KR20100000249A - Terminal for voice news using tts converter, and method for providing voice news - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention includes a control unit for controlling each unit; A memory into which text news data is uploaded; And a TTS engine and an audio processor for converting the text news data into a voice signal and outputting the same to a voice signal. The present invention relates to a news listening terminal and a voice news providing method using the same.

Description

Terminal for voice news using TTS engine and method for providing voice news {Terminal for voice news using TTS converter, and method for providing voice news}

The present invention relates to a terminal for news listening, a method and a system for providing voice news, and more particularly, to listen to the news text provided by a newspaper by voice using a text to speech (TTS) engine regardless of time and place. It relates to a news listening terminal and a voice news providing method therefor.

Modern people are living through a lot of news every day. The news is generally provided through newspapers, TVs, and radios, which are traditional media, but recently, due to the development of the Internet and communication means, news can be accessed through various media.

However, in order to obtain news through such a medium, the user must watch or listen to the time of the program in which the news is broadcasted, or access the homepage providing the news through the Internet and search for the news one by one.

However, for the modern man who is busy with daily life and work, it is not difficult to see the news at a certain time. In particular, the time of the news is often in the morning of the day, the news is often not properly due to preparation for work.

With this in mind, many people read newspapers that are available for a fee or free in a commuter car or on the subway, but it is not easy to open a newspaper in a confined space and read each article individually. It can even cause discomfort.

Furthermore, in the case of a self-driving driver, it is impossible to even read a newspaper, and they are forced to simply listen to an unspecified broadcast from the radio.

The present invention was devised to solve the above problems, and provides a news listening terminal that can receive text news data provided by a newspaper or a broadcaster and convert it into a voice anytime and anywhere using a TTS engine. For the purpose of

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for providing voice news using such a news listening terminal.

In order to achieve the above object, a news listening terminal according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a control unit for controlling each unit; A memory into which text news data is uploaded; And a TTS engine and an audio processor for converting the text news data into a voice signal and outputting the same to a speaker.

Preferably, the news listening terminal of the present invention further includes a data decoder which decodes an index code included in the text news data, classifies it into a header and text data in which index information is recorded, and stores it in the memory. The TTS engine and the audio processor are configured to convert the text data into a voice signal according to the index information recorded in the header and output the voice signal to a speaker.

In addition, the news listening terminal of the present invention may further include a wireless connection receiving unit connected to a server for providing text news data via a medium connection unit or a network to which a mobile storage medium is connected.

Preferably, the news listening terminal is further provided with a function button for controlling the operation.

According to still another embodiment of the present invention, a header is provided that receives text news data from a server, decodes an index code included in the text news data to generate index information, and generates the text news data. And classified into text data and stored therein, and converting the text data into a voice signal and outputting the text data according to the index information.

Here, the index code is composed of special characters not used for the text data.

According to another aspect of the invention, (a) providing the text news data from the server to the terminal for listening to the news; (b) converting the text news data into a voice signal in the news listening terminal; And (c) outputting the converted voice signal at the news listening terminal.

The method may further include generating index information by decoding an index code included in the text news data in the news listening terminal; And classifying the text news data into a header and text data including the generated index information and storing the text news data in the news listening terminal. In the step (b), the text data is stored according to the index information. Converts to an audio signal.

Advantageously, the method comprises storing news data in a user account in a member folder at said server; And downloading news data stored in the user account to the news listening terminal by accessing the server.

The index information may include section information of text data and information indicating headline and body text.

According to the present invention, the categorized text data includes a headline and body text, and voice-transforms the headline; And converting and outputting the body text corresponding to the headline selected by the user.

According to the present invention, since the user can listen to the news by downloading the news data to the news listening terminal anytime, anywhere, regardless of time and place.

In addition, since the news listening terminal according to the present invention converts the text news data into voice and outputs it, the news can be encountered even in crowded subways, buses, or during self-driving.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, since the newspaper or broadcaster only needs to provide the index data to the news data in the text state already prepared, there is no burden due to the processing of the news data, and the news listening terminal classifies the news based on the index code. You can listen to the news you want more conveniently.

Other characteristic effects of the present invention will be more clearly understood through the following specific embodiments of the present invention.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to this, the terms or words used in this specification and claims should not be construed as having a conventional or dictionary meaning, and the inventors should properly introduce the concept of terms in order to best explain their invention. It should be interpreted as meanings and concepts in accordance with the technical spirit of the present invention based on the principle that it can be defined. Therefore, the embodiments described in the specification and the drawings shown in the drawings are only the most preferred embodiment of the present invention and do not represent all of the technical idea of the present invention, various modifications that can be replaced at the time of the present application It should be understood that there may be equivalents and variations.

System overview

1 schematically shows a configuration of a system for listening to news using a news listening terminal according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, the system of the present invention includes a server 10 for providing news data, and a user terminal 30 connected to the server 10 through the network 20.

The server 10 is a server operated by a company that provides news such as a newspaper company or a broadcasting station, and as shown in FIG. 2, a control unit 11, a member management unit 12, and a news provider 13. ).

The member manager 12 performs a user registration and login function of a user accessing the server 10 using the user terminal 30, and registers and manages news information of interests desired by the user along with the member information. .

The news providing unit 13 performs a function of searching for news data in a text state according to previously registered member information and providing the same to users.

In addition, the server 10 includes a member information DB 14 in which user's personal information and interested area news information is recorded and stored, and a news DB 15 in which various news information is stored in a text state.

The member information DB 14 may include personal information data such as a name, an address, a contact number, a user ID, a password of a customer and a company registered as a member by accessing the server 10.

News data stored in the news DB 15 will be described later.

Optionally, the server 10 may further include a member folder 16, which is a virtual folder in which news area of interest news registered in advance by a user is classified and stored for each user as described below.

Each component of the server is not divided in terms of physical and hardware concepts but according to the functions it performs, and thus may be implemented by application software programmed to perform each of the functions. In addition, the server 10 has a basic display device such as a CRT or LCD for screen display, and an input means such as a keyboard for information input.

The user terminal 30 includes a personal terminal capable of internet access, such as a conventional personal PC, PDA terminal, PMP terminal, DMB terminal and Wibro terminal. For example, the user terminal 30 may access a server 10 and access a web page such as XML (eXtensible Markup Language), HDML (Handheld Device Markup Language), Wifi (WIFI), or the like provided by a management server through the Internet. It is a terminal that has a browser that can interpret and display mobile pages, or that can run an independent client program.

In addition, the network is a comprehensive concept including the Internet, a public telephone network (PSTN), a cellular phone, a mobile communication network including PCS and TRS, and a wireless local loop that connects fixed communication means to a wireless network. Was used.

Terminal for listening to news

According to the present invention, after the user downloads the news provided to the user terminal 30 to the removable storage medium 40, the user can access the news listening terminal 50 and listen to it by voice. A schematic configuration of) is shown in FIG. 3.

Referring to the drawings, the news listening terminal 50 includes a media connection unit 53, a data decoder 54, a TTS engine 55, and audio, in addition to a control unit 51 and a basic internal memory 52 for controlling each unit. A processing unit 56 and the like.

The medium connection unit 53 is a communication interface through which the removable storage medium 40 is physically connected to perform data communication, and includes a USB slot or a memory card slot, or a cable connection unit communicating with the removable storage medium 40. It is provided.

Removable storage medium 40 used in the present invention is a USB memory, CF (Compack Flash), SD (Secure Digital), MS (Memory Stick), XD (eXtreme Digital), SM (Smart Media) type memory card, Or an external hard disk or flash memory.

The data decoder 54 decodes the index code of the news data provided from the server 10 to index the news and simultaneously classifies the headline and body data.

The TTS engine 55 converts the text news data classified by the data decoder 54 into audio wave data based on the voice information stored in the memory 52.

In addition, the audio processor 56 converts the audio wave data converted by the TTS engine 55 into an analog voice signal and outputs the same through the speaker 57. Of course, the TTS engine and the audio processor may be integrated into one function.

In addition, the news listening terminal 50 according to the present invention is provided with a display 58 such as an LCD, so that the operating state of the device may be displayed or may be provided by text when listening to the news.

In addition, the news listening terminal 50 is provided with various function buttons 59. The function buttons 59 may include, for example, buttons such as number keys, arrow movement keys, play, stop, forward, and back buttons. It is configured to allow the user to control the terminal as needed when listening to the news.

News data structure

According to the present invention, the news data stored in the news DB 15 of the server 10 is provided to the user terminal 30, and then transmitted to the news listening terminal 50 through the removable storage medium 40, Finally, the news listening terminal 50 outputs a voice.

The news data stored in the news DB 15 of the server 10 is in the form of text. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the news data includes a headline 60 and a body 70 according to the news content. Such text data may be configured, for example, in KS complete standard Korean code, such as KS5601 complete type, 2 byte combined code, or Unicode form.

In addition, in order to classify and index the news data into the headline 60 and the body 70 in the news listening terminal 50, index codes I1 and I2 are added.

According to the present invention, the index codes I1 and I2 are also text data. Preferably, the index codes I1 and I2 are special characters not used in the headline 60 and body 70 text of the news, for example &, /, ^. * And the like.

More preferably, the index code I1 and I2 may include a first index code I1 indicating the headline 60 and a second index code I2 indicating the news body.

For example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, '& /' and '/ &' of the first index code I1 indicate the beginning and end of the index code and 'H2-1' indicates the second section (eg : First headline (in economic section).

In addition, 'T2-1' of the second index code I2 means the content of the first body of the second section.

According to the present invention, since news data is purely composed of text data, no data encoding operation is required and the capacity is also small, which is suitable for wired and wireless transmission.

Although the news data has been described in detail in this embodiment, it is not necessary to limit the news data to such a structure, and the news data may be modified and configured within the scope of the same or equivalent technical idea.

News feed process

Next, a method of providing news according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention using a system having the above configuration will be described. News providing process according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is schematically illustrated in FIG.

Referring to the drawings, first, a user who wants to use the news providing service according to the present invention uses the user terminal 30 to access a server 10 provided at a newspaper company or a broadcasting company (step S100).

Then, the member manager 12 of the server 10 transmits the member registration screen prepared in advance in the form of HTML to the user terminal 30, and the user terminal 30 displays this by the built-in web browser.

The member registration screen may include personal information such as a user's name, address, ID, password, and email. Accordingly, the user registers his personal information and completes membership (step S110).

In this process, the user may register his / her favorite area of interest news information (step S120). The registration of the news information of interest may be selected by section classification, for example, politics, economy, society, sports or the like, or may be selected by topic such as real estate, stocks, baseball, golf, and the like.

Although not specifically mentioned in the present embodiment, in addition, it may be configured to pre-register various conditions that the user wants to provide news. For example, it is possible to select a news release date or time zone news (morning, evening).

The user's personal information and the interest field news information as described above are stored in the member information DB 14 of the server 10.

Subsequently, when it is time to provide the news, the news provider 13 of the server 10 retrieves the corresponding news data from the news DB 15 according to the condition stored in the member information DB 14 and the user terminal 30. (Step S130). At this time, the news data transmitted from the server 10 to the user terminal 30 is text data as illustrated in FIG. 4.

The transmission of such news data can be through various routes. First, as a conventional method, news data can be attached and sent to an e-mail account of a user recorded in the member information DB 14.

As another alternative, the server 10 may also install a client program for transmitting news data in the user terminal 30 so that the news data may be automatically transmitted.

When the news data is transmitted from the server 10 to the user terminal 30 as described above, the user terminal 30 receives it (step S140), and then the user receives the received news data from the terminal 50 for receiving the news. To the removable storage medium 40 for uploading (step S150).

This process can be performed, for example, by connecting the USB memory to the connection slot of the user terminal 30 and then copying the file.

Subsequently, the user connects the portable storage medium 40 storing the news data to the news listening terminal 50 according to the present invention (step S160). For example, a user may connect a USB memory to a USB slot provided in the media connection unit 53 of the news listening terminal 50.

This process gives the user temporal and spatial freedom. That is, the user can listen to the news by connecting the mobile storage medium 40 to the news listening terminal 50 at any time and at any time. For example, the user downloads the news data to the mobile storage medium 40 before going to work in the morning, and then connects the mobile storage medium 40 to the terminal for listening to the news 50 in a subway or bus or during self-driving. You can.

After the removable storage medium 40 is connected to the news listening terminal 50 as described above, the user may press the 'play' button of the function button 59 to listen to the news. Alternatively, when the mobile storage medium 40 is connected, the control unit 11 of the news listening terminal 50 may detect the same and automatically perform a subsequent process.

Accordingly, the process of outputting news data as a voice signal from the news listening terminal 50 is illustrated in FIG. 6.

Referring to the drawing, first, the data decoder 54 of the news listening terminal 50 decodes index codes I1 and I2 of news data in a text state provided through the mobile storage medium 40 (step S200). ).

In this process, the data decoder 54 analyzes, for example, the index code I1 (I2) of the text data shown in FIG. 4, classifies it into the headline 60 and the text of the body 70 and indexes the text. Generate information. The decoded data is stored in the memory 52 (step S210). An example of the data stream to be stored is shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 7, the data stream stored in the memory 52 is composed of a plurality of text data T1, T2, and T3 having headers H1, H2, and H3.

Index information generated by the data decoder 54 is recorded in the headers H1, H2, and H3. Such index information may include section information of corresponding text data T1, T2, and T3, and information indicating headline 60 and body 70 text. In addition, date and time information, data source information, and the like, as well as address information for extracting text data T1, T2, and T3 corresponding to the index information, may be included. Of course, these information are generated by decoding the index code. Will be.

The text data T1, T2, and T3 are contents of news, that is, text information corresponding to the headline 60 and the body 70.

When the data classified into the headers H1, H2, and H3 and the text data T1, T2, and T3 is decoded (stored) in the memory 52 by decoding the index codes I1 and I2 of the news data as described above. You are ready to listen to the news.

The user can arbitrarily select the news to be heard by pressing a function button (step S220). For example, when news data is uploaded to the memory 52, the total number and title of the news can be displayed on the display 58 according to the index information, and the user presses the number key or the arrow navigation button to select the desired news. Can be selected.

If the user selects a specific news, the control unit 11 controls the TTS engine 55 to output the selected news as voice (step S230).

The TTS engine 55 extracts the selected text data from the memory 52 under the control of the controller 11 and converts the selected text data into an audio wave file. For example, if the user selects the first news of the economic section, the corresponding text data is extracted and converted according to the index information recorded in the headers H1, H2, H3. Such text data may be composed of the headline 60 and the body 70 as described above.

The data converted into the audio wave file by the TTS engine 55 is converted into an analog voice signal by the audio processor 56 and output to the outside through the speaker 57.

Preferably, specific voice pattern information is recorded in the memory 52, and a voice signal may be output based on the specific voice pattern information. For example, voice pattern information such as Um Ki-young voice, newspaper line voice, and Lee Young-ae voice is stored in advance, and the user can listen to the news by selecting a desired voice pattern.

If the user does not select a specific news, the control unit 11 may first output the headline of the main news by voice (step S250). That is, according to the header information stored in the memory 52, only the text corresponding to the headline of each news can be converted to the TTS engine 55 to output audio in sequence.

Subsequently, when the user who listens to the headline selects the desired news by pressing a function button (step S250), as described above, all the corresponding texts are converted into speech and output.

If the user does not select a specific news even after listening to the headline, the body text may be voice-converted and output in order according to the order (step S270).

In such a process, when the user presses the stop button (step S260) or when the audio output of all the news is completed (step S280), the operation ends and ends.

Other Example

A news listening terminal 50 'according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. In this case, the same reference numerals as in the above-described drawings indicate components having the same function, and thus redundant description thereof will be omitted.

The news listening terminal 50 'of the present embodiment includes a wireless transmitter / receiver 53', and is configured to communicate directly with the server 10 through the network 20.

That is, the user may wirelessly access the server 10 through the wireless transmitter / receiver 53 'and then receive news data in a text state provided by the server 10. The transmitted news data is stored in the memory 52, and the subsequent processing is the same as in the above-described embodiment.

The news listening terminal 50 'according to the present embodiment may be integrated with a mobile communication device such as a mobile phone, a wireless PDA, a DMB terminal, or the like.

Preferably, the user accesses the server 10 with the news listening terminal 50 'and performs a login process to download desired news information from his user account folder provided in the member folder 16 of FIG. Can be. In this case, the news provider 13 of the server 10 stores the news data corresponding to the registration condition of the user in advance in the user account in the member folder.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the advertisement voice may be output prior to or between news listening. In this case, like the news information data, the advertisement data may be provided in a text data state, decoded by the data decoder, and converted into voice by the TTS engine and output.

Although the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the following drawings, these drawings illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention, and the technical concept of the present invention is not limited to the drawings and should not be interpreted.

1 is a diagram showing a schematic system for performing a method for providing voice news according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of a server for performing a method for providing voice news according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a news listening terminal according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating an example of text news data according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

5 and 6 are flowcharts illustrating a procedure for performing a method for providing voice news according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a diagram illustrating a news data stream decoded in a news listening terminal according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a news listening terminal according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (18)

A control unit for controlling each unit; A memory into which text news data is uploaded; And And a TTS engine and an audio processor for converting the text news data into a voice signal and outputting the text news data to a speaker. The method of claim 1, And a data decoder which decodes an index code included in the text news data, classifies it into a header and text data in which index information is recorded, and stores it in the memory. The TTS engine and audio processor, the news listening terminal, characterized in that for converting the text data into a voice signal according to the index information recorded in the header and output to the speaker. The method of claim 2, And a media connection unit to which a removable storage medium is connected. The method of claim 2, And a wireless transmitter and receiver connected to a server for providing text news data through a network. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, The news listening terminal further comprises a function button for controlling the operation of the news listening terminal. Receiving text news data from a server, decoding index codes included in the text news data to generate index information, classifying the text news data into a header and text data including the generated index information, and storing the index news; The news listening terminal, characterized in that for converting the text data to a voice signal according to the index information. The method of claim 6, The index code is a news listening terminal, characterized in that consisting of special characters not used in the text data. The method of claim 6, A news listening terminal, characterized in that the text news data is provided from the server through a removable storage medium. The method of claim 6, And receiving text news data from the server through a wireless connection. (a) providing text news data from a server to a terminal for receiving news; (b) converting the text news data into a voice signal in the news listening terminal; And (c) outputting the converted voice signal at the news listening terminal. The method of claim 10, Generating, at the news listening terminal, index information by decoding an index code included in the text news data; And And classifying the text news data into a header and text data including the generated index information and storing the text news data in the news listening terminal. In the step (b), the voice news providing method, characterized in that for converting the text data according to the index information. The method of claim 11, And the index code is composed of special characters not used in the text data. The method of claim 11, In the step (a), the voice news providing method characterized in that to provide text news data from the server to the news listening terminal through a removable storage medium. The method of claim 11, In the step (a), the voice news providing method characterized in that to provide text news data from the server to the news listening terminal by a wireless connection. The method of claim 14, Storing news data in a user account in a member folder at the server; And And accessing the server to download the news data stored in the user account to the news listening terminal. The method of claim 11, And the index information includes section information of text data and information indicating headline and body text. The method of claim 11, The classified text data includes a headline and body text. Voice converting and outputting the headline; And And converting the body text corresponding to the headline selected by the user to output the voice text. The method of claim 11, And voice converting the advertising text data and outputting the voice text data.

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