A METHOD OF ENCODING TEXT DATA TO INCLUDE ENHANCED SPEECH DATA FOR USE IN A TEXT TO SPEECH (TTS) SYSTEM, A METHOD OF DECODING, A TTS SYSTEM AND A MOBILE PHONE INCLUDING SAID TTS SYSTEM

摘要

Enhanced speech data is added to text data in a text-to-speech (TTS) system to improve the prosody and pronunciation of the text. The enhanced speech data may be added by an annotator 6 using keys found on a conventional keyboard. A header 4 is attached to the text data, which includes initial speech data, to identify that enhanced speech data has been added. The data is encoded for storage or transmission, and subsequently decoded. A parser 16 is used, when the header is detected, to identify and separate the enhanced speech data. The enhanced speech data may include data which determines pitch, rate of speaking, stress, volume and the way currency values, dates and times are spoken. The system may be used with mobile telephones, personal computers, digital cameras and other terminal devices.