preferably represents a set of options for different types of events that can be selected or deselected, depending on the user's preference.

More preferably, the device is equipped with a global positioning system (GPS) means, which includes means for extracting accurate time signals, said device is thus capable of determining its physical global location, speed and acceleration (by performing averaging calculations over time) , and events that, according to the ideal, are audibly indicated to the user, are direction commands, while the device (and thus the user Carrying said device or moving in a vehicle, wherein said device is installed) is moved to a predetermined or pre-programmed route.

Most preferably, the data is representative of one or more maps of a highway network, such as a road network of a particular country or region.

Preferably, the data is provided with a variety of different additional data obtained from the maps (s) that the user may or may not wish to be informed about during the trip, such as street names, road numbers, building numbers, points of interest (POIs), road signs. In the case of street names, they can be audibly indicated to the user only through the TTS component.

In a preferred embodiment, the device is further provided with means for determining environmental conditions, such as temperature and pressure (information about which may be present in the GPS signal), and the device may further be provided with secondary means of long-distance radio communication, which enables the device to determine traffic conditions along with with specific segments of the network of transport lines represented by data, and receive messages and other information on the existing previous networks, such as a mobile telecommunications network or a radio network.

In a desirable embodiment, the invention also allows the user to make a selection whether the alerts retrieved over such networks are audible, such as incoming SMS (short message service messages) or other messages such as weather and traffic information.

In yet a further preferred embodiment, the device also allows a user to select whether device-based work events are indicated in an audible manner, for example, device operation hints and text information of instruction manuals of the device. Most preferably, the device includes user interface means, preferably graphical user interface means, and the operating system or program running on it displays one or more option pages through which the device can be informed whether the sound should be digitally represented by a component TTS on one or more different types of events requiring an audible message to the user whether to select one or more pre-recorded sounds to notify of such events, or a combination of these existing embodiments is required.

In a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for determining the course of action by which a device equipped with a processor should generate sounds from data, said device comprising:

means for synthesizing sounds in digital form and reproducing pre-recorded sounds together with means for their audible transmission,

a memory in which a database of a plurality of data is stored, at least some of which are in the form of text pointers, and one or more pre-recorded sounds,

data transmission means by which data is transferred between the device processor and said memory, and

operating system software that controls the processing and flow of data between the processor and the memory and whether the sounds are reproduced in an audible manner,

said device is further capable of re-determining one or more physical conditions that are compared with one or more reference values provided in the memory, so that a positive comparison result causes an event requiring the sound to be generated by the device,

characterized in that

the method includes the steps of

offer the user a choice of the type of sound required for transmission in an audible manner and dependent on user choice,

give the TTS software component the ability to interact with the operating system or program running on it so that for at least one event sounds are synthesized digitally from one or more text pointers extracted from the database or

one or more pre-recorded sounds stored on the device are reproduced for said at least one event or

combinations of the above.

Preferably, in the case where the user makes the choice that the sounds produced by the device in response to various events should consist solely of pre-recorded sounds stored on the device, the method includes the step of warning the user that certain events will not be audibly indicated mentioned user, for example, the designation of street names.

Preferably, in an alternative embodiment, in the case where the user makes the choice that one or more events should be audibly communicated to the user through synthesized sounds, the method includes an additional step, which provides many additional options for events, which, depending on the choice, the user may be forced to indicate in an audible way. Examples include street names, building numbers, road numbers, incoming long-distance radio messages such as traffic, weather or mobile networks, POI alerts, device operation tips, device textbook information, and road sign notifications.

The invention also covers a computer program, an operating system, or a program intended to be executed on a previously existing operating system to provide the above functionality to a processor endowed device.

Separate embodiments of the invention will be described below by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

1-6 show exemplary screen images of an automotive SNS adapted according to the present invention, and

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Automotive SNS devices will typically include a graphical user interface (GUI) for the touch screen, which during normal operation will display the route currently being traveled by the user. During the configuration of such devices, however, the user will be presented with a number of different option screens, some of which are shown in FIGS. 1-6.

Figure 1 shows the "Select Voice" screen, on which various graphics and text, generally shown under 2, indicate to the user that you can select a pre-recorded voice (designated as "Kate") for audible notification of events. The screen also displays graphic “keys” 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, which, when the user touches the screen in the area of these keys, provide the user with the ability to check the voice, delete the voice (along with previously stored pre-recorded sounds) to select the one shown voice or to scroll back and forth through other pre-recorded voice profiles. As soon as the user selects a particular pre-recorded human voice, a screen such as that shown in FIG. 2 is displayed, warning the user that street names extracted from the map database and long-distance communications received by the device cannot be read aloud by the device. Of course, it would be impractical, not to say impossible, to pre-record a human voice expressing in words every and every street name in a particular country.

Alternatively, if the user selects a machine voice (which practically means issuing a command to the device to synthesize speech digitally from text pointers extracted from the map database, in the case of street names and the like, or from plain text, such as included in messages, received by the device), a screen such as that shown in FIG. 3 may be displayed by the device.

In this particular case, additional option screens, such as those shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, are presented to the user (entitled “Voice Preferences” screens), and various event options can be selected or canceled by the user, so that the device audibly indicates specific events selected user, but not others.

6, an additional options screen demonstrates that the user can also optionally specify not only the type of event that the device should inform him in an audible manner, but also the extent and type of notification that the device should give. For example, full or abbreviated verbal warnings may be issued, a simple sound effect may suffice, or the user may wish to type some text that the device converts into synthesized speech.

In the overall operation of the route guidance device, that is, those commands that the device issues to the user to facilitate navigation from one position to a predetermined destination entered into the device by the user will be audibly indicated according to the user’s choice of a human voice or a machine (synthesized) voice. A machine voice will read aloud at least some sentences as a human voice. Depending on the settings, street names can be attached to the route indication and road numbers, road signs and other signs can be read aloud to the user.

The following pages provide examples of specific phrases that can be spoken by the device, and how they can be built:

Single teams: “After 500 meters, turn left - Rembrandplein”; “Turn left - A4”; “Turn left - A4, onto Utrecht for 31 miles”;

The teams combine: “After 500 meters, turn left - Rembrandplein - then turn right - Amstelstraat”; “Take the exit - 6 - then take the freeway - A9”;

Single teams: "Turn left - A4."

In the case where it is required that the device audibly indicate the distances, in this case, if the metric system is preferred (miles instead of kilometers), and the current voice is the voice of American TTS, the following distances can be read aloud:

[150 feet, 250 feet, half a mile, a quarter mile].

Example:

“After half a mile, turn left.”

When occupying a motorway on which the user will move for a certain time, the TTS voice will audibly inform the user about how long he will remain on the same road by reading aloud the following: “Follow the <road> for <distance> ", eg:

“Follow the A10 for 3.6 km”;

“Follow the A10 for 37 miles.”

The conditions for issuing this command are:

- The option “read aloud road numbers” of speech preferences should be enabled.

- The last (final) team was at least 15 seconds ago.

- You are on the road the team touches (not at the exit of the motorway and not at the driveway).

- The distance from this point to the next command is twice the distance to the point where the next command will be issued, or at least 1,500 meters before the next warning. These restrictions can simply be applied in software.

The variable <distance> is the distance to the next command, if the next command is not one of the following: "continue straight ahead", "keep to the right side", "keep to the left side".

Example:

The user will drive along a road called A2:

After 10 kilometers there is a reminder at the fork (“stay on the left side”), and 20 kilometers later the planned route will inevitably entail an exit.

In this case, the <distance>, which will be issued at the entrance to A2, is 30 kilometers, even if the next command ("keep to the left side - A2") is already issued after 10 kilometers.

Such an operation, newly implemented by a computer control program, is intended to reduce the information transmitted to the user. When street names / road numbers / exits / road signs are read out loud, they can be spoken too often. To reduce the amount of text that the TTS voice will read to you by ear, the following rules have been implemented:

- The same <name> will not be mentioned again in 30 seconds, where <name> = road sign / road number / exit number / street name.

- For roads that have early warnings, street names / road numbers / exits / road signs are already verbally expressed in the early warning. In addition, they are also not verbally expressed in the following warning, but this can be canceled by the above 30 seconds rule. If so, it is verbally expressed again at the end of the warning (which may also be canceled by the 30 second rule).

Example:

- “Ahead of exit 6 on Wyatten” (early warning).

- “After 800 yards, take the exit” (does not speak out due to the 30 second rule).

- “Reach exit 6 on Wyatten.”

Or

- “Keep ahead of the right side, A2, to Utrecht” (early warning)

- “After 800 meters, keep on the right side, A2, to Utrecht” (more than 30 seconds in between).

- "Keep Right".

For another type of road (the “Central part of the city”) it is usually advisable to hear the name of the street at the intersection. In this case, the rule is to speak a warning only at the intersection. However, this warning is sometimes not readable at all if the previous warning took too long. In some embodiments, implementation, therefore, can also be read aloud if the distance to the final warning is less than or equal to 200 meters. In this case, either the team is not at the intersection, or it is, but without additional information.

Examples:

- “After 300 meters, stay on the right side” (the name of the street is not spoken).

“Keep to the right, Mr. Wisserplein” (street name spoken at the intersection).

- “After 100 meters, turn left, Amsteltraat” (pronounces the name of the street if there are no commands at the intersection).

- “After 100 meters, turn left, Amstelstraat” (no warnings are issued at the intersection, since the previous warning took too long).

- “After 200 meters, turn left, Amstelstraat” (since the warning occurs <= 200 meters).

- “Turn left” (no street name, 30 seconds rule).

For combined commands of the “through <distance>” type, turn left, onto <street name>, then turn right, onto <street name> ”, the second street name will not be spoken if combined commands are issued not at the intersection. This is because if a combined command is issued at the intersection, it is likely that the team will not speak again and no one will ever hear the name of the street.

Examples:

“After 100 meters, turn left, Amstel, then turn right” (the second street did not speak out);

“Turn right, Herengracht”;

“Turn left, Spiegelgracht, then turn right, Lijnbaansgracht”

“Turn left, Spiegelgracht, then turn right, Lijnbaansgracht” (no command is issued, since we had to turn right immediately).

For POI alerts, the following applies.

When this setting is turned on (the button with independent latching is selected) and the currently selected voice is a machine voice, a dialog of buttons with dependent latching appears, with the following options for warning types:

(*) Full warning (“Gas station: 800 meters. Next opportunity: 20 kilometers”)

() Brief warning (“Gas station, 800 meters”)

() Sound effect

() Type your own warning

1. Full warning

When a complete warning is selected for a specific type of POI, the following sentence is read out loud (at the same moments / at the same distances as the current POI warning sounds):

<POI type> - type of POI for which the user selects a warning;

<Distance Units> - one of the distance units in meters / kilometers / yards / miles;

<X> - distance from current location to POI;

<Y> the distance from the current location to the next POI of this type.

Example:

“Gas station: 800 meters. Next opportunity: 20 kilometers. "

2. Brief warning

When a short warning is selected for a specific type of POI, the following sentence is read out loud (at the same times / at the same distances as the current POI warning sounds):

<POI type> <X> <distance units>.

Example:

"Restaurant: 100 meters."

3. Sound effect

When a sound effect is selected, the user is presented with a classic switch and the selected sound will be output at the same time / at the same distances as the POI warning sounds.

4. () Type your own warning

When this setting is selected for a specific type of POI, the user can type in the text to be read out loud when a POI warning is issued.

Urgent messages: When this setting is on (the switch with independent locking is selected), some blinking notifications (urgent messages) will be read aloud, for example:

- No reliable GPS signal!

- Not able to set a road checkpoint

- Your GPS location is not on the route, it is impossible to determine which road to follow. No route developed!

- You have already passed this item

- You cannot evade your destination

- The route has changed!

- The route has been clarified ...

- Traffic information is not available for this area

“Unable to join the service ...”

- “Launch a demonstration”

- No destinations allowed to visit

- The following road location is not on this map

- No phone number available for POI

- Your outbox is empty

- Unable to call, no dial tone

- Download <xxx> has been canceled

- Download <xxx> was successful

- Other messages are within the scope of this application.

Tutorials: When this setting is turned on (the button with an independent fixation is selected), the text of the tutorial (excursion) page will be read out loud when displayed on the screen. When moving to the next page, or when the entire page has been read, the TTS voice stops reading the current page.

Tips: When this setting is turned on (the button with independent locking is selected), the text of the tip will be read aloud when it is displayed on the screen. When deleted by the user’s instructions, or when the entire prompt was read aloud, the machine voice stops reading the prompt.

SMS: Reading SMS can be performed at two different levels: i. As soon as the SMS arrives (automatically read), and ii. when you press the read aloud key on your inbox / outbox.

1. Automatic reading: When this setting is turned on (the button with independent locking is selected), the incoming SMS message will be automatically read as soon as it arrives, for example:

If the sender is known from the address book, the following sentence will be read aloud:

“Incoming message from Johnny: Today I will be earlier!”

If the sender is unknown, the following sentence will be read aloud:

"Incoming message from <number>: <message>".

Example:

“Incoming message from number 06557 40775: Today I will be earlier!”

When a message is deleted by user instruction or when the entire message has been read aloud, the machine voice stops reading the message.

2. Read aloud (inbox / outbox): When a user selects a message using a mobile phone => read / write message => read a message from an inbox, the following sentence will be read aloud:

"Message from <sender name or number>: <message>".

3. Special messages: It is possible that between devices messages are sent that contain a specific location of the sender device; in such cases, the following sentence may be read aloud:

"This message contains a location."

Weather: When this setting is turned on (the button with independent fixation is selected), weather information will be read aloud when it is displayed on the screen.

Full proposal: “Daily weather report: <description>, <X> degrees <C / F>”.

Example:

“Daily Weather Report: Sunny, 19 degrees Celsius”;

"Daily Weather Report: Sunny, 67 degrees Fahrenheit."

To improve weather reports, the following suggestions can be read aloud:

“Daily weather report: <description>. "The minimum temperature is <X> degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit, the maximum temperature: <Y> degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit."

When the page showing the weather is deleted by the user or when all the text has been read aloud, the machine voice stops reading the weather.

Traffic: Traffic information can be read out loud at two different levels: As soon as new traffic information is available after updating (automatic reading), and when the function "Read aloud traffic information", embodied in the software, is activated providing:

1. Automatic reading: When this setting is turned on (the button with independent latching is selected) and the button with independent latching is selected “Issue a buzzer when traffic information of a route changes”, traffic information will be read out loud when new traffic information available for the current route.

If a setting, such as “automatic optimization after each update”, is disabled, the following information may be read aloud: “The traffic situation on your route has changed.”

And if the delay is known:

“The total delay due to traffic is currently <delay>”, where the delay is a time, for example, 11 minutes.

When a setting such as “automatic optimization after each update” is turned on, the following information can be read aloud: “The traffic situation on your route has changed”, then “Recalculation of the route”, then when the recalculation is completed, the following can be read out loud: “Your route has been recalculated. The new arrival time is 11.45 '' if the route was re-calculated and “Your route was re-calculated. It has not been changed. ”Otherwise.

2. The function key of the temporary screen may be displayed entitled “Read aloud traffic information”: When the “traffic” setting is enabled and the button is pressed, the submenu is displayed. The “read aloud about traffic” key can be selected, which has the action of loading details about incidents that will be on your route, and a message:

“Extracting traffic information. One moment please"

read aloud.

Once all the details of all incidents have been downloaded, the following may be read out loud for each incident on the route:

<description>, (on <road number>), between <A> and <B>;

Where

- (on <road number>) might not be available;

- “Between <A> and <B>” could be replaced “in A” (if only one location is available).

Example:

"Extracting traffic information, one moment, please ....";

“Slow traffic on A1 between Harwich and Reading. The accident on A1 between London and Hemel-Hempstead ... ".

The first sentence is “Extracting traffic information. One moment, please ”) could be cut off if all the details were loaded before the full sentence was expressed in words. For example, when you press a key a second time, it will break immediately, since all the details will already be loaded.

Priorities: The attributes are prioritized in the following order, meaning that the route will be given above the POI warning, etc.

1. Route directions

2. POI warnings

3. Charging fares

4. Traffic

5. SMS

6. Tutorial tutorial / weather

7. Test key

8. Urgent messages

Of course, any other order of priority may apply.

If the user deselects the machine voice and starts using the “human voice” again, some signs may not be affected for the reason that the text for those is simply not expressed in words:

- Tips

- Urgent messages

- Tutorial

- Weather

- SMS (Inbox / Outbox)

Other symptoms may return to their default state, being audibly communicated to the user through a “buzzer”.

- SMS (automatic reading)

- road traffic

- Select POI warning (BOING in this case)

In conclusion, the remaining symptoms return to the user’s audible message through the pre-recorded “.wav” or “.mp3” files:

- Route directions.

Claims (14)

1. A navigation device equipped with a processor capable of calculating the route between the starting point and the destination and generating sounds from the data, said device comprising:
means for digital processing of sounds and means for audible transmission thereof,
a memory in which a plurality of data is stored, at least some of which are in the form of text pointers, and one or more pre-recorded sounds,
data transfer means by which data is transferred between the device processor and said memory,
operating system software or a program that runs on it that controls the processing and data flow between the processor and the memory, and whether the sounds are reproduced in an audible manner by repeatedly identifying one or more physical conditions that are compared with one or more reference values provided in the memory in such a way that satisfying the condition triggers an event requiring the sound to be generated by the device by
one or more pre-recorded sounds stored on the device,
sound digitally represented by a text-to-speech (TTS) software component that the device is equipped with and with which the operating system or program running on it interacts by submitting to it a text pointer extracted from the data and corresponding to the event, or
combinations of the above,
characterized in that when determining the presence of an event that requires sound to be reproduced by the said TTS software component, said operating system or a program running on it refers to a set of one or more options that were selected or which were deselected by the user of the said device in its configuration time to determine to what extent this event should be audibly audible. 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the device is equipped with a means of a global positioning system (GPS), which includes means for extracting accurate time signals, and events that are ideally, audibly indicated to the user are direction commands, while the device moves along a predefined or pre-programmed route. 3. The device according to claim 1, in which the data includes data representing one or more maps of the network of transport highways. 4. The device according to claim 3, in which the map data is equipped with a variety of different additional data, which, during a planned trip, can be included in or excluded from audibly designated direction commands, such additional data is selected from the group consisting of: street names, building numbers, road numbers, points of interest (POIs), road sign information. 5. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, while the device is additionally equipped with a means for determining environmental conditions. 6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the device is equipped with long-distance radio communications, which allows the device to determine traffic conditions for specific sections of the network of transport routes represented by data to receive messages and other information through the said long-distance communications. 7. The device according to claim 6, while the device also allows the user to make a choice whether the warnings that are retrieved by the means of long-distance radio communication are audible. 8. The device according to claim 1, wherein the device also allows the user to choose whether or not device-based work events are indicated audibly. 9. The device according to claim 1, wherein the device includes means of a graphical user interface, and the operating system or program running on it causes the display of one or more pages of the selection of options by which the device can be informed whether it should be digitally represented sound through the TTS component of one or more different types of events requiring an audible message to the user whether to select one or more pre-recorded sounds to notify Akiho events, or whether you want a combination of the current embodiment. 10. A method for determining the course of action by which a navigation device equipped with a processor capable of calculating a route between a starting position and a destination should generate sounds from data, said device comprising:
means for digitally synthesizing sounds and reproducing prerecorded sounds together with means for audibly transmitting them,
a memory in which a plurality of data is stored, at least some of which are in the form of text pointers, and one or more pre-recorded sounds,
data transmission means by which data is transferred between the device processor and said memory, and
operating system software or a program that runs on it that controls the processing and data flow between the processor and the memory, and whether the sounds are reproduced in an audible manner by repeatedly identifying one or more physical conditions that are compared with one or more reference values provided in the memory, from the condition that the satisfaction of the condition caused an event requiring that the sound is generated by the device
one or more pre-recorded sounds stored on the device,
sound digitally represented by a text-to-speech (TTS) software component that the device is equipped with and with which the operating system or program running on it interacts by submitting to it a text pointer extracted from the data and corresponding to the event, or
combinations of the above,
characterized in that when determining the presence of an event that requires sound to be reproduced by the said TTS software component, said operating system or a program running on it refers to a set of one or more options that were selected or which were deselected by the user of the said device in its configuration time to determine to what extent this event should be audibly audible. 11. The method according to claim 10, the method includes the steps of warning the user that certain events may not be audibly indicated to said user when a choice is made for the exclusive use of pre-recorded sounds. 12. The method according to claim 10, the method includes an additional step, which provides many additional options for notification of events when the TTS is made, such additional event options are selected from the group consisting of: street names, building numbers, numbers roads, incoming long-distance communications, such as traffic, weather, and mobile networks, POI alerts, device operation tips, device textbook information, and road sign notifications. 13. A computer-readable medium containing codes, when accessed by which the computer performs any of the steps of the method according to claims 10-12. 14. A computer containing a computer-readable medium according to item 13 and running under the control of codes according to item 13.

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