Patents by Inventor Yoshihiro Kanetani

Yoshihiro Kanetani 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: 20220075062
    Abstract: An optical measurement device is provided with: a light source for emitting light towards a target; a light-receiving unit that is configured so that each of a plurality of pixels is able to detect a received light amount, and that obtains a received light amount distribution signal of each of the pixels; an acquisition unit for acquiring a measured waveform signal from received light amount distribution signals for reflected light that is reflected by the target on the basis of received light amount distribution signals for when no target is present; and an adjustment unit for adjusting a sensitivity parameter with respect to the received light amount distribution signals of the reflected light so that the measured waveform signal is acquired when some of the received light amounts of the received light amount distribution signals of the reflected light are a predetermined value or higher.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 21, 2019
    Publication date: March 10, 2022
    Applicant: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Jun TAKASHIMA, Yoshihiro KANETANI
  • Patent number: 10514294
    Abstract: The optical measurement apparatus includes an interface unit and a measuring unit. The interface unit is configured to receive a synchronization signal transmitted from a PLC to a fieldbus at a constant communication cycle, and output, in synchronization with the synchronization signal, a result of measurement (a measured value) by the optical measurement apparatus and a synchronization supervisory signal. The measuring unit is configured to execute optical measurement at a measurement cycle irrelevant to the communication cycle and generate a result of the measurement and a synchronization supervisory signal. The measuring unit sets the synchronization supervisory signal into an ON state in synchronization with receipt of the synchronization signal by the interface unit after start of the measurement, and sets the synchronization supervisory signal into an OFF state in synchronization with receipt of the synchronization signal by the interface unit when the interface unit outputs the measurement result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2019
    Assignee: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Kanetani, Tomonori Kondo, Yuta Suzuki
  • Patent number: 10495448
    Abstract: A displacement measuring device capable of accurately measuring a distance to a measurement target surface is provided. The displacement measuring device includes a light projecting part generating light, a sensor head irradiating a measurement target with the light and receiving light of the irradiated light reflected by a measurement target surface of the measurement target, and a control part calculating a value indicating a distance to the measurement target surface on the basis of the light received by the sensor head. The control part processes the calculated value as the value indicating the distance to the measurement target surface on condition that the calculated value is included in a preset numerical range and resets the preset numerical range on the basis of the calculated value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Tomonori Kondo, Yuta Suzuki, Kenichi Matoba, Yoshihiro Kanetani
  • Publication number: 20190094013
    Abstract: A displacement measuring device capable of accurately measuring a distance to a measurement target surface is provided. The displacement measuring device includes a light projecting part generating light, a sensor head irradiating a measurement target with the light and receiving light of the irradiated light reflected by a measurement target surface of the measurement target, and a control part calculating a value indicating a distance to the measurement target surface on the basis of the light received by the sensor head. The control part processes the calculated value as the value indicating the distance to the measurement target surface on condition that the calculated value is included in a preset numerical range and resets the preset numerical range on the basis of the calculated value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 12, 2018
    Publication date: March 28, 2019
    Applicant: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Tomonori KONDO, Yuta SUZUKI, Kenichi MATOBA, Yoshihiro KANETANI
  • Publication number: 20180010962
    Abstract: The optical measurement apparatus includes an interface unit and a measuring unit. The interface unit is configured to receive a synchronization signal transmitted from a PLC to a fieldbus at a constant communication cycle, and output, in synchronization with the synchronization signal, a result of measurement (a measured value) by the optical measurement apparatus and a synchronization supervisory signal. The measuring unit is configured to execute optical measurement at a measurement cycle irrelevant to the communication cycle and generate a result of the measurement and a synchronization supervisory signal. The measuring unit sets the synchronization supervisory signal into an ON state in synchronization with receipt of the synchronization signal by the interface unit after start of the measurement, and sets the synchronization supervisory signal into an OFF state in synchronization with receipt of the synchronization signal by the interface unit when the interface unit outputs the measurement result.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 28, 2017
    Publication date: January 11, 2018
    Applicant: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshihiro KANETANI, Tomonori KONDO, Yuta SUZUKI
  • Patent number: 8917900
    Abstract: In a measurement apparatus, higher-quality measurement is realized in measurement of measurement object displacement or imaging of a two-dimensional image. In a controller, a light receiving signal of a photodiode is supplied to a displacement measuring unit of a sensor head in order to measure a height of a measurement object, and the height of a surface of the measurement object is measured based on the light receiving signal. Then, in the controller, image obtaining timing is determined based on the height of the measurement object. Specifically, a focus adjustment value corresponding to the computed height of the measurement object is obtained from the table, and an image obtaining signal is transmitted to an imaging device at the timing the focus adjustment value is realized. Therefore, a length between two points on the measurement object is computed from the thus obtained image based on the height of the measurement object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2014
    Assignee: Omron Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Kanetani, Takahiro Suga, Hiroaki Takimasa, Naoya Nakashita, Yusuke Iida
  • Publication number: 20100232650
    Abstract: In a measurement apparatus, higher-quality measurement is realized in measurement of measurement object displacement or imaging of a two-dimensional image. In a controller, a light receiving signal of a photodiode is supplied to a displacement measuring unit of a sensor head in order to measure a height of a measurement object, and the height of a surface of the measurement object is measured based on the light receiving signal. Then, in the controller, image obtaining timing is determined based on the height of the measurement object. Specifically, a focus adjustment value corresponding to the computed height of the measurement object is obtained from the table, and an image obtaining signal is transmitted to an imaging device at the timing the focus adjustment value is realized. Therefore, a length between two points on the measurement object is computed from the thus obtained image based on the height of the measurement object.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2010
    Publication date: September 16, 2010
    Inventors: Yoshihiro KANETANI, Takahiro SUGA, Hiroaki TAKIMASA, Naoya NAKASHITA, Yusuke IIDA
  • Patent number: 7782451
    Abstract: A target surface of a target object including portions having different curvatures is inspected by using an illuminating device and a camera that are fixed, a supporting device for supporting the target object such that its position and orientation are variable. The position and orientation of the target object are controlled as its image is obtained for a plurality of times. The position and orientation of the target object are controlled such that the image of any point on the target surface will be included in at least one of the images obtained by the camera.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2010
    Assignee: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Toshihiko Matsumoto, Hiroshi Okabe, Takashi Kinoshita, Yoshihiro Kanetani
  • Publication number: 20070211242
    Abstract: Light sources emit irradiation lights respectively, so that edge parts of mutual irradiation areas (inspection areas) are superposed one another. The imaging apparatus receives regular reflection lights and generates two images corresponding to each of the light sources. A main control part combines two images and determines presence/absence of a defect. By irradiating an inspected surface A with the irradiation lights from mutually different directions, a position of an area showing the defect in each image is slightly deviated. Therefore, even if a dimension of an area showing the defect is small in each image, by superposing two images one another, the dimension of the area showing a defect part becomes large in the image after composition. Thus, an accuracy of defect detection on the edge part of the inspection area can be improved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 7, 2007
    Publication date: September 13, 2007
    Inventors: Hiroshi Okabe, Yoshihiro Kanetani, Toshihiko Matsumoto
  • Publication number: 20070211240
    Abstract: A target surface of a target object including portions having different curvatures is inspected by using an illuminating device and a camera that are fixed, a supporting device for supporting the target object such that its position and orientation are variable. The position and orientation of the target object are controlled as its image is obtained for a plurality of times. The position and orientation of the target object are controlled such that the image of any point on the target surface will be included in at least one of the images obtained by the camera.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2007
    Publication date: September 13, 2007
    Inventors: Toshihiko Matsumoto, Hiroshi Okabe, Takashi Kinoshita, Yoshihiro Kanetani