Abstract: An expression classification device includes: a segment detection unit that detects a specific expression segment that includes a specific expression that can be used in a plurality of nuances from data corresponding to a voice of a conversation; a feature extraction unit that extracts feature information that includes at least one of a prosody feature and an utterance timing feature with regard to the specific expression segment that is detected by the segment detection unit; and a classification unit that classifies the specific expression included in the specific expression segment based on a nuance corresponding to a use situation in the conversation by using the feature information extracted by the feature extraction unit.

Abstract: A plurality of pruning measures (PM) are calculated from a feature amount (CV) of test data (TD) which is input, a plurality of isopycnic surfaces (EC) are plotted and set on a threshold space (SS), a threshold curved surface (SC) in which a decrease in at least one of a plurality of pruning measures (PM) causes an increase in at least one thereof is generated using a portion of one isopycnic surface (EC) as a part, a hypothesis curved surface (HC) of subject data (CD) is generated on the threshold space (SS) to set a position intersecting the threshold curved surface (SC) to a pruning threshold (PS), and a plurality of hypotheses of the subject data (CD) are pruned. Thereby, there is provided a data processing device of which at least one of the recognition speed and the recognition accuracy is higher than in the related art.

Abstract: A fixing device includes: a cylinder member that rotates in a circumferential direction thereof; a circulating member that circularly moves in a circumferential direction thereof and is pressed against the cylinder member; a heat source that heats a recording medium holding an unfixed toner image and nipped between the cylinder member and the circulating member; and a pressing member provided inside the circulating member, and including a nip forming portion that presses the circulating member against the cylinder member to form a nip region therebetween, and a thrusting portion that thrusts, upstream of the nip forming portion in a moving direction of the circulating member, and from inside the circulating member toward the cylinder member, the circulating member before being pressed against the cylinder member such that the thrust is greater in end portions of the circulating member than in a central portion of the circulating member.

Abstract: An apparatus includes a print control unit, a determining unit, and a control unit. The print control unit causes a printing unit to print an image on a sheet and causes one of a plurality of discharge units to discharge at least one sheet on which the image is printed by the printing unit facing downward. The determining unit determines whether some of the discharge units are to be used for discharging sheets for an input print job. In response to determining that the some of the discharge units are to be used for the input print job, the print control unit discharges the sheets to the some of the discharge units such that a former page of the sheets is discharged to a lower-level discharge unit and a latter page of the sheets is discharged to an upper-level discharge unit.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a wiper apparatus reduced in the number of parts. A wiper apparatus 40A has: a drive mechanism 13 for driving a wiper 12 for wiping a front windshield of a vehicle; a gear case 17 in which the drive mechanism 13 is housed, and which is fixed to a vehicle body, wherein the wiper apparatus 40A has: a fixing part 35 provided in the gear case 17 and fixed to the vehicle body; and a fixing part 36 provided in the gear case 17 and fixed to the vehicle body at a position different from a fixed position of the fixing part 35 in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle body.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a rotating fixing unit, a switching unit, and a control unit. The rotating fixing unit has a surface, the surface fixing a toner image on a recording medium by contacting the recording medium. The switching unit switches between transportation directions in which the recording sheet is transported such that an orientation of a predetermined side of the recording medium with respect to the fixing unit matches either an orientation corresponding to a first direction in which the central axis of the fixing unit extends or an orientation corresponding to a second direction that is perpendicular to the first direction. The control unit controls the switching unit such that the recording medium is transported in a direction corresponding to a smaller one of integration values obtained along the first direction and the second direction.

Abstract: A fixing device includes a fixing member that is rotatable and heated by a heater; an endless belt member that is rotatable while being in contact with the fixing member; and a pressing member that is disposed inside of the belt member. The pressing member presses the fixing member with the belt member therebetween so as to form a fixing nip between the fixing member and the belt member, the fixing nip allowing a recording medium to pass therethrough to fix a toner image onto the recording medium. In an output region of the fixing nip from which the recording medium is output from the fixing nip, a curvature of a cross-sectional shape of an end portion of the belt member in a width direction is larger than a curvature of a cross-sectional shape of a middle portion of the belt member in the width direction.

Abstract: A fixing device includes a rotatable heating member including a heat source and a pressure-applying member pressed against the heating member. The pressure-applying member includes a band-shaped member that extends in a width direction of a medium that passes through a fixing area, a support member opposed to the heating member with the band-shaped member disposed therebetween, and a pressing member including a base-end portion supported by the support member and a free-end portion that extends toward the fixing area. The pressing member has urging portions arranged with intervals therebetween in the width direction. The urging portions are elastically deformable in accordance with a thickness of the medium when the medium passes through the fixing area. The free-end portion urges the band-shaped member toward the heating member so that the band-shaped member is pressed against the heating member.

Abstract: A speech recognition apparatus that performs frame synchronous beam search by using a language model score look-ahead value prevents the pruning of a correct answer hypothesis while suppressing an increase in the number of hypotheses. A language model score look-ahead value imparting device 108 is provided with a word dictionary 203 that defines a phoneme string of a word, a language model 202 that imparts a score of appearance easiness of a word, and a smoothing language model score look-ahead value calculation means 201. The smoothing language model score look-ahead value calculation means 201 obtains a language model score look-ahead value at each phoneme in the word from the phoneme string of the word defined by the word dictionary 203 and the language model score defined by the language model 202 so that the language model score look-ahead values are prevented from concentrating on the beginning of the word.

Abstract: A speech recognition device has: hypothesis search means which searches for an optimal solution of inputted speech data by generating a hypothesis which is a bundle of words which are searched for as recognition result candidates; self-repair decision means which calculates a self-repair likelihood of a word or a word sequence included in the hypothesis which is being searched for by the hypothesis search means, and decides whether or not self-repair of the word or the word sequence is performed; and transparent word hypothesis generation means which, when the self-repair decision means decides that the self-repair is performed, generates a transparent word hypothesis which is a hypothesis which regards as a transparent word a word or a word sequence included in an un-repaired interval related to the word or the word sequence, and the hypothesis search means searches hypotheses for an optimal solution, the hypotheses including as search target hypotheses the transparent word hypothesis generated by the transp

Abstract: A speech recognition system has: hypothesis search means which searches for an optimal solution of inputted speech data by generating a hypothesis which is a bundle of words which are searched for as recognition result candidates; self-repair decision means which calculates a self-repair likelihood of a word or a word sequence included in the hypothesis which is being searched for by the hypothesis search means, and decides whether or not self-repair of the word or the word sequence is performed; and transparent word hypothesis generation means which, when it is decided that the self-repair is performed, generates a transparent word hypothesis which is a hypothesis which regards as a transparent word a word or a word sequence included in a disfluency interval or a repair interval of a self-repair interval including the word or the word sequence.

Abstract: A fixing device includes a pressing member that is rotatably held and provides a pressure acting in one direction; a heating member that is rotatably held, faces the pressing member, and includes a substantially cylindrical member and a heating unit, the substantially cylindrical member receiving the pressure, the heating unit being provided inside the substantially cylindrical member, the heating member fixing a toner image on a sheet with the pressure and heat; a drive source that outputs a driving force with which the heating member is rotated; and a transmission member having a space that receives an end of the substantially cylindrical member with a gap interposed therebetween, the transmission member having an inner circumferential surface that comes into contact with the end of the substantially cylindrical member in the space when the substantially cylindrical member receives the pressure, the transmission member transmitting the driving force to the heating member.

Abstract: A fixing device includes a fixing member that is rotatable and heated by a heater; an endless belt member that is rotatable while being in contact with the fixing member; and a pressing member that is disposed inside of the belt member. The pressing member presses the fixing member with the belt member therebetween so as to form a fixing nip between the fixing member and the belt member, the fixing nip allowing a recording medium to pass therethrough to fix a toner image onto the recording medium. In an output region of the fixing nip from which the recording medium is output from the fixing nip, a curvature of a cross-sectional shape of an end portion of the belt member in a width direction is larger than a curvature of a cross-sectional shape of a middle portion of the belt member in the width direction.

Abstract: A fixing device includes: a cylinder member that rotates in a circumferential direction thereof; a circulating member that circularly moves in a circumferential direction thereof and is pressed against the cylinder member; a heat source that heats a recording medium holding an unfixed toner image and nipped between the cylinder member and the circulating member; and a pressing member provided inside the circulating member, and including a nip forming portion that presses the circulating member against the cylinder member to form a nip region therebetween, and a thrusting portion that thrusts, upstream of the nip forming portion in a moving direction of the circulating member, and from inside the circulating member toward the cylinder member, the circulating member before being pressed against the cylinder member such that the thrust is greater in end portions of the circulating member than in a central portion of the circulating member.

Abstract: Provided is a text processing system capable of avoiding declining processing efficiency in analyses of text that does not contain breaks. This text processing system comprises: a linking means for generating linking data that links acquired text after the link object analysis result, which are the results of the analysis of text acquired prior to the acquired text; an analysis means for carrying out language analysis on the linked data, using at least a portion of the link object analysis result; and a determination means for determining a prescribed unit break included in the linked data, on the basis of the results of the analysis by the analysis means. The link object analysis results are the results of the analysis after the break that is determined by the determination means. The link object analysis results are the results of the analysis after the break that is determined by the determination means.

Abstract: When printing is to be executed on the basis of an input print job, and a group of sheets having undergone the printing on the basis of the input print job are discharged to a first one of multiple discharging destinations, the first discharging destination is switched to a second discharging destination in the course of the discharging process, and the second discharging destination is selected in accordance with an arranged order of the group of sheets.

Abstract: A plurality of pruning measures (PM) are calculated from a feature amount (CV) of test data (TD) which is input, a plurality of isopycnic surfaces (EC) are plotted and set on a threshold space (SS), a threshold curved surface (SC) in which a decrease in at least one of a plurality of pruning measures (PM) causes an increase in at least one thereof is generated using a portion of one isopycnic surface (EC) as a part, a hypothesis curved surface (HC) of subject data (CD) is generated on the threshold space (SS) to set a position intersecting the threshold curved surface (SC) to a pruning threshold (PS), and a plurality of hypotheses of the subject data (CD) are pruned. Thereby, there is provided a data processing device of which at least one of the recognition speed and the recognition accuracy is higher than in the related art.

Abstract: A fixing device includes a rotatable heating member including a heat source and a pressure-applying member pressed against the heating member. The pressure-applying member includes a band-shaped member that extends in a width direction of a medium that passes through a fixing area, a support member opposed to the heating member with the band-shaped member disposed therebetween, and a pressing member including a base-end portion supported by the support member and a free-end portion that extends toward the fixing area. The pressing member has urging portions arranged with intervals therebetween in the width direction. The urging portions are elastically deformable in accordance with a thickness of the medium when the medium passes through the fixing area. The free-end portion urges the band-shaped member toward the heating member so that the band-shaped member is pressed against the heating member.

Abstract: A fixing device includes a heat fixing member including a base body that is elastically deformable and applies heat to a medium; a press fixing member that applies pressure to the medium, a contact moving member that moves at least one of the heat fixing member and the press fixing member between a pressurizing position and a depressurizing position; a temperature detector disposed so as to face a position between an intersection of a first imaginary line and an outer surface of the heat fixing member and an intersection of a second imaginary line and the outer surface, the first imaginary line connecting a center of a fixing region and a rotation center of the heat fixing member, the second imaginary line passing through the rotation center and being perpendicular to the first imaginary line; and a temperature controller that controls a temperature of the heat fixing member.

Abstract: A speech recognition unit (102) includes a phrase determination unit (103) which determines a phrase boundary based on the comparison between the hypothetical word group generated by speech recognition and set words representing phrase boundaries. In this speech processing device, the speech recognition unit (102) outputs recognition results for each phrase based on a phrase boundary determined by the phrase determination unit (103).