Patents by Inventor YOSHITO HIRAI
YOSHITO HIRAI 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: 11866280Abstract: A document feeder includes a document placement member that has a placement surface, a sucker that has a suction surface on which a part of a document placed on the placement surface is sucked and sucks air from a space formed between the document placement member and the suction surface, a blower that blows air into the space, and a paper feeder that conveys the document in a conveyance direction along the placement surface, wherein the suction surface is inclined relative to the placement surface such that the space is narrower toward the upstream side in the conveyance direction.Type: GrantFiled: February 19, 2021Date of Patent: January 9, 2024Assignee: PFU LIMITEDInventor: Yoshito Hirai
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Patent number: 11565902Abstract: A medium reversing and discharging device includes a discharger that discharges a medium in a paper discharge direction from a discharge outlet, a holder that holds and reverses the medium, and a driver that moves the holder such that when a first plane along a portion of the medium in contact with the discharge outlet does not intersect with a second plane along a portion of the medium held by the holder on a downstream side in the paper discharge direction of the discharge outlet a moving speed at which the holder moves is lower than a discharge speed at which the medium is discharged from the discharge outlet.Type: GrantFiled: February 23, 2021Date of Patent: January 31, 2023Assignee: PFU LIMITEDInventors: Yoshito Hirai, Ryoichi Yasukawa
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Patent number: 11511957Abstract: A medium conveyance device includes a first separator that separates a first medium from a plurality of mediums, a processor that processes the first medium and sends the processed first medium as a second medium, a second separator that when a non-separation mode is set, conveys the second medium to a next processor, and when a separation mode is set, conveys a third medium, which is separated from the second medium, to the next processor, and a controller that switches between the non-separation mode and the separation mode based on information obtained as a result of processing the first medium.Type: GrantFiled: April 20, 2020Date of Patent: November 29, 2022Assignee: PFU LIMITEDInventors: Yoshito Hirai, Naoto Yamaguchi
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Patent number: 11332329Abstract: A medium conveying apparatus includes a medium tray, a pair of side guides to regulate a width direction of a medium, and a housing on which the medium tray is located and including a conveyance path capable of conveying the medium placed on the medium tray. The pair of side guides are located on the medium tray so that outer ends of the pair of side guides can be positioned from an inside of the medium tray to an outside of a maximum width of the medium tray. The conveyance path can convey a medium having a width of an inside of the pair of side guides even when the outer ends of the pair of side guides are positioned outside the maximum width of the medium tray.Type: GrantFiled: November 16, 2020Date of Patent: May 17, 2022Assignee: PFU LIMITEDInventors: Kiichiro Shimosaka, Yoshito Hirai, Norihiro Takayama
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Publication number: 20210188573Abstract: A medium conveying apparatus includes a medium tray, a pair of side guides to regulate a width direction of a medium, and a housing on which the medium tray is located and including a conveyance path capable of conveying the medium placed on the medium tray. The pair of side guides are located on the medium tray so that outer ends of the pair of side guides can be positioned from an inside of the medium tray to an outside of a maximum width of the medium tray. The conveyance path can convey a medium having a width of an inside of the pair of side guides even when the outer ends of the pair of side guides are positioned outside the maximum width of the medium tray.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 16, 2020Publication date: June 24, 2021Inventors: Kiichiro Shimosaka, Yoshito Hirai, Norihiro Takayama
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Publication number: 20210171308Abstract: A medium reversing and discharging device includes a discharger that discharges a medium in a paper discharge direction from a discharge outlet, a holder that holds and reverses the medium, and a driver that moves the holder such that when a first plane along a portion of the medium in contact with the discharge outlet does not intersect with a second plane along a portion of the medium held by the holder on a downstream side in the paper discharge direction of the discharge outlet a moving speed at which the holder moves is lower than a discharge speed at which the medium is discharged from the discharge outlet.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 23, 2021Publication date: June 10, 2021Inventors: Yoshito Hirai, Ryoichi Yasukawa
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Publication number: 20210171301Abstract: A document feeder includes a document placement member that has a placement surface, a sucker that has a suction surface on which a part of a document placed on the placement surface is sucked and sucks air from a space formed between the document placement member and the suction surface, a blower that blows air into the space, and a paper feeder that conveys the document in a conveyance direction along the placement surface, wherein the suction surface is inclined relative to the placement surface such that the space is narrower toward the upstream side in the conveyance direction.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 19, 2021Publication date: June 10, 2021Inventor: Yoshito HIRAI
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Patent number: 10832064Abstract: A vacant parking space detection apparatus according to the present disclosure includes a memory and a hardware processor coupled to the memory. The hardware processor is configured to: generate, for each of divided regions in a region around a vehicle, map information representing a presence probability of an object based on a detection result of a sensor for detecting an object present around the vehicle; define on the map information a plurality of first straight lines, whose intercepts differ from each other, with one or more angles to a straight advancing direction of the vehicle; and detect whether a vacant parking space is present at the angle based on a presence probability of an object assigned to the divided region belonging to each of the plurality of first straight lines.Type: GrantFiled: September 26, 2019Date of Patent: November 10, 2020Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.Inventor: Yoshito Hirai
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Publication number: 20200239250Abstract: A medium conveyance device includes a first separator that separates a first medium from a plurality of mediums, a processor that processes the first medium and sends the processed first medium as a second medium, a second separator that when a non-separation mode is set, conveys the second medium to a next processor, and when a separation mode is set, conveys a third medium, which is separated from the second medium, to the next processor, and a controller that switches between the non-separation mode and the separation mode based on information obtained as a result of processing the first medium.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 20, 2020Publication date: July 30, 2020Inventors: Yoshito Hirai, Naoto Yamaguchi
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Patent number: 10647325Abstract: A determination device includes: route detection circuitry which detects, a first continuous body as a first part of a one or more first direction distance information with respect to a first object, and a second continuous body as a second part of the one or more first direction distance information with respect to a second object, in a first direction along a first route on which the moving body moves, and a third continuous body as the second part, in a second direction; route determination circuitry which determines presence or absence of a second route along the third continuous body.Type: GrantFiled: February 9, 2017Date of Patent: May 12, 2020Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.Inventors: Yoshito Hirai, Hirofumi Nishimura, Naoya Yosoku
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Publication number: 20200104613Abstract: A vacant parking space detection apparatus according to the present disclosure includes a memory and a hardware processor coupled to the memory. The hardware processor is configured to: generate, for each of divided regions in a region around a vehicle, map information representing a presence probability of an object based on a detection result of a sensor for detecting an object present around the vehicle; define on the map information a plurality of first straight lines, whose intercepts differ from each other, with one or more angles to a straight advancing direction of the vehicle; and detect whether a vacant parking space is present at the angle based on a presence probability of an object assigned to the divided region belonging to each of the plurality of first straight lines.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 26, 2019Publication date: April 2, 2020Applicant: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.Inventor: Yoshito HIRAI
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Patent number: 10551494Abstract: A road information detector acquires road information by emitting a beam via a variable directivity transmission antenna to a road sign having plural flat portions and includes a transceiver that controls the antenna to scan the beam by switching an emission angle including an azimuth angle relative to the front direction of a vehicle and receives, as reflected wave signals, waves reflected by the flat portions, a distance and reflected wave intensity detector that detects a distance between the vehicle and each of the flat portions and a reflected wave intensity of each of the reflected waves, an emission angle detector that detects the emission angle based on the reflected wave signal, and a road information analyzer that acquires the road information by generating a heat map based on the emission angles, distances, and reflected wave intensities and analyzing the heat map using a threshold value of the wave intensity.Type: GrantFiled: October 17, 2017Date of Patent: February 4, 2020Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.Inventors: Yoshito Hirai, Tomohiro Yui, Hidekuni Yomo, Hirohito Mukai
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Patent number: 10325162Abstract: There is provided a detection device that includes: a position estimator that estimates a candidate position of a crosswalk in a movement direction of a vehicle and estimates a length of the crosswalk and an intersecting angle between the crosswalk and a roadway using the candidate position; a corrector that corrects the numbers of periods and widths of two basis functions based on the estimated length of the crosswalk and the estimated intersecting angle, the two basis functions corresponding to intervals of white lines of the crosswalk and are orthogonal to each other; and a crosswalk detector that detects whether or not the crosswalk is present using both image data which include the candidate position and the two corrected basis functions.Type: GrantFiled: May 12, 2017Date of Patent: June 18, 2019Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.Inventors: Masakatsu Maeda, Hirofumi Nishimura, Takahiro Shima, Naoya Yosoku, Yoshito Hirai
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Patent number: 10222453Abstract: In a radar device mounted in a host vehicle, a radar transmitting unit transmits a radar signal; a light detection unit detects ON or OFF of a light of another vehicle in which the radar device is mounted; and a timing control unit sets a transmission timing of the radar signal and a light ON timing of a light of the host vehicle, the light ON timing is synchronized with the transmission timing on basis of detected ON or OFF of the light of the other vehicle. The set transmission timing is different from a transmission timing of a radar signal of the radar device mounted in the other vehicle.Type: GrantFiled: May 16, 2016Date of Patent: March 5, 2019Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.Inventors: Hidekuni Yomo, Hirohito Mukai, Tomohiro Yui, Yoshito Hirai
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Publication number: 20180161811Abstract: The present invention provides a stain-proof coating composition including silica fine particles (A), a nonionic surfactant (B), and a nonionic surfactant (C), wherein the nonionic surfactant (B) is at least one kind of nonionic surfactant (B) selected from the group consisting of an acetylenediol-based surfactant (b-1) and a polyoxyalkylene alkyl ether-based surfactant (b-2), the nonionic surfactant (C) is at least one kind of nonionic surfactant (C) selected from the group consisting of a vinyl-based polymeric surfactant (c-1) and a polyoxyalkylene fatty acid ester-based surfactant (c-2).Type: ApplicationFiled: February 17, 2017Publication date: June 14, 2018Applicant: NIPPON PAINT INDUSTRIAL COATINGS CO., LTD.Inventors: Yoshito HIRAI, Arata SEKINE, Seigo MIYAZOE
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Publication number: 20180095103Abstract: A state calculation apparatus includes an receiver that receives azimuths of objects around a vehicle and their relative velocities to the vehicle, detected by a first sensor used for the vehicle, as target information, and a velocity and a travel direction of the vehicle, detected by a second sensor installed on the vehicle and having an error variance, as state information, and a controller that calculates velocities and travel directions of the vehicle, using the state information and based on a plurality of the azimuths and a plurality of the relative velocities extracted from the target information and that outputs at least either a velocity or a travel direction of the vehicle by using a specified filter to filter mean values of and error variances in the calculated velocities and travel directions and at least either the velocity or the travel direction detected by the second sensor.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 5, 2017Publication date: April 5, 2018Inventors: YOSHITO HIRAI, HIROHITO MUKAI, YUNYUN CAO, HIROSHI TANAKA
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Publication number: 20180052230Abstract: A road information detector acquires road information by emitting a beam via a variable directivity transmission antenna to a road sign having plural flat portions and includes a transceiver that controls the antenna to scan the beam by switching an emission angle including an azimuth angle relative to the front direction of a vehicle and receives, as reflected wave signals, waves reflected by the flat portions, a distance and reflected wave intensity detector that detects a distance between the vehicle and each of the flat portions and a reflected wave intensity of each of the reflected waves, an emission angle detector that detects the emission angle based on the reflected wave signal, and a road information analyzer that acquires the road information by generating a heat map based on the emission angles, distances, and reflected wave intensities and analyzing the heat map using a threshold value of the wave intensity.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 17, 2017Publication date: February 22, 2018Inventors: YOSHITO HIRAI, TOMOHIRO YUI, HIDEKUNI YOMO, HIROHITO MUKAI
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Publication number: 20170337432Abstract: There is provided a detection device that includes: a position estimator that estimates a candidate position of a crosswalk in a movement direction of a vehicle and estimates a length of the crosswalk and an intersecting angle between the crosswalk and a roadway using the candidate position; a corrector that corrects the numbers of periods and widths of two basis functions based on the estimated length of the crosswalk and the estimated intersecting angle, the two basis functions corresponding to intervals of white lines of the crosswalk and are orthogonal to each other; and a crosswalk detector that detects whether or not the crosswalk is present using both image data which include the candidate position and the two corrected basis functions.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 12, 2017Publication date: November 23, 2017Inventors: MASAKATSU MAEDA, HIROFUMI NISHIMURA, TAKAHIRO SHIMA, NAOYA YOSOKU, YOSHITO HIRAI
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Publication number: 20170240180Abstract: A determination device includes: route detection circuitry which detects, a first continuous body as a first part of a one or more first direction distance information with respect to a first object, and a second continuous body as a second part of the one or more first direction distance information with respect to a second object, in a first direction along a first route on which the moving body moves, and a third continuous body as the second part, in a second direction; route determination circuitry which determines presence or absence of a second route along the third continuous body.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 9, 2017Publication date: August 24, 2017Inventors: YOSHITO HIRAI, HIROFUMI NISHIMURA, NAOYA YOSOKU
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Patent number: 9531332Abstract: Disclosed is a distortion-compensation apparatus that can reduce the storage space for storing coefficients required for distortion-compensation calculation, and can accurately execute distortion compensation. Distortion-compensation apparatus (100) compensates for distortion of an output signal from a predetermined circuit by predistortion in which an input signal is preliminarily multiplied by a coefficient. First multiplication section (200c) of distortion-compensation apparatus (100) multiplies an input signal by a first coefficient selected from coefficient candidates in accordance with the input signal; second multiplication section (201c1 to 201cm) multiplies a delay signal of an input signal by a tap coefficient; and adding section (202) outputs a signal obtained by adding together an input signal multiplied by the compensation coefficient and the delay signal multiplied by the tap coefficient to the predetermined circuit.Type: GrantFiled: November 29, 2013Date of Patent: December 27, 2016Assignee: PANASONIC CORPORATIONInventors: Yoshito Hirai, Kouji Okamoto