Sony Corporation

Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Kyoya Tsutsui

Osamu Shimoyoshi

Kenzo Akagiri

Naoya Haneda

Mito Sonohara

Yoshiaki Oikawa

Robert Heddle

Hiroyuki Honma

Satoshi Miyazaki

Tadao Yoshida

Masatoshi Ueno

Shinji Miyamori

Mitsuyuki Hatanaka

Atsushi Kikuchi

Yoshihito Fujiwara

Provided are a voice analysis apparatus, a voice analysis method, and a program that enable a steady tendency of a beat cycle to be specified with high accuracy. A sound volume correlation value calculation section () calculates, for each of a plurality of time intervals, a value indicating a degree of correlation in a sound volume of voices at two or more timings separated by the time interval, as a sound volume correlation value associated with the time interval. A beat cycle specification section () specifies the beat cycle of the voices on the basis of the sound volume correlation value associated with each of the plurality of time intervals.

Voice analysis apparatus, voice analysis method, and program

In a data transfer system, when transferring data which has been transferred to a storage in a PC, to a mobile terminal connected to the PC, the PC acquires the file format of the data and the file format which can be processed by the mobile terminal and determines whether the conversion of the file format is necessary. When the conversion of the file format is necessary, the PC issues a request for a conversion to a format converter. The format converter acquires data from the PC and transfers the data back to the PC while performing conversion. The PC transfers the converted data to the mobile terminal.

Data transfer system capable of converting file formats

It is intended to remove a risk of illegal high quality restoration while enabling trial viewing of contents such as music, to make it possible to reproduce contents with high quality by acquiring a relatively small amount of data, and to make it possible to implement hardware at a lower cost. To generate trial listening data containing dummy data, a pseudo random number R is generated first. A remainder r of R divided by 128 is calculated. The remainder r is coded and incorporated into high sound quality restoration data. A bandwidth limitation region of trial listening data is replaced by dummy data starting from its rth bit. As a result, the head position of the dummy data in the trial listening data varies frame by frame, whereby the safety of the trial listening data can be increased.

Signal reproducing method and device, signal recording method and device, and code sequence generating method and device

When sample data is played back, audio guide data Gand Gand subsequent frame data are played back based on usage license information Lcontained in the sample data. When high-quality data is generated, the audio guide data Gand Gand the usage license information Lare overwritten based on usage license information Lcontained in additional data. When the high-quality data is played back, audio guide data G' and G&#x2032; and subsequent frame data are played back based on usage license information L. A user is then able to identify the playback status of the sample data or high-quality data by listening to an audio guide.

Data transform method and apparatus, data processing method and apparatus, and program

A signal processing device and method for performing a code string transform by transforming a time series signal with a frequency band from 0 to 20 kHz from a coding system into another, wherein the arithmetic operations of MDCT and IMDCT with a limited frequency band from 0 to 15 kHz are carried out at high speed by performing computations using an FFT operation with a short tap length in the IMDCT processing operation. This allows a reduced work area and a higher speed for arithmetic operations by reducing the number of multiplications and additions when performing MDCT operations, IMDCT operation and/or transforming code strings between different coding system.

Signal processing device and signal processing method

An original code string is decomposed into preview data (trial data) and high-quality data in a code-string decomposer. The high-quality data is separated into first data having an exactly or almost regular pattern and second data other than the first data by a high-quality data separator. The second data is encrypted. The first data is not encrypted, or is encrypted by an encryption process other than that used for the second data. With this arrangement, important data is prevented from being deciphered.

Code-string encryption method and apparatus, decryption method and apparatus, and recording medium

A signal () of a first code string made through replacing a part of a code string of a predetermined format with dummy data is sent to code string rewriting means () via code string resolution means (). A signal () of a second code string for complementing the dummy data part in the signal () is sent to the code string rewriting means () via control means () and the dummy data in the first code string is rewritten to the second code string. At the time of trial viewing/listening, a signal () from the code string resolution means () is selected by a switch (), and when the second code string () is acquired through content purchase, a signal () from the code string rewriting means () is selected by the switch (). Thus, trial viewing/listening of a content such as music is made possible while the possibility of decryption is eliminated. By acquiring a relatively small quantity of data, reproduction of a high-quality content is made possible.

Signal reproducing apparatus and method, signal recording apparatus and method, signal receiver, and information processing method

To make it possible to provide high-quality music signal regardless of the advertising voice superimposing position, an encrypted pure music signal input through a transmission medium and an unencrypted advertising voice signal are separated by a signal string separation section. A signal transform and combining section decodes the encrypted pure music signal and combines the decoded music signal with the advertising voice signal into a resultant signal of the music and advertising voice signals, then outputs the resultant signal to a code string combining section, which then combines the encrypted pure music signal and the resultant signal of the music and advertising voice signals and supplies the result to a recording section for recording the result on a magneto-optic disc.

Information recording and reproducing system and method and distribution medium

A center (content supply center) ( ) for storing and managing contents, and user terminals ( to ) used by respective users are connected via networks ( to ). The center ( ) sends signals of contents for trial viewing/listening to the user terminals for free or at a low price. The user terminals ( to ) can receive the signals of the contents for trial viewing/listening and select and purchase only the content that the user likes from the received contents so as to reproduce the content with high quality. This enables trial viewing/listening. It is not necessary to download a large quantity of data with high quality from the content supply center or the like and there will be more opportunities of content purchase.

Content supply system and information processing method

A first audio signal is generated from a number of stereo input channels (such as a left and a right channel). A signal level that corresponds to one of the plurality of input channels and another signal level from another of the plurality of input channels are determined. A second audio signal is selected on the basis of the signal levels such that the second audio signal is selected from the group consisting of the one input channel, the other input channel, and a signal generated from the number of input channels that is different than the first audio signal. The first audio signal and the selected second audio signal are separately coded.

Differential stereo using two coding techniques

Efficiently encoded signals wherein the compression ration can be high without a corresponding degradation of signal quality. The range of values of subband-based signal components for quantization to zero, to which a short codelength is given, is set so as to be larger. Consequently the ratio of the subband-based signal components quantized to values of a shorter codelength will become higher than if the subband-based signal components are quantized in such a manner as to minimize the total quantization error energy in each frequency band.

Signals having quantized values and variable length codes

A signal processing method and apparatus is disclosed, which is capable of reproducing a coded audio signal by decoding it while shifting its pitch, and reproducing, from an original sound, a sound having a sufficiently higher pitch than the original sound with few operations and less cost for the decoder used in the signal processing apparatus, and an information serving medium for serving a program which implements the signal decoding and pitch shifting. In one embodiment, the method of providing a signal processing method for decoding a coded signal for reading, includes setting a pitch for the coded signal, decoding only a low frequency portion of the coded signal according to the set pitch, and shifting the pitch of the decoded read signal based on the set pitch.

Audio signal pitch adjustment apparatus and method

An information record/reproduction device, method and supply medium thereof to speedily acquire information as well as prevent illegal copying. In the recording system of information record/reproduction device, encoded information recorded on a semiconductor memory is read out from an information provider device by an encoder/decoder section and decoded by utilizing an encoder key K&lsqb;BA&rsqb; and then output to an encoder section. In the encoder section, the information decoded by the encoder/decoder section is encrypted and output to a RAM device. The encrypted information input into the RAM is then recorded on an magneto-optic disk.

Information record/reproduction device, information record/reproduction method and supply medium thereof

A first codec-based warning message generator generates a warning message by a first. A first codec-based silent fixed pattern generator generates a first codec-based silent fixed pattern. A second codec encode block encodes an input signal by a second codec. A code string generator generates a synthetic code string by synthesizing outputs from the above components in an encoding frame having a predetermined length being a unit of encoding.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Kyoya Tsutsui