Patents by Inventor Kunio Nobori

Kunio Nobori 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: 10237519
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus includes an image-forming optical system that forms an image by using optical signals; an imaging device that includes a plurality of pixels, receives, with the plurality of pixels, the optical signals used to form the image, and converts the optical signals into electric signals; and a color filter that is located between the image-forming optical system and the imaging device and has a light transmittance which differs according to positions on the color filter corresponding to the plurality of pixels and according to a plurality of wavelength bands.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Satoshi Sato, Kunio Nobori, Takamasa Ando, Takeo Azuma, Nobuhiko Wakai
  • Publication number: 20190073535
    Abstract: There is provided an image capturing apparatus that captures a plurality of images, calculates a three-dimensional position from the plurality of images, and outputs the plurality of images and information about the three-dimensional position. The image capturing apparatus includes an image capturing unit, a camera parameter storage unit, a position calculation unit, a position selection unit, and an image complementing unit. The image capturing unit outputs the plurality of images using at least three cameras. The camera parameter storage unit stores in advance camera parameters including occlusion information. The position calculation unit calculates three dimensional positions of a plurality of points. The position selection unit selects a piece of position information relating to a subject area that does not have an occlusion, and outputs selected position information. The image complementing unit generates a complementary image, and outputs the complementary image and the selected position information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 30, 2018
    Publication date: March 7, 2019
    Inventors: Kunio NOBORI, Satoshi SATO, Takeo AZUMA
  • Patent number: 10212401
    Abstract: An imaging system serving as an image generation device is provided with: a random optical filter array that has a plurality of types of optical filters and a scattering unit; photodiodes that receive light transmitted through the random optical filter array; an AD conversion unit that converts the light received by the photodiodes, into digital data; and a color image generation circuit that generates an image, using the digital data and modulation information of the random optical filter array, in which the scattering unit is located between the plurality of types of optical filters and the photodiodes, and in which the scattering unit includes a material having a first refractive index, and a material having a second refractive index that is different from the first refractive index.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2019
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Satoshi Sato, Takeo Azuma, Kunio Nobori, Hisashi Watanabe, Takamasa Ando, Nobuhiko Wakai
  • Publication number: 20190028632
    Abstract: A camera parameter set calculation apparatus calculates three-dimensional coordinate sets based on a first image obtained by a first camera mounted on a mobile apparatus, a second image obtained by a second camera arranged on or in an object different from the mobile apparatus, a camera parameter set of the first camera, and a camera parameter set of the second camera, determines first pixel coordinate pairs obtained by projecting the three-dimensional coordinate sets onto the first image based on the first camera parameter set and second pixel coordinate pairs obtained by projecting the three-dimensional coordinate sets onto the second image based on the second camera parameter set, calculates an evaluation value based on pixel values at the first pixel coordinate pairs and pixel values at the second pixel coordinate pairs, and updates the camera parameter set of the first camera based on the evaluation value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 10, 2018
    Publication date: January 24, 2019
    Inventors: KUNIO NOBORI, NOBUHIKO WAKAI, SATOSHI SATO, TAKEO AZUMA
  • Publication number: 20190007594
    Abstract: A three-dimensional motion obtaining apparatus includes: a light source; a charge amount obtaining circuit that includes pixels and obtains, for each of the pixels, a first charge amount under a first exposure pattern and a second charge amount under a second exposure pattern having an exposure period that at least partially overlaps an exposure period of the first exposure pattern; and a processor that controls a light emission pattern for the light source, the first exposure pattern, and the second exposure pattern. The processor estimates a distance to a subject for each of the pixels on the basis of the light emission pattern and on the basis of the first charge amount and the second charge amount of each of the pixels obtained by the charge amount obtaining circuit, and estimates an optical flow for each of the pixels on the basis of the first exposure pattern, the second exposure pattern, and the first charge amount and the second charge amount obtained by the charge amount obtaining circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2018
    Publication date: January 3, 2019
    Inventors: SATOSHI SATO, SANSHIRO SHISHIDO, KATSUYA NOZAWA, TAKEO AZUMA, MASAAKI YANAGIDA, TAKEYOSHI TOKUHARA, KUNIO NOBORI
  • Patent number: 10157315
    Abstract: There is provided an image capturing apparatus that captures a plurality of images, calculates a three-dimensional position from the plurality of images, and outputs the plurality of images and information about the three-dimensional position. The image capturing apparatus includes an image capturing unit, a camera parameter storage unit, a position calculation unit, a position selection unit, and an image complementing unit. The image capturing unit outputs the plurality of images using at least three cameras. The camera parameter storage unit stores in advance camera parameters including occlusion information. The position calculation unit calculates three dimensional positions of a plurality of points. The position selection unit selects a piece of position information relating to a subject area that does not have an occlusion, and outputs selected position information. The image complementing unit generates a complementary image, and outputs the complementary image and the selected position information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2018
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kunio Nobori, Satoshi Sato, Takeo Azuma
  • Publication number: 20180316907
    Abstract: An image capturing apparatus: calculates, for each of pairs of images, based on the pairs of images and camera parameters, position information including information specifying a three-dimensional position of a measurement point with respect to a pair of pixels respectively included in the pair of images, and information specifying a position of each of the pair of pixels; performs, based on the position information and the camera parameters, weighted addition on the information specifying the three-dimensional position of the measurement point in each of the pair of images, with information using an effective baseline length or a viewing angle, with respect to the three-dimensional position, of a pair of the cameras corresponding to the pair of images; and outputs position information of the measurement point to which a weighted addition value is applied.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2018
    Publication date: November 1, 2018
    Inventors: TAKEO AZUMA, NOBUHIKO WAKAI, KUNIO NOBORI, SATOSHI SATO
  • Publication number: 20180316906
    Abstract: A camera parameter set calculation apparatus calculates three-dimensional coordinate sets corresponding to overlapping regions including images of a portion of a subject, based on a first and second images captured by a first and second cameras, a first camera parameter set of the first camera and a second camera parameter set of the second camera; determines first pixel coordinate pairs based on the first camera parameter set by projecting the three-dimensional coordinate sets on the first image; determines second pixel coordinate pairs based on the second camera parameter set by projecting the three-dimensional coordinate sets on the second image; calculates an evaluation value, based on pixel values at the first pixel coordinate pairs on the first image and pixel values at the second pixel coordinate pairs on the second image; and updates the first and second camera parameter sets based on the evaluation value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2018
    Publication date: November 1, 2018
    Inventors: KUNIO NOBORI, NOBUHIKO WAKAI, SATOSHI SATO, TAKEO AZUMA, MIKIYA NAKATA
  • Publication number: 20180316905
    Abstract: A camera parameter set calculation method including (a1) acquiring a first image captured by a first camera and a second image captured by a second camera, (a2) acquiring camera parameter sets of the first and second cameras, (a3) extracting, from the first image, a predetermined portion having assumed three-dimensional position information, (a4) calculating three-dimensional coordinate sets corresponding to the predetermined portion on a basis of the assumed three-dimensional position information, the first image, and the first camera parameter set, (a5) determining first pixel coordinate pairs and second pixel coordinate pairs corresponding to the predetermined portion in the first image and second image, respectively, on the basis of the three-dimensional coordinate sets, (a6) calculating an evaluation value on the basis of pixel values at the first pixel coordinate pairs and pixel values at the second coordinate pairs, (a7) updating the camera parameter sets on the basis of the evaluation value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2018
    Publication date: November 1, 2018
    Inventors: KUNIO NOBORI, NOBUHIKO WAKAI, SATOSHI SATO, TAKEO AZUMA, MIKIYA NAKATA
  • Publication number: 20180316912
    Abstract: Three-dimensional point group data indicating three-dimensional coordinate sets of three-dimensional points included in a common imaging space of one or more cameras is received, one or more images captured by the one or more cameras are transmitted, the one or more transmitted images are received, initial camera parameters of each cameras are decided based on one or more mounting locations and one or more directions of the cameras, corresponding points in the one or more images are calculated for each of the three-dimensional points, based on the three-dimensional point group data and the initial camera parameters, and one or more camera parameters of the one or more cameras are calculated based on pixel values at the corresponding points in the one or more images.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2018
    Publication date: November 1, 2018
    Inventors: NOBUHIKO WAKAI, TAKEO AZUMA, KUNIO NOBORI, SATOSHI SATO, MIKIYA NAKATA
  • Publication number: 20180309978
    Abstract: A camera parameter set calculation method includes acquiring a first image from a first camera, a second image from a second camera, first and second camera parameter sets of the first camera and the second camera, calculating three-dimensional coordinate sets on the basis of the first image, the second image, the first camera parameter set, and the second camera parameter set, determining first pixel coordinate pairs obtained by projecting the three-dimensional coordinate sets onto the first image and second pixel coordinate pairs obtained by projecting the three-dimensional coordinate sets onto the second image, calculating an evaluation value on the basis of the pixel values at the first pixel coordinate pairs and the pixel values at the second pixel coordinate pairs, and updating the first camera parameter set and the second camera parameter set on a basis of the evaluation value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 13, 2018
    Publication date: October 25, 2018
    Inventors: KUNIO NOBORI, NOBUHIKO WAKAI, SATOSHI SATO, TAKEO AZUMA
  • Publication number: 20180300901
    Abstract: A camera calibration method, which calculates camera parameters of two cameras using calibration points, includes: (a1) acquiring three-dimensional coordinate sets of the calibration points and image coordinate pairs of the calibration points in a camera image of each camera; (a2) acquiring multiple camera parameters of each camera; (a3) for each calibration point, calculating a view angle-corresponding length corresponding to a view angle of the two cameras viewing the calibration point; (a4) for each calibration point, calculating a three-dimensional position of a measurement point corresponding to a three-dimensional position of the calibration point using parallax of the calibration point between the two cameras; (a5) for each calibration point, weighting a difference between the three-dimensional coordinate set of the calibration point and the three-dimensional position of the measurement point corresponding to the calibration point using the view angle-corresponding length corresponding to the calibrati
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2018
    Publication date: October 18, 2018
    Inventors: NOBUHIKO WAKAI, TAKEO AZUMA, KUNIO NOBORI, SATOSHI SATO
  • Publication number: 20180300900
    Abstract: A camera calibration method which calculates camera parameters of at least three cameras (a1) acquires three-dimensional coordinate set of a calibration point and image coordinate pair of the calibration point in each camera image, (a2) acquires camera parameters of each camera, (a3) calculates a view angle-corresponding length corresponding to a view angle of each pair of cameras viewing the calibration point, (a4) calculates a three-dimensional position of a measurement point corresponding to a three-dimensional position of the calibration point for each camera pair using parallax of the calibration point between the cameras in the camera pair, (a5) weights the three-dimensional position of each measurement point using the view angle-corresponding length corresponding to the measurement point, (a6) calculates a three-dimensional position of a unified point of the weighted measurement points, and (a7) updates the camera parameters based on the three-dimensional coordinate set of the calibration point and the
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2018
    Publication date: October 18, 2018
    Inventors: NOBUHIKO WAKAI, TAKEO AZUMA, KUNIO NOBORI, SATOSHI SATO
  • Publication number: 20180286906
    Abstract: An imaging system serving as an image generation device is provided with: a random color filter array that has a plurality of concave lenses and a plurality of color filters having different transmission characteristics; a photodiode that receives light that has passed through the random color filter array; an AD converter that converts the light received by the photodiode into digital data; and a color image generation circuit that generates an image using the digital data and modulation information of the random color filter array, in which the plurality of concave lenses are located between the plurality of color filters and the photodiode, or the plurality of color filters are located between the plurality of concave lenses and the photodiode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 8, 2018
    Publication date: October 4, 2018
    Inventors: SATOSHI SATO, HISASHI WATANABE, TAKEO AZUMA, KUNIO NOBORI, NOBUHIKO WAKAI, TAKAMASA ANDO
  • Patent number: 10032253
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus includes an optical imaging system that converges light from an object; an imaging device that includes a plurality of pixels, receives the converged light, and converts the received light to an electric signal; a filter unit that is disposed between the optical imaging system and the imaging device and includes a plurality of color filters having different light transmission rate characteristics; and a transmission data compressing circuit that codes the electric signal. An overall light transmission rate characteristic of the filter unit differs randomly in different pixels of the imaging device, and the transmission data compressing circuit weights and codes the electric signal of each of the pixels by using a reciprocal of a proportion of the overall light transmission rate characteristic of the filter unit corresponding to each of the plurality of pixels of the imaging device relative to a wavelength characteristic common among the pixels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2018
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Satoshi Sato, Kunio Nobori, Takeo Azuma, Ayako Maruyama, Nobuhiko Wakai
  • Publication number: 20180184052
    Abstract: An imaging system serving as an image generation device is provided with: a random optical filter array that has a plurality of types of optical filters and a scattering unit; photodiodes that receive light transmitted through the random optical filter array; an AD conversion unit that converts the light received by the photodiodes, into digital data; and a color image generation circuit that generates an image, using the digital data and modulation information of the random optical filter array, in which the scattering unit is located between the plurality of types of optical filters and the photodiodes, and in which the scattering unit includes a material having a first refractive index, and a material having a second refractive index that is different from the first refractive index.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 14, 2017
    Publication date: June 28, 2018
    Inventors: SATOSHI SATO, TAKEO AZUMA, KUNIO NOBORI, HISASHI WATANABE, TAKAMASA ANDO, NOBUHIKO WAKAI
  • Patent number: 9998797
    Abstract: A comment-provided video generating apparatus includes: a display priority calculating unit which calculates a display priority for each of the comments and subject regions to which the comments are provided, based on comment information indicating comments to be superimposed and displayed on a video and display positions of the comments, and user information, by calculating a higher display priority for one of the comments and the subject regions specified by user information; a comment superimposing method determining unit which determines, as a method for superimposing the comments onto a video, an order of displaying the comments and the subject regions such that a comment or a subject region having a higher display priority is displayed at a position frontward than the others, according to the display priority; and an image composing unit which superimposes the comments on the video, according to the comment superimposing method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2018
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ayako Maruyama, Kunio Nobori, Koichi Hotta, Mikiya Nakata, Hidetsugu Maekawa
  • Publication number: 20180144502
    Abstract: A crossing point detector includes memory and a crossing point detection unit that reads out a square image from a captured image in the memory, and detects a crossing point of two boundary lines in a checker pattern depicted in the square image. The crossing point detection unit decides multiple parameters of a function model treating two-dimensional image coordinates as variables, the parameters optimizing an evaluation value based on a difference between corresponding pixel values represented by the function model and the square image, respectively, and computes the position of a crossing point of two straight lines expressed by the decided multiple parameters to thereby detect the crossing point with subpixel precision. The function model uses a curved surface that is at least first-order differentiable to express pixel values at respective positions in a two-dimensional coordinate system at the boundary between black and white regions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 5, 2017
    Publication date: May 24, 2018
    Inventors: NOBUHIKO WAKAI, TAKEO AZUMA, KUNIO NOBORI, SATOSHI SATO, AYAKO MARUYAMA
  • Publication number: 20180109763
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus in an embodiment includes lens optical systems each including a lens whose surface closest to the target object is shaped to be convex toward the target object, imaging regions which respectively face the lens optical systems and output a photoelectrically converted signal corresponding to an amount of light transmitting the lens optical systems and received by the imaging regions, and a light-transmissive cover which covers an exposed portion of the lens of each of the lens optical systems and a portion between the lens of one of the lens optical systems and the lens of another one of the lens optical systems adjacent to the one of the lens optical systems, the cover having a curved portion which is convex toward the target object. The optical axes of the lens optical systems are parallel to each other.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2017
    Publication date: April 19, 2018
    Inventors: Norihiro IMAMURA, Tsuguhiro KORENAGA, Kunio NOBORI, Takeo AZUMA, Kazufumi MIZUSAWA
  • Patent number: 9916690
    Abstract: This invention solves the problem that objects in the field of view of reading glasses using multifocal lenses for correcting ocular refractive errors such as presbyopia appear distorted. This image display device is provided with the following: a distance computation unit that computes the distance to a subject in a field-of-view image; a visual-acuity-information acquisition unit that stores visual-acuity information for the user in advance; a corrected-image generation unit that generates and outputs a corrected image on the basis of the field-of-view image and an eye image generated from the field-of-view image, the distance information, and the visual-acuity information; and a display unit that displays the corrected image by superimposing same onto the user's field of view. Since the corrected image is superimposed without the use of lenses, lenses being the cause of the abovementioned distortion, the user can see close objects clearly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kunio Nobori, Ayako Maruyama, Yumiko Kato, Tsuyoshi Inoue