Patents by Inventor Hirohito Mukai

Hirohito Mukai 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: 9225411
    Abstract: Transmission output detectors extract transmission outputs of a plurality of transmission branches, and an inter-branch error detector detects a combined signal level of the transmission outputs of the transmission branches to obtain an error detection signal. A correction controller calculates an amplitude error between the transmission branches based on an error detection signal, and calculates a phase error between the transmission branches based on an error detection signal which is obtained by changing the phases of the transmission branches. A phase controller and an amplitude controller correct the amplitude error and the phase error.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michiaki Matsuo, Junji Sato, Hirohito Mukai
  • Patent number: 9217790
    Abstract: A radar apparatus transmits a high-frequency transmission signal, and receives a signal of a reflective wave reflected by a target. Given a first code sequence of a first code length, a second code sequence of a second code length which is longer than the first code sequence, and a third code sequence obtained by inverting each code of the first code sequence, a first transmission signal obtained by modulating the first code sequence, a second transmission signal obtained by modulating the second code sequence, a third transmission signal obtained by modulating the third code sequence and a fourth transmission signal obtained by modulating the second code sequence are generated in a first transmission period, a second transmission period, a third transmission period and a fourth transmission period respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takaaki Kishigami, Yoichi Nakagawa, Hirohito Mukai
  • Patent number: 9213091
    Abstract: A radio frequency transmission signal is transmitted from a transmission antenna with a predetermined transmission period, and a signal of a reflected wave reflected from a target is received by a reception antenna. A code generator generates a first code sequence and second code sequence that constitute a pair of complementary codes. A first modulator modulates the first code sequence to generate a first transmission signal. A second modulator modulates the second code sequence to generate a second transmission signal. A quadrature modulator performs quadrature modulation by using the generated first and second transmission signals. The radio frequency transmission signal is generated from a signal that is quadrature modulated, and transmitted from the transmission antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takaaki Kishigami, Yoichi Nakagawa, Hirohito Mukai
  • Patent number: 9194939
    Abstract: A pulse signal is produced in a pulse generating section, and repetitively transmitted from an antenna at constant time intervals. A reception signal, received through an antenna and including a reflective wave from an object, is amplified and gain-adjusted. Thereafter, a distance detecting section detects a reception pulse of the reflected wave, and calculates the distance to the object. The variable attenuator attenuates the reception signal by a gain adjusted in accordance with a gain control signal. The gain of the variable attenuator is controlled so as to be maximum immediately after the pulse signal is transmitted, and to be reduced with elapse of time. Based on a gain adjustment timing signal, a gain adjustment timing when the attenuation amount is changed is made different for each transmission of the pulse signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hirohito Mukai, Takaaki Kishigami, Yoichi Nakagawa
  • Patent number: 9182478
    Abstract: A radar device includes a signal generator that generates an intermittent signal having a prescribed signal width and signal interval, a transmission signal position adjuster that outputs a transmission signal while adjusting positions of the intermittent signal on the time axis, an RF transmitter that transmits the transmission signal, an RF receiver that receives a reception signal including reflection waves reflected from an object in a measurement subject space, an AD converter that converts the reception signal into a digital signal, and an object detector that detects the object based on the reception signal. The transmission signal position adjuster outputs a transmission signal in which positions of respective signal units of the intermittent signal on the time axis are adjusted in units of a time adjustment amount that is shorter than a sampling interval of the AD converter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hirohito Mukai, Takaaki Kishigami, Yoichi Nakagawa
  • Patent number: 9134405
    Abstract: A radar apparatus transmits a radio frequency transmission signal from a transmitter antenna in a given transmission period, and receives a signal of a reflected wave reflected by a target via a receiver antenna. The radar apparatus includes a transmission signal generator that generates a first transmission signal obtained by modifying a code having a third sub-code sequence and a fourth sub-code sequence coupled to each other in a first transmission period, and generates a second transmission period obtained by modifying a code having a fifth sub-code sequence and a sixth sub-code sequence coupled to each other in a second transmission period, and a transmitter RF unit that converts the first and second transmission signals into radio frequency transmission signals, and transmits the radio frequency transmission signals from the transmitter antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takaaki Kishigami, Yoichi Nakagawa, Hirohito Mukai
  • Patent number: 9128182
    Abstract: A radar receiver has plural antenna system processors each for performing coherent integration on the basis of correlation values between a reception signal and a transmission signal using correction amounts for phase variations corresponding to plural Doppler frequencies, plural correlation matrix generators for generating, for each of the plural different Doppler frequencies, correlation matrices which are pieces of phase difference information relating to an arrangement of reception antennas on the basis of sets of outputs of the coherent integration, respectively, an adder for adding together outputs of the plural correlation matrix generators, and an incoming direction estimator for estimating an incoming direction of reflection waves on the basis of outputs of the adder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takaaki Kishigami, Yoichi Nakagawa, Hirohito Mukai
  • Patent number: 9097791
    Abstract: The disclosed technique includes transmitting a signal intermittently according to a transmission cycle having a predetermined transmission period and a non-transmission period; receiving the signal reflected from a target with reception antennas; and detecting the target from the reflected signal. A high-frequency transmission signal attenuated during the transmission period and a receipt signal received during the non-transmission period are combined together. A correlation value between a reference transmission signal and the receipt signal in the combined signal is calculated, and the amount of phase shift in an arbitrarily selected reception antenna is calculated from the correlation value of a reference reception antenna, and the correlation values of the other reception antennas. The phase component of the correlation value of the arbitrarily selected reception antenna is corrected on the basis of the amount of phase shift.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takaaki Kishigami, Hirohito Mukai, Yoichi Nakagawa
  • Publication number: 20150139352
    Abstract: Transmission output detectors extract transmission outputs of a plurality of transmission branches, and an inter-branch error detector detects a combined signal level of the transmission outputs of the transmission branches to obtain an error detection signal. A correction controller calculates an amplitude error between the transmission branches based on an error detection signal, and calculates a phase error between the transmission branches based on an error detection signal which is obtained by changing the phases of the transmission branches. A phase controller and an amplitude controller correct the amplitude error and the phase error.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 12, 2014
    Publication date: May 21, 2015
    Inventors: Michiaki Matsuo, Junji Sato, Hirohito Mukai
  • Patent number: 9031163
    Abstract: Transmission outputs of a plurality of transmission branches (101, 102) are extracted by coupler sections (161, 162). Branch detectors (121, 122) respectively detect the levels of the extracted signals of the respective transmission branches and a combination detector (130) detects an output obtained by combining two extracted outputs from the transmission branches by a signal combining section (110). An amplitude error is detected and corrected by comparing output levels of the branch detectors (121, 122), and a phase error is detected and corrected by an output level of the combination detector (130).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Michiaki Matsuo, Tadashi Morita, Takaaki Kishigami, Hirohito Mukai
  • Publication number: 20150061915
    Abstract: A radar transmitter Txs (s=1) generates a baseband transmission signal by modulating a first code sequence having a prescribed code length on the basis of a first transmission timing signal and gives a first transmission phase shift corresponding to each transmission cycle to the transmission signal. A radar receiver Txs (s=2) generates a baseband transmission signal by modulating a second code sequence having the prescribed code length on the basis of a second transmission timing signal and gives, to the transmission signal, a second transmission phase shift that correspond to each transmission cycle and opposite to the first transmission phase.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 7, 2012
    Publication date: March 5, 2015
    Inventors: Takaaki Kishigami, Hirohito Mukai
  • Patent number: 8948236
    Abstract: Disclosed are a radio terminal device and the like, which achieve an improvement in the accuracy of ranging between a UWB reader and a UWB tag regardless of whether an active method or a semi-passive method. In a terminal (300), a timing control unit (340) outputs, to a transmission amplifier (350), a control signal for performing on-off control such that on the basis of the reception timing of a pulse signal transmitted from a base station (200) and a representative value of a circuit delay time required from when a reception pulse signal is received until a transmission pulse signal generated in response to a detection signal of the reception pulse signal is transmitted, the transmission amplifier (350) amplifies a reradiation pulse generated in response to a detection signal of the pulse signal transmitted from the base station (200); and a re-reradiation pulse generated in response to a detection signal of the reradiation pulse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hirohito Mukai, Takashi Fukagawa, Yoichi Nakagawa
  • Publication number: 20140327567
    Abstract: Each antenna system processor performs coherent integration on a prescribed number of correlation values between a reception signal and a transmission code. A correlation matrix generator generates a correlation matrix on the basis of coherent integration values. A distance estimator estimates a distance to a target. A direction vector storage is stored with direction vectors each of which includes an azimuth component with respect to a target and an elevation angle component of a line connecting a transmission antenna and the target in which a prescribed direction is used as a reference. An incoming direction estimator estimates a signal incoming direction from the target using the correlation matrix and the direction vectors in which the elevation angle component range is restricted on the basis of the distance to the target.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2012
    Publication date: November 6, 2014
    Applicant: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Takaaki Kishigami, Hirohito Mukai
  • Publication number: 20140192923
    Abstract: Transmission outputs of a plurality of transmission branches (101, 102) are extracted by coupler sections (161, 162). Branch detectors (121, 122) respectively detect the levels of the extracted signals of the respective transmission branches and a combination detector (130) detects an output obtained by combining two extracted outputs from the transmission branches by a signal combining section (110). An amplitude error is detected and corrected by comparing output levels of the branch detectors (121, 122), and a phase error is detected and corrected by an output level of the combination detector (130).
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 1, 2012
    Publication date: July 10, 2014
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michiaki Matsuo, Tadashi Morita, Takaaki Kishigami, Hirohito Mukai
  • Publication number: 20140111367
    Abstract: A pulse transmission controller generates transmission timing signals for a high-frequency radar transmission signal in every transmission cycle. A transmission phase shifter gives a transmission signal generated by a modulator phase shifts each corresponding to a transmission cycle on the basis of the transmission timing signals generated at intervals that are equal to the transmission cycle. A reception phase shifter gives a reception signal that is output from an A/D converter reception phase shifts that are opposite in direction to the respective transmission phase shifts given by the transmission phase shifter on the basis of the transmission timing signals generated at intervals that are equal to the transmission cycle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 9, 2012
    Publication date: April 24, 2014
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takaaki Kishigami, Hirohito Mukai, Tadashi Morita
  • Publication number: 20140085128
    Abstract: A first radar transmitter and a second radar transmitter transmit a first modulation signal and a second modulation signal which are generated by repeating a predetermined time of code sequences, each of which has a predetermined code length, using a first code width and a second code width, respectively. An A/D converter converts the modulation signal into a discrete signal in a sampling cycle shorter than a difference between the first code width and the second code width. A positioning section separates a plurality of reception signals using a first correlation value based on outputs from the A/D converter and a first delay section corresponding to the first code width and a second correlation value based on outputs from the A/D converter and a second delay section corresponding to the second code width.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2012
    Publication date: March 27, 2014
    Applicant: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Takaaki Kishigami, Yoichi Nakagawa, Hirohito Mukai
  • Publication number: 20140064264
    Abstract: A WiGig wireless device partially performs a masking processing on a preamble of a transmission signal frame and generates a repetition pattern of the same pulse capable of being used in a correlation detection of a sensor. That is, a repetition pattern of a Golay code is output by intermittently performing the masking processing on the Golay code sequence. The sensor performs the correlation detection using a pulse compression technology, thereby detecting the antenna radiation pattern even in an environment where a reflected wave is generated, by separating the direct wave and the reflected wave.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 23, 2013
    Publication date: March 6, 2014
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tadashi Morita, Takaaki Kishigami, Hirohito Mukai
  • Patent number: 8665153
    Abstract: Provided is an array signal processing device capable of, when a spatial averaging method is applied to array signal processing, reducing the number of antennas constituting an array antenna while making use of the spatial averaging method. In the array signal processing device (300), an array antenna (310) comprises four antennas (311-1 to 311-4) disposed at the four vertices of a parallelogram. Correlation calculation units (341-1, 2) calculate, based on a received signal, spatial correlation matrices for respective sub-array antenna (312-1) and sub-array antenna (312-2), the sub-array antenna (312-1) comprising the antennas (311-1, 3) disposed at the opposing two vertices and the antenna (311-2), the sub-array antenna (312-2) comprising the antennas (311-1, 3) and the antenna (311-4). An array rotation unit (342) converts a first spatial matrix of the calculated two spatial matrices to the complex conjugate thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Yoichi Nakagawa, Takashi Fukagawa, Hirohito Mukai
  • Patent number: 8659477
    Abstract: Provided are a distance measuring device and a distance measuring method which can easily distinguish a reflected signal from a desired tag from an unnecessary wave so as to improve the distance measuring accuracy even when IR-UWB is used for measuring a distance. The method uses a reader ID indicated by a code string formed by P bits (P is a natural number) for identifying a base station and a tag ID indicated by a code string formed by Q bits (Q is a natural number) for identifying a radio terminal. The method generates a unique word containing P pulses, each of which is ON/OFF-modulated depending on whether each of P bits indicating the reader ID is 1 or 0. The method generates a frame containing 2 M unique words and a burst containing Q frames. The method further outputs a transmission signal containing a plurality of bursts. A radio terminal Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)—modulates the transmission signal depending on whether each of the Q bits indicating the tag ID is 1 or 0.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Takashi Fukagawa, Yasunari Kimura, Yoichi Nakagawa, Hirohito Mukai
  • Publication number: 20130241766
    Abstract: Under control of a first transmission code controlling section, a first radar transmitting section periodically transmits a first radar transmission signal with a first transmission period based on a first transmission trigger signal produced after elapse of a first delay time period from reception of a predetermined synchronization establishment signal by a first transmission trigger signal producing section. Under control of a second transmission code controlling section, a second radar transmitting section periodically transmits a second radar transmission signal with a second transmission period similarly. In accordance with the first delay time period and the second delay time period, arrival times of interference signals from the first radar transmitting section and the second radar transmitting section are within transmission zones of the second radar transmission signal and the first radar transmission signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2011
    Publication date: September 19, 2013
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takaaki Kishigami, Yoichi Nakagawa, Hirohito Mukai