Patents by Inventor Yuichi Watano
Yuichi Watano 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: 11964608Abstract: A vehicular lamp system includes a light distribution control device that controls a first lamp unit and a second lamp unit. The light distribution control device forms a combined high-illuminance pattern in a region where no target is present. Meanwhile, the light distribution control device forms a combined shading pattern in regard to a forward vehicle. Furthermore, in regard to a specific target, the light distribution control device controls the first lamp unit so as to form an illuminance fixed pattern, controls the second lamp unit so as to form an illuminance fixed pattern or to form an illuminance adjusted pattern, and forms a combined mid-illuminance pattern by superposing the light distribution patterns that the first lamp unit and the second lamp unit form.Type: GrantFiled: September 27, 2023Date of Patent: April 23, 2024Assignee: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.Inventors: Takao Muramatsu, Yuta Maruyama, Yuichi Watano
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Publication number: 20240109474Abstract: A light distribution control device, if a first upper limit number N1?the number of near-distance targets T1, controls a lamp to irradiate the near-distance targets with light having illuminance according to attributes of the near-distance targets; if a remaining number M?the number of long-distance targets T2, controls the lamp to irradiate the long-distance targets with light having illuminance according to attributes of the long-distance targets; if N1<T1, controls the lamp to form a light distribution pattern that does not depend on the near-distance targets and the long-distance targets; and, if M<T2, controls the lamp to form a light distribution pattern that does not depend on the long-distance targets.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 14, 2023Publication date: April 4, 2024Applicant: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.Inventors: Hirohiko OSHIO, Yuichi WATANO, Takashi TERAYAMA, Hikaru NAGAI
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Publication number: 20240110686Abstract: A right-side vehicle lamp (2R) comprises: a lamp housing (14); a lamp cover (12) that covers an opening in the lamp housing (14); a low-beam illumination unit (3) positioned inside a lamp chamber (S) formed from the lamp housing (14) and the lamp cover (12); radar (5) configured so as to emit radio waves outside the vehicle, thereby acquiring radar data; and a shielding part (6) positioned so as to face the radar (5) so as to shield the radar (5) from the outside of the vehicle, the shielding part (6) being configured so as to transmit the radio waves emitted from the radar (5). The shielding part (6) is formed integrally with the lamp cover (12). The boundary (B) between the shielding part (6) and the lamp cover (12) is positioned outside the field of view (Fv) of the radar (5).Type: ApplicationFiled: December 6, 2023Publication date: April 4, 2024Applicant: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.Inventors: Yuta Maruyama, Yoshihiro Katsurada, Yuichi Watano, Osamu Kuboyama
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Publication number: 20240109473Abstract: A left vehicle lamp (2L) includes a lamp housing (14), a lamp cover (12) that covers an opening of the lamp housing (14), an illumination unit (3, 4) that is disposed inside a lamp chamber (S) formed by the lamp housing (14) and the lamp power bar (12), a radar (5) configured to acquire a radar data indicating a surrounding environment of a vehicle by emitting radio waves toward the outside of the vehicle, and a light guide member (6) that is disposed in a manner of facing the radar (5) so as to hide at least a part of the radar (5) from the outside of the vehicle and is configured to transmit radio waves emitted from the radar (5). The radar (5) is disposed outside the housing (S). The light guide member (6) is configured to emit light toward the outside of the vehicle.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 1, 2023Publication date: April 4, 2024Applicant: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.Inventors: Yoshihiro Katsurada, Yuta Maruyama, Osamu Kuboyama, Akihito Horikawa, Kosei Kikuchi, Yuichi Watano
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Patent number: 11878622Abstract: A left vehicle lamp includes a lamp housing, a lamp cover that covers an opening of the lamp housing, an illumination unit that is disposed inside a lamp chamber formed by the lamp housing and the lamp power bar, a radar) configured to acquire a radar data indicating a surrounding environment of a vehicle by emitting radio waves toward the outside of the vehicle, and a light guide member that is disposed in a manner of facing the radar so as to hide at least a part of the radar from the outside of the vehicle and is configured to transmit radio waves emitted from the radar. The radar is disposed outside the housing. The light guide member is configured to emit light toward the outside of the vehicle.Type: GrantFiled: September 9, 2020Date of Patent: January 23, 2024Assignee: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.Inventors: Yoshihiro Katsurada, Yuichi Watano, Yuta Maruyama, Osamu Kuboyama, Akihito Horikawa, Kosei Kikuchi
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Publication number: 20240017663Abstract: A vehicular lamp system includes a light distribution control device that controls a first lamp unit and a second lamp unit. The light distribution control device forms a combined high-illuminance pattern in a region where no target is present. Meanwhile, the light distribution control device forms a combined shading pattern in regard to a forward vehicle. Furthermore, in regard to a specific target, the light distribution control device controls the first lamp unit so as to form an illuminance fixed pattern, controls the second lamp unit so as to form an illuminance fixed pattern or to form an illuminance adjusted pattern, and forms a combined mid-illuminance pattern by superposing the light distribution patterns that the first lamp unit and the second lamp unit form.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 27, 2023Publication date: January 18, 2024Applicant: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.Inventors: Takao MURAMATSU, Yuta MARUYAMA, Yuichi WATANO
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Patent number: 11873964Abstract: A vehicle lamp includes: a lamp housing; a lamp cover covering an opening of the lamp housing; an illumination unit disposed in a lamp chamber formed by the lamp housing and the lamp cover; a radar configured to acquire radar data indicating surroundings of a vehicle by emitting an electromagnetic wave outside the vehicle; and a concealing part that faces the radar to conceal the radar from the outside of the vehicle and is configured to let the electromagnetic wave emitted from the radar through. The concealing part is formed integrally with the lamp cover. A boundary between the concealing part and the lamp cover is out of a field of view of the radar.Type: GrantFiled: July 17, 2020Date of Patent: January 16, 2024Assignee: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.Inventors: Yuta Maruyama, Yoshihiro Katsurada, Yuichi Watano, Osamu Kuboyama
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Publication number: 20230415638Abstract: A vehicle lamp system includes an illuminance variable lamp, a lamp-mounted camera, and a lamp control unit. After acquiring position information of a low accuracy region from a vehicle control unit, the lamp control unit acquires illuminance of the low accuracy region by referring to information acquired by the lamp-mounted camera, controls the illuminance variable lamp so as to increase the illuminance of the low accuracy region if the illuminance of the low accuracy region is less than a threshold, and/or controls the illuminance variable lamp so as to decrease the illuminance of the low accuracy region if the illuminance of the low accuracy region is equal to or greater than the threshold.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 7, 2023Publication date: December 28, 2023Applicant: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.Inventors: Yuichi WATANO, Takao MURAMATSU
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Publication number: 20230415637Abstract: A light distribution control device controls formation of a light distribution pattern by a light distribution variable lamp. The light distribution control device controls the light distribution variable lamp so as to reduce an illuminance of light that illuminates a non-traveling road when a vehicle reaches a first location a predetermined distance before a forked road, while a normal light distribution pattern is formed that includes, in an illumination range thereof, a side illuminating a traveling road of the vehicle at the forked road and a side illuminating the non-traveling road, and to form a guiding light distribution pattern in which an illuminance of light that illuminates the traveling road is higher than the illuminance of the light that illuminates the non-traveling road.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 7, 2023Publication date: December 28, 2023Applicant: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.Inventors: Hirohiko OSHIO, Yuichi WATANO, Koji ISHIHARA, Takashi TERAYAMA, Tatsuma KITAZAWA, Takao MURAMATSU, Shuji MATSUURA
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Publication number: 20230382289Abstract: Provided is a lamp mounted on a vehicle where a lamp housing of the lamp is equipped with a lamp camera that captures an image of an object existing outside the vehicle and a lamp unit of which light distribution of emitted light beams is controlled to change based on positional information of the object captured by the lamp camera, in which the lamp camera has an imaging optical axis directed in a predetermined direction with respect to the vehicle, and the lamp unit is configured such that an illumination optical axis is controlled to change in an up-down direction based on the positional information of the object.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 13, 2021Publication date: November 30, 2023Applicant: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.Inventors: Yuichi Watano, Yuta Maruyama, Yoshihiro Katsurada, Takuya Kataoka
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Publication number: 20230336876Abstract: A gated camera for dividing a field of view into a plurality of ranges in a depth direction and generating a plurality of slice images corresponding to the plurality of ranges, the gated camera includes: an illumination device configured to irradiate the field of view with pulse illumination light; an image sensor; a camera controller configured to control a light emission timing of the illumination device and an exposure timing of the image sensor; and an arithmetic processing device configured to process image data generated by the image sensor. The arithmetic processing device is configured to acquire information on weather based on the image data obtained for a predetermined range in a weather detection mode.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 19, 2021Publication date: October 19, 2023Applicants: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD., BRIGHTWAY VISION LTD.Inventors: Yoshihisa ENDO, Jun KANO, Manabu KATO, Yuichi WATANO
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Patent number: 11787330Abstract: A vehicle lamp system includes an illuminance variable lamp, a lamp-mounted camera, and a lamp control unit. After acquiring position information of a low accuracy region from a vehicle control unit, the lamp control unit acquires illuminance of the low accuracy region by referring to information acquired by the lamp-mounted camera, controls the illuminance variable lamp so as to increase the illuminance of the low accuracy region if the illuminance of the low accuracy region is less than a threshold, and/or controls the illuminance variable lamp so as to decrease the illuminance of the low accuracy region if the illuminance of the low accuracy region is equal to or greater than the threshold.Type: GrantFiled: November 1, 2019Date of Patent: October 17, 2023Assignee: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.Inventors: Yuichi Watano, Takao Muramatsu
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Publication number: 20230328353Abstract: A gated camera for dividing a field of view into a plurality of ranges in a depth direction and generating a plurality of slice images corresponding to the plurality of ranges, the gated camera includes: an illumination device configured to irradiate the field of view with pulse illumination light; an image sensor; and a camera controller configured to control a light emission timing of the illumination device and an exposure timing of the image sensor. The camera controller is configured to switch between a first imaging mode in which performance is relatively high and power consumption is relatively high, and a second imaging mode in which performance is relatively low and power consumption is relatively low.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 19, 2021Publication date: October 12, 2023Applicants: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD., BRIGHTWAY VISION LTD.Inventors: Yoshihisa ENDO, Jun KANO, Manabu KATO, Yuichi WATANO
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Publication number: 20230311897Abstract: A sensing system is used for driving assistance or automatic driving. A gating camera is controlled to be in an enabled state/disabled state according to a traveling environment. The gating camera divides a field of view into a plurality of ranges in a depth direction and generates a plurality of slice images corresponding to the plurality of ranges in the enabled state. A main controller processes an output of a main sensor group and an output of the gating camera.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 19, 2021Publication date: October 5, 2023Applicants: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD., BRIGHTWAY VISION LTD.Inventors: Yoshihisa ENDO, Jun KANG, Manabu KATO, Yuichi WATANO
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Publication number: 20230228847Abstract: A vehicle sensor device (1) includes an outer cover (12), a sensor unit (20) that transmits and receives an electromagnetic wave through the outer cover (12) and outputs a signal related to the electromagnetic wave incident on an inner side of the outer cover (12), a heater (30) that is provided in the outer cover (12) and heats a transmission region (AR) of the outer cover (12) through which the electromagnetic wave emitted from the sensor unit (20) passes, and a control unit (CO). The control unit (CO) outputs a detection signal of an object located outside the outer cover (12) based on the signal from the sensor unit (20) in at least a part of a period in which the heater (30) is OFF, and stops outputting of the detection signal in at least a part of a period in which the heater (30) is ON.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 24, 2023Publication date: July 20, 2023Applicant: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.Inventors: Yuichi WATANO, Osamu KUBOYAMA, Yoshihiro KATSURADA, Daigo YAMAMOTO, Kosei KIKUCHI
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Patent number: 11681037Abstract: A vehicle lamp includes a lamp chamber, an automatic operation marker lamp unit, and a sensor device. The lamp chamber includes a lamp body and an outer lens, and the automatic operation marker lamp unit and the sensor device are integrated in the lamp chamber. The automatic operation marker lamp unit informs surroundings that a vehicle is being driven automatically, and a sensor device detects information around the vehicle.Type: GrantFiled: December 19, 2019Date of Patent: June 20, 2023Assignee: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.Inventors: Nobutaka Tezuka, Yuichi Watano, Shigeyuki Watanabe
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Patent number: 11667234Abstract: A vehicle lamp system includes a vehicle lamp, a first imaging device structured to be disposed outside a lamp room, and generate a first image, a second imaging device structured to be housed in the lamp room, and generate a second image, and a light distribution control device. The light distribution control device includes an information processor structured to acquire from an outside or generate information of a first light shielding part, and decide a second light shielding part, a control executer structured to execute light distribution control for forming a light distribution pattern including the second light shielding part, and a control regulator structured to control the vehicle lamp to form a light distribution pattern including the first light shielding part when at least one condition of a condition (i) to a condition (iv).Type: GrantFiled: September 26, 2022Date of Patent: June 6, 2023Assignee: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.Inventors: Yuta Maruyama, Takehito Iriba, Yoshihiro Katsurada, Yuichi Watano, Takuya Kataoka
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Publication number: 20230062751Abstract: A left vehicle lamp (2L) includes a lamp housing (14), a lamp cover (12) that covers an opening of the lamp housing (14), an illumination unit (3, 4) that is disposed inside a lamp chamber (S) formed by the lamp housing (14) and the lamp power bar (12), a radar (5) configured to acquire a radar data indicating a surrounding environment of a vehicle by emitting radio waves toward the outside of the vehicle, and a light guide member (6) that is disposed in a manner of facing the radar (5) so as to hide at least a part of the radar (5) from the outside of the vehicle and is configured to transmit radio waves emitted from the radar (5). The radar (5) is disposed outside the housing (S). The light guide member (6) is configured to emit light toward the outside of the vehicle.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 9, 2020Publication date: March 2, 2023Applicant: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.Inventors: Yoshihiro Katsurada, Yuichi Watano, Yuta Maruyama, Osamu Kuboyama, Akihito Horikawa, Kosei Kikuchi
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Publication number: 20230019153Abstract: A vehicle lamp system includes a vehicle lamp, a first imaging device structured to be disposed outside a lamp room, and generate a first image, a second imaging device structured to be housed in the lamp room, and generate a second image, and a light distribution control device. The light distribution control device includes an information processor structured to acquire from an outside or generate information of a first light shielding part, and decide a second light shielding part, a control executer structured to execute light distribution control for forming a light distribution pattern including the second light shielding part, and a control regulator structured to control the vehicle lamp to form a light distribution pattern including the first light shielding part when at least one condition of a condition (i) to a condition (iv).Type: ApplicationFiled: September 26, 2022Publication date: January 19, 2023Applicant: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.Inventors: Yuta MARUYAMA, Takehito IRIBA, Yoshihiro KATSURADA, Yuichi WATANO, Takuya KATAOKA
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Patent number: 11508074Abstract: An input interface is configured to receive at least one sensor signal corresponding to information of the exterior of the vehicle sensed by at least one sensor. A processor is configured to, based on the sensor signal, generate: a first data corresponding to first information sensed in a first area; and a second data corresponding to second information sensed in a second area located outside the first area. An output interface is configured to output the first data and the second data independently from one another.Type: GrantFiled: May 14, 2019Date of Patent: November 22, 2022Assignee: KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.Inventors: Shigeyuki Watanabe, Yuichi Watano