Nissan Motor Company Limited

Fujitsu Corporation

Panasonic Corporation

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Olympus Corporation

Nkk Corporation

Nidec Elesys Corporation

Naoki Yamamoto

Kazuhiko Okino

Atsushi Takano

Takashi Iimori

Hisashi Niioka

Toshihisa Nakano

Makoto Tatebayashi

Hideshi Ishihara

Kazunori Miura

Motoji Ohmori

Natsume Matsuzaki

Goji Nakagawa

Seimi Sasaki

Shinsuke Higuchi

Tsutomu Soga

Masaaki Norimatsu

Kenichi Gotou

Satomi Ota

Masaru Murakami

Takuya Kinoshita

Noboru Sakamoto

Kazuhiro Tanaka

Hironao Hakogi

Noriaki Mizuguchi

Isamu Kazama

Shinya Kojima

Ken Nakayama

Hideyasu Kanemaki

Ikuo Taoka

Hideki Inoue

Masao Makiuchi

Yoshio Shimano

Takashi Kojima

Hayato Nagakura

Ryota Minami

Kyohei Kida

Shunjiro Takemori

Kazuki Harada

Yuki Takanezawa

Yoshiharu Tsuruoka

Daisuke Hatakenaka

Yoh Kuramoto

Nobuyuki Gotou

Katsuhiro Takemoto

Yoshito Iwata

Takashi Limori

Noriyuki Miyaji

Kenta Miyamoto

An endoscopic system includes a left optical system having a first focal position, a right optical system having a second focal position that is different from the first focal position. An image capturing device generates a first image and a second image respectively from images of a subject that are obtained by the left optical system and the right optical system. A display device displays the first image or the second image. A proper image determiner determines the magnitude relationship between the position of the subject in a predetermined area displayed on the display device and at least one threshold value Th is established between the first focal position and the second focal position. A video signal processor switches to the first image or the second image depending on a determined result from the proper image determiner and displays the image on the display device.

Endoscopic system

A drivable distance calculation device calculates a drivable distance that the vehicle equipped with the device can travel. The drivable distance calculation device includes a remaining battery capacity sensor which calculates a remaining capacity of a battery installed in the vehicle; and a arithmetic unit which calculates multiple power consumption ratios for different units of driving in accordance with variations in the remaining battery capacity calculated by the remaining battery capacity sensor and calculates the drivable distance based on the remaining battery capacity calculated by the remaining battery capacity sensor and a power consumption ratio selected from among the calculated multiple power consumption ratios.

Drivable distance calculation device and drivable distance calculation method

A circuit board includes a board, circuitry provided on the board that supplies electric power to a motor, a positive-electrode-side power source terminal portion connected to a positive electrode terminal of the circuitry, and a negative-electrode-side power source terminal portion connected to a negative electrode terminal of the circuitry. The circuitry includes a first capacitor connected to the positive-electrode-side power source terminal portion, and a second capacitor connected to the negative-electrode-side power source terminal portion. The first and second capacitors are connected in series between the positive-electrode-side and the negative-electrode-side power source terminal portions. The board includes a through hole, at least a portion of which is between at least two of the first capacitor, the second capacitor, the positive-electrode-side power source terminal portion, and the negative-electrode-side power source terminal portion.

Circuit board and control device

A vehicle management method is provided for managing an electric vehicle by using a management server based on vehicle-specific ID information that defines a condition of use transmitted from an onboard controller. The vehicle management method includes acquiring vehicle ID information from the electric vehicle by using the management server; determining the vehicle ID information to be valid if the vehicle ID information acquired falls within a use period set in advance and determining the vehicle ID information to be invalid if the vehicle ID information acquired falls outside a use period set in advance; and applying a prescribed limitation to charging of a battery of the electric vehicle having the vehicle ID information upon determining that the vehicle ID information is invalid.

Vehicle management method and vehicle management device

A vehicle power supply device including a battery and mounted in a vehicle capable of traveling by using a motor as a drive source includes an external charging terminal used to charge the battery from an external power supply or an external charger; an external output terminal used to discharge the battery to supply electricity from the battery to an electric device; and a mark display unit configured to display a charging mark indicating that the battery is being charged and a discharging mark indicating that the battery is being discharged to supply electricity to the electric device. The charging mark and the discharging mark each have a shape resembling a plug and respectively include terminals pointing in opposite directions.

Vehicle power supply device

Magnetic readers that read magnetic data which is recorded on a magnetic card and a flexible cable that transfers each of the signals from the magnetic readers to a signal processing circuit side are included, branch portions that are branched off from a main body of the flexible cable and are connected to the magnetic readers, respectively, are provided in the flexible cable, the branch portions have first and second main-body portion side end portions, respectively, that extend in parallel to each other along a card sliding passage, and the main-body portion has a branch portion side end portion that intersects the card sliding passage and extends.

Magnetic card reader and transaction terminal device having the same

A vehicle power supply device includes: a plug socket to supply an external device with electrical power; and an external output switch configured to be switched between an on state in which the electrical power is supplied from a battery to the plug socket and an off state in which the supply of the electrical power is stopped. In a case where the external output switch is in the on state, when the vehicle transitions from a ready mode to an OFF mode, the switch control unit sets the external output switch to the off state along with the transition, and when the vehicle transitions from an ACC mode or an ON mode to the OFF mode, the switch control unit maintains the on state of the external output switch.

Provided is a battery temperature control device configured to automatically heat a battery with a battery-driven heater so that the battery does not freeze at a minimum electric power consumption when the battery is out of use. The battery temperature control device predicts, based on a combination of a battery temperature and an outside air temperature, a predictive time that the battery temperature is likely to be less than a first set temperature, while the battery temperature is higher than or equal to the first set temperature at which there is no risk of freezing, and sets the predictive time as the next controller startup time, and determines whether or not the battery temperature has fallen to below the first set temperature with a control program wakeup when the predictive time has expired, and battery-drives the heater when the battery temperature fall has occurred, to heat the battery.

Battery temperature control device

The light reception unit is disposed behind each of a plurality of light sources that emits signal lights having mutually different wavelengths in a forward direction and receives a backlight emitted backward from each of the light sources. The synchronizing signal generation unit generates a synchronizing signal serving as an electric signal synchronized in phase with a drive signal for driving each of the light sources. The multiplication unit multiplies the synchronizing signal and a light reception signal serving as an electric signal obtained by receiving the backlight by the light reception unit. The light power detection unit detects power of the signal light by multiplying an integrated value of a multiplication signal obtained by multiplying the synchronizing signal and the light reception signal by the multiplication unit and a power ratio of the signal light to the backlight stored in a predetermined storage unit.

Photodetection device, photodetection method, and optical transmission device

When completion of timer charge before elapse of a designated time is designated by a timer charge reservation means for allowing a user to designate a predetermined charge time zone and a target amount of electric power to be charged to the battery, a timer charge start time is determined. Upon carrying out the timer charge, when it is predicted that the timer charge and battery heating are simultaneously carried out, a required amount of extension of a charge time period is determined so as to complete charge of the battery by the designated time, and starts charge of the battery at a time advanced relative to the timer charge start time by the required amount of extension of a charge time period. With this control, charge of the battery can be completed at a predetermined time without unnecessary enhancement in a required capacity of a battery heater.

Charge control apparatus for vehicle

At a timing of time tbattery temperature Tbat lowers to Tbat_start and a warm-up request occurs, SOC at this time is a level, like time t, which allows a vehicle to travel by itself up to a battery charging facility and allows a battery charger to be connected to the battery charging facility. Since a warm-up permission judging value is set to SOCs_low that is substantially 0 at time t, in response to judgment of 'SOC&#x2267;SOCs_low (&#x2248;0)', warm-up of the battery is carried out from time tas shown by a solid line, then Tbat can be increased from time t. A battery charge time can be thus shortened. With this, in order that the battery does not freeze while the battery is unused, a control that warms up the battery by a battery-driven heater is performed while shortening the battery charge time.

Even when temperature sensors () used in a device for warming a battery () being not in use by using a battery-driven heater () have failed, the battery () is prevented from freezing. Based on a battery temperature (Tb) and an outside air temperature (Ta), times (&#x394;tto &#x394;t) during which Tb will decrease down to a warming start temperature (Tb_start) are each set to the next controller startup time (&#x394;t). A controller () is started up every &#x394;t, at t, t, and t, and checks whether Tb&#x3c;Tb_start is satisfied or not. At twhen Tb&#x3c;Tb_start is satisfied, a heater () is battery-driven to warm the battery (). After twhen the outside air temperature sensor () fails, the outside air temperature (Ta) is set to a fixed value (Ta_const) and based on this Ta=Ta_const and the battery temperature (Tb), the above control is repeated. Accordingly, it is unlikely that the temperature information (Ta) from the outside air temperature sensor () that is at fault causes &#x394;t to become extremely long like &#x221e;, so that it is avoided that the heater () cannot be operated because the controller () cannot be started up and the battery () freezes.

When a timer charge time zone is set by a timer charge reservation means for allowing a user to designate a predetermined timer charge time zone and a target charge amount, and timer charge is carried out from a timer charge start time previously designated, it is judged whether or not the timer charge start time should be advanced, at a time earlier by a predetermined time period than the timer charge start time. Owing to the judgment, charge of a battery can be completed at a predetermined time without enhancing a required capacity of a heater.

A charge control device is configured to delay a charge suspension time if a battery is being heated by a battery heater when carrying out a timed charge in a charge time slot specified by a user via an interface device. This enables the battery to be charged to a target charge amount without increasing a required capacity of the battery heater.

Charge control device for vehicle

Growing community of inventors

Kawasaki, Japan

Naoki Yamamoto