Patents by Inventor Chizuka Kai

Chizuka Kai 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: 9823262
    Abstract: A container inspection device includes an inlet conveyor, an outlet conveyor, a mounting table having a mounting surface, a chamber portion having an opening in a section of the chamber portion, in which a receiving space is formed when the mounting surface contacts the chamber portion to close the opening, and a transfer. The transfer is movable in the certain direction at a speed greater than the conveying speed of the cartons by the inlet conveyor. The transfer holds multiple ones of the cartons that have been conveyed by the inlet conveyor collectively and conveys the cartons to the mounting surface of the mounting table, and holds the multiple ones of the cartons mounted on the mounting surface collectively and conveys the cartons to the outlet conveyor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignees: KABUSHIKI KAISHA N-TECH, KABUSHIKI KAISHA YAKULT HONSHA, TOHOSHOJI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Osamu Yoshida, Chizuka Kai, Kunimitsu Toyoshima
  • Publication number: 20170199213
    Abstract: A container inspection device includes an inlet conveyor, an outlet conveyor, a mounting table having a mounting surface a chamber portion having an opening in a section of the chamber portion, in which a receiving space is formed when the mounting surface contacts the chamber portion to close the opening, and a transfer. The transfer is movable in the certain direction at a speed greater than the conveying speed of the cartons by the inlet conveyor. The transfer holds multiple ones of the cartons that have been conveyed by the inlet conveyor collectively and conveys the cartons to the mounting surface of the mounting table, and holds the multiple ones of the cartons mounted on the mounting surface collectively and conveys the cartons to the outlet conveyor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 4, 2015
    Publication date: July 13, 2017
    Applicants: Kabushiki Kaisha N-Tech, Kabushiki Kaisha Yakult Honsha, Tohoshoji Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Osamu YOSHIDA, Chizuka KAI, Kunimitsu TOYOSHIMA
  • Patent number: 8831326
    Abstract: Colonies growing on a culture medium surface may be more accurately counted with reduced variation in the counts obtained by capturing a plurality of images of the entire culture medium surface, wherein successive images are captured following rotation of the culture medium surface relative to the image capture apparatus by n/360 degrees where n is the number of images to be captured; performing data processing on image data of the entire culture medium surface of the petri dish at each specified angle; and the number of colonies in the petri dish is calculated by performing numerical processing on the number of colonies counted separately at each specified angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha N-Tech, Kabushiki Kaisha Yakult Honsha, Tohoshoji Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takashi Nishida, Shenglan Li, Chizuka Kai, Kunimitsu Toyoshima
  • Patent number: 8831313
    Abstract: A method for detecting microorganisms, which comprises: a training step for forming, by a classifier, feature vectors based on color data on individual points within a subject region of training in a culture medium, mapping the points in the culture medium, that are specified by the feature vectors, on a high-dimensional feature space, and linearly separating a set of the points ? (x1), that are specified by the high-dimensional feature vectors thus obtained, to thereby color-classify the class (C1) of the culture medium; and a identifying step for forming, by a classifier, feature vectors based on color data on individual inspection points within a region in the culture medium using image data obtained by capturing an image of the culture medium under cultivation, mapping the inspection points (xj), that are specified by the feature vectors, on a high-dimensional feature space, and determining whether or not the mapped points ? (xj), that are specified by the high-dimensional feature vectors thus obtained, b
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha N-Tech, Kabushiki Kaisha Yakult Honsha, Tohoshoji Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shenglan Li, Takashi Nishida, Chizuka Kai, Kunimitsu Toyoshima
  • Publication number: 20130109051
    Abstract: A method for detecting microorganisms, which comprises: a training step for forming, by a classifier, feature vectors based on color data on individual points within a subject region of training in a culture medium, mapping the points in the culture medium, that are specified by the feature vectors, on a high-dimensional feature space, and linearly separating a set of the points ? (x1), that are specified by the high-dimensional feature vectors thus obtained, to thereby color-classify the class (C1) of the culture medium; and a identifying step for forming, by a classifier, feature vectors based on color data on individual inspection points within a region in the culture medium using image data obtained by capturing an image of the culture medium under cultivation, mapping the inspection points (xj), that are specified by the feature vectors, on a high-dimensional feature space, and determining whether or not the mapped points ? (xj), that are specified by the high-dimensional feature vectors thus obtained, b
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2011
    Publication date: May 2, 2013
    Applicants: KABUSHIKI KAISHA N-TECH, TOHOSHOJI KABUSHIKI KAISHA, KABUSHIKI KAISHA YAKULT HONSHA
    Inventors: Shenglan Li, Takashi Nishida, Chizuka Kai, Kunimitsu Toyoshima
  • Publication number: 20100166271
    Abstract: Problem to be Solved There is provided a colony counting method capable of obtaining highly reliable and stable colony count values with easy and simple means by eliminating the variation in colony count due to image capturing conditions when the number of colonies is counted by performing data processing on an image obtained by image capturing means performing image capturing on a petri dish.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 9, 2008
    Publication date: July 1, 2010
    Applicants: KABUSHIKI KAISHA N-TECH, KABUSHIKI KAISHA YAKULT HONSHA, TOHOSHOJI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takashi Nishida, Shenglan Li, Chizuka Kai, Kunimitsu Toyoshima
  • Publication number: 20080066525
    Abstract: [PROBLEM] To provide a novel inspection method and system of a container enabling inspection of excess entrainment of air inside a flexible container and inspection of seal defects of a flexible container to be performed by a single technique simultaneously, enabling a full run of flexible containers to be continuously inspected on the production line, and giving a high inspection precision. [MEANS FOR SOLUTION] Inspecting for seal defects of a container and excess entrainment of air in a container in an inspected object comprised of a flexible container in which a liquid is filled, during which placing the inspected object in an air-tight container, sucking out the air in the air-tight container to reduce the pressure sufficient to make container outer walls of the inspected object expand, measuring an expansion dimension of the container outer walls, and comparing it with a preset threshold value to judge the quality of the inspected object.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 25, 2005
    Publication date: March 20, 2008
    Applicants: KABUSHIKI KAISHA N-TECH, KABUSHIKI KAISHA YAKULT HONSHA, TOHOSHOJI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hajime Kojima, Yoshitaro Horiba, Osamu Yoshida, Chizuka Kai, Tadayoshi Teramoto