Patents by Inventor Tomokuni Iijima

Tomokuni Iijima 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).

  • Publication number: 20230401816
    Abstract: A detection system includes: an obtainer that obtains image data generated based on an amount of light received by each of a plurality of pixels from a detection target and event data generated based on a change in an amount of light received by each of a plurality of pixels from the detection target; a processor that extracts, from the event data as auxiliary information, information to be used to assist in detecting the detection target from the image data; and a detector that detects the detection target or a state of the detection target based on at least the image data and the auxiliary information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 24, 2023
    Publication date: December 14, 2023
    Inventors: Manabu YUMINE, Shoji SO, Shigeru FURUMIYA, Michihiro YAMAGATA, Yutaka SONODA, Hiroshi IWAI, Tomokuni IIJIMA, Yoshimitsu NOGUCHI, Makoto YARINO, Yusuke NIHEI
  • Patent number: 11012630
    Abstract: An image processor includes: an image sensor which outputs a short exposure image and a long exposure image; a sensor controller which controls first and second exposure sensitivities; a motion blending ratio calculator which calculates a motion blending ratio based on a motion amount of a subject; a motion-adapted image synthesizer which generates a motion-adapted image based on the motion blending ratio; and an HDR image synthesizer which synthesizes the motion-adapted image and the short exposure image, to generate an HDR image. The sensor controller controls the first exposure sensitivity: so that the first exposure time changes from increasing to constant and the first sensor gain changes from constant to increasing, when the brightness of the subject decreases from a first subject brightness; and so that the first exposure time changes to increasing and the first sensor gain changes to constant, when the brightness decreases from a second subject brightness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshimitsu Noguchi, Tomokuni Iijima, Katsuyuki Morita, Shigeru Furumiya
  • Patent number: 10970827
    Abstract: An image processor includes: an image sensor outputting a short exposure image and a long exposure image; a sensor controller that, when brightness of the subject changes, controls first exposure sensitivity to cause the short exposure image to have first brightness and controls second exposure sensitivity to cause the long exposure image to have second brightness; a motion blending ratio calculator calculating a motion blending ratio based on a motion amount of the subject; a motion-adapted image synthesizer generating a motion-adapted image by synthesizing a corrected short exposure image and the long exposure image based on the motion blending ratio; and an HDR image synthesizer generating an HDR image by synthesizing the motion-adapted image and the short exposure image together. When the subject becomes darker, the sensor controller controls the first and second exposure sensitivities to cause the first sensor gain to be at most the second sensor gain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tomokuni Iijima, Nobutoshi Fujinami, Shigeru Furumiya
  • Publication number: 20200175660
    Abstract: An image processor includes: an image sensor outputting a short exposure image and a long exposure image; a sensor controller that, when brightness of the subject changes, controls first exposure sensitivity to cause the short exposure image to have first brightness and controls second exposure sensitivity to cause the long exposure image to have second brightness; a motion blending ratio calculator calculating a motion blending ratio based on a motion amount of the subject; a motion-adapted image synthesizer generating a motion-adapted image by synthesizing a corrected short exposure image and the long exposure image based on the motion blending ratio; and an HDR image synthesizer generating an HDR image by synthesizing the motion-adapted image and the short exposure image together. When the subject becomes darker, the sensor controller controls the first and second exposure sensitivities to cause the first sensor gain to be at most the second sensor gain.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 4, 2019
    Publication date: June 4, 2020
    Applicant: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tomokuni IIJIMA, Nobutoshi FUJINAMI, Shigeru FURUMIYA
  • Patent number: 8395693
    Abstract: An image pickup apparatus of the present invention includes: a lens array having a plurality of lenses; a plurality of image pickup regions disposed to correspond to the plurality of lenses one-to-one and each having a light receiving surface substantially perpendicular to a direction in which an optical axis of the corresponding lens extends; a temperature sensor (126) disposed in the vicinity of the lens array to detect a temperature; a movement distance estimating portion (139) configured to estimate movement distances of all the optical axes of the plurality of lenses based on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor (126); an image pickup signal correcting portion (135) configured to correct an image pickup signal, generated in the image pickup region, based on the movement distances estimated by the movement distance estimating portion (139); and a parallax calculating portion (142) configured to calculate a parallax based on the image pickup signal corrected by the image pickup signal correct
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Tomokuni Iijima, Satoshi Tamaki
  • Patent number: 8390703
    Abstract: An image pickup apparatus of the present invention includes: a lens array having a plurality of lenses; a plurality of image pickup regions (123) disposed to correspond to the plurality of lenses one-to-one and each including a light receiving surface substantially perpendicular to a direction in which an optical axis of the corresponding lens extends; a temperature sensor (126) disposed in the vicinity of the lens array to detect a temperature; a correction coefficient generating portion (142) configured to generate, based on the temperature, correction coefficients including correction coefficients correlated to magnifications of images taken in the image pickup regions; and a correction calculating portion (143, 144) configured to correct, based on the correction coefficients, image pickup signals generated in the image pickup regions and calculate a parallax using the corrected image pickup signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Tomokuni Iijima, Satoshi Tamaki
  • Patent number: 8212912
    Abstract: The number of thermal sensors in an imaging device that requires temperature measurement is reduced. The imaging device includes: a lens array (112) including lenses; an imaging element (122) provided at a predetermined distance from the lens array (112) and having imaging areas respectively corresponding to the lenses; a light-shielding wall (113) which partitions a space between the lens array and the imaging element so as to prevent light entering each of the lenses from reaching the imaging areas different from a corresponding one of the imaging areas; an imaging signal input unit (133) configured to generate an imaging signal by digitalizing an electric signal provided by the imaging element; and a temperature estimation unit (143) configured to calculate, from the imaging signal, a length of an image of the light-shielding wall projected on an imaging plane of the imaging element, and to estimate a temperature using the calculated length of the image of the light-shielding wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2012
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Tomokuni Iijima, Satoshi Tamaki
  • Patent number: 8107000
    Abstract: The present invention includes: a plurality of lens portions, each having at least one lens; a plurality of image pickup regions which are provided to correspond to the lens portions, respectively, and each of which has a light receiving surface substantially perpendicular to a direction of an optical axis of the corresponding lens portion; an image pickup signal input portion 133 which receives image pickup signals generated by the image pickup regions; a transfer range determining portion 144 which determines a transfer range of the image pickup signals transferred from the image pickup regions to the image pickup signal input portion 133; an image pickup region driving portion 132 which drives the image pickup regions such that the image pickup signals corresponding to the transfer range determined by the transfer range determining portion 144 are transferred to the image pickup signal input portion 133; and a parallax calculating portion 142 which calculates a parallax based on the image pickup signals tr
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2012
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Tomokuni Iijima, Katsumi Imada, Satoshi Tamaki
  • Publication number: 20110304746
    Abstract: An imaging device (1) includes a camera unit (3) that captures images of the same object, respectively, using two optical systems, a face part detection unit (9) that detects a plurality of face parts composing a face included in each of the images captured by the camera unit (3), a face part luminance calculation unit (10) that calculates luminance of the detected plurality of face parts, and an exposure control value determination unit (12) that determines an exposure control value of the camera unit (3) based on the luminance of the plurality of face parts. A distance measurement unit (17) in the imaging device (1) measures distances to the face parts based on the images captured by the camera unit (3) using the exposure control value. Thus, the imaging device (1) can measure the distances to the face parts with high accuracy.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 17, 2010
    Publication date: December 15, 2011
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomokuni Iijima, Satoshi Tamaki, Tomoyuki Tsurube, Kenji Oka, Kensuke Maruya
  • Patent number: 8023016
    Abstract: A small, low-profile imaging device that obtains imaging signals having similar light intensity distributions for different colored light, even when there is variability in component precision or assembly. The imaging device (101) includes a plurality of lens units (113) each including at least one lens, a plurality of imaging areas corresponding one-to-one with the plurality of lens units, and each having a light receiving surface (123) substantially perpendicular to an optical axis direction of the corresponding lens unit, an imaging signal input unit (133) that receives as input a plurality of imaging signals each output from a different one of the plurality of imaging areas, and an intensity correcting unit (142) that corrects the intensity of each of the plurality of imaging signals, so that the degree of correction changes depending on the position of the imaging area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2011
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Tomokuni Iijima, Takashi Ishikawa, Ikuo Numai, Masahito Hayakawa, Aki Takai
  • Patent number: 7999873
    Abstract: A plurality of lenses 102a to 102d arranged in the same plane form a plurality of subject images on a plurality of imaging regions 104a to 104d. Vertical line directions and horizontal line directions of the pixel arrangement in the respective plurality of imaging regions are equal to one another among the plurality of imaging regions. Further, at least one pair of subject images received by at least one pair of imaging regions having a parallax in the vertical line (or horizontal line) direction among the plurality of imaging regions are shifted from each other by a predetermined amount in the horizontal line (or vertical line) direction. By performing pixel shifting in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which a parallax is generated, it always is possible to obtain a high-resolution image even when the subject distance varies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2011
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Ichiro Oyama, Taku Hirasawa, Michiyoshi Nagashima, Tomokuni Iijima
  • Patent number: 7911516
    Abstract: A camera module that can be made thinner and achieves a beautiful image over an entire image region regardless of a subject distance is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2011
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Tomokuni Iijima, Takashi Ishikawa, Ikuo Numai, Masahito Hayakawa, Aki Takai
  • Publication number: 20100259648
    Abstract: An image pickup apparatus of the present invention includes: a lens array having a plurality of lenses; a plurality of image pickup regions (123) disposed to correspond to the plurality of lenses one-to-one and each including a light receiving surface substantially perpendicular to a direction in which an optical axis of the corresponding lens extends; a temperature sensor (126) disposed in the vicinity of the lens array to detect a temperature; a correction coefficient generating portion (142) configured to generate, based on the temperature, correction coefficients including correction coefficients correlated to magnifications of images taken in the image pickup regions; and a correction calculating portion (143, 144) configured to correct, based on the correction coefficients, image pickup signals generated in the image pickup regions and calculate a parallax using the corrected image pickup signals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 23, 2009
    Publication date: October 14, 2010
    Inventors: Tomokuni Iijima, Satoshi Tamaki
  • Publication number: 20100182484
    Abstract: An image pickup apparatus of the present invention includes: a lens array having a plurality of lenses; a plurality of image pickup regions disposed to correspond to the plurality of lenses one-to-one and each having a light receiving surface substantially perpendicular to a direction in which an optical axis of the corresponding lens extends; a temperature sensor (126) disposed in the vicinity of the lens array to detect a temperature; a movement distance estimating portion (139) configured to estimate movement distances of all the optical axes of the plurality of lenses based on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor (126); an image pickup signal correcting portion (135) configured to correct an image pickup signal, generated in the image pickup region, based on the movement distances estimated by the movement distance estimating portion (139); and a parallax calculating portion (142) configured to calculate a parallax based on the image pickup signal corrected by the image pickup signal correct
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 26, 2008
    Publication date: July 22, 2010
    Inventors: Tomokuni Iijima, Satoshi Tamaki
  • Publication number: 20100128140
    Abstract: The number of thermal sensors in an imaging device that requires temperature measurement is reduced. The imaging device includes: a lens array (112) including lenses; an imaging element (122) provided at a predetermined distance from the lens array (112) and having imaging areas respectively corresponding to the lenses; a light-shielding wall (113) which partitions a space between the lens array and the imaging element so as to prevent light entering each of the lenses from reaching the imaging areas different from a corresponding one of the imaging areas; an imaging signal input unit (133) configured to generate an imaging signal by digitalizing an electric signal provided by the imaging element; and a temperature estimation unit (143) configured to calculate, from the imaging signal, a length of an image of the light-shielding wall projected on an imaging plane of the imaging element, and to estimate a temperature using the calculated length of the image of the light-shielding wall.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 7, 2009
    Publication date: May 27, 2010
    Inventors: Tomokuni Iijima, Satoshi Tamaki
  • Patent number: 7718940
    Abstract: A plurality of imaging optical lenses (301a to 301c) form a plurality of subject images on a plurality of imaging regions (302a to 302c), respectively. When viewed along a direction parallel with optical axes, at least one straight line connecting corresponding points in at least one pair of the subject images that are formed by at least one pair of the imaging optical lenses is inclined with respect to a direction in which pixels are arranged in the imaging regions. In this way, a high-resolution image always can be obtained regardless of the subject distance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2010
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Taku Hirasawa, Ichiro Oyama, Tomokuni Iijima, Michiyoshi Nagashima
  • Patent number: 7590341
    Abstract: A camera module including: a lens portion including at least one lens; an imaging element; a fixed portion; a first elastic body that is provided on a side opposite to the imaging element side with respect to the lens and couples the lens portion and the fixed portion; and a second elastic body that is provided on the imaging element side with respect to the lens and couples the lens portion and the fixed portion. The first elastic body and the second elastic body have the same shape. The first elastic body and the second elastic body are arranged so as to oppose each other while sharing a common central axis. The second elastic body is arranged so that so that the shape of the second elastic body is different from a shape of the first elastic body projected in the optical axis direction of the lens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2009
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Tomokuni Iijima, Satoshi Tamaki, Takashi Haruguchi, Masaki Tagome
  • Publication number: 20090174804
    Abstract: The present invention includes: a plurality of lens portions, each having at least one lens; a plurality of image pickup regions which are provided to correspond to the lens portions, respectively, and each of which has a light receiving surface substantially perpendicular to a direction of an optical axis of the corresponding lens portion; an image pickup signal input portion 133 which receives image pickup signals generated by the image pickup regions; a transfer range determining portion 144 which determines a transfer range of the image pickup signals transferred from the image pickup regions to the image pickup signal input portion 133; an image pickup region driving portion 132 which drives the image pickup regions such that the image pickup signals corresponding to the transfer range determined by the transfer range determining portion 144 are transferred to the image pickup signal input portion 133; and a parallax calculating portion 142 which calculates a parallax based on the image pickup signals tr
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 10, 2007
    Publication date: July 9, 2009
    Inventors: Tomokuni Iijima, Katsumi Imada, Satoshi Tamaki
  • Publication number: 20090160997
    Abstract: A plurality of lenses 102a to 102d arranged in the same plane form a plurality of subject images on a plurality of imaging regions 104a to 104d. Vertical line directions and horizontal line directions of the pixel arrangement in the respective plurality of imaging regions are equal to one another among the plurality of imaging regions. Further, at least one pair of subject images received by at least one pair of imaging regions having a parallax in the vertical line (or horizontal line) direction among the plurality of imaging regions are shifted from each other by a predetermined amount in the horizontal line (or vertical line) direction. By performing pixel shifting in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which a parallax is generated, it always is possible to obtain a high-resolution image even when the subject distance varies.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 10, 2006
    Publication date: June 25, 2009
    Applicant: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Ichiro Oyama, Taku Hirasawa, Michiyoshi Nagashima, Tomokuni Iijima
  • Publication number: 20090127430
    Abstract: A plurality of imaging optical lenses (301a to 301c) form a plurality of subject images on a plurality of imaging regions (302a to 302c), respectively. When viewed along a direction parallel with optical axes, at least one straight line connecting corresponding points in at least one pair of the subject images that are formed by at least one pair of the imaging optical lenses is inclined with respect to a direction in which pixels are arranged in the imaging regions. In this way, a high-resolution image always can be obtained regardless of the subject distance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2006
    Publication date: May 21, 2009
    Applicant: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Taku Hirasawa, Ichiro Oyama, Tomokuni Iijima, Michiyoshi Nagashima