Patents by Inventor Akinori Kawamura

Akinori Kawamura 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: 11926233
    Abstract: A vehicle control device configured to control supply of electric power generated by a solar panel mounted on a vehicle includes a supply destination setting unit configured to set, based on a condition of the vehicle, a target device that is a destination for the supply of the electric power generated by the solar panel, a target setting unit configured to set, depending on the target device set by the supply destination setting unit, target output electric power to be output from the solar panel to the target device, and a power controller configured to control the electric power to be supplied from the solar panel to the target device based on the target output electric power set by the target setting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuma Miyamoto, Masahiro Takahashi, Akinori Kawamura, Taisuke Hayashi, Takashi Fukai, Kohki Ohkoshi
  • Patent number: 11628736
    Abstract: The solar charging system according to the present embodiment includes a solar panel, a drive battery, an auxiliary system including one or more devices, and a controller that controls where to supply power generated by the solar panel. The controller determines whether the solar panel can generate power, and, upon determining that the solar panel can generate power, supplies the power from the solar panel to the auxiliary system to derive the power generated by the solar panel. Upon detecting a fact that the power generated by the solar panel is equal to or greater than a first power, the controller further supplies the power from the solar panel to the drive battery to charge the drive battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuma Miyamoto, Satoshi Shizuka, Akinori Kawamura, Takashi Fukai, Masahiro Takahashi
  • Publication number: 20230078292
    Abstract: A solar controller is configured to control a solar unit including a solar panel, a step-up and step-down DC-DC converter configured to receive electric power generated by the solar panel, convert the received electric power to a predetermined electric power, and output the predetermined electric power, and a regulator circuit provided between an output of the DC-DC converter and a ground potential. The solar controller includes one or more processors are configured to: acquire an input and output voltages of the DC-DC converter; acquire an input and output currents of the DC-DC converter; control the regulator circuit and a plurality of switching elements that respectively make up a plurality of arms included in the DC-DC converter; and determine whether an abnormality in each of the arms has occurred based on the input and output voltages or the input and output currents, that is acquired.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 7, 2022
    Publication date: March 16, 2023
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tetsuro NAKAMURA, Masahiro TAKAHASHI, Akinori KAWAMURA
  • Publication number: 20230072411
    Abstract: A solar charging system includes a solar panel, a power conversion unit configured to output electric power generated by the solar panel, a battery configured to be directly charged via the power conversion unit with electric power generated by the solar panel, and one or more processors. The one or more processors are configured to transmit, to the power conversion unit via a communication line, a signal that controls a charge enable or disable status of charging from the solar panel to the battery, and determine whether an abnormality in the communication line is present based on the electric power generated by the solar panel, and a voltage at a middle point between the solar panel and the battery.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 26, 2022
    Publication date: March 9, 2023
    Inventors: Kohki OHKOSHI, Yuma MIYAMOTO, Taisuke HAYASHI, Takashi FUKAI, Akinori KAWAMURA, Masahiro TAKAHASHI
  • Publication number: 20230063169
    Abstract: A vehicle power supply control system includes a solar panel, a drive battery, an auxiliary battery, an auxiliary system that is powered by the solar panel and the auxiliary battery, an acquisition unit, and a controller. The acquisition unit is configured to acquire power generated by the solar panel and power consumption of the auxiliary system. The controller is configured to control power supply from the solar panel to the drive battery based on the power generated by the solar panel and the power consumption of the auxiliary system when the power supply from the solar panel to the drive battery is possible.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2022
    Publication date: March 2, 2023
    Inventors: Taisuke HAYASHI, Yuma MIYAMOTO, Kohki OHKOSHI, Takashi FUKAI, Masahiro TAKAHASHI, Akinori KAWAMURA
  • Publication number: 20220266706
    Abstract: A power generation control device includes: a first DC-DC converter including an input side to which a solar panel mounted on a vehicle is connected; a second DC-DC converter including an input side to which an output side of the first DC-DC converter is connected and an output side to which a drive battery for driving the vehicle is connected; a third DC-DC converter including an input side to which the output side of the first DC-DC converter is connected and an output side to which an auxiliary battery for supplying power to accessories of the vehicle is connected; a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to control an output power of either the second DC-DC converter or the third DC-DC converter so that a voltage on the output side of the first DC-DC converter becomes a predetermined value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 20, 2022
    Publication date: August 25, 2022
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takashi FUKAI, Masahiro TAKAHASHI, Yuma MIYAMOTO, Akinori KAWAMURA
  • Publication number: 20220258615
    Abstract: An in-vehicle solar charge control system includes a path switching unit provided in parallel with the first DC-to-DC converter on an electrical circuit that connects a solar DC-to-DC converter and a first battery and through which electricity having output power flows, and a switching unit controller which switches the path switching unit between a first state in which the output power is supplied to the first battery without being input to the first DC-to-DC converter, and a second state in which the output power is allowed to be input to the first DC-to-DC converter that is switched to the first operating state by a converter control unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2021
    Publication date: August 18, 2022
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuma MIYAMOTO, Kohki OHKOSHI, Masahiro TAKAHASHI, Akinori KAWAMURA, Taisuke HAYASHI, Takashi FUKAI
  • Publication number: 20220153161
    Abstract: A vehicle control device configured to control supply of electric power generated by a solar panel mounted on a vehicle includes a supply destination setting unit configured to set, based on a condition of the vehicle, a target device that is a destination for the supply of the electric power generated by the solar panel, a target setting unit configured to set, depending on the target device set by the supply destination setting unit, target output electric power to be output from the solar panel to the target device, and a power controller configured to control the electric power to be supplied from the solar panel to the target device based on the target output electric power set by the target setting unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 1, 2021
    Publication date: May 19, 2022
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuma MIYAMOTO, Masahiro TAKAHASHI, Akinori KAWAMURA, Taisuke HAYASHI, Takashi FUKAI, Kohki OHKOSHI
  • Publication number: 20220153159
    Abstract: A vehicle includes a solar panel and a vehicle control device. The vehicle control device is configured to control supply of electric power generated by the solar panel, configured to count the number of power supply operations in which the electric power is supplied from the solar panel to a target device that is a power supply destination, configured to determine whether the number of power supply operations satisfies a first condition, to configured execute power supply from the solar panel to the target device when determination is made that the number of power supply operations satisfies the first condition. The vehicle control device is configured not to execute the power supply from the solar panel to the target device when determination is made that the number of power supply operations does not satisfy the first condition.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 1, 2021
    Publication date: May 19, 2022
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuma MIYAMOTO, Kohki OHKOSHI, Masahiro TAKAHASHI, Akinori KAWAMURA, Taisuke HAYASHI, Takashi FUKAI
  • Publication number: 20210155109
    Abstract: The solar charging system according to the present embodiment includes a solar panel, a drive battery, an auxiliary system including one or more devices, and a controller that controls where to supply power generated by the solar panel. The controller determines whether the solar panel can generate power, and, upon determining that the solar panel can generate power, supplies the power from the solar panel to the auxiliary system to derive the power generated by the solar panel. Upon detecting a fact that the power generated by the solar panel is equal to or greater than a first power, the controller further supplies the power from the solar panel to the drive battery to charge the drive battery.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 8, 2020
    Publication date: May 27, 2021
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuma MIYAMOTO, Satoshi SHIZUKA, Akinori KAWAMURA, Takashi FUKAI, Masahiro TAKAHASHI
  • Patent number: 9484017
    Abstract: A first speech processing device includes a first speech input unit and a first speech output unit. A second speech processing device includes a second speech input unit and a second speech output unit. In a server therebetween, a speech of a first language sent from the first speech input unit is recognized. The speech recognition result is translated into a second language. The translation result is back translated into the first language. A first speech synthesis signal of the back translation result is sent to the first speech output unit. A second speech synthesis signal of the translation result is sent to the second speech output unit. Duration of the second speech synthesis signal or the first speech synthesis signal is measured. The first speech synthesis signal and the second speech synthesis signal are outputted by synchronizing a start time and an end time thereof, based on the duration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2016
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Kazuo Sumita, Akinori Kawamura, Satoshi Kamatani
  • Patent number: 9471568
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a speech of a first language is recognized using a speech recognition dictionary to recognize the first language and a second language, and a source sentence of the first language is generated. The source sentence is translated into a second language, and a translation sentence of the second language is generated. An unknown word included in the translation sentence is detected. The unknown word is not stored in the speech recognition dictionary. A first pronunciation candidate of the unknown word is estimated, from a representation of the unknown word. A second pronunciation candidate of the unknown word is estimated from a pronunciation of an original word included in the source sentence corresponding to the unknown word. The unknown word, the first pronunciation candidate and the second pronunciation candidate, are registered into the speech recognition dictionary correspondingly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2016
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Satoshi Kamatani, Kazuo Sumita, Akinori Kawamura
  • Patent number: 9293137
    Abstract: Apparatus for speech recognition includes a recognition unit configured to recognize a speech signal and to generate a first recognition result, a transmitting unit that transmits at least one of the speech signal and a recognition feature to a server, a receiving unit that receives a second recognition result from the server, a result generating unit configured to generate a third recognition result, a result storage unit that stores the third recognition result and a dictionary update unit configured to update the client recognition dictionary.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2016
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Akinori Kawamura
  • Patent number: 9280539
    Abstract: A first speech input device captures a speech of a first language. A first speech output device outputs another speech of the first language. A second speech input device captures a speech of a second language. A second speech output device outputs another speech of the second language. In a speech recognition/translation server, a first speech recognition device receives a first utterance speech of the first language from the first speech input device, and recognizes the first utterance speech. A first machine translation device consecutively translates the first language of the recognition result into the second language without waiting completion of the first utterance speech. A first speech synthesis device generates a second speech of the translation result. A first output adjustment device outputs the first utterance speech and the second speech to the second speech output device by adjusting a volume of the first utterance speech to be smaller than a volume of the second speech.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2016
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Akinori Kawamura, Kazuo Sumita, Satoshi Kamatani
  • Patent number: 9154848
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a television apparatus includes a speech input unit, an indication input unit, a speech recognition unit, and a control unit. The speech input unit is configured to input a speech. The indication input unit is configured to input an indication to start speech recognition from a user. The speech recognition unit is configured to recognize the user's speech inputted after the indication is inputted. The control unit is configured to execute an operation command corresponding to a recognition result of the user's speech. The control unit, if a volume of the television apparatus at a timing when the indication is inputted is larger than or equal to a threshold, temporarily sets the volume to a value smaller than the threshold while the speech recognition unit is recognizing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Kazushige Ouchi, Akinori Kawamura, Masaru Sakai, Kaoru Suzuki, Yusuke Kida
  • Publication number: 20150081270
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a speech of a first language is recognized using a speech recognition dictionary to recognize the first language and a second language, and a source sentence of the first language is generated. The source sentence is translated into a second language, and a translation sentence of the second language is generated. An unknown word included in the translation sentence is detected. The unknown word is not stored in the speech recognition dictionary. A first pronunciation candidate of the unknown word is estimated, from a representation of the unknown word. A second pronunciation candidate of the unknown word is estimated from a pronunciation of an original word included in the source sentence corresponding to the unknown word. The unknown word, the first pronunciation candidate and the second pronunciation candidate, are registered into the speech recognition dictionary correspondingly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2014
    Publication date: March 19, 2015
    Inventors: Satoshi Kamatani, Kazuo Sumita, Akinori Kawamura
  • Publication number: 20150081274
    Abstract: A first speech input device captures a speech of a first language. A first speech output device outputs another speech of the first language. A second speech input device captures a speech of a second language. A second speech output device outputs another speech of the second language. In a speech recognition/translation server, a first speech recognition device receives a first utterance speech of the first language from the first speech input device, and recognizes the first utterance speech. A first machine translation device consecutively translates the first language of the recognition result into the second language without waiting completion of the first utterance speech. A first speech synthesis device generates a second speech of the translation result. A first output adjustment device outputs the first utterance speech and the second speech to the second speech output device by adjusting a volume of the first utterance speech to be smaller than a volume of the second speech.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 16, 2014
    Publication date: March 19, 2015
    Inventors: Akinori Kawamura, Kazuo Sumita, Satoshi Kamatani
  • Publication number: 20150081271
    Abstract: A first speech processing device includes a first speech input unit and a first speech output unit. A second speech processing device includes a second speech input unit and a second speech output unit. In a server therebetween, a speech of a first language sent from the first speech input unit is recognized. The speech recognition result is translated into a second language. The translation result is back translated into the first language. A first speech synthesis signal of the back translation result is sent to the first speech output unit. A second speech synthesis signal of the translation result is sent to the second speech output unit. Duration of the second speech synthesis signal or the first speech synthesis signal is measured. The first speech synthesis signal and the second speech synthesis signal are outputted by synchronizing a start time and an end time thereof, based on the duration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2014
    Publication date: March 19, 2015
    Inventors: Kazuo Sumita, Akinori Kawamura, Satoshi Kamatani
  • Patent number: 8963875
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, an electronic device includes a touch panel, an operation module, a detector, and a switch module. The touch panel and the operation module are configured to receive an operation command. The detector detects whether the touch panel is wet based on a touch position detected by the touch panel. The switch module switches, if the touch panel is wet, the receiver of the operation command from the touch panel to the operation module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Chikashi Sugiura, Hiroshi Fujimura, Akinori Kawamura, Takashi Sudo
  • Publication number: 20140088967
    Abstract: Apparatus for speech recognition includes a recognition unit configured to recognize a speech signal and to generate a first recognition result, a transmitting unit that transmits at least one of the speech signal and a recognition feature to a server, a receiving unit that receives a second recognition result from the server, a result generating unit configured to generate a third recognition result, a result storage unit that stores the third recognition result and a dictionary update unit configured to update the client recognition dictionary.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2012
    Publication date: March 27, 2014
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Akinori Kawamura, Masaru Sakai, Kazushige Ouchi