Patents by Inventor Hiroshi Iwai

Hiroshi Iwai 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: 10473456
    Abstract: A driving control system includes: an imaging device that is installed on a moving body and that images a target object in a first frame period a plurality of times to generate a multiple-exposure image data including a first image data and a second image data; and a processor that detects a relative motion state of the moving body with respect to the target object, based on the first image data and the second image data. The imaging device images the target object with a first sensitivity in a first exposure period in the first frame period to generate the first image data and images the target object with a second sensitivity in a second exposure period in the first frame period to generate the second image data, the second exposure period being different from the first exposure period, the second sensitivity being different from the first sensitivity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kazuko Nishimura, Yasuo Miyake, Yoshiaki Satou, Osamu Shibata, Hiroshi Iwai
  • Publication number: 20190304123
    Abstract: In order to accurately identify a boundary between an object and a space, an identification apparatus includes circuitry that receives first distance image information obtained by imaging an object from a first point, using an imaging apparatus and second distance image information obtained by imaging the object from a second point different from the first point, using the imaging apparatus, derives first distance information from the first point to a plurality of feature points of the object based on the first distance image information and derives second distance information from the second point to the plurality of feature points based on the second distance image information, identifies a boundary between the object and a space based on the first distance information and the second distance information, and outputs an identification result from the identifying to an external apparatus.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2019
    Publication date: October 3, 2019
    Applicant: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi IWAI, Osamu SHIBATA, Tetsuro OKUYAMA
  • Publication number: 20190293791
    Abstract: An image capture control device includes a recognition unit that determines whether a peripheral situation corresponds to a predetermined situation based on image data, and a controller that controls an infrared light irradiation unit to increase a pulse number of transmission pulses to be emitted to a target, when the recognition unit determines that the peripheral situation corresponds to the predetermined situation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2019
    Publication date: September 26, 2019
    Applicant: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi IWAI, Hiroshi IWAMURA, Osamu SHIBATA, Tomohiro HONDA, Tomohito NAGATA
  • Publication number: 20190287256
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus that is mounted on a vehicle that runs on a road surface includes: a light source that emits illumination light which is infrared light; a solid-state imaging device that images a subject and outputs an imaging signal indicating a light exposure amount; and a computator that computes subject information regarding the subject by using the imaging signal. The solid-state imaging device includes: first pixels that image the subject by receiving reflected light that is the illumination light reflected off the subject; and second pixels that image the subject by receiving visible light. Information indicated by an imaging signal outputted from the first pixels is information regarding a slope of the road surface, and information indicated by an imaging signal outputted from the second pixels is information regarding an appearance of the road surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2019
    Publication date: September 19, 2019
    Inventors: Kenji IWAHASHI, Hiroki SHINDE, Tomohiro HONDA, Noritaka SHIMIZU, Hiroshi IWAI, Osamu SHIBATA
  • Publication number: 20190266425
    Abstract: In order to accurately identify a posture of an occupant of a moving object, identification apparatus which identifies the posture of the occupant of the moving object includes distance measurer that determines a feature point of the occupant based on an infrared image or a distance image each obtained by imaging apparatus and derives a distance to the feature point by using a time of flight distance measurement method, and identifier that identifies the posture of the occupant based on the distances to a plurality of the feature points.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 22, 2019
    Publication date: August 29, 2019
    Applicant: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi IWAI, Koji ARATA, Osamu SHIBATA, Tetsuro OKUYAMA
  • Publication number: 20190253597
    Abstract: A camera system includes an imaging device that acquires a first image by a normal exposure including only one exposure and that acquires a second image by a multiple exposure including a plurality of exposures; and an image processor that extracts a feature value of a first object in the first image and that identifies one or more locations corresponding to the feature value in the second image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 25, 2019
    Publication date: August 15, 2019
    Inventors: YOSHIAKI SATOU, SANSHIRO SHISHIDO, YASUO MIYAKE, KAZUKO NISHIMURA, HIROSHI IWAI, OSAMU SHIBATA
  • Patent number: 10371810
    Abstract: An object detection device that detects an obstacle in an object by transmitting a signal by a transmission unit, and using reflection signals by a receiving unit, the device including: a sidewall detection circuit that determines whether the vehicle is running on a road having the sidewall, based on an azimuth angle of the object, a distance from the vehicle to the object, Doppler velocities of the reflection signals, and intensities of the reflection signals; a multiple reflection position detection circuit that detects multiple reflection wave components from the reflection signals, based on the Doppler velocities, the azimuth angle, and the reflection intensities when the road is determined to have the sidewall; a detection exclusion range setting circuit that removes the detected multiple reflection wave components from the reflection signals; and an object detection circuit that detects the object using the reflection signals with the multiple reflection wave components removed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2019
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Iwai, Hirofumi Nishimura, Asako Hamada
  • Publication number: 20190219891
    Abstract: An imaging control device includes a controller and an input section. The controller causes an image sensor to, during at least one first frame period, capture at least one first multiple exposure image by using a first exposure signal that contains a plurality of pulses having a plurality of pulse widths different from one another; the image sensor is configured to capture an image by making multiple exposure. The input section receives the at least one first multiple exposure image. The controller selects one pulse width from the plurality of pulse widths, based on the first multiple exposure image received by the input section and then causes the image sensor to, during a second frame period, capture the image by using a second exposure signal that contains a pulse having the selected pulse width; the second frame period follows the first frame period.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 24, 2017
    Publication date: July 18, 2019
    Inventors: HIROSHI IWAI, OSAMU SHIBATA, KAZUKO NISHIMURA, YASUO MIYAKE, YOSHIAKI SATOU
  • Publication number: 20190198540
    Abstract: An image generation device includes a receiver and a controller. The receiver receives travel information about the travel state of a movable-body apparatus. The controller selects, based on the travel information, a first partial region from an entirety of a plurality of pixels of an image sensor or an entirety of image data captured by the image sensor, and generates image data in which a region other than the first partial region has a resolution lower than the resolution of the first partial region. The image sensor is to be mounted to the movable-body apparatus and is configured to capture an area in a traveling direction of the movable-body apparatus.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 6, 2019
    Publication date: June 27, 2019
    Inventors: OSAMU SHIBATA, HIROSHI IWAI, KAZUKO NISHIMURA, YASUO MIYAKE, YOSHIAKI SATOU
  • Patent number: 10283776
    Abstract: The present invention provides an electrode material comprising at least one of metal compound powder and carbon powder, the powder having an average particle size of 50 ?m or less and an activation energy E? of 0.05 eV or less. Further, the powder preferably has hopping conduction characteristics at room temperature of 25° C. Furthermore, the powder preferably has an amount of oxygen defects of 1×1018 cm?3 or more. Still further, the powder preferably has a carrier density of 1×1018 cm?3 or more. Due to above structure, there can be provided an electrode material having a high storage capacity and a high charge/discharge efficiency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2019
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Materials Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Akito Sasaki, Hideyuki Oozu, Yoshinori Kataoka, Kuniyuki Kakushima, Wei Li, Hiroshi Iwai
  • Publication number: 20190118823
    Abstract: There is provided a road surface detection apparatus which can precisely estimate a road surface grade. The road surface detection apparatus includes: an inputter that receives an input of an image signal from an imaging apparatus; a distance measurer that divides a road surface into a plurality of cells based on the image signal, and derives a distance to a representative point of each of the cells by a time of flight distance measurement method; and an estimator that estimates a gradient of the road surface based on the distances to a plurality of representative points.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 24, 2018
    Publication date: April 25, 2019
    Applicant: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tetsuro OKUYAMA, Hiroshi IWAI, Osamu SHIBATA, Takehiro TANAKA
  • Publication number: 20190113332
    Abstract: A driving control system includes: an imaging device that is installed on a moving body and that images a target object in a first frame period a plurality of times to generate a multiple-exposure image data including a first image data and a second image data; and a processor that detects a relative motion state of the moving body with respect to the target object, based on the first image data and the second image data. The imaging device images the target object with a first sensitivity in a first exposure period in the first frame period to generate the first image data and images the target object with a second sensitivity in a second exposure period in the first frame period to generate the second image data, the second exposure period being different from the first exposure period, the second sensitivity being different from the first sensitivity.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 12, 2018
    Publication date: April 18, 2019
    Inventors: KAZUKO NISHIMURA, YASUO MIYAKE, YOSHIAKI SATOU, OSAMU SHIBATA, HIROSHI IWAI
  • Publication number: 20190072648
    Abstract: There is provided an imaging control apparatus which can improve distance measurement precision of a time of flight distance measurement method. The imaging control apparatus includes: a clustering processor which clusters a region from which a feature point is extracted based on an infrared image or a distance image obtained by an imaging apparatus; and a distance measurer which derives a distance to a target corresponding to the region by a time of flight distance measurement method based on information of each pixel in the region clustered by the clustering processor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2018
    Publication date: March 7, 2019
    Applicant: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi IWAI, Tetsuro OKUYAMA, Osamu SHIBATA, Takehiro TANAKA
  • Publication number: 20180343373
    Abstract: An imaging device includes: an imager that includes first pixels having sensitivity to visible light and second pixels having sensitivity to non-visible light, the imager acquiring first image data from the first pixels and acquiring second image data from the second pixels, each of the first image data and the second image data containing an image of an object that displays a code through non-visible light; and an image processor. The image processor performs a correction process including a process of multiplying at least either the first image data or the second image data by a correction factor, generates third image data from a difference between a pair of image data obtained by the correction process, and extracts the code on the basis of the third image data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 22, 2018
    Publication date: November 29, 2018
    Inventors: YOSHIAKI SATOU, KAZUKO NISHIMURA, YASUO MIYAKE, OSAMU SHIBATA, HIROSHI IWAI
  • Publication number: 20180278861
    Abstract: An objective is recognition of the travel direction of an object captured in an image frame. An image generating apparatus includes: a receiver circuit that receives a single exposure frame created by a single exposure and a multiple exposure frame created by multiple exposures after the single exposure frame, the single exposure frame and the multiple exposure frame being output from an image sensor; and a control circuit that specifies a starting point of a motion track of an object in the multiple exposure frame in accordance with a position of the object in the single exposure frame and a position of the same object in the multiple exposure frame.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2018
    Publication date: September 27, 2018
    Applicant: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LT D.
    Inventors: Osamu SHIBATA, Hiroshi IWAI, Kazuko NISHIMURA, Yasuo MIYAKE, Yoshiaki SATOU
  • Publication number: 20180278862
    Abstract: An object is to extract the motion tracks of other vehicles from an image taken from a target vehicle. An image generating apparatus includes: a determiner circuit that determines whether surroundings of the target vehicle are in a dark place; and a control circuit that causes an image sensor including a high-sensitivity cell and a highly-saturated cell to create a highly-saturated frame by multiple exposures through the highly-saturated cell, the highly-saturated cell having lower sensitivity and larger charge storage capacity than the high-sensitivity cell, when the determiner circuit determines that the surroundings of the target vehicle are in the dark place.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2018
    Publication date: September 27, 2018
    Applicant: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LT D.
    Inventors: Osamu SHIBATA, Hiroshi IWAI, Kazuko NISHIMURA, Yasuo MIYAKE, Yoshiaki SATOU
  • Publication number: 20180275279
    Abstract: An environment monitoring system being mountable on a vehicle and including: a light source that emits invisible light; a plurality of first optical/electrical converters that output a signal indicating an amount of incident light, upon reception of invisible light emitted from the light source and reflected off a target in a first visual field that is a part of visual field in surroundings of the vehicle; a plurality of second optical/electrical converters that constitute a optical/electrical converter array together with the plurality of first optical/electrical converters and output a signal indicating an amount of incident light, upon reception of visual light from a second visual field containing the first visual field; and a control device that derives a distance to the target in accordance with output signals from the plurality of first optical/electrical converters. The light source emits invisible light toward the first visual field.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2018
    Publication date: September 27, 2018
    Applicant: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi IWAI, Osamu SHIBATA, Tomohiro HONDA, Tomohito NAGATA
  • Publication number: 20170256797
    Abstract: The present invention provides an electrode material comprising at least one of metal compound powder and carbon powder, the powder having an average particle size of 50 ?m or less and an activation energy E? of 0.05 eV or less. Further, the powder preferably has hopping conduction characteristics at room temperature of 25° C. Furthermore, the powder preferably has an amount of oxygen defects of 1×1018 cm?3 or more. Still further, the powder preferably has a carrier density of 1×1018 cm?3 or more. Due to above structure, there can be provided an electrode material having a high storage capacity and a high charge/discharge efficiency.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 27, 2015
    Publication date: September 7, 2017
    Applicants: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA MATERIALS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Akito SASAKI, Hideyuki OOZU, Yoshinori KATAOKA, Kuniyuki KAKUSHIMA, Wei LI, Hiroshi IWAI
  • Publication number: 20170212231
    Abstract: An object detection device that detects an obstacle in an object by transmitting a signal by a transmission unit, and using reflection signals by a receiving unit, the device including: a sidewall detection circuit that determines whether the vehicle is running on a road having the sidewall, based on an azimuth angle of the object, a distance from the vehicle to the object, Doppler velocities of the reflection signals, and intensities of the reflection signals; a multiple reflection position detection circuit that detects multiple reflection wave components from the reflection signals, based on the Doppler velocities, the azimuth angle, and the reflection intensities when the road is determined to have the sidewall; a detection exclusion range setting circuit that removes the detected multiple reflection wave components from the reflection signals; and an object detection circuit that detects the object using the reflection signals with the multiple reflection wave components removed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 24, 2016
    Publication date: July 27, 2017
    Inventors: HIROSHI IWAI, HIROFUMI NISHIMURA, ASAKO HAMADA
  • Patent number: 9343536
    Abstract: A semiconductor device according to an embodiment includes a first semiconductor layer, a second semiconductor layer provided on the first semiconductor layer and having a wider band gap than the first semiconductor layer, a source electrode and a drain electrode provided on the second semiconductor layer, wherein at least one of the source electrode and the drain electrode includes a plurality of protrusions on a side in contact with the second semiconductor layer, and a gate electrode provided between the source electrode and the drain electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2016
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Wataru Saito, Kazuo Tsutsui, Hiroshi Iwai, Kuniyuki Kakushima, Hitoshi Wakabayashi