Patents by Inventor Eisuke Soma

Eisuke Soma 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: 11798552
    Abstract: An agent device includes a microphone configured to collect a speech sound inside a vehicle cabin, a speaker configured to output a speech sound inside the vehicle cabin, and a plurality of agent function elements having different functions. Each of the plurality of agent function elements generates a speech sound of an agent that speaks to an occupant of a vehicle on the basis of a meaning of the speech sound collected by the microphone, causes the speaker to output the generated speech sound of the agent. The agent function element serving as a main agent that has a dialogue with the occupant is switched on the basis of content of the speech sound collected by the microphone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Sugihara, Atsushi Sekiguchi, Yuki Matsuura, Eisuke Soma, Wataru Endo, Ryosuke Tanaka, Toshikatsu Kuramochi
  • Patent number: 11312389
    Abstract: An information providing device includes an emotion estimation unit that estimates the emotion of an occupant within a predetermined period of time from the time when the occupant gets in a vehicle (STEP 114), a base-emotion setting unit that sets a base emotion of the vehicle on the basis of the emotion of the occupant (STEP 120), a vehicle-state detection unit that detects the state of the vehicle (STEP 122), an emotion generation unit that generates the emotion of the vehicle in accordance with the base emotion and the state of the vehicle (STEP 126), an information determination unit that determines, on the basis of the emotion of the vehicle, information to be provided to the occupant (STEP 128), and an information output unit that outputs information to the occupant (STEP 130).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Satoshi Imaizumi, Shinichiro Goto, Eisuke Soma, Hiromitsu Yuhara, Keiichi Takikawa
  • Publication number: 20220005470
    Abstract: An agent device includes a microphone configured to collect a speech sound inside a vehicle cabin, a speaker configured to output a speech sound inside the vehicle cabin, and a plurality of agent function elements having different functions. Each of the plurality of agent function elements generates a speech sound of an agent that speaks to an occupant of a vehicle on the basis of a meaning of the speech sound collected by the microphone, causes the speaker to output the generated speech sound of the agent. The agent function element serving as a main agent that has a dialogue with the occupant is switched on the basis of content of the speech sound collected by the microphone.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2018
    Publication date: January 6, 2022
    Inventors: Hiroshi Sugihara, Atsushi Sekiguchi, Yuki Matsuura, Eisuke Soma, Wataru Endo, Ryosuke Tanaka, Toshikatsu Kuramochi
  • Patent number: 11176948
    Abstract: An agent device includes a display unit, a microphone configured to collect a voice in an occupant compartment, a plurality of speakers configured to enable localization of a sound image through a combination of outputs, and an agent controller configured to cause the display unit to display an agent image and cause the speakers to output sounds, wherein the agent controller is configured to identify a speaking person who has spoken the voice collected by the microphone among occupants in a vehicle and to cause the agent image to be displayed in a mode of talking to the occupant in a partial area of the display unit near the speaking person while causing a sound image to be localized at a display position of the agent image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Sugihara, Ryosuke Tanaka, Atsushi Sekiguchi, Yuki Matsuura, Wataru Endo, Eisuke Soma
  • Patent number: 10929652
    Abstract: An information providing device and an information providing method capable of providing information according to a driving load while alleviating or eliminating a sense of discomfort of a user of a vehicle is provided. An information providing device includes an emotion determination unit that determines virtual emotion of a vehicle, and an output control unit that determines one or both of content and an output mode of the information that the output unit is caused to output according to the virtual emotion of the vehicle. The emotion determination unit determines predetermined emotion to be the virtual emotion of the vehicle when a condition that a period in which the traveling state of the vehicle detected by the traveling state detection unit is a predetermined traveling state has continued for a predetermined period or longer is satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Eisuke Soma, Hiromitsu Yuhara, Keiichi Takikawa, Shinichiro Goto, Satoshi Imaizumi
  • Patent number: 10810410
    Abstract: An information providing device and an information providing method capable of providing information according to a driving load while alleviating or eliminating a sense of discomfort of a user of a vehicle is provided. An information providing device includes an emotion determination unit that determines virtual emotion of a vehicle, and an output control unit that determines one or both of content and an output mode of the information that the output unit is caused to output according to the virtual emotion of the vehicle. The emotion determination unit determines predetermined emotion to be the virtual emotion of the vehicle when a condition that a period in which the traveling state of the vehicle detected by the traveling state detection unit is a predetermined traveling state has continued for a predetermined period or longer is satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Eisuke Soma, Hiromitsu Yuhara, Keiichi Takikawa, Shinichiro Goto, Satoshi Imaizumi
  • Patent number: 10773726
    Abstract: An information provision device (60) includes: an emotion engine (66) which estimates an emotion of a test driver P1 of a vehicle (1); an action detection unit (65) which detects an action performed on the vehicle (1) by the test driver P1; a function-of-interest estimation unit (67) which estimates a specific function that interests the test driver P1 from among the functions possessed by the vehicle (1) based on the action of the test driver P1 detected by the action detection unit (65) and the emotion of the test driver P1 estimated by the emotion engine (66) when an action is detected; and an information provision unit (69) which provides the test driver P1 with information on the specific function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shinichiro Goto, Hiromitsu Yuhara, Tomoko Shintani, Eisuke Soma
  • Patent number: 10706270
    Abstract: An information provision device is disclosed. The information provision device comprises: cameras and a driver's seat microphone which detect the state of a user of a moving body, the user being located within a predetermined area including the moving body; an emotion engine which estimates emotions of the user based on the detection results from the cameras and the driver's seat microphone; and an image transmission unit which, when the emotion level of the user estimated by the emotion engine is increased by a predetermined level or higher, captures an image of the user through the driver's seat camera and transmits the captured image data of the user to a communication terminal of the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shinichiro Goto, Tomoko Shintani, Hiromitsu Yuhara, Eisuke Soma
  • Publication number: 20200152203
    Abstract: An agent device includes a display unit, a microphone configured to collect a voice in an occupant compartment, a plurality of speakers configured to enable localization of a sound image through a combination of outputs, and an agent controller configured to cause the display unit to display an agent image and cause the speakers to output sounds, wherein the agent controller is configured to identify a speaking person who has spoken the voice collected by the microphone among occupants in a vehicle and to cause the agent image to be displayed in a mode of talking to the occupant in a partial area of the display unit near the speaking person while causing a sound image to be localized at a display position of the agent image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 8, 2019
    Publication date: May 14, 2020
    Inventors: Hiroshi Sugihara, Ryosuke Tanaka, Atsushi Sekiguchi, Yuki Matsuura, Wataru Endo, Eisuke Soma
  • Patent number: 10569727
    Abstract: A mobile unit control device is installed in a vehicle and includes a user detector that detects a user located within a first predetermined distance from the vehicle; a sight line detector that detects the direction of the sight line of the user detected by the user detector; and a response controller that performs interest response processing of, when the sight line detector detects that the sight line of the user is directed toward the vehicle, actuating an accessory (e.g., headlights, tail lamps) provided in the vehicle to change in a manner recognizable from outside the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tomoko Shintani, Hiromitsu Yuhara, Eisuke Soma, Shinichiro Goto
  • Patent number: 10513235
    Abstract: A mobile unit control device is installed in a vehicle and includes a user detector that detects a user located within a first predetermined distance from the vehicle; a sight line detector that detects the direction of the sight line of the user detected by the user detector; and a response controller that performs interest response processing of, when the sight line detector detects that the sight line of the user is directed toward the vehicle, actuating an accessory (e.g., headlights, tail lamps) provided in the vehicle to change in a manner recognizable from outside the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2019
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tomoko Shintani, Hiromitsu Yuhara, Eisuke Soma, Shinichiro Goto
  • Patent number: 10475470
    Abstract: A processing result error detection device includes: a behavior recognition unit which recognizes behavior of a user; a processing unit which executes a process dependent on the behavior of the user; an emotion presumption unit which presumes an intensity of emotion of the user based on reaction of the user to a processing result; and a judgment unit which judges that the processing result includes an error when the presumed intensity of emotion of the user is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Eisuke Soma, Hiromitsu Yuhara, Tomoko Shintani, Shinichiro Goto
  • Publication number: 20190300004
    Abstract: An information provision device (60) includes: an emotion engine (66) which estimates an emotion of a test driver P1 of a vehicle (1); an action detection unit (65) which detects an action performed on the vehicle (1) by the test driver P1; a function-of-interest estimation unit (67) which estimates a specific function that interests the test driver P1 from among the functions possessed by the vehicle (1) based on the action of the test driver P1 detected by the action detection unit (65) and the emotion of the test driver P1 estimated by the emotion engine (66) when an action is detected; and an information provision unit (69) which provides the test driver P1 with information on the specific function.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2017
    Publication date: October 3, 2019
    Applicant: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shinichiro Goto, Hiromitsu Yuhara, Tomoko Shintani, Eisuke Soma
  • Publication number: 20190294867
    Abstract: An information provision device (60) comprises: cameras (11), (13), and (20) and a driver's seat microphone (21) which detect the state of a user P1 of a moving body (1), the user being located within a predetermined area including the moving body (1); an emotion engine (66) which estimates emotions of the user P1 based on the detection results from the cameras (11), (13), and (20) and the driver's seat microphone (21); and an image transmission unit (70) which, when the emotion level of the user P1 estimated by the emotion engine (66) is increased by a predetermined level or higher, captures an image of the user P1 through the driver's seat camera (20) and transmits the captured image data of the user P1 to a communication terminal of the user P1.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2017
    Publication date: September 26, 2019
    Applicant: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shinichiro Goto, Tomoko Shintani, Hiromitsu Yuhara, Eisuke Soma
  • Patent number: 10394519
    Abstract: A service providing apparatus including an occupant detector configured to detect presence of each of a plurality of occupants in a vehicle and a control unit including a CPU and a memory coupled to the memory, wherein the CPU and the memory are configured to perform: estimating an individual feeling of the each of the plurality of occupants detected by the occupant detector; estimating a general mood representing an entire feeling of the plurality of occupants, based on the estimated individual feeling of the each of the plurality of occupants; deciding a service to be provided to a group of the plurality of occupants, based on the estimated general mood; and outputting a command to provide the decided service.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomoko Shintani, Hiromitsu Yuhara, Eisuke Soma
  • Publication number: 20190243459
    Abstract: An information providing device includes an emotion estimation unit that estimates the emotion of an occupant within a predetermined period of time from the time when the occupant gets in a vehicle (STEP 114), a base-emotion setting unit that sets a base emotion of the vehicle on the basis of the emotion of the occupant (STEP 120), a vehicle-state detection unit that detects the state of the vehicle (STEP 122), an emotion generation unit that generates the emotion of the vehicle in accordance with the base emotion and the state of the vehicle (STEP 126), an information determination unit that determines, on the basis of the emotion of the vehicle, information to be provided to the occupant (STEP 128), and an information output unit that outputs information to the occupant (STEP 130).
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 5, 2019
    Publication date: August 8, 2019
    Applicant: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Satoshi Imaizumi, Shinichiro Goto, Eisuke Soma, Hiromitsu Yuhara, Keiichi Takikawa
  • Publication number: 20180357473
    Abstract: An information providing device and an information providing method capable of providing information according to a driving load while alleviating or eliminating a sense of discomfort of a user of a vehicle is provided. An information providing device includes an emotion determination unit that determines virtual emotion of a vehicle, and an output control unit that determines one or both of content and an output mode of the information that the output unit is caused to output according to the virtual emotion of the vehicle. The emotion determination unit determines predetermined emotion to be the virtual emotion of the vehicle when a condition that a period in which the traveling state of the vehicle detected by the traveling state detection unit is a predetermined traveling state has continued for a predetermined period or longer is satisfied.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 5, 2018
    Publication date: December 13, 2018
    Applicant: Honda Motor Co.,Ltd.
    Inventors: Eisuke SOMA, Hiromitsu YUHARA, Keiichi TAKIKAWA, Shinichiro GOTO, Satoshi IMAIZUMI
  • Publication number: 20180342005
    Abstract: The disclosure provides a place recommendation device and method, so that even if the device is used by a new user or multiple users, a place that can cause a change in the emotion of the user currently using the device can be recommended. The place recommendation device includes a place information storage part, storing place information that associates with an attribute of an object vehicle, one or more places, and an emotion of an object user; a place identification part, identifying a place based on the place information, wherein the place corresponds to the attribute of the object vehicle and an estimated emotion of the object user; and an output control part, outputting information representing the identified place to the output part.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2018
    Publication date: November 29, 2018
    Applicant: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiromitsu Yuhara, Keiichi Takikawa, Eisuke Soma, Shinichiro Goto, Satoshi Imaizumi
  • Publication number: 20180101354
    Abstract: A service providing apparatus including an occupant detector configured to detect presence of each of a plurality of occupants in a vehicle and a control unit including a CPU and a memory coupled to the memory, wherein the CPU and the memory are configured to perform: estimating an individual feeling of the each of the plurality of occupants detected by the occupant detector; estimating a general mood representing an entire feeling of the plurality of occupants, based on the estimated individual feeling of the each of the plurality of occupants; deciding a service to be provided to a group of the plurality of occupants, based on the estimated general mood; and outputting a command to provide the decided service.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2017
    Publication date: April 12, 2018
    Inventors: Tomoko Shintani, Hiromitsu Yuhara, Eisuke Soma
  • Publication number: 20180096698
    Abstract: A processing result error detection device includes: a behavior recognition unit which recognizes behavior of a user; a processing unit which executes a process dependent on the behavior of the user; an emotion presumption unit which presumes an intensity of emotion of the user based on reaction of the user to a processing result; and a judgment unit which judges that the processing result includes an error when the presumed intensity of emotion of the user is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2017
    Publication date: April 5, 2018
    Applicant: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Eisuke Soma, Hiromitsu Yuhara, Tomoko Shintani, Shinichiro Goto