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: 10742231
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a compression/encoding apparatus and method, a decoding apparatus and method, and a program that allow for provision of a lossless compression technology with higher compression ratio. A GOB data configuration section configures GOB data with a group of digital data that includes a plurality of blocks by treating a frame of delta-sigma-modulated digital data as a block. A table generation section generates a conversion table for encoding the GOB data. An encoding section compresses and encodes the digital data of each block included in the GOB data by using the conversion table. The present technology is applicable, for example, to audio signal compression and encoding, and so on.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Takao Fukui, Toru Chinen
  • Patent number: 10735794
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and an information processing system capable of appropriately performing scaling of a distribution device which distributes an audio stream encoded by a lossless compression system. An original distribution server performs scaling of a premium server which distributes the audio stream to a premium client on the basis of bit rate information including an average value of a predetermined period of bit rates of the audio stream encoded by a lossless DSD system. The present disclosure is applicable to, for example, the original distribution server or the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mitsuhiro Hirabayashi, Toru Chinen
  • Publication number: 20200221146
    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: Application
    Filed: March 23, 2020
    Publication date: July 9, 2020
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Minoru Tsuji, Toru Chinen, Runyu Shi, Masayuki Nishiguchi, Yuki Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 10692511
    Abstract: The present technology relates to a decoding apparatus, a decoding method and a program which make it possible to obtain sound with higher quality. A demultiplexing circuit demultiplexes an input code string into a gain code string and a signal code string. A signal decoding circuit decodes the signal code string to output a time series signal. A gain decoding circuit decodes the gain code string. That is, the gain decoding circuit reads out gain values and gain inclination values at predetermined gain sample positions of the time series signal and interpolation mode information. An interpolation processing unit obtains a gain value at each sample position between two gain sample positions through linear interpolation or non-linear interpolation according to the interpolation mode based on the gain values and the gain inclination values. A gain applying circuit adjusts a gain of the time series signal based on the gain values. The present technology can be applied to a decoding apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yuki Yamamoto, Toru Chinen, Hiroyuki Honma, Runyu Shi
  • Patent number: 10694310
    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: April 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Minoru Tsuji, Toru Chinen
  • Patent number: 10656900
    Abstract: A device and method capable of performing image following type audio control or image non-following type audio control are implemented. Images in different directions are selectively displayed on the display unit, and an output audio is controlled in accordance with an image display. A data processing unit executes image following type audio control of moving an audio source direction in accordance with movement of the display image of the display unit and image non-following type audio control of not moving the audio source direction in accordance with the movement of an image in units of individual controllable audio elements. The data processing unit acquires audio control information from an MP4 file or a media presentation description (MPD) file and executes either the image following type audio control or the image non-following type audio control in accordance with the acquired audio control information in units of individual controllable audio elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2020
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mitsuru Katsumata, Toru Chinen, Masayoshi Mizuno
  • Publication number: 20200145777
    Abstract: The present technology relates to an audio processing apparatus and method and a program that make it possible to obtain sound of higher quality. An acquisition unit acquires an audio signal and metadata of an object. A vector calculation unit calculates, based on a horizontal direction angle and a vertical direction angle included in the metadata of the object and indicative of an extent of a sound image, a spread vector indicative of a position in a region indicative of the extent of the sound image. A gain calculation unit calculates, based on the spread vector, a VBAP gain of the audio signal in regard to each speaker by VBAP. The present technology can be applied to an audio processing apparatus.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 3, 2020
    Publication date: May 7, 2020
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yuki Yamamoto, Toru Chinen, Minoru Tsuji
  • Patent number: 10645523
    Abstract: The present technique relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program capable of performing appropriate remapping. An offset angle calculation section calculates an offset amount of a position of a reference screen from a reference position present in a front direction of a user, and a position information correction section corrects a position of an audio object referred with the reference position, in conformity with the position of the reference screen on the basis of the offset amount. Furthermore, an object remapping section remaps the position of the audio object in conformity with a position of a reproduction screen on the basis of the corrected position of the audio object. The present technique can be applied to an information processing apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Minoru Tsuji, Toru Chinen
  • Patent number: 10643630
    Abstract: A signal processing device, method, and program that may obtain audio at a higher audio quality when decoding an audio signal. An envelope information generating unit generates envelope information representing an envelope form of high frequency components of an audio signal to be encoded. A sine wave information generating unit extracts a sine wave signal from the high frequency components of the audio signal, and generates a sine wave information representing an emergence start position of the sine wave signal. An encoding stream generating unit multiplexes the envelope information, the sine wave information, and low frequency components of the audio signal that have been encoded, and outputs an encoding stream obtained as the result. The high frequency components included in the sine wave signal may be predicted at a higher accuracy from the envelope information and the sine wave information at the receiving side of the encoding stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Mitsuyuki Hatanaka, Toru Chinen
  • Publication number: 20200135216
    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: December 24, 2019
    Publication date: April 30, 2020
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Toru Chinen, Masayuki Nishiguchi, Runyu Shi, Mitsuyuki Hatanaka, Yuki Yamamoto
  • Publication number: 20200126582
    Abstract: The present technology relates to a signal processing device and method, and a program making it possible to obtain appropriate spread information more easily. A signal processing device includes: a spread information generation unit configured to generate spread information in a frame to be processed of an audio object, on the basis of object position information in the frame to be processed of the audio object and any of spread information in an other frame different from the frame to be processed of the audio object, zoom information, and size information about the audio object. The present technology may be applied to an encoding device and a decoding device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2018
    Publication date: April 23, 2020
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yuki Yamamoto, Toru Chinen, Minoru Tsuji
  • Patent number: 10631025
    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: September 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2020
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Minoru Tsuji, Toru Chinen, Runyu Shi, Masayuki Nishiguchi, Yuki Yamamoto
  • Publication number: 20200118575
    Abstract: To suitably regulate sound pressure of object content on a receiving side. An audio stream including coded data of a predetermined number of pieces of object content is generated. A container of a predetermined format including the audio stream is transmitted. Information indicating a range within which sound pressure is allowed to increase and decrease for each piece of object content is inserted into a layer of the audio stream and/or a layer of the container. On a receiving side, sound pressure of each piece of object content increases and decreases within the allowable range based on the information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2019
    Publication date: April 16, 2020
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ikuo TSUKAGOSHI, Toru CHINEN
  • Patent number: 10623884
    Abstract: The present technique relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program capable of performing appropriate remapping. An offset angle calculation section calculates an offset amount of a position of a reference screen from a reference position present in a front direction of a user, and a position information correction section corrects a position of an audio object referred with the reference position, in conformity with the position of the reference screen on the basis of the offset amount. Furthermore, an object remapping section remaps the position of the audio object in conformity with a position of a reproduction screen on the basis of the corrected position of the audio object. The present technique can be applied to an information processing apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2020
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Minoru Tsuji, Toru Chinen
  • Patent number: 10621994
    Abstract: The present technology relates to an audio signal processing device and method, an encoding device and method, and a program, which are capable of obtaining a higher quality sound. A selection unit selects, from supplied multichannel audio signals, audio signals of a channel of a dialogue sound and audio signals of a channel to be downmixed. A downmixing unit downmixes the audio signals of the channel to be downmixed. An addition unit adds the audio signals of the channel of a dialogue sound to audio signals of a predetermined channel among audio signals of one or more channels obtained in the downmixing. The present technology can be applied to a decoder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2020
    Assignee: Sony Corporaiton
    Inventors: Mitsuyuki Hatanaka, Toru Chinen, Minoru Tsuji, Hiroyuki Honma
  • Publication number: 20200100028
    Abstract: This technology relates to an information processing apparatus for accurately notifying a mobile object of a position of a moving body nearby, and to an information processing method, a program, and a mobile object for use with the information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus includes a moving body detection section that detects the moving body near the mobile object on the basis of information input from sensors, and a sound output control section that shifts the position of a sound image of a notification sound giving notification of the position of the moving body in keeping with a detected position thereof in motion. This technology can be applied to apparatuses, systems, or vehicles that provide driver assistance for preventing collision or contact with the moving body, for example.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2018
    Publication date: March 26, 2020
    Applicants: Sony Corporation, Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation
    Inventors: Hirokazu Hashimoto, Ryosuke Tanaka, Yuki Yamamoto, Toru Chinen
  • Patent number: 10587976
    Abstract: The present technology relates to a sound processing apparatus and method, and a program 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: January 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yuki Yamamoto, Toru Chinen, Runyu Shi, Mitsuyuki Hatanaka
  • Patent number: 10573325
    Abstract: There is provided a decoding device comprising at least one buffer and at least one processor. The at least one processor is configured to select, based at least in part on a size of the at least one buffer, at least one audio element from among multiple audio elements in an input bit stream; and generate an audio signal by decoding the at least one audio element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yuki Yamamoto, Toru Chinen, Runyu Shi, Mitsuhiro Hirabayashi
  • Patent number: 10567903
    Abstract: The present technology relates to an audio processing apparatus and method and a program that make it possible to obtain sound of higher quality. An acquisition unit acquires an audio signal and metadata of an object. A vector calculation unit calculates, based on a horizontal direction angle and a vertical direction angle included in the metadata of the object and indicative of an extent of a sound image, a spread vector indicative of a position in a region indicative of the extent of the sound image. A gain calculation unit calculates, based on the spread vector, a VBAP gain of the audio signal in regard to each speaker by VBAP. The present technology can be applied to an audio processing apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yuki Yamamoto, Toru Chinen, Minoru Tsuji
  • Publication number: 20200053499
    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: Application
    Filed: November 10, 2017
    Publication date: February 13, 2020
    Inventors: MINORU TSUJI, TORU CHINEN, MITSUHIRO HIRABAYASHI, KEIICHI AOYAMA