Patents by Inventor Kei Tanabe

Kei Tanabe 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: 20200300936
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to reduce the size and cost of a magnetic sensor suitable for closed loop control. A magnetic sensor includes a magnetoresistive effect element MR1 electrically connected between terminals 41 and 42 and extending in the x-direction and a magnetic member 31 electrically connected between terminal and 44 and extending in the x-direction along the magnetoresistive effect element MR1. The magnetoresistive effect element MR1 is disposed offset with respect to the center position of the magnetic member 31 in the y-direction. According to the present invention, magnetic flux to be detected is collected by the magnetic member 31, and current is made to flow in the magnetic member 31 in accordance with the resistance value of the magnetoresistive effect element MR1, whereby closed loop control can be achieved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 20, 2016
    Publication date: September 24, 2020
    Applicant: TDK CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kei TANABE
  • Publication number: 20200256932
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic sensor that can reduce influences of a disturbance magnetic field while ensuring high detection sensitivity. The magnetic sensor includes a sensor chip 20 having an element formation surface 20S on which magnetic detection elements MR3, MR4 are formed, a first magnetic member 31 placed on the element formation surface 20S and having a first height H1 as a height from the element formation surface 20S, and a second magnetic member 32 located on an opposite side of the magnetic detection elements MR3, MR4 to the first magnetic member 31 and having a second height H2 lower than the first height H1. According to the present invention, because the height H2 of the second magnetic member 32 is lower than that of the first magnetic member 31, a detection magnetic field attracted to the second magnetic member 32 can be reduced while a disturbance magnetic field is shielded by the second magnetic member 32.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 20, 2016
    Publication date: August 13, 2020
    Applicant: TDK Corporation
    Inventors: Yuki ASAZUMA, Kei TANABE, Akihiro UNNO, Atsushi MATSUDA, Masashi TAKAHASHI
  • Publication number: 20200120982
    Abstract: An object is to provide an electronic cigarette device capable of reliably acquiring more information concerning a cigarette cartridge. An electronic cigarette device includes an electronic cigarette device body and a cigarette cartridge allowing a user to smoke when being attached to the electronic cigarette device body. The electronic cigarette device body has a magnetic sensor and a control circuit for analyzing an output signal from the magnetic sensor. The cigarette cartridge has magnetic patterns. When the cigarette cartridge is attached to the electronic cigarette device body, a magnetic field generated from the magnetic patterns is detected by the magnetic sensor. Thus, as compared to the case where a change in electrostatic capacity is utilized, more information concerning the cigarette cartridge can be reliably acquired.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2018
    Publication date: April 23, 2020
    Inventor: Kei TANABE
  • Patent number: 10595130
    Abstract: A speaker includes spacers that are disposed between a front end portion of a top yoke, which serves as a first member, and a back end portion of a back portion of a frame, which serves as a second member, to form a gap that defines an air passage. When a bobbin and a vibrating plate vibrate in a front-back direction, an airflow through the air passage, which faces a voice coil, is formed between the space around a magnetic gap and the outside. Accordingly, the voice coil is cooled over the entire circumference thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: ALPINE ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventor: Kei Tanabe
  • Publication number: 20190364366
    Abstract: In an electroacoustic converter, a dome-shaped diaphragm having anisotropy in rigidity is formed by shaping fiber reinforced plastic having anisotropy in fiber orientation. A voice coil bobbin, in a hollow cylindrical shape, on which a voice coil is wound is linked to the outer edge of the diaphragm so that the shape of the linked portion becomes circular when viewed in the axial direction of the diaphragm. The diaphragm vibrates due to an electromagnetic action by a magnetic flux that is generated in a magnetic circuit and flows in the voice coil and the current of an audio signal flowing in the voice coil.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2019
    Publication date: November 28, 2019
    Applicant: ALPINE ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventors: Kei Tanabe, Ryo Ito
  • Patent number: 10419844
    Abstract: A vehicle-mounted acoustic apparatus includes a frame including an annular portion and a supporting portion and attachable to an opening of a partition plate between an in-cabin space and an outside-cabin space, a diaphragm vibratorily supported by the annular portion, a magnetic circuit supported by the supporting portion and having a magnetic gap, a cylindrical bobbin provided on the diaphragm with one end thereof projecting from one side of the diaphragm, a voice coil wound around the bobbin and positioned in the magnetic gap, and a rear cover member defining an air chamber provided between the rear cover member and the diaphragm. The rear cover member is vibratorily supported and allows back pressure to be conducted to the outside-cabin space. An air path between the air chamber and the in-cabin space follows a route passing through a space on an inner side of the bobbin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2019
    Assignee: ALPINE ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventor: Kei Tanabe
  • Patent number: 10397704
    Abstract: An acoustic apparatus may include a frame having an annular open portion that opens in an axial direction; a diaphragm supported by being attached to the annular open portion via a flexible edge member so as to be capable of vibrating in the axial direction; and a driving unit connected to the diaphragm at a center portion of the diaphragm, where the driving unit is configured to apply a driving force in the axial direction to the diaphragm. The diaphragm has a rotationally symmetric shape around an axis of the diaphragm when viewed in the axial direction. The diaphragm includes a sheet member having an orientation dispersion structure in which shape-anisotropic fillers are dispersed in a resin with long axes of the fillers oriented in one predetermined direction, and the diaphragm has mechanical characteristics having two-fold rotation symmetry around the axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: ALPINE ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventor: Kei Tanabe
  • Patent number: 10358098
    Abstract: A vehicle speaker system includes a speaker having a diaphragm that generates a sound pressure, a frame that supports the diaphragm vibratably, and a driving unit attached to the frame to drive the diaphragm. A position of the speaker relative to a partition separating a vehicle-cabin inner space and an engine compartment inner space is determined so that the sound pressure generated by an action of the diaphragm passes through an opening in the partition. A shield member is provided with at least a part thereof being located between the speaker and an obstacle generation source located in the engine compartment inner space to obstruct an operation of the speaker. An open part allowing a first space provided between the speaker and the shield member to communicate with the engine compartment inner space is provided in such a direction as not to be directed toward the obstacle generation source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2019
    Assignee: Alpine Electronics, Inc.
    Inventor: Kei Tanabe
  • Patent number: 10250970
    Abstract: An acoustic apparatus may include a frame having an axially-opening annular open portion; a diaphragm supported by being attached to the annular open portion via a flexible edge member so as to be capable of vibrating in the axial direction; and a driving unit connected, at a connection portion at a center portion of the diaphragm, to the diaphragm to apply an axial-direction driving force to the diaphragm. The diaphragm includes first and second diaphragms that are mutually adjacent in the axial direction and joined together. When viewed in the axial direction, the second diaphragm has an outer diameter smaller than that of the first diaphragm. Each diaphragm includes a sheet member having an orientation dispersion structure including a shape-anisotropic filler dispersed in a resin with the long axis thereof oriented in a predetermined direction. The orientation directions of the sheet members of the first and second diaphragms mutually intersect.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: ALPINE ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventor: Kei Tanabe
  • Patent number: 10250988
    Abstract: A speaker in the present disclosure includes a magnetic circuit having a magnetic gap, a frame fixed to the magnetic circuit, a voice coil disposed in the magnetic gap, a cylindrical bobbin around which the voice coil is formed, and a diaphragm configured so that the inner circumferential side of the diaphragm is fixed to the bobbin and the outer edge of the diaphragm is supported by the frame with an edge member intervening therebetween. The diaphragm has an elliptical shape that is non-axisymmetric with respect to a center axis passing through the center of the bobbin. The diaphragm is formed by vacuum molding of a sheet-like raw material (thermoplastic CFRP sheet) in which long-fiber fillers are oriented in one direction in a thermoplastic resin. The orientation of the long-fiber fillers is set so as to match the short-axis direction of the diaphragm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: ALPINE ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventors: Kei Tanabe, Masami Anzai, Yu Yamagami, Takahiro Aoki, Yusuke Yoshida
  • Patent number: 10247790
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a magnetic sensor which can detect a weak magenetic field and improve the detection precision with an easy and convenient configuration. A magnetic sensor is provided with a magnetic body changing the direction of a magnetic field input to a magnetoresistance effect element in the vicinity of the magnetoresistance effect element in which the resistance value changes according to the direction of the input magnetic field, the magnetic body has at leas one projection portion in the direction almost parallel to direction in which the magnetic induction occurs in the magnetoresistance effect element. The direction in which the projection portion of the magnetic body projects is substantially parallel to the direction in which the magnetization of the magnetoresistance effect element is fixed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: TDK CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kei Tanabe
  • Publication number: 20190082263
    Abstract: A speaker includes spacers that are disposed between a front end portion of a top yoke, which serves as a first member, and a back end portion of a back portion of a frame, which serves as a second member, to form a gap that defines an air passage. When a bobbin and a vibrating plate vibrate in a front-back direction, an airflow through the air passage, which faces a voice coil, is formed between the space around a magnetic gap and the outside. Accordingly, the voice coil is cooled over the entire circumference thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 11, 2018
    Publication date: March 14, 2019
    Applicant: ALPINE ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventor: Kei Tanabe
  • Publication number: 20190056460
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic sensor having enhanced magnetic detection sensitivity by bending magnetic flux more largely. A magnetic sensor includes magnetic detection elements MR1 and MR2 positioned on a plane P separating a first space S1 and a second space S2, a first magnetic member 31 disposed in the first space S1 so as to be between the magnetic detection elements MR1 and MR2 when viewed in the z-direction, and a second magnetic member 32 disposed in the second space S2. The magnetic detection element MR1 is positioned between the first magnetic member 31 and a first part 32a of the second magnetic member 32 when viewed in the z-direction. The magnetic detection element MR2 is positioned between the first magnetic member 31 and a second part 32b of the second magnetic member 32 when viewed in the z-direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 20, 2016
    Publication date: February 21, 2019
    Applicant: TDK Corporation
    Inventor: Kei TANABE
  • Publication number: 20190041473
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic sensor less subject to an environmental magnetic field. A magnetic sensor includes magnetic detection elements MR1 to MR4 positioned on a first plane P1 and a magnetic member 30A provided on a second plane P2. The magnetic member 30A includes first and second leg parts 41 and 42 and a first main body part 51 positioned between the first and second leg parts 41 and 42 so as to form a first space 61 between itself and the second plane P2. The magnetic detection elements MR1 to MR4 are covered with the first main body part 51. According to the present invention, magnetic field to be detected is collected to the first and second leg parts 41 and 42, and the magnetic detection elements MR1 to MR4 are covered with the first main body part 51, thereby allowing an environmental magnetic field acting as noise to bypass the magnetic detection elements MR1 to MR4 through the first main body part 51.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 20, 2016
    Publication date: February 7, 2019
    Applicant: TDK CORPORATION
    Inventor: kei TANABE
  • Patent number: 10168395
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a magnetic sensor which can improve the detection precision of a weak magnetic field. A magnetic sensor wherein a magnetic body which changes the direction of a magnetic field input to a magnetoresistance effect element is provided in the vicinity of the magnetoresistance effect element in which the resistance value changes according to the direction of the input magnetic field, and the magnetic body has a recess with a concave shape on the surface at a side where the magnetoresistance effect element is formed. The center of the recess may be substantially identical to that of the magnetic body. The concave shape may at least include polygon having three or more sides, or may at least include arc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2019
    Assignee: TDK CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kei Tanabe
  • Publication number: 20180321332
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to selectively detect a detection magnetic field without separately providing a sensor for detecting an environmental magnetic field. A magnetic field detection device includes a magnetic field detection unit 10 that generates an output signal S1 according to a magnetic field, a first signal generation unit 20 that extracts a predetermined frequency component from the output signal S1 and generates a cancel signal S2 based on the predetermined frequency component, a first magnetic field generation unit 40 that applies a first cancel magnetic field to the magnetic field detection unit 10 based on the cancel signal S2, and a second signal generation unit 30 that generates a detection signal S3 based on the output signal S1 of the magnetic field detection unit 10 to which the first cancel magnetic field is applied.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 20, 2016
    Publication date: November 8, 2018
    Applicant: TDK CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kei TANABE
  • Publication number: 20180313670
    Abstract: A magnetism-detecting device and a moving-body-detecting device, capable of detecting a movement of a moving body that is not a magnetic body. The moving-body-detecting device includes the magnetism-detecting device and a rotating body that moves with respect to the magnetism-detecting device. The magnetism-detecting device has a coil for generating an alternating magnetic field and a magnetic sensor to which the magnetic field generated by the coil is applied. The rotation of the rotating body changes the magnetic field applied to the magnetic sensor. An output signal from the magnetic sensor is synchronously detected using a signal that is supplied to the coil in order to generate the alternating magnetic field.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2016
    Publication date: November 1, 2018
    Applicant: TDK Corporation
    Inventor: Kei TANABE
  • Patent number: 10101413
    Abstract: A magnetic field detection device includes: a first magnetic field generating part, including a first magnetic field generating conductor; a first magnetic field detection part, including a first magnetic field detection element and a first differential operation part, wherein a first output of the first magnetic field detection element corresponding to the environment magnetic field is inputted into the first differential operation part, and a first feedback current flows into the first magnetic field generating conductor, and thus the first magnetic field generating part provides the first magnetic field detection element with a first feedback current magnetic field, with a direction opposite to the environment magnetic field; a second magnetic field generating part, including a second magnetic field generating conductor, in which a second current corresponding to the first feedback current flows; and a second magnetic field detection part, including a second magnetic field detection element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2018
    Assignee: TDK CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tamon Kasajima, Kei Tanabe, Akihiro Ogawa
  • Publication number: 20180220226
    Abstract: An acoustic apparatus may include a frame having an axially-opening annular open portion; a diaphragm supported by being attached to the annular open portion via a flexible edge member so as to be capable of vibrating in the axial direction; and a driving unit connected, at a connection portion at a center portion of the diaphragm, to the diaphragm to apply an axial-direction driving force to the diaphragm. The diaphragm includes first and second diaphragms that are mutually adjacent in the axial direction and joined together. When viewed in the axial direction, the second diaphragm has an outer diameter smaller than that of the first diaphragm. Each diaphragm includes a sheet member having an orientation dispersion structure including a shape-anisotropic filler dispersed in a resin with the long axis thereof oriented in a predetermined direction. The orientation directions of the sheet members of the first and second diaphragms mutually intersect.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 8, 2017
    Publication date: August 2, 2018
    Applicant: ALPINE ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventor: Kei Tanabe
  • Patent number: D865719
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: ALPINE ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventor: Kei Tanabe