Patents by Inventor Fuminori Kataoka

Fuminori Kataoka 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: 20240112678
    Abstract: A voice dialogue system includes: a voice input unit which acquires a user utterance, a dialogue text creator which creates a text of a system utterance, a voice output unit which outputs the system utterance as voice data, and a setting unit that sets a response deadline for system utterances. When a first system utterance is output by the voice output unit, a second system utterance is output after the first system utterance without having acquired a user utterance, and the second system utterance comprises a connective portion for connecting following sentences and a content portion that is a subject of the second system utterance, the setting unit sets a timing at which output of the connective portion of the second system utterance ends or output of the content portion of the second system utterance starts as the response deadline for the first system utterance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 14, 2023
    Publication date: April 4, 2024
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi IKENO, Yusuke JINGUJI, Toshifumi NISHIJIMA, Fuminori KATAOKA, Horomi TONEGAWA, Norihide UMEYAMA
  • Patent number: 11900932
    Abstract: A voice dialogue system includes a voice input unit which acquires a user utterance, an intention understanding unit which interprets an intention of utterance of a voice acquired by the voice input unit, a dialogue text creator which creates a text of a system utterance, and a voice output unit which outputs the system utterance as voice data. When creating a text of a system utterance, the dialogue text creator creates the text by inserting a tag in a position in the system utterance, and the intention understanding unit interprets an utterance intention of a user in accordance with whether a timing at which the user utterance is made is before or after an output of a system utterance at a position corresponding to the tag from the voice output unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi Ikeno, Yusuke Jinguji, Toshifumi Nishijima, Fuminori Kataoka, Hiromi Tonegawa, Norihide Umeyama
  • Publication number: 20210335362
    Abstract: A voice dialogue system includes: a voice input unit which acquires a user utterance; an intention understanding unit which interprets an intention of utterance of a voice acquired by the voice input unit; a dialogue text creator which creates a text of a system utterance; and a voice output unit which outputs the system utterance as voice data, wherein when creating a text of a system utterance, the dialogue text creator creates the text by inserting a tag in a position in the system utterance, and the intention understanding unit interprets an utterance intention of a user in accordance with whether a timing at which the user utterance is made is before or after an output of a system utterance at a position corresponding to the tag from the voice output unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 2, 2021
    Publication date: October 28, 2021
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi IKENO, Yusuke JINGUJI, Toshifumi NISHIJIMA, Fuminori KATAOKA, Hiromi TONEGAWA, Norihide UMEYAMA
  • Patent number: 11087757
    Abstract: Described is a voice dialogue system that includes a voice input unit which acquires a user utterance, an intention understanding unit which interprets an intention of utterance of a voice acquired by the voice input unit, a dialogue text creator which creates a text of a system utterance, and a voice output unit which outputs the system utterance as voice data. When creating a text of a system utterance, the dialogue text creator creates the text by inserting a tag in a position in the system utterance, and the intention understanding unit interprets an utterance intention of a user in accordance with whether a timing at which the user utterance is made is before or after an output of a system utterance at a position corresponding to the tag from the voice output unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi Ikeno, Yusuke Jinguji, Toshifumi Nishijima, Fuminori Kataoka, Hiromi Tonegawa, Norihide Umeyama
  • Patent number: 10867607
    Abstract: A voice dialog device includes a sight line detection unit configured to detect a sight line of a user, a voice acquiring unit configured to acquire voice pronounced by the user, and a processor. The processor is configured to perform a step of acquiring a result of recognizing the voice, a step of determining whether or not the user is driving, and a step of determining whether or not the voice dialog device has a dialog with the user. When the detected sight line of the user is in a certain direction, and a start keyword has been detected from the voice, the processor determines that the user has started a dialog. The processor switches the certain direction based on whether the user is driving.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi Ikeno, Muneaki Shimada, Kota Hatanaka, Toshifumi Nishijima, Fuminori Kataoka, Hiromi Tonegawa, Norihide Umeyama
  • Patent number: 10593323
    Abstract: A keyword generation apparatus, comprises a vocabulary acquisition unit that acquires a keyword uttered by a first user; a first positional information acquisition unit that acquires first positional information including information representing a location at which the first user has uttered the keyword; a storage unit that stores the first positional information and the keyword in association with each other; a second positional information acquisition unit that acquires second positional information including information representing a current position of a second user; and an extraction unit that extracts a keyword unique to a locality in which the second user is positioned from the storage unit based on the second positional information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takuma Minemura, Sei Kato, Junichi Ito, Youhei Wakisaka, Atsushi Ikeno, Toshifumi Nishijima, Fuminori Kataoka, Hiromi Tonegawa, Norihide Umeyama
  • Publication number: 20190341046
    Abstract: A voice dialog device includes a sight line detection unit configured to detect a sight line of a user, a voice acquiring unit configured to acquire voice pronounced by the user, and a processor. The processor is configured to perform a step of acquiring a result of recognizing the voice, a step of determining whether or not the user is driving, and a step of determining whether or not the voice dialog device has a dialog with the user. When the detected sight line of the user is in a certain direction, and a start keyword has been detected from the voice, the processor determines that the user has started a dialog. The processor switches the certain direction based on whether the user is driving.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 12, 2019
    Publication date: November 7, 2019
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi IKENO, Muneaki SHIMADA, Kota HATANAKA, Toshifumi NISHIJIMA, Fuminori KATAOKA, Hiromi TONEGAWA, Norihide UMEYAMA
  • Patent number: 10438586
    Abstract: A voice dialog device, comprises a voice processing unit configured to obtain a voice pronounced by a user and a result of recognizing the voice; a plurality of estimation units configured to estimate emotion of the user by different methods; and a response unit configured to create a response sentence, based on results of estimating the emotion of the user, and provide the response sentence to the user, wherein when a discrepancy exists between the results of estimating the emotion of the user by the plurality of estimation units, the response unit makes an inquiry to the user, and determines which estimation result is to be adopted, based on content of an obtained response.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi Ikeno, Muneaki Shimada, Kota Hatanaka, Toshifumi Nishijima, Fuminori Kataoka, Hiromi Tonegawa, Norihide Umeyama
  • Patent number: 10395653
    Abstract: A voice dialog device, comprises a sight line detection unit configured to detect a sight line of a user; a voice processing unit configured to obtain voice pronounced by the user and a result of recognizing the voice; a dialog determination unit configured to determine whether or not the voice dialog device has a dialog with the user; and an answer generation unit configured to generate an answer, based on a result of recognizing the voice, wherein the dialog determination unit determines whether or not the user has started the dialog, based on both the sight line of the user and the obtained voice.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi Ikeno, Muneaki Shimada, Kota Hatanaka, Toshifumi Nishijima, Fuminori Kataoka, Hiromi Tonegawa, Norihide Umeyama
  • Publication number: 20190244620
    Abstract: A voice dialogue system includes: a voice input unit which acquires a user utterance; an intention understanding unit which interprets an intention of utterance of a voice acquired by the voice input unit; a dialogue text creator which creates a text of a system utterance; and a voice output unit which outputs the system utterance as voice data, wherein when creating a text of a system utterance, the dialogue text creator creates the text by inserting a tag in a position in the system utterance, and the intention understanding unit interprets an utterance intention of a user in accordance with whether a timing at which the user utterance is made is before or after an output of a system utterance at a position corresponding to the tag from the voice output unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2019
    Publication date: August 8, 2019
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi IKENO, Yusuke JINGUJI, Toshifumi NISHIJIMA, Fuminori KATAOKA, Hiromi TONEGAWA, Norihide UMEYAMA
  • Patent number: 10319379
    Abstract: A voice dialog system includes: a voice input unit which acquires a user utterance, an intention understanding unit that interprets an intention of utterance of a voice acquired by the voice input unit, a dialog text creator that creates a text of a system utterance, and a voice output unit that outputs the system utterance as voice data. When creating a text of a system utterance, the dialog text creator creates the text by inserting a tag in a position in the system utterance. The intention understanding unit interprets an utterance intention of a user in accordance with whether a timing at which the user utterance is made is before or after an output of a system utterance at a position corresponding to the tag from the voice output unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi Ikeno, Yusuke Jinguji, Toshifumi Nishijima, Fuminori Kataoka, Hiromi Tonegawa, Norihide Umeyama
  • Patent number: 10311873
    Abstract: A voice interaction apparatus includes: a voice recognizer configured to recognize content of a speech of a user; an extractor configured to extract profile information based on a result of the voice recognition, and to specify which user the profile information is associated with; a storage configured to store the extracted profile information in association with the user; an exchanger configured to exchange profile information with another voice interaction apparatus; and a generator configured to generate a speech sentence to speak to the user based on the profile information of the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Satoshi Kume, Atsushi Ikeno, Toshihiko Watanabe, Muneaki Shimada, Hayato Sakamoto, Toshifumi Nishijima, Fuminori Kataoka, Hiromi Tonegawa, Norihide Umeyama
  • Patent number: 10269349
    Abstract: A voice interactive device that interacts with a user by voice, the device comprises a voice input unit that acquires and recognizes voice uttered by a user; a degree-of-intimacy calculating unit that calculates a degree of intimacy with the user; a response generating unit that generates a response to the recognized voice, based on the degree of intimacy; and a voice output unit that outputs the response by voice, wherein the degree-of-intimacy calculating unit calculates a degree of intimacy with the user based on a sum of a first intimacy value calculated based on a content of an utterance made by the user and a second intimacy value calculated, based on the number of previous interactions with the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi Ikeno, Muneaki Shimada, Kota Hatanaka, Toshifumi Nishijima, Fuminori Kataoka, Hiromi Tonegawa, Norihide Umeyama
  • Publication number: 20180090132
    Abstract: A voice dialogue system includes a dialogue scenario storage storing a plurality of dialogue scenarios and a dialogue text generator generating a dialogue text for responding to a user utterance based on a result of voice recognition. The dialogue scenario is a single set of three contents: a content of a first system utterance, a content of an expected user utterance, and a content of a second system utterance for responding to the expected user utterance. The dialogue text generator determines whether or not the user utterance is an expected response and, when the user utterance is an expected response, generates a second system utterance defined in a dialogue scenario as a response to the user utterance as a dialogue text for responding to the user utterance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2017
    Publication date: March 29, 2018
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi IKENO, Muneaki SHIMADA, Kota HATANAKA, Toshifumi NISHIJIMA, Fuminori KATAOKA, Hiromi TONEGAWA, Norihide UMEYAMA
  • Publication number: 20180090133
    Abstract: A keyword generation apparatus, comprises a vocabulary acquisition unit that acquires a keyword uttered by a first user; a first positional information acquisition unit that acquires first positional information including information representing a location at which the first user has uttered the keyword; a storage unit that stores the first positional information and the keyword in association with each other; a second positional information acquisition unit that acquires second positional information including information representing a current position of a second user; and an extraction unit that extracts a keyword unique to a locality in which the second user is positioned from the storage unit based on the second positional information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 15, 2017
    Publication date: March 29, 2018
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takuma MINEMURA, Sei KATO, Junichi ITO, Youhei WAKISAKA, Atsushi IKENO, Toshifumi NISHIJIMA, Fuminori KATAOKA, Hiromi TONEGAWA, Norihide UMEYAMA
  • Publication number: 20180090145
    Abstract: A voice interaction apparatus includes: a voice recognizer configured to recognize content of a speech of a user; an extractor configured to extract profile information based on a result of the voice recognition, and to specify which user the profile information is associated with; a storage configured to store the extracted profile information in association with the user; an exchanger configured to exchange profile information with another voice interaction apparatus; and a generator configured to generate a speech sentence to speak to the user based on the profile information of the user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2017
    Publication date: March 29, 2018
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Satoshi KUME, Atsushi IKENO, Toshihiko WATANABE, Muneaki SHIMADA, Hayato SAKAMOTO, Toshifumi NISHIJIMA, Fuminori KATAOKA, Hiromi TONEGAWA, Norihide UMEYAMA
  • Publication number: 20180090144
    Abstract: A voice dialogue system includes: a voice input unit which acquires a user utterance; an intention understanding unit which interprets an intention of utterance of a voice acquired by the voice input unit; a dialogue text creator which creates a text of a system utterance; and a voice output unit which outputs the system utterance as voice data, wherein when creating a text of a system utterance, the dialogue text creator creates the text by inserting a tag in a position in the system utterance, and the intention understanding unit interprets an utterance intention of a user in accordance with whether a timing at which the user utterance is made is before or after an output of a system utterance at a position corresponding to the tag from the voice output unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2017
    Publication date: March 29, 2018
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi IKENO, Yusuke JINGUJI, Toshifumi NISHIJIMA, Fuminori KATAOKA, Hiromi TONEGAWA, Norihide UMEYAMA
  • Publication number: 20180068659
    Abstract: A voice recognition device comprises a voice acquisition unit that acquires voice given by a user; a voice recognition unit that recognizes the acquired voice to acquire a voice recognition result; a category classification unit that classifies a speech content of the user into a category, based on the voice recognition result; an information acquisition unit that acquires a category dictionary including words corresponding to the classified category; and a correction unit that corrects the voice recognition result, based on the category dictionary.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2017
    Publication date: March 8, 2018
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi IKENO, Muneaki SHIMADA, Kota HATANAKA, Toshifumi NISHIJIMA, Fuminori KATAOKA, Hiromi TONEGAWA, Norihide UMEYAMA
  • Patent number: D857809
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Fuminori Kataoka, Hiromi Tonegawa, Norihide Umeyama, Tomotaka Takahashi, Taichi Shimaya, Shigeki Tohyama
  • Patent number: D873353
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Fuminori Kataoka, Hiromi Tonegawa, Norihide Umeyama, Tomotaka Takahashi, Taichi Shimaya