Patents by Inventor Akihiro Kobayashi

Akihiro Kobayashi 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: 20090223820
    Abstract: An NOX sensor control apparatus (10) is connected to an NOX sensor (100) which includes a first pumping cell (110) and a second pumping cell (130) through which a second pumping current flows corresponding to an NOX concentration in a to-be-measured gas. The NOX sensor control apparatus (10) includes a first pumping current detection unit; a second pumping current detection unit; an oxygen concentration calculation unit (60) for calculating oxygen concentration on the basis of the first pumping current and corrected in accordance with the pressure of the to-be-measured gas, oxygen (first) pressure correction information set for the NOX sensor, and pressure information; and an NOX concentration calculation unit (60) for calculating NOX concentration on the basis of the first pumping current and corrected in accordance with pressure of the to-be-measured gas, NOX (second) pressure correction information set for the NOX sensor, and pressure information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 4, 2009
    Publication date: September 10, 2009
    Applicant: NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Ishiguro, Takayuki Sumi, Akihiro Kobayashi, Hisashi Sasaki, Koji Shiotani
  • Patent number: 7581750
    Abstract: A rear window curtain airbag device comprises an airbag placed at the portion near the upper edge of the rear window, an inflator to inject gas for the airbag, and a connecting pipe to supply the gas injected from the inflator to the airbag. Accordingly, the passenger's protection can be further improved by properly preventing part of the passenger's body from getting out of the rear window when the vehicle having the rear window being located above the seat back is rolled over.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2009
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Motoharu Hirata, Akihiro Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 7559608
    Abstract: A seat for a vehicle comprises a seat cushion, a seat back, a headrest having a neck-support portion, a headrest pole member to support the headrest, and a rotational support device. The rotational support device supports the headrest in such a manner that the neck-support portion of the headrest is rotated around a rotational axis that extends in substantially a width direction of the seat back and held at a specified angle relative to the seat back, wherein the headrest is its lowest position, the neck-support portion of the headrest is configured to be allowed to be rotated forward from its rearmost stored position by the rotational support device. Accordingly, a neck portion of a passenger can be supported by the neck-support portion of the headrest properly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2009
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Tamio Miyahara, Kouichi Nakaya, Nanae Michida, Hiroshi Okiyama, Akihiro Kobayashi
  • Publication number: 20090164091
    Abstract: There is provided a control device for a gas sensor. The gas sensor is formed with first and second oxygen pumping cells to define first and second measurement chambers. Under the control of the sensor control device, the first and second oxygen pumping cells effect oxygen pumping actions against the first and second measurement chambers, respectively. The sensor control device is configured to detect currents through the first and second oxygen pumping cells, calculate a correction coefficient by comparison of a detection value of the first oxygen pumping cell current at a known oxygen concentration period with a previously stored reference value, correct the first oxygen pumping cell current by the correction coefficient and determine the concentration of nitrogen oxide in the gas under measurement based on the corrected first oxygen pumping cell current and the detected second oxygen pumping cell current.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2008
    Publication date: June 25, 2009
    Applicant: NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Akihiro KOBAYASHI, Takayuki Sumi, Yasuhiro Ishiguro, Satoru Abe
  • Publication number: 20090120161
    Abstract: A gas sensor control device for controlling a gas sensor, the gas sensor including a gas sensor element that includes a cell including a pair of electrodes and a solid electrolyte, the gas sensor control device including a circuit board connectable to the gas sensor. The circuit board has mounted thereon a voltage control unit mounted on the circuit board and configured to control a voltage developed across a pair of electrodes of the cell to a constant voltage; a temperature detecting unit mounted on the circuit board and configured to detect a temperature of the circuit board; and a voltage correcting unit mounted on the circuit board and configured to apply a correction voltage to the voltage control unit compensating for a temperature-dependent variation in the constant voltage based on the temperature detected by the temperature detecting unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 5, 2008
    Publication date: May 14, 2009
    Applicant: NGK SPARK CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Ishiguro, Satoru Abe, Akihiro Kobayashi, Takayuki Sumi
  • Publication number: 20090114536
    Abstract: A sensor control device including a circuit board separate from and electrically connectable to a gas sensor, the gas sensor including a detecting element configured to output a concentration response signal in response to the concentration of a specific gas component. The circuit board has mounted thereon: a detecting element driving unit; a temperature sensing element configured to output a temperature response signal in response to a temperature of the circuit board; a temperature calculating unit; and a concentration information correcting unit configured to correct gas concentration information calculated by the detecting element driving unit based on temperature information calculated by the temperature calculating unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 28, 2008
    Publication date: May 7, 2009
    Applicant: NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yasuhiro ISHIGURO, Satoru ABE, Akihiro KOBAYASHI, Takayuki SUMI
  • Patent number: 7520528
    Abstract: A steering wheel assembly includes an airbag module having an airbag; and a centrally-located steering pad housing said airbag module and includes; a deployment segment located around a peripheral region and adapted to be forcibly displaced by inflation of the airbag; and a stationary segment located in a central region and kept in its fixed state even when the inflation of said airbag. The stationary segment is provided with a manual operation section adapted to be manually operated based on rotational or sliding movements to control an in-vehicle device, wherein said steering pad has a concave portion formed on a surface of the stationary segment; and said manual operation section is disposed within said concave portion in such a manner that a lateral surface of said manual operation section is spaced apart from a lateral wall surface of said concave portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2009
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Kengo Nakamura, Akihiro Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 7484754
    Abstract: A ring portion of a steering wheel is disposed to be inclined relative to a vertical direction with an inclined angle between 40 and 90 degrees, when viewed from a vehicle width direction, and a bag portion has a larger configuration than the ring portion so as to cover over the ring portion when an airbag inflation is completed. Accordingly, there can be provided the steering wheel equipped with the so-called donut type of airbag portion of a airbag device that can perform its advantages fully and thereby improve the driver's protection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2009
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Ippei Yamachi, Ryoji Funahashi, Naoki Kaneko, Masanobu Fukushima, Yasunori Sasaki, Akihiro Kobayashi
  • Publication number: 20080318075
    Abstract: A photocurable resin composition comprising a (meth)acrylate ester with a sulfur content of no more than 5 ppm is disclosed. This photocurable resin composition is preferably used in a coating material or an adhesive, or in an adhesive layer or a protective layer formed on top of the metal layer of an optical disk.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 16, 2005
    Publication date: December 25, 2008
    Applicant: HITACHI CHEMICAL CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Katsunori Hayashi, Akihiro Kobayashi, Junichi Kamei
  • Publication number: 20080235697
    Abstract: To provide a job scheduler, a job scheduling method, and a job control program that are capable of, even with an incapable CPU not equipped with a real-time OS, meeting basic real-time property that is required in a system. The job scheduler is a job scheduler 5 for calling each of a plurality of jobs for controlling an appliance to a main loop and causing each job to be executed. The job scheduler 5 carries out calling control including: dividing the jobs into a plurality of groups according to a degree of need for real-time processing of each jobs; setting a priority on a group basis; and restricting a calling frequency, per cycle, of a job belonging to a group of low priority to a minimum tolerated frequency.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 17, 2008
    Publication date: September 25, 2008
    Inventor: Akihiro Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 7408568
    Abstract: A controller stops a registration roller to temporarily hold a recording sheet and restarts the registration roller at a timing of transferring an image formed on an intermediate transferring belt to a predetermined position of the recording sheet. Then, an adjustment time calculator compares a time measured by a time counter with a predetermined reference time and calculates the difference between the measured time and the reference time as the adjustment time. The controller controls the driving of the sheet feeding mechanism based on the calculated adjustment time so that the waiting time of a next recording sheet becomes closer to the predetermined reference time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2008
    Assignee: Kyocera Mita Corporation
    Inventor: Akihiro Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 7320056
    Abstract: Data transmission for writing data into a shared memory is performed by a high-speed dedicated line provided between each processor and the shared memory. When a processor performs writing to a shared memory space, the processor notifies an update notification bus corresponding to the conventional global bus, to which address the update is to be performed. The other processors which have detected this notification inhibit access to that address and wait for the write data to be sent to the address via the dedicated line. When the data has arrived, the data is written into the corresponding address. Here, the data is also written into the corresponding address, thereby maintaining the cache coherency. Moreover, when transmitting a write address, it is necessary to acquire the bus use right while data transmission is performed by using the dedicated line, which significantly reduces the time required for acquiring the bus use right.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2008
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Takeshi Shimada, Tatsuru Nakagaki, Akihiro Kobayashi
  • Publication number: 20070222192
    Abstract: A structure of a rear portion of a vehicle furnished with a curtain airbag apparatus includes a rear pillar, a soft roof trim, a rear pillar trim harder than the roof trim, and a cover constituting part of the rear pillar trim and covering a specific area of a front face portion of the rear pillar trim. The curtain airbag apparatus includes a curtain airbag and an inflator for inflating and deploying the curtain airbag into the vehicle interior along side window glass. The cover of the rear pillar trim can easily be displaced frontward along an airbag deployment joint. When inflated, the curtain airbag fixed to a vehicle body along an upper edge and a rear edge of the side window glass in a retracted position deploys into the vehicle interior upon separating and displacing the cover of the rear pillar trim frontward from the other part thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 15, 2007
    Publication date: September 27, 2007
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Yamagiwa, Shouichirou Hidaka, Hiroaki Nakao, Motoharu Hirata, Tsutomu Watanabe, Hideharu Saiki, Akihiro Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 7252748
    Abstract: NOx sensor element of oxygen-ion conductive solid electrolyte body 15; flow passage (7, 5, 8, 6) provided within the body for introducing analyte gas; oxygen partial pressure detection cell 3; first oxygen pump cell 1 for controlling oxygen partial pressure of the gas in the flow passage; and nitrogen oxides detection cell 2 for decomposing nitrogen oxides in the gas having a controlled oxygen partial pressure and for causing dissociated oxygen to migrate through the solid electrolyte body (see FIG. 1). Operational amplifier 22b is connected between the nitrogen oxides detection cell 2 and a 12 V battery power source to generate a voltage applied to the nitrogen oxides detection cell 2; and diode 22d connected to a point between the operational amplifier 22b and the nitrogen oxides detection cell. The diode clamps the voltage to an activation voltage higher than the measurement voltage during activation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2007
    Assignee: NGK Spark Plug Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshinori Inoue, Shinji Kumazawa, Akihiro Kobayashi
  • Publication number: 20070126216
    Abstract: Disclosed is a steering wheel assembly, which comprises an airbag module 6 having an airbag 61 adapted to be inflated during a vehicle collision, and a centrally-located steering pad 8 housing the airbag module 6. The steering pad includes a deployment segment located around a peripheral region of the steering pad and adapted to be forcibly displaced by the airbag during inflation, and a stationary segment located in a central region of the steering pad and adapted to be kept in its fixed state even during the inflation of the airbag. The stationary segment is provided with a manual operation section adapted to be manually operated based on either one of rotational and sliding movements so as to control an in-vehicle device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 28, 2006
    Publication date: June 7, 2007
    Inventors: Kengo Nakamura, Akihiro Kobayashi
  • Publication number: 20070057559
    Abstract: A seat for a vehicle comprises a seat cushion, a seat back, a headrest having a neck-support portion, a headrest pole member to support the headrest, and a rotational support device. The rotational support device supports the headrest in such a manner that the neck-support portion of the headrest is rotated around a rotational axis that extends in substantially a width direction of the seat back and held at a specified angle relative to the seat back, wherein the headrest is its lowest position, the neck-support portion of the headrest is configured to be allowed to be rotated forward from its rearmost stored position by the rotational support device. Accordingly, a neck portion of a passenger can be supported by the neck-support portion of the headrest properly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 25, 2006
    Publication date: March 15, 2007
    Applicant: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tamio Miyahara, Kouichi Nakaya, Nanae Michida, Hiroshi Okiyama, Akihiro Kobayashi
  • Publication number: 20070024035
    Abstract: A ring portion of a steering wheel is disposed to be inclined relative to a vertical direction with an inclined angle between 40 and 90 degrees, when viewed from a vehicle width direction, and a bag portion has a larger configuration than the ring portion so as to cover over the ring portion when an airbag inflation is completed. Accordingly, there can be provided the steering wheel equipped with the so-called donut type of airbag portion of a airbag device that can perform its advantages fully and thereby improve the driver's protection.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 19, 2006
    Publication date: February 1, 2007
    Applicant: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ippei Yamachi, Ryoji Funahashi, Naoki Kaneko, Masanobu Fukushima, Yasunori Sasaki, Akihiro Kobayashi
  • Publication number: 20060268093
    Abstract: A controller stops a registration roller to temporarily hold a recording sheet and restarts the registration roller at a timing of transferring an image formed on an intermediate transferring belt to a predetermined position of the recording sheet. Then, an adjustment time calculator compares a time measured by a time counter with a predetermined reference time and calculates the difference between the measured time and the reference time as the adjustment time. The controller controls the driving of the sheet feeding mechanism based on the calculated adjustment time so that the waiting time of a next recording sheet becomes closer to the predetermined reference time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 30, 2006
    Publication date: November 30, 2006
    Applicant: Kyocera Mita Corporation
    Inventor: Akihiro Kobayashi
  • Publication number: 20060196715
    Abstract: A seat cushion airbag unit is provided at each seat and includes a seat cushion airbag. The seat cushion airbag is disposed in an inboard portion of a seat cushion of the seat so as to support an inboard portion of buttocks of an occupant in the seat. The seat cushion airbag is changed from its inflated state from its shrunk state when the side crash or rollover of the vehicle is predicted by a controller. Thereby, the occupant's head is moved toward the center of the vehicle. Accordingly, the occupant protection device can promptly move the occupant's head toward the center of the vehicle, preventing the head from hitting against the vehicle roof, at the vehicle side crash or rollover.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 22, 2006
    Publication date: September 7, 2006
    Applicant: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Teruhito Fujishiro, Hozumi Ozeki, Hideharu Kaeriyama, Ryoji Funahashi, Motoharu Hirata, Kenji Satani, Hiroshi Nakayama, Tamio Miyahara, Akihiro Kobayashi
  • Publication number: 20060138754
    Abstract: A rear window curtain airbag device comprises an airbag placed at the portion. near the upper edge of the rear window, an inflator to inject gas for the airbag, and a connecting pipe to supply the gas injected from the inflator to the airbag. Accordingly, the passenger's protection can be further improved by properly preventing part of the passenger's body from getting out of the rear window when the vehicle having the rear window being located above the seat back is rolled over.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2005
    Publication date: June 29, 2006
    Applicant: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Motoharu Hirata, Akihiro Kobayashi