Patents by Inventor Akane Sano

Akane Sano has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20140047466
    Abstract: An imaged image data processing apparatus includes obtaining means for obtaining imaged image data, which is imaged by an imaging section that images the sight of a user, extracting means for extracting identification data for identifying a viewed program from the imaged image data obtained by the obtaining means, and transmitting means for transmitting the identification data extracted by the extracting means to an external viewing information creating apparatus.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2013
    Publication date: February 13, 2014
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yoichiro Sako, Masaaki Tsuruta, Nozomu Ozaki, Masamichi Asukai, Taiji Ito, Akinobu Sugino, Hidehiko Sekizawa, Akane Sano
  • Patent number: 8639320
    Abstract: A muscle-activity diagnosis apparatus includes: an acquiring section acquiring a myoelectric signal from a test subject; using the myoelectric signal as an original signal, a transformed-signal generating section generating a transformed signal by performing Hilbert transformation and inverse Fourier transformation on the original signal; a phase-velocity calculation section calculating a phase velocity of the myoelectric signal on the basis of phases of the original signal and the transformed signal; and on the basis of a plurality of feature quantities of a waveform of the myoelectric signal in a unit time and the plurality of feature quantities including at least a size of amplitude of the myoelectric signal and the calculated phase velocity, a state-identifying section identifying an activity state of a muscle of a predetermined part of a body of the test subject for each of the unit time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2014
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Takashi Tomita, Akane Sano, Haruo Oba
  • Patent number: 8612030
    Abstract: In a health exercise assist system, a portable music playback apparatus acquires a preset exercise plan, a history of exercise information, and a music playback history and stores them. An information processing apparatus produces a service request including at least one of the preset exercise plan, the history of exercise information, and the music playback history acquired from the portable music playback apparatus, and transmits it to a service information providing apparatus. In accordance with the service request received from the information processing apparatus, the service information providing apparatus produces service information and returns the produced service information to the information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus provides the received service information to a user of the audio playback apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2013
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yuichi Sakai, Katsuya Shirai, Yoichiro Sako, Masamichi Asukai, Akane Sano, Motoyuki Takai, Makoto Inoue
  • Publication number: 20130178720
    Abstract: Provided is a biorhythm estimation device including a reference rhythm curve storage unit configured to store a reference rhythm curve that is created as a biorhythm curve representing a property of intra-day fluctuation of an indicator value of biological information based on experimental subject samples, a biological information measurement unit configured to noninvasively measure the biological information of an experimental subject, an indicator value calculation unit configured to calculate the indicator value from a measurement value of the biological information, an experimental-subject rhythm curve creation unit configured to fit the reference rhythm curve to the indicator value of the experimental subject to create an experimental-subject rhythm curve whose target is the experimental subject, an experimental-subject rhythm curve storage unit configured to store the experimental-subject rhythm curve, and a biorhythm estimation unit configured to apply the indicator value to the experimental-subject rh
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 26, 2011
    Publication date: July 11, 2013
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Naoya Sazuka, Akane Sano
  • Patent number: 8456536
    Abstract: The present invention provides an image processing apparatus that includes a sightline detection unit that detects the line of sight of a subject directed toward an imaging device in a captured image captured by the imaging device and containing at least one subject and a sightline indicating unit that clearly indicates, in correspondence to each subject, whether or not the line of sight of the subject directed toward the imaging device has been detected based upon sightline detection results provided by the sightline detection unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2013
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Akinobu Sugino, Masaaki Tsuruta, Nozomu Ozaki, Masamichi Asukai, Taiji Ito, Hidehiko Sekizawa, Akane Sano, Yoichiro Sako
  • Patent number: 8385894
    Abstract: An information delivery apparatus is provided, including a receiving portion to receive location information of a mobile communication terminal at a given time and acquired date and time of the location information from the terminal, an event information storage portion to store event information including an event place, date and time, a delivery terminal selecting portion to select the mobile communication terminal to which the event information is to be delivered based on the location information and the acquired date and time of the location information and on the event place, date and time, and an event information delivery portion to deliver the event information to the selected mobile communication terminal. The delivery terminal selecting portion selects the mobile communication terminal whose location indicated by location information is within a predetermined range and whose acquired date and time of the location information are before the event date and time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Mitsuru Takehara, Yoichiro Sako, Masamichi Asukai, Taiji Ito, Akinobu Sugino, Akane Sano, Yoshiteru Kamatani, Kazunori Hayashi, Takayasu Kon, Yasunori Kamada
  • Patent number: 8381238
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes an image analyzing unit performing a process of analyzing an image shot by a camera, a voice analyzing unit performing a process of analyzing voice input from a microphone, and a data processing unit receiving inputs of an analysis result of the image analyzing unit and an analysis result of the voice analyzing unit and controlling information to be output to a user. The data processing unit determines an output mode of the information to be provided to the user based on user information obtained from at least either one of the image analysis result and the voice analysis result, and system state information, and outputs the information to the user in the determined output mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2013
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Akane Sano, Ugo Di Profio, Tsutomu Sawada, Kouichi Matsuda
  • Patent number: 8363910
    Abstract: There is provided an image processing device that includes a facial image extraction portion, a positivity computation portion, and a selected image update portion. The facial image extraction portion specifies a facial region of an imaged subject within at least one sequentially input selection-eligible image and extracts from the selection-eligible image a facial image that corresponds to the facial region. The positivity computation portion computes for the selection-eligible image, using the corresponding facial image, a positivity of the imaged subject toward a person who acquired the selection-eligible image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2013
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Masamichi Asukai, Masaaki Tsuruta, Nozomu Ozaki, Taiji Ito, Akinobu Sugino, Hidehiko Sekizawa, Akane Sano, Yoichiro Sako
  • Publication number: 20130013186
    Abstract: Disclosed is an information display method whereby an information processing apparatus displays a map on a display screen such that a cursor is displayed at a position measured as the current position of a position indication object on the map. The method includes the steps of, when the moving speed of the position indication object is equal to or less than a threshold speed, scrolling the map on the display screen in accordance with the movement of the position indication object in a first display mode, and when the moving speed of the position indication object is greater than the threshold speed, fixing the map on the display screen in a second display mode or reducing the speed of scrolling the map on the display screen so that the scrolling speed is less than that in the first display mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2012
    Publication date: January 10, 2013
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Takayasu Kon, Yoichiro Sako, Yasunori Kamada, Kazunori Hayashi, Masamichi Asukai, Akane Sano, Akinobu Sugino, Taiji Ito, Yoshiteru Kamatani
  • Patent number: 8321127
    Abstract: Disclosed is an information display method whereby an information processing apparatus displays a map on a display screen such that a cursor is displayed at a position measured as the current position of a position indication object on the map. The method includes the steps of, when the moving speed of the position indication object is equal to or less than a threshold speed, scrolling the map on the display screen in accordance with the movement of the position indication object in a first display mode, and when the moving speed of the position indication object is greater than the threshold speed, fixing the map on the display screen in a second display mode or reducing the speed of scrolling the map on the display screen so that the scrolling speed is less than that in the first display mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2012
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Takayasu Kon, Yoichiro Sako, Yasunori Kamada, Kazunori Hayashi, Masamichi Asukai, Akane Sano, Akinobu Sugino, Taiji Ito, Yoshiteru Kamatani
  • Patent number: 8311654
    Abstract: A content reproducing apparatus is disclosed which includes: a sensor; a discrimination circuit configured to discriminate whether a movement of a user is a first movement or a second movement based on a detection output from the sensor; a storage configured to store contents; a reproduction circuit configured to reproduce the contents; and a control circuit configured to supply the reproduction circuit with contents retrieved from the storage in accordance with a discrimination output from the discrimination circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2012
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yoichiro Sako, Kenichi Makino, Akane Sano, Katsuya Shirai, Motoyuki Takai, Makoto Inoue
  • Patent number: 8280225
    Abstract: There is provided an information processing device capable of communicating with a purchase history storage device for storing purchase history data and a display device, the information processing device including a storage unit for storing user image data and property data; a communication unit; a purchase history data acquiring unit for acquiring the purchase history data; a property data recording unit for generating and recording the property data based on the purchase history data; a property data updating unit for updating the property data to property data including a second property image represented with a time interval from when the user purchased the property until present based on the property data and time information; and a display data generating unit for generating display data shown with the user image and an image of the property according to the display request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2012
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yasunori Kamada, Yoichiro Sako, Kazunori Hayashi, Takayasu Kon, Takashi Fukushima, Masamichi Asukai, Akane Sano, Taiji Ito, Akinobu Sugino, Yoshiteru Kamatani, Mitsuru Takehara
  • Patent number: 8264456
    Abstract: An electronic apparatus is disclosed which includes: a main body motion determination device configured to determine whether a predetermined accelerated motion is exerted on a main body of the electronic apparatus in a predetermined axial direction; and a control device configured to control the electronic apparatus to perform a predetermined action based on a pattern of the predetermined accelerated motion determined to occur by the main body motion determination device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2012
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroshi Ito, Akane Sano, Makoto Inoue, Katsuya Shirai, Motoyuki Takai, Hirofumi Tamori, Kenichi Makino
  • Patent number: 8212136
    Abstract: Provided is a device for playing audio with improved convenience, wherein music can be played such that oneness with the actions of the user can be obtained at all times, without giving the user any unnaturalness whatsoever such as unpleasant sensations. After starting playing of music data through such as an audio signal output processing unit 31, action tempo of the user is detected by an exercise information analyzing circuit 23, based on detection output from an exercise information sensor 24, and in the event that the difference between the detected action tempo of the user and the tempo of the music data being played is not a predetermined range, music data with a tempo of which the difference as to the action tempo of the user is within the predetermined range is searched by searching means such as a music playing data generating device unit 22, and a control unit 10 changes the music data to be played so as to play this searched music data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2012
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Katsuya Shirai, Yuichi Sakai, Yoichiro Sako, Masamichi Asukai, Makoto Inoue, Motoyuki Takai, Akane Sano
  • Patent number: 8175571
    Abstract: A communication system includes: sender-side communication equipment including a detection unit configured to detect information indicating the condition of a user, and a transmission unit configured to transmit information indicating the condition of the user detected through the detection unit to a communication partner; and receiver-side communication equipment including a reception unit configured to receive information indicating the condition of the user transmitted from the sender-side communication equipment, a notification unit configured to notify the condition corresponding to the condition of the user received through the reception unit, and a control unit configured to control the notification unit based on information indicating the condition of the user received through the reception unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2012
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshiteru Kamatani, Masamichi Asukai, Taiji Ito, Yoichiro Sako, Akane Sano, Akinobu Sugino
  • Publication number: 20120096481
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes an image analyzing unit performing a process of analyzing an image shot by a camera, a voice analyzing unit performing a process of analyzing voice input from a microphone, and a data processing unit receiving inputs of an analysis result of the image analyzing unit and an analysis result of the voice analyzing unit and controlling information to be output to a user. The data processing unit determines an output mode of the information to be provided to the user based on user information obtained from at least either one of the image analysis result and the voice analysis result, and system state information, and outputs the information to the user in the determined output mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 24, 2011
    Publication date: April 19, 2012
    Inventors: Akane Sano, Ugo Di Profio, Tsutomu Sawada, Kouichi Matsuda
  • Publication number: 20120094641
    Abstract: An information delivery apparatus is provided, including a receiving portion to receive location information of a mobile communication terminal at a given time and acquired date and time of the location information from the terminal, an event information storage portion to store event information including an event place, date and time, a delivery terminal selecting portion to select the mobile communication terminal to which the event information is to be delivered based on the location information and the acquired date and time of the location information and on the event place, date and time, and an event information delivery portion to deliver the event information to the selected mobile communication terminal. The delivery terminal selecting portion selects the mobile communication terminal whose location indicated by location information is within a predetermined range and whose acquired date and time of the location information are before the event date and time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 27, 2011
    Publication date: April 19, 2012
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Mitsuru Takehara, Yoichiro Sako, Masamichi Asukai, Taiji Ito, Akinobu Sugino, Akane Sano, Yoshiteru Kamatani, Kazunori Hayashi, Takayasu Kon, Yasunori Kamada
  • Patent number: 8119899
    Abstract: Provided is a device for playing audio with improved convenience, wherein music can be played such that oneness with the actions of the user can be obtained at all times, without giving the user any unnaturalness whatsoever such as unpleasant sensations. After starting playing of music data through such as an audio signal output processing unit 31, action tempo of the user is detected by an exercise information analyzing circuit 23, based on detection output from an exercise information sensor 24, and in the event that the difference between the detected action tempo of the user and the tempo of the music data being played is not a predetermined range, music data with a tempo of which the difference as to the action tempo of the user is within the predetermined range is searched by searching means such as a music playing data generating device unit 22, and a control unit 10 changes the music data to be played so as to play this searched music data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2012
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Katsuya Shirai, Yuichi Sakai, Yoichiro Sako, Masamichi Asukai, Makoto Inoue, Motoyuki Takai, Akane Sano
  • Patent number: 8107771
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is an image-processing apparatus. The apparatus includes: a taken-image acquisition section configured to acquire a taken image; and a to-be-processed area setting section configured to carry out an analysis on a taken image acquired by the taken-image acquisition section and configured to use the pixel area of a photographed-subject image of a specific type in the taken image as a to-be-processed area of an image conversion process in accordance with the size of the photographed-subject image if a result of the analysis indicates that the photographed-subject image exists in the taken image. The apparatus further includes an image conversion section configured to carry out the image conversion process on the photographed-subject image with the pixel area thereof used as the to-be-processed area in order to generate a post-conversion image obtained as a result of the image conversion process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2012
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yoichiro Sako, Masamichi Asukai, Itaru Kawakami, Masaaki Tsuruta, Nozomu Ozaki, Hirotaka Sakaguchi, Taiji Ito, Akinobu Sugino, Hidehiko Sekizawa, Akane Sano, Yoshiteru Kamatani, Kouichi Matsuda
  • Publication number: 20110313310
    Abstract: A muscle-activity diagnosis apparatus includes: an acquiring section acquiring a myoelectric signal from a test subject; using the myoelectric signal as an original signal, a transformed-signal generating section generating a transformed signal by performing Hilbert transformation and inverse Fourier transformation on the original signal; a phase-velocity calculation section calculating a phase velocity of the myoelectric signal on the basis of phases of the original signal and the transformed signal; and on the basis of a plurality of feature quantities of a waveform of the myoelectric signal in a unit time and the plurality of feature quantities including at least a size of amplitude of the myoelectric signal and the calculated phase velocity, a state-identifying section identifying an activity state of a muscle of a predetermined part of a body of the test subject for each of the unit time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2011
    Publication date: December 22, 2011
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takashi Tomita, Akane Sano, Haruo Oba