Patents by Inventor Masao Sakata

Masao Sakata 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: 9953227
    Abstract: An in-vehicle image processing device processes camera images to determine a parkable area and includes an overhead image generation section generating an overhead image relative to a road surface by converting the view point of an image of a nearby vehicle and the road surface taken by a vehicle-mounted camera; a tire recognition section recognizing the tires of the nearby vehicle; a three-dimensional object recognition section recognizing three-dimensional objects including the nearby vehicle; an area-under-vehicle recognition section calculating the ground contact position of the tire and the above-ground height from the ground contact position to the vehicle body and recognizing an area under the vehicle body on the road surface from the overhead image; and a parkable area recognition section for recognizing the area occupied by the vehicle body and the area under the vehicle body as a non-parking area and recognizing a parkable area on the road surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: CLARION CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Akira Utagawa, Takeshi Shima, Shoji Muramatsu, Masao Sakata, Yoshitaka Uchida
  • Patent number: 9862416
    Abstract: An automatic parking control device performs steering control and speed control so that a subject vehicle moves along a target path toward a recognized parking space; when an obstacle that is approaching the subject vehicle has been detected, calculates a collision position at which the subject vehicle will collide with the obstacle; on the basis of a margin distance that is set according to the driving behavior of the subject vehicle and the collision position, calculates a stop position upon the target path that is set before the collision position by the margin distance; and performs speed control so that the subject vehicle stops at the stop position that has been calculated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: Clarion Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masato Imai, Takashi Okada, Masao Sakata
  • Patent number: 9811742
    Abstract: Provided is a vehicle surroundings recognition apparatus capable of enhancing a calculation accuracy of a relative position and a relative speed with respect to an object such as a pedestrian even in a case where the object cannot be detected accurately in some of the images obtained by performing image-capturing around a vehicle, for example.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: Clarion Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takehito Ogata, Masahiro Kiyohara, Kota Irie, Masao Sakata, Yoshitaka Uchida
  • Patent number: 9773177
    Abstract: A surrounding environment recognition device includes: an image acquisition unit that obtains a photographic image from a camera for capturing, via a camera lens, an image of a surrounding environment around a mobile object; an image recognition unit that recognizes an object image of an object present in the surrounding environment based upon the photographic image obtained by the image acquisition unit; an accumulation detection unit that detects accumulation settled on the camera lens based upon the photographic image obtained by the image acquisition unit; a suspension decision-making unit that makes a decision, based upon detection results provided by the accumulation detection unit, whether or not to suspend operation of the image recognition unit; a tracking unit that detects a characteristic quantity in a tracking target image from a specific area in an image captured by the image acquisition unit for a reference frame, determines through calculation an estimated area where the characteristic quantity
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2017
    Assignee: Clarion Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masayuki Takemura, Masahiro Kiyohara, Kota Irie, Masao Sakata, Yoshitaka Uchida
  • Publication number: 20170270370
    Abstract: An in-vehicle image processing device processes camera images to determine a parkable area and includes an overhead image generation section generating an overhead image relative to a road surface by converting the view point of an image of a nearby vehicle and the road surface taken by a vehicle-mounted camera; a tire recognition section recognizing the tires of the nearby vehicle; a three-dimensional object recognition section recognizing three-dimensional objects including the nearby vehicle; an area-under-vehicle recognition section calculating the ground contact position of the tire and the above-ground height from the ground contact position to the vehicle body and recognizing an area under the vehicle body on the road surface from the overhead image; and a parkable area recognition section for recognizing the area occupied by the vehicle body and the area under the vehicle body as a non-parking area and recognizing a parkable area on the road surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 16, 2015
    Publication date: September 21, 2017
    Applicant: CLARION CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Akira UTAGAWA, Takeshi SHIMA, Shoji MURAMATSU, Masao SAKATA, Yoshitaka UCHIDA
  • Publication number: 20170140227
    Abstract: The present invention addresses the problem of providing a surrounding environment recognition device that presents to a user a sensing-enabled range that varies depending on a contamination state of a lens. The present invention is characterized by comprising: an image-capturing unit that acquires an image; an application execution unit that executes an application for recognizing an object to be recognized from the image; a lens state diagnosis unit that diagnoses the lens state of a camera on the basis of the image; a sensing range determination unit that determines a sensing-enabled range allowing the sensing of the object to be recognized with the lens state diagnosed by the lens state diagnosis unit when the application is executed, and a sensing-disabled range not enabling the sensing of the object to be recognized; and a notification control unit that notifies the sensing-enabled range of the sensing range determination unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2015
    Publication date: May 18, 2017
    Applicant: CLARION CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masayuki TAKEMURA, Masahiro KIYOHARA, Kota IRIE, Masao SAKATA, Yoshitaka UCHIDA
  • Publication number: 20160364619
    Abstract: Provided is a vehicle surroundings recognition apparatus capable of enhancing a calculation accuracy of a relative position and a relative speed with respect to an object such as a pedestrian even in a case where the object cannot be detected accurately in some of the images obtained by performing image-capturing around a vehicle, for example.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2014
    Publication date: December 15, 2016
    Applicant: Clarion Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takehito OGATA, Masahiro KIYOHARA, Kota lRIE, Masao SAKATA, Yoshitaka UCHIDA
  • Publication number: 20160307054
    Abstract: A surrounding environment recognition device includes: an image acquisition unit that obtains a photographic image from a camera for capturing, via a camera lens, an image of a surrounding environment around a mobile object; an image recognition unit that recognizes an object image of an object present in the surrounding environment based upon the photographic image obtained by the image acquisition unit; an accumulation detection unit that detects accumulation settled on the camera lens based upon the photographic image obtained by the image acquisition unit; a suspension decision-making unit that makes a decision, based upon detection results provided by the accumulation detection unit, whether or not to suspend operation of the image recognition unit; a tracking unit that detects a characteristic quantity in a tracking target image from a specific area in an image captured by the image acquisition unit for a reference frame, determines through calculation an estimated area where the characteristic quantity
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2014
    Publication date: October 20, 2016
    Applicant: Clarion Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Masayuki TAKEMURA, Masahiro KIYOHARA, Kota IRIE, Masao SAKATA, Yoshitaka UCHIDA
  • Publication number: 20160272244
    Abstract: An automatic parking control device performs steering control and speed control so that a subject vehicle moves along a target path toward a recognized parking space; when an obstacle that is approaching the subject vehicle has been detected, calculates a collision position at which the subject vehicle will collide with the obstacle; on the basis of a margin distance that is set according to the driving behavior of the subject vehicle and the collision position, calculates a stop position upon the target path that is set before the collision position by the margin distance; and performs speed control so that the subject vehicle stops at the stop position that has been calculated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 22, 2014
    Publication date: September 22, 2016
    Applicant: CLARION CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masato IMAI, Takashi OKADA, Masao SAKATA
  • Patent number: 9393966
    Abstract: A vehicle attitude angle calculating device finds a yaw angle of a vehicle with reference to a lane stably without using information on a road vanishing point even in the state where a vehicle pitch angle varies. The vehicle attitude angle calculating device includes: a dividing line detection unit that detects a dividing line from image information received from a vehicle-mounted imaging device, the image information being a captured image of an outside of a vehicle; a distance calculation unit that calculates a distance between the dividing line and the optical axis of the vehicle-mounted imaging device every predetermined processing period; and a vehicle angle calculation unit that calculates a dividing line angle based on the calculated distance between the dividing line and the optical axis of the vehicle-mounted imaging device and a vehicle proceeding distance where the vehicle proceeds during a predetermined processing period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2016
    Assignee: Clarion Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masato Imai, Hiroshi Sakamoto, Masao Sakata
  • Publication number: 20150375755
    Abstract: A vehicle attitude angle calculating device finds a yaw angle of a vehicle with reference to a lane stably without using information on a road vanishing point even in the state where a vehicle pitch angle varies. The vehicle attitude angle calculating device includes: a dividing line detection unit that detects a dividing line from image information received from a vehicle-mounted imaging device, the image information being a captured image of an outside of a vehicle; a distance calculation unit that calculates a distance between the dividing line and the optical axis of the vehicle-mounted imaging device every predetermined processing period; and a vehicle angle calculation unit that calculates a dividing line angle based on the calculated distance between the dividing line and the optical axis of the vehicle-mounted imaging device and a vehicle proceeding distance where the vehicle proceeds during a predetermined processing period.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2015
    Publication date: December 31, 2015
    Inventors: Masato IMAI, Hiroshi SAKAMOTO, Masao SAKATA
  • Patent number: 9123110
    Abstract: A vehicle attitude angle calculating device finds a yaw angle of a vehicle with reference to a lane stably without using information on a road vanishing point even in the state where a vehicle pitch angle varies. The vehicle attitude angle calculating device includes: a dividing line detection unit that detects a dividing line from image information received from a vehicle-mounted imaging device, the image information being a captured image of an outside of a vehicle; a distance calculation unit that calculates a distance between the dividing line and the optical axis of the vehicle-mounted imaging device every predetermined processing period; and a vehicle angle calculation unit that calculates a dividing line angle based on the calculated distance between the dividing line and the optical axis of the vehicle-mounted imaging device and a vehicle proceeding distance where the vehicle proceeds during a predetermined processing period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2015
    Assignee: Clarion Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masato Imai, Hiroshi Sakamoto, Masao Sakata
  • Publication number: 20140330498
    Abstract: A vehicle operation support system includes a navigation device, and a drive control device. The navigation device includes: part for storing road information including branch point information; and part for acquiring road curvature information with reference to the road information, and providing the drive control device with the road curvature information, before a vehicle reaches the branch point. The road curvature information includes information about curvature of first and second road sections extending forward from a branch point. The drive control device estimates entrance of the vehicle into one of the first and second road sections as a selected road section, and controls a driving state of the vehicle by operating an actuator with reference to information about curvature of the selected road section, in response to estimation of entrance of the vehicle into the selected road section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 26, 2014
    Publication date: November 6, 2014
    Inventors: Norikazu NARA, Mikio UEYAMA, Masao SAKATA, Satoshi ITO, Junya NAKAMURA
  • Publication number: 20140300731
    Abstract: Disclosed is an onboard environment-recognition device 100, capable of finding a recognition result with high precision in a state where alarm and vehicle-control are ready for actuation, and realizing recognition of the ambient environment of a vehicle with higher accuracy, that is, for recognizing the ambient environment of the driver's own vehicle on the basis of an image taken by an imaging unit 110. The onboard environment-recognition device includes respective detection units 211 through 213 for detecting plural preset detection elements from the image, and a process-load adjust unit 320 for adjusting detection accuracy of at least one of the plural detection elements according to the state of the driver's own vehicle. Thereby, correction of control timing according to the state of the vehicle by an alarm and vehicle-control unit 400, enhancement in stability, and higher precision of estimated accuracy and calculation accuracy are achieved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2012
    Publication date: October 9, 2014
    Inventors: Masayuki Takemura, Shoji Muramatsu, Takeshi Shima, Masao Sakata
  • Patent number: 8825248
    Abstract: Disclosed is an information terminal for electric-powered vehicles or a cruise controller therefor to provide a driver with a traveling method that can shorten a total required time to a destination including a charging time. An information terminal for electric-powered vehicle configured to calculate a required time for the vehicle to travel a route from a current position to a destination in accordance with map information, includes: route setting means that searches for a route to the destination; recharging place setting means that sets a charging place on a way of the route to the destination set by the route setting means; and charging facility information acquisition means that acquires information on the charging place set by the recharging place setting means. A recommended vehicle speed or a vehicle speed range including the recommended vehicle speed at a section to the charging place is calculated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2014
    Assignee: Clarion Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kentaro Maki, Takashi Okada, Masao Sakata
  • Patent number: 8594890
    Abstract: It is an object to provide a lane departure warning device capable of generating almost no false warning if a driver performs an avoiding operation of a lane departure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2013
    Assignee: Clarion Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masato Imai, Takashi Okada, Masao Sakata
  • Publication number: 20130027511
    Abstract: To provide an onboard environment recognition system capable of preventing, with a reduced processing load, erroneous recognition caused by light from a headlight of a vehicle in the surroundings.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 26, 2012
    Publication date: January 31, 2013
    Applicant: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masayuki TAKEMURA, Shoji Muramatsu, Takeshi Shima, Masao Sakata
  • Patent number: 8363104
    Abstract: Provided is a lane determining device that is capable of quickly and accurately determining the lane traveled by a host vehicle traveling on a road with a plurality of lanes in each direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2013
    Assignee: Clarion Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masato Imai, Masatoshi Hoshino, Masao Sakata
  • Publication number: 20130013139
    Abstract: Disclosed is an information terminal for electric-powered vehicles or a cruise controller therefor to provide a driver with a traveling method that can shorten a total required time to a destination including a charging time. An information terminal for electric-powered vehicle configured to calculate a required time for the vehicle to travel a route from a current position to a destination in accordance with map information, includes: route setting means that searches for a route to the destination; recharging place setting means that sets a charging place on a way of the route to the destination set by the route setting means; and charging facility information acquisition means that acquires information on the charging place set by the recharging place setting means. A recommended vehicle speed or a vehicle speed range including the recommended vehicle speed at a section to the charging place is calculated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 3, 2012
    Publication date: January 10, 2013
    Applicant: Clarion Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kentaro Maki, Takashi Okada, Masao Sakata
  • Publication number: 20120327233
    Abstract: Provided is a vehicle attitude angle calculating device capable of finding a yaw angle of a vehicle with reference to a lane stably without using information on a road vanishing point even in the state where a vehicle pitch angle varies. The vehicle attitude angle calculating device includes: a dividing line detection unit that detects a dividing line from image information received from a vehicle-mounted imaging device having an optical axis, the image information being a captured image of an outside of a vehicle; a distance calculation unit that calculates a distance between the dividing line and the optical axis of the vehicle-mounted imaging device every predetermined processing period; and a vehicle angle calculation unit that calculates a dividing line angle on the basis of the calculated distance between the dividing line and the optical axis of the vehicle-mounted imaging device and a vehicle proceeding distance where the vehicle proceeds during a predetermined processing period.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 9, 2011
    Publication date: December 27, 2012
    Inventors: Masato Imai, Hiroshi Sakamoto, Masao Sakata