Patents by Inventor Masahiro Kiyohara

Masahiro Kiyohara 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: 20230282003
    Abstract: Provided is an external environment recognition system which complements a blind spot of an on-board camera occurring due to a moving obstacle such as a preceding vehicle with a photographed image obtained from an on-road camera, and can generate a detailed map for automatic traveling.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 19, 2021
    Publication date: September 7, 2023
    Inventors: Shigeru MATSUO, Masahiro KIYOHARA, Hideaki KIDO
  • Patent number: 11749493
    Abstract: A liquid metal ion source (50) includes: a reservoir (10) configured to hold an ion material (M) forming a liquid metal; a needle electrode (20); an extraction electrode (22) configured to cause an ion of the ion material to be emitted from a distal end of the needle electrode; a beam diaphragm (24), which is arranged on a downstream side of the extraction electrode, and is configured to limit a beam diameter of the ion; and a vacuum chamber (30) configured to accommodate and hold the reservoir, the needle electrode, the extraction electrode, and the beam diaphragm in vacuum, wherein the liquid metal ion source further includes an oxidizing gas introducing portion (40), and wherein the oxidizing gas introducing portion communicates to the vacuum chamber, and is configured to introduce an oxidizing gas into a periphery of the needle electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: HITACHI HIGH-TECH SCIENCE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Koyama, Tatsuya Asahata, Masahiro Kiyohara, Tsunghan Yang
  • Publication number: 20230243657
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle control device and a host vehicle position estimation method capable of appropriately learning a correction amount of a host vehicle position estimated based on a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) according to an environmental change.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 1, 2021
    Publication date: August 3, 2023
    Applicant: Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masahiro KIYOHARA, Takeshi OGATA, Hiroki OTA, Shinichi AMAYA
  • Patent number: 11560160
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes: a point group data acquisition unit configured to acquire, based on information from a sensor configured to detect an object existing in surroundings of a vehicle, point group data related to a plurality of points representing the object; a movement amount estimation unit configured to estimate a movement amount of the vehicle; a storage unit configured to store, as a point group map recorded in association with position information including a latitude and a longitude, relative positions of the plurality of points relative to a first reference position that is a place on a travel path of the vehicle; and a position estimation unit configured to estimate a position of the vehicle based on the point group map, the point group data, and the movement amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: FAURECIA CLARION ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Morihiko Sakano, Shinya Tagawa, Masahiro Kiyohara
  • Patent number: 11514683
    Abstract: An on-board outside recognition apparatus extracts a feature point from an image including an environment around a user's own vehicle, measures a three-dimensional position of the feature point based on movement of the feature point tracked in time series on the image and calculates a foot position of the feature point on the image from the three-dimensional position of the feature point is performed. Then, the on-board outside recognition apparatus extracts a road surface area where the user's own vehicle can travel, from the image using a degree of similarity of a texture of the image, and judges a feature point the foot position of which is judged not to be included in the road surface area to be highly reliable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: Faurecia Clarion Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takehito Ogata, Toshihisa Kuwahara, Masahiro Kiyohara, Yoshitaka Uchida
  • Patent number: 11476078
    Abstract: Provided is a charged particle beam apparatus including a focused ion beam column, a sample holder, a stage supporting the sample holder, a securing member rotating unit, a stage driving unit, and a control device. The sample holder includes a securing member fixing a sample. The securing member rotating unit rotates the securing member around a first rotational axis and a second rotational axis. The stage driving unit translates the stage in three dimensions and rotates the stage around a third rotational axis. The control device acquires a correction value for correcting a change in a position of a center of rotation for rotation around at least one among a first rotational axis, a second rotational axis, and a third rotational axis. The control device translates the stage according to the correction value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: HITACHI HIGH-TECH SCIENCE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masahiro Kiyohara, Atsushi Uemoto
  • Patent number: 11351986
    Abstract: The present invention aims at obtaining an in-vehicle processing apparatus for automatically selecting modes. An in-vehicle processing apparatus 120 according to the present invention includes a mode switching unit 121D that makes a transition, based on latitude-longitude positioning information of a vehicle, between: a map storage mode 202 to acquire and store point group data in a storage unit when a vehicle 1 approaches a preset registered spot and point group data of surroundings of the vehicle is not stored in the storage unit 124; and a position estimation mode 203 to have a position estimation unit 121C estimate a position of the vehicle when the vehicle approaches the registered spot and the point group data of surroundings of the vehicle is stored in the storage unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: CLARION CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Morihiko Sakano, Shinya Tagawa, Masahiro Kiyohara
  • Patent number: 11143511
    Abstract: Provided is an on-vehicle processing device that can estimate the position of a vehicle with higher accuracy. A storage unit stores a parking lot point group including a plurality of coordinates of points of a part of an object in a parking lot coordinate system. A sensor input unit acquires peripheral information from a camera. A movement information acquisition unit acquires movement information. A local peripheral information creation unit generates local peripheral information expressing second point group data including a position of the vehicle in a local coordinate system and a plurality of coordinates of points of a part of the object in the local coordinate system on the basis of the peripheral information and the movement information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: Clarion Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Morihiko Sakano, Takehito Ogata, Shinya Tagawa, Masahiro Kiyohara, Yoshitaka Uchida
  • Publication number: 20210296084
    Abstract: Provided is a charged particle beam apparatus including a focused ion beam column, a sample holder, a stage supporting the sample holder, a securing member rotating unit, a stage driving unit, and a control device. The sample holder includes a securing member fixing a sample. The securing member rotating unit rotates the securing member around a first rotational axis and a second rotational axis. The stage driving unit translates the stage in three dimensions and rotates the stage around a third rotational axis. The control device acquires a correction value for correcting a change in a position of a center of rotation for rotation around at least one among a first rotational axis, a second rotational axis, and a third rotational axis. The control device translates the stage according to the correction value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 16, 2021
    Publication date: September 23, 2021
    Inventors: Masahiro KIYOHARA, Atsushi UEMOTO
  • Publication number: 20210206391
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes: a point group data acquisition unit configured to acquire, based on information from a sensor configured to detect an object existing in surroundings of a vehicle, point group data related to a plurality of points representing the object; a movement amount estimation unit configured to estimate a movement amount of the vehicle; a storage unit configured to store, as a point group map recorded in association with position information including a latitude and a longitude, relative positions of the plurality of points relative to a first reference position that is a place on a travel path of the vehicle; and a position estimation unit configured to estimate a position of the vehicle based on the point group map, the point group data, and the movement amount.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2019
    Publication date: July 8, 2021
    Inventors: Morihiko SAKANO, Shinya TAGAWA, Masahiro KIYOHARA
  • Publication number: 20210129832
    Abstract: The present invention aims at obtaining an in-vehicle processing apparatus for automatically selecting modes. An in-vehicle processing apparatus 120 according to the present invention includes a mode switching unit 121D that makes a transition, based on latitude-longitude positioning information of a vehicle, between: a map storage mode 202 to acquire and store point group data in a storage unit when a vehicle 1 approaches a preset registered spot and point group data of surroundings of the vehicle is not stored in the storage unit 124; and a position estimation mode 203 to have a position estimation unit 121C estimate a position of the vehicle when the vehicle approaches the registered spot and the point group data of surroundings of the vehicle is stored in the storage unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 12, 2018
    Publication date: May 6, 2021
    Inventors: Morihiko SAKANO, Shinya TAGAWA, Masahiro KIYOHARA
  • Patent number: 10977504
    Abstract: A vehicle-mounted image processing device 1000 acquires an image around a host vehicle 10, senses a feature amount of a target object present on a road surface from the image, and relative position coordinates with respect to the host vehicle 10, acquires information of a three-dimensional object around the host vehicle 10 and relative position coordinates of the three-dimensional object, distinguishes whether the feature amount is a feature amount of a feature on the road surface or a feature amount of a feature on the three-dimensional object by using a positional relationship between the feature amount and the three-dimensional object, and recognizes the target object by using a feature on the road surface. As a result, a vehicle-mounted image processing device, which is capable of avoiding misrecognition of a part of a three-dimensional object as a target object when sensing the target object present on a road surface such as a parking bay by using a camera image, is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Assignee: Clarion Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takehito Ogata, Masahiro Kiyohara, Daisuke Fukuda, Yoshitaka Uchida
  • Publication number: 20210090842
    Abstract: A liquid metal ion source (50) includes: a reservoir (10) configured to hold an ion material (M) forming a liquid metal; a needle electrode (20); an extraction electrode (22) configured to cause an ion of the ion material to be emitted from a distal end of the needle electrode; a beam diaphragm (24), which is arranged on a downstream side of the extraction electrode, and is configured to limit a beam diameter of the ion; and a vacuum chamber (30) configured to accommodate and hold the reservoir, the needle electrode, the extraction electrode, and the beam diaphragm in vacuum, wherein the liquid metal ion source further includes an oxidizing gas introducing portion (40), and wherein the oxidizing gas introducing portion communicates to the vacuum chamber, and is configured to introduce an oxidizing gas into a periphery of the needle electrode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2020
    Publication date: March 25, 2021
    Inventors: Yoshihiro KOYAMA, Tatsuya ASAHATA, Masahiro KIYOHARA, Tsunghan YANG
  • Patent number: 10867403
    Abstract: A vehicle external recognition extracts a feature point from an image including an environment around a vehicle; measures a distance from the vehicle to the feature point based on a movement of the feature point; extracts, as a first road surface area, a local area judged as a road surface based on distance information to the feature point and a position of the feature point in the image from among a plurality of local areas in the image; calculates a multi-dimensional image feature amount including color information for each of the plurality of local areas, and similarity to the first road surface area using the image feature amount with respect to a no-road-surface-extracted area(s) from among the plurality of local areas; extracts a second road surface area from the no-road-surface-extracted area(s) based on the similarity; and recognizes a travelable area using the first and the second road surface areas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2020
    Assignee: CLARION CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takehito Ogata, Daisuke Fukuda, Masahiro Kiyohara
  • Publication number: 20200302192
    Abstract: A subject of the present invention is to obtain an outside recognition apparatus for vehicle making it possible to improve accuracy of a distance measurement method based on tracking of a feature point on a camera image. An on-board outside recognition apparatus of the present invention extracts a feature point from an image including an environment around a user's own vehicle, measures a three-dimensional position of the feature point based on movement of the feature point tracked in time series on the image and calculates a foot position of the feature point on the image from the three-dimensional position of the feature point is performed. Then, the on-board outside recognition apparatus extracts a road surface area where the user's own vehicle can travel, from the image using a degree of similarity of a texture of the image, and judges a feature point the foot position of which is judged not to be included in the road surface area to be highly reliable.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 28, 2018
    Publication date: September 24, 2020
    Inventors: Takehito OGATA, Toshihisa KUWAHARA, Masahiro KIYOHARA, Yoshitaka UCHIDA
  • Publication number: 20200292320
    Abstract: Provided is an on-vehicle processing device that can estimate the position of a vehicle with higher accuracy. A storage unit stores a parking lot point group including a plurality of coordinates of points of a part of an object in a parking lot coordinate system. A sensor input unit acquires peripheral information from a camera. A movement information acquisition unit acquires movement information. A local peripheral information creation unit generates local peripheral information expressing second point group data including a position of the vehicle in a local coordinate system and a plurality of coordinates of points of a part of the object in the local coordinate system on the basis of the peripheral information and the movement information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 26, 2017
    Publication date: September 17, 2020
    Inventors: Morihiko SAKANO, Takehito OGATA, Shinya TAGAWA, Masahiro KIYOHARA, Yoshitaka UCHIDA
  • Publication number: 20200219281
    Abstract: A vehicle external recognition extracts a feature point from an image including an environment around a vehicle; measures a distance from the vehicle to the feature point based on a movement of the feature point; extracts, as a first road surface area, a local area judged as a road surface based on distance information to the feature point and a position of the feature point in the image from among a plurality of local areas in the image; calculates a multi-dimensional image feature amount including color information for each of the plurality of local areas, and similarity to the first road surface area using the image feature amount with respect to a no-road-surface-extracted area(s) from among the plurality of local areas; extracts a second road surface area from the no-road-surface-extracted area(s) based on the similarity; and recognizes a travelable area using the first and the second road surface areas.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 25, 2018
    Publication date: July 9, 2020
    Inventors: Takehito OGATA, Daisuke FUKUDA, Masahiro KIYOHARA
  • Publication number: 20200074192
    Abstract: A vehicle-mounted image processing device 1000 acquires an image around a host vehicle 10, senses a feature amount of a target object present on a road surface from the image, and relative position coordinates with respect to the host vehicle 10, acquires information of a three-dimensional object around the host vehicle 10 and relative position coordinates of the three-dimensional object, distinguishes whether the feature amount is a feature amount of a feature on the road surface or a feature amount of a feature on the three-dimensional object by using a positional relationship between the feature amount and the three-dimensional object, and recognizes the target object by using a feature on the road surface. As a result, a vehicle-mounted image processing device, which is capable of avoiding misrecognition of a part of a three-dimensional object as a target object when sensing the target object present on a road surface such as a parking bay by using a camera image, is provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2017
    Publication date: March 5, 2020
    Inventors: Takehito OGATA, Masahiro KIYOHARA, Daisuke FUKUDA, Yoshitaka UCHIDA
  • Patent number: 10572753
    Abstract: The purpose of the present invention is to provide an outside recognition device for a vehicle with which it is possible to correctly estimate the orientation of an obstruction. An outside recognition device according to the present invention is provided with an obstruction detection unit for detecting an obstruction in an image, an orientation estimation unit for estimating the orientation of the obstruction detected by the obstruction detection unit, and an orientation correction unit for correcting the orientation estimated by the orientation estimation unit in accordance with the positional relationship of the obstruction and the camera. With this outside recognition device for a vehicle, it is possible to correctly estimate the orientation of the obstruction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideyuki Kume, Masahiro Kiyohara
  • Patent number: 10242576
    Abstract: The obstacle detection device comprises: a first camera installed on a moving vehicle used for photographing a frontward or rearward view of the vehicle; a second camera installed on the vehicle used for photographing a sideward view of the vehicle; a parking space detection unit for detecting a parking space on the basis of an image obtained by photographing by the first camera; a memory unit for storing a real-space area of the parking space; a motion acquisition unit for acquiring information about behaviors of the vehicle; an obstacle calculation unit for calculating information about an obstacle present in the vicinity of the parking space on the basis of multiple images obtained by photographing by the second camera at different points in time; and a processing area setting unit for controlling, the calculation by the obstacle calculation unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: CLARION CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hideyuki Kume, Masahiro Kiyohara, Kimiyoshi Machii, Noriyasu Hasejima, Yoshitaka Uchida, Takehito Ogata, Yuta Ohizumi