Patents by Inventor Shigenori Maeda

Shigenori Maeda 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: 20220316996
    Abstract: A ruthenium oxide gas absorbent liquid includes an organic alkali solution containing a ligand and/or an onium salt composed of an onium ion and an anion, at least part of which is a hydroxide ion, wherein the hydroxide ion has a concentration ranging from more than 1×10?7 mol/L to 6 mol/L or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 17, 2020
    Publication date: October 6, 2022
    Applicant: TOKUYAMA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomoaki SATO, Yuki KIKKAWA, Takafumi SHIMODA, Takayuki NEGISHI, Shigenori MAEDA
  • Publication number: 20190076064
    Abstract: A method for determining a blood pressure measurement state, using a device that is held in a hand of a user to whom a blood pressure meter is mounted. The method includes: obtaining (i) image data including a face of the user by a camera that the device has, (ii) first information indicating an inclination angle of the determining device as to the gravitational direction, by an angle sensor that the device has, and (iii) second information indicating a position of the face of the user in the image data, and the proportion of the size of the face of the user in the image data; determining whether or not the user is correctly using the blood pressure meter based on the image data, the first information and the second information; and providing a notification indicating the determination result.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 9, 2018
    Publication date: March 14, 2019
    Inventors: KOHEI TAHARA, SHOICHI IIZUKA, TAKASHI MORIMOTO, TOMOKI OGAWA, SHIGENORI MAEDA, NOBUHIRO AKIMOTO
  • Patent number: 10094622
    Abstract: A method for forming a crystal nucleus in a latent heat storage material contains a solvent and a dissolved substance. The solvent contains water as the main ingredient. The latent heat storage material retains latent heat in a supercooled state. The method includes: (a) separating out an anhydride of the dissolved substance by heating or cooling part of the latent heat storage material in the supercooled state; and (b) supplying a droplet comprising water to the anhydride, to terminate the supercooled state of the latent heat storage material, and make the latent heat storage material dissipate heat.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2018
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Renji Honda, Shigenori Maeda, Toyoji Gushima, Hironori Tomita, Toshiyasu Tanaka
  • Patent number: 9538219
    Abstract: An interest degree estimating device, which estimates a degree of interest of a user in a video displayed on a screen, includes: an eye gaze detecting unit for detecting an eye gaze direction of the user; a saliency information obtaining unit for obtaining saliency information on a saliency area having salient attractiveness in the video; and a user response analyzing unit for calculating a correlation between the saliency area specified from the obtained saliency information and the detected eye gaze direction, and estimate the degree of interest of the user in the video, the degree of interest being higher as the calculated correlation is higher.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CORPORATION OF AMERICA
    Inventors: Kotaro Sakata, Shigenori Maeda, Ryo Yonetani, Hiroaki Kawashima, Takatsugu Hirayama, Takashi Matsuyama
  • Publication number: 20150345874
    Abstract: A method for forming a crystal nucleus in a latent heat storage material contains a solvent and a dissolved substance. The solvent contains water as the main ingredient. The latent heat storage material retains latent heat in a supercooled state. The method includes: (a) separating out an anhydride of the dissolved substance by heating or cooling part of the latent heat storage material in the supercooled state; and (b) supplying a droplet comprising water to the anhydride, to terminate the supercooled state of the latent heat storage material, and make the latent heat storage material dissipate heat.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 14, 2015
    Publication date: December 3, 2015
    Inventors: RENJI HONDA, SHIGENORI MAEDA, TOYOJI GUSHIMA, HIRONORI TOMITA, TOSHIYASU TANAKA
  • Patent number: 9134800
    Abstract: A gesture input device includes: a coordinate input detecting unit which sequentially detects coordinate set sequences of a user hand position; a gesture start detecting unit which detects a component indicating a first hand movement for starting a gesture, from a detected first coordinate sequence; a guide image generating unit which generates a gesture guide image for guiding the user to make a gesture including a second hand movement, when the first hand movement component is detected; an intended action component detecting unit which detects a second hand movement component as an intended action component, from a second coordinate sequence detected after the gesture guide image is displayed on the display screen; and a control signal generating unit which detects a component indicating a hand movement corresponding to the gesture from the second coordinate sequence when the intended action component is detected, and generate a control signal according to the detection result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America
    Inventor: Shigenori Maeda
  • Publication number: 20150241136
    Abstract: A heat storage device includes a pair of electrodes; an alternating-current power source that applies an alternating-current voltage to the pair of electrodes; and a latent heat storage material that is disposed between the pair of electrodes, a supercooled state of the latent heat storage material being maintained by the alternating-current voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 5, 2015
    Publication date: August 27, 2015
    Inventors: SHIGENORI MAEDA, TOYOJI GUSHIMA, TOSHIYASU TANAKA, HIRONORI TOMITA, RENJI HONDA
  • Patent number: 9021395
    Abstract: Included are: a plural-push information management unit; a screen attention degree determination unit; a selection operation history collection unit; a selection probability calculation unit calculating a user's selection probability for each category; and a display style determination unit causing pieces of push information in a category having a higher probability to be displayed in a more easily selectable display style. The categories include a relevance category including pieces of push information regarding content displayed on the screen. The selection probability calculation unit calculates a selection probability of the relevance category having a first attention degree as a screen attention degree to be higher than that having the second attention degree lower than the first attention degree; and calculates a selection probability having a first number as the number of selection times to be higher than that having a second number smaller than the first number.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America
    Inventors: Kotaro Sakata, Shigenori Maeda, Masaki Yamauchi
  • Patent number: 8933886
    Abstract: An instruction input device includes: a first direction detection unit detecting the first direction in which the user is looking; a second direction detection unit detecting a second direction in which the user is performing a pointing operation; a gaze position calculation unit calculating a gaze position of the user on the screen; a reference coordinate group calculation unit calculating a reference line in space corresponding to the gaze position and connecting the user and the screen; an offset amount calculation unit calculating a distance of the second direction between the reference line and the input coordinate indicating the user's hand as an offset amount with respect to the gaze position; and a pointer display position calculation unit calculating a position in which a distance of the first screen predetermined direction between the position and the gaze position is the offset amount on the screen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America
    Inventors: Hiroyasu Imoto, Shigenori Maeda
  • Patent number: 8909636
    Abstract: Provided is a lifestyle collecting apparatus that collects information for determining a lifestyle of a user, and includes: an object information detecting unit configured to detect object information representing an object around the user; a relevance degree calculating unit configured to calculate a relevance degree of the user to the object, using the object information; an appearance information extracting unit configured to extract appearance information from the object information, and add the relevance degree to the extracted appearance information, the appearance information representing an appearance of the object; and a lifestyle database which stores the appearance information to which the relevance degree has been added, as the information for determining the lifestyle of the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America
    Inventors: Kotaro Sakata, Kazuya Nomura, Tomohiro Konuma, Maki Yamada, Shigenori Maeda
  • Patent number: 8830164
    Abstract: A user interface device estimates a user's degree of interest, for performing an input process on the basis of the user's degree of interest in a plurality of objects displayed on a screen. The device includes a gaze direction detection unit that detects a gaze direction of the user; a gaze duration calculation unit that calculates gaze duration during which the gaze direction has remained on each of the plurality of objects; an eye-attracting force calculation unit that calculates eye-attracting force of each of the plurality of objects; and a degree of interest estimation unit that estimates the user's degree of interest in each of the plurality of objects, such that the longer the gaze duration is the higher the degree of interest becomes, and that the smaller the eye-attracting force is the higher the degree of interest becomes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America
    Inventors: Kotaro Sakata, Shigenori Maeda
  • Patent number: 8730407
    Abstract: Provided is a remote control command setting device capable of regulating some operations while being easy to handle for children. The device reconfigures a correspondence between an operation for an operation area having multiple operation buttons arranged therein and a control command for an electric device. The device includes an operation history holding unit (180) for accumulating operation history for the operation area, a control command setting unit (200) for reconfiguring an available control command on the basis of the operation history, and an operation area setting unit (210) for reconfiguring a sub-area in the operation area on the basis of the operation history and the available control command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Noriyo Hara, Meiko Maeda, Masaki Yamauchi, Shigenori Maeda
  • Publication number: 20140098301
    Abstract: Provided is a remote control command setting device capable of regulating some operations while being easy to handle for children. The device reconfigures a correspondence between an operation for an operation area having multiple operation buttons arranged therein and a control command for an electric device. The device includes an operation history holding unit (180) for accumulating operation history for the operation area, a control command setting unit (200) for reconfiguring an available control command on the basis of the operation history, and an operation area setting unit (210) for reconfiguring a sub-area in the operation area on the basis of the operation history and the available control command.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 15, 2012
    Publication date: April 10, 2014
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Noriyo Hara, Meiko Maeda, Masaki Yamauchi, Shigenori Maeda
  • Patent number: 8678589
    Abstract: A gaze target determination device includes an event setting unit that generates, for each object at different times, a display event which triggers a movement of the gaze direction of the user who is gazing at the object and which indicates a movement or a change of the object; and a gaze trajectory calculation unit that calculates a gaze trajectory based on the detected user's gaze direction. An eye movement event detection unit detects an event detection time which is a time at which the gaze direction moves according to the display event, based on the calculated gaze trajectory. A synchronization structure analysis unit calculates, for each object, time difference between the event detection time and event occurrence time; and a gaze target determination unit determines the object at which the user is gazing from among the objects, based on the calculated time difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Kotaro Sakata, Shigenori Maeda, Ryo Yonetani, Hiroaki Kawashima, Takatsugu Hirayama, Takashi Matsuyama
  • Publication number: 20140055674
    Abstract: A display control device according to an aspect of the present disclosure performs processing using (a) a main content item to be displayed by a display unit and (b) display elements arranged in a chain from which the main content item is selected. The display control device includes the following units. An importance calculation unit obtains additional information to be notified to a user and calculates an importance of the additional information. A relevance calculation unit calculates a relevance between the additional information and the main content item. A position determination unit determines a position to which the additional information is to be inserted in the display elements, based on the calculated importance and the calculated relevance. The position determination unit determines the position to receive more attention from the user as the importance and the relevance of the additional information are higher.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2012
    Publication date: February 27, 2014
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kotaro Sakata, Shigenori Maeda, Masaki Yamauchi
  • Publication number: 20140053105
    Abstract: Included are: a plural-push information management unit; a screen attention degree determination unit; a selection operation history collection unit; a selection probability calculation unit calculating a user's selection probability for each category; and a display style determination unit causing pieces of push information in a category having a higher probability to be displayed in a more easily selectable display style. The categories include a relevance category including pieces of push information regarding content displayed on the screen. The selection probability calculation unit calculates a selection probability of the relevance category having a first attention degree as a screen attention degree to be higher than that having the second attention degree lower than the first attention degree; and calculates a selection probability having a first number as the number of selection times to be higher than that having a second number smaller than the first number.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 27, 2012
    Publication date: February 20, 2014
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kotaro Sakata, Shigenori Maeda, Masaki Yamauchi
  • Publication number: 20130239033
    Abstract: Provided is a lifestyle collecting apparatus that collects information for determining a lifestyle of a user, and includes: an object information detecting unit configured to detect object information representing an object around the user; a relevance degree calculating unit configured to calculate a relevance degree of the user to the object, using the object information; an appearance information extracting unit configured to extract appearance information from the object information, and add the relevance degree to the extracted appearance information, the appearance information representing an appearance of the object; and a lifestyle database which stores the appearance information to which the relevance degree has been added, as the information for determining the lifestyle of the user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 23, 2013
    Publication date: September 12, 2013
    Applicant: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Kotaro SAKATA, Kazuya NOMURA, Tomohiro KONUMA, Maki YAMADA, Shigenori MAEDA
  • Patent number: 8510156
    Abstract: Provided is a viewing terminal apparatus that can present an appropriate result of statistics on viewing of a content for diversified viewing modes. The viewing terminal apparatus includes: a category determining unit that determines, as a viewer category, a relationship between viewers who are viewing a content displayed on a display; a transmitting unit that transmits, to the viewing statistics-gathering apparatus, first viewing status information indicating the content that is being viewed by the viewers and the viewer category determined by the category determining unit, the content being associated with the viewer category; and a viewing statistics presenting unit that obtains viewing statistics information from the viewing statistics-gathering apparatus, and presents a result of statistics that is (i) indicated by the obtained viewing statistics information and (ii) a result of statistics on viewing of a content only by viewers who belong to a predetermined viewer category.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Kotaro Sakata, Kazuya Nomura, Tomohiro Konuma, Maki Yamada, Shigenori Maeda
  • Patent number: 8464160
    Abstract: A user interface device (1) includes a display unit (2) which displays a first work space assigned to a user and a second work space different from the first workspace; a detection unit (3) which detects a position of the user; a calculation unit (4) which calculates an appropriate distance between the user and the second work space according to a type of an application program controlled by the user through the first work space; and a notification unit (5) which notifies the user that a distance between the position of the user detected by the detection unit (3) and the second work space is shorter than the appropriate distance calculated by the calculation unit (4).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Kotaro Sakata, Shigenori Maeda
  • Patent number: 8451216
    Abstract: A user interface device (1) includes: a detection unit (3) which detects a position of a user; a display unit (2) which displays a work space; and a control unit (4) which controls display of an independent object which belongs to no user. The control unit (4) moves the independent object in a mode which varies between when the independent object is in a face-to-face space of the display unit (2) which is face to face with the position of the user and when the independent object is outside the face-to-face space. The control unit (4) also stops the moving independent object in a workspace assigned to the user when the user obtains the independent object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Kotaro Sakata, Shigenori Maeda, Tomonari Takahashi, Hiroyasu Imoto