Voice synthesizing method using independent sampling frequencies and apparatus therefor

A system of producing a synthesized voice, said system including

• means for producing a voice sound waveform at a voice sampling frequency based on pronunciation informations;
• means for producing a voice-less sound waveform at a voice-less sampling frequency based on said pronunciation informations;
• means for converting said voice sampling frequency into an output sampling frequency to produce a frequency-converted voice sound waveform with said output sampling frequency, wherein each of said voice sampling frequency and said voice-less sampling frequency is independent from said output sampling frequency;
• and
• means for converting said voice-less sampling frequency into said output sampling frequency to produce a frequency-converted voiceless sound waveform with said output sampling frequency, further including:
• means for providing a time quantization width defined between head and bottom times which have time-correspondences between a sampling frequency unconverted sample point and a sampling frequency converted sample point;
• and
• means for defining, for each sample, a pair of said pronunciation information and a time quantization delay at said head time of said time quantization width, and said time quantization delay corresponding to a waiting time from said head time until defining each of sampling frequency converted samples which are to be produced in said time quantization width;
• whereby said voice sound waveform for said each sample is produced with said time quantization delay from said head time at said voice sampling frequency based on said pronunciation information corresponding to said each of sampling frequency converted samples, and
• whereby said voice-less sound waveform for said each sample is produced with said time quantization delay from said head time at said voice-less sampling frequency based on said pronunciation information corresponding to said each of sampling frequency converted samples.

A voice synthesizer including:

• a voice sound producing unit for producing a voice sound waveform at a voice sampling frequency based on pronunciation informations;
• a voice-less sound producing unit for producing a voice-less sound waveform at a voice-less sampling frequency based on said pronunciation informations;
• a voice sound sampling conversion unit for converting said voice sampling frequency into an output sampling frequency to produce a frequency-converted voice sound waveform with said output sampling frequency, wherein each of said voice sampling frequency and said voiceless sampling frequency is independent from said output sampling frequency;
• and
• a voice-less sound sampling conversion unit for converting said voice-less sampling frequency into said output sampling frequency to produce a frequency-converted voice-less sound waveform with said output sampling frequency, further including
• a timing control unit for providing a time quantization width defined between head and bottom times which have time-correspondences between a sampling frequency unconverted sample point and a sampling frequency converted sample point;
• and said timing control unit further defining, for each sample, a pair of said pronunciation information and a time quantization delay at said head time of said time quantization width, and said time quantization delay corresponding to a waiting time from said head time until defining each of sampling frequency converted samples which are to be produced in said time quantization width;
• whereby said voice sound producing unit produces said voice sound waveform for said each sample with said time quantization delay from said head time at said voice sampling frequency based on said pronunciation information corresponding to said each of sampling frequency converted samples, and
• whereby said voice-less sound producing unit produces said voice-less sound waveform for said each sample with said time quantization delay from said head time at said voice-less sampling frequency based on said pronunciation information corresponding to said each of sampling frequency converted samples.

A computer-readable recording medium having a computer program stored thereon to be executed by a computer to implement a method of producing a synthesized voice, comprising:

• producing a voice sound waveform at a voice sampling frequency based on pronunciation informations;
• producing a voice-less sound waveform at a voice-less sampling frequency based on said pronunciation informations;
• converting said voice sampling frequency into an output sampling frequency to produce a frequency-converted voice sound waveform with said output sampling frequency, wherein each of said voice sampling frequency and said voice-less sampling frequency is independent from said output sampling frequency;
• and
• converting said voice-less sampling frequency into said output sampling frequency to produce a frequency-converted voice-less sound waveform with said output sampling frequency, further including:
• providing a time quantization width defined between head and bottom times which have time-correspondences between a sampling frequency unconverted sample point and a sampling frequency converted sample point;
• and
• defining, for each sample, a pair of said pronunciation information and a time quantization delay at said head time of said time quantization width, and said time quantization delay corresponding to a waiting time from said head time until defining each of sampling frequency converted samples which are to be produced in said time quantization width;
• whereby said voice sound waveform for said each sample is produced with said time quantization delay from said head time at said voice sampling frequency based on said pronunciation information corresponding to said each of sampling frequency converted samples, and
• whereby said voice-less sound waveform for said each sample is produced with said time quantization delay from said head time at said voice-less sampling frequency based on said pronunciation information corresponding to said each of sampling frequency converted samples.