Patents by Inventor Tohru Nakamura
Tohru Nakamura 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: 20140238429Abstract: An automatic head care device includes independently rotated first rotational driving shaft and second rotational driving shaft, a first link having one end fixed to the first rotational driving shaft, a second link having one end rotatably connected to another end of the first link, a third link having one end fixed to the second rotational driving shaft, a fourth link having one end rotatably connected to another end of the third link, a working shaft rotatably connecting another end of the second link to another end of the fourth link, a working body caring the person's head, the working body being rotatably supported by the working shaft, and a control unit controlling rotation of the first rotational driving shaft and the second rotational driving shaft.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 25, 2012Publication date: August 28, 2014Inventors: Osamu Mizuno, Tohru Nakamura, Soichiro Fujioka, Toshinori Hirose
-
Publication number: 20140230952Abstract: A drug transferring needle includes a needle base portion, a first needle portion having therein an air passage, and a second needle portion longer than the first needle portion and arranged parallel to the first needle portion. In the first needle portion, a first air vent being one end of the air passage is provided on a distal end side of the second needle portion from a second air vent being the other end of the air passage. In the second needle portion, one end of a liquid passage is connected to the inside of the needle base portion, and the other end thereof is a liquid pass opening of the second needle portion. The second needle portion has a distal end having the liquid pass opening, a base portion connected to the needle base portion, and an intermediate portion connecting the distal end and the base portion.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 14, 2012Publication date: August 21, 2014Inventors: Akira Higuchi, Akinobu Okuda, Akihiro Ohta, Yuki Takenaka, Tohru Nakamura
-
Publication number: 20140191541Abstract: In a bed combination method of forming a bed on which a person lies by combining a wheelchair with a recess part of a bed base portion of a bed main portion, a posture of a seat portion of the wheelchair is changed from a chair posture to a tilt posture where the seat portion is inclined in such a manner that a position of a footrest is higher than the base portion by a tilt action while a shape of the seat portion is maintained as a chair shape, and then, the wheelchair is moved to the recess part of the base portion, and the seat portion is changed from the tilt posture to a non-tilt posture.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 12, 2012Publication date: July 10, 2014Inventors: Akihiro Ohta, Yohei Kume, Shohei Tsukada, Tohru Nakamura, Hideo Kawakami, Tomohiro Shimoda, Masaya Miyamoto
-
Publication number: 20140180520Abstract: An electric vehicle which travels by driving actuators includes: a monitor unit which monitors external environment or internal environment of the electric vehicle; an alarm unit which outputs, based on monitoring information obtained by the monitoring unit, a vibration velocity signal indicating velocity which changes in a cycle; a travel information generation unit which calculates a target travel velocity based on a steering direction and a control input provided by an operator of the electric vehicle, and generates travel control information for controlling the actuators based on the target travel velocity; and a control unit which controls the actuators based on the travel control information. The travel information generation unit regenerates the travel control information by adding the vibration velocity signal to the target travel velocity upon receiving the vibration velocity signal.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 9, 2012Publication date: June 26, 2014Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATIONInventors: Yohei Kume, Tomohiro Shimoda, Akihiro Ohta, Shohei Tsukada, Hideo Kawakami, Tohru Nakamura
-
Patent number: 8745776Abstract: An object of the present invention is to care for the occipital region supported with an occipital region supporter, without leaving an uncared-for part thereof, at time of automatic care of the person's head.Type: GrantFiled: April 20, 2012Date of Patent: June 10, 2014Assignee: Panasonic CorporationInventors: Osamu Mizuno, Soichiro Fujioka, Tohru Nakamura
-
Patent number: 8745775Abstract: An automatic head care apparatus comprises a bowl having a head support for supporting a person's head; a washing unit configured by fourth arms comprising a plurality of contacts at an end thereof and a rotation gear having a central axis thereof for rotating the contacts, third arms for rotatably supporting the fourth arms, a support shaft for rotatably supporting the third arms, a pushing mechanism for moving the support shaft, and a motor for oscillating the contacts by rotating the rotation gear of the fourth arms; and a control device for controlling movement of at least the pushing mechanism.Type: GrantFiled: September 15, 2011Date of Patent: June 10, 2014Assignee: Panasonic CorporationInventors: Osamu Mizuno, Soichiro Fujioka, Tohru Nakamura
-
Patent number: 8718859Abstract: A traveling vehicle (12) is self-propelled and docked in a quadrilateral docking area (20) having an entrance (55) on one side thereof, and includes: a docking point obtainment unit which obtains first to fourth points indicating positions of four corners of the docking area and represented in relative coordinates with respect to a position of the traveling vehicle (12); a reference distance detection unit (35) which obtains a reference distance indicating a distance between the traveling vehicle (12) and the docking area (20); and a movement control unit (33) which controls movement of the traveling vehicle (12) moving to the docking area (20), based on the first and second points when the reference distance Ls is not shorter than a first correction distance N1, and based on at least the third and fourth points when the reference distance Ls is shorter than the first correction distance N1.Type: GrantFiled: July 29, 2010Date of Patent: May 6, 2014Assignee: Panasonic CorporationInventors: Yohei Kume, Hideo Kawakami, Shohei Tsukada, Tohru Nakamura
-
Patent number: 8710823Abstract: A contact sensor includes a conductive fabric, an insulative spacer having multiple openings, and a conductive sheet of a sheet-shaped conductor. The insulative spacer is interposed between the conductive fabric and the conductive sheet. Upon contact of a soft object such as a human body portion on the conductive fabric with force equal to or greater than a certain strength, the insulative spacer sinks in the soft object with the conductive fabric interposed therebetween. The conductive fabric is deformable in conformity with insulative pieces of the insulative spacer, such that touching of a portion of the conductive fabric on the conductive sheet provides detection of contact of the soft object.Type: GrantFiled: October 18, 2011Date of Patent: April 29, 2014Assignee: Panasonic CorporationInventors: Shohei Tsukada, Yohei Kume, Hideo Kawakami, Tohru Nakamura
-
Publication number: 20140111585Abstract: To properly perform deaeration of ink in an ink-jet printer. An ink supply portion includes an ink tank, a deaeration portion, an upstream-side ink flow path and a downstream side ink flow path, in which the deaeration portion includes an ink branching portion, plural deaeration modules arranged in parallel in an ink flow path, plural pumps, and an ink converging portion. Respective plural deaeration modules are arranged between the ink branching portion and the ink converging portion in corresponding branch flow paths, and respective pumps are arranged in series to corresponding deaeration modules in the branch flow paths, allowing ink to flow in corresponding deaeration modules.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 21, 2013Publication date: April 24, 2014Applicant: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.Inventor: TOHRU NAKAMURA
-
Patent number: 8706332Abstract: The present invention has an object of providing an electric vehicle which makes an assisting movement based on an operation by an operator without making a movement when an operator is not operating the electric vehicle or a movement which widely differs from a movement intended by the operator in direction or distance, and a method of controlling the electric vehicle.Type: GrantFiled: May 27, 2010Date of Patent: April 22, 2014Assignee: Panasonic CorporationInventors: Yohei Kume, Hideo Kawakami, Tohru Nakamura
-
Patent number: 8696634Abstract: A syringe drive device 15 according to the present invention includes: an outer tube fixing portion 31 that detachably fixes an outer tube 22 of a syringe 16; a plunger holder 21 that holds a plunger 17 of the syringe 16; and a drive portion that moves the plunger holder 21 along an axis of the syringe.Type: GrantFiled: January 26, 2011Date of Patent: April 15, 2014Assignee: Panasonic CorporationInventors: Soichiro Fujioka, Tohru Nakamura, Osamu Mizuno, Akinobu Okuda, Akihiro Ohta, Mizuho Sakakibara, Toshihide Ueda
-
Patent number: 8690828Abstract: A syringe drive device 1 includes a cylinder holding section 3 configured to detachably hold a cylinder 201, a piston manipulating section 4 detachably coupled with a piston, and a piston drive section 5 including racks 31A and 31B coupled with the piston manipulating section 4 and configured to move the piston manipulating section 4 so that a piston 202 is moved in a push-in direction or a pull-out direction. A cylinder 200A having a given capacity (for example, 50 cc) is directly loaded in the syringe drive device 1 with no adapter therebetween. A syringe 200C having a different capacity (for example, 20 cc) is loaded in the syringe drive device 1 by means of a cylinder adapter 81 and a piston adapter 82.Type: GrantFiled: July 22, 2010Date of Patent: April 8, 2014Assignee: Panasonic CorporationInventors: Soichiro Fujioka, Tohru Nakamura, Osamu Mizuno, Akinobu Okuda, Akihiro Ohta
-
Patent number: 8677524Abstract: A movable part which combines with a stationary part to form a bed includes: a contact sensor (50); wheels (44) rotatable in all directions; a body drive unit (31) which drives the wheels (44); an avoidance instruction unit (51) which generates an avoidance instruction according to a result of detection by a contact sensor (50); a rotation center setting unit (52) which sets a rotation center Q2 for the avoidance instruction; an avoidance instruction translation unit (54) which translates the avoidance instruction and the rotation center Q2 into a move instruction; and a position detection unit (34) which detects a positional relationship to a docking area (20), and the rotation center setting unit (52) sets the rotation center according to the positional relationship detected by the position detection unit (34).Type: GrantFiled: September 7, 2010Date of Patent: March 25, 2014Assignee: Panasonic CorporationInventors: Yohei Kume, Hideo Kawakami, Shohei Tsukada, Tohru Nakamura
-
Patent number: 8677523Abstract: A wheelchair includes a seating bottom portion, a chair back bottom support member supporting a chair back bottom member, and a chair knee bottom support member supporting a chair knee bottom member. A chair leg first bottom support member is bendably coupled to the chair knee bottom support member. The chair leg first bottom support member supports a chair leg first bottom member, a chair leg second bottom support member is bendably coupled to the chair leg first bottom support member, and the chair leg second bottom support member supports a chair leg second bottom member. A chair base portion bendably couples the chair back bottom support member and the chair knee bottom support member and supports a chair waist bottom member, a first link portion coupling the chair back bottom support member and the chair knee bottom support member, and a second link portion coupling the chair back bottom support member and the chair leg first bottom support member to each other.Type: GrantFiled: June 20, 2011Date of Patent: March 25, 2014Assignee: Panasonic CorporationInventors: Shohei Tsukada, Yohei Kume, Hideo Kawakami, Tohru Nakamura, Toshihide Ueda
-
Patent number: 8676420Abstract: An electric wheelchair includes a body portion, an operating section to detect an operation by an operator, an obstacle sensor to detect an obstacle existing in the vicinity of the body portion, an obstacle determination section to form a search region extending from the body portion in an operating direction, and to determine an obstacle existing in the search region, as the obstacle to be avoided, a virtual repulsive force calculation section to calculate a virtual repulsive force to move the body portion away from the obstacle determined by the obstacle determination section, a resultant force calculation section to calculate a resultant force composed of an operating force and the virtual repulsive force, and a control section to control a movement of the body portion so that the body portion is moved in a direction of the resultant force.Type: GrantFiled: October 18, 2011Date of Patent: March 18, 2014Assignee: Panasonic CorporationInventors: Yohei Kume, Shohei Tsukada, Hideo Kawakami, Tohru Nakamura
-
Patent number: 8672081Abstract: A power assisted vehicle includes a wheel drive unit that transmits power of a motor as assist power to wheels via clutches capable of connecting and disconnecting power transmission, input rotation angle detection units that detect rotation angles of input shafts of the clutches, output rotation angle detection units that detect rotation angles of output shafts of the clutches, and assist power calculation units that calculate the relative angle difference between the rotation angles of the input shafts of the clutches and the rotation angles of the output shafts of the clutches, and while clearing the relative angle difference in a predetermined period, calculate the assist power on the basis of the relative angle difference before it is cleared.Type: GrantFiled: January 14, 2010Date of Patent: March 18, 2014Assignee: Panasonic CorporationInventors: Yohei Kume, Hideo Kawakami, Shohei Tsukada, Tohru Nakamura
-
Publication number: 20140060696Abstract: A drug solution transfer method includes step S1 of inserting a needle into a drug solution container through a rubber stopper and sucking drug solution in the drug solution container, step S2 of checking whether or not a solution collection inlet at a tip of the needle has shifted into the rubber stopper upon extracting the needle from the drug solution container, step S3 of pulling a plunger of a syringe provided with the needle so that an inside of the needle and an inner space of the syringe have negative pressure, and step S4 of relatively shifting the needle along with the syringe to be distant from the drug solution container so as to extract the solution collection inlet of the needle from the rubber stopper.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 15, 2012Publication date: March 6, 2014Inventors: Akinobu Okuda, Akihiro Ohta, Yuki Takenaka, Tsuyoshi Tojo, Tohru Nakamura, Akira Higuchi
-
Publication number: 20140067182Abstract: An omni-directional electric vehicle includes: a body having a chair portion; an operation detection unit which detects an operation direction and an operation amount of an operation input; a travel control information generation unit which generates, based on the operation direction and the operation amount, travel control information including (i) a target straight-movement speed for moving the body in a forward/backward direction and (ii) a target rotation speed for rotating the body about a rotation center; and a control unit which drives a movement mechanism of the body according to the travel control information. The travel control information generation unit changes, based on the target straight-movement speed, the rotation center for the target rotation speed from a reference position which is set virtually and fixedly to the body in the forward/backward direction.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 7, 2012Publication date: March 6, 2014Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATIONInventors: Yohei Kume, Tomohiro Shimoda, Akihiro Ohta, Shohei Tsukada, Hideo Kawakami, Tohru Nakamura
-
Patent number: 8647305Abstract: A syringe drive device drives a syringe including a cylindrical cylinder and a piston. The cylinder includes a solution supply port at one end, and an opening at the other end. The piston is inserted into the cylinder through the opening. The syringe drive device includes a cylinder holder to rotatably hold the cylinder of the syringe, and a piston driver to drive the piston in its axial direction with respect to the cylinder held in the cylinder holder.Type: GrantFiled: March 23, 2010Date of Patent: February 11, 2014Assignee: Panasonic CorporationInventors: Akihiro Ohta, Tohru Nakamura, Osamu Mizuno, Soichiro Fujioka, Akinobu Okuda, Tsuyoshi Tojo
-
Publication number: 20140016431Abstract: A drug container is arranged in a horizontal state where a central axis extends along a horizontal direction, and the drug container is rotated about the central axis. In such a way, a drug solution in the drug container is moved along an inner surface of the drug container, and the drug container is reciprocally vibrated along the central axis in a state where the drug container is rotated, to stir the drug solution.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 2, 2013Publication date: January 16, 2014Inventors: Yuki TAKENAKA, Akinobu OKUDA, Tsuyoshi TOJO, Tohru NAKAMURA