Patents by Inventor Tomoaki Hirai

Tomoaki Hirai 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: 9381437
    Abstract: A game machine gives a predetermined favor when at least one ball moves on a table and the ball arrives at a ditch. And, the game machine includes a camera that acquires object information for distinguishing a state of the ball on the table, distinguishes the state of the ball on the table, based on the object information acquired by the camera, evaluates the state of the ball on the table based on a result of the distinguishing, and gives a change to the state of the ball on the table based on an evaluation result so that the evaluation result changes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2016
    Assignee: KONAMI GAMING, INC.
    Inventors: Masato Okuaki, Tomoaki Hirai, Toshiaki Shimizu
  • Patent number: 9368808
    Abstract: An electrical connection material for solid oxide fuel cells, which is capable of preferred electrical connections. The electrical connection material includes a burn-out material-containing ceramic layer and a burn-out material-free ceramic layer stacked on the burn-out material-containing ceramic layer. The burn-out material-containing ceramic layer contains a conductive ceramic and a burn-out material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2016
    Assignee: MURATA MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kenji Nakamura, Tomoaki Hirai
  • Publication number: 20160072147
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing solid oxide fuel cells, which includes preparing an electrical connection material, preparing a stacked body by stacking a plurality of power generation cells with the electrical connection material interposed therebetween, and firing the stacked body while applying pressure on the stacked body in a direction of stacking the power generation cells. The electrical connection material includes a ceramic porous layer and a ceramic dense layer stacked on the ceramic porous layer, the ceramic dense layer having a porosity lower than a porosity of the ceramic porous layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 19, 2015
    Publication date: March 10, 2016
    Inventors: KENJI NAKAMURA, Tomoaki Hirai
  • Patent number: 9216357
    Abstract: A game machine uses a center unit that utilizes a physical operation of a ball to select at least one pocket by a drawing, and includes: cameras that are placed to be able to take images of the pockets; a center monitor that can display a video picture taken by the camera; and, sensors that detects the pocket decided by the drawing. And, the game machine specifies a predetermined video picture range from the video picture taken by the cameras, based on a detection result of the sensors, so as to include the video picture of the selected pocket at a time when the selected pocket is selected, and, displays a predetermined video picture on the center monitor based on the video picture in the predetermined video picture range specified.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2015
    Assignee: KONAMI GAMING, INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Atsushi Inoue, Masato Okuaki, Tomoaki Hirai
  • Patent number: 9209524
    Abstract: A wireless terminal installation device on which a wireless terminal is to be installed includes a housing and a substrate provided at an inside of the housing. The substrate includes at least a printed board, a mounting part that is provided on the printed board and mounted with a conductor, a conductor-free part which is an area that excludes a conductor, and a parasitic antenna that is provided on the conductor-free part to re-emit a radio wave received.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2015
    Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventor: Tomoaki Hirai
  • Publication number: 20150348354
    Abstract: A game machine comprising a roulette game unit in which a lottery is executed by a roulette game, wherein a deceleration interval which is an interval to decelerate a roulette ring in the roulette game is changed so that lottery time which is time taken for one lottery of the roulette game unit falls within a predetermined target range. Further, the deceleration interval is changed based on the lottery time of past lottery executed by the roulette game unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2012
    Publication date: December 3, 2015
    Applicant: Konami Gaming, Inc.
    Inventors: Masato OKUAKI, Toru OMOTO, Daisuke MATSUKI, Tomoaki HIRAI
  • Publication number: 20150317865
    Abstract: A game machine is provided with a center unit which holds a lottery to select at least one option from a plurality of options by a relative movement between a roulette ring having a plurality of pockets corresponding respectively to the plurality of options and a ball and a center monitor which makes predetermined effects to a lottery in the center unit. The game machine controls the center monitor so as to make the effects when a temporal condition which is a lapse of a predetermined time after the lottery is started and a positional condition under which a JP pocket corresponding to a specific option among the plurality of options and the ball are in a predetermined positional relationship are satisfied.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2012
    Publication date: November 5, 2015
    Inventors: Masato Okuaki, Tomoaki Hirai, Toru Omoto
  • Publication number: 20150213671
    Abstract: A game machine includes a roulette game unit that selects at least one of pockets each of which is associated with a predetermined privilege by a lottery using motion of a ball, and uses a lottery result of the roulette game unit for provision of the predetermined privilege so that a predetermined privilege associated with a pocket selected by the roulette game unit is provided. And, the game machine stops the provision of the predetermined privilege using the lottery result of the roulette game unit when the roulette game unit satisfies a predetermined stop condition, selects at least one of ball images each of which is associated with the predetermined privilege by an electronic lottery using a video lottery screen, and provides a predetermined privilege associated with a ball image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 23, 2012
    Publication date: July 30, 2015
    Applicant: Konami Gaming, Incorporated
    Inventors: Masato Okuaki, Masao Mizoguchi, Tomoaki Hirai
  • Publication number: 20150045099
    Abstract: A game machine gives a predetermined favor when at least one ball moves on a table and the ball arrives at a ditch. And, the game machine includes a camera that acquires object information for distinguishing a state of the ball on the table, distinguishes the state of the ball on the table, based on the object information acquired by the camera, evaluates the state of the ball on the table based on a result of the distinguishing, and gives a change to the state of the ball on the table based on an evaluation result so that the evaluation result changes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2012
    Publication date: February 12, 2015
    Inventors: Masato Okuaki, Toshiaki Shimizu, Tomoaki Hirai
  • Publication number: 20150005068
    Abstract: A game machine uses a center unit that utilizes a physical operation of a ball to select at least one pocket by a drawing, and includes: cameras that are placed to be able to take images of the pockets; a center monitor that can display a video picture taken by the camera; and, sensors that detects the pocket decided by the drawing. And, the game machine specifies a predetermined video picture range from the video picture taken by the cameras, based on a detection result of the sensors, so as to include the video picture of the selected pocket at a time when the selected pocket is selected, and, displays a predetermined video picture on the center monitor based on the video picture in the predetermined video picture range specified.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2012
    Publication date: January 1, 2015
    Applicant: Konami Gaming, Incorporated
    Inventors: Atsushi Inoue, Masato Okuaki, Tomoaki Hirai
  • Publication number: 20140134513
    Abstract: An electrical connection material for solid oxide fuel cells, which is capable of preferred electrical connections. The electrical connection material includes a burn-out material-containing ceramic layer and a burn-out material-free ceramic layer stacked on the burn-out material-containing ceramic layer. The burn-out material-containing ceramic layer contains a conductive ceramic and a burn-out material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 21, 2014
    Publication date: May 15, 2014
    Applicant: MURATA MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kenji Nakamura, Tomoaki Hirai
  • Publication number: 20130331170
    Abstract: An aspect of the invention provides a game machine including: a second game chance control device that generates at least one game chance that is allowed to establish a predetermined winning condition in a game within a predetermined range provided to a player in exchange for a game value; a symbol arrangement control device that determines types of symbols to be arranged on a predetermined area on a game screen with a predetermined positional relationship according to the generation of the game chance; and a first winning determining device that determines whether the winning condition is established based on the types and the arrangement of the symbols arranged on the predetermined area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2013
    Publication date: December 12, 2013
    Applicant: Konami Digital Entertainment Co. Ltd.
    Inventors: Yosuke Sasaki, Shinichi Ishii, Makoto Ando, Yaku Hiranabe, Tomoaki Hirai, Emiko Miyaji
  • Patent number: 8512128
    Abstract: An aspect of the invention provides a game machine including: a second game chance control device that generates at least one game chance that is allowed to establish a predetermined winning condition in a game within a predetermined range provided to a player in exchange for a game value; a symbol arrangement control device that determines types of symbols to be arranged on a predetermined area on a game screen with a predetermined positional relationship according to the generation of the game chance; and a first winning determining device that determines whether the winning condition is established based on the types and the arrangement of the symbols arranged on the predetermined area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2013
    Assignee: Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yosuke Sasaki, Shinichi Ishii, Makato Ando, Yaku Hiranbe, Tomoaki Hirai, Emiko Miyaji
  • Publication number: 20130059528
    Abstract: A wireless terminal installation device on which a wireless terminal is to be installed includes a housing and a substrate provided at an inside of the housing. The substrate includes at least a printed board, a mounting part that is provided on the printed board and mounted with a conductor, a conductor-free part which is an area that excludes a conductor, and a parasitic antenna that is provided on the conductor-free part to re-emit a radio wave received.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 19, 2011
    Publication date: March 7, 2013
    Applicant: YAMAHA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Tomoaki Hirai
  • Patent number: 8382585
    Abstract: A game machine having a control unit as a first game chance control device generating a game chance achieving at least one winning combination in winning combinations whose achievement probability varies in a game within a predetermined range provided to the player in exchange for medals, a dividend value control device setting a correspondence relationship between the winning combinations and the dividend values for the player, a dividend display control device displaying an odds display section where the winning combinations are related with the dividend values on a monitor according to the correspondence relationship set by the dividend value control device, a dividend creating device generating the dividend for the player corresponding to the achieved winning combination according to the correspondence relationship set by the dividend value control device when any winning combination is achieved, and a condition determining device determining whether a predetermined dividend change condition is establishe
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignee: Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yosuke Sasaki, Shinichi Ishii, Makoto Ando, Yaku Hiranabe, Tomoaki Hirai, Emiko Miyaji
  • Publication number: 20120149455
    Abstract: An aspect of the invention provides a game machine including: a second game chance control device that generates at least one game chance that is allowed to establish a predetermined winning condition in a game within a predetermined range provided to a player in exchange for a game value; a symbol arrangement control device that determines types of symbols to be arranged on a predetermined area on a game screen with a predetermined positional relationship according to the generation of the game chance; and a first winning determining device that determines whether the winning condition is established based on the types and the arrangement of the symbols arranged on the predetermined area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2011
    Publication date: June 14, 2012
    Applicant: Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yosuke Sasaki, Shinichi Ishii, Makoto Ando, Yaku Hiranabe, Tomoaki Hirai, Emiko Miyaji
  • Patent number: 7987033
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method determining the morphology of the occupant of an automotive car, characterized in that it comprises the steps of collecting (200) the outputs of a plurality of capacitive sensors (100) provided on a seat, determining for each capacitive sensors (100) a first value representative of the distance (di) separating a target (10) from the sensor (100) and a second value (Sdi) representative of the surface of the sensor (100) covered by the target (10), applying (210) to the second values (Sdi) representative of the surface of the sensor (100) covered by the target (10) a respective weighting (Wi) based on the corresponding first value (di) representative of the distance separating the target (10) from the same sensor (100), and determining (240) the morphology of the target (10) on the basis of the collection of weighted second values (SdixWi).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi Computer Products (Europe) S.A.S.
    Inventors: Claude Launay, Joaquim Da Silva, Florent Voisin, Tomoaki Hirai, Takanori Ninomiya, Shunji Maeda
  • Patent number: D705363
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Konami Gaming, Inc.
    Inventors: Atsushi Inoue, Tomoaki Hirai, Masato Okuaki, Shoki Kogure
  • Patent number: D707301
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2014
    Assignee: Konami Gaming, Inc.
    Inventors: Atsushi Inoue, Tomoaki Hirai, Masato Okuaki, Shoki Kogure
  • Patent number: D707302
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2014
    Assignee: Konami Gaming, Inc.
    Inventors: Atsushi Inoue, Tomoaki Hirai, Masato Okuaki, Shoki Kogure