Information processing device

Abstract

Record audio while protecting privacy. [Solution] Voice change processing is applied to the sound picked up by the microphone, and the voice-changed sound is stored in the memory unit.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus.

Background Art

[0002] A drive recorder records the voices inside the vehicle in accordance with the images inside and outside the vehicle during driving. Such voices can be used to investigate the cause of an event such as an accident. However, from the perspective of privacy, there are users who do not want their voices to be recorded.

[0003] Therefore, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for recording voice data only when an event occurs.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] However, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, when the occurrence of an event cannot be appropriately detected, voice data is not recorded, and it becomes impossible to investigate the cause of the occurrence of the event based on the voice.

[0006] One example of the problem to be solved by the present invention is to record voices while protecting privacy.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0007] In order to solve the above problems, the invention according to claim 1 includes a voice processing unit that performs voice conversion processing on the voice collected by a microphone, and a storage unit that stores the voice on which the voice conversion processing has been performed.

[0008] The invention described in claim 11 is an information processing method performed by a computer, comprising: an audio processing step of applying voice-changing processing to audio picked up by a microphone; and a storage processing step of storing the audio that has undergone the voice-changing processing in a storage unit.

[0009] The invention described in claim 12 involves having a computer execute the information processing method described in claim 11.

[0010] The invention described in claim 13 stores the information processing program described in claim 12. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0011] [Figure 1] This figure shows an information processing device 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] This figure shows a control unit 110 according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] This figure shows the processing operation in an information processing device according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0012] An information processing device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes an audio processing unit that applies voice-changing processing to audio picked up by a microphone, and a storage unit that stores the audio after the voice-changing processing has been applied. Thus, in this embodiment, only the audio after the voice-changing processing has been applied is stored in the storage unit. Therefore, in this embodiment, even if the audio stored in the storage unit is heard by a third party, the third party will not be able to identify who the speaker is. In other words, in this embodiment, it is possible to record audio while protecting privacy.

[0013] The voice processing performed by the voice processing unit may be limited to a portion of the sound picked up by the microphone. This makes it possible to record the sound other than the limited portion without voice processing.

[0014] Some of the aforementioned sounds may have frequencies between 400Hz and 700Hz. In this way, only sounds in the frequency range of the human voice will be subjected to voice-changing processing. As a result, it becomes possible to record sounds other than the human voice without voice-changing processing, while protecting privacy.

[0015] Some of the aforementioned sounds may be the voice of a specific person, or the voice of a person other than the specific person. In this way, it becomes possible to record audio while protecting the privacy of a specific person.

[0016] The information processing device may further include a speaker identification unit that determines whether the person speaking is a predetermined person based on the sound recorded by the microphone and / or the image captured by the camera. In this way, it becomes possible to determine whether or not the voice of a specific person is speaking.

[0017] The information processing device may further include a voice determination unit that determines whether or not a person is speaking based on an image captured by a camera, and the voice-changing processing applied by the voice processing unit may be limited to the voice captured while it is determined that a person is speaking. In this way, it becomes possible to record sounds other than those of an object speaking without voice-changing processing, while protecting privacy.

[0018] The aforementioned microphone may be configured to capture sound from inside the mobile vehicle. This makes it possible to record sound while protecting the privacy of the occupants inside the mobile vehicle.

[0019] The interior of the moving body is divided into a plurality of regions, and a microphone for picking up the sound of each of the plurality of regions is installed, and the voice subjected to voice change processing by the voice processing unit may be the voice picked up by some of the plurality of microphones installed in the moving body. By doing so, it becomes possible to record the voice while protecting the privacy of a person in a specific area.

[0020] Two microphones are installed in the moving body, and the information processing unit further has a voice generation position specifying unit that specifies the position where the voice occurred based on the voices picked up by the two microphones, and the voice subjected to voice change processing by the voice processing unit may be the voice generated within a predetermined area. By doing so, it becomes possible to record the voice while protecting the privacy of a person in a specific area.

[0021] The information processing device may further have a temporary storage unit that temporarily stores the voice picked up by the microphone. By doing so, for example, when it is necessary to identify the speaker in the investigation of the cause of an event such as an accident, it becomes possible to use the voice stored in the storage unit.

[0022] Further, an information processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention is an information processing method executed by a computer, and includes a voice processing step of performing voice change processing on the voice picked up by a microphone, and a storage processing step of storing the voice subjected to the voice change processing in a storage unit. Thus, in the present embodiment, only the voice subjected to voice change processing is stored in the storage unit. Therefore, in the present embodiment, even if the voice stored in the storage unit is heard by a third party, the third party cannot identify who the speaker is. That is, in the present embodiment, it is possible to record the voice while protecting the privacy.

[0023] In addition, an information processing program according to an embodiment of the present invention causes a computer to execute the above information processing method. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is possible to record voice while protecting privacy using a computer.

[0024] Also, a computer-readable storage medium according to an embodiment of the present invention stores the above information processing program. Therefore, in this embodiment, the above information processing program can be distributed alone in addition to being incorporated into a device, and it is possible to easily perform version updates and the like.

Example

[0025] <Information processing device 100> FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an information processing device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The information processing device 100 is a device installed in an automobile (mobile body) such as a drive recorder or a smartphone, for example, and stores voice inside the automobile. The information processing device 100 may transmit the stored voice to a client (external device).

[0026] The information processing device 100 includes a control unit 110, a storage unit 120, a microphone 130, a communication unit 140, and a camera 150. The control unit 110 is configured by a computer having a CPU or the like. The storage unit 120 is a storage device such as a hard disk or a memory, for example. The microphone 130 is a device that picks up sound. The communication unit 140 is a communication device for transmitting and receiving information to and from other devices. The camera 150 is a device that takes pictures.

[0027] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the control unit 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The control unit 110 includes a voice processing unit 111, a storage processing unit 112, and a transmission processing unit 113.

[0028] The audio processing unit 111 applies voice-changing processing to the audio picked up by the microphone 130. Voice-changing processing is a process that transforms the audio so that the person speaking cannot be identified, while the content of the conversation remains understandable. Examples of such voice transformation processes include pitch shifting, formant shifting, delay processing, echo processing, and combinations of these processes.

[0029] The memory processing unit 112 stores the voice that has been processed by the voice processing unit 111 in the memory unit 120. The transmission processing unit 113 transmits the voice stored in the memory unit 120 to an external device via the communication unit 130.

[0030] Thus, in this embodiment, only voice-changed audio is stored in the storage unit 120. Therefore, in this embodiment, even if the audio stored in the storage unit 120 is heard by a third party, the third party will not be able to identify who the speaker is. Furthermore, in this embodiment, only voice-changed audio is transmitted to the external device. Therefore, in this embodiment, even if the audio transmitted to the external device is heard by a third party, the third party will not be able to identify who the speaker is. In other words, this embodiment makes it possible to record audio while protecting privacy.

[0031] The memory processing unit 112 may store the audio picked up by the microphone 130 in the memory unit 120, and the transmission processing unit 113 may transmit the voice-changed audio, which has been processed by the audio processing unit 111, to an external device via the communication unit 130. In this way, it is possible to prevent a third party from identifying who the speaker is by the audio transmitted to the external device, while the memory unit 120 can record audio that has not been processed by voice change, and the audio stored in the memory unit 120 can be used when it is necessary to identify the speaker.

[0032] In this case, the memory processing unit 112 should encrypt the audio picked up by the microphone 130 and store the encrypted audio in the memory unit 120. Furthermore, it is preferable to encrypt the audio so that only a specific person (for example, a user of the information processing device 100) can decrypt it. By doing so, even if the data stored in the memory unit 120 is obtained by a third party, it becomes possible to prevent the third party from decrypting the data, and thus it becomes possible to prevent the audio stored in the memory unit 120 from being heard by a third party.

[0033] Figure 3 shows the processing operation in an information processing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. The voice processing unit 111 applies voice change processing to the voice picked up by the microphone 130 (step S301). The storage processing unit 112 stores the voice that has been processed by the voice processing unit 111 in the storage unit 120 (step S302). The transmission processing unit 113 transmits the voice stored in the storage unit 120 to an external device (step S303).

[0034] <Processing for specific audio> The audio processing unit 111 may apply voice-changing processing to all of the audio picked up by the microphone, or it may apply voice-changing processing to only a portion of the audio picked up by the microphone.

[0035] The audio processing unit 111 can, for example, apply voice-changing processing only to sounds with frequencies between 400Hz and 700Hz from the audio picked up by the microphone. In this way, only sounds in the frequency range of the human voice will be subjected to voice-changing processing. As a result, it becomes possible to record sounds other than the human voice without applying voice-changing processing, while protecting privacy.

[0036] Furthermore, the audio processing unit 111 may, for example, apply voice-changing processing only to the voice of a specific person. In this way, it becomes possible to record audio while protecting the privacy of a particular person.

[0037] Furthermore, the audio processing unit 111 may, for example, apply voice-changing processing only to the voices of people other than a specific person. In this way, it becomes possible to record audio while protecting the privacy of people other than the specific person.

[0038] In this case, the control unit 110 may include, for example, a speaker identification unit 114 that determines whether or not the person speaking is a predetermined person based on the sound recorded by the microphone 130 and / or the image captured by the camera 150.

[0039] For example, the memory unit 120 may store information about a predetermined person's voice, such as voice data and voice characteristics, and the voice-speaking person identification unit 114 may use existing voice analysis technology to determine whether or not the voice of a predetermined person is included in the voice recorded by the microphone 130, based on this stored information and the voice recorded by the microphone 130. Alternatively, for example, the memory unit 120 may store information about a predetermined person's face, such as image data of the face and facial characteristics, and the voice-speaking person identification unit 114 may use existing image analysis technology to determine whether or not the voice of a predetermined person is speaking, based on this stored information and the image captured by the camera 150.

[0040] The control unit 110 may include a voice detection unit 115 that determines whether or not a person is speaking based on the image captured by the camera 150. The voice detection unit 115 uses, for example, existing image analysis technology to determine whether or not there is a person speaking in the image captured by the camera 150. The voice processing unit 111 may then apply voice change processing only to the audio captured while it is determined that a person is speaking. In this way, it becomes possible to record sounds other than those while a person is speaking without applying voice change processing, while protecting privacy.

[0041] <Processing of audio generated in a specific area> The interior of the vehicle may be divided into multiple areas, and a microphone 130 may be installed in each area, with each of the microphones 130 recording the sound in the area where it is installed. The audio processing unit 111 may then apply voice-changing processing only to the sound picked up by some of the microphones 130. In this way, it becomes possible to record sound while protecting the privacy of people in specific areas.

[0042] For example, the microphone 130 may include a microphone that picks up only the driver's voice (driver's seat microphone), a microphone that picks up only the passenger's voice (passenger seat microphone), and a microphone that picks up only the rear seat's voice (rear seat microphone). The audio processing unit 111 may then apply voice-changing processing only to the voice picked up by the driver's seat microphone. In this way, it becomes possible to record audio while protecting the driver's privacy. Alternatively, the audio processing unit 111 may apply voice-changing processing only to the voice picked up by the passenger seat microphone and the rear seat microphone. In this way, it becomes possible to record audio while protecting the privacy of people other than the driver.

[0043] Alternatively, two microphones 130 may be installed in the vehicle. By measuring the time difference between the sounds picked up by the two microphones 130, it is possible to determine the location where the sound picked up by the microphones 130 originated. Therefore, the control unit 110 may have a sound origination location identification unit 116 that identifies the location where the sound originated based on the sounds picked up by the two microphones 130. Furthermore, the sound processing unit 111 may apply voice change processing only to sounds that originated within a predetermined area. In this way, it is possible to record sound while protecting the privacy of people in a specific area.

[0044] <Temporary storage of audio that has not undergone voice-changing processing> The control unit 110 may also have a temporary storage processing unit 117 that temporarily stores the sound picked up by the microphone 130 in the storage unit 120. The temporary storage processing unit 117 may, for example, store the sound picked up by the microphone 130 in the storage unit 120 and erase the sound from the storage unit 120 after a predetermined time has elapsed since it was stored. In this case, for example, the information processing device 100 may have means for acquiring information indicating that an event such as an accident has occurred in the vehicle in which the information processing device 100 is installed, and the temporary storage processing unit 117 may prevent the sound temporarily stored in the storage unit 120 from being erased when an event such as an accident occurs. In this way, it becomes possible to store the sound before and after the occurrence of an event such as an accident in the storage unit 120 without voice change processing. As a result, it becomes possible to use the sound stored in the storage unit 120 when it is necessary to identify the speaker in order to investigate the cause of an event such as an accident.

[0045] The information processing device 100 may have a storage device in addition to the storage unit 120, and the temporary storage processing unit 117 may store the audio picked up by the microphone 130 in this storage device instead of the storage unit 120.

[0046] The present invention has been described above with reference to preferred embodiments. Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific examples, various modifications and changes can be made to these examples without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as described in the claims. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0047] 100 Information Processing Devices 110 Control Unit 111 Audio Processing Unit 112 Memory Processing Unit 113 Transmission Processing Unit 114 Voice Person Identification Unit 115 Voice detection unit 116. Sound generation location identification unit 117 Temporary Storage Processing Unit 120 Storage section 130 microphones 140 Communications Department 150 Cameras

Claims

[Claim 1] A voice processing unit that applies voice-changing processing to the audio picked up by the microphone, An information processing apparatus having a storage unit for storing the voice that has undergone the voice-changing process.

Images