Patents by Inventor Norihiro Iwamura

Norihiro Iwamura 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: 20090243545
    Abstract: A battery pack includes a status detection unit for detecting a status of a battery; a switch unit for interrupting a discharging path of the battery; a notification unit for notifying a user of the status of the battery; an operation unit operable by the user; and control unit for opening and closing the switch unit. The control unit is configured to have the switch unit interrupt the discharging path of the battery when the status of the battery detected by the status detection unit is abnormal. Further, the control unit is configured to have the notification unit notify the user of the availability to restart a discharging operation and close the switch unit in response to an operation signal inputted from the operation unit to make the battery pack dischargeable when the status of the battery detected by the status detection unit is recovered from the abnormal status.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 19, 2009
    Publication date: October 1, 2009
    Applicant: Panasonic Electric Works Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Norihiro Iwamura, Motoharu Muto, Masaki Ikeda, Naoki Shimizu, Atsumasa Kubota, Masaaki Okada, Tatsuya Miwa
  • Publication number: 20080122400
    Abstract: A battery charger includes an attachment portion capable of being connected to a plurality of battery packs; a connection unit for connecting one of the battery packs connected to the attachment portion to a charging path; a state detection unit for detecting a state of each of the battery packs; a remaining capacity detection unit; and a charging control unit. The remaining capacity detection unit detects a remaining capacity based on the state of the battery pack detected by the state detection unit after each of the battery pack is charged for a specified period of time. Further, the charging control unit assigns priorities to the battery packs such that one whose remaining capacity detected by the remaining capacity detection unit is closer to a fully charged state thereof has a higher priority, and controls the connection unit to charge the battery packs according to the assigned priorities.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 20, 2007
    Publication date: May 29, 2008
    Applicant: Matsushita Electric Works Ltd.
    Inventors: Atsumasa Kubota, Masaki Ikeda, Tatsuya Miwa, Naoki Shimizu, Norihiro Iwamura