Patents by Inventor Toru Chinen

Toru Chinen 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: 11968516
    Abstract: The present technology relates to a sound processing apparatus and a sound processing system for enabling more stable localization of a sound image. A virtual speaker is assumed to exist on the lower side among the sides of a tetragon having its corners formed with four speakers surrounding a target sound image position on a spherical plane. Three-dimensional VBAP is performed with respect to the virtual speaker and the two speakers located at the upper right and the upper left, to calculate gains of the two speakers at the upper right and the upper left and the virtual speaker, the gains being to be used for fixing a sound image at the target sound image position. Further, two-dimensional VBAP is performed with respect to the lower right and lower left speakers, to calculate gains of the lower right and lower left speakers, the gains being to be used for fixing a sound image at the position of the virtual speaker.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Sony Group Corporation
    Inventors: Yuki Yamamoto, Toru Chinen, Runyu Shi, Mitsuyuki Hatanaka
  • Patent number: 11937069
    Abstract: An audio system includes: a face data detection unit that detects face data on the basis of input image data; an acoustic coefficient acquisition unit that outputs an acoustic coefficient associated with face data output from the face data detection unit; and an acoustic coefficient application unit that performs, on an audio signal, acoustic processing based on an acoustic coefficient acquired by the acoustic coefficient acquisition unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Honma, Toru Chinen, Yoshiaki Oikawa
  • Publication number: 20240073639
    Abstract: The present technology relates to an information processing apparatus and method, and a program that enable more efficient edit. The information processing apparatus includes a control unit that selects and groups a plurality of objects existing in a predetermined space, and changes the positions of the plurality of the objects while maintaining the relative positional relationship of the plurality of the grouped objects in the space. The present technology can be applied to information processing apparatuses.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 9, 2023
    Publication date: February 29, 2024
    Applicant: Sony Group Corporation
    Inventors: Minoru Tsuji, Toru Chinen, Mitsuyuki Hatanaka, Yuki Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 11917221
    Abstract: The present technology relates to an encoding device, an encoding method, a reproduction device, a reproduction method, and a program enabling each reproduction equipment to reproduce an appropriate content in a simplified manner. A content data decoding unit decodes encoded metadata and outputs zoom area information, which is included in metadata acquired as a result thereof, designating an area to be zoomed. A zoom area selecting unit selects one or a plurality of pieces of zoom area information from among the zoom area information. A video segmenting unit segments a zoom area represented by the selected zoom area information in a video based on video data and outputs zoom video data acquired as a result thereof. An audio converting unit performs an audio converting process according to the selected zoom area information for audio data and outputs zoom audio data acquired as a result thereof. The present technology can be applied to a reproduction device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: Sony Group Corporation
    Inventors: Minoru Tsuji, Toru Chinen, Runyu Shi, Masayuki Nishiguchi, Yuki Yamamoto
  • Publication number: 20240055007
    Abstract: There is provided a decoding device including at least one circuit configured to acquire one or more encoded audio signals including a plurality of channels and/or a plurality of objects and priority information for each of the plurality of channels and/or the plurality of objects, and to decode the one or more encoded audio signals according to the priority information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 24, 2023
    Publication date: February 15, 2024
    Applicant: Sony Group Corporation
    Inventors: Toru Chinen, Masayuki Nishiguchi, Runyu Shi, Mitsuyuki Hatanaka, Yuki Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 11900956
    Abstract: The present technology relates to a signal processing device and method, and a program making it possible to reduce the computational complexity of decoding at low cost. A signal processing device includes: a priority information generation unit configured to generate priority information about an audio object on the basis of a plurality of elements expressing a feature of the audio object. The present technology may be applied to an encoding device and a decoding device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Sony Group Corporation
    Inventors: Yuki Yamamoto, Toru Chinen, Minoru Tsuji
  • Publication number: 20240013795
    Abstract: The present technology relates to an information processing device and method, and a program capable of reducing a code amount. The information processing device includes: an acquisition unit that acquires space information regarding a position and a size of a child space within a parent space and position information in the child space indicating a position of an object within the child space, the child space being included in the parent space, and the object being included in the child space; and a calculation unit that calculates position information in the parent space indicating a position of the object within the parent space on the basis of the space information and the position information in the child space. The present technology can be applied to a signal processing device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2023
    Publication date: January 11, 2024
    Applicant: Sony Group Corporation
    Inventors: Mitsuyuki Hatanaka, Toru Chinen, Minoru Tsuji, Hiroyuki Honma, Yuki Yamamoto
  • Publication number: 20240007818
    Abstract: The present technique relates to an information processing device and method and a program that can reproduce contents on the basis of the intention of a contents producer. The information processing device acquires listener position information, position information on a first reference viewpoint, object position information on a first object at the first reference viewpoint, position information on a second reference viewpoint, object position information on the first object at the second reference viewpoint, and object position information on a second object, and calculates position information on the first object at the viewpoint of a listener on the basis of the listener position information, the position information on the first reference viewpoint, the object position information at the first reference viewpoint, the position information on the second reference viewpoint, and the object position information at the second reference viewpoint.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2021
    Publication date: January 4, 2024
    Applicant: Sony Group Corporation
    Inventors: Mitsuyuki Hatanaka, Toru CHINEN
  • Patent number: 11849301
    Abstract: The present technology relates to an information processing apparatus and method, and a program that enable more efficient edit. The information processing apparatus includes a control unit that selects and groups a plurality of objects existing in a predetermined space, and changes the positions of the plurality of the objects while maintaining the relative positional relationship of the plurality of the grouped objects in the space. The present technology can be applied to information processing apparatuses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: Sony Group Corporation
    Inventors: Minoru Tsuji, Toru Chinen, Mitsuyuki Hatanaka, Yuki Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 11838742
    Abstract: The present technology relates to a signal processing device and method, and a program for improving reproducibility of a sound image with a small amount of calculation. A signal processing device includes a rendering method selection unit configured to select one or more methods of rendering processing of localizing a sound image of an audio signal in a listening space from among a plurality of methods, and a rendering processing unit configured to perform the rendering processing for the audio signal by the method selected by the rendering method selection unit. The present technology can be applied to a signal processing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: Sony Group Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Honma, Toru Chinen
  • Publication number: 20230368772
    Abstract: The present technology relates to a signal processing device, a signal processing method, and a program that enable implementation of more effective distance feeling control. The signal processing device includes a reverb processing unit that generates a signal of a reverb component on the basis of object audio data of an audio object and a reverb parameter for the audio object. The present technology can be applied to a signal processing device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 25, 2023
    Publication date: November 16, 2023
    Applicant: Sony Group Corporation
    Inventors: Minoru Tsuji, Toru Chinen, Takao Fukui, Mitsuyuki Hatanaka
  • Patent number: 11805383
    Abstract: The present technology relates to a signal processing device, method, and program that can improve encoding efficiency. A signal processing device includes: an acquisition unit that acquires reverb information including at least one of space reverb information specific to a space around an audio object or object reverb information specific to the audio object and an audio object signal of the audio object; and a reverb processing unit that generates a signal of a reverb component of the audio object on the basis of the reverb information and the audio object signal. The present technology can be applied to a signal processing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Sony Group Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Honma, Minoru Tsuji, Toru Chinen
  • Publication number: 20230345195
    Abstract: The present technique pertains to a signal processing apparatus, a method, and a program that enable even a low-cost apparatus to perform high-quality audio reproduction. The signal processing apparatus includes an obtainment unit that obtains a first audio signal, first band expansion information for band expansion of the first audio signal, and second band expansion information for band expansion of a second audio signal obtained by performing predetermined signal processing on the first audio signal, a selection unit that selects which of the first band expansion information and the second band expansion information to perform band expansion on the basis of, and a band expansion unit that, on the basis of the selected first band expansion information or second band expansion information and the first audio signal or the second audio signal performs band expansion, and generates a third audio signal. The present technique can be applied to a signal processing apparatus.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 8, 2021
    Publication date: October 26, 2023
    Inventors: HIROYUKI HONMA, TORU CHINEN
  • Publication number: 20230336913
    Abstract: The present technology relates to an acoustic processing device, method, and program capable of performing audio replaying with higher sound quality. An acoustic processing device includes: a first rendering processing unit that performs rendering processing on the basis of an audio signal and generates a first output audio signal for outputting sound from a plurality of first speakers; and a second rendering processing unit that performs rendering processing on the basis of an audio signal and generates a second output audio signal for outputting sound from a plurality of second speakers having a different replaying band from that of the first speakers. The present technology can be applied to an audio replaying system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 27, 2021
    Publication date: October 19, 2023
    Applicant: Sony Group Corporation
    Inventors: Minoru Tsuji, Toru Chinen
  • Publication number: 20230336935
    Abstract: The present technology relates to a signal processing apparatus and method, and a program that can easily determine a localization position of a sound image. A signal processing apparatus includes: an acquisition unit configured to acquire information associated with a localization position of a sound image of an audio object in a listening space specified in a state where the listening space viewed from a listening position is displayed; and a generation unit configured to generate a bit stream on the basis of the information associated with the localization position. The present technology can be applied to the signal processing apparatus.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 26, 2023
    Publication date: October 19, 2023
    Applicant: Sony Group Corporation
    Inventors: Minoru Tsuji, Toru Chinen, Mitsuyuki Hatanaka
  • Patent number: 11790925
    Abstract: The present technology relates to an information processing device and method, and a program capable of reducing a code amount. The information processing device includes: an acquisition unit that acquires space information regarding a position and a size of a child space within a parent space and position information in the child space indicating a position of an object within the child space, the child space being included in the parent space, and the object being included in the child space; and a calculation unit that calculates position information in the parent space indicating a position of the object within the parent space on the basis of the space information and the position information in the child space. The present technology can be applied to a signal processing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Mitsuyuki Hatanaka, Toru Chinen, Minoru Tsuji, Hiroyuki Honma, Yuki Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 11785410
    Abstract: The present technology relates a reproduction apparatus, a reproduction method, an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program which can realize reproduction of highly flexible audio data while reflecting the intention of a content creator. A reproduction apparatus according to one aspect of the present technology acquires content including audio data of each of audio objects and rendering parameters of the audio data for each of a plurality of presumed listening positions, renders the audio data on the basis of the rendering parameters for a selected predetermined presumed listening position, and outputs an audio signal. The present technology can be applied to an apparatus that can reproduce object-based audio data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: SONY GROUP CORPORATION
    Inventors: Minoru Tsuji, Toru Chinen, Mitsuhiro Hirabayashi, Keiichi Aoyama
  • Patent number: 11778406
    Abstract: An input unit receives input of an assumed listening position of sound of an object, which is a sound source, and outputs assumed listening position information indicating the assumed listening position. A position information correction unit corrects position information of each object on the basis of the assumed listening position information to obtain corrected position information. A gain/frequency characteristic correction unit performs gain correction and frequency characteristic correction on a waveform signal of an object on the basis of the position information and the corrected position information. A spatial acoustic characteristic addition unit further adds a spatial acoustic characteristic to the waveform signal resulting from the gain correction and the frequency characteristic correction on the basis of the position information of the object and the assumed listening position information. The present technology is applicable to an audio processing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: SONY GROUP CORPORATION
    Inventors: Minoru Tsuji, Toru Chinen
  • Publication number: 20230300557
    Abstract: The present technology relates to signal processing device and method, learning device and method, and a program that enable even an inexpensive device to perform audio replaying with high quality. A signal processing device includes: a decoding processing unit that demultiplexes an input bit stream into a first audio signal, meta data of the first audio signal, and first high-frequency band information for expanding a band; a band expanding unit that performs band expansion processing on the basis of a second audio signal and second high-frequency band information and thereby generates an output audio signal, the second audio signal being obtained by performing signal processing on the basis of the first audio signal and the meta data, the second high-frequency band information being generated on the basis of the first high-frequency band information. The present technology can be applied to a smartphone.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 20, 2021
    Publication date: September 21, 2023
    Applicant: Sony Group Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Honma, Toru Chinen, Akifumi Kono
  • Patent number: 11749252
    Abstract: The present technology relates to a signal processing device, a signal processing method, and a program that enable implementation of more effective distance feeling control. The signal processing device includes a reverb processing unit that generates a signal of a reverb component on the basis of object audio data of an audio object and a reverb parameter for the audio object. The present technology can be applied to a signal processing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: Sony Group Corporation
    Inventors: Minoru Tsuji, Toru Chinen, Takao Fukui, Mitsuyuki Hatanaka