Patents by Inventor Tomohisa Takaoka

Tomohisa Takaoka 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: 20080114545
    Abstract: A navigation apparatus includes: a main unit to be attached to a mobile object through a base section, the main unit detecting a current position of the mobile object based on positioning information; a section that calculates acceleration applied to the mobile object based on the mobile object's speed; an acceleration sensor that observes acceleration applied to the main unit; a section that calculates an attachment inclination of the acceleration sensor with respect to the mobile object; a section that estimates, while the positioning information is not being supplied, a speed and position of the mobile object; a section that detects whether the main unit is mounted on the base section; and a section that forces the above section to stop estimating the speed when the main unit is not mounted on the base section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2007
    Publication date: May 15, 2008
    Inventors: Tomohisa Takaoka, Yoshitaka Suga
  • Publication number: 20080109166
    Abstract: A navigation apparatus includes: a section that calculates a mobile object's acceleration in the direction of the motion, based on the mobile object's speed calculated from information received from a satellite; a section that calculates lateral acceleration whose direction is perpendicular to the mobile object's motion, based on the mobile object's speed and direction calculated from information received from the satellite; an acceleration sensor that observes motion acceleration of the mobile object and gravity acceleration; a section that calculates an altitude difference of road based on an atmospheric pressure value supplied from a barometric sensor; a section that calculates an inclination angle of the road in the direction of the motion, based on the altitude difference and a travel distance corresponding to the mobile object's speed; and a section that calculates an attachment angle of the acceleration sensor with respect to the mobile object by using a multidimensional function formula.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2007
    Publication date: May 8, 2008
    Inventors: Tomohisa Takaoka, Masashi Ohkubo
  • Publication number: 20080071475
    Abstract: A navigation apparatus includes: a section that calculates, in accordance with a predetermined calculation method, a current speed of a mobile object at predetermined intervals, based on the mobile object's initial speed detected at the start of the calculation; a section that calculates a travel distance the mobile object has traveled so far since the start of the calculation; a section that calculates, based on the calculation method, a current speed error range of the current speed by using an initial speed error range of the initial speed; a section that calculates a travel distance error range of the travel distance by using the current speed error range; a section that evaluates, based on the travel distance error range, the reliability of the travel distance; and a section that performs a navigation process corresponding to the reliability of the travel distance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2007
    Publication date: March 20, 2008
    Inventor: Tomohisa TAKAOKA
  • Publication number: 20070067096
    Abstract: To accurately detect a zero gravity offset in an acceleration sensor. As an embodiment of the present invention, in the case where position information can be obtained from a GPS processing section, a velocity detecting unit performs an operation according to Expression (15), using real detected acceleration ?Gr that was actually obtained from the acceleration sensor, vehicle acceleration ?P based on the position information, distance Dm, an amount of height change Dh based on pressure PR, and gravity acceleration g. Therefore, offset acceleration ?o can be accurately calculated, and an acceleration detection signal can be converted into detected acceleration ?G with high accuracy, based on a zero gravity offset value Vzgo by that the above offset acceleration ?o was converted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 28, 2006
    Publication date: March 22, 2007
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Masashi Ohkubo, Tomohisa Takaoka
  • Publication number: 20070067137
    Abstract: As an embodiment of the present invention, in a navigation system using an acceleration sensor, when position information cannot be obtained from a GPS processing section, a velocity detecting unit performs an operation using detected acceleration ?G, a measurement time mt, a velocity V0 at a time t0, gravity acceleration g and an amount of height change Dh, according to Expression (11). By using the relationship among a gravity acceleration component gf, the gravity acceleration g, the amount of height change Dh and distance Dm shown in Expression (4), the gravity acceleration component gf can be offset by the amount of height change Dh. Therefore, velocity V can be calculated with high accuracy without receiving the effect of the gravity acceleration component gf.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 28, 2006
    Publication date: March 22, 2007
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masashi Ohkubo, Tomohisa Takaoka
  • Patent number: 7114048
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and method as well as a communication apparatus suitable for use where stored contents data of, for example, music tunes are supplied to a semiconductor memory or a portable device. At step S391, a C IN/C OUT discriminates whether or not moveout history information is present. If it is discriminated that moveout history information is present, then the processing advances to step S392 in order to compensate for the interrupted moveout process. At step S392, the C IN/C OUT executes a moveout restoration process. At step S393, the C IN/C OUT discriminates whether or not movein history information is present. If it is discriminated that movein history information is present, then the processing advances to step S394 in order to compensate for the interrupted movein process. At step S394, the C IN/C OUT executes a movein restoration process. The present invention can be applied, for example, to an audio data server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 4, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2006
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Takeshi Iwatsu, Masahiro Nobori, Tomohisa Takaoka, Akiko Tamura
  • Patent number: 6789095
    Abstract: A file management method displays representations of files belonging to a predetermined folder and representations of files belonging to a subfolder of the predetermined folder in a virtual form in which the representations of the files belonging to the predetermined folder and the representations of the files belonging to the subfolder belong to a single folder so that the file of desired content can be easily and securely found. The file management method, a program for performing the file management method, a recording medium containing the program, and a file management apparatus are intended for use in car-mounted apparatuses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2004
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Okuda, Hideyuki Ishihara, Shigeru Tanaka, Masahiro Okuno, Tomohisa Takaoka
  • Publication number: 20040024981
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and method as well as a communication apparatus suitable for use where stored contents data of, for example, music tunes are supplied to a semiconductor memory or a portable device. At step S391, a C IN/C OUT discriminates whether or not moveout history information is present. If it is discriminated that moveout history information is present, then the processing advances to step S392 in order to compensate for the interrupted moveout process. At step S392, the C IN/C OUT executes a moveout restoration process. At step S393, the C IN/C OUT discriminates whether or not movein history information is present. If it is discriminated that movein history information is present, then the processing advances to step S394 in order to compensate for the interrupted movein process. At step S394, the C IN/C OUT executes a movein restoration process. The present invention can be applied, for example, to an audio data server.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 6, 2003
    Publication date: February 5, 2004
    Inventors: Takeshi Iwatsu, Masahiro Nobori, Tomohisa Takaoka, Akiko Tamura
  • Publication number: 20020138781
    Abstract: A file management method displays representations of files belonging to a predetermined folder and representations of files belonging to a subfolder of the predetermined folder in a virtual form in which the representations of the files belonging to the predetermined folder and the representations of the files belonging to the subfolder belong to a single folder so that the file of desired content can be easily and securely found. The file management method, a program for performing the file management method, a recording medium containing the program, and a file management apparatus are intended for use in car-mounted apparatuses.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2002
    Publication date: September 26, 2002
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Okuda, Hideyuki Ishihara, Shigeru Tanaka, Masahiro Okuno, Tomohisa Takaoka