Patents by Inventor Hirotaka KOMURA

Hirotaka KOMURA 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).

  • Publication number: 20240124228
    Abstract: A conveyance system, a conveyance method, and a program that are capable of preventing an article stored in a shelf from falling are provided. A conveyance system according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes: a shelf provided with a guide rail extending in a vertical direction; a mounting table that is engageable with the guide rail; a lifting part configured to lift the mounting table up and down; an engagement detection sensor configured to detect engagement between the guide rail and the mounting table; and a safety control unit configured to stop an operation of the lifting part when a first condition including that the guide rail is not engaged with the mounting table is satisfied.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 11, 2023
    Publication date: April 18, 2024
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hirotaka KOMURA, Yuta ITOZAWA, Takatoshi MORIMITSU, Kunihiro IWAMOTO, Uori KOIKE
  • Patent number: 11958195
    Abstract: An embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a detection system used in a case where a transport robot transports a package in a state where the package in which an opening portion of a container is closed by a lid is placed on a placing portion of the transport robot. The detection system is configured to detect that the lid is opened.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yutaro Takagi, Kunihiro Iwamoto, Yuta Itozawa, Hirotaka Komura, Yoshiaki Nakamoto, Junya Ota
  • Patent number: 11952029
    Abstract: A rack includes: a casing; M pairs of supports that are provided inside the casing so as to extend in a depth direction and arrayed at regular intervals in a predetermined direction; and a lock mechanism. The rack can house all returnable containers of one or more prespecified sizes along the respective pairs of supports. The M pairs of supports are arrayed in N rows in an orthogonal direction orthogonal to the predetermined direction. The lock mechanism is configured such that moving first and second shafts that are provided for the respective rows and for the respective tiers, respectively, so as to be movable in the predetermined direction can switch between engagement and disengagement between branches of the first and second shafts and first and second holes, respectively, of the returnable containers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kunihiro Iwamoto, Yuta Itozawa, Hirotaka Komura, Yutaro Takagi, Yoshiaki Nakamoto, Junya Ota
  • Patent number: 11946290
    Abstract: A rack includes: a casing; M (an integer not less than three) pairs of supports that are provided inside the casing so as to extend in a depth direction and arrayed at regular intervals in a predetermined direction (a height direction or a left-right direction); and a lock mechanism. The rack can house all returnable containers of one or more prespecified sizes along the respective pairs of supports. The lock mechanism includes N (an integer not less than two and meeting N<M?2N?1) shafts that are movable in the predetermined direction. Branches are provided on the shafts such that a combination of engagement and disengagement between the branches and holes provided in protrusions of the returnable container is different in each of the returnable containers housed on the respective M pairs of supports.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kunihiro Iwamoto, Yuta Itozawa, Hirotaka Komura, Yutaro Takagi, Yoshiaki Nakamoto, Junya Ota
  • Patent number: 11932261
    Abstract: A delivery system includes an autonomously-moving-type delivery vehicle configured to deliver an article to a delivery destination thereof, and a transportation vehicle configured to carry and transport the delivery vehicle. A control unit configured to control an operation of the delivery vehicle acquires information about an acceleration of the transportation vehicle from the transportation vehicle, and controls the operation of the delivery vehicle based on the information about the acceleration so that a displacement that is predicted to occur in the delivery vehicle due to the acceleration of the transportation vehicle is reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kunihiro Iwamoto, Hirotaka Komura, Yuta Itozawa
  • Patent number: 11927453
    Abstract: A risk of theft is reduced in transportation by an autonomous mobile body. A route determination system according to the present disclosure determines a transport route of an article to be transported by an autonomous mobile body. The route determination system according to the present disclosure includes a judgement unit that judges whether or not an area including a position of a person is dangerous based on position information of the person and a credit rank of the person and a route determination unit that determines, as the transport route, a bypass route for bypassing a dangerous area when a candidate of the transport route passes through the dangerous area judged to be dangerous by the judgement unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kunihiro Iwamoto, Yuta Itozawa, Hirotaka Komura
  • Publication number: 20240076126
    Abstract: A transport system is a transport system that transports a luggage using a transport vehicle and a transport robot. In a state in which the transport robot and the transport vehicle are connected, the transport robot takes out the luggage from the transport vehicle, or stores the luggage in the transport vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2023
    Publication date: March 7, 2024
    Inventors: Kunihiro IWAMOTO, Yuta ITOZAWA, Hirotaka KOMURA, Yutaro TAKAGI
  • Patent number: 11919157
    Abstract: In a conveyance system, an object is conveyed by use of a conveyance robot. The conveyance robot includes: an arm including a shaft portion extensible and retractable in an axial direction of the shaft portion, and a protruding portion extending from the shaft portion in a direction different from the axial direction so as to be engaged with a groove formed on the object; a drive mechanism configured to rotate the arm around the axial direction as a rotating axis; and a detecting portion configured to detect an abnormality in the rotation angle of the arm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kunihiro Iwamoto, Yuta Itozawa, Hirotaka Komura, Yutaro Takagi
  • Patent number: 11903112
    Abstract: The lighting management system includes: a judgement unit configured to judge whether or not a lighting state around a vehicle based on a first lighting apparatus and a second lighting apparatus meets a first reference for a light amount and a second reference for at least one of a lighting range, a lighting color, and a flashing state; a first control unit configured to control the light amount of at least one of the first lighting apparatus and the second lighting apparatus so that the lighting state is brought to meet the first reference; and a second control unit configured to control at least one of the lighting range, the lighting color, and the flashing state of at least one of the first lighting apparatus and the second lighting apparatus so that the lighting state is brought to meet the second reference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kunihiro Iwamoto, Yuta Itozawa, Hirotaka Komura
  • Patent number: 11878863
    Abstract: A transport system is a transport system that transports a luggage using a transport vehicle and a transport robot. In a state in which the transport robot and the transport vehicle are connected, the transport robot takes out the luggage from the transport vehicle, or stores the luggage in the transport vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kunihiro Iwamoto, Yuta Itozawa, Hirotaka Komura, Yutaro Takagi
  • Publication number: 20240005227
    Abstract: A delivery system includes a plurality of delivery vehicles for delivering an article to a delivery destination with power charged in a battery that is able to be charged and discharged. The delivery vehicles are able to be charged with each other. A charging schedule including a combination of a charging vehicle and a vehicle to be charged selected from the delivery vehicles is determined based on a delivery schedule of the article and a remaining charge capacity of the battery for each of the delivery vehicles, and the delivery schedule for the charging vehicle and the vehicle to be charged is updated based on the charging schedule.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 24, 2023
    Publication date: January 4, 2024
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kunihiro IWAMOTO, Yuta ITOZAWA, Hirotaka KOMURA
  • Publication number: 20240005111
    Abstract: Provided is an article management system using a computer that associates and stores identification information for identifying an article to be delivered to a user and one or more pieces of usage information regarding use of the article attached by a sender of the article, and that reads the identification information attached to the article, extracts at least one piece of usage information from the one or more pieces of usage information associated with the identification information, and outputs the extracted piece of usage information to the user. When usage information to be output to the user is extracted, output usage information output to the user in the past is excluded from the one or more pieces of usage information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 7, 2023
    Publication date: January 4, 2024
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kunihiro IWAMOTO, Yuta ITOZAWA, Hirotaka KOMURA
  • Publication number: 20230417308
    Abstract: An extension pipe includes a first belt including a plurality of first engagement pins formed on an upper side along the upper side and a plurality of second engagement pins formed on a lower side along the lower side, a second belt including a plurality of first engagement holes formed on the upper side along the upper side and a plurality of second engagement holes formed on the lower side along the lower side, and a first guide part including a spiral groove configured to spirally guide the first belt and the second belt. A difference between a length of a first trajectory in which each of the first engagement pins moves along the spiral groove and a length of a second trajectory in which each of the second engagement pins moves along the spiral groove is less than half a circumference of the spiral groove.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 26, 2023
    Publication date: December 28, 2023
    Inventors: Hirotaka KOMURA, Kunihiro IWAMOTO, Yoshiaki NAKAMOTO
  • Patent number: 11854395
    Abstract: The plurality of passage areas include a first passage area and a second passage area, the first passage area being a passage area for which a traveling condition for a transportation vehicle carrying an object to be transported is specified, and a second passage area being a passage area for which a traveling condition for restricting traveling of the transportation vehicle more strictly than in the first passage area is specified. The traffic management system includes a traffic management unit configured to change a regulation in at least a part of the second passage area in regard to the permission/prohibition of the traveling of the transportation vehicle based on at least one of information about a demand for the object to be transported and information about a traffic environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Nobuhisa Otsuki, Kunihiro Iwamoto, Yuta Itozawa, Hirotaka Komura, Yutaro Takagi
  • Publication number: 20230365330
    Abstract: A delivery shelf system includes a shelf extending from an exterior to an interior of a building, and a returnable box (RB) stored and slidably supported in the shelf. A first recessed part (FRP) is provided in an indoor-side end part of RB and a second recessed part (SRP) is provided in an outdoor-side end part thereof; a locking mechanism including a projecting part configured to be pressed and inserted into FRP or into SRP is provided at the indoor-side end part of the shelf; the projecting part is inserted into FRP while RB is stored in the shelf, so that RB is locked to the shelf; and when the projecting part is retracted from FRP by releasing the locking and RB is pulled out from the shelf into inside the building, the projecting part is inserted into SRP and the pulled-out RB is thereby stopped.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 18, 2023
    Publication date: November 16, 2023
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Junya OTA, Kunihiro Iwamoto, Yuta Itozawa, Hirotaka Komura, Takatoshi Morimitsu, Yutaro Takagi
  • Patent number: 11813732
    Abstract: The delivery management system stores identification information identifying an article to be delivered to a user and storage place information indicating a storage place of the article in a living space of the user while associating the identification information and the storage place information with each other, and reads the identification information attached to the article and extracts the storage place information associated with the identification information when the article arrives at a delivery destination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kunihiro Iwamoto, Yuta Itozawa, Hirotaka Komura
  • Publication number: 20230348187
    Abstract: An autonomous mobile robot includes a placement part, an arm configured to extend from and retract into the placement part in a horizontal direction, and a control unit configured to control a movement of the arm. The control unit moves a tip of the arm into a groove formed in a bottom surface of an object supported from underneath thereof, and then the control unit returns the tip of the arm hooked in the groove to the placement part, or the control unit moves the tip of the arm hooked in a groove formed in a bottom surface of an object placed on the placement part toward a rack configured to support the object from underneath thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 10, 2023
    Publication date: November 2, 2023
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kunihiro IWAMOTO, Yuta ITOZAWA, Hirotaka KOMURA, Yutaro TAKAGI
  • Patent number: 11804088
    Abstract: A mobile body delivers a package to a designated destination by autonomous traveling. When the mobile body arrives at the destination, door status information including opening/closing status of an entrance door of the destination is acquired, and it is determined whether the entrance door of the destination has been opened based on the acquired door status information. When the entrance door has been opened, a delivery of the package to the destination is authenticated, and a locking device for regulating the delivery of the package from the mobile body is unlocked.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Nobuhisa Otsuki, Haeyeon Lee, Kunihiro Iwamoto, Yuta Itozawa, Hirotaka Komura, Yutaro Takagi, Kota Oishi
  • Patent number: 11760251
    Abstract: A first exemplary aspect is a delivery shelf includes: a housing; and a plurality of pairs of supports extended inside the housing in a depth direction thereof and arranged inside the housing at regular intervals in a height direction thereof. The delivery shelf is capable of housing all of returnable containers for delivery of a plurality of predefined sizes along the plurality of respective pairs of supports, and is installed in a house.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kunihiro Iwamoto, Yuta Itozawa, Hirotaka Komura, Yutaro Takagi
  • Publication number: 20230286132
    Abstract: An automated conveyance system that enables an autonomous mobile robot having a width larger than a distance between the legs of a load carrier to enter under the load carrier is provided. The automated conveyance system is an automated conveyance system for conveying a load carrier by an autonomous mobile robot entering below the load carrier, in which the load carrier includes a plurality of leg parts on sides of a bottom surface thereof, and at least one of the plurality of leg parts includes a U-shaped member, and the U-shaped member is disposed so that two end parts of the U-shaped member on an opening side thereof are arranged in a vertical direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 15, 2023
    Publication date: September 14, 2023
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuta ITOZAWA, Kunihiro IWAMOTO, Hirotaka KOMURA