Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Daikin Industries, Ltd.

Tokyo Institute of Technology

Panasonic Corporation

Tottori University

Akira Matsubara

Takao Hayashi

Toru Nakamura

Kazuhiko Kouno

Yasuhito Soma

Yutaka Murakami

Shinichi Tanaka

Hiromichi Ishibashi

Tsuyoshi Okada

Hideki Hashizume

Junichiro Arai

Yoshimi Ohgami

Taro Tomatsu

Yasunori Kotani

Takashi Gotou

Hideki Aiko

Takahiro Hirayama

Kazuhiko Maeda

Yoshikuni Sato

Keiichi Yoshizumi

Yoshihiro Tosaki

Yoshihiro Matsumura

Tomiharu Hosaka

Toshiaki Kunieda

Takashi Uchida

Takahiro Hiyama

Masaru Ueki

Taichi Hamatsuka

Takahiro Aihara

Kengo Wada

Manabu Yumine

Nariaki Yamamoto

Shinya Masuda

Hiroaki Ohdachi

Masashi Itakura

Shenghong Pu

Hiroshi Matsumura

Katsutoshi Yokoyama

Hisashi Aizawa

Koichi Kaneko

Arina Hashimoto

A leg muscle strength estimation system includes: an obtainer that obtains an image including a user that is walking as a subject of the image; and an estimator that estimates a leg muscle strength of the user based on the obtained image.

Leg muscle strength estimation system and leg muscle strength estimation method

A physiological state determination device determines a predetermined physiological state of a subject. The physiological state determination device includes a brain function activation information detection unit, a face change information acquisition unit, and a physiological state determination unit. The brain function activation information detection unit detects brain function activation information corresponding to a physiological state. The face change information acquisition unit acquires face change information indicating a time-series change in face data of a subject. The physiological state determination unit determines the predetermined physiological state of the subject based on the brain function activation information and the face change information.

Physiological state determination device

A mental illness determination device includes a face change information acquisition unit and a mental illness determination unit. The face change information acquisition unit is configured to acquire face change information indicating a time-series change in face data of a subject when emotional stimulation information for stimulating any sense or any combination of senses among an auditory sense, an olfactory sense, a gustatory sense, a tactile sense, and a somatic sensation of the subject to change emotion, and is divided into positive information for increasing comfort and negative information for decreasing comfort is provided to the subject. The mental illness determination unit is configured to determine a state of mental illness of the subject on the basis of the face change information.

Mental illness determination device

A video playback apparatus that processes an obtained video and plays back the processed video, includes: a face recognition unit which detects the size and position of an image of a person in the video, which change over time; a generation unit which generates a playback video for playback, such that the image of the person shown in the playback video is of a predetermined size, by (i) determining a clipping range for a part of the video in response to a change in the detected position, and (ii) enlarging or reducing, in response to a change in the detected size, a partial video which is the part of the video shown in the clipping range; and a video playback unit which plays back the generated playback video. Here, the response time for the clipping range determination is longer than a response time for the partial video enlargement or reduction.

Video playback apparatus and video playback method

A three-dimensional video reproduction apparatus includes: a video decoder unit which generates a right-eye video signal and a left-eye video signal; a graphics decoder unit which generates a right-eye graphics signal and a left-eye graphics signal; a synthesizing unit which synthesizes the right-eye video signal and the right-eye graphics signal and synthesizes the left-eye video signal and the left-eye graphics signal, to generate a right-eye output signal and a left-eye output signal; and an output unit which reproduces the three-dimensional video by alternately outputting the right-eye and left-eye output signals. When two adjacent pixels in the right-eye or left-eye output signal are represented by a common chrominance signal, and are generated respectively using a video signal and a graphics signal, the synthesizing unit generates the common chrominance signal such that a synthesis ratio of the video signal and the graphics signal is biased in favor of one of these.

Three-dimensional video reproduction apparatus, three-dimensional video reproduction method, and integrated circuit

The present invention provides an optical disc apparatus which solves a problem that the tracking control takes off when an objective lens is displaced in the tracking direction due to its weight. In this optical disc apparatus, a spot position detectorgenerates a spot position signal which indicates a position of a light spot on a light receiving element, and supplies the signal to a traverse loop filterand a spot position loop filter. A controllersupplies an output from the spot position loop filterto a tracking actuator, before supplying an output from the traverse loop filterto a traverse motor, previously moves the light spot near the center of the light receiving element, and starts the traverse control in a state where a value of the spot position signal at starting of the traverse control is reduced.

Optical disc apparatus having compensation for objective lens dislocation, and method therefor

The present invention provides an optical disc apparatus which solves a problem that the tracking control takes off when an objective lens is displaced in the tracking direction due to its weight. In this optical disc apparatus, a spot position detector generates a spot position signal which indicates a position of a light spot on a light receiving element and supplies the signal to a traverse loop filter and a spot position loop filter A controller supplies an output from the spot position loop filter to a tracking actuator before supplying an output from the traverse loop filter to a traverse motor previously moves the light spot near the center of the light receiving element and starts the traverse control in a state where a value of the spot position signal at starting of the traverse control is reduced.

Optical disk apparatus having compensation for objective lens dislocation

A write-once DVD has a lead-in area provided inside a data area where digital information on a document, image sound or the like is recorded, which includes prepits holding copy managing key information for preventing unauthorized copy from a source disk to the DVD . The DVD has also a test area provided inside the lead-in area , which is used for adjusting the power characteristics of the DVD . In the DVD , information recorded in the source disk can be. physically prevented from being copied into the DVD without good cause on the basis of the copy managing key information recorded in the prepits

Optical disk and optical disk drive

The present invention provides an optical disc apparatus which solves a problem that the tracking control takes off when an objective lens is displaced in the tracking direction due to its weight. In this optical disc apparatus, a spot position detector generates a spot position signal which indicates a position of a light spot on a light receiving element , and supplies the signal to a traverse loop filter and a spot position loop filter . A controller supplies an output from the spot position loop filter to a tracking actuator , before supplying an output from the traverse loop filter to a traverse motor , previously moves the light spot near the center of the light receiving element , and starts the traverse control in a state where a value of the spot position signal at starting of the traverse control is reduced.

In an optical head, a light emitting element emits an optical beam, and the beam is condensed by a condensing element onto an information recording medium. A first plate beam-splitting element has a splitting ratio of P polarization to S polarization, and it splits at least a part of the beam reflected by the information recording medium along a direction different from that of a direction returning to the light emitting element. A second plate beam-splitting element is provided in parallel to the first plate beam-splitting element, and it splits the beam split by the first plate beam-splitting element into at least two beams having polarization planes perpendicular to each other. The two beams are detected by a pair of photosensors. Because the first and second beam-splitting elements are set in parallel to each other, an optical path from the light emitting element to the information recording medium is separated from that of a reflected beam from the medium with a very small angle, and the optical elements can be located at adjacent positions to each other. Thus, the optical head can be made compact to a large extent. Further, the optical head can be sealed for high reliability.

Two plate-like beam splitting device

A lens drive mechanism for an optical disc player includes a movable unit including an objective lens for focusing a coherent beam of light on an optical disc, a lens holder carrying the objective lens, focusing and tracking coils secured to opposite portions of a periphery of the lens holder. The lens drive mechanism also includes permanent magnets and yokes, and a plurality of support members connected at one end to the periphery of the lens holder and at the opposite end to a support fixture for supporting the movable unit for movement in focusing and tracking directions substantially perpendicular to each other. A upper set of the support members has a spring constant different from that of a lower set of the support members, and the product of the spring constant of the upper set of the support members multiplied by a distance from the center of gravity of the movable unit to a position of securement of the upper set of the support members is chosen to be equal to the product of the spring constant of the lower set of the support members multiplied by a distance from the center of gravity of the movable unit to a position of securement of the lower set of the support members.

Lens drive mechanism for optical disc player with parallel support

The relative tilt of an optical disk and a movable objective lens holder is measured as an output of a differential amplifier which subtracts an output of first photodetectors and which detect the reflected light from optical disk from an output of second photodetectors and which detect the reflected light from a reflector mounted on movable objective lens holder. The signal from differential amplifier is used to tilt movable objective lens holder so that the movable objective lens holder compensates the tilt of optical disk.

Optical reading and writing device

An apparatus is described for recording/reproducing to/from an optical record carrier by means of a laser light beam. The record carrier has pre-recorded sarvo marks aligned in a track. In order to get a focus error signal, the apparatus measures phase difference between signals from two photo sensor elements which receive the laser light beam through the record carrier. A circuit for measuring the phase difference has a first and a second phase shift circuits, RS flip-flops and a focus error converter which has a shift register and a low-pass filter. The signals from the photo sensor elements are fed to the first and second phase shift circuits, respectively. The second phase shift circuit is composed of a plurality of delay elements, output of which are fed to the S inputs of the RS flip-flops. Data at the S inputs are latched in response to an output signal of the first phase shift circuit which is fed to R inputs of the RS flip-flops. Latched data are fed to the shift register for converting to a serial signal. The serial signal, then, is low-pass-filtered to become a focus error signal.

Focus error detection system for an optical recording/reproducing system

An apparatus is described for reading/writing an optical recording carrier, which have information pits aligned in a track. In order to get a focus error signal, the apparatus has two pairs of photo sensor elements, two phase detection circuits for the two pairs of photo sensor elements, and an adder circuit for adding outputs of the two phase detection circuits. The elements are placed symmetrically about an optical axis in a far field area of the pits.

Focus detection system for an optical disk drive using photo sensor

An optical information system includes an optical source emitting light. An information recording member is exposed to the emitted light. A beam splitter disposed between the light emitting source and the information recording member separates light reflected by the information recording member and light traveling from the light emitting source to the information recording member. A device detects intensity of the separated reflected light. A birefringence plate is movably disposed between the light emitting source and the information recording member. The birefringence plate is moved in accordance with the detected intensity of the separated reflected light.

Optical information system having a birefringence plate movably disposed

Growing community of inventors

Kameoka, Japan

Akira Matsubara