Patents by Inventor Naoki Kojo

Naoki Kojo 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: 20200231151
    Abstract: A driving assistance apparatus comprises a processor for: determining whether or not a preceding vehicle is traveling outside an area including an intersection and vicinities of the intersection; when the preceding vehicle is traveling outside the area, determining whether or not a direction indicator of the preceding vehicle on a road shoulder side is lighting; and when the direction indicator is lighting, performing second driving assistance different from first driving assistance for following the preceding vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 19, 2017
    Publication date: July 23, 2020
    Inventors: Motonobu Aoki, Naoki Kojo, Takura Yanagi
  • Patent number: 10703360
    Abstract: A method is provided which comprises: acquiring, from a set of ranging sensors, recognition information about a plurality of parked vehicles existing in a parking frame group comprising a plurality of parking frames arranged side by side; selecting representative points of the parked vehicles from the recognition information; calculating a distance between representative points that is a distance between the representative points adjacent to each other; and calculating a width of the parking frames on the basis of the distance between representative points.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Naoki Kojo, Tomoko Kurotobi
  • Publication number: 20200189588
    Abstract: A driving assistance method of causing a host vehicle to travel by following a preceding vehicle includes: determining whether the preceding vehicle of the host vehicle is present or absent and, upon determining that the preceding vehicle is present, performing a preceding vehicle type determination of determining whether the preceding vehicle of the host vehicle is a four-wheeler or a two-wheeler; upon the preceding vehicle being a four-wheeler, performing both a control of inter-vehicle distance to the four-wheeler and a route following based on the four-wheeler; and upon the preceding vehicle being a two-wheeler, performing a control of inter-vehicle distance to the two-wheeler without performing a route following based on the two-wheeler.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 18, 2017
    Publication date: June 18, 2020
    Applicant: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Motonobu Aoki, Naoki Kojo, Hiroyuki Takano
  • Patent number: 10650680
    Abstract: A parking lot mapping system includes a server. The server is remote from a plurality of vehicles, and includes a receiver, an electronic controller and a storage device. The receiver is configured to receive data transmitted from the vehicles, the data including a route traveled and a stopping position of each of the vehicles. The electronic controller is configured to determine that each vehicle has entered a parking lot, and form a map of the parking lot including parking lot routes and parking spots based on accumulation of the data including the stopping position of each vehicle and the route traveled by each of the vehicles after determination that each vehicle vehicles has entered the parking lot. The storage device is configured to store the map of the parking lot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2020
    Assignee: Nissan North America, Inc.
    Inventors: Mauro Della Penna, Naoki Kojo, Daisuke Saito
  • Publication number: 20190391594
    Abstract: A method of storing a travel history uses a controller to store the travel history of a vehicle in a storage device for each link of a traveling path. The method includes determining that one or more travel histories in a link are one type or two or more types of travel histories on the basis of a predetermined determination condition and storing the two or more types of travel histories in the link in the storage device so as to be sorted for the determined two or more types.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 2, 2017
    Publication date: December 26, 2019
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Takano, Motonobu Aoki, Naoki Kojo
  • Patent number: 10435074
    Abstract: A method is provided which comprises: acquiring recognition information about parked vehicles; setting a virtual parking frame group in which a parking frame group is virtualized, the parking frame group comprising a plurality of parking frames; aligning the virtual parking frame group with respect to the recognized parked vehicles; and determining the aligned virtual parking frame group as the parking frame group comprising the plurality of parking frames. The virtual parking frame group comprises a plurality of virtual parking frames that have the same size and are arranged side by side or parallel along a predetermined straight line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Naoki Kojo, Tomoko Kurotobi
  • Publication number: 20190130747
    Abstract: A parking assist method includes acquiring recognition information on parked vehicles existing in a parking lot; extracting two or more vehicles parked side by side from the recognition information and grouping the two or more vehicles into a set of vehicles; and when a space into which parking is possible exists between the parked vehicles included in the grouped set of vehicles, estimating the space as an available parking space. The disclosure further includes setting a pathway direction reference line extending along a pathway of the parking lot; calculating reference distances between the pathway direction reference line and the parked vehicles included in the above recognition information; and extracting the two or more vehicles from the above recognition information and grouping the two or more vehicles into the set of vehicles on the basis of the calculated reference distances.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2016
    Publication date: May 2, 2019
    Inventors: Tomoko Kurotobi, Naoki Kojo, Masahiro Miura
  • Patent number: 10249056
    Abstract: A system for calculating the sensitivity of a camera in a vehicle control system includes an internal parameter system, a controller, and a storage device. The internal parameter system is configured to determine an image coordinate of a first pixel in an image. The controller is configured to determine a point on the ground corresponding to the first pixel in the image based on external parameters. The controller is further configured to move the vehicle in a virtual world a predetermined distance, identify a second pixel in the image to which the point of the ground corresponds after the vehicle is moved in the virtual world, and calculate the sensitivity of the camera based on the distance between the position of the first pixel and the position of the second pixel. The storage device is configured to store the sensitivity of the camera.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: Nissan North America, Inc.
    Inventor: Naoki Kojo
  • Publication number: 20180374351
    Abstract: A parking lot mapping system includes a server. The server is remote from a plurality of vehicles, and includes a receiver, an electronic controller and a storage device. The receiver is configured to receive data transmitted from the vehicles, the data including a route traveled and a stopping position of each of the vehicles. The electronic controller is configured to determine that each vehicle has entered a parking lot, and form a map of the parking lot including parking lot routes and parking spots based on accumulation of the data including the stopping position of each vehicle and the route traveled by each of the vehicles after determination that each vehicle vehicles has entered the parking lot. The storage device is configured to store the map of the parking lot.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2018
    Publication date: December 27, 2018
    Inventors: Mauro Della PENNA, Naoki KOJO, Daisuke SAITO
  • Publication number: 20180370566
    Abstract: A method is provided which comprises: acquiring recognition information about parked vehicles; setting a virtual parking frame group in which a parking frame group is virtualized, the parking frame group comprising a plurality of parking frames; aligning the virtual parking frame group with respect to the recognized parked vehicles; and determining the aligned virtual parking frame group as the parking frame group comprising the plurality of parking frames. The virtual parking frame group comprises a plurality of virtual parking frames that have the same size and are arranged side by side or parallel along a predetermined straight line.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 1, 2016
    Publication date: December 27, 2018
    Inventors: Naoki Kojo, Tomoko Kurotobi
  • Publication number: 20180354504
    Abstract: A method is provided which comprises: acquiring, from a set of ranging sensors, recognition information about a plurality of parked vehicles existing in a parking frame group comprising a plurality of parking frames arranged side by side; selecting representative points of the parked vehicles from the recognition information; calculating a distance between representative points that is a distance between the representative points adjacent to each other; and calculating a width of the parking frames on the basis of the distance between representative points.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 1, 2016
    Publication date: December 13, 2018
    Inventors: Naoki Kojo, Tomoko Kurotobi
  • Patent number: 10096248
    Abstract: A parking lot mapping system includes a receiver, a storage device and a controller. The receiver is configured to receive data transmitted from a plurality of vehicles, the data including a parking event and a position of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles. The storage device is configured to store the data received by the receiver. The controller is programmed to determine that each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles is in a parking lot based on the parking event and to calculate a parking lot route based on accumulation of the data including the position of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2018
    Assignee: Nissan North America, Inc.
    Inventors: Mauro Della Penna, Naoki Kojo, Daisuke Saito
  • Patent number: 10012995
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for autonomous vehicle routing and navigation using passenger docking locations are disclosed. Autonomous vehicle routing and navigation using passenger docking locations may include an autonomous vehicle identifying map information representing a vehicle transportation network, the vehicle transportation network including a primary destination and a docking location, wherein identifying the map information includes identifying the map information such that the map information includes docking location information representing the docking location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2018
    Assignee: Nissan North America, Inc.
    Inventors: Naoki Kojo, Siddharth Kumar Thakur, Nicolas Meuleau, Daisuke Saito, Nikhil Lele
  • Patent number: 9863775
    Abstract: A vehicle localization system includes a first localization system, a second localization system, and a controller. The first localization system is configured to determine a location of the vehicle using a first set of data. The second localization system is configured to determine a location of the vehicle using a second set of data. The controller is configured to switch from the first localization system to the second localization system when the first set of data is less than a predetermined amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: NISSAN NORTH AMERICA, INC.
    Inventor: Naoki Kojo
  • Patent number: 9797981
    Abstract: A moving-object position/attitude estimation apparatus includes: an image-capturing unit configured to acquire a captured image; a comparative image acquiring unit configured to acquire a comparative image viewed from a predetermined position at a predetermined attitude angle; a likelihood setting unit configured to compare the captured image with the comparative image and to assigns a high attitude angle likelihood to the comparative image and to assigns a high position likelihood to the comparative image; a moving-object position/attitude estimation unit configured to estimate the attitude angle of the moving object based on the attitude angle of the comparative image assigned the high attitude angle likelihood and to estimate the position of the moving object based on the position of the comparative image assigned the high position likelihood.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ichiro Yamaguchi, Naoki Kojo
  • Patent number: 9625906
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for passenger docking location selection are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: Nissan North America, Inc.
    Inventors: Nicolas Meuleau, Siddharth Kumar Thakur, Naoki Kojo, Daisuke Saito, Nikhil Lele
  • Publication number: 20170030722
    Abstract: A vehicle localization system includes a first localization system, a second localization system, and a controller. The first localization system is configured to determine a location of the vehicle using a first set of data. The second localization system is configured to determine a location of the vehicle using a second set of data. The controller is configured to switch from the first localization system to the second localization system when the first set of data is less than a predetermined amount.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2014
    Publication date: February 2, 2017
    Applicant: Nissan North America, Inc.
    Inventor: Naoki KOJO
  • Patent number: 9541409
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for marker aided autonomous vehicle localization are disclosed. Marker aided autonomous vehicle localization may include an autonomous vehicle identifying transportation network information, identifying an origin, identifying a destination, generating a plurality of candidate routes from the origin to the destination based on the transportation network information, wherein each route from the plurality of routes indicates a distinct combination of road segments and lanes, generating an action cost probability distribution for each action in each candidate route, generating a route cost probability distribution based at least in part on the action cost probability distribution, identify an optimal route from the plurality of candidate routes based at least in part on the route cost probability distribution, and operate the autonomous vehicle to travel from the origin to the destination using the optimal route.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: Nissan North America, Inc.
    Inventors: Naoki Kojo, Mauro Della Penna
  • Publication number: 20170003687
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for autonomous vehicle routing and navigation using passenger docking locations are disclosed. Autonomous vehicle routing and navigation using passenger docking locations may include an autonomous vehicle identifying map information representing a vehicle transportation network, the vehicle transportation network including a primary destination and a docking location, wherein identifying the map information includes identifying the map information such that the map information includes docking location information representing the docking location.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 19, 2016
    Publication date: January 5, 2017
    Inventors: Naoki Kojo, Siddharth Kumar Thakur, Nicolas Meuleau, Daisuke Saito, Nikhil Lele
  • Publication number: 20160364985
    Abstract: A parking lot mapping system includes a receiver, a storage device and a controller. The receiver is configured to receive data transmitted from a plurality of vehicles, the data including a parking event and a position of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles. The storage device is configured to store the data received by the receiver. The controller is programmed to determine that each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles is in a parking lot based on the parking event and to calculate a parking lot route based on accumulation of the data including the position of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2015
    Publication date: December 15, 2016
    Inventors: Mauro Della PENNA, Naoki KOJO, Daisuke SAITO