Patents by Inventor Akio Nagasaka

Akio Nagasaka 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: 7957563
    Abstract: A perfect non-contact type vein authentication apparatus is provided with a light source for emitting infrared light; an input interface equipped with an imaging unit for photographing a vein image of a living body by the infrared light emitted from said light source; a unit for controlling intensity of light to be illuminated; an image calculating unit for performing a feature extracting operation and a feature authenticating operation with respect to an image; and a positioning unit for presenting the living body. More specifically, the light source is provided in front of the living body. Both the light source and the imaging unit are installed in such a positional relationship that the light of the light source gives no adverse influence to the imaging unit. Also, the light source is installed in such a direction that the light of the light source gives no adverse influence to the imaging unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Harumi Kiyomizu, Takafumi Miyatake, Akio Nagasaka, Naoto Miura
  • Patent number: 7945073
    Abstract: Provided in this invention is a vein authentication device comprising: an interface on which a part of a living body; one or more light sources for emitting infrared light; an image pickup unit for picking up a blood vessel image of the part of the living body using infrared light emitted from the light sources; an image computing unit for processing the blood vessel image picked up by the image pickup unit; and a light shielding unit for shielding infrared light emitted from the light sources and preventing the infrared light from traveling in an image pickup direction of the image pickup unit, wherein the interface has an opening opened in the image pickup direction of the image pickup unit, and wherein the light sources irradiates the part of the living body with infrared light from an image pickup side of the part of the living body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Naoto Miura, Akio Nagasaka, Takafumi Miyatake
  • Patent number: 7940379
    Abstract: An identification apparatus that keeps the conditions for imaging uniform among successive identifications and requires a user to perform only a series of simple maneuvers. An identification apparatus comprising a guide member, a light source, and an imaging unit. The guide member includes a pattern or a structure that inspires a user to position his/her finger thereon or to approach his/her specific finger region thereto. A contact member such as a button switch is preferably located at a position in the guide member at which a fingertip is to be positioned. An optical opening is formed at a position coincident with a position at which a portion of a finger to be imaged for identification should be placed. The light source radiates near-infrared light through the portion of the finger to be imaged. The imaging means acquires an image of the finger, and the apparatus compares the image to previously registered images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Akio Nagasaka, Takafumi Miyatake, Naoto Miura, Yoshiaki Amano, Yoshimi Kasai, Shinichiro Umemura, Miyuki Kono
  • Publication number: 20110085711
    Abstract: An image pickup scheme capable of always providing an optimum quality of a blood vessel pattern, in image pickup of a blood vessel pattern of a finger using transmitted light, without being affected by a difference, if any, in an external environment. A personal identification apparatus includes light sources for irradiating light to be transmitted by a finger, an image pickup unit for picking up an image using light transmitted by the finger, finger detection unit for detecting that the finger exists in a predetermined position, finger region extraction unit for extracting a region occupied by the finger from an image picked up by the image pickup unit, and gain changing unit for changing an amplification factor of image pickup elements in the image pickup unit on the basis of a picture quality of a specific region within the extracted region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2010
    Publication date: April 14, 2011
    Inventors: Akio Nagasaka, Naoto Miura, Takafumi Miyatake
  • Patent number: 7881506
    Abstract: An image pickup scheme capable of always providing an optimum quality of a blood vessel pattern, in image pickup of a blood vessel pattern of a finger using transmitted light, without being affected by a difference, if any, in an external environment. A personal identification apparatus includes light sources for irradiating light to be transmitted by a finger, an image pickup unit for picking up an image using light transmitted by the finger, finger detection unit for detecting that the finger exists in a predetermined position, finger region extraction unit for extracting a region occupied by the finger from an image picked up by the image pickup unit, and gain changing unit for changing an amplification factor of image pickup elements in the image pickup unit on the basis of a picture quality of a specific region within the extracted region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Akio Nagasaka, Naoto Miura, Takafumi Miyatake
  • Patent number: 7876929
    Abstract: A thin personal identification device that in which the infrared light source, transmission light quantity control element array, and light receiving element array are positioned on the same side of a living body. A microcomputer controls the array to combine a first image, which is obtained from the living body when one region of the living body is radiated with light transmitted from the infrared light source, with a second image, which is obtained when another region of the living body is radiated, and identifies a person in accordance with the combined image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takafumi Matsumura, Akio Nagasaka, Takafumi Miyatake
  • Publication number: 20100188495
    Abstract: Provided in this invention is a vein authentication device comprising: an interface on which a part of a living body; one or more light sources for emitting infrared light; an image pickup unit for picking up a blood vessel image of the part of the living body using infrared light emitted from the light sources; an image computing unit for processing the blood vessel image picked up by the image pickup unit; and a light shielding unit for shielding infrared light emitted from the light sources and preventing the infrared light from traveling in an image pickup direction of the image pickup unit, wherein the interface has an opening opened in the image pickup direction of the image pickup unit, and wherein the light sources irradiates the part of the living body with infrared light from an image pickup side of the part of the living body.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 29, 2010
    Publication date: July 29, 2010
    Applicant: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Naoto Miura, Akio Nagasaka, Takafumi Miyatake
  • Publication number: 20100142771
    Abstract: A personal identification device including: an image pickup unit; a guide unit to set a finger to be imaged; a light source which emits light adapted to be transmitted through the set finger and incident on said image pickup unit; and an image operating unit which is adapted to generate a vein pattern for use in personal identification from an image picked up by said image pickup unit, wherein the image operating unit is adapted to detect a center of the veins from the image to generate the vein pattern.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2010
    Publication date: June 10, 2010
    Inventors: Naoto MIURA, Akio Nagasaka, Takafumi Miyatake
  • Patent number: 7706582
    Abstract: A compact authentication device that prevents user from feeling pressure and is strong against external light, when capturing an image of a finger blood vessel pattern with transmitted light. The device includes a guidance part for determining the finger position, a light source disposed on at least one side of the guidance part to emit light to be transmitted though the finger, an image capture part for capturing the transmitted light, a shading unit for limiting an irradiation region of the light, a finger thickness measuring unit, a unit for controlling a light amount of the light source based on a result of the measurement, a unit for recording registered image patterns of the finger, a unit for collating a captured image pattern from the image capture part with the registered patterns, and a unit for controlling different processing according to the collation result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2010
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Akio Nagasaka, Takafumi Miyatake, Naoto Miura, Yuichi Kashimura
  • Publication number: 20100098304
    Abstract: A compact and highly accurate downward irradiation type finger vein authentication device achieved by providing a structure that stabilizes the finger and also prevents adverse effects caused by the left and right fingers. The finger vein authentication device comprises a center finger stand for mounting the finger for authentication; a light source for irradiating infrared light onto the finger; an image capture unit for capturing an image of the finger veins by way of light from a light source; an aperture to open in the image capture direction of the image capture unit; a storage device to store the finger biological information; an authentication processor unit to extract the features from the image captured by the image capture unit and match the features with the biological information stored in the storage device; and a left and right finger stand for the fingers on the left and right of the finger for authentication.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 13, 2009
    Publication date: April 22, 2010
    Inventors: Harumi Kiyomizu, Naoto Miura, Takafumi Miyatake, Akio Nagasaka
  • Patent number: 7680305
    Abstract: Provided in this invention is a vein authentication device comprising: an interface on which a part of a living body; one or more light sources for emitting infrared light; an image pickup unit for picking up a blood vessel image of the part of the living body using infrared light emitted from the light sources; an image computing unit for processing the blood vessel image picked up by the image pickup unit; and a light shielding unit for shielding infrared light emitted from the light sources and preventing the infrared light from traveling in an image pickup direction of the image pickup unit, wherein the interface has an opening opened in the image pickup direction of the image pickup unit, and wherein the light sources irradiates the part of the living body with infrared light from an image pickup side of the part of the living body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2010
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Naoto Miura, Akio Nagasaka, Takafumi Miyatake
  • Publication number: 20100053315
    Abstract: The invention aims at providing personal identification in environments where non-contact is required, with high accuracy even though using a finger vein pattern images unclear and susceptible to positional deviations, wherein it has: a means for acquiring finger vein patterns without contact; a means for carrying out rotational correction using the outline of a finger as a method of taking out a vein pattern contained in the acquired image; a means for normalizing the position of the finger image with reference to the fingertip; a means for acquiring an overall vein pattern statistically by repetitively tracking regions of dark luminance intensities for a desired length from a desired position in the image; a matching means for comparing regions where vein patterns manifest vivid features; and a means for independent matching of subregions and evaluating positional deviations where matching is recognized.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 6, 2009
    Publication date: March 4, 2010
    Applicant: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Naoto Miura, Akio Nagasaka, Takafumi Miyatake
  • Patent number: 7672488
    Abstract: A personal identification device including: an image pickup unit; a light source which emits the light adapted to be transmitted through a finger and incident on said image pickup unit; an image operating unit which generates a pattern from an image picked up by said image pickup unit and matching the pattern of said image with a pattern registered in advance; a storage which holds said registered pattern; a guide unit which indicates the position where the image of said finger is picked up; and a detection unit which detects a contact between said finger and said guide unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2010
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Naoto Miura, Akio Nagasaka, Takafumi Miyatake
  • Publication number: 20100045428
    Abstract: The invention aims at providing personal identification in environments where non-contact is required, with high accuracy even though using a finger vein pattern images unclear and susceptible to positional deviations, wherein it has: a means for acquiring finger vein patterns without contact; a means for carrying out rotational correction using the outline of a finger as a method of taking out a vein pattern contained in the acquired image; a means for normalizing the position of the finger image with reference to the fingertip; a means for acquiring an overall vein pattern statistically by repetitively tracking regions of dark luminance intensities for a desired length from a desired position in the image; a matching means for comparing regions where vein patterns manifest vivid features; and a means for independent matching of subregions and evaluating positional deviations where matching is recognized.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 6, 2009
    Publication date: February 25, 2010
    Applicant: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Naoto Miura, Akio Nagasaka, Takafumi Miyatake
  • Publication number: 20100021024
    Abstract: An image pickup scheme capable of always providing an optimum quality of a blood vessel pattern, in image pickup of a blood vessel pattern of a finger using transmitted light, without being affected by a difference, if any, in an external environment. A personal identification apparatus includes light sources for irradiating light to be transmitted by a finger, an image pickup unit for picking up an image using light transmitted by the finger, finger detection unit for detecting that the finger exists in a predetermined position, finger region extraction unit for extracting a region occupied by the finger from an image picked up by the image pickup unit, and gain changing unit for changing an amplification factor of image pickup elements in the image pickup unit on the basis of a picture quality of a specific region within the extracted region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 7, 2009
    Publication date: January 28, 2010
    Inventors: Akio NAGASAKA, Naoto MIURA, Takafumi MIYATAKE
  • Patent number: 7627145
    Abstract: The invention aims at providing personal identification in environments where non-contact is required, with high accuracy even though using a finger vein pattern images unclear and susceptible to positional deviations, wherein it has: a means for acquiring finger vein patterns without contact; a means for carrying out rotational correction using the outline of a finger as a method of taking out a vein pattern contained in the acquired image; a means for normalizing the position of the finger image with reference to the fingertip; a means for acquiring an overall vein pattern statistically by repetitively tracking regions of dark luminance intensities for a desired length from a desired position in the image; a matching means for comparing regions where vein patterns manifest vivid features; and a means for independent matching of subregions and evaluating positional deviations where matching is recognized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2009
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Naoto Miura, Akio Nagasaka, Takafumi Miyatake
  • Patent number: 7609864
    Abstract: An image pickup scheme capable of always providing an optimum quality of a blood vessel pattern, in image pickup of a blood vessel pattern of a finger using transmitted light, without being affected by a difference, if any, in an external environment. A personal identification apparatus includes light sources for irradiating light to be transmitted by a finger, an image pickup unit for picking up an image using light transmitted by the finger, finger detection unit for detecting that the finger exists in a predetermined position, finger region extraction unit for extracting a region occupied by the finger from an image picked up by the image pickup unit, and gain changing unit for changing an amplification factor of image pickup elements in the image pickup unit on the basis of a picture quality of a specific region within the extracted region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2009
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Akio Nagasaka, Naoto Miura, Takafumi Miyatake
  • Publication number: 20090252388
    Abstract: An identification apparatus that keeps the conditions for imaging uniform among successive identifications and requires a user to perform only a series of simple maneuvers. An identification apparatus comprising a guide member, a light source, and an imaging unit. The guide member includes a pattern or a structure that inspires a user to position his/her finger thereon or to approach his/her specific finger region thereto. A contact member such as a button switch is preferably located at a position in the guide member at which a fingertip is to be positioned. An optical opening is formed at a position coincident with a position at which a portion of a finger to be imaged for identification should be placed. The light source radiates near-infrared light through the portion of the finger to be imaged. The imaging means acquires an image of the finger, and the apparatus compares the image to previously registered images.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 5, 2009
    Publication date: October 8, 2009
    Inventors: Akio NAGASAKA, Takafumi MIYATAKE, Naoto MIURA, Yoshiaki AMANO, Yoshimi KASAI, Shinichiro Umemura, Miyuki Kono
  • Patent number: 7599523
    Abstract: The invention aims at providing personal identification in environments where non-contact is required, with high accuracy even though using a finger vein pattern images unclear and susceptible to positional deviations, wherein it has: a means for acquiring finger vein patterns without contact; a means for carrying out rotational correction using the outline of a finger as a method of taking out a vein pattern contained in the acquired image; a means for normalizing the position of the finger image with reference to the fingertip; a means for acquiring an overall vein pattern statistically by repetitively tracking regions of dark luminance intensities for a desired length from a desired position in the image; a matching means for comparing regions where vein patterns manifest vivid features; and a means for independent matching of subregions and evaluating positional deviations where matching is recognized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2009
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Naoto Miura, Akio Nagasaka, Takafumi Miyatake
  • Patent number: 7561257
    Abstract: An identification apparatus that keeps the conditions for imaging uniform among successive identifications and requires a user to perform only a series of simple maneuvers. An identification apparatus comprising a guide member, a light source, and an imaging unit. The guide member includes a pattern or a structure that inspires a user to position his/her finger thereon or to approach his/her specific finger region thereto. A contact member such as a button switch is preferably located at a position in the guide member at which a fingertip is to be positioned. An optical opening is formed at a position coincident with a position at which a portion of a finger to be imaged for identification should be placed. The light source radiates near-infrared light through the portion of the finger to be imaged. The imaging means acquires an image of the finger, and the apparatus compares the image to previously registered images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2009
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Akio Nagasaka, Takafumi Miyatake, Naoto Miura, Yoshiaki Amano, Yoshimi Kasai, Shinichiro Umemura, Miyuki Kono