Food texture presentation device, food texture presentation method and food texture presentation program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12205572-B2
Application number	US-202017912568-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 24, 2020
Priority date	Apr 24, 2020
Publication date	Jan 21, 2025
Grant date	Jan 21, 2025

Abstract

Disclosed is a food texture presentation apparatus including a synthesizer that acquires, with reference of a recipe of a food product selected, audio signals of mastication sounds of ingredients contained in the food product from a database and synthesizes the acquired audio signals of the ingredients into an audio signal of a food texture to be presented, and a presentation unit that uses the synthesized audio signal to present the food texture of the food product.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A food texture presentation apparatus comprising:
a synthesizer configured to:
select a predetermined number of ingredients among all ingredients contained in a food product based on an amount of each ingredient, wherein the predetermined number of ingredients are selected in a descending order of the amount of each ingredient;
acquire audio signals of mastication sounds of the selected predetermined number of ingredients from a database; and
synthesize the audio signals of the selected predetermined number of ingredients into an audio signal of a food texture to be presented; and

a presentation interface configured to use the synthesized audio signal to present the food texture of the food product.

2. The food texture presentation apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the presentation interface includes an audio speaker and a vibration speaker, and
the audio speaker presents the synthesized audio signal by a sound, and
the vibration speaker presents the synthesized audio signal by a vibration.

3. The food texture presentation apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the synthesizer is configured to process audio signals acquired from the database in accordance with a cooking method in a recipe and synthesize the processed audio signals, wherein the synthesizer is configured to adjust a frequency component based on a degree of hardness of the food product cooked using the cooking method.

4. The food texture presentation apparatus according to claim 1 , to synthesize the audio signals of the selected predetermined number of ingredients, the synthesizer is configured to superimpose the audio signals of the selected predetermined number of ingredients.

5. The food texture presentation apparatus according to claim 4 , to superimpose the audio signals of the selected predetermined number of ingredients, the synthesizer is configured to align starting positions of the audio signals of the selected predetermined number of ingredients.

6. The food texture presentation apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the synthesizer is configured to:
adjust a sound pressure of an audio signal of each ingredient based on the amount of each ingredient by normalizing or a compressor.

7. A food texture presentation method performed by a food texture presentation apparatus, the food texture presentation method comprising:
selecting a predetermined number of ingredients among all ingredients contained in a food product based on an amount of each ingredient, wherein the predetermined number of ingredients are selected in a descending order of the amount of each ingredient;
acquiring audio signals of mastication sounds of the selected predetermined number of ingredients from a database;
synthesizing the audio signals of the selected predetermined number of ingredients into an audio signal of a food texture to be presented;
using the synthesized audio signal to present the food texture of the food product.

8. The food texture presentation method according to claim 7 , wherein using the synthesized audio signal to present the food texture of the food product comprises:
using an audio speaker to present the synthesized audio signal by a sound, and
using a vibration speaker to present the synthesized audio signal by a vibration.

9. The food texture presentation method according to claim 7 , comprising:
processing audio signals acquired from the database in accordance with a cooking method and cooking time in a recipe and synthesizing the processed audio signals.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing one or more instructions causing a computer to operate as a food texture presentation apparatus to execute:
selecting a predetermined number of ingredients among all ingredients contained in a food product based on an amount of each ingredient, wherein the predetermined number of ingredients are selected in a descending order of the amount of each ingredient;
acquiring audio signals of mastication sounds of the selected predetermined number of ingredients from a database;
synthesizing the acquired audio signals of the ingredients into an audio signal of a food texture to be presented;
using the synthesized audio signal to present the food texture of the food product.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 10 , wherein using the synthesized audio signal to present the food texture of the food product comprises:
using an audio speaker to present the synthesized audio signal by a sound, and
using a vibration speaker to present the synthesized audio signal by a vibration.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 10 , wherein the one or more instructions cause the computer to execute:
processing audio signals acquired from the database in accordance with a cooking method in a recipe and synthesizing the processed audio signals.

Assignees

• Nippon Telegraph & Telephone

Inventors

• Niijima Arinobu
• Takeda Toki
• Mukouchi Takafumi
• Sato Takashi

Classifications

• H04R5/033

  Headphones for stereophonic communication {(details thereof, e.g. relating to batteries, cables or control elements H04R1/10)} · CPC title

• H04R2400/03

  Transducers capable of generating both sound as well as tactile vibration, e.g. as used in cellular phones · CPC title

• H04R3/14

  Cross-over networks · CPC title

• A23L35/00

  Foods or foodstuffs not provided for in groups A23L5/00 - A23L33/00; Preparation or treatment thereof (preservation thereof A23B) · CPC title

• G06F3/01

  Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer (G06F3/16 takes precedence) · CPC title