Framework for voice conversion

A device for converting a source speech signal associated with a source voice into a target speech signal that is a representation of said source speech signal associated with a target voice, said device comprising:

• an encoder for encoding said source speech signal into samples of encoding parameters, wherein said encoder comprises means arranged for segmenting said source speech signal into segments based on characteristics of said source speech signal,
• a decoder for decoding one of said samples of said encoding parameters and a converted representation of said samples of said encoding parameters to obtain said target speech signal, and
• a converter for converting samples of parameters related to said source speech signal into samples of parameters related to said target speech signal, wherein said converter is comprised in one of said encoder, said decoder and a separate unit;
• wherein at least one of said encoder and said converter are arranged to operate in dependence on said segments of said source speech signal.

A software application product, embodied in an electronically readable medium for use in conjunction with a device for converting a source speech signal associated with a source voice into a target speech signal that is a representation of said source speech signal associated with a target voice, said software application product comprising:

• program code for causing a digital processor to encode said source speech signal into samples of encoding parameters, said program code for causing said digital processor to encode said source speech signal into samples of encoding parameters comprising program code for causing said digital processor to segment said source speech signal into segments based on characteristics of said source speech signal,
• program code for causing said digital processor to decode one of said samples of said encoding parameters and a converted representation of said samples of said encoding parameters to obtain said target speech signal, and
• program code for causing said digital processor to convert, in one of said encoding, said decoding and a separate step, samples of parameters related to said source speech signal into samples of parameters related to said target speech signal;
• wherein said program code causes said digital processor to perform at least one of said encoding operation and said converting operation in dependence on said segments of said source speech signal.

A telecommunications device being capable of converting a source speech signal associated with a source voice into a target speech signal that is a representation of said source speech signal associated with a target voice, said telecommunications device comprising:

• an encoder for encoding said source speech signal into samples of encoding parameters, wherein said encoder comprises means arranged for segmenting said source speech signal into segments based on characteristics of said source speech signal,
• a decoder for decoding one of said samples of said encoding parameters and a converted representation of said samples of said encoding parameters to obtain said target speech signal, and
• a converter for converting samples of parameters related to said source speech signal into samples of parameters related to said target speech signal, wherein said converter is comprised in one of said encoder, said decoder and a unit that is separate from said encoder and said decoder;
• wherein at least one of said encoder and said converter are arranged to operate in dependence on said segments of said source speech signal.

A text-to-speech system being capable of converting a source speech signal associated with a source voice into a target speech signal that is a representation of said source speech signal associated with a target voice, said text-to-speech system comprising:

• a text-to-speech converter for converting a source text into said source speech signal;
• an encoder for encoding said source speech signal into samples of encoding parameters, wherein said encoding comprises the step of segmenting said source speech signal into segments based on characteristics of said source speech signal,
• a decoder for decoding one of said samples of said encoding parameters and a converted representation of said samples of said encoding parameters to obtain said target speech signal, and
• a converter for converting samples of parameters related to said source speech signal into samples of parameters related to said target speech signal, wherein said converter is comprised in one of said text-to-speech converter, said encoder, said decoder and a unit that is separate from said text-to-speech converter, encoder and decoder;
• wherein at least one of said encoder and converter is arranged to operate in dependence on said segments of said source speech signal.