Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co., Ltd.

Keio University

Sumitomo Cement Co., Ltd.

Seiko Instruments Inc

Freund Industrial Co., Ltd.

Yasuhiro Takemura

Toshiharu Takesue

Masato Nakajima

Kazuhiro Mimura

Kei Katou

Isao Sato

Hirooki Aoki

Shuhei Yamamoto

Nobuyuki Kasama

Tadao Iwaki

Nagayoshi Myo

Yasutoyo Fusejima

Hisayoshi Kato

Tomofumi Nishiura

Junya Sato

Hideki Yamazaki

A swallowing function evaluating apparatus capable of quantitatively evaluating a swallowing function safely and repeatedly, which comprises a height variation detecting unitfor detecting a variation in the height of the surface of a throat from a predetermined reference position in the height direction in which a thyroid protrudes and an analyzing unitfor time-serially analyzing the variation to calculate an index for evaluating a swallowing function. The swallowing function evaluating apparatus can repeatedly detect the variation safely without radiating X-rays and can quantitatively evaluate the swallowing function using a calculated index.

Swallowing function evaluating apparatus

A 3-D shape measurement apparatus for grasping the state of an object with ease and accuracy is provided. The 3-D shape measurement apparatus includes: a first 3-D sensorhaving a projecting devicefor projecting a light pattern on a target area, and a (first) image capturing apparatusplaced at a first interval dfrom the projecting deviceto capture an image of the target area on which the light pattern is projected; a second 3-D sensorhaving a projecting device, and a (second) image capturing apparatusplaced at a second interval dlonger than the first interval dfrom the projecting deviceto capture an image of the target area on which the light pattern is projected; 3-D information computing meansfor obtaining external shape information on an objectbased on the shift of the pattern on the image acquired with the first 3-D sensor; variation information computing meansfor obtaining variation information on the objectbased on the shift of the pattern on the image acquired with the second 3-D sensor; and information composing meansfor composing the external shape information and the variation information.

Three-dimensional shape-measuring device

A condition analysis apparatus capable of grasping the condition of an object easily and accurately is provided. The condition analysis apparatusincludes a three-dimensional sensorfor measuring sampling-point-moves in the height direction of an objectexisting in a target area at a plurality of sampling points, and area definition meansfor defining an area where a plurality of the sampling-point-moves are in the generally same phase. The thus constructed condition analysis apparatuscan grasp the condition of the objecteasily and accurately. Preferably, the condition analysis apparatusincludes information output meansfor outputting information of an area including the area defined by the area definition means

Condition-analyzing device

A monitor which can detect respiration of a sleeping person without being affected by the attitude of the sleeping person or the indoor illumination light and can easily evaluate detected respiration quantitatively through image measurement. The monitor comprises means () for projecting a specified illumination pattern, means () for picking up the image of projected light continuously, means () for calculating inter-frame moving amount of the illumination pattern from the image of two frames acquired by the image pickup means at different times, means () for generating a moving amount waveform data comprising inter-frame moving amounts arranged in time series, and means () for detecting the movement of an object from the moving amount waveform data.

Body movement and respiration monitor

To provide a monitoring device which can detect conditions of a sleeping person reliably and which is simple. A monitoring device comprising: multiple independent distance sensorsinstalled facing different positions in a monitored target areato be monitored for measuring a distance to a monitored targeta calculating unitfor calculating changes over time in the outputs of the distance sensorsand a detection processorfor detecting changes in shape of the monitored targetbased on the calculated changes over time in one or multiple distance sensoramong the multiple distance sensors

Monitoring apparatus

Spherical granule, process for producing the same, and spherical granule preparations using the same

The present invention is directed to a method for recognizing and classifying one or more unknown patterns, such as letters or numerals, by comparing these unknown patterns to a set of reference patterns. The unknown patterns, as well as the reference patterns, are irradiated by a coherent or incoherent beam, and correlation outputs are measured which would be at peak value of an auto-correlation output or a cross-correlation output between the unknown patterns and the reference patterns. Membership functions are created for each of the reference patterns, and a membership value is estimated or calculated on the basis of the output correlation between the unknown patterns and the reference patterns. Based upon this membership value, the specific unknown pattern is determined.

Method of optical recognition and classification of patterns

An object of the invention is to provide a method and a apparatus for optical pattern recognition capable of accurately comparing and identifying a reference image accurately at a real-time even when the input image rotates or its size changes by being compared with a reference image that is a desirous target. The method and apparatus comprise the processes of; steps (6, 11) for independently obtaining a lower-frequency component and a higher-frequency component from a joint Fourier transform image 5 of the reference image 4 and the input image 3; steps (10, 15) for calculating correlation coefficients respectively from the lower-frequency component and the higher-frequency component; step (16) for obtaining a ratio of the respective correlation coefficients; and step (19) for identifying and comparing a correlation coefficient ratio of the two same reference images to be required with a correlation coefficient ratio obtained from step (16).

Method and apparatus for optical pattern recognition

A method and apparatus for identifying an object having non-specific outer boundaries, such as a leukocyte, includes a device for tracking, in two dimensions, the position of the object to be identified. An identification device for identifying the object tracked by the device includes a coherent light beam emissions source, a lens assembly to direct the coherent light beam from the source to the object to be identified, a detection device for detecting the light beam which is transmitted through the object, the detection device provided with a plurality of circular or semicircular coaxial sections, the center of which is at the axis of the coherent light beam in the plane on which Fraunhofer's diffraction patterns are formed. Finally, an identification apparatus is provided which uses the output of the detection device to provide various characteristic parameters which are utilized to identify the object.

Apparatus for identifying an object utilizing a tracking means and an

A method of obtaining a correlation between a pattern to be identified and a number of reference patterns by irradiating and displaying the pattern to be identified and the reference patterns on an optical display plane, thereby producing a complex optical amplitude distribution. This distribution is Fourier-transformed to produce a first power spectrum corresponding to the light intensity distribution of its Fourier transformation patterns. The patterns are again irradiated based upon the first power spectrum and a second Fourier transform is performed to produce a second power spectrum which is the light intensity distribution of the second Fourier transformation pattern. The area of this distribution is restricted by controlling the transmittance or the reflectance of each of the portions of the display plane.

Optical method for identifying or recognizing a pattern to be identified

An optical associative identifier is disclosed which is used to determine the closest match between an image to be identified and a plurality of reference images. The identifier includes a display area for displaying the various images, the display area additionally functioning as a spatial light modulator. First and second optical Fourier transform devices are included which are used to compare the reference images to the image to be identified. The output light intensity of each of the reference images is modulated in accordance with a two-dimensional intensity distribution corresponding to the correlation between the image to be identified in each of the reference images. Based upon a comparison of these output light intensities, a match between the image to be identified and one of the reference images can be made.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Yasuhiro Takemura