Patents by Inventor Merlijn BLAAUW

Merlijn BLAAUW 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: 11942071
    Abstract: An information processing system includes at least one memory storing a program and at least one processor. The at least one processor implements the program to input a piece of sound source data obtained by encoding a first identification data representative of a sound source, a piece of style data obtained by encoding a second identification data representative of a performance style, and synthesis data representative of sounding conditions into a synthesis model generated by machine learning, and to generate, using the synthesis model, feature data representative of acoustic features of a target sound of the sound source to be generated in the performance style and according to the sounding conditions, and to generate an audio signal corresponding to the target sound using the generated feature data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: YAMAHA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ryunosuke Daido, Merlijn Blaauw, Jordi Bonada
  • Patent number: 11842719
    Abstract: A sound processing method obtains note data representative of a note; obtains an audio signal to be processed; specifies, in accordance with the note, an expression sample representative of a sound expression to be imparted to the note and an expression period, of the audio signal, to which the sound expression is to be imparted to the note; and specifies, in accordance with the expression sample and the expression period, a processing parameter relating to an expression imparting processing for imparting the sound expression to a portion corresponding to the expression period in the audio signal. The method then generates a processed audio signal by performing the expression imparting processing in accordance with the expression sample, the expression period, and the processing parameter to the audio signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: YAMAHA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Merlijn Blaauw, Jordi Bonada, Ryunosuke Daido, Yuji Hisaminato
  • Patent number: 11756558
    Abstract: A computer-implemented sound signal generation method includes: obtaining a first sound source spectrum of a sound signal to be generated; obtaining a first spectral envelope of the sound signal; and estimating fragment data representative of samples of the sound signal based on the obtained first sound source spectrum and the obtained first spectral envelope.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: YAMAHA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jordi Bonada, Merlijn Blaauw, Ryunosuke Daido
  • Patent number: 11410637
    Abstract: A voice synthesis method according to an embodiment includes altering a series of synthesis spectra in a partial period of a synthesis voice based on a series of amplitude spectrum envelope contours of a voice expression to obtain a series of altered spectra to which the voice expression has been imparted, and synthesizing a series of voice samples to which the voice expression has been imparted, based on the series of altered spectra.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: YAMAHA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jordi Bonada, Merlijn Blaauw, Keijiro Saino, Ryunosuke Daido, Michael Wilson, Yuji Hisaminato
  • Patent number: 11289066
    Abstract: A voice synthesis method includes: sequentially acquiring voice units comprising at least one of diphone or a triphone in accordance with synthesis information for synthesizing voices; generating statistical spectral envelopes using a statistical model built by machine learning in accordance with the synthesis information for synthesizing the voices; and concatenating the sequentially acquired voice units and modifying a frequency spectral envelope of each voice unit in accordance with the generated statistical spectral envelope, thereby synthesizing a voice signal based on the concatenated voice units having the modified frequency spectra.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: YAMAHA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yuji Hisaminato, Ryunosuke Daido, Keijiro Saino, Jordi Bonada, Merlijn Blaauw
  • Publication number: 20210383816
    Abstract: A computer-implemented sound signal generation method includes: obtaining a first sound source spectrum of a sound signal to be generated; obtaining a first spectral envelope of the sound signal; and estimating fragment data representative of samples of the sound signal based on the obtained first sound source spectrum and the obtained first spectral envelope.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 18, 2021
    Publication date: December 9, 2021
    Inventors: Jordi BONADA, Merlijn BLAAUW, Ryunosuke DAIDO
  • Publication number: 20210375248
    Abstract: A computer-implemented sound signal synthesis method includes: generating, based on first control data representative of a plurality of conditions of a sound signal to be generated, (i) first data representative of a sound source spectrum of the sound signal, and (ii) second data representative of a spectral envelope of the sound signal; and synthesizing the sound signal based on the sound source spectrum indicated by the first data and the spectral envelope indicated by the second data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 18, 2021
    Publication date: December 2, 2021
    Inventors: Jordi BONADA, Merlijn BLAAUW, Ryunosuke DAIDO
  • Publication number: 20210256960
    Abstract: An information processing system includes at least one memory storing a program and at least one processor. The at least one processor implements the program to input a piece of sound source data representative of a sound source, a piece of style data representative of a performance style, and synthesis data representative of sounding conditions into a synthesis model generated by machine learning, and to generate, using the synthesis model, feature data representative of acoustic features of a target sound of the sound source to be generated in the performance style and according to the sounding conditions, and to generate an audio signal corresponding to the target sound using the generated feature data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 4, 2021
    Publication date: August 19, 2021
    Inventors: Ryunosuke DAIDO, Merlijn BLAAUW, Jordi BONADA
  • Publication number: 20210005176
    Abstract: A sound processing method obtains note data representative of a note; obtains an audio signal to be processed; specifies, in accordance with the note, an expression sample representative of a sound expression to be imparted to the note and an expression period, of the audio signal, to which the sound expression is to be imparted to the note; and specifies, in accordance with the expression sample and the expression period, a processing parameter relating to an expression imparting processing for imparting the sound expression to a portion corresponding to the expression period in the audio signal. The method then generates a processed audio signal by performing the expression imparting processing in accordance with the expression sample, the expression period, and the processing parameter to the audio signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2020
    Publication date: January 7, 2021
    Inventors: Merlijn BLAAUW, Jordi BONADA, Ryunosuke DAIDO, Yuji HISAMINATO
  • Publication number: 20190251950
    Abstract: A voice synthesis method according to an embodiment includes altering a series of synthesis spectra in a partial period of a synthesis voice based on a series of amplitude spectrum envelope contours of a voice expression to obtain a series of altered spectra to which the voice expression has been imparted, and synthesizing a series of voice samples to which the voice expression has been imparted, based on the series of altered spectra.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 26, 2019
    Publication date: August 15, 2019
    Inventors: Jordi BONADA, Merlijn BLAAUW, Keijiro SAINO, Ryunosuke DAIDO, Michael WILSON, Yuji HISAMINATO
  • Publication number: 20190130893
    Abstract: A voice synthesis method includes: sequentially acquiring voice units in accordance with synthesis information for synthesizing voices; generating statistical spectral envelopes using a statistical model in accordance with the synthesis information for synthesizing the voices; and concatenating the sequentially acquired voice units and modifying a frequency spectral envelope of each voice unit in accordance with the generated statistical spectral envelope, thereby synthesizing a voice signal based on the concatenated voice units having the modified frequency spectra.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2018
    Publication date: May 2, 2019
    Inventors: Yuji HISAMINATO, Ryunosuke DAIDO, Keijiro SAINO, Jordi BONADA, Merlijn BLAAUW
  • Patent number: 10176797
    Abstract: A voice synthesis method for generating a voice signal through connection of a phonetic piece extracted from a reference voice, includes selecting, by a piece selection unit, the phonetic piece sequentially; setting, by a pitch setting unit, a pitch transition in which a fluctuation of an observed pitch of the phonetic piece is reflected based on a degree corresponding to a difference value between a reference pitch being a reference of sound generation of the reference voice and the observed pitch of the phonetic piece selected by the piece selection unit; and generating, by a voice synthesis unit, the voice signal by adjusting a pitch of the phonetic piece selected by the piece selection unit based on the pitch transition generated by the pitch setting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2019
    Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventors: Keijiro Saino, Jordi Bonada, Merlijn Blaauw
  • Patent number: 9865276
    Abstract: A processing unit of a voice processing apparatus first generates a target voice signal in a time domain by adjusting a fundamental frequency of a target voice signal to a fundamental frequency of an initial voice signal, so as to generate a spectrum of the target voice signal after pitch is adjusted. Second, the processing unit reallocates, along a frequency axis, the spectrum of the target voice characteristics by having the spectrum correspond to each of the fundamental frequencies of the initial voice signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventors: Jordi Bonada, Merlijn Blaauw, Keijiro Saino
  • Publication number: 20160260425
    Abstract: A voice synthesis method for generating a voice signal through connection of a phonetic piece extracted from a reference voice, includes selecting, by a piece selection unit, the phonetic piece sequentially; setting, by a pitch setting unit, a pitch transition in which a fluctuation of an observed pitch of the phonetic piece is reflected based on a degree corresponding to a difference value between a reference pitch being a reference of sound generation of the reference voice and the observed pitch of the phonetic piece selected by the piece selection unit; and generating, by a voice synthesis unit, the voice signal by adjusting a pitch of the phonetic piece selected by the piece selection unit based on the pitch transition generated by the pitch setting unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 4, 2016
    Publication date: September 8, 2016
    Inventors: Keijiro SAINO, Jordi BONADA, Merlijn BLAAUW
  • Publication number: 20160189725
    Abstract: A processing unit of a voice processing apparatus first generates a target voice signal in a time domain by adjusting a fundamental frequency of a target voice signal to a fundamental frequency of an initial voice signal, so as to generate a spectrum of the target voice signal after pitch is adjusted. Second, the processing unit reallocates, along a frequency axis, the spectrum of the target voice characteristics by having the spectrum correspond to each of the fundamental frequencies of the initial voice signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2015
    Publication date: June 30, 2016
    Inventors: Jordi BONADA, Merlijn BLAAUW, Keijiro SAINO
  • Patent number: 9286906
    Abstract: In a voice processing apparatus, a processor is configured to adjust, a fundamental frequency of a first voice signal corresponding to a voice having target voice characteristics to a fundamental frequency of a second voice signal corresponding to a voice having initial voice characteristics different from the target voice characteristics. The processor is further configured to sequentially generate a processed spectrum based on a spectrum of the first voice signal and a spectrum of the second voice signal by: dividing the spectrum of the first voice signal into a plurality of harmonic band components after the fundamental frequency of the first voice signal has been adjusted; allocating each harmonic band component of the first voice signal to each harmonic frequency associated with the fundamental frequency of the second voice signal; and adjusting an envelope and phase of each harmonic band component according to the spectrum of the second voice signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2016
    Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventors: Jordi Bonada, Merlijn Blaauw, Yuji Hisaminato
  • Patent number: 8996378
    Abstract: In a voice synthesis apparatus, a phoneme piece interpolator acquires first phoneme piece data corresponding to a first value of sound characteristic, and second phoneme piece data corresponding to a second value of the sound characteristic. The first and second phoneme piece data indicate a spectrum of each frame of a phoneme piece. The phoneme piece interpolator interpolates between each frame of the first phoneme piece data and each frame of the second phoneme piece data so as to create phoneme piece data of the phoneme piece corresponding to a target value of the sound characteristic which is different from either of the first and second values of the sound characteristic. A voice synthesizer generates a voice signal having the target value of the sound characteristic based on the created phoneme piece data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventors: Jordi Bonada, Merlijn Blaauw, Makoto Tachibana
  • Publication number: 20140006018
    Abstract: In a voice processing apparatus, a processor is configured to adjust, a fundamental frequency of a first voice signal corresponding to a voice having target voice characteristics to a fundamental frequency of a second voice signal corresponding to a voice having initial voice characteristics different from the target voice characteristics. The processor is further configured to sequentially generate a processed spectrum based on a spectrum of the first voice signal and a spectrum of the second voice signal by: dividing the spectrum of the first voice signal into a plurality of harmonic band components after the fundamental frequency of the first voice signal has been adjusted; allocating each harmonic band component of the first voice signal to each harmonic frequency associated with the fundamental frequency of the second voice signal; and adjusting an envelope and phase of each harmonic band component according to the spectrum of the second voice signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2013
    Publication date: January 2, 2014
    Applicant: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventors: Jordi BONADA, Merlijn BLAAUW, Yuji HISAMINATO
  • Publication number: 20120310650
    Abstract: In a voice synthesis apparatus, a phoneme piece interpolator acquires first phoneme piece data corresponding to a first value of sound characteristic, and second phoneme piece data corresponding to a second value of the sound characteristic. The first and second phoneme piece data indicate a spectrum of each frame of a phoneme piece. The phoneme piece interpolator interpolates between each frame of the first phoneme piece data and each frame of the second phoneme piece data so as to create phoneme piece data of the phoneme piece corresponding to a target value of the sound characteristic which is different from either of the first and second values of the sound characteristic. A voice synthesizer generates a voice signal having the target value of the sound characteristic based on the created phoneme piece data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 24, 2012
    Publication date: December 6, 2012
    Applicant: YAMAHA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jordi BONADA, Merlijn BLAAUW, Makoto Tachibana