Patents by Inventor Atsunori Kitoh

Atsunori Kitoh 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).

  • Patent number: 5361323
    Abstract: In a signal encoding device, a voice signal is divided into subsignals each comprising a predetermined number of successive samples, and data trains are generated by giving initial values to a recurrence equation. The generated data trains are divided into patterns each comprising the same number of samples as the predetermined number. The distance between each pattern produced by the pattern dividing unit and each of the subsignals are calculated. The pattern that provides the smallest distance with respect to each of the subsignals is identified, and the initial value set in the recurrence equation for generation of the data train that constitutes the pattern is output as coded data representing the respective subsignal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 1991
    Date of Patent: November 1, 1994
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yasumoto Murata, Shuichi Yoshikawa, Yuji Nishiwaki, Shuichi Kawama, Tomokazu Morio, Atsunori Kitoh
  • Patent number: 5218640
    Abstract: A voice recording and reproducing apparatus which includes a voice encoder for encoding a voice signal into a voice code, an address counter, a voice code memory in which the voice code is circulatively stored as specified by the address counter, a discriminator for determining whether the voice signal inputted is a voiced signal or whether the voice signal inputted is a silent signal, and a register for storing an address value of the address counter when the discriminator indicates that the silent signal has changed into the voiced signal. During reproduction, the starting address of the reproduction is determined by a stored address. The stored address represents the address value in the address counter at the time when the discriminator indicates that a silent signal has changed to a voiced signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 1992
    Date of Patent: June 8, 1993
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tomokazu Morio, Atsunori Kitoh, Yoshiji Fujimoto
  • Patent number: 5119092
    Abstract: A waveform encoding and decoding apparatus is disclosed which comprises a memory, a coding device, a packing unit, and a storage device. The coding device encodes an analog waveform into digital coded data having digital coded data words each having a predetermined length. The packing device "packs" groups of more than one of the coded data words into packed data words each having a predetermined length. The storage device stores the packed data words into respective segments located in the memory. The segments which are located in the memory each have a bit length equal to the predetermined length of the packed data words. A data transfer device may also be provided for transferring and rearranging data between segments located in the memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 1989
    Date of Patent: June 2, 1992
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazuyuki Sumi, Atsunori Kitoh
  • Patent number: 5111505
    Abstract: A voice synthesizing device which compiles wave segments, such as pitch wave segments, in order to synthesize speech. Speech is synthesized by connecting wave segments to form a contiguous waveform. Each wave segment is assigned one or more connection types which describe the connection to be made between points on that wave segment and points on adjacent wave segments. A wave segment connector uses information on the connection types of adjacent wave segments to connect the end point and lead point of the adjacent wave segments using a normal sampling period or a normal sampling period compressed or expanded by 1/2 of the sampling period. The period used depends on the connection type stored in the connection type memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 1990
    Date of Patent: May 5, 1992
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Atsunori Kitoh, Yoshiji Fujimoto
  • Patent number: 4944012
    Abstract: A speech analyzing and synthesizing apparatus includes a sampling circuit for sampling an inputted speech signal, a speech analyzer for analyzing and coding the inputted speech signal, and a speech synthesizer for decoding the speech signal coded by said speech analyzer into a synthesized speech, whereby the average code length can be advantageously shortened to realize a low capacity memory and a well-analyzed and synthetized speech. Moreover, a speech recording apparatus is provided wherein a soundless section in the inputted speech signal is compressed by real time, and even a weak short-time portion in the sounded section of an inputted speech signal is not erroneously judged to be soundless, but is coded as a sounded portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 1988
    Date of Patent: July 24, 1990
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tomokazu Morio, Yoshiji Fujimoto, Atsunori Kitoh