Patents by Inventor Robert Noel Blanchard

Robert Noel Blanchard 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: 10916159
    Abstract: An application on a mobile phone or tablet computer or eyeglasses listens to the speech of a profoundly deaf person and interprets it in real time. It can then repeat it in a “normal voice”. The voice recognition is trained to the voice of the profoundly deaf person.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Peter Shintani, Brant Candelore, Mahyar Nejat, Robert Noel Blanchard, Hoda Sayyadinejad
  • Patent number: 10916250
    Abstract: An application on a mobile phone or tablet computer or eyeglasses listens to the speech of a profoundly deaf person and interprets it in real time. The voice recognition can be trained to the voice of the profoundly deaf person. A display such as a small tablet display which can be hung around the speaker's neck can present text output by the voice recognition module to allow someone to read the text. The application can then detect speech from the listener and display text converted from the speech to the deaf person through glasses or to a cell phone that is being held by hand or to the tablet, or to a different tablet that the previous listener has hung around his or her neck. In case of the same tablet the text from the listener's speech can be shown upside down so that the deaf person can look down and read the text.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Peter Shintani, Brant Candelore, Mahyar Nejat, Robert Noel Blanchard
  • Patent number: 10868624
    Abstract: An active optical cable (AOC) signals to a source that it needs power above a standard voltage, e.g., above five volts, by sending a signal such as a voltage step from one non-zero voltage to a second non-zero voltage or other voltage pattern on a hot plug detect (HPD) pin of a display data channel (DDC). While a legacy source device may not be able to detect this and consequently will operate as usual, a source device programmed according to present principles detects the request for more power represented by the voltage pattern established by the AOC, and in response increases the power (voltage and/or current) on DDC 5V line to the requested level, e.g., 10V at 500 mA.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2020
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Peter Shintani, Robert Noel Blanchard
  • Publication number: 20190371202
    Abstract: An application on a mobile phone or tablet computer or eyeglasses listens to the speech of a profoundly deaf person and interprets it in real time. It can then repeat it in a “normal voice”. The voice recognition is trained to the voice of the profoundly deaf person.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 1, 2018
    Publication date: December 5, 2019
    Inventors: Peter Shintani, Brant Candelore, Mahyar Nejat, Robert Noel Blanchard, Hoda Sayyadinejad
  • Publication number: 20190371338
    Abstract: An application on a mobile phone or tablet computer or eyeglasses listens to the speech of a profoundly deaf person and interprets it in real time. The voice recognition can be trained to the voice of the profoundly deaf person. A display such as a small tablet display which can be hung around the speaker's neck can present text output by the voice recognition module to allow someone to read the text. The application can then detect speech from the listener and display text converted from the speech to the deaf person through glasses or to a cell phone that is being held by hand or to the tablet, or to a different tablet that the previous listener has hung around his or her neck. In case of the same tablet the text from the listener's speech can be shown upside down so that the deaf person can look down and read the text.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 1, 2018
    Publication date: December 5, 2019
    Inventors: Peter Shintani, Brant Candelore, Mahyar Nejat, Robert Noel Blanchard
  • Patent number: 10349122
    Abstract: An audio video display device executes a voice assistant that recognizes a spoken name associated with a hearing-impaired person and in response reduces the audio volume for the content being decoded, on the assumption that someone is speaking to the hearing-impaired person, and/or pauses the content being decoded, and/or determines the location of the source of the command and steers a microphone array to that location, and/or allows for independent volume/mute controls via an assistive listening device such as a neck loop to control the volume or mute the audio played on hearing aids independently of the volume of the display device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Peter Shintani, Brant Candelore, Mahyar Nejat, Robert Noel Blanchard
  • Publication number: 20190182536
    Abstract: An audio video display device executes a voice assistant that recognizes a spoken name associated with a hearing-impaired person and in response reduces the audio volume for the content being decoded, on the assumption that someone is speaking to the hearing-impaired person, and/or pauses the content being decoded, and/or determines the location of the source of the command and steers a microphone array to that location, and/or allows for independent volume/mute controls via an assistive listening device such as a neck loop to control the volume or mute the audio played on hearing aids independently of the volume of the display device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2017
    Publication date: June 13, 2019
    Inventors: Peter Shintani, Brant Candelore, Mahyar Nejat, Robert Noel Blanchard
  • Patent number: 10264330
    Abstract: To improve cognitive comprehension of plots in videos and thus assist not only people with cognitive issues but also inattentive people that have trouble following along with the plot, information is sent about each scene in a video. Image recognition or speech recognition may be implemented on a video to recognize where in the video the viewer currently is at, and ancillary information pertaining to that spot in the video presented immediately or at a convenient scene break.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Brant Candelore, Mahyar Nejat, Peter Shintani, Robert Noel Blanchard
  • Publication number: 20190013889
    Abstract: An active optical cable (AOC) signals to a source that it needs power above a standard voltage, e.g., above five volts, by sending a signal such as a voltage step from one non-zero voltage to a second non-zero voltage or other voltage pattern on a hot plug detect (HPD) pin of a display data channel (DDC). While a legacy source device may not be able to detect this and consequently will operate as usual, a source device programmed according to present principles detects the request for more power represented by the voltage pattern established by the AOC, and in response increases the power (voltage and/or current) on DDC 5V line to the requested level, e.g., 10V at 500 mA.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 11, 2017
    Publication date: January 10, 2019
    Inventors: Peter Shintani, Robert Noel Blanchard
  • Patent number: 10051227
    Abstract: A channel change detection feature is incorporated into future ATSC 1.0 receivers, future ATSC 3.0 receivers, and through a modification, to legacy ATSC 1.0 receivers that can detect new Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) signaling. A TV or other digital video receiver occasionally performs an automatic channel programming scan. If it detects that a channel has disappeared, then the receiver re-scans the spectrum to update the channel map. If any changes in the channel map occurs, an indication is implied that some ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 stations have been shuffled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Peter Shintani, Robert Noel Blanchard
  • Publication number: 20160078442
    Abstract: To eliminate the need for a user to laboriously enter device setup parameters into each of plural devices, a user ID is provided with a secure part, having the user's login credentials, and an unsecure device parameter part which defines device parameters desired by the user to be set in computing devices.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2014
    Publication date: March 17, 2016
    Inventors: Peter Shintani, Robert Noel Blanchard
  • Publication number: 20150046943
    Abstract: An audio video display device (AVDD) includes a display, a processor controlling the display and a computer readable storage medium that is accessible to the processor. The computer readable storage medium bears instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to present, on the AVDD, AV content that is not associated with information pertaining to an emergency. The instructions cause the processor to receive, at the AVDD, data associated with an emergency alert and, responsive to receiving the data associated with the emergency alert, change audio presented on the AVDD from first audio presented on the AVDD and associated with the AV content to second audio associated the data to present the second audio. The second audio is presented on the AVDD automatically without receiving user input to change from the first audio to the second audio subsequent to receiving the data associated with the emergency alert.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2013
    Publication date: February 12, 2015
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Peter Shintani, Robert Noel Blanchard
  • Patent number: 8918828
    Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention includes a technique for extracting private user data. A data sequence in a packetized transport stream is parsed to obtain a user data identifier (UDI) associated with a pre-defined data structure. The UDI is registered with a registration authority and is different from a standard identifier that is defined by a standard organization in a published standard document. The UDI is recognized. The private user data is extracted from the data sequence according to the pre-defined data structure corresponding to the recognized UDI.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2014
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Mark Kenneth Eyer, Robert Noel Blanchard
  • Publication number: 20140020041
    Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention includes a technique for extracting private user data. A data sequence in a packetized transport stream is parsed to obtain a user data identifier (UDI) associated with a pre-defined data structure. The UDI is registered with a registration authority and is different from a standard identifier that is defined by a standard organization in a published standard document. The UDI is recognized. The private user data is extracted from the data sequence according to the pre-defined data structure corresponding to the recognized UDI.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2013
    Publication date: January 16, 2014
    Applicants: Sony Electronics Inc., Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Mark Kenneth Eyer, Robert Noel Blanchard
  • Patent number: 8607265
    Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention includes a technique for inserting private user data. A user data identifier (UDI) associated with a pre-defined data structure is inserted into a data sequence within a content stream. The UDI is registered with a registration authority and is different from a standard identifier that is defined by a standard organization in a published standard document. The data is inserted into the data sequence according to the pre-defined data structure. The data sequence has the UDI and the private user data and is packetized into a transport stream. Another embodiment of the present invention includes a technique for extracting private user data. A data sequence in a packetized transport stream is parsed to obtain a user data identifier (UDI) associated with a pre-defined data structure. The UDI is registered with a registration authority and is different from a standard identifier that is defined by a standard organization in a published standard document. The UDI is recognized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Electronics
    Inventors: Mark Kenneth Eyer, Robert Noel Blanchard
  • Patent number: 8528017
    Abstract: Closed caption (CC) data is carried across a digital interface such as HDMI by a source such as a set top box arrange CC data into a HDMI packet that is then transmitted, along with video packets, across the interface to a sink such as a TV. The CC data is kept in the same format that it was received and the TV's decoder processor processes the packets and renders CC text as if the CC data had been received by the tuner of the TV.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2013
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Robert Noel Blanchard
  • Patent number: 8302134
    Abstract: A system and method for controlling a television antenna includes an amplifier circuit mounted with the television antenna. The amplifier circuit is connected to the television antenna and a control line. The control line is used for controlling the gain of the amplifier circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2012
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Electronics, Inc.
    Inventors: Peter Rae Shintani, Robert Noel Blanchard
  • Publication number: 20120155552
    Abstract: System and method for embedding and concealing data within a video signal such that the embedded data is displayed within an unused portion of a video display area such that the embedded data is not visually offensive. In one embodiment the encoding of metadata may be executed by translating or adjusting pixel values of the video signal within the secondary image area, such that the pixel values are repurposed to contain the metadata and wherein the metadata is visually imperceptible.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 29, 2012
    Publication date: June 21, 2012
    Inventor: ROBERT NOEL BLANCHARD
  • Patent number: 8150097
    Abstract: System and method for embedding and concealing data within a video signal such that the embedded data is displayed within an unused portion of a video display area such that the embedded data is not visually offensive. In one embodiment the encoding of metadata may be executed by translating or adjusting pixel values of the video signal within the secondary image area, such that the pixel values are repurposed to contain the metadata and wherein the metadata is visually imperceptible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Electronics Inc.
    Inventor: Robert Noel Blanchard
  • Publication number: 20120019716
    Abstract: Closed caption (CC) data is carried across a digital interface such as HDMI by a source such as a set top box arrange CC data into a HDMI packet that is then transmitted, along with video packets, across the interface to a sink such as a TV. The CC data is kept in the same format that it was received and the TV's decoder processor processes the packets and renders CC text as if the CC data had been received by the tuner of the TV.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2010
    Publication date: January 26, 2012
    Inventor: Robert Noel Blanchard