Patents by Inventor Yoshinori Watanabe

Yoshinori Watanabe 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: 20200339152
    Abstract: A vehicle travel control device executes trajectory following control to make the vehicle follow a target trajectory. A delay time represents control delay of the trajectory following control. A delay compensation time is at least a part of the delay time. The trajectory following control includes: displacement estimation processing that estimates a displacement of the vehicle in the delay compensation time; and delay compensation processing that corrects a deviation between the vehicle and the target trajectory based on the estimated displacement to compensate the control delay. The displacement estimation processing is effective in an effective period and ineffective in an ineffective period. When the ineffective period is included in the delay time of the trajectory following control, the displacement estimation processing is executed in a temporary mode by using sensor-detected information in the effective period without using the sensor-detected information in the ineffective period.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2020
    Publication date: October 29, 2020
    Applicants: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Go INOUE, Yoshinori WATANABE, Hirotaka TOKORO
  • Publication number: 20200317177
    Abstract: An automatic deceleration control device includes an electronic control unit including a central processing unit, the electronic control unit configured to: acquire road-type information that is information about a type of a road on which a vehicle is traveling; set a maximum deceleration based on the road-type information; and output a signal to decelerate the vehicle at a first deceleration that is equal to or lower than the maximum deceleration, when an actual vehicle speed of the vehicle exceeds a target vehicle speed of the vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 17, 2020
    Publication date: October 8, 2020
    Applicant: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hiroki Fukuda, Yoshinori Watanabe
  • Patent number: 10798614
    Abstract: A traffic controller (8) receives, from a traffic monitor (7), a first control message generated in response to an increase in a total transmission rate of a plurality of packet flows sent from a plurality of wireless terminals (1) to a specific external network. The controller (8) determines, based on an evaluation criterion received from a criteria manager (6), one or more packet flows on which traffic shaping is to be imposed. In response to the first control message, the controller (8) controls a base station within a RAN (2) or a packet transfer node within a mobile backhaul (30) to execute the traffic shaping. This, for example, contribute to adjusting traffic that passes through a cellular communication network based on a monitoring result of a total transmission rate of traffic sent from the cellular communication network to the external network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: NEC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoshinori Watanabe, Tomoaki Hokao, Kenki Takagi, Takanori Iwai
  • Publication number: 20200307625
    Abstract: A vehicle has first and second wheels arranged in a longitudinal direction. In vehicle travel control, a control device calculates a control amount based on a parameter detected by a sensor and controls vehicle travel in accordance with the control amount. Modes of the vehicle travel control include first and second modes. In the first mode, a forward direction is from the second wheel toward the first wheel. In the second mode, the forward direction is from the first wheel toward the second wheel. The control device holds definition information that defines at least one of the detected parameter and the control amount. In the first mode, the control device executes the vehicle travel control in accordance with first definition information for the first mode. In the second mode, the control device executes the vehicle travel control in accordance with second definition information for the second mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2020
    Publication date: October 1, 2020
    Inventors: Go Inoue, Yoshinori Watanabe, Hirotaka Tokoro
  • Publication number: 20200301431
    Abstract: A vehicle control device includes a scene determination unit determining whether or not a current traveling scene is a traveling-restricted scene, an order setting unit setting priorities corresponding to a restriction with respect to driving behaviors previously classified for different purposes in a case where it is determined that the traveling scene is the traveling-restricted scene and setting priorities with respect to the plurality of driving behaviors in a case where it is not determined that the traveling scene is the traveling-restricted scene, a traveling plan generating unit generating traveling plans corresponding to the plurality of priority-set driving behaviors, an executability determination unit determining executability of each of the plurality of generated driving behaviors, a traveling plan selection unit selecting the traveling plan corresponding to the driving behavior with the highest priority, and a traveling control unit controlling the traveling of the host vehicle based on the trav
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2020
    Publication date: September 24, 2020
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshiyuki MATSUBARA, Masaki Matsunaga, Kenichiro Aoki, Yoshinori Watanabe, Ryuta Hashimoto
  • Patent number: 10761540
    Abstract: An autonomous driving system has: an information acquisition device configured to acquire driving environment information indicating driving environment for a vehicle; and an autonomous driving control device configured to control autonomous driving of the vehicle based on the driving environment information. A forward event is an event that exists in front of the vehicle and causes the autonomous driving control device to change a travel state of the vehicle. The autonomous driving control device performs: event detection processing that detects the forward event based on the driving environment information; visually-recognizing timing estimation processing that estimates a visually-recognizing timing at which a driver of the vehicle is able to visually-recognize the forward event; and travel control processing that proposes or executes, at or after the visually-recognizing timing, travel control that changes the travel state according to the forward event.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2020
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Yoshinori Watanabe
  • Patent number: 10764945
    Abstract: A RAN node (2) receives, from a core network node (6, 7, 8), a first identifier that is used by a service, an application, or an edge server (5) to identify a radio terminal (1) connected to the RAN node (2), and associates the first identifier with a second identifier that is used by the RAN node (2) to identify the radio terminal (1). Further, the RAN node (2) communicates with the edge server (5) using the first identifier. It is thus, for example, possible to allow an MEC server (or an MEC application hosted on the MEC server) and a radio access network (RAN) node to directly exchange therebetween a control message regarding a specific radio terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2020
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Takanori Iwai, Daisuke Mizukami, Hisashi Futaki, Sadafuku Hayashi, Hajime Zembutsu, Yoshinori Watanabe, Toshiyuki Tamura
  • Publication number: 20200272147
    Abstract: A blinker judgment device mounted on a vehicle includes an information acquisition device configured to acquire surrounding situation information indicating a situation around the vehicle; and a control device configured to: recognize blinker flashing of a target vehicle based on image information of the target vehicle, check, based on the surrounding situation information, whether or not there is a cause for the target vehicle to make a lane change, in response to recognition of the blinker flashing based on the image information, judge that the recognition of the blinker flashing based on the image information is falsely positive in response to determining that the cause does not exist, and devise a travel plan based on the recognition of the blinker flashing in response to determining that the cause exists.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 14, 2020
    Publication date: August 27, 2020
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Yoshinori Watanabe
  • Publication number: 20200262478
    Abstract: A vehicle control system includes: a turning device that turns a wheel of a vehicle; a steering sensor that detects a driver's steering operation; and a control device configured to execute automated turning control that controls the turning device to automatically turn the wheel, independently of the driver's steering operation. A modification desire degree represents a degree to which the driver's steering operation modifies vehicle travel caused by the automated turning control. During execution of the automated turning control, the control device calculates the modification desire degree based on a result of detection by the steering sensor. When the modification desire degree exceeds a threshold, the control device executes system suppression processing without terminating the automated turning control. In the system suppression processing, the control device weakens the automated turning control as compared to a case where the modification desire degree is equal to or lower than the threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 23, 2019
    Publication date: August 20, 2020
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masaya SATO, Yoji Kunihiro, Yoshinori Watanabe, Shunsuke Tanimori, Hisaya Akatsuka
  • Publication number: 20200247413
    Abstract: A vehicle control system includes a controller for generating a target path for the vehicle to change a lane from a main lane to a diverging lane in a diverging zone from a diverging start point to a diverging end point, and causing the vehicle to travel so as to follow the target path. Here, the diverging lane include a plurality of lanes divided into a first diverging lane farthest from the main lane and a second target diverging lane closer to the main lane than the first diverging lane. The controller is configured to generate the target path based on a diverging partition line that partitions the main lane and the diverging lane in the diverging zone when traveling from the main lane through the second diverging lane of the diverging lane toward a destination.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 22, 2020
    Publication date: August 6, 2020
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hiroki FUKUDA, Yoshinori WATANABE, Yuta ASAKA
  • Publication number: 20200241547
    Abstract: An autonomous driving system acquires information concerning a vehicle density in an adjacent lane that is adjacent to a lane on which an own vehicle is traveling, when the own vehicle travels on a road having a plurality of lanes. The autonomous driving system selects the adjacent lane as an own vehicle travel lane, when the vehicle density in the adjacent lane that is calculated from the acquired information is lower than a threshold density that is determined in accordance with relations between the own vehicle and surrounding vehicles. The autonomous driving system performs lane change to the adjacent lane autonomously, or propose lane change to the adjacent lane to a driver, when the adjacent lane is selected as the own vehicle travel lane.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 14, 2020
    Publication date: July 30, 2020
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Yoshinori Watanabe, Kenichiro Aoki, Tomoyuki Kuriyama
  • Publication number: 20200238985
    Abstract: An autonomous driving system mounted on a vehicle determines a target path based on necessary information and performs vehicle travel control such that the vehicle follows the target path. A first coordinate system is a vehicle coordinate system at a first timing when the necessary information is acquired. A second coordinate system is a vehicle coordinate system at a second timing later than the first timing. The autonomous driving system calculates, based on the necessary information acquired at the first timing, a first target path defined in the first coordinate system. Then, the autonomous driving system corrects the first target path to a second target path defined in the second coordinate system by performing coordinate transformation from the first coordinate system to the second coordinate system. The autonomous driving system uses the second target path as the target path to perform the vehicle travel control.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2020
    Publication date: July 30, 2020
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi SONE, Yoji KUNIHIRO, Takahiro YOKOTA, Ryo IRIE, Yoshinori WATANABE, Masateru AMANO
  • Patent number: 10723336
    Abstract: An automatic deceleration control device includes an electronic control unit including a central processing unit, the electronic control unit configured to: acquire road-type information that is information about a type of a road on which a vehicle is traveling; set a maximum deceleration based on the road-type information; and output a signal to decelerate the vehicle at a first deceleration that is equal to or lower than the maximum deceleration, when an actual vehicle speed of the vehicle exceeds a target vehicle speed of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hiroki Fukuda, Yoshinori Watanabe
  • Patent number: 10699579
    Abstract: An autonomous driving vehicle sets a travelable area in which the autonomous driving vehicle can travel in a process of going to a destination. In a multiple-lane area including two or more lanes in the travelable area, one lane is determined as a standard travel lane. Processing of determining the standard travel lane is configured so that dispersion occurs to standard travel lanes which are determined by a plurality of autonomous driving vehicles in a same multiple-lane area placed under a same environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Yoshinori Watanabe, Kenichiro Aoki, Tomoyuki Kuriyama
  • Patent number: 10691125
    Abstract: A blinker judgment device for a vehicle includes: an information acquisition device that acquires surrounding situation information indicating a situation around the vehicle; and a control device that performs blinker judgment processing based on the surrounding situation information. The surrounding situation information includes image information of a target vehicle imaged by a camera. The control device performs: recognizing blinker flashing of the target vehicle based on the image information; checking, based on the surrounding situation information, whether or not there is a reasonable cause for the target vehicle to make a lane change, when the blinker flashing is recognized; and judging that the target vehicle is not in a process of the blinker flashing when the cause does not exist while judges that the target vehicle is in a process of the blinker flashing when the cause exists.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Yoshinori Watanabe
  • Patent number: 10684621
    Abstract: A vehicle control device includes a scene determination unit determining whether or not a current traveling scene is a traveling-restricted scene, an order setting unit setting priorities corresponding to a restriction with respect to driving behaviors previously classified for different purposes in a case where it is determined that the traveling scene is the traveling-restricted scene and setting priorities with respect to the plurality of driving behaviors in a case where it is not determined that the traveling scene is the traveling-restricted scene, a traveling plan generating unit generating traveling plans corresponding to the plurality of priority-set driving behaviors, an executability determination unit determining executability of each of the plurality of generated driving behaviors, a traveling plan selection unit selecting the traveling plan corresponding to the driving behavior with the highest priority, and a traveling control unit controlling the traveling of the host vehicle based on the trav
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Matsubara, Masaki Matsunaga, Kenichiro Aoki, Yoshinori Watanabe, Ryuta Hashimoto
  • Publication number: 20200180641
    Abstract: A vehicle controller includes: a determination unit configured to determine a preparatory speed of a vehicle in a merging lane based on a relative speed between a first main lane vehicle traveling on a main lane and the vehicle, the first main lane vehicle being detected by a front sensor of the vehicle; a preparation unit configured to adjust speed of the vehicle such that the speed of the vehicle coincides with the preparatory speed; and a merging control unit configured to merge the vehicle into the main lane from the merging lane based on at least a detection result of a side sensor of the vehicle and the speed of the vehicle, when the vehicle is in a situation where the main lane vehicle is recognizable based on the detection result of the side sensor, after the preparation unit starts speed adjustment of the vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 13, 2019
    Publication date: June 11, 2020
    Applicant: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ryo Hashimoto, Yoshinori Watanabe, Masaaki Yamaoka, Kenichiro Aoki
  • Publication number: 20200184821
    Abstract: A collision avoidance assistance device includes a road shape recognition unit that recognizes a road shape of a traveling road, a path estimation unit that estimates a path of the host vehicle based on the road shape, an obstacle situation recognition unit recognizes an obstacle situation surrounding the host vehicle including at least a relative position of the obstacle with respect to the host vehicle, an early avoidance assistance determination unit that determines a need for early avoidance assistance for avoiding collision between the host vehicle and the obstacle from a distance between the host vehicle and the obstacle on the path of the host vehicle based on the path of the host vehicle and the obstacle situation, and a collision avoidance assistance execution unit executes the early avoidance assistance in a case where the early avoidance assistance determination unit determines that the early avoidance assistance is needed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 14, 2019
    Publication date: June 11, 2020
    Applicant: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masaaki Yamaoka, Yoshinori Watanabe, Naotoshi Kadotani
  • Patent number: 10663973
    Abstract: An autonomous driving system acquires information concerning a vehicle density in an adjacent lane that is adjacent to a lane on which an own vehicle is traveling, when the own vehicle travels on a road having a plurality of lanes. The autonomous driving system selects the adjacent lane as an own vehicle travel lane, when the vehicle density in the adjacent lane that is calculated from the acquired information is lower than a threshold density that is determined in accordance with relations between the own vehicle and surrounding vehicles. The autonomous driving system performs lane change to the adjacent lane autonomously, or propose lane change to the adjacent lane to a driver, when the adjacent lane is selected as the own vehicle travel lane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2020
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Yoshinori Watanabe, Kenichiro Aoki, Tomoyuki Kuriyama
  • Patent number: 10624021
    Abstract: In order to enable the protection of a system in which an abnormality is detected even while restricting the degradation of availability of a service provided by a base station device, a communication system in an exemplary embodiment has a first server which provides a first service, a second server which provides a second service, and a first base station device communicating with the first and second servers, wherein in the case where the second service has a higher priority than the first service, a communication path between the first base station device and the first server is cut off when an abnormality is detected from the first server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2020
    Assignee: NEC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yoshinori Watanabe