Name and address processor

Claim 1

A method for processing text contained within a database for subsequent synthesis by a text-to-speech synthesizer comprising the steps of: inputting a listing from a database containing the text to be processed; parsing the text into one or more distinct fields; processing in parallel and generating an output for each of the distinct fields wherein said parallel processing includes the steps of: i) normalizing the text contained within each of the fields utilizing both regular expressions to normalize the text and non-regular expressions to normalize the text; ii) detecting acronyms contained within the text; iii) identifying text which is to be spelled-out by the text-to-speech synthesizer; and combining the output of each of the parallel processing steps into a single output, for presentation to the text-to-speech synthesizer.

Claim 2

A method for processing text contained within a database for subsequent synthesis by a text-to-speech synthesizer comprising the steps of: inputting a listing from a database containing the text to be processed; parsing the text into one or more distinct fields; processing in parallel and generating an output for each of the distinct fields wherein said parallel processing includes the steps of: i) normalizing the text contained within each of the fields utilizing both regular expressions to normalize the text and non-regular expressions to normalize the text; ii) detecting acronyms contained within the text; iii) identifying text which is to be spelled-out by the text-to-speech synthesizer; and combining the output of each of the parallel processing steps into a single output, for presentation to the text-to-speech synthesizer.

Claim 5

A device for processing textual data contained within a database for subsequent synthesis by a text-to-speech synthesizer such that resultant speech is enhanced, said device comprising: a computer processor; a control module including at least one application for execution by the computer processor; a collection of processing tables and processing rules for use by the computer processor in processing the textual data within the database; a start up module in communication with said control module and said collection of tables and rules, for execution by the computer processor to initialize said tables prior to processing said text; a configuration file for execution by the computer processor to configure the at least one application; a set of tools in communication with said at least one application, said tables and rules and said configuration file, said set of tools including: an intelligent field recognizer for generating a plurality of fields of text from the textual data contained within the database; a plurality of field normalizer modules, one for each field generated, for normalizing the fields of text generated by the intelligent field recognizer; an acronym detector module for detecting acronyms contained within the normalized fields of text generated by the plurality of field normalizer modules; means, in communication with the at least, one application and the tables a rules, for determining whether the textual data is a business listing or a residence listing; and an output formatter for generating formatted fields of text after the fields of text have been normalized by the field normalizers and have had acronyms detected by the acronym detector; wherein said formatted fields of text are presented to the text-to-speech synthesizer for producing speech corresponding to the textual data processed.

Claim 6

A device for processing textual data contained within a database for subsequent synthesis by a text-to-speech synthesizer such that resultant speech is enhanced, said device comprising: a computer processor; a control module including at least one application for execution by the computer processor; a collection of processing tables and processing rules for use by the computer processor in processing the textual data within the database; a start up module in communication with said control module and said collection of tables and rules, for execution by the computer processor to initialize said tables prior to processing said text; a configuration file for execution by the computer processor to configure the at least one application; a set of tools in communication with said at least one application, said tables and rules and said configuration file, said set of tools including: an intelligent field recognizer for generating a plurality of fields of text from the textual data contained within the database; a plurality of field normalizer modules, one for each field generated, for normalizing the fields of text generated by the intelligent field recognizer; an acronym detector module for detecting acronyms contained within the normalized fields of text generated by the plurality of field normalizer modules; means, in communication with the at least, one application and the tables a rules, for determining whether the textual data is a business listing or a residence listing; and an output formatter for generating formatted fields of text after the fields of text have been normalized by the field normalizers and have had acronyms detected by the acronym detector; wherein said formatted fields of text are presented to the text-to-speech synthesizer for producing speech corresponding to the textual data processed.