Patents by Inventor Naoki Shoji

Naoki Shoji 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: 20210253161
    Abstract: A motor controlling ECU includes an automatic steering controller that sets an automatic steering control amount, an assist controller that sets an assist control amount, an integrated control amount calculating portion that calculates an integrated control amount by adding the automatic steering control amount and the assist control amount, and an actual automatic steering angle calculating portion that calculates, based on at least one of either of a steering torque and the assist control amount, an actual automatic steering angle that is a steering angle due to automatic steering control and included in an actual steering angle. The automatic steering controller uses a target automatic steering angle and the actual automatic steering angle to set the automatic steering control amount.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 25, 2019
    Publication date: August 19, 2021
    Applicant: JTEKT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mitsuko YOSHIDA, Naoki SHOJI, Robert FUCHS
  • Patent number: 11091195
    Abstract: A motor control device for controlling drive of an electric motor that controls a steering angle of a steering device, the motor device includes: a torque sensor and an electronic control unit. The torque sensor is configured to detect steering torque acting on a steering member. The electronic control unit is configured to: generate a steering angle command value based on the steering torque by using an equation of motion that is a reference model of the steering device; control driving of the electric motor so that an actual steering angle follows the steering angle command value; and limit a virtual reaction force that is a reaction force component of the equation of motion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2021
    Assignee: JTEKT CORPORATION
    Inventor: Naoki Shoji
  • Publication number: 20200398893
    Abstract: A steering angle calculation apparatus includes an electronic control unit configured to calculate a steering angle based on a torque caused by a driver and at least one of vehicle information, surrounding environment information, and driver information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2020
    Publication date: December 24, 2020
    Applicant: JTEKT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naoki SHOJI, Mitsuko YOSHIDA
  • Patent number: 10843727
    Abstract: A steering apparatus includes: a first shaft which is coupled to a steering wheel; a torsion bar; a second shaft which is coupled to the first shaft through the torsion bar; a torsion bar torque detection unit detecting a torsion bar torque which is applied to the torsion bar; and an electronic control unit configured to estimate a driver torque which is applied to the steering wheel by a driver. The electronic control unit is configured to: i) compute a steering wheel rotation angle which is a rotation angle of the steering wheel; and ii) compute a value including an added value, as the driver torque, the added value being a value resulting from adding the torsion bar torque, a steering wheel inertia torque compensation value, and a gravity torque compensation value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: JTEKT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Maxime Moreillon, Tsutomu Tamura, Robert Fuchs, Naoki Shoji
  • Publication number: 20200317261
    Abstract: A steering system includes an electric motor, a detector, and a controller of a vehicle. The controller is configured to control the electric motor by switching an autonomous steering mode, a manual steering mode, and a cooperative steering mode. The controller is configured to control the electric motor in the cooperative steering mode unconditionally or when a predetermined condition is satisfied in a case where a situation to switch a steering mode to the manual steering mode during control in the autonomous steering mode is predicted and a manual steering request is transmitted at a time point that is prior, by a first predetermined time, to occurrence of the situation, or is transmitted when the vehicle arrives at a point that is located a first predetermined distance before a point where the situation is to occur.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2020
    Publication date: October 8, 2020
    Applicant: JTEKT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naoki SHOJI, Robert FUCHS, Mitsuko YOSHIDA
  • Publication number: 20200309951
    Abstract: A light wave distance meter according to the present invention includes: a light-emitting element that emits a distance measurement light; a light-receiving element that outputs a light-receiving signal; a frequency conversion unit that includes a bandpass filter; an arithmetic control unit that computes a distance value to a measurement object; a signal generator that generates a signal having a predetermined frequency; a waveform conversion unit that generates a waveform conversion signal; pulse generators that generate pulse signals by pulsating the signal having a predetermined frequency so as to have a waveform profile of a signal constituted of desired frequency components on the basis of the signal output from the signal generator and the waveform conversion signal output from the waveform conversion unit; and a drive unit that emits the distance measurement light based on the pulse signals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2020
    Publication date: October 1, 2020
    Applicant: Topcon Corporation
    Inventor: Naoki SHOJI
  • Publication number: 20200269906
    Abstract: A steering system includes: a steering member; a steering operation mechanism; a reaction force motor; a steering motor; a steering torque sensor; a command value setting circuit; a reaction force command value calculation circuit configured to calculate a reaction force command value; a steering operation command value calculation circuit configured to calculate a steering operation command value based on a steering operation steering angle command value and a manual steering angle command value; a reaction force control circuit configured to cause a rotation angle of the reaction force motor to follow the reaction force command value; and a steered angle control circuit configured to cause a rotation angle of the steering motor to follow the steering operation command value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2020
    Publication date: August 27, 2020
    Applicant: JTEKT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomohiro NAKADE, Yuta SAKAI, Robert FUCHS, Naoki SHOJI
  • Publication number: 20200094870
    Abstract: A motor control device for controlling drive of an electric motor that controls a steering angle of a steering device, the motor device includes: a torque sensor and an electronic control unit. The torque sensor is configured to detect steering torque acting on a steering member. The electronic control unit is configured to: generate a steering angle command value based on the steering torque by using an equation of motion that is a reference model of the steering device; control driving of the electric motor so that an actual steering angle follows the steering angle command value; and limit a virtual reaction force that is a reaction force component of the equation of motion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2019
    Publication date: March 26, 2020
    Applicant: JTEKT CORPORATION
    Inventor: Naoki SHOJI
  • Publication number: 20200072977
    Abstract: An electro-optical distance measurement method includes: a light emitting step of switchably outputting a first distance measuring light and a second distance measuring light; a photodetection step of receiving a first reflected distance measuring light and a second reflected distance measuring light; an arithmetic step of frequency-converting a photodetection signal to generate a first difference frequency signal and a second difference frequency signal; and a determining step of determining whether identification information indicating a host device is included in the photodetection signal, wherein the light emitting step involves driving a light emitting element so that the identification information is included in a light emission signal, and the arithmetic step involves calculating the distance value when it is determined in the determining step that the identification information is included in the photodetection signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 19, 2019
    Publication date: March 5, 2020
    Applicant: TOPCON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naoki Shoji, Masae Matsumoto
  • Publication number: 20200039576
    Abstract: A manual steering command value generation unit generates a manual steering command value, using a steering torque. A summed angle command value calculation unit calculates a summed angle command value, by adding the manual steering command value to an automatic steering command value. A control unit performs angle control of an electric motor, based on the summed angle command value. The control unit includes a basic torque command value calculation unit that calculates a basic torque command value, a disturbance torque estimation unit that estimates a disturbance torque other than a motor torque of the electric motor applied to an object driven by the electric motor, and a disturbance torque compensation unit that corrects the basic torque command value, based on the disturbance torque. The manual steering command value generation unit uses an estimated torque calculated based on the disturbance torque, when generating the manual steering command value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 25, 2019
    Publication date: February 6, 2020
    Applicant: JTEKT CORPORATION
    Inventor: Naoki SHOJI
  • Publication number: 20190329818
    Abstract: A manual steering command value generation unit generates a manual steering command value using steering torque. An integrated angle command value computation unit computes an integrated angle command value by adding the manual steering command value to an automatic steering command value. A control unit performs angle control on an electric motor on the basis of the integrated angle command value. The control unit includes: a basic torque command value computation unit that computes a basic torque command value on the basis of the integrated angle command value; a disturbance torque estimation unit that estimates disturbance torque other than motor torque that is generated by the electric motor and acts on an object to be driven by the electric motor; and a disturbance torque compensation unit that corrects the basic torque command value in accordance with the disturbance torque.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2019
    Publication date: October 31, 2019
    Applicant: JTEKT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naoki SHOJI, Robert FUCHS, Tsutomu TAMURA, Mitsuko YOSHIDA
  • Publication number: 20190315398
    Abstract: An electric power steering system includes a second shaft coupled to a first shaft via a torsion bar, a basic driver torque estimation unit (extended state observer) configured to estimate a basic driver torque by using a disturbance observer based on a torsion bar torque and a rotation angle of the second shaft, a gravity torque calculation unit configured to calculate, by using a rotation angle of a steering wheel, a gravity torque applied to the first shaft by gravity acting on the center of gravity of the steering wheel, and a driver torque estimation unit configured to estimate a driver torque by using the basic driver torque estimated by the basic driver torque estimation unit and the gravity torque calculated by the gravity torque calculation unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2019
    Publication date: October 17, 2019
    Applicant: JTEKT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Maxime MOREILLON, Tsutomu TAMURA, Robert FUCHS, Naoki SHOJI
  • Publication number: 20190120944
    Abstract: An electronic distance meter comprises a distance measuring light projecting module, a photodetector, a photodetection circuit, and a control arithmetic module, wherein the distance measuring light projecting module has a light emitter, the light emitter emits a distance measuring light, the photodetector receives a reflected distance measuring light from an object to be measured and produces photodetection signals, the photodetection circuit generates an intermediate frequency signal based on the photodetection signals, and the control arithmetic module controls the photodetection circuit and calculates a distance to the object to be measured based on each of the photodetection signals, and wherein the control arithmetic module coincides a frequency orthogonal to a frequency which a sampling signal has with a frequency of a feedback signal on a curve, which is acquired by performing a DFT processing on the sampling signal acquired by sampling the intermediate frequency signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2018
    Publication date: April 25, 2019
    Inventors: Naoki Shoji, Masae Matsumoto
  • Publication number: 20190009816
    Abstract: A steering apparatus includes: a first shaft which is coupled to a steering wheel; a torsion bar; a second shaft which is coupled to the first shaft through the torsion bar; a torsion bar torque detection unit detecting a torsion bar torque which is applied to the torsion bar; and an electronic control unit configured to estimate a driver torque which is applied to the steering wheel by a driver. The electronic control unit is configured to: i) compute a steering wheel rotation angle which is a rotation angle of the steering wheel; and ii) compute a value including an added value, as the driver torque, the added value being a value resulting from adding the torsion bar torque, a steering wheel inertia torque compensation value, and a gravity torque compensation value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 3, 2018
    Publication date: January 10, 2019
    Applicant: JTEKT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Maxime MOREILLON, Tsutomu TAMURA, Robert FUCHS, Naoki SHOJI
  • Publication number: 20180356522
    Abstract: A phase difference frequency generating method comprising: cutting out a reference signal, which is a continuous signal with a predetermined frequency, in a predetermined time and at a predetermined time interval by a signal for intermitting and creating a first intermittent signal, shifting the signal for intermitting by a time corresponding to ?/a (a=natural number) of a fundamental frequency of the reference signal, cutting out the reference signal in the predetermined time and at the predetermined time interval by the signal for intermitting as shifted and creating a second intermittent signal, and carrying out a restoration processing for restoring the second intermittent signal by a time as shifted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 5, 2018
    Publication date: December 13, 2018
    Inventors: Masaho Kikuchi, Naoki Shoji, Masae Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 8881413
    Abstract: A staff for electronic level comprises a substrate where a short-range barcode 14 is engraved, and in the staff for electronic level, said short-range barcode is a barcode obtained by scaling down a barcode 13 for regular measurement and reversing the monochrome.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON
    Inventors: Takashi Nagao, Tatsuyuki Matsumoto, Naoki Shoji
  • Patent number: 8854706
    Abstract: An auto document feeding device includes: a carrying member configured to carry an original from an original setting unit to an image scanning unit; a fixed guide unit configured to change a carrying direction of the original, at between the carrying member and the image scanning unit; a movable guide unit which is movable between the fixed guide unit and the carrying member; and a paper discharge unit configured to discharge the original which passed through the image scanning unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2014
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Osamu Kitazawa, Masakazu Iwamoto, Shinichi Miyakawa, Seiji Iino, Akihito Tokutsu, Mitsunori Ishii, Naoki Shoji
  • Publication number: 20130269195
    Abstract: An electronic level for receiving a reflection light from a pattern marked on a leveling rod and for determining a height of sighting position and a distance to the leveling rod is disclosed. The electronic level comprises an electronic level main unit, a sighting optical system accommodated in the electronic level main unit and for sighting the leveling rod, a line sensor for receiving a part of reflection light, and a control arithmetic unit for calculating a height of sighting position and a distance to the leveling rod based on signals from the line sensor. The electronic level has a crude measurement mode and a precise measurement mode, wherein the crude measurement mode is initiated by the control arithmetic unit, and the measurement mode is changed over to the precise measurement mode by detecting the pattern based on a photodetection signal from said line sensor by measurement.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 2, 2013
    Publication date: October 17, 2013
    Inventors: Tatsuyuki Matsumoto, Naoki Shoji, Yuji Ishiguro
  • Publication number: 20130008038
    Abstract: A staff for electronic level comprises a substrate where a short-range barcode 14 is engraved, and in the staff for electronic level, said short-range barcode is a barcode obtained by scaling down a barcode 13 for regular measurement and reversing the monochrome.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2012
    Publication date: January 10, 2013
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOPCON
    Inventors: Takashi Nagao, Tatsuyuki Matsumoto, Naoki Shoji
  • Publication number: 20120308285
    Abstract: An auto-document feeder includes plural conveying sections which have different paths to reach an image scanning section configured to scan an image on a document from a paper feeding section and which guide the document to the image scanning section, a scanning conveying section configured to alternately nip the documents one by one fed by the plural conveying sections and feed the documents in a direction of a paper discharge section through the image scanning section, a gate section which directs the documents to one of the plural conveying sections, and a detecting section configured to detect if a document is fed by the paper feeding section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2012
    Publication date: December 6, 2012
    Applicants: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA, KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Naoki Shoji, Shinji Miwa, Shoichi Taniguchi, Osamu Kitazawa, Akihito Tokutsu, Seiji Iino, Mitsunori Ishii, Takeshi Kojima, Takeshi Ito