RC8660 VOICE SYNTHESIZER
RC SYSTEMS
Note the CTRL+D character (ASCII code 04) in the text fragment.
CTRL+D is a non-printing character, but the translation algorithms
treat it as they would any printing character. Thus, the string “CTRL+D
close” will be pronounced with the s receiving the “s” sound. “Close”
without the CTRL+D will be unaffected—the s will still receive the
“z” sound. It does not matter where you place the Control character
in the word, as long as you use it the same way in your application’s
text. You may use any non-printing character (except LF and CR) in
this manner.
non-englishlanguages
Dictionaries can be created that enable the RC8660 to speak in lan-
guages other than English. It’s not as difficult as it may seem—in most
cases all that is required is a pronunciation guide and a bit of patience.
If you don’t have a pronunciation guide for the language you’re inter-
ested in, check your local library. Most libraries have dictionaries for
other languages that include pronunciation guides, which make it easy
to transcribe the pronunciation rules into exception form. A good ex-
ample of an exception dictionary for the Spanish language is included
with RCStudio.
languageTranslation
Exception dictionaries even allow text written in one language to be
read by the RC8660 in yet another language, as long as the vocabulary
is limited. The following exceptions demonstrate how this can be done
with three example Spanish/English words.
(GRANDE)=L AA R J
(BIEN)=F AY N
(USTED)=YY UW
The sense of translation can also be reversed:
(LARGE)=G RR A N D EI
(FINE)=B I EI N
(YOU)=U S T EI DH
MessageMacros
Certain applications may not be able to send text strings to the
RC8660. An example of such an application is one that is only able
to output a four bit control word and strobe. Sixteen unique output
combinations are possible, but this is scarcely enough to represent the
entire ASCII character set.
You can, however, assign an entire spoken phrase to a single ASCII
character with the exception dictionary. By driving four of the data bus
lines of the bus interface (see Figure 1.7) and hardwiring the remaining
four to the appropriate logic levels, virtually any set of 16 ASCII
characters can be generated, which in turn can be interpreted by the
exception dictionary.
For example, by connecting the four control bits to DB0 through DB3,
DB4 and DB5 to VCC, DB6 and DB7 to ground and the strobe to WR#,
ASCII codes 30h through 3Fh (corresponding to the digits “0” through
“9” and the six ASCII characters following them) can be generated by
the four control bits. Message strings would then be assigned to each of
these ASCII characters. For example, you could make the character “0”
(corresponding to all four control bits = 0) say, “please insert quarter,”
with the following dictionary entry:
(0)=P L IY Z
IH N S ER T
K W OW R T ER
The Timeout timer should also be activated (1Y, for example) in order
for the “message” to be executed. Otherwise, the RC8660 will wait
indefinitely for a CR/NUL character that will never come. The timer
command could be included in the greeting message.
TipS
Make sure that your exceptions aren’t so broad in nature that they
do more harm than good. Exceptions intended to fix broad classes
of words, such as word endings, are particularly notorious for ruining
otherwise correctly pronounced words.
Take care in how your exceptions are organized. Remember, an ex-
ception’s position relative to others is just as important as the content
of the exception itself.
WhenThingsDon’tWorkasexpected
On rare occasions, an exception may not work as expected. This occurs
when the built in pronunciation rules get control before the exception
does. The following example illustrates how this can happen.
Suppose an exception redefined the o in the word “process” to have
the long “oh” sound, the way it is pronounced in many parts of Can-
ada. Since the word is otherwise pronounced correctly, the exception
redefines only the “o:”
PR(O)CESS=OW
But much to our horror, the RC8660 simply refuses to take on the new
Canadian accent.
It so happens that the RC8660 has a built in rule which looks some-
thing like this:
$(PRO)=P R AA
This rule translates a group of three characters, instead of only one as
most of the built in rules do. Because the text fragment PRO is translated
as a group, the o is processed along with the initial “pr,” and conse-
quently the exception never gets a shot at the o.
If you suspect this may be happening with one of your exceptions, in-
clude more of the left-hand side of the word in the text fragment (in the
example above, (PRO)CESS=P R OW would work).
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