Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for controlling noise in a compartment. The audio system includes an error microphone configured to receive sounds and generate an error signal corresponding to the received sounds. A processor in communication with the error microphone is configured receive the error signal from the error microphone and generate a noise-canceling signal based at least in part on the error signal and an acoustic transfer function. The audio system also includes a loudspeaker in communication with the processor to receive the noise-canceling signal and produce a noise-canceling sound wave based on the noise-canceling signal. The processor is also configured to receive at least one audio signal different from the error signal and to modify the acoustic transfer function utilizing the at least one audio signal.

Abstract: A control signal filter 2 receives a sound source signal determined by a control frequency specified in accordance with the vibration/noise source that produces vibration/noise, and outputs a control signal. A filter coefficient update unit 4 updates coefficients of the control signal filter 2 in response to a sound source signal and an error signal. A disturbance detector 6 outputs a disturbance detection result in response to the error signal and an estimated secondary vibration/noise signal. An update controller 7 adjusts an update step of the filter coefficient update unit 4 in accordance with the disturbance detection result.

Abstract: Wide bandwidth piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (pMUTs), pMUT arrays and systems having wide bandwidth pMUT arrays are described herein. For example, a piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (pMUT) includes a piezoelectric membrane disposed on a substrate. A reference electrode is coupled to the membrane. First and second drive/sense electrodes are coupled to the membrane to drive or sense a first and second mode of vibration in the membrane.

Abstract: An air, fuel, and inert fluid or liquid water mixture is injected into a resonance chamber forming micro-packets. The air and fuel mixture in the micro-packets form micro-explosions in a combustion chamber where acoustic and electromagnetic energy are absorbed by the inert fluid instead of thermal energy. A standing wave is created in the central resonance chamber by the micro-explosions. Interfering waves are in phase increasing energy in the air, fuel and water mixture. Acoustic energy is transferred from the hot combustion gases to the colder inert fluid or water. A thermal equilibrium is reached without substantial energy transfer from the hot body to the cold body. Efficient combustion is achieved with reduced carbon emissions. The heat generated from the combustion may be used to produce work by any conventional device, such as a steam engine or turbine or generate heat for a building.

Abstract: In a sound processing device, an index value calculation unit calculates a first index value that follows change of a sound signal at a first following degree and a second index value that follows the change of the sound signal at a second following degree which is lower than the first following degree. An adjustment value calculation unit calculates an adjustment value effective to adjust a reverberation component of the sound signal based on difference between the first index value and the second index value. A reverberation adjustment unit applies the adjustment value to the sound signal.

Abstract: Features are disclosed for determining an element of a user utterance or user intent in conjunction with one or more related elements of the user utterance or user intent. A user utterance may be transcribed by an automatic speech recognition (“ASR”) module, and the results may be provided to a natural language understanding (“NLU”) module. The NLU module may perform named entity recognition, intent classification, and/or other processes on the ASR results. In addition, the NLU module may determine or verify the values associated with the recognized named entities using a data store of known values. When two or more named entities are related, their values may be determined and/or verified in conjunction with each other in order to preserve the relationship between them.

Abstract: Technologies pertaining to training a deep neural network (DNN) for use in a recognition system are described herein. The DNN is trained using heterogeneous data, the heterogeneous data including narrowband signals and wideband signals. The DNN, subsequent to being trained, receives an input signal that can be either a wideband signal or narrowband signal. The DNN estimates the class posterior probability of the input signal regardless of whether the input signal is the wideband signal or the narrowband signal.

Abstract: Speech recognition systems often process speech by employing models and analyzing audio data. An embodiment of the method and corresponding system described herein allow for passive monitoring of, for example, conversation between user(s) to determine context to use to prime model(s) for later speech recognition requests submitted to the speech recognition system. The embodiment improves the results of the speech recognition system by updating speech recognition model(s) with contextual information of the conversation. This increases the probability that the speech recognition system interprets the conversation to contextually relevant information.

Abstract: The present invention addresses the deficiencies in the prior art by providing an improved dialog for disambiguating a user utterance containing more than one intent. The invention comprises methods, computer-readable media, and systems for engaging in a dialog. The method embodiment of the invention relates to a method of disambiguating a user utterance containing at least two user intents. The method comprises establishing a confidence threshold for spoken language understanding to encourage that multiple intents are returned, determining whether a received utterance comprises a first intent and a second intent and, if the received utterance contains the first intent and the second intent, disambiguating the first intent and the second intent by presenting a disambiguation sub-dialog wherein the user is offered a choice of which intent to process first, wherein the user is first presented with the intent of the first or second intents having the lowest confidence score.

Abstract: An automatic speech recognition system includes an audio capture component, a speech recognition processing component, and a result processing component which are distributed among two or more logical devices and/or two or more physical devices. In particular, the audio capture component may be located on a different logical device and/or physical device from the result processing component. For example, the audio capture component may be on a computer connected to a microphone into which a user speaks, while the result processing component may be on a terminal server which receives speech recognition results from a speech recognition processing server.

Abstract: Sentence simplification may be provided. A spoken phrase may be received and converted to a text phrase. An intent associated with the text phrase may be identified. The text phrase may then be reformatted according to the identified intent and a task may be performed according to the reformatted text phrase.

Abstract: A text-to-speech method for simulating a plurality of different voice characteristics includes dividing inputted text into a sequence of acoustic units; selecting voice characteristics for the inputted text; converting the sequence of acoustic units to a sequence of speech vectors using an acoustic model having a plurality of model parameters provided in clusters each having at least one sub-cluster and describing probability distributions which relate an acoustic unit to a speech vector; and outputting the sequence of speech vectors as audio with the selected voice characteristics. A parameter of a predetermined type of each probability distribution is expressed as a weighted sum of parameters of the same type using voice characteristic dependent weighting. In converting the sequence of acoustic units to a sequence of speech vectors, the voice characteristic dependent weights for the selected voice characteristics are retrieved for each cluster such that there is one weight per sub-cluster.

Abstract: An interfacing device and method to support a speech dialogue service based on a multi-modal input are provided. The method includes executing an interface for the speech dialogue service, receiving a user input, through the executed interface, including a voice input and a non-voice input, transmitting, as a request signal to a server, at least one of the voice input or a text extracted from the voice input when the received user input is the voice input, transmitting, as the request signal to the server, a text extracted from the non-voice input when the received user input is the non-voice input, receiving a result of dialogue recognition in response to the request signal from the server, and executing a response to the received user input on the basis of the received result of dialogue recognition.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for facilitating the process of proofreading draft transcripts of spoken audio streams. In general, proofreading of a draft transcript is facilitated by playing back the corresponding spoken audio stream with an emphasis on those regions in the audio stream that are highly relevant or likely to have been transcribed incorrectly. Regions may be emphasized by, for example, playing them back more slowly than regions that are of low relevance and likely to have been transcribed correctly. Emphasizing those regions of the audio stream that are most important to transcribe correctly and those regions that are most likely to have been transcribed incorrectly increases the likelihood that the proofreader will accurately correct any errors in those regions, thereby improving the overall accuracy of the transcript.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems, computer-implemented methods, and computer-readable storage media for generating personalized user models. The method includes receiving automatic speech recognition (ASR) output of speech interactions with a user, receiving an ASR transcription error model characterizing how ASR transcription errors are made, generating guesses of a true transcription and a user model via an expectation maximization (EM) algorithm based on the error model and the respective ASR output where the guesses will converge to a personalized user model which maximizes the likelihood of the ASR output. The ASR output can be unlabeled. The method can include casting speech interactions as a dynamic Bayesian network with four variables: (s), (u), (r), (m), and encoding relationships between (s), (u), (r), (m) as conditional probability tables. At each dialog turn (r) and (m) are known and (s) and (u) are hidden.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for generating a wave field synthesis (WFS) signal in consideration of a height of a speaker are disclosed. The WFS signal generation apparatus may include a waveform propagation distance determination unit to determine a propagation distance of a waveform propagate from a sound source based on a height of a speaker, and a WFS signal generation unit to generate a WFS signal corresponding to the speaker using the propagation distance of the waveform.

Abstract: A method is shown for increasing the fidelity of digitally encoded audio, by an interleaving the signal step, frequency conversion step, and polynomial interpolation step along with comparison to a second, redundant signal.

Abstract: Multiple channels of audio are combined either to a monophonic composite signal or to multiple channels of audio along with related auxiliary information from which multiple channels of audio are reconstructed, including improved downmixing of multiple audio channels to a monophonic audio signal or to multiple audio channels and improved decorrelation of multiple audio channels derived from a monophonic audio channel or from multiple audio channels. Aspects of the disclosed invention are usable in audio encoders, decoders, encode/decode systems, downmixers, upmixers, and decorrelators.

Abstract: In order to enable audio applications for a mobile device that utilize more than one audio input, a peripheral audio device is provided for encoding multichannel audio signals into a reduced number of channels. The peripheral audio device receives audio signals from an audio input/output device, generates at least one output audio signal by combining the received audio signals, and transmits the at least one generated output audio signal to the mobile device. The number of received audio signals is greater than the number of generated output audio signals.

Abstract: Higher Order Ambisonics (HOA) represents a complete sound field in the vicinity of a sweet spot, independent of loudspeaker set-up. The high spatial resolution requires a high number of HOA coefficients. In the invention, dominant sound directions are estimated and the HOA signal representation is decomposed into dominant directional signals in time domain and related direction information, and an ambient component in HOA domain, followed by compression of the ambient component by reducing its order. The reduced-order ambient component is transformed to the spatial domain, and is perceptually coded together with the directional signals. At receiver side, the encoded directional signals and the order-reduced encoded ambient component are perceptually decompressed, the perceptually decompressed ambient signals are transformed to an HOA domain representation of reduced order, followed by order extension.

Abstract: This invention introduces audio/speech encoding apparatus audio/speech decoding apparatus, audio/speech encoding method and audio/speech decoding method to efficiently encode the quantization parameters of split multi-rate lattice vector quantization. In this invention, the position of the sub-vector whose codebook indication consumes the most bits is firstly located, and then the value of the codebook is estimated based on the total number of bits available and the bits usage information for other sub-vectors. The difference value is calculated between the actual value and estimated value. Finally, instead of transmitting the codebook indication which consumes the most bits, the position of the sub-vector whose codebook indication consumes the most bits and the difference value between the actual value and the estimated value are transmitted. By applying of the invented method, bits can be saved by the codebook indications.

Abstract: In a method of providing a backward and forward compatible speech codec payload format, the following steps are included: providing S10 an RTP package; including S20 payload according to a first codec into the provided RTP package, and appending S50 payload according to a second codec into the provided RTP package. In addition, at least one unused bit is located S30 in the included first codec payload, and the located at least one unused bit is designated S40 as a codec compatibility bit. Finally, the designated at least one codec compatibility bit is utilized S60 to provide an indication of the presence of the appended second codec payload.

Abstract: The range of disclosed configurations includes methods in which subbands of a speech signal are separately encoded, with the excitation of a first subband being derived from a second subband. Gain factors are calculated to indicate a time-varying relation between envelopes of the original first subband and of the synthesized first subband. The gain factors are quantized, and quantized values that exceed the pre-quantized values are re-coded.

Abstract: Voice trigger. In accordance with a first method embodiment, a long term average audio energy is determined based on a one-bit pulse-density modulation bit stream. A short term average audio energy is determined based on the one-bit pulse-density modulation bit stream. The long term average audio energy is compared to the short term average audio energy. Responsive to the comparing, a voice trigger signal is generated if the short term average audio energy is greater than the long term average audio energy. Determining the long term average audio energy may be performed independent of any decimation of the bit stream.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for discriminating voiced and unvoiced sounds in speech. The method detects characteristic waveform features of voiced and unvoiced sounds, by applying integral and differential functions to the digitized sound signal in the time domain. Laboratory tests demonstrate extremely high reliability in separating voiced and unvoiced sounds. The method is very fast and computationally efficient. The method enables voice activation in resource-limited and battery-limited devices, including mobile devices, wearable devices, and embedded controllers. The method also enables reliable command identification in applications that recognize only predetermined commands. The method is suitable as a pre-processor for natural language speech interpretation, improving recognition and responsiveness. The method enables realtime coding or compression of speech according to the sound type, improving transmission efficiency.

Abstract: A novel automatic record player for playing a phonograph record includes a base, a turntable, upper and lower hubs, a tonearm, a drive unit, a pinion, a control cam, a main arm, an auxiliary arm, first and second micro-switches, a clutch member, a first clutch actuating member, a switch activating member, an actuating pin, a synchronizing unit, a position guide, and an elongated member. When the clutch member is actuated by the first clutch actuating member, the tonearm is automatically positioned on the phonograph record.

Abstract: A reader sensor having a dusting layer having a thickness less than 5 Angstroms between and in contact with the AFM layer and with the pinned layer. The dusting layer comprises a non-magnetic, electrically conducting material, such as ruthenium or iridium. The reader sensor has a free layer composed of a material free of nickel (Ni).

Abstract: A reader sensor comprising a sensor stack and a composite top shield. The composite top shield includes a bulk shield portion and a SAF portion, the SAF portion comprising a top magnetic layered structure and a bottom magnetic layered structure with a non-magnetic layer therebetween. Each of the magnetic layered structures has at least one soft magnetic material layer bounded by layers comprising magnetic material having a magnetic moment of at least 1.4 T.

Abstract: Structures and methods are disclosed for parallel biasing and testing, at dc and high frequency, of two or more read heads within a two dimensional magnetic recording (TDMR) slider. Testing of heads comprises both conventional tests of the individual heads within the slider, as well as tests for interactions between the heads which are very closely spaced within the slider and thus may exhibit various magnetic, capacitive, ohmic, and stress-related interactions not seen in non-TDMR heads having only a single read head. Overall testing times are nearly the same as for single head testing.

Abstract: A wiring structure of a head suspension including a flexure that supports a head and is attached to a load beam applying load onto the head, comprises write wiring and read wiring formed on the flexure and connected to the head, each having wires of opposite polarities. The wiring structure further comprises a stacked interleaved part includes segments electrically connected to the respective wires of the write wiring, the segments stacked on and facing the wires through an electrical insulating layer so that the facing wire and segment have opposite polarities.

Abstract: An aspect of the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing hexagonal ferrite powder, which comprises preparing a hexagonal ferrite precursor-containing water-based solution by stirring and mixing a reaction solution which comprises an iron salt, an alkaline earth metal salt, and a base in a reaction tank, and removing the hexagonal ferrite precursor-containing water-based solution that has been prepared from the reaction tank and continuously feeding the hexagonal ferrite precursor-containing water-based solution into a reaction flow passage while conducting heating and pressurizing to converting the hexagonal ferrite precursor to hexagonal ferrite, wherein the preparation of the hexagonal ferrite precursor-containing water-based solution comprises a continual feed period during which feeding of the iron salt, the alkaline earth metal salt, and the base into a reaction tank which comprises a prereaction solution in which an iron salt and a base are not both present is continuously or intermittent

Abstract: An information recording medium glass substrate and an information recording medium are provided in which a first roll-off variation and a second roll-off variation fall within the following ranges: 180 ??first roll-off variation?990 ? (condition 1) and 650 ??second roll-off variation?3700 ? (condition 2).

Abstract: An optical disc medium includes a land and a groove at which information can be recorded. A predetermined number of address information units which record address information of the land or groove are provided in a circumferential direction of the optical disc medium. The address information unit of the land includes three or more address recording areas capable of recording address information. The address information is recorded on one area selected from among the three or more address recording areas. The address information unit of the land has address information which is recorded, in the same modulation, on the side of the inner adjacent groove and on the side of the outer adjacent groove. The one area to be selected from among the three or more address recording areas for recording the address information of the land is different among three address information units adjacently arranged in a radial direction.

Abstract: A light source is configured to produce light, a waveguide is optically coupled to the light source and configured to direct the light to an intended focus location, and a slider is configured to use the light as an energy source for heating a region of a magnetic recording medium. A thermal sensor is situated on the slider at a location outside of a light path that includes the intended focus location. The thermal sensor is configured for sensing a short time constant change in temperature resulting from light source heating of the thermal sensor, wherein the sensed change in thermal sensor temperature is representative of optical intensity of the light delivered to the intended focus location.

Abstract: An optical information processing apparatus includes: a unit that radiates light onto an optical disc and detects the reflected light to output a reproduced signal; a unit that corrects spherical aberration of the light; a unit that adjusts a focus position of the light based on a focus adjustment value; and an adjustment unit that measures a characteristic of the reproduced signal at each of at least three positions on each of at least three straight lines on a plane with coordinate axes representing an amount of spherical aberration correction and focus adjustment value, obtains, from the measurements, as estimated positions, at least five positions on the plane at which the characteristic has substantially the same value, performs an ellipse approximation on the estimated positions, obtains a center of the ellipse, and determines the amount of spherical aberration correction and focus adjustment value based on the center of the ellipse.

Abstract: A method, and apparatus configured to perform such method, according to various embodiments, includes writing data stored in a buffer onto a recording medium using a write head in a first round of writing. An interval marker is written on the recording medium in the first round of writing when the buffer is empty. Next data is written onto the recording medium after the interval marker in the first round of writing. Data is written in an area of the interval marker in a second round of writing performed subsequent to the first round.

Abstract: A disk drive is disclosed comprising a disk comprising a plurality of servo sectors defining a plurality of servo tracks. The servo tracks form a plurality of servo zones, where a servo data rate of servo sectors in a first servo zone is different than a servo data rate of servo sectors in a second servo zone. A servo control system servos a head over the disk. An estimated servo state of a servo control system is generated, and when the head crosses from a first servo zone to a second servo zone, the estimated servo state is adjusted to compensate for a transient in a circumferential distance between a servo sector in the first servo zone and a servo sector in the second servo zone.

Abstract: A system and method is described that allows random write operations regions utilizing shingled magnetic recording. The method includes receiving a request to re-write a logical block address (LBA) with new data, wherein the LBA is mapped to a physical block address (PBA) on a storage medium. The method further includes determining whether the data is eligible for a write-in place update wherein the data is written to an area of the I-region that has previously been written with shingled data tracks, wherein the eligibility determination is based on a mapping list of LBAs to PBAs. The method also includes writing the new data to the area of the I-region determined to be eligible for a write-in place update, wherein writing the new data further includes writing management information to the I-region that identifies a starting LBA of the write-in place update, and a length of the write-in place update.

Abstract: A system includes a read/write module and a caching module. The read/write module is configured to access a first portion of a recording surface of a rotating storage device. Data is stored on the first portion of the recording surface of the rotating storage device at a first density. The caching module is configured to cache data on a second portion of the recording surface of the rotating storage device at a second density. The second portion of the recording surface of the rotating storage device is separate from the first portion of the recording surface of the rotating storage device. The second density is less than the first density.

Abstract: According to some embodiments, a method and apparatus are provided to receive a video media file comprising a first time-based portion divided into a plurality of sub-portions and receive information comprising a start time associated with each of the plurality of sub-portions, a duration associated with each of the plurality of sub portions, and a level of detail associated with each of the plurality of sub portions. A portion of the video media file is output based on the received information.

Abstract: A mobile application is disclosed enabling a first sporting event spectator to efficiently record game actions and a second sporting event spectator to simultaneously record real-time video of the game actions. Using a mobile device having a touch screen, the first user can efficiently, and with limited user interaction, indicate fast paced game actions of players engaged in a sport. Using a separate mobile device, or a video system in communication with a network, the second user can record video of a presently occurring game in which the game actions occur. A system in communication with the first and second users' devices can receive indications of game actions, and receive video of the game, and associate each indicated game action with a portion of the video of the game action. The system may, for example, use these associations to generate an index that enables users to view descriptions of the game actions and jump to corresponding video clips.

Abstract: A video engine, system and method for use with a video player, including a presenter that presents at least two audio/visual works, at least one software application capable of at least one metadata-related interaction with the audio/visual works, communication points over which the audio/visual works are received, and over which at least a portion of the at least one meta-data interaction occurs, and a hierarchical taxonomy that effects a common metadata reference to each recurrence of a particular object across the audio/visual works, and across each of the at least one metadata-related interaction. The video engine, system, and method may additionally include a prioritization data for use with the metadata.

Abstract: An information storage medium is disclosed. The information storage medium includes one container file, wherein the container file includes a data box including in which a plurality of component files forming content are arranged; and a meta box including information on locations in the content and in the data box with respect to the plurality of component files and characteristic information on of the plurality of component files, and the plurality of component files are arranged in the data box according to the characteristic information.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, a playback apparatus, a playback method, and a program that are capable of appropriately playing back content of 3D images. A Base view video stream (L image) and a Dependent view video stream (R image), which are generated using H.264 AVC/MVC encoding method, and a PlayList, which is information for controlling playback, are recorded on an optical disc 2. If the value of MVC_flag that is set in the PlayList represents that information regarding 3D playback is included, 3D playback is performed while also referring to the description of ExtensionData( ) in the PlayList. Information regarding playback of the Dependent view video stream is described in the field for ExtensionData( ). The present invention is applicable to a Blu-Ray (registered trademark) Disc player.

Abstract: Disclosed is an array of nonvolatile memory cells includes five memory cells per unit cell. Also disclosed is an array of vertically stacked tiers of nonvolatile memory cells that includes five memory cells occupying a continuous horizontal area of 4F2 within an individual of the tiers. Also disclosed is an array of nonvolatile memory cells comprising a plurality of unit cells which individually comprise three elevational regions of programmable material, the three elevational regions comprising the programmable material of at least three different memory cells of the unit cell. Also disclosed is an array of vertically stacked tiers of nonvolatile memory cells that includes a continuous volume having a combination of a plurality of vertically oriented memory cells and a plurality of horizontally oriented memory cells. Other embodiments and aspects are disclosed.

Abstract: A semiconductor device that includes first to fourth banks spaced apart from each other in first and second directions, column control regions extending in the second direction between the first bank and the second bank and between the third bank and the fourth bank, and suitable for controlling column operations of the first to fourth banks, at least one power supply/ground voltage line extending in the second direction at one side edge of the first to fourth banks adjacent to the column control regions, and at least one power supply/ground voltage pad adjacent to and coupled with the at least one power supply/ground voltage line between the first bank and the third bank and between the second bank and the fourth bank, and suitable for receiving an external power supply voltage and a ground voltage.

Abstract: A semiconductor memory device is provided. The semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array including cell strings coupled between bit lines and a common source line, each of the cell strings comprising a plurality of memory cells stacked above a substrate. The semiconductor memory device also includes a peripheral circuit configured to supply a negative voltage to one or more word lines coupled to the cell strings and supply a positive voltage to the common source line, wherein the peripheral circuit supplies the positive voltage and the negative voltage before a program operation is performed.

Abstract: A first plurality of storage cells may be coupled to a first pair of data lines, and a second plurality of storage cells may be coupled to a second pair of data lines. Each storage cell in the first plurality of storage cells may be configured to generate a first output signal on the first pair of data lines in response to an assertion of a respective one of first plurality of selection signals, and each storage cell in the second plurality of storage cells may be configured to generate a second output signal on the second pair of data lines in response to the assertion of a respective one of a second plurality of selection signals. Circuitry may assert a given selection signal from either the first or second plurality of selection signals. An amplifier circuit may amplify either the first or second output signal.

Abstract: Disclosed are various embodiments related to dual-gate transistors and associated calibration circuitry. In one embodiment, dual-gate transistors may be configured in a sense amplifier arrangement, and calibration circuitry can be used to adjust an input offset of the sense amplifier. In another embodiment, a reference level voltage utilized in an amplifier with dual-gate transistors can be adjusted during a calibration sequence, and may be substantially unchanged from its nominal value outside of the calibration sequence. In another embodiment, a calibration sequence can be utilized to determine circuit results from a circuit including dual-gate transistors, and to adjust control gates to more closely coincide with expected or desired results. In yet another embodiment, a semiconductor memory device can include a memory array with amplifiers that include dual-gate transistors, as well as associated calibration circuitry.

Abstract: An amplifying circuit includes a first sense amplifying unit suitable for sensing and amplifying data on input/output lines, a second sense amplifying unit suitable for sensing and amplifying the data on the input/output lines or an output signal of the first sense amplifying unit, and a control unit suitable for activating the first sense amplifying unit during an initial operation period of an active operation and inactivating the first sense amplifying unit after the initial operation period, wherein the second sense amplifying unit performs a sensing and amplifying operation, based on the output signal of the first sense amplifying unit during the initial operation period, and based on the data on the input/output lines after the initial operation period.