Patents by Inventor Yasutoshi Horii

Yasutoshi Horii 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: 20080084286
    Abstract: The vehicle light control system includes a light device emitting an illumination light around an object vehicle on which the vehicle light control system is mounted, an information obtaining device obtaining integrated information including at least vehicle information indicating a behavior of the object vehicle, a control unit including an illumination target candidate setting function of setting a plurality of illumination target candidates which a driver of the object vehicle should pay attention on the basis of the integrated information, the plurality of the illumination target candidates being given a risk degree respectively, and a determination function of selecting an illumination target from among the plurality of the illumination target candidates on the basis of the risk degree, and an actuator device controlling the light device such that the illumination light is emitted in a direction of the illumination target.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 2, 2007
    Publication date: April 10, 2008
    Applicant: DENSO Corporation
    Inventors: Eiji Teramura, Yasutoshi Horii
  • Publication number: 20070182526
    Abstract: A security system includes a position detecting device, a sensing device, and a notifying device. The position detecting device detects a position of a vehicle. The sensing device senses a moving object that moves around the vehicle. The sensing device is mounted in the vehicle. The notifying device provides a notification when the position of the vehicle, which is detected by the position detecting device, indicates that the vehicle is parked at a predetermined position, and when the sensing means senses that the moving object is located in a predetermined range from the vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 31, 2007
    Publication date: August 9, 2007
    Applicant: DENSO Corporation
    Inventor: Yasutoshi Horii
  • Publication number: 20060028832
    Abstract: A control unit of a vehicular headlamp apparatus can selectively perform steering angle control and navigation-cooperative control. The steering angle control operates a drive mechanism based on a steering angle and a speed of a vehicle to control a headlamp's swivel angle. The navigation-cooperative control operates the drive mechanism using a navigation unit to control the swivel angle. When a current position of the vehicle reaches an entry control start point, the control unit starts navigation-cooperative control at the entry into a curved road. The control unit finds a target swivel angle based on a curvature radius and curved road direction information about the curved road. While the vehicle moves from the entry control start point to a curved road start point, the control unit operates the drive mechanism to gradually change the headlamp's swivel angle to the target swivel angle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 2, 2005
    Publication date: February 9, 2006
    Applicant: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasutoshi Horii, Junichi Hasegawa, Toshio Sugimoto
  • Publication number: 20050027419
    Abstract: A vehicle headlight apparatus receives road data from a navigation system. The apparatus has a first and a second swivel devices for adjusting an optical axis directions of a main light and a sub-light corresponding to one and the other headlights of a right and a left headlights, respectively. The apparatus also has a control unit, which separately controls the first and the second swivel devices, so that a one-eye navigation-cooperated control operation can be carried out which adjusts only the optical axis direction of the main light to be coincident with a road direction calculated based upon the road data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 7, 2004
    Publication date: February 3, 2005
    Applicant: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasutoshi Horii, Junichi Hasegawa
  • Patent number: 6778892
    Abstract: A lamp's optical axis control system for a vehicle includes vehicle speed sensor, steering angle sensor, a circuit for calculating driver's viewpoint and a controller for controlling the optical axis according to the position of the driver's view point. The controller indicates the position of the driver's viewpoint a certain time in advance according to the vehicle speed signal and the steering angle signal. Therefore, the illumination range of the headlamps can timely provides a desirable driver's view point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2004
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Yasutoshi Horii, Takamichi Nakase
  • Patent number: 6755560
    Abstract: A head lamp's optical axis control system for a vehicle includes a vehicle speed sensor, steering angle sensor, a navigator, an actuator for swiveling the optical axis, a first control circuit for controlling the actuator to swivel the optical axis according to the vehicle speed signal and the steering angle thereby providing a first illumination range and a second control circuit for controlling the actuator to swivel the optical axis according to the vehicle speed and the front road-shape presented by the navigator thereby providing a second illumination range. If it is judged that the front road-shape is not covered by the first illumination range beforehand, the second control circuit controls the actuator to cover the road-shape by the second illumination range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2004
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventor: Yasutoshi Horii
  • Patent number: 6658337
    Abstract: A headlamp's optical axis control system for a vehicle includes a infrared light camera for detecting an object on a road in front of the vehicle and a headlamp's optical axis actuator. The headlamp's optical axis is changed according to a vehicle speed and position of the object relative to the vehicle so that the illumination range of the headlamp can cover the object if the object is judged to be out of the illumination range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2003
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Yasutoshi Horii, Yuji Chigusa
  • Patent number: 6626564
    Abstract: In a headlight optical axis adjusting apparatus and method for a vehicle, the shape of a road in front of the vehicle is detected by a CCD camera based on a change in lane marking line which indicates the lane width on the road, before the steering angle of a vehicle steering wheel is detected by a steering angle sensor. Left and right swivel lights of the vehicle are swiveled and adjusted based on the change in the lane marking line or the steering angle. The optical axis of the left or right swivel light is first swiveled and adjusted based on the change in the lane marking line. The driver's forward visibility can thus be improved before the driver turns the steering wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2003
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Yasutoshi Horii, Hiroaki Okuchi, Masanori Kondo, Kenichi Nishimura
  • Publication number: 20030055548
    Abstract: A lamp's optical axis control system for a vehicle includes vehicle speed sensor, steering angle sensor, a circuit for calculating driver's viewpoint and a controller for controlling the optical axis according to the position of the driver's view point. The controller indicates the position of the driver's viewpoint a certain time in advance according to the vehicle speed signal and the steering angle signal. Therefore, the illumination range of the headlamps can timely provides a desirable driver's view point.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2002
    Publication date: March 20, 2003
    Inventors: Yasutoshi Horii, Takamichi Nakase
  • Publication number: 20030045984
    Abstract: A headlamp's optical axis control system for a vehicle includes a infrared light camera for detecting an object on a road in front of the vehicle and a headlamp's optical axis actuator. The headlamp's optical axis is changed according to a vehicle speed and position of the object relative to the vehicle so that the illumination range of the headlamp can cover the object if the object is judged to be out of the illumination range.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2002
    Publication date: March 6, 2003
    Inventors: Yasutoshi Horii, Yuji Chigusa
  • Publication number: 20030043588
    Abstract: A head lamp's optical axis control system for a vehicle includes a vehicle speed sensor, steering angle sensor, a navigator, an actuator for swiveling the optical axis, a first control circuit for controlling the actuator to swivel the optical axis according to the vehicle speed signal and the steering angle thereby providing a first illumination range and a second control circuit for controlling the actuator to swivel the optical axis according to the vehicle speed and the front road-shape presented by the navigator thereby providing a second illumination range. If it is judged that the front road-shape is not covered by the first illumination range beforehand, the second control circuit controls the actuator to cover the road-shape by the second illumination range.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 13, 2002
    Publication date: March 6, 2003
    Inventor: Yasutoshi Horii
  • Patent number: 6392364
    Abstract: A hybrid IC of electronic circuit for a discharge lamp is disposed on the bottom of a metal case. A transformer, an inductor, a transformer, and a capacitor are disposed in a resin case. The resin case is contained in a metal case. In this instance, the transformer, the inductor, the transformer, and the capacitor are located outside the outer periphery of the IC so that the IC does not overlap on the transformer and other components. The transformer for a starter circuit has a secondary winding the inductance of which is 2.5 mH or larger, and a capacitance of a smoothing capacitor of a DC—DC converter is 0.5 &mgr;F or smaller. The switching frequency f of a MOS transistor is selected so that L2×C1 is equal to or larger than 1×10−1×f−1.68.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2002
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Noboru Yamamoto, Yasutoshi Horii, Hiroaki Okuchi, Hiromi Hiramatsu, Kenji Yoneima, Yuji Kajita, Masamichi Ishikawa, Goichi Oda, Tomoyuki Ichikawa, Yukinobu Hiranaka, Yasushi Noyori
  • Publication number: 20020036901
    Abstract: In a headlight optical axis adjusting apparatus and method for a vehicle, the shape of a road in front of the vehicle is detected by a CCD camera based on a change in lane marking line which indicates the lane width on the road, before the steering angle of a vehicle steering wheel is detected by a steering angle sensor. Left and right swivel lights of the vehicle are swiveled and adjusted based on the change in the lane marking line or the steering angle. The optical axis of the left or right swivel light is first swiveled and adjusted based on the change in the lane marking line. The driver's forward visibility can thus be improved before the driver turns the steering wheel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 28, 2001
    Publication date: March 28, 2002
    Inventors: Yasutoshi Horii, Hiroaki Okuchi, Masanori Kondo, Kenichi Nishimura
  • Patent number: 6201350
    Abstract: In a discharge lamp lighting apparatus for a discharge lamp, each circuit component including a starter transformer is assembled to a bus bar casing, and a high voltage terminal of the starter transformer is connected to one end of a connecting terminal. The bus bar casing is adhesive-cemented to a metal base to which a HIC is attached. Then, a sealing resin fills the bus bar casing to seal the starter transformer and the HIC with the sealing resin. After the sealing resin solidifies, the other end of the connecting terminal and an output cable are connected, and subsequently a resin cover is assembled to the metal base. A shielding sheath covering the output cable is fixed to the bus bar casing by a clip. A ground connection part of the bus bar connectable to the ground side of an electric power source is shaped to protrude from the bus bar casing. The cover, the clip, the ground connection part and the base are ground-connected by a thread.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2001
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroaki Okuchi, Hiromi Hiramatsu, Yasutoshi Horii, Noboru Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 5601354
    Abstract: An illuminating device for a vehicle head lamp which defines a clear cut line of light distribution pattern. The light from a light source is transmitted through an optical fibre and is incident to a light conducting path lens from the optical fibre in a predetermined pattern defined by a shade. The light conducting path lens condenses and irradiates at an outgoing plane the light from a light incident plane. Thus, light distribution pattern is defined by the shape of the shade and the optical characteristics of the light conducting path lens. An end section of the shade defines an upper cut line, particularly at an opposite lane side, of the light distribution pattern. The shade is provided coincidentally with an optical axis of the outgoing plane of the light conducting path lens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 1995
    Date of Patent: February 11, 1997
    Assignee: Nippondenso Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Yasutoshi Horii, Hideyuki Kato
  • Patent number: 5575551
    Abstract: A lamp device comprises an optical fibre which receives an incident light from a light source and emits an outgoing light, a light .conducting path lens connected to the optical fibre so as to receive the light emitted from the optical fibre and a light shielding member which has a window disposed between an outgoing light plane of the optical fibre and an incident light plane of the light conducting path lens. The shape of incident light on the incident light plane of the light conducing path lens is made rectangular.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 1995
    Date of Patent: November 19, 1996
    Assignee: Nippondens Co., Ltd
    Inventor: Yasutoshi Horii
  • Patent number: 5488545
    Abstract: A lighting fixture apparatus for a vehicle is disclosed wherein both left and right side lighting fixtures or lamps may not be extinguished simultaneously and maintain a necessary function even if a light source extinguishes due to malfunction of the light source or its control circuit. Two optical transmission devices are provided each of which has a light source, two optical cables connected to both sides of the light source, and flat and hot zone luminous intensity distribution lenses connected to both ends of the two optical cables. The flat and hot zone luminous intensity distribution lenses are distributed to both the head lamps. An illuminating range obtained by combining illuminating ranges wherein both the lenses mounted on one of the optical transmission devices illuminate is similar to an illuminating range obtained by combining illuminating ranges wherein both the lenses mounted on the other optical transmission device illuminate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 1994
    Date of Patent: January 30, 1996
    Assignee: Nippondenso Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideyuki Kato, Ryoichi Sugawara, Yasutoshi Horii, Hiromi Hiramatsu