Patents by Inventor Tohru Nagano
Tohru Nagano 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: 9378736Abstract: A method for speech retrieval includes acquiring a keyword designated by a character string, and a phoneme string or a syllable string, detecting one or more coinciding segments by comparing a character string that is a recognition result of word speech recognition with words as recognition units performed for speech data to be retrieved and the character string of the keyword, calculating an evaluation value of each of the one or more segments by using the phoneme string or the syllable string of the keyword to evaluate a phoneme string or a syllable string that is recognized in each of the detected one or more segments and that is a recognition result of phoneme speech recognition with phonemes or syllables as recognition units performed for the speech data, and outputting a segment in which the calculated evaluation value exceeds a predetermined threshold.Type: GrantFiled: April 21, 2015Date of Patent: June 28, 2016Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Gakuto Kurata, Tohru Nagano, Masafumi Nishimura
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Patent number: 9373328Abstract: A method for speech retrieval includes acquiring a keyword designated by a character string, and a phoneme string or a syllable string, detecting one or more coinciding segments by comparing a character string that is a recognition result of word speech recognition with words as recognition units performed for speech data to be retrieved and the character string of the keyword, calculating an evaluation value of each of the one or more segments by using the phoneme string or the syllable string of the keyword to evaluate a phoneme string or a syllable string that is recognized in each of the detected one or more segments and that is a recognition result of phoneme speech recognition with phonemes or syllables as recognition units performed for the speech data, and outputting a segment in which the calculated evaluation value exceeds a predetermined threshold.Type: GrantFiled: June 22, 2015Date of Patent: June 21, 2016Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Gakuto Kurata, Tohru Nagano, Masafumi Nishimura
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Publication number: 20150310866Abstract: A dialog server which provides dialogs made by at least one user through their respective avatars in a virtual space. A method and a computer readable article of manufacture tangibly embodying computer readable instructions for executing the steps of the method are also provided. The dialog server includes: a position storage unit which stores positional information on the avatars; an utterance receiver which receives at least one utterance of avatars and utterance strength representing an importance or attention level of the utterance; an interest level calculator which calculates interest levels between avatars based on their positional information; a message processor which generates a message based on the utterance in accordance with a value calculated from the interest levels and the utterance strength; and a message transmitter which transmits the message to the avatars.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 7, 2013Publication date: October 29, 2015Applicant: Activision Publishing, Inc.Inventors: Gakuto Kurata, Tohru Nagano, Michiaki Tatsubori
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Publication number: 20150310860Abstract: A method for speech retrieval includes acquiring a keyword designated by a character string, and a phoneme string or a syllable string, detecting one or more coinciding segments by comparing a character string that is a recognition result of word speech recognition with words as recognition units performed for speech data to be retrieved and the character string of the keyword, calculating an evaluation value of each of the one or more segments by using the phoneme string or the syllable string of the keyword to evaluate a phoneme string or a syllable string that is recognized in each of the detected one or more segments and that is a recognition result of phoneme speech recognition with phonemes or syllables as recognition units performed for the speech data, and outputting a segment in which the calculated evaluation value exceeds a predetermined threshold.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 22, 2015Publication date: October 29, 2015Inventors: Gakuto Kurata, Tohru Nagano, Masafumi Nishimura
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Publication number: 20150302848Abstract: A method for speech retrieval includes acquiring a keyword designated by a character string, and a phoneme string or a syllable string, detecting one or more coinciding segments by comparing a character string that is a recognition result of word speech recognition with words as recognition units performed for speech data to be retrieved and the character string of the keyword, calculating an evaluation value of each of the one or more segments by using the phoneme string or the syllable string of the keyword to evaluate a phoneme string or a syllable string that is recognized in each of the detected one or more segments and that is a recognition result of phoneme speech recognition with phonemes or syllables as recognition units performed for the speech data, and outputting a segment in which the calculated evaluation value exceeds a predetermined threshold.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 21, 2015Publication date: October 22, 2015Inventors: Gakuto Kurata, Tohru Nagano, Masafumi Nishimura
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Publication number: 20140032211Abstract: A dialog server which provides dialogs made by at least one user through their respective avatars in a virtual space. A method and a computer readable article of manufacture tangibly embodying computer readable instructions for executing the steps of the method are also provided. The dialog server includes: a position storage unit which stores positional information on the avatars; an utterance receiver which receives at least one utterance of avatars and utterance strength representing an importance or attention level of the utterance; an interest level calculator which calculates interest levels between avatars based on their positional information; a message processor which generates a message based on the utterance in accordance with a value calculated from the interest levels and the utterance strength; and a message transmitter which transmits the message to the avatars.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 7, 2013Publication date: January 30, 2014Applicant: Activision Publishing, Inc.Inventors: Gakuto Kurata, Tohru Nagano, Michiaki Tatsubori
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Patent number: 8554841Abstract: A dialog server which provides dialogs made by at least one user through their respective avatars in a virtual space. A method and a computer readable article of manufacture tangibly embodying computer readable instructions for executing the steps of the method are also provided. The dialog server includes: a position storage unit which stores positional information on the avatars; an utterance receiver which receives at least one utterance of avatars and utterance strength representing an importance or attention level of the utterance; an interest level calculator which calculates interest levels between avatars based on their positional information; a message processor which generates a message based on the utterance in accordance with a value calculated from the interest levels and the utterance strength; and a message transmitter which transmits the message to the avatars.Type: GrantFiled: February 28, 2012Date of Patent: October 8, 2013Assignee: Activision Publishing, Inc.Inventors: Gakuto Kurata, Tohru Nagano, Michiaki Tatsubori
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Publication number: 20120316880Abstract: An information processing apparatus, information processing method, and computer readable non-transitory storage medium for analyzing words reflecting information that is not explicitly recognized verbally. An information processing method includes the steps of: extracting speech data and sound data used for recognizing phonemes included in the speech data as words; identifying a section surrounded by pauses within a speech spectrum of the speech data; performing sound analysis on the identified section to identify a word in the section; generating prosodic feature values for the words; acquiring frequencies of occurrence of the word within the speech data; calculating a degree of fluctuation within the speech data for the prosodic feature values of high frequency words where the high frequency words are any words whose frequency of occurrence meets a threshold; and determining a key phrase based on the degree of fluctuation.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 22, 2012Publication date: December 13, 2012Applicant: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Tohru Nagano, Masafumi Nishimura, Ryuki Tachibana
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Publication number: 20120197644Abstract: An information processing apparatus, information processing method, and computer readable non-transitory storage medium for analyzing words reflecting information that is not explicitly recognized verbally. An information processing method includes the steps of: extracting speech data and sound data used for recognizing phonemes included in the speech data as words; identifying a section surrounded by pauses within a speech spectrum of the speech data; performing sound analysis on the identified section to identify a word in the section; generating prosodic feature values for the words; acquiring frequencies of occurrence of the word within the speech data; calculating a degree of fluctuation within the speech data for the prosodic feature values of high frequency words where the high frequency words are any words whose frequency of occurrence meets a threshold; and determining a key phrase based on the degree of fluctuation.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 30, 2012Publication date: August 2, 2012Applicant: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Tohru Nagano, Masafumi Nishimura, Ryuki Tachibana
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Publication number: 20120158879Abstract: A dialog server which provides dialogs made by at least one user through their respective avatars in a virtual space. A method and a computer readable article of manufacture tangibly embodying computer readable instructions for executing the steps of the method are also provided. The dialog server includes: a position storage unit which stores positional information on the avatars; an utterance receiver which receives at least one utterance of avatars and utterance strength representing an importance or attention level of the utterance; an interest level calculator which calculates interest levels between avatars based on their positional information; a message processor which generates a message based on the utterance in accordance with a value calculated from the interest levels and the utterance strength; and a message transmitter which transmits the message to the avatars.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 28, 2012Publication date: June 21, 2012Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Gakuto Kurata, Tohru Nagano, Michiaki Tatsubori
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Patent number: 8165317Abstract: A position detection method, system, and computer readable article of manufacture tangibly embodying computer readable instructions for executing the method for detecting the position of a sound source using at least two microphones. The method includes the steps of: emitting a reproduced sound from the sound source; observing the reproduced sound and an observed sound at the microphones; converting the reproduced sound and the observed sound into electrical signals; transforming the signals of the reproduced sound and of the observed sound into frequency spectra by a frequency spectrum transformer apparatus; calculating Crosspower Spectrum Phase (CSP) coefficients of the frequency spectra of the signals by a CSP coefficient calculator apparatus; and calculating distances between the position of the sound source and the positions of the microphones based on the calculated CSP coefficients by a distance calculating apparatus, thereby detecting the position of the sound source.Type: GrantFiled: July 6, 2009Date of Patent: April 24, 2012Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Osamu Ichikawa, Tohru Nagano, Masafumi Nishimura
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Patent number: 8156184Abstract: A dialog server which provides dialogs made by at least one user through their respective avatars in a virtual space. A method and a computer readable article of manufacture tangibly embodying computer readable instructions for executing the steps of the method are also provided. The dialog server includes: a position storage unit which stores positional information on the avatars; an utterance receiver which receives at least one utterance of avatars and utterance strength representing an importance or attention level of the utterance; an interest level calculator which calculates interest levels between avatars based on their positional information; a message processor which generates a message based on the utterance in accordance with a value calculated from the interest levels and the utterance strength; and a message transmitter which transmits the message to the avatars.Type: GrantFiled: February 19, 2009Date of Patent: April 10, 2012Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Gakuto Kurata, Tohru Nagano, Michiaki Tatsubori
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Patent number: 8015011Abstract: A synthetic speech system includes a phoneme segment storage section for storing multiple phoneme segment data pieces; a synthesis section for generating voice data from text by reading phoneme segment data pieces representing the pronunciation of an inputted text from the phoneme segment storage section and connecting the phoneme segment data pieces to each other; a computing section for computing a score indicating the unnaturalness of the voice data representing the synthetic speech of the text; a paraphrase storage section for storing multiple paraphrases of the multiple first phrases; a replacement section for searching the text and replacing with appropriate paraphrases; and a judgment section for outputting generated voice data on condition that the computed score is smaller than a reference value and for inputting the text after the replacement to the synthesis section to cause the synthesis section to further generate voice data for the text.Type: GrantFiled: January 30, 2008Date of Patent: September 6, 2011Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventors: Tohru Nagano, Masafumi Nishimura, Ryuki Tachibana
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Publication number: 20100125459Abstract: Exemplary embodiments provide for determining a sequence of words in a TTS system. An input text is analyzed using two models, a word n-gram model and an accent class n-gram model. A list of all possible words for each word in the input is generated for each model. Each word in each list for each model is given a score based on the probability that the word is the correct word in the sequence, based on the particular model. The two lists are combined and the two scores are combined for each word. A set of sequences of words are generated. Each sequence of words comprises a unique combination of an attribute and associated word for each word in the input. The combined score of each of word in the sequence of words is combined. A sequence of words having the highest score is selected and presented to a user.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 1, 2009Publication date: May 20, 2010Applicant: Nuance Communications, Inc.Inventors: Nobuyasu Itoh, Tohru Nagano, Masafumi Nishimura, Ryuki Tachibana
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Publication number: 20100008516Abstract: A position detection method, system, and computer readable article of manufacture tangibly embodying computer readable instructions for executing the method for detecting the position of a sound source using at least two microphones. The method includes the steps of: emitting a reproduced sound from the sound source; observing the reproduced sound and an observed sound at the microphones; converting the reproduced sound and the observed sound into electrical signals; transforming the signals of the reproduced sound and of the observed sound into frequency spectra by a frequency spectrum transformer apparatus; calculating Crosspower Spectrum Phase (CSP) coefficients of the frequency spectra of the signals by a CSP coefficient calculator apparatus; and calculating distances between the position of the sound source and the positions of the microphones based on the calculated CSP coefficients by a distance calculating apparatus, thereby detecting the position of the sound source.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 6, 2009Publication date: January 14, 2010Applicant: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Osamu Ichikawa, Tohru Nagano, Masafumi Nishimura
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Publication number: 20090210804Abstract: A dialog server which provides dialogs made by at least one user through their respective avatars in a virtual space. A method and a computer readable article of manufacture tangibly embodying computer readable instructions for executing the steps of the method are also provided. The dialog server includes: a position storage unit which stores positional information on the avatars; an utterance receiver which receives at least one utterance of avatars and utterance strength representing an importance or attention level of the utterance; an interest level calculator which calculates interest levels between avatars based on their positional information; a message processor which generates a message based on the utterance in accordance with a value calculated from the interest levels and the utterance strength; and a message transmitter which transmits the message to the avatars.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 19, 2009Publication date: August 20, 2009Inventors: Gakuto Kurata, Tohru Nagano, Michiaki Tatsubori
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Patent number: 7493252Abstract: Useful knowledge is acquired from a large amount of data by extracting concepts of a unique characteristic. The present invention comprises a concept extractor and a unique concept extractor. The concept extractor extracts categorized concepts from the data. The unique concept extractor is a device for extracting unique concepts from those extracted concepts, and extracts in the categorized concepts, of the concepts belonging to the same category, a concept whose statistical characteristic is distinguished beyond a threshold with respect to the set in which it belongs.Type: GrantFiled: July 7, 2000Date of Patent: February 17, 2009Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Tohru Nagano, Tetsuya Nasukawa
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Publication number: 20080183473Abstract: A synthetic speech system includes a phoneme segment storage section for storing multiple phoneme segment data pieces; a synthesis section for generating voice data from text by reading phoneme segment data pieces representing the pronunciation of an inputted text from the phoneme segment storage section and connecting the phoneme segment data pieces to each other; a computing section for computing a score indicating the unnaturalness of the voice data representing the synthetic speech of the text; a paraphrase storage section for storing multiple paraphrases of the multiple first phrases; a replacement section for searching the text and replacing with appropriate paraphrases; and a judgment section for outputting generated voice data on condition that the computed score is smaller than a reference value and for inputting the text after the replacement to the synthesis section to cause the synthesis section to further generate voice data for the text.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 30, 2008Publication date: July 31, 2008Applicant: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Tohru Nagano, Masafumi Nishimura, Ryuki Tachibana
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Publication number: 20080177543Abstract: Training wording data indicating the wording of each of the words in training text, training speech data indicating characteristics of speech of each of the words, and training boundary data indicating whether each word in training speech is a boundary of a prosodic phrase are stored. After inputting candidates for boundary data, a first likelihood that each of the a boundary of a prosodic phrase of the words in the inputted text would agree with one of the inputted boundary data candidates is calculated and a second likelihood is calculated. Thereafter, one boundary data candidate maximizing a product of the first and second likelihoods is searched out from among the inputted boundary data candidates, and then a result of the searching is outputted.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 27, 2007Publication date: July 24, 2008Applicant: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Tohru Nagano, Masafumi Nishimura, Ryuki Tachibana, Gakuto Kurata
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Publication number: 20070185904Abstract: Provides graphics display apparatus, systems and methods for effectively presenting information obtained by data mining, and to improve the visibility of the display of individual data elements and attributes of data included in a particular category while allowing an overview of whole large-scale hierarchical data to be provided. An example embodiment includes an aggregation unit for performing aggregation of attributes of nodes in the hierarchical data according to given aggregation criteria; a filtering unit for filtering the result of aggregation performed by the aggregation unit according to given filtering criteria to select nodes to be displayed from the hierarchical data; and a visualization unit for generating a graphics image that includes the nodes to be displayed selected by the filtering unit and reflects the hierarchical structure of the hierarchical data.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 2, 2004Publication date: August 9, 2007Applicant: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Hirofumi Matsuzawa, Tohru Nagano, Takayuki Itoh, Yumi Yamaguchi