Press Release
24 March 2003
EPSON Embedded Text-to-Speech (TTS) System for
Portable Applications
Singapore, 24 March 2003 - EPSON has presented the embedded Text-to-Speech System.
TTS allows text messages (such as email and SMS) to be converted into audible speech. Although the technology has been available for many years (remember ‘Hal’ in the film ‘2001-A Space Odyssey’?) it is only with recent advances in digital signal processing and speech understanding that the technology has been able to meet customer expectations of quality with a reasonably small footprint (and hence cost). For the first time, TTS can be embedded in a variety of low-power, portable applications for large-volume consumer applications such as mobile phones. EPSON’s embedded TTS technology builds on many years of experience of CMOS processing and close collaboration between the European Design Centres (in Barcelona and Scotland), the Tokyo Design Centre and the US supplier of the core TTS engine.
The EPSON TTS system demonstrated at electronica 2002 is based on the ARM7® core and the DECtalk® TTS system from the Fonix Corporation, which has one of the highest intelligibility ratings for one of the smallest footprints for any TTS system in the world. For applications such as SMS, where the intelligibility/footprint combination is the key requirement, EPSON’s TTS offering is the only viable option. Furthermore, the EPSON TTS system is a completely unconstrained system – that is, it could be applied to a wide variety of applications, from reading e-books aloud, to phonetic email, to aids for hearing impaired people. It has many attractive features which allow the customer to ‘tailor’ the system with different voices, stress, delivery rate, and emphasis, all providing an element of novelty and fun that help to make the technology compelling. It is also important to appreciate the safety aspects of TTS systems, as they allow for hands-free and eyes-free operation where it would be unsafe or impractical to do otherwise.
Our TTS solution is very efficient in terms of on-chip memory – for example, we envisage that a single-chip TTS system (complete with memory and on-chip D/A converters, and manufactured using EPSON’s 0.18 micron CMOS technology) will be able to accommodate 4 or 5 European languages. No other TTS system currently available can match this language coverage in a real single-chip form.
If the customer requires a different arrangement then the EPSON S-CSP stacked-package can provide this – say by offering more languages in future (i.e. an upgrade path which would not change the overall package size). Alternatively, S-CSP could make it possible to accommodate existing customer functionality, such as an application processor or baseband engine (BBE).
Pictorial: EPSON TTS (chip)
EPSON SINGAPORE PTE LTD is a wholly owned subsidiary of SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION, Japan. As the Regional Headquarters of SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION, EPSON SINGAPORE PTE LTD handles sales and marketing of information-related equipment such as printers, scanners and projectors, electronic devices including semiconductors, LCDs and crystal devices, and system devices in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, India, Australia and New Zealand.
More information about EPSON SINGAPORE PTE LTD is available at http://www.epson.com.sg/html/electronic_devices.html
Further Information:
EPSON SINGAPORE PTE LTD
ED Division
Luvinna Lew / Chan Tuck Mun
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