Patents by Inventor Shinichi SADAHIRO

Shinichi SADAHIRO 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: 10969318
    Abstract: A hardness tester that loads a predetermined test force and forms an indentation in a surface of a sample using an indenter, and measures the hardness of the sample by measuring dimensions of the indentation includes a CCD camera that acquires an image of the surface of the sample before and after the indentation is formed. The CPU can execute a plurality of indentation region extraction processes that use mutually distinct methods, the indentation region extraction processes each extracting an indentation region based on the images acquired by the CCD camera. The CPU also makes a determination determining whether the indentation region extracted by the plurality of indentation region extraction processes matches a predefined reference indentation region, and based on an indentation region that is determined to match, the CPU calculates the hardness of the sample.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: MITUTOYO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shinichi Sadahiro
  • Publication number: 20190128787
    Abstract: A hardness tester that loads a predetermined test force and forms an indentation in a surface of a sample using an indenter, and measures the hardness of the sample by measuring dimensions of the indentation includes a CCD camera that acquires an image of the surface of the sample before and after the indentation is formed. The CPU can execute a plurality of indentation region extraction processes that use mutually distinct methods, the indentation region extraction processes each extracting an indentation region based on the images acquired by the CCD camera. The CPU also makes a determination determining whether the indentation region extracted by the plurality of indentation region extraction processes matches a predefined reference indentation region, and based on an indentation region that is determined to match, the CPU calculates the hardness of the sample.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2018
    Publication date: May 2, 2019
    Applicant: MITUTOYO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shinichi SADAHIRO
  • Patent number: 9146185
    Abstract: A hardness tester includes: an image capture control portion for obtaining an image data of the surface of the sample by controlling and making an image capture portion capture an image of the surface; an impression region extracting portion that binarizes the image data, applies reduction/expansion processing to the binarized image data, applies a distance conversion processing to the reduction/expansion processed image data, and extracts a closed region corresponding to a contour of the indenter by using the distance-converted image data; an impression vertex extracting portion that estimates the vertex for measuring the impression based on a profile of the closed region and extracts a point in the binarized image data, as the vertex for measuring the impression, that agrees with a predetermined condition; and a hardness calculating portion for calculating hardness of the sample based on the vertexes for measuring the impression.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2015
    Assignee: MITUTOYO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shinichi Sadahiro
  • Patent number: 9003871
    Abstract: A hardness tester includes an image pickup control section, an indentation region extraction section, an indentation apex extraction section and a hardness calculation section. The image pickup control section obtains picked-up image data of a sample's surface. The region extraction section binarizes the image data, determines based on the binarized image data whether an indentation region candidate is extracted, and when determining that the candidate is not extracted, obtains curvature image data, binarizes the curvature image data, erodes and dilates the binarized curvature image data, performs distance transform on the eroded-and-dilated curvature image data, and extracts a closed region corresponding to the indenter's shape using the distance-transformed curvature image data. The apex extraction section extracts an indentation-measurement-use apex based on the closed region. The hardness calculation section calculates the sample's hardness based on the apex.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Mitutoyo Corporation
    Inventor: Shinichi Sadahiro
  • Publication number: 20130125631
    Abstract: A hardness tester includes an image pickup control section, an indentation region extraction section, an indentation apex extraction section and a hardness calculation section. The image pickup control section obtains picked-up image data of a sample's surface. The region extraction section binarizes the image data, determines based on the binarized image data whether an indentation region candidate is extracted, and when determining that the candidate is not extracted, obtains curvature image data, binarizes the curvature image data, erodes and dilates the binarized curvature image data, performs distance transform on the eroded-and-dilated curvature image data, and extracts a closed region corresponding to the indenter's shape using the distance-transformed curvature image data. The apex extraction section extracts an indentation-measurement-use apex based on the closed region. The hardness calculation section calculates the sample's hardness based on the apex.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 6, 2012
    Publication date: May 23, 2013
    Applicant: MITUTOYO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shinichi SADAHIRO
  • Publication number: 20130068001
    Abstract: A hardness tester includes: an image capture control portion for obtaining an image data of the surface of the sample by controlling and making an image capture portion capture an image of the surface; an impression region extracting portion that binarizes the image data, applies reduction/expansion processing to the binarized image data, applies a distance conversion processing to the reduction/expansion processed image data, and extracts a closed region corresponding to a contour of the indenter by using the distance-converted image data; an impression vertex extracting portion that estimates the vertex for measuring the impression based on a profile of the closed region and extracts a point in the binarized image data, as the vertex for measuring the impression, that agrees with a predetermined condition; and a hardness calculating portion for calculating hardness of the sample based on the vertexes for measuring the impression.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 15, 2012
    Publication date: March 21, 2013
    Applicant: MITUTOYO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shinichi SADAHIRO