MASKER SOUND GENERATION APPARATUS AND PROGRAM

• US 20110182438A1
• Filed: 01/25/2011
• Published: 07/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Original Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Inventors: Yamakawa, Takashi, Shimizu, Yasushi, Hata, Masato, Koike, Mai
• Granted Patent: US 8,861,742 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/73.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 21/04 wherein the chamber is closed by liquid; Vacuum gauges of the McLeod type
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/1754 Speech masking
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/04 Time compression or expansion
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 1/06 by transmitting the information or elements thereof at unnatural speeds or in jumbled order or backwards
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 2203/12 for acoustic communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/45 characterized by including monitoring of the target or target signal, e.g. in reactive jammers or follower jammers for example by means of an alternation of jamming phases and monitoring phases, called "look-through mode"
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/46 characterized in that the jamming signal is produced by retransmitting a received signal, after delay or processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/825 by jamming

Abstract

In a masker sound generation apparatus, an acquisition part acquires a sound signal, and a generation part generates a masker sound signal based on the acquired sound signal. Specifically, the generation part divides the sound signal acquired by the acquisition part into a plurality of sections each having a predetermined time length, then repeats a sorting process of sorting the divided sections as a process of changing the sequence of arrangement of the sound signal, and alters a manner of sorting the sections each time the sorting process is repeated.

Claims

1. A masker sound generation apparatus comprising:

an acquisition part that acquires a sound signal; and

a generation part that repeats a process of outputting a masker sound signal obtained by changing a sequence of arrangement of the sound signal acquired by the acquisition part, and that repeats a process of altering a manner of changing the sequence of arrangement of the sound signal.

2. The masker sound generation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the generation part divides the sound signal acquired by the acquisition part into a plurality of sections each having a predetermined time length, then repeats a sorting process of sorting the divided sections as a process of changing the sequence of arrangement of the sound signal, and alters a manner of sorting the sections as the process of altering the manner each time the sorting process is repeated.

3. The masker sound generation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the acquisition part acquires a plurality of kinds of sound signals so as to generate one kind of masker sound signal, and

the generation part divides each of the plurality of kinds of the sound signals into a plurality of sections each having a predetermined time length, then repeats a sorting process of sorting the divided sections as a process of changing the sequence of arrangement of the sound signal, and alters a manner of sorting the sections of each of the plurality of kinds of the sound signals as the process of altering the manner.

4. The masker sound generation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the generation part performs a reversal process of reversing arrangement of the sound signal within each section obtained by dividing the sound signal, and generates the masker sound signal using signals obtained through the reversal process and the sorting process.

5. A computer readable storage medium containing a program executable by a computer to perform:

acquiring a sound signal;

repeating a process of outputting a masker sound signal obtained by changing a sequence of arrangement in the acquired sound signal; and

repeating a process of altering a manner of changing the sequence of arrangement of the sound signal.

6. A masker sound generation apparatus comprising:

an acquisition part that acquires a sound signal; and

a generation part that divides the sound signal acquired by the acquisition part into a plurality of sections each having a predetermined time length and containing a sound signal fractions, then generates sound signal fractions obtained by selecting some of the divided sections and by reversing each of the sound signal fractions of the selected sections, and sequentially outputs the generated sound signal fractions to form a masker sound signal.

7. The masker sound generation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the generation part generates sound signal fractions obtained by reversing arrangement of each of the sound signal fractions in the selected sections, and sorts the plurality of sections of the sound signal and sequentially outputs the sorted sections of the sound signal to form the masker sound signal.

8. The masker sound generation apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the generation part repeatedly alters a manner of sorting the plurality of sections of the sound signal.

9. The masker sound generation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the generation part repeats change of sections in which the arrangements of the sound signal fractions are reversed among the plurality of sections.

10. A computer readable storage medium containing program executable by a computer to perform:

acquiring a sound signal;

dividing the acquired sound signal into a plurality of sections each having a predetermined time length and containing a sound signal fractions;

generating sound signal fractions obtained by selectively reversing the sound signal fractions in some of the divided sections; and

sequentially outputting the generated sound signal fractions to form a masker sound signal.

11. A masker sound generation apparatus comprising:

an acquisition part that acquires a sound signal; and

a generation part that generates a masker sound signal obtained by changing a sequence of arrangement of the sound signal acquired by the acquisition part, wherein the generation part performs a normalization process of limiting fluctuation in time domain of a sound volume of the masker sound signal within a predetermined range during the course of generating the masker sound signal.

12. The masker sound generation apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the generation part divides the sound signal acquired by the acquisition part into a plurality of sections each having a predetermined time length, and performs a process of limiting an average sound volume of each of the sections within a predetermined range as the normalization process.

13. The masker sound generation apparatus according to claim 12, wherein, during the normalization process, the generation part determines a representative value of the average sound volume among the plurality of sections, then obtains a correction coefficient to equalize the average sound volume of each section with the representative value, and corrects the sound signal of each section using the correction coefficient obtained per section.

14. The masker sound generation apparatus according to claim 12, wherein, during the normalization process, the generation part determines a representative value of the average sound volume among the plurality of sections, then obtains a correction coefficient to limit a difference between the average sound volume of each section and the representative value within a predetermined range, and corrects the sound signal of each section using the correction coefficient obtained per section.

15. A computer readable storage medium containing program executable by a computer to perform:

acquiring a sound signal;

generating a masker sound signal obtained by changing a sequence of arrangement in the acquired sound signal; and

carrying out a normalization process of limiting fluctuation in time domain of a sound volume of the masker sound signal within a predetermined range during the course of generating the masker sound signal.