Patents by Inventor Tomoya Kimata

Tomoya Kimata 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: 8915695
    Abstract: In a transport system, carriers are attached to an endless belt configured to rotate in a circulating manner. At a station, a hand, a driver configured to move the hand in a rotation direction and a vertical direction, a moving distance sensor configured to measure a moving distance of the endless belt, a carrier sensor configured to detect one of the carriers at a position upstream of the hand along the rotation direction, and a signal processor configured to operate the hand are provided. To load an article, when the moving distance from a time point of detection of the carrier by the carrier sensor reaches a first moving distance, the hand is activated at a first acceleration, and to unload an article, when the moving distance from the time point of detection of the carrier by the carrier sensor reaches a second moving distance which is larger than the first moving distance, the hand is activated at a second acceleration which is larger than the first acceleration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2014
    Assignee: Murata Machinery, Ltd
    Inventor: Tomoya Kimata
  • Patent number: 8567586
    Abstract: In a transport system, a plurality of carriers are attached to an endless belt configured to rotate in a circulating manner. The carriers hold articles for transportation. Each of the carriers includes an identification target for carrier identification. A plurality of stations are provided, and each of the stations includes a hand configured to load articles to or unload articles from the carriers and a sensor configured to detect the identification target at a predetermined position upstream of the hand along a rotation direction of the belt. The carrier is identified, and an appearance of the carrier is recognized based on a signal from the sensor to operate the hand for a desired carrier. The carrier can be identified using the sensor to detect the position of the carrier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2013
    Assignee: Murata Machinery, Ltd.
    Inventor: Tomoya Kimata
  • Patent number: 8485343
    Abstract: In a transport system, a plurality of carriers are attached to an endless belt configured to rotate in a circulating manner. At a station, a hand, a driver configured to move the hand in a rotation direction and a vertical direction, a first carrier sensor configured to detect the carriers at a predetermined position upstream of the hand along the rotation direction of the endless driving medium, and a second carrier sensor configured to detect the carriers at a position downstream of the first carrier sensor are provided. When the carriers pass through the second carrier sensor, it is checked whether the moving distance of the belt matches the distance between the two carrier sensors. In this manner, before starting loading or unloading, for example, whether the encoder is operated normally or not can be confirmed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2013
    Assignee: Murata Machinery, Ltd.
    Inventor: Tomoya Kimata
  • Publication number: 20120067695
    Abstract: In a transport system, a plurality of carriers are attached to an endless belt configured to rotate in a circulating manner. The carriers hold articles for transportation. Each of the carriers includes an identification target for carrier identification. A plurality of stations are provided, and each of the stations includes a hand configured to load articles to or unload articles from the carriers and a sensor configured to detect the identification target at a predetermined position upstream of the hand along a rotation direction of the belt. The carrier is identified, and an appearance of the carrier is recognized based on a signal from the sensor to operate the hand for a desired carrier. The carrier can be identified using the sensor to detect the position of the carrier.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 2, 2009
    Publication date: March 22, 2012
    Applicant: MURATA MACHINERY, LTD.
    Inventor: Tomoya Kimata
  • Publication number: 20120067698
    Abstract: In a transport system, a plurality of carriers are attached to an endless belt configured to rotate in a circulating manner. At a station, a hand, a driver configured to move the hand in a rotation direction and a vertical direction, a first carrier sensor configured to detect the carriers at a predetermined position upstream of the hand along the rotation direction of the endless driving medium, and a second carrier sensor configured to detect the carriers at a position downstream of the first carrier sensor are provided. When the carriers pass through the second carrier sensor, it is checked whether the moving distance of the belt matches the distance between the two carrier sensors. In this manner, before starting loading or unloading, for example, whether the encoder is operated normally or not can be confirmed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 2, 2009
    Publication date: March 22, 2012
    Applicant: MURATA MACHINERY, LTD.
    Inventor: Tomoya Kimata
  • Publication number: 20120070260
    Abstract: In a transport system, carriers are attached to an endless belt configured to rotate in a circulating manner. At a station, a hand, a driver configured to move the hand in a rotation direction and a vertical direction, a moving distance sensor configured to measure a moving distance of the endless belt, a carrier sensor configured to detect one of the carriers at a position upstream of the hand along the rotation direction, and a signal processor configured to operate the hand are provided. To load an article, when the moving distance from a time point of detection of the carrier by the carrier sensor reaches a first moving distance, the hand is activated at a first acceleration, and to unload an article, when the moving distance from the time point of detection of the carrier by the carrier sensor reaches a second moving distance which is larger than the first moving distance, the hand is activated at a second acceleration which is larger than the first acceleration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 2, 2009
    Publication date: March 22, 2012
    Applicant: MURATA MACHINERY, LTD.
    Inventor: Tomoya Kimata
  • Patent number: 6614518
    Abstract: A multi-point light measuring system for sensing an optical characteristic such as illuminance at a plurality of measurement points with respect to the same illumination is configured by a single main unit, a plurality of light measuring units and a plurality of adapters for data communication. At least one light measuring unit and the main unit are connected by wired or wireless adapters, and each adjoining two light measuring units is connected by wired adapters. A controller of the main unit controls the light measuring units by commands transmitted by the adapters for obtaining light measuring data from the light measuring units and displays a measurement result on a display of the main unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2003
    Assignee: Minolta Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Norio Ishikawa, Norihisa Hosoi, Susumu Shirai, Michio Nishio, Ryuji Tsuji, Tomoya Kimata