Patents by Inventor Shinji Sawada

Shinji Sawada 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: 11556331
    Abstract: Provided is a program update management device that includes: an acquiring part that acquires a scene signal indicating a scene in which a vehicle is used; a determining part that determines a level indicating how strongly the vehicle is restricted when respective functions of a plurality of ECUs are impaired, the plurality of ECUs each having the same function in the scene indicated by the scene signal; and a selecting part that selects, from among the plurality of ECUs, an ECU for which a program update is performed, based on the level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Shinji Sawada
  • Publication number: 20210109741
    Abstract: Provided is a program update management device that includes: an acquiring part that acquires a scene signal indicating a scene in which a vehicle is used; a determining part that determines a level indicating how strongly the vehicle is restricted when respective functions of a plurality of ECUs are impaired, the plurality of ECUs each having the same function in the scene indicated by the scene signal; and a selecting part that selects, from among the plurality of ECUs, an ECU for which a program update is performed, based on the level.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2020
    Publication date: April 15, 2021
    Inventor: Shinji Sawada
  • Patent number: 10877742
    Abstract: Provided is a program update management device that includes: an acquiring part that acquires a scene signal indicating a scene in which a vehicle is used; a determining part that determines a level indicating how strongly the vehicle is restricted when respective functions of a plurality of ECUs are impaired, the plurality of ECUs each having the same function in the scene indicated by the scene signal; and a selecting part that selects, from among the plurality of ECUs, an ECU for which a program update is performed, based on the level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Shinji Sawada
  • Patent number: 10710657
    Abstract: The suspension assembly mounting method includes: a step of mounting the suspension assembly on a pallet having a support body and a movable member relatively movable with respect to the support body, so as to fix the base body to the support body and engage the arm member with the movable member; a step of causing the movable member to press the arm member upward so that the suspension assembly becomes a position where its own weight load equivalent to the vehicle body weight is applied; a step of lifting the pallet from under the vehicle body and contacting the suspension assembly to the vehicle body; a step of raising the pallet while stopping the movable member from pressing after the contacting; and a vehicle mount step of mounting the suspension assembly on the vehicle body while causing the movable member to press the arm member upward.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2020
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Atsushi Osada, Takeshi Hara, Hideari Kamachi, Takeshi Iura, Hiroki Sakabe, Shinji Sawada
  • Patent number: 10573021
    Abstract: Provided is a position and attitude estimation method and system in which the Z coordinate value of each index point Pi is estimated according to the size ?1 of each index area Ai of a work W acquired through an imaging device 4 having an optical axis parallel to the Z axis of a real space. Based on the Z coordinate value Zi of each index point Pi, the first real space attitude ?1(i, j) of an index straight line Qij passing through paired index points Pi and Pj is estimated. A light beam 20 is irradiated to a first index point Pi1 among a plurality of index points Pi by using an irradiation device 2, thereby forming and defining a first index area Ai1, which includes the first index point Pi1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Shinji Sawada
  • Publication number: 20190286433
    Abstract: Provided is a program update management device that includes: an acquiring part that acquires a scene signal indicating a scene in which a vehicle is used; a determining part that determines a level indicating how strongly the vehicle is restricted when respective functions of a plurality of ECUs are impaired, the plurality of ECUs each having the same function in the scene indicated by the scene signal; and a selecting part that selects, from among the plurality of ECUs, an ECU for which a program update is performed, based on the level.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2019
    Publication date: September 19, 2019
    Inventor: Shinji Sawada
  • Publication number: 20180257722
    Abstract: The suspension assembly mounting method includes: a step of mounting the suspension assembly on a pallet having a support body and a movable member relatively movable with respect to the support body, so as to fix the base body to the support body and engage the arm member with the movable member; a step of causing the movable member to press the arm member upward so that the suspension assembly becomes a position where its own weight load equivalent to the vehicle body weight is applied; a step of lifting the pallet from under the vehicle body and contacting the suspension assembly to the vehicle body; a step of raising the pallet while stopping the movable member from pressing after the contacting; and a vehicle mount step of mounting the suspension assembly on the vehicle body while causing the movable member to press the arm member upward.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 9, 2018
    Publication date: September 13, 2018
    Inventors: Atsushi Osada, Takeshi Hara, Hideari Kamachi, Takeshi Iura, Hiroki Sakabe, Shinji Sawada
  • Publication number: 20180089853
    Abstract: Provided is a position and attitude estimation method and system in which the Z coordinate value of each index point Pi is estimated according to the size ?1 of each index area Ai of a work W acquired through an imaging device 4 having an optical axis parallel to the Z axis of a real space. Based on the Z coordinate value Zi of each index point Pi, the first real space attitude ?1(i, j) of an index straight line Qij passing through paired index points Pi and Pj is estimated. A light beam 20 is irradiated to a first index point Pi1 among a plurality of index points P by using an irradiation device 2, thereby forming and defining a first index area Ai1, which includes the first index point Pi1.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2017
    Publication date: March 29, 2018
    Inventor: Shinji Sawada
  • Patent number: 9574538
    Abstract: An idling stop control system stops an idling of an engine so as to automatically stop the engine in the case where a predetermined condition on automatic stop of the engine is established and releases the automatic stop of the engine so as to restart the engine in the case where a predetermined condition on restart of the engine is established in accordance with a driving condition of the vehicle. The idling stop control system recognizes a type of an object in front of the vehicle and restarts the engine depending on the type of the object in front of the vehicle even if the engine is in the automatic stop and the restart condition of the engine is not established with respect to the driving condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: FUJI KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Shinji Sawada
  • Patent number: 9308938
    Abstract: There is provided a vehicle power steering control apparatus. A steering control unit sets a base assist torque Tb based upon a vehicle speed and a steering torque. When an obstacle ahead is detected by an image recognition device, the steering control unit calculates an overlapping ratio between the obstacle and the vehicle in the widthwise direction. When an absolute value of the overlapping ratio is larger than a predetermined threshold value, the steering control unit increases the base assist torque for correction, and when the absolute value is equal to or smaller than the predetermined threshold value, it decreases the base assist torque for correction. The steering control unit outputs the calculated value to a motor drive unit as a control quantity (assist torque).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2016
    Assignee: FUJI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shinji Sawada, Hiroki Kato
  • Publication number: 20150275840
    Abstract: An idling stop control system stops an idling of an engine so as to automatically stop the engine in the case where a predetermined condition on automatic stop of the engine is established and releases the automatic stop of the engine so as to restart the engine in the case where a predetermined condition on restart of the engine is established in accordance with a driving condition of the vehicle. The idling stop control system recognizes a type of an object in front of the vehicle and restarts the engine depending on the type of the object in front of the vehicle even if the engine is in the automatic stop and the restart condition of the engine is not established with respect to the driving condition.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2015
    Publication date: October 1, 2015
    Inventor: Shinji SAWADA
  • Patent number: 9085055
    Abstract: Provided is a nut feeding system for feeding a nut smoothly and efficiently without the occurrence of nut clogging or the like. A posture alignment device 2 of the nut feeding system 1 repeats an advance and retreat motion of an insert pin 19. After the insert pin 19 is inserted into a screw hole of the nut N, the nut N is raised and transferred from the posture alignment device 2 towards a supply placing unit 5.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2015
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tomohiro Sugimoto, Ryo Nakajima, Shinji Sawada, Shinji Yonehana, Koichi Matsumoto, Hideari Kamachi
  • Patent number: 8972153
    Abstract: In an idling control apparatus for a vehicle, normally, when a predetermined idling reduction execution condition is satisfied, a signal is output to the engine control device so as to execute idling reduction for stopping the idling operation of an engine to automatically stop it. Further, it is determined whether or not a subject vehicle is stopped against an obstacle for avoidance of danger based on at least one of environmental information in front of the subject vehicle, obstacle information and a driving condition of the subject vehicle before it is stopped. When it is determined that the subject vehicle is stopped against the obstacle for avoidance of danger, automatic engine stop is prohibited.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Fuji Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shinji Sawada, Hiroki Obayashi
  • Publication number: 20130299510
    Abstract: Provided is a nut feeding system for feeding a nut smoothly and efficiently without the occurrence of nut clogging or the like. A posture alignment device 2 of the nut feeding system 1 repeats an advance and retreat motion of an insert pin 19. After the insert pin 19 is inserted into a screw hole of the nut N, the nut N is raised and transferred from the posture alignment device 2 towards a supply placing unit 5.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 29, 2013
    Publication date: November 14, 2013
    Applicant: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tomohiro Sugimoto, Ryo Nakajima, Shinji Sawada, Shinji Yonehana, Koichi Matsumoto, Hideari Kamachi
  • Patent number: 8482431
    Abstract: When an own vehicle waits to turn left or right, a vehicle data processing unit processes information of an oncoming vehicle based on data analyzed by data analyzing units. A support processing unit sets a blind angle rank according to a difficulty degree of recognizing a following vehicle due to the blind angle of a lead vehicle from the relationship in the vehicle body size between the lead and following vehicles based on the oncoming vehicle information, and sets the highest blind angle rank value as an oncoming straight-ahead vehicle rank flag. It also sets an evaluation rank according to a risk degree when the own vehicle turns left or right, based on the oncoming straight-ahead vehicle rank flag and an oncoming vehicle rank flag set according to the size of an oncoming vehicle waiting to turn left or right, and informs the driver of driving support information according to the evaluation rank.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2013
    Assignee: Fuji Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Azumi Kushi, Shinji Sawada
  • Patent number: 8452452
    Abstract: The grip position calculator determines a grip position where the fingers can grip a workpiece in any orientation of the workpiece. The calculator then determines an initial position where the finger tips can grip the workpiece and set the initial position as a point of calculation. Then an allowable gripping force is calculated which is an index that indicates an allowable force to be applied to the workpiece at point. Then other allowable forces are calculated for a plurality of points near the point of calculation. Then the point of calculation is selected as a possible gripping position if the allowable force a point is greater than any of the allowable forces. Otherwise, one of the points is selected for another point of calculation where the greatest allowable force (De) has been calculated and return to calculating an allowable gripping force.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2013
    Assignees: Honda Motor Co., Ltd., National University Corporation
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Kondo, Shinji Sawada, Nobuhiro Nanba, Yoshikazu Hayakawa, Kenji Fujimoto, Akira Nakashima, Takashi Uno
  • Patent number: 8362922
    Abstract: When a vehicle attempts to enter a priority road from a non-priority road, a visibility determination processing section compares moving object information on the priority road obtained from a first infrastructure facility installed near a stop position with moving object information on the priority road detected by an autonomous sensor mounted on the vehicle, and determines that the visibility is poor if the former does not match the latter or determines that the visibility is good if the former matches the latter. Then, when the former does not match the latter, the driver is informed of intersection support information. When the former matches the latter, the driver is not informed since it is determined that the driver has already recognized the information by visual observation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2013
    Assignee: Fuji Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Azumi Kushi, Shinji Sawada
  • Publication number: 20120239252
    Abstract: There is provided a vehicle power steering control apparatus. A steering control unit sets a base assist torque Tb based upon a vehicle speed and a steering torque. When an obstacle ahead is detected by an image recognition device, the steering control unit calculates an overlapping ratio between the obstacle and the vehicle in the widthwise direction. When an absolute value of the overlapping ratio is larger than a predetermined threshold value, the steering control unit increases the base assist torque for correction, and when the absolute value is equal to or smaller than the predetermined threshold value, it decreases the base assist torque for correction. The steering control unit outputs the calculated value to a motor drive unit as a control quantity (assist torque).
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 2, 2012
    Publication date: September 20, 2012
    Applicant: FUJI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shinji Sawada, Hiroki Kato
  • Publication number: 20120132176
    Abstract: In an idling control apparatus for a vehicle, normally, when a predetermined idling reduction execution condition is satisfied, a signal is output to the engine control device so as to execute idling reduction for stopping the idling operation of an engine to automatically stop it. Further, it is determined whether or not a subject vehicle is stopped against an obstacle for avoidance of danger based on at least one of environmental information in front of the subject vehicle, obstacle information and a driving condition of the subject vehicle before it is stopped. When it is determined that the subject vehicle is stopped against the obstacle for avoidance of danger, automatic engine stop is prohibited.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2011
    Publication date: May 31, 2012
    Applicant: FUJI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shinji Sawada, Hiroki Obayashi
  • Publication number: 20110288683
    Abstract: The grip position calculator determines a grip position where the fingers can grip a workpiece in any orientation of the workpiece. The calculator then determines an initial position where the finger tips can grip the workpiece and set the initial position as a point of calculation. Then an allowable gripping force is calculated which is an index that indicates an allowable force to be applied to the workpiece at point. Then other allowable forces are calculated for a plurality of points near the point of calculation. Then the point of calculation is selected as a possible gripping position if the allowable force a point is greater than any of the allowable forces. Otherwise, one of the points is selected for another point of calculation where the greatest allowable force (De) has been calculated and return to calculating an allowable gripping force.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 28, 2010
    Publication date: November 24, 2011
    Applicants: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION, HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Kondo, Shinji Sawada, Nobuhiro Nanba, Yoshikazu Hayakawa, Kenji Fujimoto, Akira Nakashima, Takashi Uno