Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Ntt Corporation

Nihon Medi-Physics Company, Limited

Grand Bleu International, Inc.

Seed Company Limited

Kazunori Kobayashi

Shoichiro Saito

Masahiro Fukui

Hiroaki Ito

Shin Murata

Ryotaro Sato

Sakurako Yazawa

Noriyoshi Kamado

Noboru Harada

Yuusuke Noguchi

Tomohiro Yamamoto

Yuma Koizumi

Kazuo Hamada

Yoshiya Itoh

Akeo Maruyama

Kenichi Noguchi

Shinichi Kudo

Michio Sumiyoshi

Tetsuo Ohtsuka

Akira Nakagawa

Hitoshi Ohmuro

Kenta Niwa

Kenji Uno

Masaki Tsurui

Kenichi Furuya

Kazumasa Nishida

Takehisa Kamiya

Hamada Kazuo

There is provided an acoustic system for a user who uses a seat of an airplane, an automobile, or the like, which reproduces a sound that cannot be heard by surrounding users without using earphones or headphones. An acoustic system including a speaker system including one speaker unit that emits a sound based on an acoustic signal of a predetermined sound source, in which a sound emitted from the speaker unit is hearable in a region to be audible near the speaker unit, and by a sound emitted from the speaker unit in a back surface direction coming around to a front surface direction, the sound emitted from the speaker unit in the front surface direction and the sound emitted from the speaker unit in the back surface direction cancel each other in a region in the front surface direction far from the speaker unit.

Sound system

A conversation assisting method of the present invention is performed in a first space in order to transmit an acoustic signal between the first space and a second space, separated by an isolation object, by using the isolation object. In the conversation assisting method of the present invention, a sound to be transmitted to the second space is emitted from the first space side to the isolation object at a predetermined intensity. Further, in the conversation assisting method of the present invention, a sound transmitted through the isolation object is picked up, and from the picked-up sound, a sound except for the emitted sound is emphasized and output.

Conversation assisting apparatus, conversation assisting method, non-transitory computer-readable recording medium

A channel in which an utterance of a keyword is included is selected from acoustic signals of multiple channels. An addition unitadds all channels of input voice signals of multiple channels to generate a composite voice signal of one channel. A keyword detection unitgenerates a keyword detection result indicating a result of detecting an utterance of a predetermined keyword from a composite voice signal. A power calculation unitcalculates powers of channels based on input voice signals. A delay unitdelays the powers of the channels. When the keyword detection result indicates that the keyword was detected, a maximum power detection unitselects, as an output channel, a channel having the maximum power among the powers of the channels of the input voice signals. A channel selection unitselects the voice signal of the output channel from the input voice signals and outputs the selected voice signal.

Channel selection apparatus, channel selection method, and program

Two speaker units are arranged on the right side from the center of a seat; two speaker units are arranged on the left side from the center of the seat; one of the two speaker units arranged on the right side is arranged at a position closer to the right ear of a user seated on the seat as compared with the other one of the two speaker units arranged on the right side; one of the two speaker units arranged on the left side is arranged at a position closer to the left ear of the user seated on the seat as compared with the other one of the two speaker units arranged on the left side; acoustic signals obtained on the basis of a reproduction target are emitted from the two speaker units arranged on the right side to be opposite in phase to each other; the acoustic signals obtained on the basis of the reproduction target are emitted from the two speaker units arranged on the left side to be opposite in phase to each other; and the acoustic signals are emitted from two speaker units arranged on the positions closer to the ears not to be opposite in phase to each other.

Speaker system

A reproduction apparatus that realizes reproduction of which sound leakage is small with use of a speaker installed near a head, and a method and a program thereof are provided. The reproduction apparatus is used in a seat. The reproduction apparatus includes: at least two speakers; an acquisition unit that acquires, from a predetermined sound source, an acoustic signal of which sound is emitted by the reproduction apparatus; and a control unit that controls the acoustic signal acquired by the acquisition unit such that reproduction sound is only transmitted to a first seat and the reproduction sound is not transmitted to a second seat, the speakers each emit sound of the acoustic signal controlled by the control unit, and the speakers are disposed so as to be closer to an ear of a user that sits in the first seat than to the second seat.

Reproduction apparatus, method and program for the same

A sound system includes: a control system that generates a control signal for erasing noise from a signal of the noise in a place close to a head of a user who uses a seat; a silencing speaker system that is installed at the place close to the head of the user who uses the seat and includes M speaker units each emitting a sound based on the control signal; and an emission suppression unit including at least a sound absorbing material that easily absorbs only a sound having a frequency greater than or equal to a predetermined value and configured to make it difficult for the sound having the frequency greater than or equal to the predetermined value emitted from the silencing speaker units to be emitted to a place other than an ear of the user. The m-th silencing speaker unit is arranged so that a sound emitted from the m-th silencing speaker unit in the m-th silencing user direction is silenced at a place other than a place close to the head of the user who uses the seat due to coming around of a sound emitted from the m-th silencing speaker unit in a direction opposite to the m-th silencing user direction.

Audibility of an outside sound needed for a driver inside an automobile to apprehend a danger and obtain a grasp of a situation necessary for driving is improved. A sound collection and emission apparatus () emits, on the basis of an outside acoustic signal which emanates from a sound source outside an automobile () and arrives at the automobile (), an inside acoustic signal which is an acoustic signal derived from the outside acoustic signal to inside the automobile (). A sound collection unit (M) collects the outside acoustic signal. A sound emission unit (S) emits the inside acoustic signal. A danger sound detection unit () determines whether the outside acoustic signal has a feature representing a danger defined in advance. A control unit () performs control that emits the inside acoustic signal from the sound emission unit (S) such that a driver of the automobile () is capable of perceiving the danger if the outside acoustic signal is determined to represent the danger.

Sound collection and emission apparatus, sound collection and emission method, and program

Provided is a technique for selecting a cancellation filter coefficient that can stably cancel noise for a user using a seat of an aircraft, an automobile, or the like. A cancellation filter coefficient selection apparatus includes: a recording unit configured to record cancellation filter coefficients; a seat position acquisition unit configured to acquire a position of a seat used by a user; and a cancellation filter coefficient selection unit configured to, from among the cancellation filter coefficients recorded in the recording unit, select a cancellation filter coefficient corresponding to the position of the seat as a cancellation filter coefficient to be used in filtering for generating a cancellation signal for cancelling noise at a position where quiet is desired, based on a reference signal output by a reference microphone configured to collect noise in a predetermined space. The reference microphone and a speaker for emitting sound based on the cancellation signal are installed on the seat, and positions of the reference microphone and the speaker in the predetermined space change accompanying movement of the seat.

Cancel filter coefficient selecting apparatus, cancel filter coefficient selecting method, and program

A sound system, for a user using a seat of an aircraft, an automobile, or the like, that reproduces sound inaudible to users around, without using earphones or headphones, is provided. A sound system for a user using a seat of an aircraft includes: a reproduction apparatus including an n-th reproduction unit (n=1, . . . , N) that outputs a (2n−1)-th sound signal that is a sound signal obtained based on a subject to be reproduced, and a 2n-th sound signal that is a sound signal with opposite phase to phase of the (2n−1)-th sound signal, N being an integer equal to or larger than one; and a speaker system including an n-th speaker unit pair (n=1, . . . , N) including a speaker unit that emits sound based on the (2n−1)-th sound signal (hereinafter, referred to as the positive speaker unit) and a speaker unit that emits sound based on the 2n-th sound signal (hereinafter, referred to as the negative speaker unit), the speaker system being installed at a place close to a head of the user using the seat.

The user communicates reactions to the distribution source without inputting character strings, and parties of an event naturally feel the reactions of the users so as not to disturb the progress. A cheering support device () reproduces, in a space of a distribution source, a cheering composed of an acoustic signal based on sounds generated by viewers in a plurality of spaces different from the space of the distribution source and a video signal. A voice acquisition unit () acquires a voice material from a voice material storage unit (). A video acquisition unit () acquires a video material from a video material storage unit () according to the voice material acquired by the voice acquisition unit (). A voice reproduction unit () emphasizes and reproduces the voice material corresponding to the sound type in which many viewers have uttered. A video reproduction unit () reproduces the video material acquired by the video acquisition unit ().

Cheering support method, cheering support apparatus, and program

A technology is provided that reduces noise heard when a user sits in a seat of an aircraft, without using earphones or headphones. A sound system includes: a control system that generates a control signal for canceling noise in a place close to a head of a user using a seat of an aircraft, from a signal of the noise (noise signal); and a noise-cancellation speaker system including speaker units that emit sound based on the control signal (first noise-cancellation speaker unit, . . . , M-th noise-cancellation speaker unit), the noise-cancellation speaker system being installed at the place close to the head of the user using the seat, wherein assuming that a direction in which the m-th noise-cancellation speaker unit faces the user is an m-th noise-cancellation user direction, the m-th noise-cancellation speaker unit is disposed such that sound emitted from the m-th noise-cancellation speaker unit in the m-th noise-cancellation user direction is canceled in a place other than the place close to the head of the user using the seat, due to bending around of sound emitted from the m-th noise-cancellation speaker unit in an opposite direction to the m-th noise-cancellation user direction.

There are included a first speaker processing step in which a first speakerproduces sound based on a first filtered signal, a gain multiplication step in which a gain multiplication unitgenerates a gain multiplied signal by multiplying a second filtered signal by a gain, a second speaker processing step in which a second speakerproduces sound based on the gain multiplied signal, and a gain control step in which a gain control unitcontrols the gain such that a root mean square of a collected sound signal collected by a microphoneinstalled at a mute position, which is a position at which the sound produced by the first speaker and the sound produced by the second speaker are to be muted, is relatively small.

Speaker calibration method, apparatus and program

Provided is a technique to generate a call environment that prevents call contents from being heard by a person other than a person speaking on the phone in a case where call voice is output from a speaker. Speakers installed in an automobile are denoted by SP, . . . , SP, a first filter coefficient used to generate an input signal for a speaker SPis denoted by F(ω), and a second filter coefficient that is different from the first filter coefficient and is used to generate an input signal for the speaker SPis denoted by {tilde over ( )}F(ω). A call environment generation method includes: an acoustic signal generation step of generating, when detecting a start signal of a call, a call-time acoustic signal that is obtained by adjusting volume of an acoustic signal to be reproduced during the call, by using a predetermined volume value; a first local signal generation step of generating a sound signal Sas an input signal for the speaker SPfrom a voice signal of the call by using the first filter coefficient F(ω); and a second local signal generation step of generating an acoustic signal Aas an input signal for the speaker SPfrom the call-time acoustic signal by using the second filter coefficient {tilde over ( )}F(ω).

Call environment generation method, call environment generation apparatus, and program

A microphone array is a microphone array including two or more microphone holders. The two or more microphone holderseach hold one microphone. The two or more microphone holdersare separatable from each other. The two or more microphone holdersare combinable in two or more combination manners different from each other such that the two or more microphone holdersare each in contact with any one of the other microphone holdersand a distance between the two respective microphones held by two of the microphone holdersthat are in contact with each other is a predetermined distance.

Microphone array

A notification method is a notification method of providing a notification of a warning indicating that an infant is left unattended in an automobile, the notification method including: a detection step of detecting, by a detection unit, whether the infant is left unattended; and a notification step of providing, by a notification unit, the notification of the warning when the infant is left unattended. The detection step includes detecting that the infant is left unattended when at least both of a case where a door used by a driver of the automobile is closed after being opened and a case where the driver is not in a driver's seat of the automobile are satisfied within a time frame and the infant is in the automobile.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Kazunori Kobayashi