Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America

Panasonic Corporation

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Matsushita Electronics Corporation

Koji Aoto

Akira Shiokawa

Mitsuaki Oshima

Hideki Aoyama

Koji Nakanishi

Takashi Suzuki

Akihiro Ueki

Toshiyuki Maeda

Kazunori Hirao

Yoshihito Tahara

Tsutomu Mukai

Kazunori Yamada

Ikuo Fuchigami

Hidehiko Shin

Yosuke Matsushita

Koichi Wani

Shigehiro Iida

Koji Akiyama

Masaaki Yamauchi

Taichi Shino

Keiji Horikawa

Hiroki Shinohara

Kenji Kiriyama

Hiromitsu Ebisu

Toshiya Zaitsu

Masashi Takemura

Kenichiro Shibasaki

Masaki Nishimura

Akihiro Matsuda

Kanako Miyashita

Takashi Aoki

Kaname Mizokami

Yasutaka Tsutsui

Makoto Morita

Kengo Miyoshi

Fumio Sakamoto

Kuniaki Ikui

Toru Hirayama

Yoshihiko Ishida

Takashi Ishikawa

Kenji Date

Shotaro Ogawa

Shigehiro Ilda

To identify a battery device that may have an abnormality in the future and promptly recall such a battery device, a battery management system includes a management server connected to a plurality of battery exchangers via a network and configured to manage exchanging states of battery packs at the battery exchangers, and a user terminal carried by each user and connected to the management server via the network, wherein the management server is configured to identify a user using a battery pack to be recalled, and to transmit an exchange reminder to the user terminal of the identified user, and the user terminal is configured to perform a notification operation that prompts the identified user to exchange the battery pack upon receiving the exchange reminder.

Battery management system and battery management method

The user can readily determine a battery station where a battery exchange can be performed without fail. A management server searches a battery station that suits a battery configuration of an electric vehicle operated by each user according to management information on the battery configuration thereof, and to transmit a guidance screen for guiding the user to the searched battery station to the terminal device carried by the user. In particular, the user is guided to a station where the number of fully charged battery devices in a battery exchanger is equal to or greater than the number of battery devices used by the electric vehicle.

Battery managing system, battery managing method, and terminal device

The present application allows all battery stations located in different locations to be efficiently monitored, and management and maintenance operations to be performed in a timely fashion to keep the state of the battery stations in proper order. A server device collects state information on a state of a battery exchange device in each battery station, and on a state of each battery device received in the corresponding battery exchange device, and to generate a monitoring screen showing the state information of each battery station on an area map displayed on a management or maintenance terminal. In particular, a plurality of display sections displayed on the monitoring screen are arranged so as to correspond to the urgency or detail level of the state information. The state information is displayed in different colors according to different emergency levels.

Battery station management system including server for generating monitoring screen showing state information of battery exchange devices and battery devices in each battery station and battery station management method

There is provided a display device having an electrochromic element placed in the display device. The electrochromic element has: a light transmittance of 70% or more and a light reflectance of 20% or less at a central wavelength of a visible spectrum when in a transparent state; and a light reflectance of 65% or more at the central wavelength of the visible spectrum when in a mirror state. By this, the display device is not only highly effective in terms of light-shielding, heat blocking, screening, etc., but is also switchable between a transmissive type and a reflective type.

Display device

A display method is provided that includes displaying an image included in a video signal on a per frame basis, and representing a tone level of luminance of the image by controlling a light emission period in a frame. The method also includes specifying a light emission period in which light emission is performed for greater than or equal to a time required for transmitting a visible light communication signal, and transmitting the visible light communication signal by superimposing the visible light communication signal onto a portion of the video signal corresponding to the specified light emission period. The method further includes in a case where the specified light emission period is greater than or equal to a time required for transmitting the visible light communication signal, the visible light communication signal is transmitted by luminance changing of the light source in the specified light emission period.

Display method

An apparatus is provided that includes a display, an image sensor having a plurality of exposure lines, a processor, and a memory storing a computer program, which when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform operations. The operations include displaying a first assist image on the display, and executing a visible light communication mode. In the visible light communication mode, the operations include (i) setting a second exposure time of the image sensor so that, in an image obtained by capturing a subject by the image sensor, a plurality of bright lines corresponding to the plurality of exposure lines included in the image sensor appear according to a change in luminance of the subject, (ii) obtaining a bright line image including the plurality of bright lines, and (iii) obtaining information by demodulating data specified by a pattern of the plurality of bright lines.

Information communication method for obtaining information using ID list and bright line image

A display device of the present disclosure is a display device capable of outputting, by a Carousel method, a visible light communication signal including a plurality of signal units. The display device includes a display panel that displays a video signal, a visible light communication processor that encodes the signal units, divides the encoded signal units into a plurality of blocks, generates a plurality of transmission frames by using the plurality of blocks, and uses the generated transmission frames as a backlight control signal, and a backlight that illuminates the display panel from the back surface of the display panel based on the backlight control signal. With regard to the plurality of transmission frames corresponding to one of the signal units generated by the visible light communication processor, an order of the plurality of blocks is different between at least two of the transmission frames.

Display device and display method

A display method for appropriately transmitting a visible light communication signal includes: a step of coding a visible light communication signal to generate an image having a striped pattern for visible light communication as a first visible light communication image; a step of displaying the image included in the video signal, in a predetermined frame; and a step of displaying a low-luminance image in the predetermined frame, and sequentially displaying the first visible light communication image, the low-luminance image being an identification image and having uniform luminance lower than average luminance of the image which is to be displayed, wherein in the step, after the image included in the video signal is displayed in the predetermined frame, each of the first identification image and the first visible light communication image is displayed in a same frame as the predetermined frame, for a period shorter than the predetermined frame.

Video display method using visible/visual light communication with stripe patterns having different orientations and color combinations

A display device includes: a display panel including a display screen; a backlight having a light emission surface that illuminates the display screen of the display panel from behind; a second processor that superimposes the visible light communication signals on backlight control signals generated based on the image signal; and a second controller that divides the light emission surface of the backlight into regions and establishes a period during which control of light emission in each of the regions and control for turning off the backlight in each of the regions a different time are performed based on the backlight control signals outputted by the second processor. When superimposing the visible light communication signals on the backlight control signals, the second processor does not superimpose a visible light communication signal in a period indicating an OFF state of the backlight in the backlight control signals.

Display device including signal processor that superimposes visible light communication signals on backlight control signals generated based on an image signal

A display method is provided that reduces the probability of communication error without causing significant deterioration of picture quality. The method includes specifying, as a specified light emission period, a light emission period in which light emission is performed for greater than or equal to a time required for transmitting a block included in a visible light communication signal, out of one or more light emission periods in which light emission is performed for displaying an image included in a video signal. The method also includes transmitting the block of the visible light communication signal by luminance changing in the specified light emission period.

A video display method is provided that displays, on a per frame basis, an image included in a video signal. The method includes generating a first visible light communication image by encoding a visible light communication signal, the first visible light communication image being an image having a stripe pattern for visible light communication, and displaying, in a predetermined frame, the image included in the video signal. The method also includes switching a pitch of the first visible light communication image to a different pitch, and generating a second visible light communication image. The method further includes displaying the second visible light communication image that has a stripe pattern configured with a different minimum pitch, which is different in resolution from the stripe pattern of the first visible light communication image.

Video display method using visible light communication image including stripe patterns having different pitches

A display device according to the present disclosure includes: a backlight control unit configured to divide the luminescence surface of the backlight into a plurality of areas, and, based on the image signal, (i) perform luminescence control in each of the plurality of areas and (ii) set off periods starting at different times for the plurality of areas. The backlight control unit performs luminescence control in a visible light communication area which is at least one area among the plurality of areas in a period in which the visible light communication signal is output, based on the visible light communication signal, instead of performing luminescence control based on the image signal, and performs the luminescence control based on the image signal, in the visible light communication area, in a period in which the visible light communication signal is not output.

An information communication method is provided for obtaining information from a subject. The method includes receiving an ID list that includes a plurality of sets of identification information, and setting an exposure time of an image sensor so that a bright line corresponding to an exposure line included in the image sensor appears according to a change in luminance of the subject. The method also includes obtaining a bright line image including the bright line by the image sensor capturing the subject, and obtaining the information by demodulating data specified by a pattern of the bright line included in the obtained bright line image. The method further includes searching for a channel used to broadcast the content displayed by the subject, by searching the ID list for the obtained information, and obtaining related information associated with the channel from a server.

An information communication method is provided for obtaining information from a subject. The information communication method includes transmitting position information indicating a position of an image sensor used to capture the subject, and receiving an ID list that is associated with the position indicated by the position information. The information communication method also includes setting an exposure time of the image sensor so that in a bright line corresponding to an exposure line included in the image sensor appears according to a change in luminance of the subject. The information communication method further includes obtaining a bright line image including the bright line, obtaining information by demodulating data specified by a cycle length or frequency of a stripe pattern of the bright line included in the obtained bright line image, and searching the ID list for identification information that includes the obtained information.

A visible light communication signal display method of displaying (i) an image represented by video signals and (ii) an image obtained by encoding visible light communication signals includes: encoding at least part of the visible light communication signals to generate an encoded image; generating a plurality of sub-images which correspond to respective partial images obtained by dividing the encoded image and each of which (i) includes a corresponding one of the partial images and (ii) except for the corresponding partial image, is an image having a substantially uniform luminance value lower than or equal to a predetermined luminance value; and displaying, in a video display period, the image represented by the video signals, and displaying the sub-images in time series in a communication period different from the video display period.

Visible light communication signal display method and apparatus

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Hyogo, Japan

Koji Aoto