Patents by Inventor Osamu Fukata

Osamu Fukata 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: 9542605
    Abstract: It is provided a state recognition system configured to recognize a state of a traveling road on which a vehicle travels, the state recognition system being configured to: select a substance adhered on a lens of a camera mounted on the vehicle in an image captured by the camera; and determine whether the traveling road is on-road or off-road by determining a type and an amount of the selected adhered substance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignees: CLARION CO., LTD., NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Katsuyuki Nakamura, Kota Irie, Masahiro Kiyohara, Osamu Fukata, Yasuhisa Hayakawa
  • Patent number: 9540000
    Abstract: An acceleration suppression device for a vehicle and an acceleration suppression method for a vehicle can reduce a reduction in drivability due to the operation of an acceleration suppression control while crossing an intersection. If it is determined that an intersection lying ahead of an own vehicle is detected, a process is implemented to suppress an acceleration suppression control in a travel distance range in which the travel distance of the own vehicle after detecting the intersection is less than or equal to a preset first travel distance threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuhisa Hayakawa, Osamu Fukata, Daisuke Tanaka, Daisuke Oiki, Akira Morimoto
  • Patent number: 9538054
    Abstract: A vehicle-mounted camera device that is mounted on a vehicle and captures a surrounding image from which lights are collected by a lens, in which the lens is set so as to have the surface having a contact angle less than or equal to 100°, preferably less than or equal to 60° so that water attached on the surface is made into a form of a film. For this reason, the surface of the lens has high hydrophilicity, and if water droplets are attached when it is raining, the water droplets extend over the surface of the lens to form a water film. Thus, if mud or other attached matter is attached on the surface of the lens, it is possible to remove the attached matter without delay, and it is possible to always keep the surface of the lens in a clean state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuhisa Hayakawa, Osamu Fukata, Takashi Ashiduka, Toshimichi Gokan, Yonosuke Nishioku
  • Patent number: 9493070
    Abstract: A total certainty factor indicating a total degree of certainty of the parking frame certainty degree and the parking frame entering certainty degree is calculated based on a parking frame certainty degree indicating the degree of certainty that a parking frame is present in a travel direction of a vehicle, and a parking frame entering certainty degree indicating the degree of certainty that the vehicle enters the parking frame. When the total certainty factor is low, acceleration of the vehicle controlled according to an operation amount of an accelerator pedal for instructing a driving force by operation of a driver is suppressed with a low suppression degree, as compared with a case where the total certainty factor is high. Further, the acceleration of the vehicle is suppressed at a low suppression degree according to the travel direction of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Osamu Fukata, Yasuhisa Hayakawa, Daisuke Tanaka, Daisuke Oiki, Akira Morimoto
  • Patent number: 9457806
    Abstract: Based on a parking frame certainty degree indicative of a degree of certainty about a presence is a parking frame in the travel direction of the vehicle and a parking frame entering certainty degree indicative of a degree of certainty about whether the vehicle enters the parking frame, a total certainty degree indicative of a total degree of the certainty of the parking frame certainty degree and the parking frame entering certainty degree is calculated. Acceleration of the vehicle is controlled depending on a manipulation amount of an accelerator pedal manipulated by a drive to instruct a driving force and is suppressed in a higher suppression degree as the total certainty degree is higher. Furthermore, the acceleration of the vehicle is suppressed in a lower suppression degree as the vehicle speed of the vehicle is higher.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuhisa Hayakawa, Takuya Inoue, Takeshi Sugano, Toshimichi Gokan, Osamu Fukata, Daisuke Tanaka
  • Patent number: 9399400
    Abstract: Based on a parking frame certainty degree indicative of a degree of certainty about a presence is a parking frame in the travel direction of the vehicle and a parking frame entering certainty degree indicative of a degree of certainty about whether the vehicle enters the parking frame, a total certainty degree indicative of a total degree of the certainty of the parking frame certainty degree and the parking frame entering certainty degree is calculated. Acceleration of the vehicle is controlled depending on a manipulation amount of an accelerator pedal manipulated by a drive to instruct a driving force and is suppressed in a lower suppression degree when the total certainty degree is lower than when the total certainty degree is higher. Furthermore, the acceleration of the vehicle is suppressed in the suppression degree decreased depending on the travel direction of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2016
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Akira Morimoto, Osamu Fukata, Yasuhisa Hayakawa, Daisuke Oiki, Daisuke Tanaka
  • Patent number: 9393869
    Abstract: A total certainty factor indicating a total degree of certainty of the parking frame certainty degree and the parking frame entering certainty degree is calculated based on a parking frame certainty degree indicating the degree of certainty that a parking frame is present in a travel direction of a vehicle, and a parking frame entering certainty degree indicating the degree of certainty that the vehicle enters the parking frame. When the total certainty factor is low, acceleration of the vehicle controlled according to an operation amount of an accelerator pedal for instructing a driving force by operation of a driver is suppressed with a low suppression degree, as compared with a case where the total certainty factor is high. Further, the acceleration of the vehicle is suppressed with a lower suppression degree as the vehicle speed of the vehicle is higher.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2016
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Daisuke Oiki, Takuya Inoue, Takeshi Sugano, Toshimichi Gokan, Yasuhisa Hayakawa, Osamu Fukata, Daisuke Tanaka, Akira Morimoto
  • Patent number: 9378425
    Abstract: A parking frame drawn on a road surface is reliably detected. An imager (10) installed on a vehicle (1) captures an image (I) including at least a road surface around the vehicle (1). A candidate white-line area detector (30) detects, from the captured image (I), a candidate white-line area which is possibly a part of a parking frame. A parking-frame-similitude calculator (40) calculates the brightness distribution of the detected candidate white-line area and the surroundings of boundary points of a road surface. When the brightness distribution satisfies a certain condition, the parking-frame similitude or the degree to which the candidate white-line area forms a parking frame, is determined to be low. When a parking-frame similitude of the candidate white-line area forming a parking frame is detected in the image (I) by a parking-frame detector (60), the credibility (U) for the detected parking frame is set low.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2016
    Assignees: CLARION CO., LTD., NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shoji Muramatsu, Takehito Ogata, Masahiro Kiyohara, Satoshi Suzuki, Osamu Fukata, Yasuhisa Hayakawa, Akira Morimoto
  • Patent number: 9349057
    Abstract: A three-dimensional object detection device basically includes a three-dimensional object detection unit, a natural object assessment unit and a control unit. The three-dimensional object detection unit detects three-dimensional objects based on image information of a rear of a vehicle from a camera. The natural object assessment unit assesses that a detected three-dimensional object is a natural object, such as a plant or snow, based on an irregularity evaluation value calculated based on a first pixel number of first pixels representing a first predetermined differential in the differential image containing the detected three-dimensional object and a second pixel number of second pixels corresponding to the three-dimensional object and representing a second predetermined differential greater than the first predetermined differential.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2016
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Chikao Tsuchiya, Yasuhisa Hayakawa, Shinya Tanaka, Osamu Fukata
  • Patent number: 9349059
    Abstract: A three-dimensional object detection has an image capturing device, a three-dimensional object detection unit, a high-luminance area assessment unit and a controller. The image capturing device captures images of an area including a right-side detection area or a left-side detection area rearward of a vehicle. The three-dimensional object detection unit detects a three-dimensional object based on the images acquired by the image capturing device. The high-luminance area assessment unit accesses a first detection area including a high-luminance area complying with a predetermined reference on either the right-side detection area or the left-side detection area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2016
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuhisa Hayakawa, Osamu Fukata
  • Publication number: 20160137197
    Abstract: An acceleration suppression device for a vehicle and an acceleration suppression method for a vehicle can reduce a reduction in drivability due to the operation of an acceleration suppression control while crossing an intersection. If it is determined that an intersection lying ahead of an own vehicle is detected, a process is implemented to suppress an acceleration suppression control in a travel distance range in which the travel distance of the own vehicle after detecting the intersection is less than or equal to a preset first travel distance threshold value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 22, 2013
    Publication date: May 19, 2016
    Inventors: Yasuhisa HAYAKAWA, Osamu FUKATA, Daisuke TANAKA, Daisuke OIKI, Akira MORIMOTO
  • Patent number: 9288381
    Abstract: An in-vehicle image recognizer effectively detects a moving object from an image even when a lens has grime. In a detection sensitivity adjustor (50) which adjusts detection sensitivity to be increased according to a white turbidity level (U), the detection sensitivity of a vehicle detector (70) (image recognition application execution unit), which detects the other vehicle (6) (moving object) existing in the surrounding area of a vehicle (5) with a predetermined detection sensitivity from the image obtained by an imaging unit (10) disposed in the vehicle (5) to observe the surrounding area of the vehicle (5) through a lens (12) and convert the light signal of the observed surrounding area of the vehicle (5) into an image signal, is corrected based on the attachment level M of the attached matter such as dirt or water drops to the lens (12), which is calculated by an attachment level calculator (26).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2016
    Assignees: CLARION CO., LTD., NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kota Irie, Masayuki Takemura, Shoji Muramatsu, Yasuhisa Hayakawa, Osamu Fukata, Masahiro Kiyohara, Akira Utagawa
  • Publication number: 20160039409
    Abstract: A vehicular acceleration suppression device reduces the degradation in the drive performance due to the acceleration suppression control activated outside the parking region. A parking frame line candidate which is a candidate of a parking frame line is extracted from a bird's-eye view image acquired by performing a bird's-eye view conversion on a captured image around a vehicle, and a parking frame line candidate corresponding line corresponding the parking frame line candidate is extracted from the captured image of the front of the vehicle. Then, the parking frame line candidate corresponding to the parking frame line candidate corresponding line length of which is longer than a parking frame line length threshold is eliminated from the candidate to be detected as the parking frame.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 22, 2013
    Publication date: February 11, 2016
    Inventors: Yasuhisa HAYAKAWA, Osamu FUKATA, Akira MORIMOTO, Daisuke OIKI, Daisuke TANAKA
  • Patent number: 9251426
    Abstract: A three-dimensional object detection device is provided with an image capturing device, a three-dimensional object detection unit, a rainfall state detection unit, a three-dimensional object assessment unit and a controller. The image capturing device captures an area rearward of a vehicle. The three-dimensional object detection unit detects a three-dimensional object rearward of the vehicle and calculating a traveling speed of the three-dimensional object, based on images obtained by the image capturing device. The rainfall state detection unit detects a state of rainfall including cases of rainfall or formation of a water film on a road surface due to rainfall. The three-dimensional object assessment unit accesses the three-dimensional object to be another vehicle when the traveling speed of the detected three-dimensional object lies within a preset setting range. The controller changes the traveling speed setting range to be narrower when the rainfall state detection unit has detected a rainfall state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2016
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuhisa Hayakawa, Osamu Fukata, Daisuke Oiki, Yukinori Nishida
  • Patent number: 9239960
    Abstract: A three-dimensional object detection device includes an image capturing unit, an image conversion unit, a three-dimensional object detection unit, a movement speed calculation unit, a three-dimensional object assessment unit, a non-detection-object assessment unit and a control unit. The image conversion unit converts a viewpoint of the images to create bird's-eye view images. The three-dimensional object detection unit detects a presence of a three-dimensional object within the predetermined detection area based on difference waveform information. The movement speed calculation unit calculates a movement speed of the three-dimensional object. The non-detection-object assessment unit detect san amount of variability in the movement speed of the three-dimensional object, and assesses whether the three-dimensional object is a non-detection object based on the amount of variability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2016
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Osamu Fukata, Yasuhisa Hayakawa
  • Patent number: 9235767
    Abstract: A driving assistance device is provided with a turning state detection unit, an imaging unit, a solid object detection unit and a detection region modification unit. When the turning state detection unit detects that a host vehicle is in a turning state, the detection region modification unit alters a position of a detection region with respect to the host vehicle, or alters a shape or an area of the detection region based on the turning state of the host vehicle. For example, the detection region modification unit sets a shorter region length of the detection region as the turning radius of the host vehicle becomes smaller. Hereby, the region closest to the host vehicle is set, to a limited extent, as the detection regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Osamu Fukata, Yasuhisa Hayakawa, Chikao Tsuchiya, Masanori Furuya
  • Publication number: 20150339535
    Abstract: An on-vehicle image processor includes an imager mounted on a vehicle, an image convertor and compositor that converts images imaged by the imager into overhead images, a white line candidate area detector that detects a white line candidate area estimated to constitute a parking frame, an endpoint position detector that detects positions of endpoints, a vehicle behavior measurer that measures a movement amount of the vehicle, an endpoint movement position predictor that predicts moved positions of the endpoints detected by endpoint position detector, an endpoint movement amount judger, an endpoint position storage, a distance calculator that judges a degree of proximity of the endpoints, an information output device, an endpoint position oblivion judger that deletes the position of the endpoints satisfying a predetermined condition, a parking frame detector that detects a parking frame from the image, an accelerator opening degree detector and a vehicle behavior controller.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 21, 2013
    Publication date: November 26, 2015
    Inventors: Akira Utagawa, Masahiro Kiyohara, Takehito Ogata, Satoshi Suzuki, Shoji Muramatsu, Yasuhisa Hayakawa, Osamu Fukata, Akira Morimoto
  • Publication number: 20150329083
    Abstract: An on-board device, that outputs a control signal to a cleaning control unit that controls accumulation removing units used to remove accumulations settled on a photographic lens in an on-board camera by adopting a plurality of methods, includes: an accumulation detection unit that detects an accumulation settled on the photographic lens from a photographic image output from the on-board camera when a vehicle speed input thereto is equal to or higher than a predetermined vehicle speed; a selection unit that selects an accumulation removing unit adopting a first method among the accumulation removing units adopting the plurality of methods; and a removal decision unit that makes a decision, based upon the photographic image, as to whether or not the accumulation has been removed from the photographic lens through a removal operation performed by the accumulation removing unit adopting the first method, which has been selected by the selection unit, wherein: if the removal decision unit decides that the accumul
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 3, 2013
    Publication date: November 19, 2015
    Inventors: Masahiro KIYOHARA, Kota IRIE, Katsuyuki NAKAMURA, Shoji MURAMATSU, Masayuki TAKEMURA, Osamu FUKATA, Yasuhisa HAYAKAWA
  • Patent number: 9189691
    Abstract: A three-dimensional object detection device has an image capturing unit, a three-dimensional object detection unit, a host vehicle speed detection unit, a light source detection unit and a controller. The image capturing unit captures images rearward of a vehicle. The three-dimensional object detection unit detects a presence of a three-dimensional object in a detection area, based on the captured images. The host vehicle speed detection unit detects a vehicle traveling speed. The light source detection unit detects a headlight light source of a headlight of another vehicle. The controller compares the traveling speeds of the object and the vehicle upon not detecting the headlight light source, and suppresses detection of the object upon determining one of the object traveling speed being equal to or less than the vehicle traveling speed, and a difference between the object and vehicle traveling speeds being less than a predetermined value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2015
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Osamu Fukata, Yasuhisa Hayakawa
  • Publication number: 20150324651
    Abstract: A three-dimensional object detection device has an image capturing unit, a first object detection unit, a light source detection unit, a second object detection unit, a degree-of-clouding calculation unit and a controller. The image capturing unit captures images rearward of a vehicle. The first object detection unit detects a presence of a three-dimensional object from the captured images. The second object detection unit detects a presence of a three-dimensional object from a detection result of the light source detection unit. The degree-of-clouding calculation unit calculates a degree of lens clouding from the captured images. The controller assess the object as an adjacent vehicle in an adjacent lane from the degree of lens clouding when the degree of lens clouding is equal to or greater than a predetermined value and from the presence of the object in the captured images when the degree of lens clouding is less than the value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 25, 2013
    Publication date: November 12, 2015
    Inventors: Osamu FUKATA, Yasuhisa HAYAKAWA