Patents by Inventor Shinichi Futamura
Shinichi Futamura 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).
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Patent number: 10279729Abstract: In a light control device, positional information of another vehicle present near an own vehicle is acquired. An irradiation area is set based on the position of the other vehicle. Output for changing the irradiation area of a light in the own vehicle is performed to achieve the set irradiation area. The output for changing the irradiation area is prohibited until the elapse of a wait time that has been set in advance are included. According to the light control device, the irradiation area of the light is not changed until the elapse of the wait time. Therefore, annoyance caused by the irradiation area being frequently changed can be suppressed.Type: GrantFiled: February 4, 2013Date of Patent: May 7, 2019Assignee: DENSO CORPORATIONInventor: Shinichi Futamura
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Patent number: 10246004Abstract: A vehicle headlight control apparatus controls headlights of a vehicle including LEDs. The vehicle headlight control apparatus includes: drivers and each of which gradually changes a luminance of the LEDs between a predetermined on state and a predetermined off state over a switching time period; and a lamp ECU that determines the switching time period in a changeable manner.Type: GrantFiled: May 24, 2016Date of Patent: April 2, 2019Assignees: DENSO CORPORATION, TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.Inventors: Ryu Mizuno, Shinichi Futamura, Tatsuya Takagaki, Takatoshi Nakagawa, Kiyotaka Mochizuki, Takao Muramatsu
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Patent number: 10059252Abstract: A lamp ECU acquires, from a sensor, a position of a target light source of a forward vehicle when viewed from a sensor mounting position, calculates, on a basis of an amount of position deviation between a lighting fixture mounting position and the sensor mounting position, a parallax-corrected direction of a target position, based on the acquired position of the target light source, when viewed from the lighting fixture mounting position, and outputs a light shielding range on a basis of the calculated parallax-corrected direction.Type: GrantFiled: June 9, 2016Date of Patent: August 28, 2018Assignees: DENSO CORPORATION, TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Ryu Mizuno, Shinichi Futamura, Tatsuya Takagaki, Takatoshi Nakagawa
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Publication number: 20180170241Abstract: A lamp ECU acquires, from a sensor, a position of a target light source of a forward vehicle when viewed from a sensor mounting position, calculates, on a basis of an amount of position deviation between a lighting fixture mounting position and the sensor mounting position, a parallax-corrected direction of a target position, based on the acquired position of the target light source, when viewed from the lighting fixture mounting position, and outputs a light shielding range on a basis of the calculated parallax-corrected direction.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 9, 2016Publication date: June 21, 2018Inventors: Ryu Mizuno, Shinichi Futamura, Tatsuya Takagaki, Takatoshi Nakagawa
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Publication number: 20180170243Abstract: A vehicle headlight control apparatus controls headlights of a vehicle including LEDs. The vehicle headlight control apparatus includes: drivers and each of which gradually changes a luminance of the LEDs between a predetermined on state and a predetermined off state over a switching time period; and a lamp ECU that determines the switching time period in a changeable manner.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 24, 2016Publication date: June 21, 2018Inventors: Ryu Mizuno, Shinichi Futamura, Tatsuya Takagaki, Takatoshi Nakagawa
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Patent number: 9415718Abstract: The vehicular headlight apparatus includes a control means configured to change a light illumination area following a position of a detected target object until a shift angle between a reference direction and a direction to the target object with respect to a headlight is calculated to exceed a maximum limit shift angle, and configured to, when a vehicle speed is detected to exceed a predetermined threshold value, set the maximum limit shift angle to a small deflection angle, and change the present light illumination area to a low-beam light illumination area covered by the headlight in a low-beam state if the shift angle is calculated to exceed the maximum limit shift angle set to the small deflection angle.Type: GrantFiled: September 18, 2014Date of Patent: August 16, 2016Assignee: DENSO CORPORATIONInventors: Shinichi Futamura, Ryu Mizuno, Koichi Masuda
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Publication number: 20150246633Abstract: In a light control device, positional information of another vehicle present near an own vehicle is acquired. An irradiation area is set based on the position of the other vehicle. Output for changing the irradiation area of a light in the own vehicle is performed to achieve the set irradiation area. The output for changing the irradiation area is prohibited until the elapse of a wait time that has been set in advance are included. According to the light control device, the irradiation area of the light is not changed until the elapse of the wait time. Therefore, annoyance caused by the irradiation area being frequently changed can be suppressed.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 4, 2013Publication date: September 3, 2015Inventor: Shinichi Futamura
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Publication number: 20150003087Abstract: The vehicular headlight apparatus includes a control means configured to change a light illumination area following a position of a detected target object until a shift angle between a reference direction and a direction to the target object with respect to a headlight is calculated to exceed a maximum limit shift angle, and configured to, when a vehicle speed is detected to exceed a predetermined threshold value, set the maximum limit shift angle to a small deflection angle, and change the present light illumination area to a low-beam light illumination area covered by the headlight in a low-beam state if the shift angle is calculated to exceed the maximum limit shift angle set to the small deflection angle.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 18, 2014Publication date: January 1, 2015Inventors: Shinichi Futamura, Ryu Mizuno, Koichi MASUDA
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Patent number: 8866387Abstract: The vehicular headlight apparatus includes a control means configured to change a light illumination area following a position of a detected target object until a shift angle between a reference direction and a direction to the target object with respect to a headlight is calculated to exceed a maximum limit shift angle, and configured to, when a vehicle speed is detected to exceed a predetermined threshold value, set the maximum limit shift angle to a small deflection angle, and change the present light illumination area to a low-beam light illumination area covered by the headlight in a low-beam state if the shift angle is calculated to exceed the maximum limit shift angle set to the small deflection angle.Type: GrantFiled: May 31, 2012Date of Patent: October 21, 2014Assignee: Denso CorporationInventors: Shinichi Futamura, Ryu Mizuno
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Publication number: 20140246975Abstract: Position information of a light source is acquired from an image sensor, which images surroundings of a vehicle, detects the light source based on an acquired image, and outputs the position information of the light source (step 110), determines based on the acquired position information of the light source whether or not there is a light source within a traveling direction range of the vehicle, that is determined in accordance with a detected value of a steering angle or a yaw rate of the vehicle (step 120), controls an irradiation direction of the headlamp to follow a direction of the light source if a determination result of the means for determining is positive (step 140), and controls the headlamp independently from the position of the light source if a determination result of the means for determining is negative (steps 150, 155).Type: ApplicationFiled: July 18, 2012Publication date: September 4, 2014Applicant: DENSO CORPORATIONInventor: Shinichi Futamura
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Publication number: 20120313523Abstract: The vehicular headlight apparatus includes a control means configured to change a light illumination area following a position of a detected target object until a shift angle between a reference direction and a direction to the target object with respect to a headlight is calculated to exceed a maximum limit shift angle, and configured to, when a vehicle speed is detected to exceed a predetermined threshold value, set the maximum limit shift angle to a small deflection angle, and change the present light illumination area to a low-beam light illumination area covered by the headlight in a low-beam state if the shift angle is calculated to exceed the maximum limit shift angle set to the small deflection angle.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 31, 2012Publication date: December 13, 2012Applicant: Denso CorporationInventors: Shinichi Futamura, Ryu Mizuno
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Patent number: 7898182Abstract: If a beam state of headlight is manually switched over in a manual control mode, threshold values of vehicle speed, steering angle or the like, are learned for determining the switching over to the low-beam state or to the high-beam state based on the results detected by a speed sensor, illumination sensor, steering angle sensor and weather sensor, and are stored in a nonvolatile memory. In an automatic control mode, a CPU determines the switching over to the low-beam state or to the high-beam state based on the traveling condition detected by the illumination sensor by using the threshold values for determining the switching over learned in the manual control mode. The CPU automatically switches over the state of the beam of the headlight based upon the determination result.Type: GrantFiled: May 16, 2007Date of Patent: March 1, 2011Assignee: Denso CorporationInventor: Shinichi Futamura
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Publication number: 20070268159Abstract: If a beam state of headlight is manually switched over in a manual control mode, threshold values of vehicle speed, steering angle or the like, are learned for determining the switching over to the low-beam state or to the high-beam state based on the results detected by a speed sensor, illumination sensor, steering angle sensor and weather sensor, and are stored in a nonvolatile memory. In an automatic control mode, a CPU determines the switching over to the low-beam state or to the high-beam state based on the traveling condition detected by the illumination sensor by using the threshold values for determining the switching over learned in the manual control mode. The CPU automatically switches over the state of the beam of the headlight based upon the determination result.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 16, 2007Publication date: November 22, 2007Applicant: DENSO CorporationInventor: Shinichi Futamura