US5487671A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Computerized system for teaching speech
Assignee: Digispeech Israel Ltd
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Filing: 1993-01-21
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Granted: 1996-01-30
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Expires: 2013-01-21
Abstract
Abstract Apparatus for interactive speech training having an audio specimen generator for playing a pre-recorded reference audio specimen to a user for attempted repetition by the user and a reference audio specimen library in which reference audio specimens are stored and to which the audio specimen generator has access. The audio specimen library contains a multiplicity of recordings of speaker dependent audio specimens produced by a plurality of speech models. A speaker independent parameter database stores a plurality of speaker independent references which are different from the reference audio specimens stored in the reference audio specimen library. The speaker independent references are classified according to at least one of age, gender or dialect, but is independent of other speaker characteristics within each category. An audio specimen scorer scores a user's repetition audio specimen by comparison of at least one parameter of the user's repetition audio specimen with a speaker independent reference.
Inventors
- 👤 Zeev Shpiro
- 👤 Gabriel F. Groner
- 👤 Erik Ordentlich
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-27 20:33
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F9/00; G09; G09B; G09B7/00; G09B7/02; G09B7/04; G09B19/00; G09B19/04; G09B19/06
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 32
Claim 1
Independent Claim
149 words
Apparatus for interactive speech training comprising: an audio specimen generator for playing a pre-recorded reference audio specimen to a user for attempted repetition thereby; a reference audio specimen library in which reference audio specimens are stored and to which the audio specimen generator has access, wherein said audio specimen library comprises a multiplicity of recordings of speaker dependent audio specimens produced by a plurality of speech models; a speaker independent parameter database storing a plurality of speaker independent references which are different from the reference audio specimens stored in said reference audio specimen library; and an audio specimen scorer for scoring a user's repetition audio specimen by comparison of at least one parameter of the user's repetition audio specimen with a speaker independent reference, said speaker independent reference being characterized in that it is classified in a category according to at least one of age, gender and dialect categories.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
149 words
Apparatus for interactive speech training comprising: an audio specimen generator for playing a pre-recorded reference audio specimen to a user for attempted repetition thereby; a reference audio specimen library in which reference audio specimens are stored and to which the audio specimen generator has access, wherein said audio specimen library comprises a multiplicity of recordings of speaker dependent audio specimens produced by a plurality of speech models; a speaker independent parameter database storing a plurality of speaker independent references which are different from the reference audio specimens stored in said reference audio specimen library; and an audio specimen scorer for scoring a user's repetition audio specimen by comparison of at least one parameter of the user's repetition audio specimen with a speaker independent reference, said speaker independent reference being characterized in that it is classified in a category according to at least one of age, gender and dialect categories.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
67 words
Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the audio specimen scorer comprises: a reference-to-response comparing unit for comparing at least one feature of a user's repetition audio specimen to at least one feature of the reference audio specimen; and a similarity indicator for providing an output indication of the degree of similarity between at least one repetition audio specimen feature and at least one reference audio specimen feature.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
30 words
Apparatus according to claim 2 and also comprising a user response memory to which the reference-to-response comparing unit has access, for storing a user's repetition of a reference audio specimen.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
27 words
Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said reference-to-response comparing unit comprises a volume/duration normalizer for normalizing the volume and duration of the reference and repetition audio specimens.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
26 words
Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said reference-to-response comparing unit comprises a parameterization unit for extracting audio signal parameters from the reference and repetition audio specimens.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
27 words
Apparatus according to claim 5 and wherein said reference-to-response comparing unit also comprises means for comparing the reference audio specimen parameters to the repetition audio specimen parameters.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
36 words
Apparatus according to claim 6 wherein said means for comparing comprises a parameter score generator for providing a score representing the degree of similarity between the audio signal parameters of the reference and repetition audio specimens.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
15 words
Apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said output indication comprises a display of said score.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
18 words
Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said output indication comprises a display of at least one audio waveform.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
21 words
Apparatus according to claim 1 and also comprising a prompt sequencer operative to generate a sequence of prompts to a user.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
27 words
Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the plurality of speech models differ from one another in at least one of the following characteristics: sex; age; and dialect.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
12 words
Apparatus according to claim 1 and also comprising a conventional personal computer.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
131 words
Apparatus for interactive speech training comprising: a reference audio specimen database in which non-speaker independent reference audio specimens are stored; a speaker independent parameter database in which speaker independent references are stored; a prompt sequencer operative to generate a sequence of prompts including said reference audio specimens to a user, prompting the user to produce a corresponding sequence of audio specimens, wherein said sequence of prompts branches in response to user performance; and a reference-to-response comparing unit for comparing at least one feature of each of the sequence of audio specimens generated by the user, to a speaker independent reference from said speaker independent parameter database, said speaker independent reference being characterized in that it is classified in a category according to at least one of age, gender and dialect categories.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
131 words
Apparatus for interactive speech training comprising: a reference audio specimen database in which non-speaker independent reference audio specimens are stored; a speaker independent parameter database in which speaker independent references are stored; a prompt sequencer operative to generate a sequence of prompts including said reference audio specimens to a user, prompting the user to produce a corresponding sequence of audio specimens, wherein said sequence of prompts branches in response to user performance; and a reference-to-response comparing unit for comparing at least one feature of each of the sequence of audio specimens generated by the user, to a speaker independent reference from said speaker independent parameter database, said speaker independent reference being characterized in that it is classified in a category according to at least one of age, gender and dialect categories.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
24 words
Apparatus according to claim 13 wherein the reference to which an individual user-generated audio specimen is compared comprises a corresponding stored reference audio specimen.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
23 words
Apparatus according to claim 13 wherein the sequence of prompts is at least partly determined by a user's designation of his native language.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
65 words
Apparatus according to claim 13 wherein the prompt sequencer comprises a multi-language prompt sequence library in which a plurality of prompt sequences in a plurality of languages is stored and wherein the prompt sequencer is operative to generate a sequence of prompts in an individual one of the plurality of languages in response to a user's designation of the individual language as his native language.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
140 words
Apparatus for interactive speech training comprising: a reference audio specimen database in which non-speaker independent reference audio Specimens are stored; a speaker independent parameter database in which speaker independent references are stored; a prompt sequencer operative to generate a sequence of prompts, including said non-speaker independent references, to a user, prompting the user to produce a corresponding sequence of audio specimens, wherein the sequence of prompts is at least partly determined by a user's designation of his native language; and a speaker independent reference-to-response comparing unit for comparing at least one feature of each of the sequence of audio specimens generated by the user, to a speaker independent reference from said speaker independent parameter database, said speaker independent reference being characterized in that it is classified in a category according to at least one of age, gender and dialect categories.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
140 words
Apparatus for interactive speech training comprising: a reference audio specimen database in which non-speaker independent reference audio Specimens are stored; a speaker independent parameter database in which speaker independent references are stored; a prompt sequencer operative to generate a sequence of prompts, including said non-speaker independent references, to a user, prompting the user to produce a corresponding sequence of audio specimens, wherein the sequence of prompts is at least partly determined by a user's designation of his native language; and a speaker independent reference-to-response comparing unit for comparing at least one feature of each of the sequence of audio specimens generated by the user, to a speaker independent reference from said speaker independent parameter database, said speaker independent reference being characterized in that it is classified in a category according to at least one of age, gender and dialect categories.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
162 words
Apparatus for interactive speech training comprising: a reference audio specimen database in which non-speaker independent reference audio specimens are stored; a speaker independent parameter database in which speaker independent references are stored: apparatus for receiving and storing audio specimens generated by a user in response to reference audio specimens from said reference audio specimen database; and a speaker independent reference-to-response comparing unit for comparing at least one feature of the audio specimen generated by the user, to a speaker independent reference from said speaker independent parameter database, said speaker independent reference being characterized in that it is classified in a category according to at least one of age, gender and dialect categories, the comparing unit comprising: an audio specimen segmenter for segmenting a user-generated audio specimen into a plurality of segments; and a segment comparing unit for comparing at least one feature of at least one of the plurality of segments to a speaker independent reference from said speaker independent parameter database.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
162 words
Apparatus for interactive speech training comprising: a reference audio specimen database in which non-speaker independent reference audio specimens are stored; a speaker independent parameter database in which speaker independent references are stored: apparatus for receiving and storing audio specimens generated by a user in response to reference audio specimens from said reference audio specimen database; and a speaker independent reference-to-response comparing unit for comparing at least one feature of the audio specimen generated by the user, to a speaker independent reference from said speaker independent parameter database, said speaker independent reference being characterized in that it is classified in a category according to at least one of age, gender and dialect categories, the comparing unit comprising: an audio specimen segmenter for segmenting a user-generated audio specimen into a plurality of segments; and a segment comparing unit for comparing at least one feature of at least one of the plurality of segments to a speaker independent reference from said speaker independent parameter database.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
26 words
Apparatus according to claim 18 wherein said audio specimen segmenter comprises a phonetic segmenter for segmenting a user-generated audio specimen into a plurality of phonetic segments.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
16 words
Apparatus according to claim 19 wherein at least one of the phonetic segments comprises a phoneme.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
16 words
Apparatus according to claim 19 wherein at least one of the phonetic segments comprises a syllable.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
11 words
Apparatus according to claim 20 wherein the phoneme comprises a vowel.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
11 words
Apparatus according to claim 20 wherein the phoneme comprises a consonant.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
108 words
Apparatus for interactive speech training comprising: a reference audio specimen database in which non-speaker independent reference audio specimens are stored; a speaker independent parameter database in which speaker independent references are stored: an audio specimen recorder for recording audio specimens generated by a user in response to reference audio specimens from said reference audio specimen database; and a speaker-independent audio specimen scorer for scoring a user-generated audio specimen based on at least one speaker-independent reference parameter from said speaker independent parameter database, said speaker independent reference parameter being characterized in that it is classified in a category according to at least one of age, gender and dialect categories.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
108 words
Apparatus for interactive speech training comprising: a reference audio specimen database in which non-speaker independent reference audio specimens are stored; a speaker independent parameter database in which speaker independent references are stored: an audio specimen recorder for recording audio specimens generated by a user in response to reference audio specimens from said reference audio specimen database; and a speaker-independent audio specimen scorer for scoring a user-generated audio specimen based on at least one speaker-independent reference parameter from said speaker independent parameter database, said speaker independent reference parameter being characterized in that it is classified in a category according to at least one of age, gender and dialect categories.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
24 words
Apparatus according to claim 24 wherein at least one speaker-independent parameter comprises a threshold value for the amount of energy at a predetermined frequency.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
112 words
Apparatus for interactive speech training comprising: a reference audio specimen database in which non-speaker independent reference audio specimens are stored; a speaker independent parameter database in which speaker independent references are stored; apparatus for receiving and storing audio specimens generated by a user in response to reference audio specimens from said reference audio specimen database; and a speaker independent reference-to-response comparing unit for comparing at least one feature of the audio specimens generated by the user, to a speaker independent reference from said speaker independent parameter database, said speaker independent reference being characterized in that it is classified in a category according to at least one of age, gender and dialect categories.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
112 words
Apparatus for interactive speech training comprising: a reference audio specimen database in which non-speaker independent reference audio specimens are stored; a speaker independent parameter database in which speaker independent references are stored; apparatus for receiving and storing audio specimens generated by a user in response to reference audio specimens from said reference audio specimen database; and a speaker independent reference-to-response comparing unit for comparing at least one feature of the audio specimens generated by the user, to a speaker independent reference from said speaker independent parameter database, said speaker independent reference being characterized in that it is classified in a category according to at least one of age, gender and dialect categories.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
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| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1999-01-29 | 1999-07-31 | 2000-01-30 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2003-01-29 | 2003-07-31 | 2004-01-30 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2007-01-29 | 2007-07-31 | 2008-01-30 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |