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).
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Patent number: 11942071Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: May 4, 2021Date of Patent: March 26, 2024Assignee: YAMAHA CORPORATIONInventors: Ryunosuke Daido, Merlijn Blaauw, Jordi Bonada
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Patent number: 11842719Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: September 21, 2020Date of Patent: December 12, 2023Assignee: YAMAHA CORPORATIONInventors: Merlijn Blaauw, Jordi Bonada, Ryunosuke Daido, Yuji Hisaminato
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Patent number: 11756558Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: August 18, 2021Date of Patent: September 12, 2023Assignee: YAMAHA CORPORATIONInventors: Jordi Bonada, Merlijn Blaauw, Ryunosuke Daido
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Patent number: 11410637Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: April 26, 2019Date of Patent: August 9, 2022Assignee: YAMAHA CORPORATIONInventors: Jordi Bonada, Merlijn Blaauw, Keijiro Saino, Ryunosuke Daido, Michael Wilson, Yuji Hisaminato
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Patent number: 11289066Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: December 27, 2018Date of Patent: March 29, 2022Assignee: YAMAHA CORPORATIONInventors: Yuji Hisaminato, Ryunosuke Daido, Keijiro Saino, Jordi Bonada, Merlijn Blaauw
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Publication number: 20210383816Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: August 18, 2021Publication date: December 9, 2021Inventors: Jordi BONADA, Merlijn BLAAUW, Ryunosuke DAIDO
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Publication number: 20210375248Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: August 18, 2021Publication date: December 2, 2021Inventors: Jordi BONADA, Merlijn BLAAUW, Ryunosuke DAIDO
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Publication number: 20210256960Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: May 4, 2021Publication date: August 19, 2021Inventors: Ryunosuke DAIDO, Merlijn BLAAUW, Jordi BONADA
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Publication number: 20210005176Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: September 21, 2020Publication date: January 7, 2021Inventors: Merlijn BLAAUW, Jordi BONADA, Ryunosuke DAIDO, Yuji HISAMINATO
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Publication number: 20190251950Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: April 26, 2019Publication date: August 15, 2019Inventors: Jordi BONADA, Merlijn BLAAUW, Keijiro SAINO, Ryunosuke DAIDO, Michael WILSON, Yuji HISAMINATO
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Publication number: 20190130893Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: December 27, 2018Publication date: May 2, 2019Inventors: Yuji HISAMINATO, Ryunosuke DAIDO, Keijiro SAINO, Jordi BONADA, Merlijn BLAAUW
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Patent number: 10176797Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: March 4, 2016Date of Patent: January 8, 2019Assignee: Yamaha CorporationInventors: Keijiro Saino, Jordi Bonada, Merlijn Blaauw
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Patent number: 9865276Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: December 28, 2015Date of Patent: January 9, 2018Assignee: Yamaha CorporationInventors: Jordi Bonada, Merlijn Blaauw, Keijiro Saino
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Publication number: 20160260425Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: March 4, 2016Publication date: September 8, 2016Inventors: Keijiro SAINO, Jordi BONADA, Merlijn BLAAUW
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Publication number: 20160189725Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: December 28, 2015Publication date: June 30, 2016Inventors: Jordi BONADA, Merlijn BLAAUW, Keijiro SAINO
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Patent number: 9286906Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: June 20, 2013Date of Patent: March 15, 2016Assignee: Yamaha CorporationInventors: Jordi Bonada, Merlijn Blaauw, Yuji Hisaminato
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Patent number: 8996378Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: May 24, 2012Date of Patent: March 31, 2015Assignee: Yamaha CorporationInventors: Jordi Bonada, Merlijn Blaauw, Makoto Tachibana
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Publication number: 20140006018Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: June 20, 2013Publication date: January 2, 2014Applicant: Yamaha CorporationInventors: Jordi BONADA, Merlijn BLAAUW, Yuji HISAMINATO
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Publication number: 20120310650Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: May 24, 2012Publication date: December 6, 2012Applicant: YAMAHA CORPORATIONInventors: Jordi BONADA, Merlijn BLAAUW, Makoto Tachibana