Patents by Inventor Hironobu Murata

Hironobu Murata 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: 11964446
    Abstract: A continuous production system continuously produces a product from a raw material powder. The system includes a first processor that performs a first process on the raw material powder, a second processor that performs a second process on the powder on which the first process has been performed by the first processor, and a test chamber through which the powder being sent from the first processor to the second processor passes. A cleaner blows gas from an inlet side opening formed in the inner face of a channel connected to the test chamber from the first processor on the downstream side of an inlet side gate valve for opening and closing the channel toward a direction to form a swirling flow along the inner face of the channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL ENGINEERING CORPORATION
    Inventors: Akihiro Matsuki, Nobuhiro Tanaka, Katsuhiro Murata, Hironobu Takeda
  • Patent number: 11944590
    Abstract: A continuous manufacturing system continuously manufactures a product from a powder of a raw material. The system includes a first processing device that performs first processing on the powder of the raw material; a second processing device that performs second processing on the powder on which the first processing device has performed the first processing; and an inspection and sorting device including an inspection chamber into which powder sent from the first processing device flows. When a prescribed amount of the powder has accumulated in the inspection chamber, the inspection and sorting device inspects the powder inside the inspection chamber after blocking a path connecting the first processing device to the inspection chamber. When the inspection ends, the inspection and sorting device removes the blocking after discharging the powder from inside the inspection chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL ENGINEERING CORPORATION
    Inventors: Akihiro Matsuki, Nobuhiro Tanaka, Katsuhiro Murata, Hironobu Takeda
  • Patent number: 11910118
    Abstract: An image sensor includes a first photoelectric conversion unit that converts light incident through a first opening to an electric charge, a second photoelectric conversion unit that converts light incident through a second opening which is smaller than the first opening to an electric charge, and a signal output wiring that outputs a first signal generated by the electric charge converted by the first photoelectric conversion unit and a second signal generated by the electric charge converted by the second photoelectric conversion unit. The second photoelectric conversion unit is disposed between the second opening and the signal output wiring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hironobu Murata
  • Publication number: 20240031701
    Abstract: An imaging element comprising: an imaging unit that has: a plurality of groups each including at least one pixel; and a plurality of signal readout units that are each provided to each of the groups and read out a signal from the pixel; and a control unit that controls the signal readout unit in at least one group among the plurality of groups is provided. Each of the plurality of groups may include a plurality of the pixels. The control unit may select at least one group among the plurality of groups and control the signal readout unit by using a control parameter that is different from a control parameter that is used for another group among the plurality of groups.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 27, 2023
    Publication date: January 25, 2024
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takashi KURIYAMA, Hironobu MURATA, Shiro TSUNAI, Tetsuya KONISHI, Masahiro SUZUKI
  • Patent number: 11825225
    Abstract: An imaging element comprising: an imaging unit that has: a plurality of groups each including at least one pixel; and a plurality of signal readout units that are each provided to each of the groups and read out a signal from the pixel; and a control unit that controls the signal readout unit in at least one group among the plurality of groups is provided. Each of the plurality of groups may include a plurality of the pixels. The control unit may select at least one group among the plurality of groups and control the signal readout unit by using a control parameter that is different from a control parameter that is used for another group among the plurality of groups.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takashi Kuriyama, Hironobu Murata, Shiro Tsunai, Tetsuya Konishi, Masahiro Suzuki
  • Publication number: 20230362507
    Abstract: An image sensor includes: a plurality of microlenses arranged in a two-dimensional pattern; and a plurality of pixels that are provided in correspondence to each of the microlenses and receive lights of different color components, respectively. Pixels that are provided at adjacent microlenses among the microlenses and that receive lights of same color components, are adjacently arranged.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 12, 2023
    Publication date: November 9, 2023
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hironobu MURATA
  • Publication number: 20230276148
    Abstract: An imaging element includes: an imaging unit in which a plurality of pixel groups including a plurality of pixels that output pixel signals according to incident light are formed, and on which incident light corresponding to mutually different pieces of image information is incident; a control unit that controls, for each of the pixel groups, a period of accumulating in the plurality of pixels included in the pixel group; and a readout unit that is provided to each of the pixel groups, and reads out the pixel signals from the plurality of pixels included in the pixel group.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 3, 2023
    Publication date: August 31, 2023
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shiro TSUNAI, Hironobu MURATA
  • Publication number: 20230224610
    Abstract: An image sensor includes a first photoelectric conversion unit that converts light incident through a first opening to an electric charge, a second photoelectric conversion unit that converts light incident through a second opening which is smaller than the first opening to an electric charge, and a signal output wiring that outputs a first signal generated by the electric charge converted by the first photoelectric conversion unit and a second signal generated by the electric charge converted by the second photoelectric conversion unit. The second photoelectric conversion unit is disposed between the second opening and the signal output wiring.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2023
    Publication date: July 13, 2023
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hironobu MURATA
  • Patent number: 11689832
    Abstract: An imaging element includes: an imaging unit in which a plurality of pixel groups including a plurality of pixels that output pixel signals according to incident light are formed, and on which incident light corresponding to mutually different pieces of image information is incident; a control unit that controls, for each of the pixel groups, a period of accumulating in the plurality of pixels included in the pixel group; and a readout unit that is provided to each of the pixel groups, and reads out the pixel signals from the plurality of pixels included in the pixel group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shiro Tsunai, Hironobu Murata
  • Publication number: 20230171517
    Abstract: A solid-state imaging device includes a second image sensor having an organic photoelectric conversion film transmitting a specific light, and a first image sensor which is stacked in layers on a same semiconductor substrate as that of the second image sensor and which receives the specific light having transmitted the second image sensor, in which a pixel for focus detection is provided in the second image sensor or the first image sensor. Therefore, an AF method can be realized independently of a pixel for imaging.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 26, 2023
    Publication date: June 1, 2023
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hironobu MURATA
  • Patent number: 11632511
    Abstract: An image sensor includes a first photoelectric conversion unit that converts light incident through a first opening to an electric charge, a second photoelectric conversion unit that converts light incident through a second opening which is smaller than the first opening to an electric charge, and a signal output wiring that outputs a first signal generated by the electric charge converted by the first photoelectric conversion unit and a second signal generated by the electric charge converted by the second photoelectric conversion unit. The second photoelectric conversion unit is disposed between the second opening and the signal output wiring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2023
    Assignee: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hironobu Murata
  • Patent number: 11588991
    Abstract: A solid-state imaging device includes a second image sensor having an organic photoelectric conversion film transmitting a specific light, and a first image sensor which is stacked in layers on a same semiconductor substrate as that of the second image sensor and which receives the specific light having transmitted the second image sensor, in which a pixel for focus detection is provided in the second image sensor or the first image sensor. Therefore, an AF method can be realized independently of a pixel for imaging.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hironobu Murata
  • Patent number: 11418747
    Abstract: An imaging sensor comprising: an imaging chip in which a plurality of pixel are arranged in a matrix; and a signal processing chip that is each provided for one or more pixel columns or one or more pixel rows, has a device that performs signal processing on a pixel signal output from a pixel, and is stacked with the imaging chip is provided. For example, the device that performs signal processing is an A/D converter that converts a pixel signal output from the pixel into a digital signal, and when a pixel signal output from the pixel is converted into a digital signal, at least two or more A/D converters among the A/D converters are controlled in parallel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hironobu Murata
  • Publication number: 20220191421
    Abstract: An imaging element includes: an imaging unit in which a plurality of pixel groups including a plurality of pixels that output pixel signals according to incident light are formed, and on which incident light corresponding to mutually different pieces of image information is incident; a control unit that controls, for each of the pixel groups, a period of accumulating in the plurality of pixels included in the pixel group; and a readout unit that is provided to each of the pixel groups, and reads out the pixel signals from the plurality of pixels included in the pixel group.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 7, 2022
    Publication date: June 16, 2022
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shiro TSUNAI, Hironobu MURATA
  • Publication number: 20220150436
    Abstract: An image sensor includes a first photoelectric conversion unit that converts light incident through a first opening to an electric charge, a second photoelectric conversion unit that converts light incident through a second opening which is smaller than the first opening to an electric charge, and a signal output wiring that outputs a first signal generated by the electric charge converted by the first photoelectric conversion unit and a second signal generated by the electric charge converted by the second photoelectric conversion unit. The second photoelectric conversion unit is disposed between the second opening and the signal output wiring.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2022
    Publication date: May 12, 2022
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hironobu MURATA
  • Patent number: 11317046
    Abstract: An imaging element includes: an imaging unit in which a plurality of pixel groups including a plurality of pixels that output pixel signals according to incident light are formed, and on which incident light corresponding to mutually different pieces of image information is incident; a control unit that controls, for each of the pixel groups, a period of accumulating in the plurality of pixels included in the pixel group; and a readout unit that is provided to each of the pixel groups, and reads out the pixel signals from the plurality of pixels included in the pixel group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shiro Tsunai, Hironobu Murata
  • Patent number: 11272131
    Abstract: An image sensor includes a first photoelectric conversion unit that converts light incident through a first opening to an electric charge, a second photoelectric conversion unit that converts light incident through a second opening which is smaller than the first opening to an electric charge, and a signal output wiring that outputs a first signal generated by the electric charge converted by the first photoelectric conversion unit and a second signal generated by the electric charge converted by the second photoelectric conversion unit. The second photoelectric conversion unit is disposed between the second opening and the signal output wiring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2022
    Assignee: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hironobu Murata
  • Publication number: 20210388337
    Abstract: This document relates to materials and methods for using controlled radical polymerization (e.g., atom transfer radical polymerization) to generate protein-polymer conjugates in which two or more polymer molecules are attached to individual initiator molecules on the protein.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 11, 2019
    Publication date: December 16, 2021
    Inventors: Hironobu Murata, Alan J. Russell
  • Publication number: 20210358981
    Abstract: An image-capturing device includes an image sensor. The image sensor includes an upper layer pixel group and a lower layer pixel group that receives the light fluxes from the subject that have passed through each pixel in the upper layer pixel group. The lower layer pixel group includes fourth, fifth and sixth pixels having fourth, fifth and sixth spectral sensitivities, respectively, that are complementary to first, second, and third spectral sensitivities, respectively, of the upper layer pixel group, being arranged in a two-dimensional pattern. Positions of first, second and third pixels in the upper layer pixel group and positions of the fourth, fifth and sixth pixels in the lower layer pixel group are determined such that the fourth, fifth and sixth pixels receive light fluxes that pass through the first, second and third pixels, respectively.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 28, 2021
    Publication date: November 18, 2021
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hironobu MURATA
  • Publication number: 20210335876
    Abstract: To provide an imaging element comprising: two first pixels that are arranged serially in a first direction and detect light of a first color; two second pixels that are arranged serially in a second direction intersecting the first direction, are adjacent to the two first pixels, and detect light of a second color; a plurality of first light-receiving regions that are arranged in the first pixels, receive light of the first color, and are divided in the first direction; and a plurality of second light-receiving regions that are arranged in the second pixels, receive light of the second color, and are divided in the second direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 8, 2021
    Publication date: October 28, 2021
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hironobu MURATA