Patents by Inventor Takamasa Ando

Takamasa Ando 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: 20160084939
    Abstract: A radar apparatus detects a target that has reflected radar waves on the basis of each of object signals that have been passed, and detects a detection angle that is an angle formed between the target and a specified reference axis. The radar apparatus determines, as an angle correction value, for a target which is disposed at a set distance from the radar apparatus in such a manner that an angle formed between the target and the reference axis becomes a specified angle, a difference between the specified angle and a detection angle that is detected based on a plurality of object signals that pass through the filters by transmitting and receiving radar waves for the target, and stores the determined angle correction value in a storage unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 21, 2014
    Publication date: March 24, 2016
    Inventors: Yutaka Hasegawa, Takamasa Ando
  • Publication number: 20150293277
    Abstract: A diffraction-grating lens has positive power and includes a lens base (11) on the surface of which a diffraction grating is formed, and an optical adjustment film (15) that is disposed on a diffraction grating surface of the lens base provided with the diffraction grating. The optical adjustment film is made of a material having a higher refractive index and lower wavelength dispersibility of the refractive index than those of a material of the lens base. When a reference position (17) is defined as a position (Rr) that is 70% of an effective radius (Re) measured from the center of the diffraction grating, the diffraction grating surface in the reference position is substantially parallel to a surface perpendicular to an optical axis (13). With this configuration, it is possible to provide a diffraction-grating lens and an image-capturing device that can reduce the generation of unnecessary diffraction light.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 5, 2013
    Publication date: October 15, 2015
    Inventor: Takamasa Ando
  • Patent number: 9142582
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention includes: a lens optical system having first to third regions, the first region transmitting light of a first wavelength band, the second region transmitting light of the first wavelength band and having optical characteristics for providing a different focusing characteristic from a focusing characteristic associated with rays transmitted through the first region, and the third region transmitting light of a second wavelength band; an imaging device on which light having passed through the lens optical system is incident, the imaging device having a plurality of first to third pixels; and a microlens array causing light having passed through the first region to enter the plurality of first pixels, light having passed through the second region to enter the plurality of second pixels, and light having passed through the third region to enter the plurality of third pixels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takamasa Ando, Norihiro Imamura, Tsuguhiro Korenaga
  • Patent number: 9110152
    Abstract: A peak detecting threshold determining method is provided which determines a peak detecting threshold which is used by an FMCW radar in detecting a peak frequency component which appears as representing a target object in a frequency spectrum. A CW radar wave is transmitted to produce a CW noise spectrum. An offset is added to frequency components in a high-frequency region of the CW noise spectrum to define a first distribution as a value of the peak detecting threshold. This enables the value of the peak detecting threshold in the high-frequency region to be determined with high precision by reflecting a receiver noise containing a leakage noise.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2015
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takamasa Ando, Kazuma Natsume
  • Patent number: 9103981
    Abstract: A method for designing a diffraction grating lens of the present invention is a method for designing a diffraction grating lens having a diffraction grating composed of a plurality of diffraction zones, the method including the steps of: (a) determining widths of the plurality of diffraction zones; and (b) determining an aspherical coefficient of a diffraction surface on which the diffraction grating is provided while the determined widths of the plurality of diffraction zones are fixed, after the step (a).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takamasa Ando, Tsuguhiro Korenaga
  • Publication number: 20150138012
    Abstract: A first step sets a second inclination angle of a housing to an angle different from a reference housing angle by a limit angle; drives an actuator to set a first inclination angle to an angle different from a substrate inclination angle by the limit angle such that a beam axis is kept to be oriented to a specified direction; and measures, based on transmission and reception of a radar beam, first received power. A second step drives the actuator to set the first inclination angle to an angle located outside the adjustment range by a predetermined additional angle while the first inclination angle is maintained; and measures, based on transmission and reception of the radar beam, second received power. A third step determines whether a difference between the first received power and the second received power is greater than a predetermined determination threshold, and checks an operating state of the actuator based on a result of the determination.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 21, 2013
    Publication date: May 21, 2015
    Inventor: Takamasa Ando
  • Patent number: 8995058
    Abstract: A diffraction grating lens according to the present invention is a diffraction grating lens 11 including: a lens body 12; and a plurality of diffraction steps relative to a base shape and a plurality of diffraction gratings 13 interposed between the diffraction steps, provided on a surface of the lens body 12. The lens body 12 is made of a first material having a refractive index n1(?) at a used wavelength ?; the diffraction grating 13 is in contact with air; and the relationship of an inequality below is satisfied, where d is a design step length of the diffraction steps, and m is an order of diffraction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuka Okada, Takamasa Ando, Tsuguhiro Korenaga
  • Patent number: 8902514
    Abstract: A diffractive lens according to the present invention has the function of focusing light. The diffractive lens has a side on which a diffraction grating is arranged on either an aspheric surface or a spherical surface in its effective area. The diffraction grating has n0 phase steps, which are arranged concentrically around the optical axis of the diffractive lens. And the radius rn of the circle formed by an nth one (where n is an integer that falls within the range of 0 through n0) of the phase steps as counted from the optical axis of the diffractive lens satisfies rn=?{square root over (a{(n+c+dn)?b(n+c+dn)m})}{square root over (a{(n+c+dn)?b(n+c+dn)m})} where a, b, c and m are constants that satisfy a>0, 0?c<1, m>1, and 0.05 ? b 0 < b < b 0 b 0 = 1 mn 0 m - 1 and dn is an arbitrary value that satisfies ?0.25<dn<0.25.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Seiji Nishiwaki, Takamasa Ando, Tsuguhiro Korenaga
  • Patent number: 8674899
    Abstract: A radome covers an antenna substrate of a millimeter-band radar apparatus, with a partition wall formed integrally in the radome separating the internal space of the radome into a first internal space, located in correspondence with a transmitting antenna section, and a second internal space, located in correspondence with a receiving antenna section. Increased isolation between transmission and reception is achieved thereby, by reducing the amount of transmitted radar waves which directly reach the receiving antenna section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2014
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Takamasa Ando, Kazuma Natsume
  • Publication number: 20140055664
    Abstract: An image capture device according to the present disclosure includes: a lens optical system L; an image sensor N on which light that has passed through the lens optical system L is incident and which includes at least a plurality of first pixels and a plurality of second pixels; and an array of optical elements K which is arranged between the lens optical system and the image sensor. The lens optical system has a first optical region D1 which transmits mostly light vibrating in the direction of a first polarization axis and a second optical region D2 which transmits mostly light vibrating in the direction of a second polarization axis that is different from the direction of the first polarization axis. The array of optical elements makes the light that has passed through the first optical region D1 incident on the plurality of first pixels and also makes the light that has passed through the second optical region D2 incident on the plurality of second pixels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 1, 2013
    Publication date: February 27, 2014
    Inventors: Michihiro Yamagata, Tsuguhiro Korenaga, Norihiro Imamura, Takamasa Ando
  • Publication number: 20140043687
    Abstract: A diffractive optical element includes: a body being composed of a first optical material and having a diffraction grating on the surface thereof; and an optical adjustment layer being composed of a second optical material and provided on the body so as to cover the diffraction grating. An envelope passing through the edge of the diffraction grating presents a curved surface, and the optical adjustment layer has a uniform thickness along the normal direction from the envelope.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 6, 2012
    Publication date: February 13, 2014
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Akiko Murata, Yuka Okada, Tatsutoshi Suenaga, Takamasa Ando
  • Patent number: 8649095
    Abstract: A diffraction grating lens according to the present invention includes a lens body and a diffraction grating provided on the surface of the lens body, the diffraction grating including a plurality of annular zones having slopes inclined along a width direction and a plurality of step surfaces respectively located between the plurality of annular zones. At least one of the plurality of annular zones is light-transmissive across its entire area along the width direction, and in the at least one annular zone, a light transmittance near at least one of two ends along the width direction is smaller than a light transmittance near a central portion along the width direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Takamasa Ando, Tsuguhiro Korenaga
  • Patent number: 8624775
    Abstract: Four rows on one side of linear arrays arranged at equal intervals in the vertical direction and arranged at a predetermined interval in the horizontal direction form transmission channels and remaining twelve rows form a reception channel group. Among the remaining twelve rows, linear arrays of four rows in the center form a reception-first-array with each row set as a channel unit. Linear arrays of eight rows on both sides form a reception-second-array with two rows set as a channel unit. In wide-angle-middle-detection-processing, signals are combined using the reception-first-array. In long-detection-processing, signals are combined using the reception-second-array. Second null of a radiation pattern by a transmission array and first null of the reception-second-array are matched. The first null of the transmission array is filled such that a gain difference between the first null and a first side lobe of the transmission array is within a predetermined value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignees: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuyoshi Inami, Takamasa Ando
  • Publication number: 20130341493
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention includes: a lens optical system having first to third regions, the first region transmitting light of a first wavelength band, the second region transmitting light of the first wavelength band and having optical characteristics for providing a different focusing characteristic from a focusing characteristic associated with rays transmitted through the first region, and the third region transmitting light of a second wavelength band; an imaging device on which light having passed through the lens optical system is incident, the imaging device having a plurality of first to third pixels; and a microlens array causing light having passed through the first region to enter the plurality of first pixels, light having passed through the second region to enter the plurality of second pixels, and light having passed through the third region to enter the plurality of third pixels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2013
    Publication date: December 26, 2013
    Applicant: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Takamasa ANDO, Norihiro IMAMURA, Tsuguhiro KORENAGA
  • Publication number: 20130293704
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus disclosed in the present application includes a lens optical system, an imaging element and an optical array element. The lens optical system includes first and second areas having different optical characteristics with each other. The imaging element includes first and second pixels each including a filter of a first spectral transmittance characteristic, third pixels including a filter of a second spectral transmittance characteristic, and fourth pixels including a filter of a third spectral transmittance characteristic. The optical array element causes the light passing through the first area to be incident on the first pixels and one of the third and fourth pixels and causes the light passing through the second area to be incident on the second pixels and the other of third and fourth pixels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 8, 2013
    Publication date: November 7, 2013
    Inventors: Norihiro IMAMURA, Takamasa ANDO, Tsuguhiro KORENAGA
  • Publication number: 20130145608
    Abstract: A method for designing a diffraction grating lens of the present invention is a method for designing a diffraction grating lens having a diffraction grating composed of a plurality of diffraction zones, the method including the steps of: (a) determining widths of the plurality of diffraction zones; and (b) determining an aspherical coefficient of a diffraction surface on which the diffraction grating is provided while the determined widths of the plurality of diffraction zones are fixed, after the step (a).
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2011
    Publication date: June 13, 2013
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takamasa Ando, Tsuguhiro Korenaga
  • Patent number: 8441728
    Abstract: A diffractive lens 11 that includes: a lens base 18, which has a second surface 13 with first and second groups of diffraction grating portions 20 and 21; and a protective coating 17, which is arranged on the first group of diffraction grating portions 20. The first group of diffraction grating portions 20 has a first group of diffraction steps and the second group of diffraction grating portions 21 has a second group of diffraction steps, which is lower in height than the first group of diffraction steps. One of the respective materials of the base 18 and the protective coating 17 has a higher refractive index and a greater Abbe number than the other material. And the second group of diffraction steps is not covered with the protective coating 17.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Tsuguhiro Korenaga, Takamasa Ando
  • Patent number: 8390799
    Abstract: A measurement method and an evaluating apparatus are provided which are capable of easily and accurately evaluating the light amount of a spot beam, the diffraction efficiency, and the intensity distribution in the optical axis direction by detecting even a weak diffracted beam in an arbitrary wavelength range converged by a diffraction optical element as an imaging lens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Takamasa Ando, Tsuguhiro Korenaga
  • Patent number: 8384996
    Abstract: According to the present invention, a small-sized double-lens imaging optical system whose chromatic aberration is corrected even at a super wide angle of 150° or more can be provided. The double-lens imaging optical system of the present invention includes a concave lens, and a convex lens having a diffraction grating provided thereon, and satisfies the following conditional expression (1): 4.5<P1=(1?f/fa)·?d<9.0??(1). Herein, f is an effective focal length of the double-lens imaging optical system; fa is an effective focal length of the double-lens imaging optical system excluding the diffraction grating; and ?d is an Abbe number of the material of the convex lens with respect to the d-line. As a result, chromatic aberration can be well corrected even with respect to rays entering at high angles of view.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Takamasa Ando, Tsuguhiro Korenaga
  • Patent number: 8346010
    Abstract: An image processing device that can highly precisely correct an image with a degraded image quality due to the unnecessary diffracted light generated in the optical system including the diffractive optical element is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Takamasa Ando, Tsuguhiro Korenaga