Patents by Inventor Toru TAMBO
Toru TAMBO 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).
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Patent number: 12686450Abstract: To reduce complexity of operation when a working vehicle performs automatic steering, the working vehicle includes a vehicle body to be manually steered with a steering wheel or automatically steered to travel forward or rearward, an operator's seat on the vehicle body, a console located forward of the operator's seat or located on one side of the operator's seat, a first manual operator for automatic steering provided in or on the console, and a second manual operator for automatic steering attachable at a location rearward of the operator's seat.Type: GrantFiled: June 14, 2023Date of Patent: July 21, 2026Assignee: KUBOTA CORPORATIONInventors: Toru Tambo, Shunsuke Miyashita, Yasuaki Morioka, Kunihiko Nishino, Misako Kikumoto
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Patent number: 12660731Abstract: An agricultural machine includes an image recognition system to detect a row region including at least one of a crop and a ridge on a ground surface of a field, traveling equipment including a wheel responsible for steering, a controller configured or programmed to control the traveling equipment, and a start switch to give a command to start row-following travel where the controller is configured or programmed to control the traveling equipment to travel along the row region as detected by the image recognition system.Type: GrantFiled: June 6, 2024Date of Patent: June 23, 2026Assignee: KUBOTA CORPORATIONInventors: Shunsuke Miyashita, Toru Tambo, Mitsuaki Nagao
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Patent number: 12620237Abstract: An agricultural machine includes an image recognition system to detect a row region including at least one of a crop or a ridge on a ground surface of a field, traveling equipment including a wheel responsible for steering, and a controller configured or programmed to control the traveling equipment and operate in a row-following travel mode to control the traveling equipment to travel along the row region as detected by the image recognition system. When the image recognition system detects a deletion site of the row region or the field's final end while operating in the row-following travel mode, the controller is configured or programmed to continue travel for a predetermined time or a predetermined distance.Type: GrantFiled: June 17, 2024Date of Patent: May 5, 2026Assignee: KUBOTA CORPORATIONInventors: Shunsuke Miyashita, Toru Tambo, Mitsuaki Nagao
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Patent number: 12606233Abstract: An agricultural field work vehicle includes a steered wheel, a steering mechanism including a steering tool to perform a steering operation to steer the steered wheel, an automatic steering controller configured or programmed to change between a non-controlling state in which the automatic steering is not performed and an automatic control state in which the automatic steering is performed and output at least one target steering parameter, and a steering driver to perform drive control on the steering mechanism based on the at least one target steering parameter when the automatic steering controller is in the automatic control state. The steering tool is configured to change a steering amount thereof in conjunction with the drive control by the steering driver. The automatic steering controller is configured or programmed to suppress the at least one target steering parameter in response to a change from the non-controlling state to the automatic control state.Type: GrantFiled: October 9, 2024Date of Patent: April 21, 2026Assignee: KUBOTA CORPORATIONInventors: Toru Tambo, Yuki Kubota
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Patent number: 12588578Abstract: A row detection system includes a camera mounted to an agricultural machine to acquire time-series images including at least a portion of a ground surface, and a processor configured or programmed to perform image processing for the time-series images, and to determine, from images among the time-series images that have been acquired at different points in time, a first amount of movement of feature points in an image plane through feature point matching, and through perspective projection of each of the feature points from the image plane onto a reference plane corresponding to the ground surface, determine a second amount of movement of each projection point in the reference plane based on the first amount of movement, and based on the second amount of movement, estimate heights of the feature points from the reference plane to detect a ridge on the ground surface.Type: GrantFiled: December 21, 2023Date of Patent: March 31, 2026Assignee: KUBOTA CORPORATIONInventors: Shunsuke Miyashita, Toru Tambo, Mitsuaki Nagao
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Patent number: 12469169Abstract: A crop row detection system includes a camera mounted to an agricultural machine to image a ground surface traveled by the agricultural machine to acquire time-series color images including at least a portion of the ground surface, and a processor configured or programmed to (i) perform image processing for the time-series color images, (ii) generate, from the time-series color images, an enhanced image in which a color of a crop row for detection is enhanced to provide an enhanced image, (iii) generate from the enhanced image a plan view image as viewed from above the ground surface, the plan view image being classified into first pixels having a color index value for the crop row equal to or greater than a threshold and second pixels having the color index value below the threshold, and (iv) determine positions of edge lines of the crop row based on the color index values of the first pixels.Type: GrantFiled: December 21, 2023Date of Patent: November 11, 2025Assignee: KUBOTA CORPORATIONInventors: Shunsuke Miyashita, Toru Tambo, Mitsuaki Nagao
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Publication number: 20250093887Abstract: A route generation system for automated travel of an agricultural machine includes a processor configured or programmed to generate an automated travel route of the agricultural machine. The processor is configured or programmed to acquire, from a vehicle that manually travels along a route that the agricultural machine is scheduled to travel automatically while recording a travel path, data representing the travel path; remove, from the travel path, a path associated with an avoidance action performed to avoid an oncoming vehicle; and generate an automated travel route of the agricultural machine based on the travel path from which the path associated with the avoidance action has been removed.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 5, 2024Publication date: March 20, 2025Inventors: Keigo KOMARU, Toru TAMBO, Takashi NISHIYAMA, Yoshihiro WATANABE, Takashi ISHIZAKI, Ken SAKUTA, Megumi SUZUKAWA, Wataru MORIMOTO, Kenji ISHIHARA
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Publication number: 20250081874Abstract: An agricultural field work vehicle includes a traveling body including a steered wheel, a steering mechanism capable of steering the steered wheel, and a steering driver capable of driving the steering mechanism to operate; a route setter configured or programmed to set a target route; a first steering controller configured or programmed to change a state to an automatic control state where driving of the steering driver is controlled to travel along the target route and a non-control state where driving of the steering driver is not controlled; and a second steering controller configured or programmed to control driving of the steering driver separately from the first steering controller while maintaining the automatic control state in a case of the first steering controller being in the automatic control state.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 25, 2024Publication date: March 13, 2025Inventors: Toru TAMBO, Yuki KUBOTA, Susumu TAKEOKA, Daisuke KAWANISHI, Toshiya TSUJI
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Publication number: 20250033689Abstract: An agricultural field work vehicle includes a steered wheel, a steering mechanism including a steering tool to perform a steering operation to steer the steered wheel, an automatic steering controller configured or programmed to change between a non-controlling state in which the automatic steering is not performed and an automatic control state in which the automatic steering is performed and output at least one target steering parameter, and a steering driver to perform drive control on the steering mechanism based on the at least one target steering parameter when the automatic steering controller is in the automatic control state. The steering tool is configured to change a steering amount thereof in conjunction with the drive control by the steering driver. The automatic steering controller is configured or programmed to suppress the at least one target steering parameter in response to a change from the non-controlling state to the automatic control state.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 9, 2024Publication date: January 30, 2025Inventors: Toru TAMBO, Yuki KUBOTA
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Publication number: 20250026364Abstract: A notification device installed in a work vehicle includes a buzzer to output a sound, a first speaker to output voice guidance, and a notification controller configured or programmed to control the buzzer and the first speaker. The notification controller is configured or programmed to, when executing control over the buzzer and the first speaker, first execute a first control to cause the buzzer to output the sound, and execute a second control to cause the first speaker to output the voice guidance after the buzzer completes outputting the sound.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 9, 2024Publication date: January 23, 2025Inventors: Toru TAMBO, Yuki KUBOTA
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Patent number: 12197225Abstract: A working vehicle includes a vehicle body to travel either by manual steering with a steering wheel or by automatic steering with the steering wheel, a reference registration controller configured or programmed to register a traveling reference line based on a position of the vehicle body caused to travel by the manual steering, a traveling line setter configured or programmed to set, based on the traveling reference line, scheduled traveling lines for traveling using the automatic steering, and an automatic steering controller to control the automatic steering based on the scheduled traveling lines. The traveling line setter is configured or programmed to change an adjacency width between the scheduled traveling lines adjoining each other among the plurality of scheduled traveling lines.Type: GrantFiled: December 17, 2021Date of Patent: January 14, 2025Assignee: KUBOTA CORPORATIONInventors: Misako Kikumoto, Kunihiko Nishino, Yasuaki Morioka, Hideaki Ezaki, Shunsuke Miyashita, Toru Tambo
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Publication number: 20240338948Abstract: An agricultural machine includes an image recognition system to detect a row region including at least one of a crop or a ridge on a ground surface of a field, traveling equipment including a wheel responsible for steering, and a controller configured or programmed to control the traveling equipment and operate in a row-following travel mode to control the traveling equipment to travel along the row region as detected by the image recognition system. When the image recognition system detects a deletion site of the row region or the field's final end while operating in the row-following travel mode, the controller is configured or programmed to continue travel for a predetermined time or a predetermined distance.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 17, 2024Publication date: October 10, 2024Inventors: Shunsuke MIYASHITA, Toru TAMBO, Mitsuaki NAGAO
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Publication number: 20240337500Abstract: A path planning system for an agricultural machine performing self-driving includes a storage to store a map including fields, waiting areas, and a road connecting the fields and waiting areas to each other, and a processor configured or programmed to generate a path on the map for the agricultural machine for each of working days. The processor is configured or programmed to determine, from the waiting areas, a specific waiting area to which the agricultural machine is to move after performing a final task of agricultural work on each working day, based on information representing at least one of a growing state of crop in the fields, a state of progress of agricultural work in the fields, a state of planting in the fields and a state of weather, and generate a path from the field where the final task of agricultural work is to be performed, to the specific waiting area.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 5, 2024Publication date: October 10, 2024Inventors: Yuki KUBOTA, Toru TAMBO, Itsuki OKUBO, Kazuki OTA
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Publication number: 20240315159Abstract: An agricultural machine includes an image recognition system to detect a row region including at least one of a crop and a ridge on a ground surface of a field, traveling equipment including a wheel responsible for steering, a controller configured or programmed to control the traveling equipment, and a start switch to give a command to start row-following travel where the controller is configured or programmed to control the traveling equipment to travel along the row region as detected by the image recognition system.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 6, 2024Publication date: September 26, 2024Inventors: Shunsuke MIYASHITA, Toru TAMBO, Mitsuaki NAGAO
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Publication number: 20240315158Abstract: An agricultural machine includes an image recognition system to detect, from an acquired image, a row region including at least one of a crop and a ridge on a ground surface of a field, a positioning system to acquire a position of the agricultural machine, traveling equipment including a wheel responsible for steering, and a controller configured or programmed to perform either one of automatic path travel in which the traveling equipment is caused to travel along a target path based on the position of the agricultural machine acquired by the positioning system, or row-following travel in which the traveling equipment is caused to travel along a row region that is detected by the image recognition system.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 7, 2024Publication date: September 26, 2024Inventors: Shunsuke MIYASHITA, Toru TAMBO, Mitsuaki NAGAO
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Patent number: 12096709Abstract: A working vehicle includes a vehicle body capable of traveling either by either manual steering with a steering wheel or by automatic steering with the steering wheel, a reference registration controller configured or programmed to register a traveling reference line based on a position of the vehicle body caused to travel by the manual steering, an automatic steering controller configured or programmed to perform control by the automatic steering on a set scheduled traveling line based on the traveling reference line, a display to display information about the automatic steering when forward traveling by the automatic steering is to be performed, and a notifier to issue a notification of the information about the automatic steering aside from the information displayed on the display when rearward traveling by the automatic steering is to be performed.Type: GrantFiled: December 17, 2021Date of Patent: September 24, 2024Assignee: KUBOTA CORPORATIONInventors: Misako Kikumoto, Kunihiko Nishino, Yasuaki Morioka, Hideaki Ezaki, Shunsuke Miyashita, Toru Tambo
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Patent number: 12077103Abstract: A riding management machine includes a traveling vehicle including a vehicle body, an operator's seat provided on the vehicle body, and a hood provided in front of the operator's seat, a working device attached to the traveling vehicle, a position detector to detect a position of the vehicle body based on a signal from a positioning satellite, and a support body to support the position detector above the hood. The support body includes a pair of struts on opposite sides of the vehicle body in a vehicle-width direction, a connector to connect tops of the pair of struts to each other, and reinforcements to connect the respective struts to the vehicle body.Type: GrantFiled: December 16, 2021Date of Patent: September 3, 2024Assignee: KUBOTA CORPORATIONInventors: Misako Kikumoto, Kunihiko Nishino, Yasuaki Morioka, Hideaki Ezaki, Shunsuke Miyashita, Toru Tambo
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Publication number: 20240202966Abstract: A crop row detection system includes a camera mounted to an agricultural machine to image a ground surface traveled by the agricultural machine to acquire time-series color images including at least a portion of the ground surface, and a processor configured or programmed to (i) perform image processing for the time-series color images, (ii) generate, from the time-series color images, an enhanced image in which a color of a crop row for detection is enhanced to provide an enhanced image, (iii) generate from the enhanced image a plan view image as viewed from above the ground surface, the plan view image being classified into first pixels having a color index value for the crop row equal to or greater than a threshold and second pixels having the color index value below the threshold, and (iv) determine positions of edge lines of the crop row based on the color index values of the first pixels.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 21, 2023Publication date: June 20, 2024Inventors: Shunsuke MIYASHITA, Toru TAMBO, Mitsuaki NAGAO
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Publication number: 20240196781Abstract: A row detection system includes a camera mounted to an agricultural machine to acquire time-series images including at least a portion of a ground surface, and a processor configured or programmed to perform image processing for the time-series images, and to determine, from images among the time-series images that have been acquired at different points in time, a first amount of movement of feature points in an image plane through feature point matching, and through perspective projection of each of the feature points from the image plane onto a reference plane corresponding to the ground surface, determine a second amount of movement of each projection point in the reference plane based on the first amount of movement, and based on the second amount of movement, estimate heights of the feature points from the reference plane to detect a ridge on the ground surface.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 21, 2023Publication date: June 20, 2024Inventors: Shunsuke MIYASHITA, Toru TAMBO, Mitsuaki NAGAO
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Publication number: 20240188475Abstract: An agricultural assistance system includes a controller configured or programmed to control an operation of one or more agricultural machines. In response to receiving from a terminal apparatus a signal requesting assistance in agricultural work for a field, the controller is configured or programmed to cause the one or more agricultural machines to move to the field to assist in the agricultural work for the field.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 29, 2024Publication date: June 13, 2024Inventors: Yuki KUBOTA, Toru TAMBO, Itsuki OKUBO, Kazuki OTA