Patents by Inventor Hidetaro KONO

Hidetaro KONO has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11730354
    Abstract: A light source control device includes: a light source configured to intermittently emit pulse light; and a hardware processor configured to detect a vocal cord vibrational frequency of a subject based on a voice signal input from an external device, determine whether or not the vocal cord frequency is equal to or greater than a threshold value, and change a light emission frequency of the pulse light in one frame period based on image brightness based on an image signal when the vocal cord frequency is equal to or greater than the threshold value, and prohibit change in the light emission frequency and change the pulse width of the pulse light emitted by the light source based on the image brightness when the vocal cord frequency is not equal to or greater than the threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: SONY OLYMPUS MEDICAL SOLUTIONS INC.
    Inventor: Hidetaro Kono
  • Publication number: 20230136295
    Abstract: An endoscope system includes: a light source configured to emit a pulse light; an imager configured to capture an image on a frame by frame basis; a processor configured to: determine a first Duty target value representing a Duty ratio of the pulse light to make an image that is captured in a next imaging frame have intended brightness; based on a frequency of vocal cords, determine a light emission period at a time when the pulse light is emitted; based on the first duty target value and the light emission period, determine a pulse width of the pulse light that is emitted next; and based on the light emission period and the pulse width, control the light source in light emission.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 20, 2022
    Publication date: May 4, 2023
    Applicant: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hidetaro KONO
  • Publication number: 20230000329
    Abstract: A medical image processing device includes a processor configured to: obtain image data; generate, based on the obtained image data, a captured image including color component signals including a red component signal representing a red component, a green component signal representing a green component, and a blue component signal representing a blue component; calculate an intensity ratio between a fluorescent component signal and a reflected light component signal in a pixel of the captured image; determine, based on the calculated intensity ratio in the pixel of the captured image, a fluorescence region and a background region in the captured image; and generate a fluorescence image by performing, based on a result of the determination, image processing with parameters different from each other for color component signals in pixels positioned in the fluorescence region and color component signals in pixels positioned in the background region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2022
    Publication date: January 5, 2023
    Applicant: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hidetaro KONO, Yutaka KOYAMA, Kotaro OGASAWARA
  • Patent number: 11033173
    Abstract: A medical light source device includes: a light emitting element; and a processor comprising hardware. The processor is configured to: determine a light source control value; and control the light emitting element to emit light with a light emission amount according to the light source control value by controlling at least one of a supply time of a current and a current value that are supplied to the light emitting element. The processor is further configured to: turn off the light emitting element in the readout period, when the light source control value decreases from a first value to a second value; and turn on the light emitting element in the readout period, when the light source control value increases from a third value, different from the second value, to a fourth value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2021
    Assignee: SONY OLYMPUS MEDICAL SOLUTIONS INC.
    Inventor: Hidetaro Kono
  • Publication number: 20200405141
    Abstract: A light source control device includes: a light source configured to intermittently emit pulse light; and a hardware processor configured to detect a vocal cord vibrational frequency of a subject based on a voice signal input from an external device, determine whether or not the vocal cord frequency is equal to or greater than a threshold value, and change a light emission frequency of the pulse light in one frame period based on image brightness based on an image signal when the vocal cord frequency is equal to or greater than the threshold value, and prohibit change in the light emission frequency and change the pulse width of the pulse light emitted by the light source based on the image brightness when the vocal cord frequency is not equal to or greater than the threshold value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 19, 2020
    Publication date: December 31, 2020
    Applicant: Sony Olympus Medical Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Hidetaro Kono
  • Publication number: 20200297184
    Abstract: A medical light source device includes: a light emitting element; and a processor comprising hardware. The processor is configured to: determine a light source control value; and control the light emitting element to emit light with a light emission amount according to the light source control value by controlling at least one of a supply time of a current and a current value that are supplied to the light emitting element. The processor is further configured to: turn off the light emitting element in the readout period, when the light source control value decreases from a first value to a second value; and turn on the light emitting element in the readout period, when the light source control value increases from a third value, different from the second value, to a fourth value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2019
    Publication date: September 24, 2020
    Applicant: Sony Olympus Medical Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Hidetaro KONO
  • Patent number: 10038865
    Abstract: A communication system includes: a first signal line; a second signal line; a first signal line selection portion and a second signal line selection portion for selecting either one of the first signal line and the second signal line so as to be effective as the serial data; and a signal control portion for outputting a signal direction switching signal for controlling a selecting operation. The first signal line selection portion includes a first OR circuit and a first three-state buffer circuit provided on the first signal line, and a first buffer provided on the second signal line, and the second signal line selection portion includes a second OR circuit and a second three-state buffer circuit provided on the second signal line, a second buffer provided on the first signal line, and an inverter circuit provided between a terminal of the signal control portion and the second OR circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Assignee: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ryohei Kagawa, Hidetsugu Takahashi, Manabu Ishizeki, Hidetaro Kono
  • Publication number: 20170208275
    Abstract: A communication system includes: a first signal line; a second signal line; a first signal line selection portion and a second signal line selection portion for selecting either one of the first signal line and the second signal line so as to be effective as the serial data; and a signal control portion for outputting a signal direction switching signal for controlling a selecting operation. The first signal line selection portion includes a first OR circuit and a first three-state buffer circuit provided on the first signal line, and a first buffer provided on the second signal line, and the second signal line selection portion includes a second OR circuit and a second three-state buffer circuit provided on the second signal line, a second buffer provided on the first signal line, and an inverter circuit provided between a terminal of the signal control portion and the second OR circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 5, 2017
    Publication date: July 20, 2017
    Applicant: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ryohei KAGAWA, Hidetsugu TAKAHASHI, Manabu ISHIZEKI, Hidetaro KONO
  • Patent number: 9635341
    Abstract: A video processor includes: a judgement section configured to judge whether an input is a 2D or 3D image signal; an LR synthesis section configured to embed left and right image signals into an image signal in a side-by-side format to output the signal if the input is the 3D image signal and configured to embed a 2D image signal into a position corresponding to one of the left and right in an image signal in a side-by-side format to output the signal if the input is the 2D image signal; and an image processing section configured to apply image processing to the image signal in the side-by-side format.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masaru Sudo, Kentaro Hase, Masahito Yokouchi, Hitoshi Komine, Hidetaro Kono
  • Publication number: 20170039454
    Abstract: A video processor includes: a judgement section configured to judge whether an input is a 2D or 3D image signal; an LR synthesis section configured to embed left and right image signals into an image signal in a side-by-side format to output the signal if the input is the 3D image signal and configured to embed a 2D image signal into a position corresponding to one of the left and right in an image signal in a side-by-side format to output the signal if the input is the 2D image signal; and an image processing section configured to apply image processing to the image signal in the side-by-side format.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2016
    Publication date: February 9, 2017
    Applicant: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masaru SUDO, Kentaro HASE, Masahito YOKOUCHI, Hitoshi KOMINE, Hidetaro KONO
  • Patent number: 9237840
    Abstract: A light source system includes an endoscope having an illumination section and an illumination control section connected to the endoscope and provided with a drive circuit that generates drive pulses for driving the light source, the light source system including: a type information generating section that generates type information regarding the endoscope; a signal generating section generates a signal indicative of a duty ratio of the drive pulses which is permitted to the illumination section; a light adjusting section that outputs light-adjusted drive pulses having a duty ratio not greater than a permissible duty ratio based on the type information and a limiting section that limits the light-adjusted drive pulses to have a duty ratio not greater than a duty ratio based on the signal from the signal generating section, and provides limited pulses to the drive circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2016
    Assignee: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ryohei Kagawa, Hidetsugu Takahashi, Hidetaro Kono
  • Publication number: 20150141758
    Abstract: A light source system includes an endoscope having an illumination section and an illumination control section connected to the endoscope and provided with a drive circuit that generates drive pulses for driving the light source, the light source system including: a type information generating section that generates type information regarding the endoscope; a signal generating section generates a signal indicative of a duty ratio of the drive pulses which is permitted to the illumination section; a light adjusting section that outputs light-adjusted drive pulses having a duty ratio not greater than a permissible duty ratio based on the type information and a limiting section that limits the light-adjusted drive pulses to have a duty ratio not greater than a duty ratio based on the signal from the signal generating section, and provides limited pulses to the drive circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 21, 2015
    Publication date: May 21, 2015
    Applicant: OLYMPUS MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORP.
    Inventors: Ryohei KAGAWA, Hidetsugu TAKAHASHI, Hidetaro KONO