Patents by Inventor Kunihiko Ookawa

Kunihiko Ookawa 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: 10396459
    Abstract: A vehicle-mounted radar apparatus includes transmission antenna members and a transmitting section provided with an oscillator and phase shifters, a controller, a reception antenna member, and a receiving section. The transmission antenna members transmit radar waves. The oscillator generates radio waves necessary to transmit the radar waves. Each phase shifters changes a phase of the radio waves generated at the oscillator and supplies the phase-shifted radio waves to a corresponding one of the transmission antenna members. The controller controls the phase shifter. The reception antenna member receives reflected waves of the of the radar waves. The receiving section generates a reception signal including the reflected waves that are received through the reception antenna member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kunihiko Ookawa
  • Patent number: 10031211
    Abstract: A radar apparatus which includes a transmitting unit, a receiving unit, an I signal generating circuit, a Q signal generating circuit, a peak detecting circuit, a target detecting unit, and a distortion judging unit. The transmitting unit transmits a radar wave which is frequency-modulated along a time axis in a specified cycle, and the receiving unit receives an incoming wave which is a reflected wave of the radar wave transmitted by the transmitting means and amplifies it in an amplifier. The I signal generating circuit generates an I signal which is a real number component of a beat signal by mixing the incoming wave received and amplified by the receiving means with the radar wave transmitted by the transmitting unit. The Q signal generating circuit generates a Q signal which is an imaginary number component of a beat signal by mixing the incoming wave received and amplified by the receiving unit with the radar wave transmitted by the transmitting unit with a phase being shifted by ?/2 [rad].
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2018
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kunihiko Ookawa
  • Publication number: 20170170560
    Abstract: A vehicle-mounted radar apparatus includes transmission antenna members and a transmitting section provided with an oscillator and phase shifters, a controller controlling the phase shifter, a reception antenna member, and a receiving section. The oscillator generates radio waves for the radar waves transmitted from the transmission antenna. Each phase shifters changes a phase of the radio waves generated and supplies the phase-shifted radio waves to a corresponding one of the transmission antenna members. The reception antenna member receives reflected waves of the radar waves. The receiving section generates a reception signal including the reflected waves. For the noise reduction process, the controller controls the phase control, so that, of the received signals generated at the receiving section, a first leak component which is from reflected waves from objects other than a target object is subtracted from a second leak component leaking from the transmitting section to the receiving section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 10, 2014
    Publication date: June 15, 2017
    Inventor: Kunihiko Ookawa
  • Publication number: 20150378008
    Abstract: A radar apparatus which includes a transmitting unit, a receiving unit, an I signal generating circuit, a Q signal generating circuit, a peak detecting circuit, a target detecting unit, and a distortion judging unit. The transmitting unit transmits a radar wave which is frequency-modulated along a time axis in a specified cycle, and the receiving unit receives an incoming wave which is a reflected wave of the radar wave transmitted by the transmitting means and amplifies it in an amplifier. The I signal generating circuit generates an I signal which is a real number component of a beat signal by mixing the incoming wave received and amplified by the receiving means with the radar wave transmitted by the transmitting unit. The Q signal generating circuit generates a Q signal which is an imaginary number component of a beat signal by mixing the incoming wave received and amplified by the receiving unit with the radar wave transmitted by the transmitting unit with a phase being shifted by ?/2 [rad].
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 5, 2014
    Publication date: December 31, 2015
    Inventor: Kunihiko Ookawa
  • Patent number: 8957808
    Abstract: A phase array antenna includes an oscillator, a plurality of antenna elements, a phase shifter, a distributor, a receiving unit, and a control processor. The control processor performs a calibration process to select, from the antenna elements, a reference and target antenna elements to allow the radio waves generated by the oscillator to be provided for the reference and target antenna elements via the distributor, obtain a pattern of a change in a received power of radio waves received at the receiving unit, when a phase of the phase shifter for the reference antenna element is fixed and a phase of the phase shifter for the target antenna element is changed, extract, from the pattern obtained, the phase of the phase shifter for the target antenna element at which the received power becomes a local minimal value, and add the phase extracted to 180° to set its resultant value to a calibration value for the phase of the phase shifter for the target antenna element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2015
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventor: Kunihiko Ookawa
  • Patent number: 8593337
    Abstract: A phased array antenna includes an oscillator, a plurality of antenna elements, a phase shifter, a distributor, a receiver, and a control processor. The control processor performs a first calibration process to calibrate a phase of the phase shifter connected to a pair of antenna elements that is selected from the antenna elements and are located at a pair of positions symmetric with respect to a central axis of an array formed by the phased array antenna, and a second calibration process to calibrate a phase of the phase shifter connected to a pair of target antenna elements with respect to a phase of the phase shifter connected to a reference antenna elements located at a central portion of the array. The pair of target antenna elements are located at a pair of positions that are symmetric with respect to the central axis of the array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2013
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventor: Kunihiko Ookawa
  • Patent number: 8427362
    Abstract: A radar apparatus has a transmission array antenna for radiating electromagnetic waves containing a main lobe and a grating lobe in a transmission directivity, a reception array antenna for receiving electromagnetic waves radiated from the transmission array antenna and reflected from a target, and a microcomputer for setting the reception antenna in reception directivities one after another by placing a null point in a grating lobe receiving area of each directivity and placing the null points of the directivities at different positions. The microcomputer produces a reception signal, produced from the received electromagnetic waves containing the main lobe reflected from the target, every change of the reception directivity and detects the target from the average of the reception signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2013
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventor: Kunihiko Ookawa
  • Publication number: 20120146840
    Abstract: A phase array antenna includes an oscillator, a plurality of antenna elements, a phase shifter, a distributor, a receiving unit, and a control processor. The control processor performs a calibration process to select, from the antenna elements, a reference and target antenna elements to allow the radio waves generated by the oscillator to be provided for the reference and target antenna elements via the distributer, obtain a pattern of a change in a received power of radio waves received at the receiving unit, when a phase of the phase shifter for the reference antenna element is fixed and a phase of the phase shifter for the target antenna element is changed, extract, from the pattern obtained, the phase of the phase shifter for the target antenna element at which the received power becomes a local minimal value, and add the phase extracted to 180° to set its resultant value to a calibration value for the phase of the phase shifter for the target antenna element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 8, 2011
    Publication date: June 14, 2012
    Applicant: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kunihiko Ookawa
  • Publication number: 20120146841
    Abstract: A phased array antenna includes an oscillator, a plurality of antenna elements, a phase shifter, a distributor, a receiver, and a control processor. The control processor performs a first calibration process to calibrate a phase of the phase shifter connected to a pair of antenna elements that is selected from the antenna elements and are located at a pair of positions symmetric with respect to a central axis of an array formed by the phased array antenna, and a second calibration process to calibrate a phase of the phase shifter connected to a pair of target antenna elements with respect to a phase of the phase shifter connected to a reference antenna elements located at a central portion of the array. The pair of target antenna elements are located at a pair of positions that are symmetric with respect to the central axis of the array.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 8, 2011
    Publication date: June 14, 2012
    Applicant: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kunihiko Ookawa
  • Patent number: 8134495
    Abstract: A transmitter apparatus generates a RF pulse signal having alternating high-amplitude pulse-on intervals and low-amplitude pulse-off intervals, and supplies the RF pulse signal as respective individual transmission signals of antenna elements of an array antenna, with the individual transmission signals having a phase distribution during each pulse-on interval whereby a beam is transmitted from the antenna in a predetermined transmission direction. During each pulse-off interval, a different phase distribution is established for the individual transmission signals, thereby reducing the level of noise radiated in the transmission direction during each pulse-off interval.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2012
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Kunihiko Ookawa, Yasuyuki Miyake
  • Publication number: 20110063170
    Abstract: A radar apparatus has a transmission array antenna for radiating electromagnetic waves containing a main lobe and a grating lobe in a transmission directivity, a reception array antenna for receiving electromagnetic waves radiated from the transmission array antenna and reflected from a target, and a microcomputer for setting the reception antenna in reception directivities one after another by placing a null point in a grating lobe receiving area of each directivity and placing the null points of the directivities at different positions. The microcomputer produces a reception signal, produced from the received electromagnetic waves containing the main lobe reflected from the target, every change of the reception directivity and detects the target from the average of the reception signals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 8, 2010
    Publication date: March 17, 2011
    Applicant: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kunihiko Ookawa
  • Publication number: 20100214159
    Abstract: A transmitter apparatus generates a RF pulse signal having alternating high-amplitude pulse-on intervals and low-amplitude pulse-off intervals, and supplies the RF pulse signal as respective individual transmission signals of antenna elements of an array antenna, with the individual transmission signals having a phase distribution during each pulse-on interval whereby a beam is transmitted from the antenna in a predetermined transmission direction. During each pulse-off interval, a different phase distribution is established for the individual transmission signals, thereby reducing the level of noise radiated in the transmission direction during each pulse-off interval.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 18, 2010
    Publication date: August 26, 2010
    Applicant: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kunihiko Ookawa, Yasuyuki Miyake