Patents by Inventor Yoshihiko Matsukawa
Yoshihiko Matsukawa 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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Publication number: 20060190266Abstract: When a home electric appliance detects and identifies an article to be handled by the home electric appliance, the home electric appliance executes handling of the article in conformity with a control program corresponding to the specified article. When the control program corresponding to the specified article is not present, the home electric appliance downloads the corresponding control program from a program distribution means through a network, and further sends information on the article to home electric appliances having possibility to operate the article. Upon reception of information from the home electric appliance, the home electric appliances download a control program corresponding to the article from the program distribution means through the network if the control program corresponding to the article is not present.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 5, 2006Publication date: August 24, 2006Applicant: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.Inventors: Toru Tanigawa, Shusaku Okamoto, Tomonobu Naruoka, Yoshihiko Matsukawa, Osamu Yamada
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Publication number: 20060184279Abstract: A sensing unit, such as a camera, or the like, senses the conditions of articles and mobile existences, including humans, in a life space, such as a house of a household, or the like. An article management/operation server manages, on an article database, attribute information of the articles, which include operators, etc., according to the information from the sensing unit. The server receives a user's instruction input through a console unit and refers to the article database to convert this instruction to a control command, which is then transmitted to a life-support robot.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 11, 2006Publication date: August 17, 2006Applicant: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Shusaku Okamoto, Osamu Yamada, Tomonobu Naruoka, Yoshihiko Matsukawa, Satoshi Sato
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Publication number: 20060116973Abstract: A sensing unit, such as a camera, or the like, senses the conditions of articles and mobile existences, including humans, in a life space, such as a house of a household, or the like. An article management/operation server manages, on an article database, attribute information of the articles, which include operators, etc., according to the information from the sensing unit. The server receives a user's instruction input through a console unit and refers to the article database to convert this instruction to a control command, which is then transmitted to a life-support robot.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 11, 2006Publication date: June 1, 2006Applicant: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Shusaku Okamoto, Osamu Yamada, Tomonobu Naruoka, Yoshihiko Matsukawa, Satoshi Sato
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Publication number: 20060112034Abstract: A sensing unit, such as a camera, or the like, senses the conditions of articles and mobile existences, including humans, in a life space, such as a house of a household, or the like. An article management/operation server manages, on an article database, attribute information of the articles, which include operators, etc., according to the information from the sensing unit. The server receives a user's instruction input through a console unit and refers to the article database to convert this instruction to a control command, which is then transmitted to a life-support robot.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 2, 2005Publication date: May 25, 2006Applicant: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Shusaku Okamoto, Osamu Yamada, Tomonobu Naruoka, Yoshihiko Matsukawa, Satoshi Sato
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Publication number: 20060111811Abstract: A sensing unit, such as a camera, or the like, senses the conditions of articles and mobile existences, including humans, in a life space, such as a house of a household, or the like. An article management/operation server manages, on an article database, attribute information of the articles, which include operators, etc., according to the information from the sensing unit. The server receives a user's instruction input through a console unit and refers to the article database to convert this instruction to a control command, which is then transmitted to a life-support robot.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 11, 2006Publication date: May 25, 2006Applicant: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Shusaku Okamoto, Osamu Yamada, Tomonobu Naruoka, Yoshihiko Matsukawa, Satoshi Sato
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Publication number: 20060111812Abstract: A sensing unit, such as a camera, or the like, senses the conditions of articles and mobile existences, including humans, in a life space, such as a house of a household, or the like. An article management/operation server manages, on an article database, attribute information of the articles, which include operators, etc., according to the information from the sensing unit. The server receives a user's instruction input through a console unit and refers to the article database to convert this instruction to a control command, which is then transmitted to a life-support robot.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 11, 2006Publication date: May 25, 2006Applicant: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Shusaku Okamoto, Osamu Yamada, Tomonobu Naruoka, Yoshihiko Matsukawa, Satoshi Sato
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Publication number: 20060047361Abstract: The system includes sensing means 120 for detecting a state of a space; a robot 102 for executing a handling job for an article; an article identifying part 32 for identifying, when an article is handled by a movable body, the article in response to a detection result obtained by the sensing means 120; and an article handling subject identifying part 33 for identifying an article handling subject that handles the article. When the movable body that handles the article is the robot 102, the article handling subject identifying part 33 identifies a subject having issued a job instruction to the robot 102 as the article handling subject.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 21, 2004Publication date: March 2, 2006Applicant: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTDInventors: Satoshi Sato, Shusaku Okamoto, Masamichi Nakagawa, Kunio Nobori, Osamu Yamada, Tomonobu Naruoka, Yoshihiko Matsukawa, Yasuhiro Morinaka, Katsuji Aoki, Mikiya Nakata
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Patent number: 6996280Abstract: An image coding apparatus includes an image feature extraction means for generating character data which includes character codes corresponding to character images included in a document image and auxiliary information indicating the sizes and positions of the respective character images in the document image based on image data indicating the document image. The image coding apparatus generates a predictive document image for the document image based on the character data, and subjects the document image data to arithmetic coding in which the probability model is changed with reference to predictive document image data. In the image coding apparatus, the probabilities of white pixels and black pixels indicated by the probability model are very close to those in the character image, whereby the coding efficiency for the character image data in the arithmetic encoder is improved.Type: GrantFiled: June 9, 1999Date of Patent: February 7, 2006Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Yoshihiko Matsukawa, Taro Imagawa, Tsuyoshi Mekata, Kouichi Hata, Minoru Eto
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Publication number: 20050237196Abstract: On a basis of information obtained by reading information for specifying articles carried by a user from identification tags attached to the articles by means of a sensor, a list of the articles carried by the user at the time point is formed. The list is stored every time the list is formed, and the event that the user has lost the article and the lost article are specified on the basis of two or more lists. Upon specifying the lost article, the user is notified of information concerning the lost article.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 30, 2005Publication date: October 27, 2005Applicant: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO.Inventors: Yoshihiko Matsukawa, Shusaku Okamoto
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Patent number: 6944344Abstract: A search apparatus searches for a keyword from a character recognition result using an index table. The character recognition result being obtained as a result of character recognition of characters in an original document. The index table includes an index character string; a position of a portion, in the character recognition result, which matches the index character string; and a credibility which is defined for each character included in the index character string and indicates a probability of the character existing in a portion, in the original document, which corresponds to a portion, in the character recognition result, which matches the character.Type: GrantFiled: June 6, 2001Date of Patent: September 13, 2005Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Taro Imagawa, Kenji Kondo, Yoshihiko Matsukawa, Tsuyoshi Mekata
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Patent number: 6859546Abstract: An image detection apparatus for detecting a target in an input image includes a database storing a target data unit, which includes information specifying the target to be detected, used color data, representative color data, and a cluster image; a representative color area extraction section for extracting an area having substantially the same color as the representative color from the input image as a representative color area; a candidate area extraction section for obtaining a candidate area possibly including the target from the representative color area, using relative positions of an area having the representative color and a frame of the cluster image; and a comparison section for comparing the cluster image and the candidate area and detecting the candidate area as an area including the target based on the comparison result.Type: GrantFiled: November 27, 2001Date of Patent: February 22, 2005Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Yoshihiko Matsukawa, Tsuyoshi Mekata
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Publication number: 20030076414Abstract: In the vehicle surroundings display device of the invention, an image processor generates an image showing the situation around a vehicle. When an obstacle is detected by an obstacle detection means, the image processor determines an image missing region using the position of the border of the obstacle on the vehicle side detected by an obstacle position detection means and fills the image missing region with substitute image data. This eliminates unnaturalness of a display image the user may feel and enables the user to accurately recognize the position of a neighboring obstacle that is important in driving operation.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 9, 2002Publication date: April 24, 2003Inventors: Satoshi Sato, Masamichi Nakagawa, Shusaku Okamoto, Atsushi Morimura, Yoshihiko Matsukawa, Kunio Nobori
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Patent number: 6471420Abstract: A game apparatus of the invention includes: a voice input section for inputting at least one voice set including voice uttered by an operator, for converting the voice set into a first electric signal, and for outputting the first electric signal; a voice recognition section for recognizing the voice set on the basis of the first electric signal output from the voice input means; an image input section for optically detecting a movement of the lips of the operator, for converting the detected movement of lips into a second electric signal, and for outputting the second electric signal; a speech period detection section for receiving the second electric signal, and for obtaining a period in which the voice is uttered by the operator on the basis of the received second electric signal; an overall judgment section for extracting the voice uttered by the operator from the input voice set, on the basis of the voice set recognized by the voice recognition means and the period obtained by the speech period detectionType: GrantFiled: May 4, 1995Date of Patent: October 29, 2002Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Hidetsugu Maekawa, Tatsumi Watanabe, Kazuaki Obara, Kazuhiro Kayashima, Kenji Matsui, Yoshihiko Matsukawa
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Patent number: 6470336Abstract: A document search device searches for a keyword in a recognition result obtained by character recognition performed on a document image. The keyword includes at least one first character, and a character code is assigned to each of the at least one first character. The recognition result includes at least one second character, and a character code and a partial area of the document image are assigned to each of the at least one second character.Type: GrantFiled: August 23, 2000Date of Patent: October 22, 2002Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Yoshihiko Matsukawa, Taro Imagawa, Kenji Kondo, Tsuyoshi Mekata
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Publication number: 20020080998Abstract: An image detection apparatus for detecting a target in an input image includes a database storing a target data unit, which includes information specifying the target to be detected, used color data, representative color data, and a cluster image; a representative color area extraction section for extracting an area having substantially the same color as the representative color from the input image as a representative color area; a candidate area extraction section for obtaining a candidate area possibly including the target from the representative color area, using relative positions of an area having the representative color and a frame of the cluster image; and a comparison section for comparing the cluster image and the candidate area and detecting the candidate area as an area including the target based on the comparison result.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 27, 2001Publication date: June 27, 2002Inventors: Yoshihiko Matsukawa, Tsuyoshi Mekata
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Patent number: 6373555Abstract: An apparatus for projecting a mask pattern onto a wafer has a light source, a pair of light selectors, and at least one optical element disposed between the light selectors. The first light selector selectively places an alignment filter between the light source and the optical element. The second light selector selectively places a shutter or an exposure filter in the path of light received from the optical element. The apparatus can be operated in a shut state, an alignment state, and an exposure state, the alignment filter being removed from the light path only in the exposure state. The optical element is thereby protected both from prolonged exposure to unfiltered light, and from thermal stress caused by repeated cycling between illuminated and non-illuminated conditions.Type: GrantFiled: August 8, 2000Date of Patent: April 16, 2002Assignee: Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.Inventor: Yoshihiko Matsukawa
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Publication number: 20020041713Abstract: A search apparatus searches for a keyword from a character recognition result using an index table. The character recognition result being obtained as a result of character recognition of characters in an original document. The index table includes an index character string; a position of a portion, in the character recognition result, which matches the index character string; and a credibility which is defined for each character included in the index character string and indicates a probability of the character existing in a portion, in the original document, which corresponds to a portion, in the character recognition result, which matches the character.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 6, 2001Publication date: April 11, 2002Inventors: Taro Imagawa, Kenji Kondo, Yoshihiko Matsukawa, Tsuyoshi Mekata
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Voice recognition and voice response apparatus using speech period start point and termination point
Patent number: 5884257Abstract: A voice recognition apparatus is provided which includes a first detection circuit for receiving an electric signal corresponding to voice. The first detection circuit detects a voice termination point representing a time at which the input of the electric signal corresponding to the voice is terminated based on the electric signal. The apparatus further includes a second detection circuit for determining a speech period, the speech period being a period in which the voice is uttered within a whole period in which the voice is input, based on the electric signal. In addition, the apparatus includes a feature amount extracting circuit for producing a feature amount vector, on the basis of a part of the electric signal corresponding to the speech period. A memory is provided for storing feature amount vectors for a plurality of voice candidates which are previously generated.Type: GrantFiled: January 30, 1997Date of Patent: March 16, 1999Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.Inventors: Hidetsugu Maekawa, Tatsumi Watanabe, Kazuaki Obara, Kazuhiro Kayashima, Kenji Matsui, Yoshihiko Matsukawa