Grapheme-to-phoneme conversion of digit strings using weighted finite state transducers to apply grammar to powers of a number basis

Abstract

The present invention provides a method of expanding a string of one or more digits to form a verbal equivalent using weighted finite state transducers. The method provides a grammatical description that expands the string into a numeric concept represented by a sum of powers of a base number system, compiles the grammatical description into a first weighted finite state transducer, provides a language specific grammatical description for verbally expressing the numeric concept, compiles the language specific grammatical description into a second weighted finite state transducer, composes the first and second finite state transducers to form a third weighted finite state transducer from which the verbal equivalent of the string can be synthesized, and synthesizes the verbal equivalent from the third weighted finite state transducer.