Patents by Inventor Fumihiro Imamura

Fumihiro Imamura 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: 7174227
    Abstract: A laundry system includes a home terminal device and laundry apparatus. The terminal device includes a first short-range communication device, a long-range communication device, and a terminal device controller transmitting information about laundry and a laundry constraint to a server connected to an Internet, thereby obtaining an operation control program for the laundry apparatus. The terminal device controller transfers the program via the first short-range communication device to the laundry apparatus and receives via the first short-range communication device information about an operating state of the laundry apparatus. The laundry apparatus includes a second short-range communication device, a laundry apparatus controller, and a laundry unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2007
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Ha Products Co., Ltd., Toshiba Consumer Marketing Corp.
    Inventors: Midori Kobayashi, Hiroyuki Haruna, Fumihiro Imamura, Yoshimi Nishimura, Miho Hayashi
  • Publication number: 20050109070
    Abstract: A laundry system (1) includes a home terminal device (3) and laundry apparatus (4). The terminal device includes a first short-range communication device (8), a long-range communication device (7), and a terminal device controller (9) transmitting information about laundry and information about a laundry constraint to a server (2) connected to an Internet (5), thereby obtaining an operation control program for the laundry apparatus. The terminal device controller transfers the obtained operation control program via the first short-range communication device to the laundry apparatus and receives via the first short-range communication device information about an operating state of the laundry apparatus. The laundry apparatus includes a second short-range communication device (15), a laundry apparatus controller (17), and a laundry unit (16).
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2002
    Publication date: May 26, 2005
    Inventors: Midori Kobayashi, Hiroyuki Haruna, Fumihiro Imamura, Yoshimi Nishimura, Miho Hayashi
  • Patent number: 6778868
    Abstract: A remote control system for a laundry appliance which includes a remote control device externally accessible via a communication network, the remote control device including a data base storing coping information used to cope with an abnormal condition occurring during operation of the laundry appliance, a laundry appliance control device connected via the communication network to the remote control device so as to transmit information about an abnormal condition via the communication network to the remote control device when the abnormal condition has occurred in the laundry appliance, and an analyzer for analyzing the coping information corresponding to the abnormal condition in the laundry appliance to infer a cause of the abnormal condition of the laundry appliance. When the analyzer analyzes a plurality of pieces of the analytic information, a higher priority is given to the analytic information corresponding to a cause of the abnormal condition with a larger number of times of occurrence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2004
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Fumihiro Imamura, Takahiro Nishimura, Hiroshi Ikeda, Satoru Matsumoto
  • Publication number: 20020032491
    Abstract: A remote control system for a laundry appliance includes a remote control device externally accessible via a communication network, the remote control device including a data base storing coping information used to cope with an abnormal condition occurring during operation of the laundry appliance, for every type of the laundry appliance, and a laundry appliance control device connected via the communication network to the remote control device so as to receive the coping information corresponding to the abnormal condition via the communication network from the remote control device when the abnormal condition has occurred in the laundry appliance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2001
    Publication date: March 14, 2002
    Inventors: Fumihiro Imamura, Takahiro Nishimura, Hiroshi Ikeda, Satoru Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 5979194
    Abstract: A full-automatic washing machine with an electric motor for driving an agitator and a dehydration tub includes an inverter main circuit including a plurality of switching elements connected to windings of a plurality of phases of the motor respectively, and a control device for driving the switching elements of the inverter main circuit. The control device executes an increase rate changing control in which a rotational speed of the motor is changed among a plurality of increase rates during drive of the motor in at least one of operation steps between a wash step and a final dehydration step before the motor reaches a final target speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 9, 1999
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Satoru Matsumoto, Hiroshi Ikeda, Yoshiyuki Makino, Fumihiro Imamura, Nobuichi Nishimura
  • Patent number: 5870905
    Abstract: A drum type washing machine operates based on two washing processes. In the first process, a drum-shaped spin basket is rotated by 50 R.P.M. in forward and backward directions. Next, in the second process, the spin basket is rotated by 300 R.P.M. during about 20 seconds. Thereby, washing water contained in textiles is dewatered to outside of the spin basket. These first and second processes are repeatedly by specified times.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 1996
    Date of Patent: February 16, 1999
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Fumihiro Imamura, Katsuhei Kabeya, Masanori Niwa, Shojiro Sato
  • Patent number: 5475290
    Abstract: A washing machine includes a brushless motor, a position sensing element for sensing a rotational position of a rotor of the motor, a motor drive control circuit composed of an inverter main circuit for driving the motor and an inverter control circuit for controlling the inverter main circuit based on a signal generated by the position sensing element, a current detector for detecting a current flowing in the inverter main circuit, an overcurrent determining circuit generating an overcurrent detection signal when the current detected by the current detector exceeds a reference value, and an abnormal condition detector for generating an abnormal condition detection signal when the number of times of output of the overcurrent detection signal generated by the overcurrent determining circuit reaches a predetermined value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 1994
    Date of Patent: December 12, 1995
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Kazutoshi Tani, Fumihiro Imamura
  • Patent number: 5451855
    Abstract: A washing machine includes a brushless motor, a position sensing element for sensing a rotational position of a rotor of the motor, a motor drive control circuit composed of an inverter main circuit for driving the motor and an inverter control circuit for controlling the inverter main circuit based on a signal generated by the position sensing element, a current detector for detecting a current flowing in the inverter main circuit, an overcurrent determining circuit generating an overcurrent detection signal when the current detected by the current detector exceeds a reference value, and an abnormal condition detector for generating an abnormal condition detection signal when the number of times of output of the overcurrent detection signal generated by the overcurrent determining circuit reaches a predetermined value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 1994
    Date of Patent: September 19, 1995
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Kazutoshi Tani, Fumihiro Imamura