Patents by Inventor Katsuhiko Sato

Katsuhiko Sato 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: 11073742
    Abstract: A light amount adjusting apparatus includes a base member, light amount adjusting blades configured to form an aperture through which light passes, a blade driving member configured to rotate relative to the base member to drive the light amount adjusting blades, a cam member including a cam attached to the base member and configured to rotate the light amount adjusting blades driven by a rotation of the blade driving member so as to change a size of the aperture, and an adjuster configured to change a mount phase of the cam member relative to the base member in a rotational direction of the blade drive member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Katsuhiko Sato
  • Patent number: 10996672
    Abstract: A driving control apparatus for a vehicle is provided with an environmental condition estimating part including: a surrounding recognizing function that recognizes the vehicle's driving lane; and another vehicle driving on the driving lane; and a function that obtains the vehicle's moving state, a path generating part that generates a target path based on information obtained by the environmental condition estimating part, and a vehicle control part that performs speed control and steering control for causing the vehicle to follow the target path, and configured to be capable of executing an ACC function that performs a constant speed drive or a following drive, an LKA function that keeps the driving within the vehicle's driving lane, an override function that stops the ACC function by operation intervention of a driver, and a function that performs fallback control of the ACC function, the apparatus being configured to alter an ACC override threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2021
    Inventor: Katsuhiko Sato
  • Publication number: 20210094575
    Abstract: Vehicle driving control apparatus having function for performing automated in-lane driving by maintaining a vehicle speed when no preceding vehicle is in driving lane, and maintaining an inter-vehicle distance when a preceding other vehicle exists, function for performing automated lane change when there is no other vehicle in a predetermined area of neighboring lane, a function for notifying a driver of stopping the functions and an operation takeover request when a system failure occurs, function for evacuating vehicle to road shoulder when driver cannot resume operation, wherein, when vehicle is not in first lane neighboring road shoulder at operation of evacuating function, lane change from in-lane driving maintaining set inter-vehicle distance or set vehicle speed to first lane is performed, and prior thereto, a predetermined area serving as criterion of lane change to first lane is changed to a second area smaller than area of automated lane change.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2020
    Publication date: April 1, 2021
    Inventor: Katsuhiko SATO
  • Publication number: 20210001947
    Abstract: A straddle-type electric vehicle, comprising a pair of left and right main frames, a seat rail extending rearward from a rear portion of each of the main frames, a pivot frame extending downward from a rear portion of each of the main frames, a swing arm supported by the pivot frame, a battery arranged in a space between the main frames, a power unit arranged in the space, a wind guiding duct for guiding traveling wind to the space, and an air outlet port for emitting the traveling wind, the air outlet port being provided so as to be capable of emitting the traveling wind inside the wind guiding duct from a lower portion of a vehicle body to an area below the vehicle body.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2020
    Publication date: January 7, 2021
    Inventors: Makoto FUJIKUBO, Katsuhiko SATO, Tsugio IKEDA, Ryo KUBOTA, Yudai HIROSE, Naoya ISHIMATSU, Hiroshi TAMURA
  • Publication number: 20210001943
    Abstract: A straddle-type electric vehicle, comprising a pair of left and right main frames, a seat rail extending rearward from a rear portion of each of the main frames, a pivot frame extending downward from a rear portion of each of the main frames, a swing arm supported by the pivot frame and by which a rear wheel is swingably supported, a battery arranged in a space between the main frames, a power unit arranged in the space and generates motive power based on electric power of the battery, and a wind guiding duct for guiding traveling wind to the space, the wind guiding duct provided relative to each of the main frames, the wind guiding duct being positioned more outward in a vehicle width direction than the main frames.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2020
    Publication date: January 7, 2021
    Inventors: Tsugio IKEDA, Katsuhiko SATO, Makoto FUJIKUBO, Takumi FURUTO
  • Publication number: 20200379316
    Abstract: A light amount adjusting apparatus includes a base member, light amount adjusting blades configured to form an aperture through which light passes, a blade driving member configured to rotate relative to the base member to drive the light amount adjusting blades, a cam member including a cam attached to the base member and configured to rotate the light amount adjusting blades driven by a rotation of the blade driving member so as to change a size of the aperture, and an adjuster configured to change a mount phase of the cam member relative to the base member in a rotational direction of the blade drive member.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 1, 2020
    Publication date: December 3, 2020
    Inventor: Katsuhiko Sato
  • Publication number: 20200369281
    Abstract: An automated driving controller for a vehicle includes an environmental condition estimating part including a surrounding recognition function for recognizing a vehicle's driving lane, neighboring lanes, and other vehicles driving in the driving lanes and a function for obtaining the vehicle's moving state, a path generating part for generating a target path on the basis of information obtained by the environmental condition estimating part, and a vehicle control part configured to perform speed control and steering control for causing the vehicle to follow the target path, and has a function for performing automated lane change to a neighboring lane when there is no other vehicle in a predetermined range of the neighboring lane and a function for determining whether lane change should be continued when another vehicle is recognized in a predetermined area (XF and XR) around the vehicle during execution of the automated lane change.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 29, 2020
    Publication date: November 26, 2020
    Applicant: Suzuki Motor Corporation
    Inventor: Katsuhiko Sato
  • Publication number: 20200307600
    Abstract: A driving control apparatus for a vehicle having a function for generating a target path to a predetermined range as a target and performing automated lane change to a neighboring lane when no other vehicle is recognized in the predetermined range of the neighboring lane by a surrounding recognition function and a merging support function for generating a target path using other vehicle information obtained by a communication function, performing acceleration/deceleration control and steering control, and automatically merging to a merged lane, wherein the driving control apparatus has a function for altering override threshold values serving as a determination criterion of operation intervention for stopping the acceleration/deceleration control and the steering control to a value greater than during normal operation of the communication function when failure occurs in the communication function during the automated merging.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 24, 2020
    Publication date: October 1, 2020
    Inventor: Katsuhiko SATO
  • Publication number: 20200307582
    Abstract: A driving control with environmental condition estimating including surrounding recognition function for recognizing a vehicle's lane and neighboring lanes and other vehicles and a function for obtaining the vehicle's state, a path generating part for generating a path based on information from the environmental condition estimating, and a vehicle control for speed and steering control for causing the vehicle to follow the path. The environmental condition estimating obtains the vehicle's position near a toll plaza, having a vehicle ahead following function for targeting a vehicle ahead. The driving control alters override threshold values serving as a determination criterion of the operation intervention for stopping the vehicle ahead following function and a path following function to a value greater than during driving in a general section with lane markings when the vehicle's own position reaches a predetermined point before the toll plaza.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2020
    Publication date: October 1, 2020
    Inventor: Katsuhiko SATO
  • Publication number: 20200282990
    Abstract: In a driving control apparatus for a vehicle having an ACC function for performing constant speed cruise at a target speed or performing following cruise to a preceding vehicle at a target inter-vehicle time, an LKA function for maintaining cruise in the vehicle's own driving lane by following control to a target path, a CACC function for performing convoy cruise by cooperative adaptive cruise control using the ACC function together with driving information on convoy vehicles obtained by a vehicle-to-vehicle communication part, and a tracking control function for performing steering control.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 4, 2020
    Publication date: September 10, 2020
    Inventor: Katsuhiko SATO
  • Publication number: 20200269839
    Abstract: An ACC function for performing constant speed cruise according to a target speed when there is no preceding other vehicle in a vehicle's own driving lane and performing following cruise by maintaining a predetermined inter-vehicle distance when there is a preceding other vehicle, an LKA function for maintaining cruise in the vehicle's own driving lane by following control to a target path, a function for performing automated lane change to a neighboring lane when there is no other vehicle in a predetermined range in the neighboring lane, an override function for stopping the automated lane change function by a driver's operation intervention, and a function for performing fallback control of the automated lane change function, with notifying the driver of stopping the automated lane change function and operation takeover.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2020
    Publication date: August 27, 2020
    Inventor: Katsuhiko SATO
  • Publication number: 20200255012
    Abstract: An ACC function for performing constant speed cruise according to a target speed when there is no preceding other vehicle in a vehicle's driving lane and performing following cruise by maintaining a predetermined inter-vehicle distance when there is a preceding other vehicle, an LKA function for maintaining cruise, an override function for stopping the ACC function and the LKA function by a driver's operation intervention, and a function for performing fallback control of the LKA function, with notifying the driver of ACC function stop, LKA function stop advance notice, and operation takeover, at a time of system limit of the ACC function, LKA override threshold values serving as a determination criterion of the operation intervention for stopping the LKA function at the time of system limit of the ACC function are configured to be altered to a value greater than during normal operation when the ACC function is within the system limit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 6, 2020
    Publication date: August 13, 2020
    Inventor: Katsuhiko SATO
  • Publication number: 20200255011
    Abstract: An ACC function for performing constant speed cruise according to a target speed when there is no preceding other vehicle in a vehicle's driving lane and performing following cruise by maintaining a predetermined inter-vehicle distance when there is a preceding other vehicle, an LKA function for maintaining cruise, an override function for stopping the ACC function and the LKA function by a driver's operation intervention, and a fallback function for performing fallback control of the ACC function and/or the LKA function, with notifying the driver of stopping the ACC function and/or the LKA function and operation takeover, at a time of system operational design domain deviation of the ACC function and/or the LKA function, override threshold values of the functions serving as a determination criterion of the operation intervention for stopping the ACC function and/or the LKA function at the time of system operational design domain deviation are configured to be altered to a value greater than during normal ope
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 6, 2020
    Publication date: August 13, 2020
    Inventor: Katsuhiko SATO
  • Publication number: 20200207348
    Abstract: In a driving control apparatus for a vehicle having an ACC function for performing constant speed cruise according to a target speed when there is no preceding other vehicle in a vehicle's driving lane and performing following cruise by maintaining a predetermined inter-vehicle distance when there is a preceding other vehicle, an LKA function for maintaining cruise in the vehicle's driving lane by following control to a target path, an override function for stopping the ACC function and the LKA function by a driver's operation intervention, and a function for notifying the driver of stopping the LKA function and the ACC function and operation takeover and performing fallback control of the LKA function and the ACC function at the time of system limit of the LKA function, override threshold values serving as a determination criterion of the operation intervention for stopping the LKA function and the ACC function at the time of system limit of the LKA function are configured to be altered to a value greater th
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 9, 2019
    Publication date: July 2, 2020
    Inventor: Katsuhiko Sato
  • Patent number: 10680537
    Abstract: The vibration-type-motor driving apparatus includes a vibration-type motor including a vibrator on which vibration is excited by an electro-mechanical energy conversion element, a shaft that supports the vibrator, and a rotor that contacts the vibrator to be rotated thereby. A first end portion of the shaft is moved with the vibration of the vibrator. The apparatus further includes a housing that houses therein the motor, and a first elastic member that contacts the first end portion of the shaft and is deformable in a direction in which the first end portion vibrates. The first elastic member transfers heat of the shaft to the housing or another member provided inside the housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hideomi Nakagami, Katsuhiko Sato, Koji Sato, Yasuhiro Hatakeyama
  • Patent number: 10444466
    Abstract: A driving device includes a driving motor, a first gear 3-1, and a gear 3-2 having a smaller diameter than the gear 3-1. Driving force from the driving motor is transmittable to a driven object when the gear 3-2 moves in an axial direction of a rotation shaft to be coupled to the gear 3-1. When the gear 3-2 moves in the axial direction to be decoupled from the gear 3-1, the driving force from the driving motor can be prevented from being transmitted to the driven object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Katsuhiko Sato
  • Patent number: 10372019
    Abstract: The lens driving adapter is detachably attachable to a lens barrel on which an operation member is provided. The adapter includes a driver configured to drive the operation member, and an adapter body holding the driver. The adapter body includes a first contact portion and a second contact portion that are protrusions contactable with two circumferential portions in an outer circumferential surface of the lens barrel. The first and the second contact portions are contactable with outer circumferential surfaces of lens barrels whose outer diameters are mutually different. The adapter body includes a fixing member configured to fix the adapter body to any of the lens barrels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2019
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Katsuhiko Sato
  • Publication number: 20190227546
    Abstract: A driving control apparatus for a vehicle is provided with an environmental condition estimating part including: a surrounding recognizing function that recognizes the vehicle's driving lane; and another vehicle driving on the driving lane; and a function that obtains the vehicle's moving state, a path generating part that generates a target path based on information obtained by the environmental condition estimating part, and a vehicle control part that performs speed control and steering control for causing the vehicle to follow the target path, and configured to be capable of executing an ACC function that performs a constant speed drive or a following drive, an LKA function that keeps the driving within the vehicle's driving lane, an override function that stops the ACC function by operation intervention of a driver, and a function that performs fallback control of the ACC function, the apparatus being configured to alter an ACC override threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 22, 2019
    Publication date: July 25, 2019
    Applicant: Suzuki Motor Corporation
    Inventor: Katsuhiko Sato
  • Patent number: 10326941
    Abstract: An image generating apparatus includes a first generator configured to obtain a first image using a first camera with a first angle of view, a second generator configured to obtain a second image using a second camera with a second angle of view wider than the first angle of view, and a generator configured to generate an observation image using the first image and the second image. The observation image is observable as a double image in which the first image and the second image are superimposed on each other in an area that contains a center of the first image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2019
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Noguchi, Katsuhiko Sato, Toshifumi Maruyama, Rei Ito, Yasuhiro Hatakeyama
  • Patent number: 10100908
    Abstract: The assembly of a shaft member and a shaft end adapter which are manufactured separately can be accomplished with a high precision in coaxiality and straightness at a high efficiency. A tubular portion is formed with a circumferentially continuous portion at least in a part thereof adjoining a free end thereof, and a slit extends axially through a wall of the tubular portion in exclusion of the circumferentially continuous portion. A fastening bolt configured to close the slit is mounted on the tubular portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2018
    Assignees: Kuroda Precision Industries Ltd., Y.M. Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshiaki Ohno, Katsuhiko Sato