KR100450913B1 - Audio output device for digitally coded traffic messages - Google Patents

Abstract

The digitally coded traffic message received by the broadcast receiver includes a code for the description of the places in the geographic area, and the name corresponding to each code for voice output from a table stored in a memory assigned to the broadcast receiver. In the extracted voice output device of the traffic message, names are stored in the table in a first language and, if present, in at least one other language. Whether the names are stored in the language to be output in the table is checked for voice output of the names. If present, the place name is read in the language, if not present, the first voice language information is read.

Description

Voice output device for digitally coded traffic messages

The invention relates to an apparatus according to the preamble of claim 1.

By means of a Radio-Data-System (RDS), digital data can be transmitted additionally in audible in parallel with the broadcast program in the data channel. The specification of this radio-data-system for microwave broadcasting is described in particular in the March 1984 issue of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Stipulated in 3244-E. A radio broadcast receiver with a suitable RDS-decoder can receive and decode data transmitted in addition to the radio broadcast by the same receiver. This data transmission is done in 32 groups for 108 bits each, and a certain service is assigned to each group. This group 8a is provided for the transmission of digitally coded traffic messages.

The construction and coding of this traffic message is defined in detail in the standard proposal ALERT C, issued in November 1990 by the RDS ATT ALERT Consortium. Important elements of a traffic message are location and event. These information are cataloged. That is, one clear code is assigned to each traffic-related place and each traffic-related event. Linking places in a location table along an existing road gives a course. Traffic Message Channel The use of the TMC (Traffic Message Channel) requires apparatus for decoding, for storage, for subsequent processing and for the output of traffic messages in addition to the general apparatus of a receiving device with an RDS-decoder.

Through the coding of the traffic message and the conversion to the voice first made at the receiver, the traffic message is understood by each user regardless of the location associated with the traffic message and regardless of the transmitting station transmitting the traffic message. There is the possibility of outputting This requires only means for generating speech in the language to be output. Typically, a driver purchases a car radio with a voice output device that outputs traffic messages in its language. To this end, the radio receiver stores, in particular, words and sentences indicating the event and its magnitude. For example, "congestion" and "three kilometers long" are stored.

Another element of voice output is the place name that is sent as a code in the traffic message. For this audio output, a place name corresponding to a code is stored in a table stored in a memory allocated to a broadcast receiver. Preferably such a memory is arranged in a replaceable data carrier, for example in a chip card. This has the advantage that the table does not need to include the names and all the codes of all the geographical regions in which the broadcast receiver operates. It is also necessary to take into account the continual changes in the list of places, because over time the road network and related places-for example highways-connection points-or new roads are created. Thus, when arranging the memory in a swappable data carrier, the user can purchase a data carrier for the area where the driver goes if a change is made, and in the case of an area where the driver rarely goes, before the start of driving, You can get it.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a voice output of a digitally coded traffic message such that, although conventionally, data carriers are used in geographic regions spoken in other languages, the names are output in a language to be generally output.

The object is that, in accordance with the present invention, the names in the table are stored as first language information, and if present in at least one other language, and for the voice output of each one of the names, the names are output in the table. Whether it is stored in a language is checked and this is achieved by reading the name in the language if it exists and reading it in the first language if it does not exist.

The device according to the invention has the advantage that the names known in the foreign language, in relation to the geographical regions respectively, are output in said voice. Thus, using the device of the invention, for example, with French as the language to be outputted, gives the driver in Germany the French name "Aix la Chapelle" instead of "Aachen".

The device according to the invention also has the advantage that the memory location required for the table is only slightly larger than the table in a single language, since most names are given only in the language corresponding to each region.

In a refinement of the device according to the invention, a description of the table comprising the geographical area to which the table applies, the first language, the number of further languages and another language is stored in the memory.

Therefore, when the receiver is switched on by inserting a chip card or when the chip card is inserted, information necessary for using the table may be inquired. In addition, access to individual data records belonging to one code is much easier.

In this embodiment, if the table each includes a place name in a first language and a place name in another language for one code, and a dummy is stored instead of a place name that does not exist in another language, The memory location for recognizing individual names in another language is saved. Further, in order to quickly find and read the place names of another language, an embodiment in which the place names in another language are stored together with the place names of the first language in an order corresponding to the order of the table description.

If necessary, in the apparatus according to the present invention, the output language may be fixedly set by the voice generator of the broadcast receiver, or the language to be output may be selected in the broadcast receiver. The latter makes the cost of a broadcast receiver expensive but brings advantages for a reasonable reason, since the manufacture of a broadcast receiver is made available for multilingual users.

Embodiments of the invention are shown in the drawings and are detailed below.

In the drawings, the same members have the same reference numerals. Embodiments and members thereof are shown in block diagrams. However, this does not mean that the circuit arrangement according to the invention is limited to the realization by the individual circuits corresponding to the blocks. It is particularly advantageous for the circuit arrangement according to the invention to be realized by a rather integrated circuit. In this case a digital signal processor can be used, which in the case of suitable programming executes the processing steps shown in the block diagram. The above embodiments can form an important part of a broadcast receiver with another circuit arrangement in an integrated circuit.

The header shown in FIG. 1 includes an RDS-lands-code RDS-CC, which indicates for which country the table is designed. This is for example EOD. The second place is the code of the language stored as Endonym, that is, the language of the area where the place is located. In this case de = German. Also in the header Exonym, that is, the number of different languages, two languages are presented in the described embodiment. Then the code of the first Exonym, eg en = English and the code of the second Exonym, are followed by fr = French.

In the part of the table shown in FIG. 2 to which the header shown in FIG. 1 is applied, an identifier is provided in the left column, Endonym in the second column, and Exonym in the third and fourth columns, in English and French. Since the name of the foreign language is not prevailing in each case, without Exonym, a dummy containing one or more symbols is distinguished from all other symbols. The order of Exonym corresponds to the order of the language of the header in the table. Therefore, no code for individual Exonym is required.

It is advantageous to select from the table a notation that facilitates language generation, especially phonetic transcription. However, in this embodiment, for convenience, the general form for the optical output has been selected.

3 and 4 only the members and functions necessary for the description of the audio output according to the present invention during the broadcast reception are shown. The signals of group 8a are provided to the traffic message processing apparatus 21 at 22 of the RDS-decoder, which is not shown. According to the above-mentioned ALERT-specification, the data includes information about the location, the manner, the duration predicted, the size and direction of the event. This information is preferably decoded and selected in the device 21 realized in the form of a microcomputer or a digital signal processor. Since the selection is made according to the selection criteria provided through the input device 23, for example, a traffic message relating to the road section input in the input direction is reproduced.

The data stored in the location list 25 is needed for decryption of the traffic message. For example, data such as place on the road closest to the place mentioned in the traffic message, and belonging to one region are needed. These and other information may be stored in a place list on the chip card 24 and may be read out as other information described later by a reading device present in the receiver. In the illustrated embodiment, place number 4711 belongs to region 2009 and neighboring places are 4710 and 4712. In addition, the place list 25 includes an identifier, which is used for reading place names and other names from the table (1). Thus, for example, the identifier 15 means word Koln and the identifier 81 means word north. Preferably, the use of an identifier with a constant number of locations saves memory location on a significant scale.

The decrypted traffic message is provided to the device 26 for speech synthesis and its output signal is provided to the speaker 16 via the digital / analog-converter 14 and the audio-amplifier 15. The device 26 can be advantageously realized by a digital signal processor, in which one program 27 is used. The data necessary for speech synthesis is provided from the table 1 stored in the chip card 24, the event record list 2, the carrier record list 3, and the segment library 4. The composition is in the language in which the event record list 2, carrier record list 3 and segment library 4 are made. Speech synthesis-methods are known. A method tailored to the output of a coded traffic message is simultaneously described in the patent application "Method of outputting a traffic message digitally coded by synthetic speech" filed by the applicant.

In the table (1), in addition to the verbal designations, there are also numbers, for example in connection with the connection point 15. Since it is important to be able to hear the number of connection points in the language in which the rest of the output is made, the table 1 stores the number 15 as a number. In the case of the speech synthesis a special part of the segment library 4 is used, in which the pronunciation of the number is stored in each language of the receiver. In addition, in the table (1), the place name is in general characters so that the optical card outputs the sound by the chip card 24.

In the table (1), names in other languages (Exonym) are stored as long as names in other regions (Endonym) are used. In the case of Cologne, ie Cologne in French for example. The receiver according to FIG. 3 may in this case select by the selection device 28 a name that exists in the language of the receiver. In the case shown, for example, it can be selected from English, Dutch, German and French. As shown in many places in an area, if no names are stored under the language of the receiver, the names present in the table (1) are used for language synthesis.

Another measure for improving the voice quality is that a name provided in a language different from the language of the receiver is provided to the rhyme-conversion unit 29. This kind of conversion is known and replaces the voice melody with the voice of the receiver.

After the switch-on of the receiver, the configuration of the speech synthesis is made by special operation or in the case of exchange of the chip card. The German receiver comprises, for example, a chip card with a list of places, including the table (1) for France. After the switch on, the receiver recognizes in the header (FIG. 1) whether it is a chip card with a place list for French, including a place name in German. The receiver then chooses to convert a French rhyme to a German rhyme in a rhyme converter. In addition, whether or not there is a German name for a place is generally tested at each access to the place list and table. Without any German name, "source rhyme" (in this case French) is passed to "target rhyme" (here German).

In the receiver according to FIG. 4, the event record list and the carrier record list exist in multiple languages, i.e., as the event record list 2de, 2en, 2fr and the carrier record list 3de, 3en, 3fr. Respectively, in German, English and French. In addition, the segment library 4 'is expanded by a special segment of the additional language, and all the voices are spoken through the same speaker. As a result, the traffic message can be broadcast in multiple languages. The place names included in the place list are respectively adjusted by the selection device 28 and the rhyme-transformer 29 according to the selected language.

1 is an explanatory diagram of a table stored as a so-called header.

Explanatory drawing which shows a part of said table | surface.

3 is a block circuit diagram of a broadcast receiver designed for a traffic message in one language.

4 is a block circuit diagram of a broadcast receiver in which various languages are selected for output.

★ Explanation of symbols for main parts of drawings ★

1: Table

4: segment library

14: A / D Converter

23: input device

24: chip card

Claims (6)

The digitally coded traffic message received by the broadcast receiver includes a code indicating the locations in the geographic area, and a name corresponding to each code is retrieved from a table stored in a memory assigned to the broadcast receiver for voice output. In the voice output device of the traffic message, Names in the table are stored in a first language and optionally in at least one other language, and it is checked whether the names are stored in a language to be output in the table for voice output of each name, and if there are any Is read in said language and, if not present, in a first language. The method of claim 1, And, in said memory, a description of a table including a geographical region to which said table applies, a first language, the number of different languages, and another language is stored. The method of claim 2, Wherein the table includes a place name of a first language for one code and a place name in other languages, and a dummy is stored in place of a place name that does not exist in other languages. . The method of claim 3, wherein And names of the other languages are stored together with names of the first language in an order corresponding to the order in the table description. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, And the language to be output is fixed in advance by a voice generator of the broadcast receiver. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, And the language to be output may be selected at a broadcast receiver.