US5924068A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Electronic news reception apparatus that selectively retains sections and searches by keyword or index for text to speech conversion
Assignee: Panasonic Holdings Corp
•
Filing: 1997-02-04
•
Granted: 1999-07-13
•
Expires: 2017-02-04
Abstract
Abstract An electronic news receiving device receives text data for an electronic edition of a newspaper in the evening and audibly reads the newspaper to the user the next day. The newsreader includes a receiver which receives an electronic edition of a newspaper transmitted by a transmitter at an electronic news preparer's facility. The news preparer may mark words that do not conform to conventional letter-to-sound rules with a pronunciation flag and provide pronunciation data for the words with the electronic edition of the newspaper. The data may be compressed by providing a dictionary in the news receiving device and, at the preparer's facility, translating each word into a dictionary address. The transmission channel may include a telephone line, the vertical blanking interval of a television signal, a cable television channel, an AM/FM subcarrier signal or a satellite channel. The received electronic edition of the newspaper is processed by a section filter to retain desired sections of the newspaper and to discard unwanted sections. The retained news articles are stored in memory. A text-to-speech converter produces an audible output corresponding to the spoken text of the news articles. A user can input one or more keywords to cause the device to selectively read articles containing the keywords. The text to speech converter of the device uses rules and a dictionary to provide syntactic and semantic prosody for morpheme reconstructions. The user may determine which articles are read and may vary the rate at which articles are read using manual controls or spoken commands.
Inventors
- 👤 Ronald B. Richard
- 👤 Kazue Hata
- 👤 Stephen Johnson
- 👤 Steve D. Pearson
- 👤 Judson Hofmann
- 👤 Brian A. Hanson
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-30 15:38
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N7/00; H04N7/08; H04N7/087; H04N7/088; G; G10; G10L; G10L13/00; H04M; H04M2201/00; H04M2201/60; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S345/00; Y10S345/901
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 35
Claim 1
Independent Claim
167 words
A news receiving apparatus for receiving an electronic edition of a newspaper, the apparatus comprising: receiving means for receiving the electronic edition of the newspaper including text data of news articles; section filtering means for retaining or discarding the text data corresponding to specified sections of the electronic edition of the newspaper; memory means for storing the text data corresponding to the retained sections of the electronic edition of the newspaper; text-to-speech conversion means for converting portions of the stored text data into a spoken representation of words represented by the portions of the stored text data; and user interface means including: means for establishing which sections of the electronic edition of the newspaper are retained by said section filtering means and for controlling which portions of the electronic edition of the newspaper are provided to said text-to-speech conversion means; input means for receiving at least one keyword entered by a user, and search means for retrieving the news articles that contain the at least one keyword.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
167 words
A news receiving apparatus for receiving an electronic edition of a newspaper, the apparatus comprising: receiving means for receiving the electronic edition of the newspaper including text data of news articles; section filtering means for retaining or discarding the text data corresponding to specified sections of the electronic edition of the newspaper; memory means for storing the text data corresponding to the retained sections of the electronic edition of the newspaper; text-to-speech conversion means for converting portions of the stored text data into a spoken representation of words represented by the portions of the stored text data; and user interface means including: means for establishing which sections of the electronic edition of the newspaper are retained by said section filtering means and for controlling which portions of the electronic edition of the newspaper are provided to said text-to-speech conversion means; input means for receiving at least one keyword entered by a user, and search means for retrieving the news articles that contain the at least one keyword.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
15 words
A news receiving apparatus of claim 1, wherein said search means comprises an index engine.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
90 words
A news receiving apparatus of claim 1, wherein said memory means only stores at least X bytes, where X is an integer and X=Y•((M/N)•60)•P wherein said memory means only stores written text to be converted to about Y hours of corresponding speech where the written text is not compressed; and wherein the audible output signal representing the spoken words has a speech rate of M syllables per minute with an average of N syllables for each of the words, and an average of P letters for each of the words.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
14 words
A news receiving apparatus of claim 3, wherein: Y=two; M=three hundred; N=two; and P=seven.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
18 words
A news receiving apparatus of claim 1, wherein the news receiving apparatus is implemented in a portable computer.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
17 words
A news receiving apparatus of claim 1, wherein the news receiving apparatus is a stand alone product.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
27 words
A news receiving apparatus of claim 1, wherein the receiving means includes telephone interface means for receiving the electronic edition of the newspaper from a telephone line.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
28 words
A news receiving apparatus of claim 1, wherein the receiving means includes cable interface means for receiving the electronic edition of the newspaper from a cable television system.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
26 words
A news receiving apparatus of claim 8, wherein the receiving means includes means for receiving the electronic edition of the newspaper on an entire cable channel.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
30 words
A news receiving apparatus of claim 8, wherein the receiving means includes means for receiving the electronic edition of the newspaper during the vertical blanking interval of a television signal.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
27 words
A news receiving apparatus of claim 1, wherein the receiving means includes interface means for receiving the electronic edition of the newspaper from a subcarrier modulated signal.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
26 words
A news receiving apparatus of claim 1, wherein the receiving means includes satellite interface means for receiving the electronic edition of the newspaper through satellite communications.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
29 words
An electronic news receiving apparatus of claim 1, further comprises speech recognition means for receiving and recognizing speech commands to control the operation of the electronic news receiving apparatus.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
57 words
A news receiving apparatus of claim 1, wherein the text-to-speech conversion means includes: letter to sound conversion means for providing pronunciation data for words in the electronic edition of the newspaper based on the letter to sound rules; and a dictionary which stores pronunciation data for words that do not comply with the letter to sound rules.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
69 words
An electronic news receiving apparatus of claim 14, wherein the electronic edition of the newspaper is compressed and predetermined words in the electronic edition of the newspaper that correspond to words stored in said dictionary means are compressed using a dictionary address corresponding to each of the predetermined words and wherein the dictionary means includes means for decompressing each of the predetermined words in response to the dictionary address.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
72 words
An electronic news receiving apparatus of claim 14, wherein words in the electronic edition of the newspaper that do not comply with pronunciation rules are assigned a pronunciation flag and pronunciation data and are transmitted with the text data, and the words which are assigned the pronunciation flag and the corresponding pronunciation data are stored in a temporary area of the dictionary means as the electronic edition of the newspaper is received.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
25 words
An electronic news receiving apparatus of claim 14, further comprises acoustic processing means for modifying the pronunciation data according to grammatical data and phonemic context.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
38 words
An electronic news receiving apparatus of claim 14, wherein the stored electronic edition of the newspaper includes intonational phrases and the electronic news receiving apparatus further comprises acoustic processing means for assigning intonation patterns to the intonational phrases.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
38 words
An electronic news receiving apparatus of claim 14, wherein the stored electronic edition of the newspaper includes phoneme segments and the electronic news receiving apparatus further comprises acoustic processing means for converting the phoneme segments to acoustic parameters.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
37 words
An electronic news receiving apparatus of claim 14, wherein the stored electronic edition of the newspaper includes phoneme segments and the electronic news receiving apparatus further comprises acoustic processing means for assigning durations for the phoneme segments.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
27 words
An electronic news receiving apparatus of claim 14, further comprises acoustic processing means for assigning stress data to the words in the electronic edition of the newspaper.
Claim 23
Independent Claim
176 words
A method for receiving and audibly reproducing an electronic edition of a newspaper, the method comprising the steps of: receiving, as text data, the electronic edition of the newspaper at a receiver; retaining or discarding portions of the received text data corresponding to news articles in specified sections of the electronic edition of the newspaper; storing the received text data corresponding to the retained sections of the electronic edition of the newspaper in a memory; converting portions of the stored text data into a spoken representation of words represented by the stored text data; processing user commands to determine which sections of the electronic edition of the newspaper are specified to be stored in said memory and which portions of the electronic edition of the newspaper are specified to be converted to said spoken representation; receiving at least one keyword entered by a user; and searching the news articles in said memory to identify the articles that contain the at least one keyword and to retrieve the identified articles to be converted into the spoken representation.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
176 words
A method for receiving and audibly reproducing an electronic edition of a newspaper, the method comprising the steps of: receiving, as text data, the electronic edition of the newspaper at a receiver; retaining or discarding portions of the received text data corresponding to news articles in specified sections of the electronic edition of the newspaper; storing the received text data corresponding to the retained sections of the electronic edition of the newspaper in a memory; converting portions of the stored text data into a spoken representation of words represented by the stored text data; processing user commands to determine which sections of the electronic edition of the newspaper are specified to be stored in said memory and which portions of the electronic edition of the newspaper are specified to be converted to said spoken representation; receiving at least one keyword entered by a user; and searching the news articles in said memory to identify the articles that contain the at least one keyword and to retrieve the identified articles to be converted into the spoken representation.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
34 words
A method for receiving and audibly reproducing an electronic edition of a newspaper as recited by claim 22, further comprising the step of: receiving the electronic edition of the newspaper from a telephone interface.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
35 words
A method for receiving and audibly reproducing an electronic edition of a newspaper as recited by claim 22, further comprising the step of: receiving the electronic edition of the newspaper via a cable television interface.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
37 words
A method for receiving and audibly reproducing an electronic edition of a newspaper as recited by claim 24, wherein the electronic edition of the newspaper is received via the cable television interface from an entire cable channel.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
41 words
A method for receiving and audibly reproducing an electronic edition of a newspaper as recited by claim 24, wherein the electronic edition of the newspaper is received via the cable television interface during the vertical blanking interval of a television signal.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
35 words
A method for receiving and audibly reproducing an electronic edition of a newspaper as recited by claim 22, further comprising the step of receiving the electronic edition of the newspaper via a subcarrier modulation interface.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
35 words
A method for receiving and audibly reproducing an electronic edition of a newspaper as recited by claim 22, further comprising the step of receiving the electronic edition of the newspaper via a satellite communications interface.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
59 words
A method for receiving and audibly reproducing an electronic edition of a newspaper as recited by claim 22, wherein the step of converting the electronic edition of the newspaper to an audible output signal further comprises the steps of: providing pronunciation data for words in the electronic edition of the newspaper based on dictionary and letter to sound rules.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
65 words
A method for receiving and audibly reproducing an electronic edition of a newspaper as recited by claim 29, wherein the electronic edition of the newspaper is compressed and the method further includes the set of: decompressing predetermined words in the electronic edition of the newspaper that correspond to the stored pronunciation data by converting a received dictionary address corresponding to each of the predetermined words.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
79 words
A method for receiving and audibly reproducing an electronic edition of a newspaper as recited by claim 29, wherein words in the electronic edition of the newspaper that do not comply with the dictionary and letter to sound rules have a pronunciation flag and pronunciation data transmitted with the electronic edition of the newspaper and wherein the method further comprises the step of storing the words assigned the pronunciation flag and the corresponding pronunciation data in a temporary memory.
Claim 34
Independent Claim
187 words
A system for providing an electronic edition of the newspaper to an electronic news receiving apparatus, said system comprising: means for generating an electronic edition of a newspaper; means for marking the electronic edition of the newspaper by inserting markers into the electronic edition of the newspaper; means for transmitting the electronic edition of the newspaper to the electronic news receiving apparatus; the electronic news receiving apparatus including; means for receiving data representing the transmitted, marked electronic edition of the newspaper; means for retaining and discarding portions of the received data corresponding to sections of the electronic edition of the newspaper based on the marks inserted into the electronic edition of the newspaper; means for storing the received data representing the retained sections of the electronic edition of the newspaper; means for generating a spoken representation of words represented by the stored data; means for receiving at least one keyword entered by a user; and means for searching the news articles in said memory to identify the articles that contain the at least one keyword and retrieving the identified articles to be converted into the spoken representation.
Claim 35
Independent Claim
187 words
A system for providing an electronic edition of the newspaper to an electronic news receiving apparatus, said system comprising: means for generating an electronic edition of a newspaper; means for marking the electronic edition of the newspaper by inserting markers into the electronic edition of the newspaper; means for transmitting the electronic edition of the newspaper to the electronic news receiving apparatus; the electronic news receiving apparatus including; means for receiving data representing the transmitted, marked electronic edition of the newspaper; means for retaining and discarding portions of the received data corresponding to sections of the electronic edition of the newspaper based on the marks inserted into the electronic edition of the newspaper; means for storing the received data representing the retained sections of the electronic edition of the newspaper; means for generating a spoken representation of words represented by the stored data; means for receiving at least one keyword entered by a user; and means for searching the news articles in said memory to identify the articles that contain the at least one keyword and retrieving the identified articles to be converted into the spoken representation.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2002-07-12 | 2003-01-11 | 2003-07-13 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2006-07-12 | 2007-01-11 | 2007-07-13 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2010-07-12 | 2011-01-11 | 2011-07-13 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |