Patents by Inventor Kunio HIRAKAWA

Kunio HIRAKAWA 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: 10242271
    Abstract: A facility use measuring device includes a processor and a memory storing instructions. The processor is configured to set a plurality of staying areas for determining the presence or absence of stay of users on images, to generate stay information relating to the presence or absence of stay of the users for each of the staying areas based on a change situation, to compare pieces of stay information for every at least two staying areas and determine a group configuration regarding the users who respectively stay in the staying areas based on similarity of the pieces of stay information, to generate use information relating a use situation of a facility according to the group configuration, based on the pieces of stay information for each of the staying areas and a determination result of the group configuration, and to generate display information displaying the use information and output the display information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kunio Hirakawa, Yuichi Nakahata
  • Patent number: 10186005
    Abstract: According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a facility utilization measurement apparatus. The facility utilization measurement apparatus sets a plurality of determination areas for determining whether a user stays, on an image which is obtained by capturing the inside of the facility. The facility utilization measurement apparatus generates stay information regarding whether the user stays for each determination area based on a change status of the image in the determination area. The facility utilization measurement apparatus generates use information regarding utilization for each determination area based on the stay information, generates display information for displaying the use information, and outputs the generated display information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2019
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kunio Hirakawa, Yuichi Nakahata
  • Publication number: 20180075461
    Abstract: Acquiring first customer image information related to a photographed image of a customer when entering a store, acquiring second customer image information related to a photographed image of the customer when advancing into an accounting area, acquiring third customer image information related to a photographed image of the customer leaving the accounting area, acquiring purchase information related to a product purchase status of a customer, measuring an excursion time for each customer on the basis of the first and second customer image information, correlating the excursion time and purchase information for each customer on the basis of the third customer image information, and generating analysis information in which the excursion time and purchase information for each customer are collected, and presenting the analysis information to a user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 12, 2015
    Publication date: March 15, 2018
    Applicant: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Kunio HIRAKAWA
  • Publication number: 20170344834
    Abstract: A facility use measuring device includes a processor and a memory storing instructions. The processor is configured to set a plurality of staying areas for determining the presence or absence of stay of users on images, to generate stay information relating to the presence or absence of stay of the users for each of the staying areas based on a change situation, to compare pieces of stay information for every at least two staying areas and determine a group configuration regarding the users who respectively stay in the staying areas based on similarity of the pieces of stay information, to generate use information relating a use situation of a facility according to the group configuration, based on the pieces of stay information for each of the staying areas and a determination result of the group configuration, and to generate display information displaying the use information and output the display information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2015
    Publication date: November 30, 2017
    Applicant: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LT D.
    Inventors: Kunio HIRAKAWA, Yuichi NAKAHATA
  • Publication number: 20160019664
    Abstract: According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a facility utilization measurement apparatus. The facility utilization measurement apparatus sets a plurality of determination areas for determining whether a user stays, on an image which is obtained by capturing the inside of the facility. The facility utilization measurement apparatus generates stay information regarding whether the user stays for each determination area based on a change status of the image in the determination area. The facility utilization measurement apparatus generates use information regarding utilization for each determination area based on the stay information, generates display information for displaying the use information, and outputs the generated display information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 14, 2015
    Publication date: January 21, 2016
    Applicant: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kunio HIRAKAWA, Yuichi NAKAHATA
  • Patent number: 8918327
    Abstract: A customer service status analysis device includes: a first time obtaining unit configured to detect occurrence of a prescribed customer service event and obtain an occurrence time of the prescribed customer service event based on image information provided by an imaging device capturing images of an interior of a commercial establishment; a second time obtaining unit configured to obtain an occurrence time of a prescribed customer service event from a sales information management device; a time period information obtaining unit configured to obtain time period information relating to customer service based on the occurrence time of the customer service event obtained by the first time obtaining unit and the occurrence time of the customer service event obtained by the second time obtaining unit; and an output information generation unit configured to generate output information representing a result of analysis based on the time period information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Kunio Hirakawa, Yoshinobu Uno, Yuichi Nakahata
  • Publication number: 20140358639
    Abstract: A customer category analysis device includes: a customer category identification unit that identifies a customer category of each person appearing in an imaging region defined such that an image of each customer moving from a waiting area of the commercial establishment toward a seating area is captured from a front of the customer and obtains customer category information indicating a result of customer category identification; and a filtering unit that, based on a mode of behavior of each person appearing in the imaging region, determines whether the person is to be included in the analysis according to a predetermined criteria for limiting persons to be included in the analysis to customers who exhibit a behavior of moving toward the seating area, and excludes the person from the analysis if the person is determined not to be included in the analysis.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 22, 2014
    Publication date: December 4, 2014
    Applicant: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Yuichiro TAKEMOTO, Kunio HIRAKAWA, Yoshinobu UNO, Yuichi NAKAHATA
  • Publication number: 20140222501
    Abstract: A customer behavior analysis device includes: a tracking unit configured to track persons moving in an area around a self-service area where items are provided for self-service, based on image information provided by an imaging device capturing images of the area around the self-service area; a detection unit configured to obtain, based on a result of tracking performed by the tracking unit, a moving direction of each person relative to an access area, which a customer needs to enter to choose and pick up items from the self-service area, and a staying time of the person in the access area, and to detect non-completing persons who gave up completing self-service action based on the moving direction and the staying time; and an output information generation unit configured to generate output information representing a result of analysis based on a result of detection performed by the detection unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 28, 2014
    Publication date: August 7, 2014
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kunio HIRAKAWA, Yoshinobu UNO, Yuichi NAKAHATA
  • Publication number: 20140222629
    Abstract: An item status analysis device for performing analysis of status of an item(s) offered in a commercial establishment includes: an object-of-interest detection unit configured to detect, based on image information provided by an imaging device capturing images of an object-of-interest placement area where an object of interest including the item(s) is placed, disappearance of the object of interest from the object-of-interest placement area and return of the object of interest to the object-of-interest placement area; a replacement detection unit configured to detect replacement of the object of interest based on a result of detection performed by the object-of-interest detection unit; and an output information generation unit configured to generate output information representing a result of analysis based on a result of detection performed by the replacement detection unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 28, 2014
    Publication date: August 7, 2014
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kunio HIRAKAWA, Yoshinobu UNO, Yuichi NAKAHATA
  • Publication number: 20140222479
    Abstract: A customer service status analysis device includes: a first time obtaining unit configured to detect occurrence of a prescribed customer service event and obtain an occurrence time of the prescribed customer service event based on image information provided by an imaging device capturing images of an interior of a commercial establishment; a second time obtaining unit configured to obtain an occurrence time of a prescribed customer service event from a sales information management device; a time period information obtaining unit configured to obtain time period information relating to customer service based on the occurrence time of the customer service event obtained by the first time obtaining unit and the occurrence time of the customer service event obtained by the second time obtaining unit; and an output information generation unit configured to generate output information representing a result of analysis based on the time period information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 28, 2014
    Publication date: August 7, 2014
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kunio HIRAKAWA, Yoshinobu UNO, Yuichi NAKAHATA
  • Publication number: 20140214484
    Abstract: A customer category analysis device includes: a customer category identification unit configured to identify a customer category of each customer based on image information provided by an imaging device capturing images of customers and obtain customer category information indicating a result of identification; a customer category ratio obtaining unit configured to obtain customer category ratios based on the customer category information; a customer number obtaining unit configured to receive sales information from a sales information management device and obtain a number of customers based on the sales information; a category-based customer number obtaining unit configured to obtain a number of customers in each category by reflecting the customer category ratios on the number of customers; and an output information generation unit configured to generate output information representing a result of analysis based on the number of customers in each category.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2014
    Publication date: July 31, 2014
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kunio HIRAKAWA, Yoshinobu UNO, Yuichi NAKAHATA