Patents by Inventor Naoki Ejima

Naoki Ejima 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: 20080292279
    Abstract: A character identification section identifies characters to specify one or more characters in each of scenes in video content according to video data in the video content, and generates images of the identified characters. A speaker identification section identifies speakers to specify one or more speakers in each of the scenes in the video content according to subtitle data in the video content. A correspondence determination section determines, based on results of the specification of the characters and the specification of the speakers in the scenes in the video content, a correspondence between each of the characters and each of the speakers. A display control section controls display of the images of the characters to receive selection of a character desired by a user, and plays back one or more of the scenes in the video content in which the speaker speaks, who is determined to correspond to the selected character.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 15, 2008
    Publication date: November 27, 2008
    Inventors: Takashi KAMADA, Naoki EJIMA
  • Patent number: 7403139
    Abstract: An electronic apparatus reads a digital data stream including a video signal and/or an audio signal outputted from an external apparatus according to a transmission clock different from a clock for the data stream, and outputs the video signal and/or audio signal without causing any discontinuity. The electronic apparatus includes a sample rate converter that rate-converts a predetermined volume of the audio signal in synchronization with a constant sampling clock, and changes a number of samples to be outputted, based on a data volume of an audio signal outputted by the electronic apparatus and a data volume of an audio signal transmitted from the external apparatus or transmittable from the external apparatus to the electronic apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2008
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shuhei Sasakura, Tatsuya Adachi, Isao Kato, Kazuya Iwata, Naoki Ejima, Seiji Nakamura, Yoshihisa Inagaki
  • Patent number: 7394499
    Abstract: This invention provides a data transmission method and a data receiving method which enable audio data to be multiplexed into video data and be transmitted using a DVI standard cable or the like satisfactorily with a simple configuration. From a data transmitting end, a superimposed video/audio data signal in which audio data are superimposed over a video blanking interval of video data in superimposition timing that is generated using a video blank sync signal and a pixel clock, are transmitted to a data receiving end through the DVI cable, together with the video blank sync signal and the pixel clock.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2008
    Assignees: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroshige Okamoto, Tetsuya Hiroe, Sho Murakoshi, Naoki Ejima, Toshiroh Nishio, Akihisa Kawamura, Hidekazu Suzuki
  • Patent number: 7356150
    Abstract: A bandpass filter bandpass-filters an inputted signal X to pass therethrough a partial band of a band of the inputted signal X, and a level correlated white noise generator circuit generates a white noise signal having a level changing according to a level of the inputted signal and correlated to the inputted signal. A signal processing circuit executes a signal processing that includes a predetermined bandpass filtering processing, an echo adding processing, and a level adjustment processing, and that multiplies the inputted white noise signal by a predetermined transfer function, and outputs a processed white noise signal to an adder. The adder adds up the white noise signal from the signal processing circuit and the inputted signal X, and outputs a band-extended signal having an addition result, as an outputted signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2008
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Naoki Ejima, Kazuya Iwata
  • Publication number: 20080063380
    Abstract: The present invention provides a recording and reproduction device capable of preventing content having details identical to the details of outputted content from being reproduced simultaneously with the outputted content, and allowing the content to be reproduced in high quality. A recording/reproduction device (110) includes a recording area (115), a communication processing unit (119) capable of outputting the related content having details identical to details of the content recorded in the recording area (115) into an external recording medium (160), and an encoding/decoding processing unit (117) capable of obtaining unique information of the external recording medium (160).
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2005
    Publication date: March 13, 2008
    Inventors: Shuhei Sasakura, Naoki Ejima
  • Publication number: 20080056087
    Abstract: A content transmitting apparatus and the like which execute copy control of content more securely than conventional, and can count copy number correctly according to the situation, even in the case where content transfer is interrupted are provided. The content reproducing apparatus 10 for transmitting content that is digital copyrighted work including a plurality of content blocks comprises: the content reproducing unit 11 which reads out content and the like from the DVD 30; the control unit 12 which repeats, for each of the plurality of content blocks, transmitting in parallel with the content blocks, the copy control information indicating copy permission of the content, the content identification information identifying content, and the content status information indicating status of the content blocks in the overall content; the data building unit 15; the transmission unit 16; and the like.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2005
    Publication date: March 6, 2008
    Inventor: Naoki Ejima
  • Patent number: 7230650
    Abstract: The present invention is relative to a video signal transmitting/receiving system in which digital video signals are transmitted from a transmitter (30) to a receiver (50) using a line (9) as a transmission channel. The transmitter (30) converts the video signals to be transmitted to a bit string longer in data length than a pixel making up the video signals, allocates a plural number of the bit strings to a blanking period during which pixel data in the pixel string is not transmitted and, using these bit strings, transmits the same superposed data a plural number of times. The receiver (50) extracts the specified bit strings indicating the blanking period from the received data and performs majority processing on the results of demodulation of the extracted bit strings to decide on output data. This reduces errors in reception of supplementary data to simplify the circuit structure as well as to ameliorate the error rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2007
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Limited
    Inventors: Hiroshige Okamoto, Tetsuya Hiroe, Sho Murakoshi, Naoki Ejima, Toshiroh Nishio, Akihisa Kawamura, Hidekazu Suzuki
  • Patent number: 7225388
    Abstract: An error-correction coding method and an error-correction decoding method utilize error detection and error correction for an audio signal when a video signal and the audio signal are multiplexed and transmitted by a DVI. After an error correction code is added to each sample (sample data unit) of the digital audio signal, n continuous (n: integer equal to or larger than 2) pieces of the samples (sample data units) of the digital audio signal, to which error correction codes are added, are interleaved to generate a coded audio signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2007
    Assignees: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Naoki Ejima, Toshiroh Nishio, Akihisa Kawamura, Hidekazu Suzuki, Hiroshige Okamoto, Tetsuya Hiroe, Sho Murakoshi
  • Patent number: 7188298
    Abstract: An error-correction coding method and an error-correction decoding method utilize error detection and error correction for an audio signal when a video signal and the audio signal are multiplexed and transmitted by a DVI. After an error correction code is added to each sample (sample data unit) of the digital audio signal, n continuous (n: integer equal to or larger than 2) pieces of the samples (sample data units) of the digital audio signal, to which error correction codes are added, are interleaved to generate a coded audio signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2007
    Assignees: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Naoki Ejima, Toshiroh Nishio, Akihisa Kawamura, Hidekazu Suzuki, Hiroshige Okamoto, Tetsuya Hiroe, Sho Murakoshi
  • Publication number: 20070046819
    Abstract: An electronic apparatus reads a digital data stream including a video signal and/or an audio signal outputted from an external apparatus according to a transmission clock different from a clock for the data stream, and outputs the video signal and/or audio signal without causing any discontinuity. The electronic apparatus includes a sample rate converter that rate-converts a predetermined volume of the audio signal in synchronization with a constant sampling clock, and changes a number of samples to be outputted, based on a data volume of an audio signal outputted by the electronic apparatus and a data volume of an audio signal transmitted from the external apparatus or transmittable from the external apparatus to the electronic apparatus.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 17, 2004
    Publication date: March 1, 2007
    Inventors: Shuhei Sasakura, Tatsuya Adachi, Isao Kato, Kazuya Iwata, Naoki Ejima, Seiji Nakamura, Yoshihisa Inagaki
  • Publication number: 20060285012
    Abstract: Digital audio data which have a predetermined packet structure are divided into units including a predetermined number of bits; each unit of the divided digital audio data is converted into specific data to be encoded; the encoded data are arranged in blanking intervals of video data; the digital audio data are transmitted as well as the video data using a transmission line for the video data, and the video data and the audio data may be simultaneously and favorably transmitted, adopting an existing video-data transmission format such as the DVI standard.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 19, 2006
    Publication date: December 21, 2006
    Applicants: Sony Corporation, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Limited
    Inventors: Naoki Ejima, Toshiroh Nishio, Akihisa Kawamura, Hidekazu Suzuki, Sho Murakoshi, Tetsuya Hiroe, Hiroshige Okamoto
  • Patent number: 7129991
    Abstract: Digital audio data that have a predetermined packet structure are divided into units including a predetermined number of bits; each unit of the divided digital audio data is converted into specific data to be encoded; the encoded data are arranged in blanking intervals of video data; the digital audio data are transmitted along with the video data using a transmission line for the video data, and the video data and the audio data are simultaneously and favorably transmitted, adopting an existing video-data transmission format, such as the DVI standard.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2006
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Limited
    Inventors: Naoki Ejima, Toshiroh Nishio, Akihisa Kawamura, Hidekazu Suzuki, Sho Murakoshi, Tetsuya Hiroe, Hiroshige Okamoto
  • Publication number: 20060227018
    Abstract: A bandpass filter bandpass-filters an inputted signal X to pass therethrough a partial band of a band of the inputted signal X, and a level correlated white noise generator circuit generates a white noise signal having a level changing according to a level of the inputted signal and correlated to the inputted signal. A signal processing circuit executes a signal processing that includes a predetermined bandpass filtering processing, an echo adding processing, and a level adjustment processing, and that multiplies the inputted white, noise signal by a predetermined transfer function, and outputs a processed white noise signal to an adder. The adder adds up the white noise signal from the signal processing circuit and the inputted signal X, and outputs a band-extended signal having an addition result, as an outputted signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 23, 2004
    Publication date: October 12, 2006
    Inventors: Naoki Ejima, Kazuya Iwata
  • Patent number: 7069224
    Abstract: A method for transferring audio data and audio-related information includes: a generation step of generating second audio data from first audio data; a transmission step of transmitting the second audio data and audio-related information associated with the second audio data; and a reception step of receiving the second audio data and the audio-related information, wherein the audio-related information includes information representing a sampling frequency of the first audio data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2006
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Akihisa Kawamura, Naoki Ejima, Masatoshi Shimbo
  • Publication number: 20060107183
    Abstract: An error-correction coding method and an error-correction decoding method utilize error detection and error correction for an audio signal when a video signal and the audio signal are multiplexed and transmitted by a DVI. After an error correction code is added to each sample of the digital audio signal, n continuous (n: integer equal to or larger than 2) pieces of the samples of the digital audio signal, to which error correction codes are added, are interleaved to generate a coded audio signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2005
    Publication date: May 18, 2006
    Inventors: Naoki Ejima, Toshiroh Nishio, Akihisa Kawamura, Hidekazu Suzuki, Hiroshige Okamoto, Tetsuya Hiroe, Sho Murakoshi
  • Patent number: 6904403
    Abstract: In transmission of digital audio data usingIEEE1394, for example, when the audio data is changed from linear PCM to nonlinear PCM, identifier adding means of the transmitting apparatus inserts a silent identifier and nearly zero data for a specific time, and first identifier distinguishing means of the receiving apparatus changes over the output of data processing selecting means from linear PCM processing side to nonlinear processing side when detecting the silent identifier, thereby preventing generation of noise when changing over the data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2005
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenji Muraki, Keiko Tanaka, Naoki Ejima, Yasushi Nakajima
  • Publication number: 20040252235
    Abstract: As shown in FIG. 7, a data receiver receives video data and audio data together with a frequency division parameter N that depends on the pixel clock of the video data and the sampling frequency of the audio data, and a count value CTS that is obtained by counting the period of the audio clock that has been subjected to frequency division by the frequency division parameter N, with the pixel clock, which are transmitted from a data transmitter, and subjects the pixel clock to frequency division by the count value CTS, phase-control the divided clock (s501) in accordance with a phase comparison clock (s505) that is obtained by dividing an audio clock (s403) oscillated from a VCO (504) by the frequency division parameter N, thereby generating an audio clock (s403).
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 4, 2004
    Publication date: December 16, 2004
    Inventor: Naoki Ejima
  • Patent number: 6829360
    Abstract: A low-pass filter of over-sampling type oversamples an input digital audio signal T1 and filters and removes the low frequency components of the produced aliasing noise. A spectrum analyzer circuit calculates the spectrum intensity of a predetermined band of an output signal from the low-pass filter. An expanded signal generating circuit generates an expanded signal having frequency components of the output signal from the low-pass filter. A level control circuit controls the level of the expanded signal according to the spectrum analyzer circuit. An adder adds the level-controlled expanded signal to the output signal from the low-pass filter thereby to generate a digital audio signal T2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2004
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuya Iwata, Naoki Ejima, Akira Sobajima
  • Publication number: 20040215352
    Abstract: A controlled device (103) containing a plurality of controlled objects (functional units) includes selection means (109) that allows a user to select a functional unit to be controlled. If a command including no information specifying which functional unit in the controlled device is to be controlled is received, the controlled device (103) uses the selection means (109) to allow the user to select the functional unit to be controlled and determines the selected functional unit as an object to be controlled in the controlled device (103) so that the unit intended by the user is selected as the unit to be controlled.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 29, 2002
    Publication date: October 28, 2004
    Inventors: Kenji Muraki, Naoki Ejima
  • Publication number: 20040153933
    Abstract: An error-correction coding method and an error-correction decoding method, in which error detection and error correction for an audio signal can be carried out when a video signal and the audio signal are multiplexed and transmitted by a DVI, is provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 8, 2003
    Publication date: August 5, 2004
    Inventors: Naoki Ejima, Toshiroh Nishio, Akihisa Kawamura, Hidekazu Suzuki, Hiroshige Okamoto, Tetsuya Hiroe, Sho Murakoshi