Claims
- 1. A method of operating language-based conversion of a present text message into speech, the method comprising the following steps:
a. retrieving the present text message; b. automatically generating a language identifier corresponding to the present text message; c. converting the present text message directly into computer-generated speech in response to the language identifier; and d. playing the computer generated speech to a subscriber.
- 24. A unified messaging system for selectively providing voice messages from received voice messages and received text messages, the voice messaging system comprising:
e. means for retrieving a received message; f. means for determining if the received message contains an original text message or an original voice message, wherein the means for determining is coupled to the means for retrieving the received message; g. means for converting the original text message into a computer-generated speech message based, wherein the means for converting is coupled to the means for retrieving the received message; and h. means for playing a selected one of the original voice message and the computer-generated speech message to a subscriber, wherein the means for playing is coupled to the means for retrieving and the means for generating and the selected one of the original voice message and the computer-generated speech message is selected by a message recipient.
- 25. A method of receiving messages, the method comprising:
a. retrieving a current message; b. determining a message format of the current message as one of a voice format and a text format; c. generating a converted speech message based on the current message when the message format of the current message is the text format; and d. playing the voice format of the current message to a message recipient in response to a message play back command from the message recipient, when the message format of the current message is the voice format; and e. playing the converted speech message to the message recipient in response to a message play back command from the message recipient, when the message format of the current message is the text format.
- 26. The method as claimed in claim 25, wherein the step of generating the converted speech message further comprises automatically identifying a language of the current message and converting the text format of the current message into the converted speech message based on the language of the current message.
- 27. The method as claimed in claim 26, wherein the step of automatically identifying the language of the current message further comprises determining a frequency occurrence for each of a plurality of sequential character combinations within the text format of the current message, comparing the frequency occurrence for each of the plurality of sequential character combinations with reference occurrence statistics for each of a plurality of reference languages and determining the language of the current message based on a best match the frequency occurrence for each of the plurality of sequential character combinations and one of the reference occurrence statistics.
- 28. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein the step of determining the frequency occurrence for each of the plurality of sequential character combinations further comprises examining a first 176 characters within the text format of the current message.
- 29. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein each of the plurality of sequential character combinations further comprises three characters.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a divisional application filed from and claiming priority under 35 U.S.C. § 121 of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/099,744, filed on Jun. 18, 1998, entitled “UNIFIED MESSAGING SYSTEM WITH AUTOMATIC LANGUAGE IDENTIFICATION FOR TEXT-TO-SPEECH CONVERSION,” which claims priority, under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of provisional application Ser. No. 60/051,720, filed on Jul. 3, 1997, and entitled “UNIFIED MESSAGING SYSTEM WITH AUTOMATIC LANGUAGE IDENTIFICATION FOR TEXT-TO-SPEECH CONVERSION.” In addition, this application relates to and incorporates by reference U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,659, entitled “ELECTRONIC MAIL SYSTEM HAVING INTEGRATED VOICE MESSAGES.”
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60051720 |
Jul 1997 |
US |
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09099744 |
Jun 1998 |
US |
Child |
09479333 |
Jan 2000 |
US |