Patents by Inventor Shoko Araki

Shoko Araki 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: 20240129666
    Abstract: An estimation apparatus 10 is a signal processing apparatus for processing an acoustic signal and estimates an observation signal of a virtual microphone arranged virtually from an input observation signal of a real microphone using a deep learning model having a neural network (NN) 11.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 29, 2021
    Publication date: April 18, 2024
    Applicant: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tsubasa OCHIAI, Marc DELCROIX, Tomohiro NAKATANI, Rintaro IKESHITA, Keisuke KINOSHITA, Shoko ARAKI
  • Publication number: 20240127841
    Abstract: An acoustic signal enhancement device includes: a spatiotemporal covariance matrix estimation unit 2 configured to estimate spatiotemporal covariance matrices Rf(j) and Pf(j); a reverberation suppression unit 3 configured to obtain a reverberation suppression filter Gf(j) of the sound source j using the estimated spatiotemporal covariance matrices Rf(j) and Pf(j) for each sound source j and to generate a reverberation suppression signal vector using the obtained reverberation suppression filter Gf(j) and the observation signal vector Xt,f; a sound source separation unit 4 configured to obtain an enhanced sound yt,f(j) of the sound source j and power of the sound source j using the generated reverberation suppression signal vector for each sound source j (where 1?j?J) corresponding to the target sound; and a control unit 5 configured to perform control such that processes of these units are repeatedly performed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2021
    Publication date: April 18, 2024
    Applicant: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomohiro NAKATANI, Rintaro IKESHITA, Keisuke KINOSHITA, Hiroshi SAWADA, Shoko ARAKI
  • Publication number: 20240038254
    Abstract: A signal processing device includes processing circuitry configured to receive an input of extraction target information indicating which audio class of an audio signal is to be extracted from a mixture audio signal constituted by a mixture of audio signals of a plurality of audio classes, and output a result of extracting the audio signal of the audio class indicated by the extraction target information from the mixture audio signal, with a neural network by using a feature value of the mixture audio signal and the extraction target information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 13, 2020
    Publication date: February 1, 2024
    Applicant: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tsubasa OCHIAI, Marc DELCROIX, Yuma KOIZUMI, Hiroaki ITO, Keisuke KINOSHITA, Shoko ARAKI
  • Publication number: 20240038253
    Abstract: A sound source signal generation technology based on an optimization algorithm that enables high-speed processing of sound source extraction is provided. A sound source signal generation device includes an optimization unit that optimizes a separation matrix W(f)=[w1(f), . . . , wK(f), WZ(f)] using an observed signal x(f, t), the optimization unit includes an auxiliary function calculation unit that calculates an auxiliary function Vi(f) (i=1, . . . , K) according to a predetermined equation, a first separation filter calculation unit that calculates a separation filters wi(f) (i=1, . . . , K) using auxiliary functions Vi(f) (i=1, . . . , K) and Vz(f), and a second separation filter calculation unit that calculates a separation filter WZ(f) according to a predetermined equation when a convergence condition is satisfied.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 14, 2020
    Publication date: February 1, 2024
    Applicant: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Rintaro IKESHITA, Tomohiro NAKATANI, Shoko ARAKI
  • Publication number: 20230370778
    Abstract: Provided is an acoustic signal enhancement device, including a time-space covariance matrix estimation unit 2 configured to estimate a time-space covariance matrix Rf(n),Pf(n) corresponding to a sound source n, using a power ?t,f(n) of the sound source n and an observation signal vector Xt,f composed of an observation signal xm,t,f from a microphone m; a reverberation suppression unit 3 configured to obtain a reverberation removal filter Gf(n) of the sound source n using the time-space covariance matrix Rf(n),Pf(n), and to generate a reverberation suppression signal vector Zt,f(n) corresponding to the observation signal xm,t,f for an emphasized sound of the sound source n using the reverberation removal filter Gf(n) and the observation signal vector Xt,f; and a sound source separation unit 4 configured to obtain an emphatic sound yt,f(n) of the sound source n and the power ?t,f(n) of the sound source n using the reverberation suppression signal vector Zt,f(n).
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2020
    Publication date: November 16, 2023
    Applicant: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomohiro NAKATANI, Rintaro IKESHITA, Keisuke KINOSHITA, Hiroshi SAWADA, Shoko ARAKI
  • Patent number: 11676619
    Abstract: A time-variant noise spatial covariance matrix is estimated effectively. Using time-frequency-divided observation signals based on observation signals acquired by collecting acoustic signals emitted from one or a plurality of sound sources and mask information expressing the occupancy probability of a component of each of the time-frequency-divided observation signals that corresponds to each noise source, a time-independent first noise spatial covariance matrix corresponding to the time-frequency-divided observation signals and the mask information belonging to a long time interval is acquired for each noise source. Further, using the mask information of each of a plurality of different short time intervals, a mixture weight corresponding to each noise source in each short time interval is acquired.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2023
    Assignee: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomohiro Nakatani, Marc Delcroix, Keisuke Kinoshita, Shoko Araki, Yuki Kubo
  • Publication number: 20230087982
    Abstract: A signal processing device applies a convolutional separation filter, which is a combined filter of: a rear reverberation removal filter for suppressing a rear reverberation component from a mixed acoustic signal obtained by converting an observed mixed acoustic signal obtained by observing a source signal into a time-frequency domain; and a sound source separation filter for emphasizing components corresponding to source signals from the mixed acoustic signal, to a mixed acoustic signal string including the mixed acoustic signal and a delay signal of the mixed acoustic signal and estimates model parameters of a model for obtaining information corresponding to signals in which the rear reverberation component is suppressed and target signals emitted from target sound sources in the source signal are emphasized.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2020
    Publication date: March 23, 2023
    Applicant: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Rintaro IKESHITA, Tomohiro NAKATANI, Shoko ARAKI
  • Publication number: 20230067132
    Abstract: A signal processing apparatus includes a neural network (“NN”), a sorting unit, and a spatial covariance matrix calculation unit. The NN converts a mixed signal, in which sounds of a plurality of sound sources input by a plurality of channels are mixed, into a separated signal separated into a signal for each sound source as a signal in a time domain as it is and outputs the separated signal. The sorting unit sorts, for the separated signal of each channel output from the NN, the separated signal of each channel such that the plurality of sound sources of a plurality of the separated signals are aligned among the plurality of channels. The spatial covariance matrix calculation unit calculates a spatial covariance matrix corresponding to each sound source in accordance with the separated signal for each channel output from the sorting unit and sorted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2020
    Publication date: March 2, 2023
    Applicant: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tsubasa OCHIAI, Marc DELCROIX, Rintaro IKESHITA, Keisuke KINOSHITA, Tomohiro NAKATANI, Shoko ARAKI
  • Patent number: 11462228
    Abstract: A speech intelligibility calculating method is a method executed by a speech intelligibility calculating apparatus, the speech intelligibility calculating method including: a speech intelligibility calculating step of calculating a speech intelligibility that is an objective assessment index of a speech quality, based on a difference component between features found through an analysis of an input clean speech and an input enhanced speech, using one or more filter banks; and a step of outputting the speech intelligibility calculated at the speech intelligibility calculating step. This speech intelligibility calculating method is capable of calculating a speech intelligibility without any dependency on a speech enhancement method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignees: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION, WAKAYAMA UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Shoko Araki, Tomohiro Nakatani, Keisuke Kinoshita, Toshio Irino, Toshie Matsui, Katsuhiko Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 11456003
    Abstract: An estimation device includes a memory, and processing circuitry coupled to the memory and configured to receive an input of an input audio signal that is an audio signal in which sounds from a plurality of sound sources are mixed, and an input of supplemental information, and output an estimation result of mask information that identifies a mask for extracting a sound of any one of the sound sources included in an entire or a part of a signal included in the input audio signal, the signal being identified by the supplemental information, cause a neural network to iterate a process of outputting the estimation result of the mask information, and cause the neural network to output an estimation result of the mask information for a different sound source, by inputting a different piece of the supplemental information to the neural network at each iteration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2022
    Assignee: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Keisuke Kinoshita, Marc Delcroix, Tomohiro Nakatani, Shoko Araki, Lukas Drude, Thilo Christoph Von Neumann
  • Patent number: 11423924
    Abstract: A signal analysis device includes a memory and processing circuitry coupled to the memory and configured to obtain, for a spatial covariance matrix Rj (j is an integral number equal to or larger than 1 and equal to or smaller than J) for modeling spatial characteristics of J (J is an integral number equal to or larger than 2) source signals that are present in a mixed manner, a simultaneous decorrelation matrix P as a matrix in which all PHRjP are diagonal matrices, or/and Hermitian transposition PH thereof, as a parameter for decorrelating components corresponding to the J source signals for observation signal vectors based on observation signals acquired at I (I is an integral number equal to or larger than 2) different positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Nobutaka Ito, Tomohiro Nakatani, Shoko Araki
  • Publication number: 20220130406
    Abstract: A time-variant noise spatial covariance matrix is estimated effectively. Using time-frequency-divided observation signals based on observation signals acquired by collecting acoustic signals emitted from one or a plurality of sound sources and mask information expressing the occupancy probability of a component of each of the time-frequency-divided observation signals that corresponds to each noise source, a time-independent first noise spatial covariance matrix corresponding to the time-frequency-divided observation signals and the mask information belonging to a long time interval is acquired for each noise source. Further, using the mask information of each of a plurality of different short time intervals, a mixture weight corresponding to each noise source in each short time interval is acquired.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2020
    Publication date: April 28, 2022
    Applicant: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomohiro NAKATANI, Marc DELCROIX, Keisuke KINOSHITA, Shoko ARAKI, Yuki KUBO
  • Patent number: 11302343
    Abstract: A signal analysis device includes an estimation unit that models a sound source position occurrence probability matrix Q using a product of a sound source position probability matrix B and a sound source existence probability matrix A, and estimates at least one of the sound source position probability matrix B and the sound source existence probability matrix A based on the modeling, the sound source position occurrence probability matrix Q being composed of probabilities of arrival of a signal from each sound source position candidate per frame, which is a time section, with respect to a plurality of sound source position candidates. The sound source position probability matrix B being composed of probabilities of arrival of a signal from each sound source position candidate per sound source with respect to a plurality of sound sources.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Assignee: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Nobutaka Ito, Tomohiro Nakatani, Shoko Araki
  • Publication number: 20210375300
    Abstract: A speech intelligibility calculating method is a method executed by a speech intelligibility calculating apparatus, the speech intelligibility calculating method including: a speech intelligibility calculating step of calculating a speech intelligibility that is an objective assessment index of a speech quality, based on a difference component between features found through an analysis of an input clean speech and an input enhanced speech, using one or more filter banks; and a step of outputting the speech intelligibility calculated at the speech intelligibility calculating step. This speech intelligibility calculating method is capable of calculating a speech intelligibility without any dependency on a speech enhancement method.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 3, 2018
    Publication date: December 2, 2021
    Applicants: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION, Wakayama University
    Inventors: Shoko ARAKI, Tomohiro NAKATANI, Keisuke KINOSHITA, Toshio IRINO, Toshie MATSUI, Katsuhiko YAMAMOTO
  • Publication number: 20210366502
    Abstract: An estimation device includes a memory, and processing circuitry coupled to the memory and configured to receive an input of an input audio signal that is an audio signal in which sounds from a plurality of sound sources are mixed, and an input of supplemental information, and output an estimation result of mask information that identifies a mask for extracting a sound of any one of the sound sources included in an entire or a part of a signal included in the input audio signal, the signal being identified by the supplemental information, cause a neural network to iterate a process of outputting the estimation result of the mask information, and cause the neural network to output an estimation result of the mask information for a different sound source, by inputting a different piece of the supplemental information to the neural network at each iteration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 29, 2019
    Publication date: November 25, 2021
    Applicant: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Keisuke KINOSHITA, Marc DELCROIX, Tomohiro NAKATANI, Shoko ARAKI, Lukas DRUDE, Thilo Christoph VON NEUMANN
  • Publication number: 20210216687
    Abstract: A mask estimation apparatus includes processing circuitry configured to estimate, for a target segment to be processed among a plurality of segments of a continuous time, a first mask which is an occupancy ratio of a target signal to an observation signal of the target segment, based on a first feature obtained from a plurality of the observation signals of the target segment recorded at a plurality of locations, and estimate a parameter for modeling a second feature and a second mask which is an occupancy ratio of the target signal to the observation signal based on an estimation result of the first mask in the target segment and the second feature obtained from the plurality of the observation signals of the target segment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 23, 2019
    Publication date: July 15, 2021
    Applicant: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomohiro NAKATANI, Marc DELCROIX, Keisuke KINOSHITA, Nobutaka ITO, Shoko ARAKI
  • Publication number: 20210012790
    Abstract: A signal analysis device (1) includes an estimation unit (10) that, when a parameter for modeling spatial characteristics of signals from N signal sources (where N is an integer equal to or larger than 2) is a spatial parameter, estimates a signal source position prior probability which is a mixture weight for modeling a prior distribution of the spatial parameter with respect to each signal source using a mixture distribution that is a linear combination of prior distributions of the spatial parameter with respect to K signal source position candidates (where K is an integer equal to or larger than 2), and which is a probability that a signal arrives from each signal source position candidate per signal source.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 5, 2019
    Publication date: January 14, 2021
    Applicant: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Nobutaka ITO, Tomohiro NAKATANI, Shoko ARAKI
  • Publication number: 20200411027
    Abstract: A signal analysis device includes an estimation unit that models a sound source position occurrence probability matrix Q using a product of a sound source position probability matrix B and a sound source existence probability matrix A, and estimates at least one of the sound source position probability matrix B and the sound source existence probability matrix A based on the modeling, the sound source position occurrence probability matrix Q being composed of probabilities of arrival of a signal from each sound source position candidate per frame, which is a time section, with respect to a plurality of sound source position candidates. The sound source position probability matrix B being composed of probabilities of arrival of a signal from each sound source position candidate per sound source with respect to a plurality of sound sources.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 4, 2019
    Publication date: December 31, 2020
    Applicant: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Nobutaka ITO, Tomohiro NAKATANI, Shoko ARAKI
  • Publication number: 20200411031
    Abstract: A signal analysis device includes a memory and processing circuitry coupled to the memory and configured to obtain, for a spatial covariance matrix Rj (j is an integral number equal to or larger than 1 and equal to or smaller than J) for modeling spatial characteristics of J (J is an integral number equal to or larger than 2) source signals that are present in a mixed manner, a simultaneous decorrelation matrix P as a matrix in which all PHRjP are diagonal matrices, or/and Hermitian transposition PH thereof, as a parameter for decorrelating components corresponding to the J source signals for observation signal vectors based on observation signals acquired at I (I is an integral number equal to or larger than 2) different positions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 1, 2019
    Publication date: December 31, 2020
    Applicant: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Nobutaka ITO, Tomohiro NAKATANI, Shoko ARAKI
  • Patent number: 10878832
    Abstract: A feature extraction unit in a mask estimation apparatus extracts, from a plurality of observation signals obtained by observing a plurality of acoustic signals at different positions, feature vectors obtained by collecting time-frequency components of the observation signals for each time-frequency point. A mask update unit uses the feature vectors, a mixture weight of each component distribution, and a shape parameter that is a model parameter capable of controlling a shape of each component distribution, where a probability distribution of the feature vectors is modeled by a mixture distribution consisting of a plurality of component distributions, to estimate masks indicating a proportion in which each component distribution contributes to each time-frequency point. A mixture weight update unit updates the mixture weight based on the updated masks. A parameter update unit updates the shape parameter by using the feature vectors and the masks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Nobutaka Ito, Shoko Araki, Tomohiro Nakatani