3491 results about "Moving body" patented technology

An apparatus in a total knee replacement and arthroplasty operation for measuring a joint gap and ligament balance between a osteotomized surface at a femoral distal end and a osteotomized surface at a tibial proximal end. The apparatus is provided with a base 10, from which an engaging plate 14 extends by way of an arm, so that the engaging plate 14 contacts with the osteotomized surface at the tibial proximal end. A moving body 18 is vertically movably connected to the base 10, from which moving body 18 an arm 20 extends, to which arm a supporting plate 22 is rotatably mounted about a central axis. The supporting plate 22 has, at its top surface, a projected portion 48. to which an auxiliary guiding piece 50 is connected under a snap like fitted manner. A femoral component 52 is mounted, at its groove portion 54, to the osteotomized surface at the femoral distal end. The engaging plate 14 as well as the supporting plate 22 are under an offset arrangement with respect to the base and moving body, respectively.

An application of rate gyros and accelerometers allows electronic measurement of the motion of a rigid or semi-rigid body, such as a body associated with sporting equipment including a fly rod during casting, a baseball bat, a tennis racquet or a golf club during swinging. For instance, data can be collected by one gyro according to the present invention is extremely useful in analyzing the motion of a fly rod during fly casting instruction, and can also be used during the research, development and design phases of fly casting equipment including fly rods and fly lines. Similarly, data collected by three gyros and three accelerometers is extremely useful in analyzing the three dimensional motion of other sporting equipment such as baseball bats, tennis racquets and golf clubs. This data can be used to support instruction as well as design of the sporting equipment.

An intensity distribution of an electric field of a high frequency power used for generating plasma is controlled by using an electrode made of a homogeneous material and a moving body. There is provided a plasma processing apparatus for introducing a processing gas into an evacuable processing chamber 100 and generating plasma by a high frequency power and performing a plasma process on a wafer W by the plasma. The plasma processing apparatus includes a dielectric base 105a having a multiple number of fine holes A; a varying member 200 as the moving body provided with a multiple number of rod-shaped members B capable of being inserted into and separated from the fine holes A; and a driving mechanism 215 configured to drive the varying member 200 to allow the rod-shaped members B to be inserted into and separated from the fine holes A.

An electronic scanning type radar device mounted on a moving body includes: a transmission unit transmitting a transmission wave; a reception unit comprising a plurality of antennas receiving a reflection wave of the transmission wave from a target; a beat signal generation unit generating a beat signal from the transmission wave and the reflection wave; a frequency resolution processing unit frequency computing a complex number data; a target detection unit detecting an existence of the target; a correlation matrix computation unit computing a correlation matrix from each of a complex number data of a detected beat frequency; a target consolidation processing unit linking the target in a present detection cycle and a past detection cycle; a correlation matrix filtering unit generating an averaged correlation matrix by weighted averaging a correlation matrix of a target in the present detection cycle and a correlation matrix of a related target in the past detection cycle; and a direction detection unit computing an arrival direction of the reflection wave based on the averaged correlation matrix.

The present invention is directed to a visual mobility assist device which provides a conformal, augmented display to assist a moving body. When the moving body is a motor vehicle, for instance (although it can be substantially any other body), the present invention assists the driver in either lane keeping or collision avoidance, or both. The system can display objects such as lane boundaries, targets, other navigational and guidance elements or objects, or a variety of other indicators, in proper perspective, to assist the driver.

A system whereby a magnetic tip attached to a surgical tool is detected, displayed and positioned. A Virtual Tip serves as an operator control. Movement of the operator control produces corresponding movement of the magnetic tip inside the patient's body. Additionally, the control provides tactile feedback to the operator's hand in the appropriate axis or axes if the magnetic tip encounters an obstacle. The output of the control combined with the magnetic tip position and orientation feedback allows a servo system to control the external magnetic field by pulse width modulating the positioning electromagnet. Data concerning the dynamic position of a moving body part such as a beating heart offsets the servo systems response in such a way that the magnetic tip, and hence the secondary tool is caused to move in unison with the moving body part.

A system whereby a magnetic tip attached to a surgical tool is detected, displayed and influenced positionally so as to allow diagnostic and therapeutic procedures to be performed rapidly, accurately, simply, and intuitively is described. The tools that can be so equipped include catheters, guidewires, and secondary tools such as lasers and balloons, in addition biopsy needles, endoscopy probes, and similar devices. The magnetic tip allows the position and orientation of the tip to be determined without the use of x-rays by analyzing a magnetic field. The magnetic tip further allows the tool tip to be pulled, pushed, turned, and forcefully held in the desired position by applying an appropriate magnetic field external to the patient's body. A Virtual Tip serves as an operator control. Movement of the operator control produces corresponding movement of the magnetic tip inside the patient's body. Additionally, the control provides tactile feedback to the operator's hand in the appropriate axis or axes if the magnetic tip encounters an obstacle. The output of the control combined with the magnetic tip position and orientation feedback allows a servo system to control the external magnetic field by pulse width modulating the positioning electromagnet. Data concerning the dynamic position of a moving body part such as a beating heart offsets the servo systems response in such a way that the magnetic tip, and hence the secondary tool is caused to move in unison with the moving body part. The tip position and orientation information and the dynamic body part position information are also utilized to provide a display that allows three dimensional viewing of the magnetic tip position and orientation relative to the body part.

An object of the present invention is to provide a charging system which carries out position confirmation of a moving body at a place where there is a radio wave blocked facility, and which carries out automatic detection of GPS antenna blockage for avoiding charging. In a charging system including a GPS positioning device 921 for recognizing a vehicle position, a vehicle speed pulse measuring device 920 for dead reckoning navigating, a monitor device 920, 927, 928 which generates information expressing a current position by using these, and a charging processing 902 which judges whether or not a recognized current position is within a charge area and which carries out data processing for charging, the monitor 920 includes a simple map database 928 which includes positions of facilities or geographical features at which GPS positioning is impossible, and when GPS positioning is impossible, the facility or geographical feature corresponding to the current position is detected, and that position is made to be a current position.

An apparatus in a total knee replacement and arthroplasty operation for measuring a joint gap and ligament balance between a osteotomized surface at a femoral distal end and a osteotomized surface at a tibial proximal end. The apparatus is provided with a base 10, from which an engaging plate 14 extends by way of an arm, so that the engaging plate 14 contacts with the osteotomized surface at the tibial proximal end. A moving body 18 is vertically movably connected to the base 10, from which moving body 18 an arm 20 extends, to which arm a supporting plate 22 is rotatably mounted about a central axis. The supporting plate 22 has, at its top surface, a projected portion 48. to which an auxiliary guiding piece 50 is connected under a snap like fitted manner. A femoral component 52 is mounted, at its groove portion 54, to the osteotomized surface at the femoral distal end. The engaging plate 14 as well as the supporting plate 22 are under an offset arrangement with respect to the base and moving body, respectively.

A system whereby a magnetic tip attached to a surgical tool is detected, displayed and influenced positionally so as to allow diagnostic and therapeutic procedures to be performed rapidly, accurately, simply, and intuitively is described. The tools that can be so equipped include catheters, guidewires, and secondary tools such as lasers and balloons, in addition biopsy needles, endoscopy probes, and similar devices. The magnetic tip allows the position and orientation of the tip to be determined without the use of x-rays by analyzing a magnetic field. The magnetic tip further allows the tool tip to be pulled, pushed, turned, and forcefully held in the desired position by applying an appropriate magnetic field external to the patient's body. A Virtual Tip serves as an operator control. Movement of the operator control produces corresponding movement of the magnetic tip inside the patient's body. Additionally, the control provides tactile feedback to the operator's hand in the appropriate axis or axes if the magnetic tip encounters an obstacle. The output of the control combined with the magnetic tip position and orientation feedback allows a servo system to control the external magnetic field by pulse width modulating the positioning electromagnet. Data concerning the dynamic position of a moving body part such as a beating heart offsets the servo systems response in such a way that the magnetic tip, and hence the secondary tool is caused to move in unison with the moving body part. The tip position and orientation information and the dynamic body part position information are also utilized to provide a display that allows three dimensional viewing of the magnetic tip position and orientation relative to the body part.

A device for measuring a motion of a moving electrically conducting body is disclosed. A magnetic field generated by, for example, electromagnets or permanent magnets, penetrates at least a partial area of the moving body. Two or more measuring devices are arranged outside the magnetic field to measure a measurement magnetic field that is induced by electrical currents in the moving body. The measuring devices are arranged essentially symmetrically with respect to the magnetic field generating means or the moving body. The measurement magnetic field represents at least one motion variable of the moving body. The measuring device is thereby no longer subjected to the temperature-dependent variations of the exciting field.

A drive unit drives a wafer table in a Y-axis direction based on a measurement value of an encoder that measures position information of the wafer table in the Y-axis direction and based on known correction information in accordance with position information of the wafer table in a non-measurement direction (e.g. Z, θz and θx directions) that is measured by an interferometer at the time of the measurement by the encoder. That is, the wafer table (a movable body) is driven in the Y-axis direction based on the measurement value of the encoder that has been corrected by correction information for correcting a measurement error of the encoder that is caused by a relative displacement of a head and a scale in the non-measurement direction. Accordingly, the movable body can be driven with high accuracy in a desired direction while measuring the position by the encoder, without being affected by the relative motion between the head and the scale in directions other than a direction to be measured (measurement direction).

A lancing device according to the present invention includes: a housing; a moving body movable relatively to the housing for forward movement of a needle; a driving mechanism for forward movement of the moving body; a hollow pressing portion at a front end of the housing for contact with a part where a puncture is to be made; and a pump mechanism capable of causing a vacuum to act inside the pressing portion. The pump mechanism is capable of adjusting the vacuum. The pump mechanism includes for example: a moving portion capable of reciprocating in a first direction and a second direction away from the first direction. Preferably, the adjustment of the vacuum is made by changing the number of reciprocations of the moving part in the first and the second directions.

The present invention provides a system for a moving body which enables a user to know a receivable broadcast station at the current position in real time and to select smoothly a desired broadcast station in a receiver even in an unfamiliar area. This system includes a broadcast station data memory that stores the channel data of a receivable broadcast station for each area, and a main processing circuit which is responsive to the vehicle's current position sensed by a coordinate computing unit for referring to the channel data and for showing the channel data of a receivable broadcast station at the current position on a display.

A lancing device according to the present invention includes: a housing; a moving body movable relatively to the housing for forward movement of a needle; a driving mechanism for forward movement of the moving body; a hollow pressing portion at a front end of the housing for contact with a part where a puncture is to be made; and a pump mechanism capable of causing a vacuum to act inside the pressing portion. The pump mechanism is capable of adjusting the vacuum. The pump mechanism includes for example: a moving portion capable of reciprocating in a first direction and a second direction away from the first direction. Preferably, the adjustment of the vacuum is made by changing the number of reciprocations of the moving part in the first and the second directions.

A method and apparatus for animating a synthetic body part. The 3D-animation system and method use a database of basic postures. In a first step, for each frame, a linear combination of the basic postures from a database of basic postures is obtained by minimizing the Euclidean distance between the displacement of critical points. The displacement information is supplied externally, and typically can be obtained by observing the displacement of physical markers placed on a moving physical body part in the real world. For instance, the synthetic body part may be an expression of a human face and the displacement data are obtained by observing physical markers placed on the face of an actor. The linear combination of the postures in the database of postures is then used to construct the desired posture. Postures are constructed for each time frame and are then displayed consecutively to provide animation. A computer readable storage medium containing a program element to direct a processor of a computer to implement the animation process is also provided.

An environment map building method and an environment map building apparatus can express the surrounding embodiment with a high resolution in the height direction in a manner robust relative to observation noises. The present invention provides an environment map building apparatus for building a three-dimensional environment map to be used for three-dimensionally determining a region allowing a moving body to move therein according to external environment conditions, which comprises an external environment conditions detecting section that detects external environment conditions, a three-dimensional map building section that builds a three-dimensional map showing the state of occupancy of a three-dimensional grid on the basis of the external environment conditions detected by the external environment conditions detecting section, a relative-to-base-plane height map building section that builds a relative-to-base-plane height map showing heights from a two-dimensional base plane on the basis of the external environment conditions detected by the external environment conditions detecting section, and a height map information modifying section that modifies the information of the relative-to-base-plane height map on the basis of the information on the three-dimensional map.

When turning right (left) at an intersection and crossing an oncoming vehicle lane, this system makes it possible to avoid blocking travel of or colliding with a moving body moving in the oncoming vehicle lane due to stopping in the oncoming vehicle lane, and to avoid colliding with a moving body after crossing the oncoming vehicle lane. Given two or more moving bodies present in the advancement direction on the path of the local vehicle, the external environment is detected before the local vehicle intersects with the path of a first moving body, which will first intersect the local vehicle path; if at least two moving bodies are detected, i.e., the first moving body and a second moving body which has a path in which the position of intersection with the path of the local vehicle is further than the position of intersection between the path of the local vehicle and the path of the first moving body, then a first intersection time, at which the first position of intersection between the planned path of the local vehicle and the predicted path of the first moving body is reached, and a second intersection time, at which a second position of intersection between the planned path of the local vehicle and the predicted path of the second moving body is reached, are calculated, and on the basis of the difference between the first intersection time and the second intersection time, the deceleration relative to the first moving body and the second moving body is changed.

A working robot arm and an object recognizing unit used for recognizing a moving body such as a person and an animal are prepared, and while an object recognized by the object recognizing unit is blocked by a shielding operation by the use of one portion of a robot mechanism unit, a job is carried out by the working robot arm so that it becomes possible to actively ensure a working space of the robot mechanism unit, and consequently to continue the job safely.

An environment map building method and an environment map building apparatus can express the surrounding embodiment with a high resolution in the height direction in a manner robust relative to observation noises. The present invention provides an environment map building apparatus for building a three-dimensional environment map to be used for three-dimensionally determining a region allowing a moving body to move therein according to external environment conditions, which comprises an external environment conditions detecting section that detects external environment conditions, a three-dimensional map building section that builds a three-dimensional map showing the state of occupancy of a three-dimensional grid on the basis of the external environment conditions detected by the external environment conditions detecting section, a relative-to-base-plane height map building section that builds a relative-to-base-plane height map showing heights from a two-dimensional base plane on the basis of the external environment conditions detected by the external environment conditions detecting section, and a height map information modifying section that modifies the information of the relative-to-base-plane height map on the basis of the information on the three-dimensional map.

The invention relates to a method of and a device for the formation of a three-dimensional image data set of a periodically moving body organ (11) of a patient (5) by means of an X-ray device (1) which includes an X-ray source and an X-ray detector (3), a motion signal (H, B) which is related to the periodic motion of the body organ (11) being measured simultaneously with the acquisition of the projection data sets (D0, D1, . . . , D16). In order to improve such a method or such a device, notably in order to improve the construction and to reduce the time required for data processing while keeping the radiation dose for the patient as small as possible and while ensuring an as high as possible image quality, the invention proposes to acquire the projection data sets (D0, D1, . . . , D16) necessary for the formation of the three-dimensional image data set successively from different X-ray positions (p0, p1, . . . , p16) which are situated in one plane, to control the X-ray device by means of the motion signal (H, B) in such a manner that a projection data set (D0, D1, . . . , D16) is acquired during a low-motion phase of the body organ (11) in each X-ray position (p0, p1, p16) required for the formation of the three-dimensional image data set, and to use the projection data sets (D0, D1, . . . , D16) acquired during the low-motion phase for the formation of the three-dimensional image data set.

A moving body measuring apparatus of the invention measures movement information of a moving body as an object to be measured. The apparatus has an optical member having a boundary surface on which light is incident, the optical member being adapted to transmit light entering the boundary surface from one side and to reflect light entering the boundary surface from the other side; an irradiation light source that emits light toward the optical member and irradiates light outgoing from the optical member onto the moving body; a camera that photographs via the optical member an image of light reflected from a reflection marker provided on a surface of the irradiated moving body; and a movement information computation portion that computes movement information for the moving body based on the image of the light reflected by the reflection marker and photographed by the camera, wherein arrangement of the irradiation light source, the camera, and the optical member is adjusted such that an outgoing angle of the irradiation light outgoing from the boundary surface substantially coincides with an incoming angle at which the light reflected by the reflection marker enters the boundary surface.

A lens driving device includes a moving body equipped with a lens and a driving magnet attached to the lens, and a fixed body that is equipped with a driving coil that forms together with the driving magnet a magnetic circuit and moves the moving body in an optical axis direction of the lens between a first lens retaining position and a second lens retaining position, and at least one magnetic member disposed adjacent to at least one of two end sections in the optical axis direction of the driving magnet. The moving body is retained at the first lens retaining position by magnetic attraction caused by the driving magnet and the magnetic member when energization of the driving coil is stopped. Accordingly, the driving coil does not need to be energized while the lens is retained at the first lens retaining position.

A path plan generating apparatus 10 corrects an RRT path plan that an RRT path plan generating section 22 has generated by processing based on the RRT algorithm, by a path plan correcting section 23 by processing based on the potential method. If the corrected path plan becomes a path plan with which interference between the mobile body 1 and an obstacle A is unavoidable, the apparatus 10 causes the RRT path plan generating section 22 to generate a new RRT path plan.

A drive system drives a movable body, based on measurement results of a first measurement system which measures the position of the movable body in an XY plane by irradiating a measurement beam from an arm member on a grating placed on a surface parallel to the XY plane of the movable body. In this case, because a configuration in which the arm member irradiates a measurement beam on the grating is employed, there is no adverse effect due to the drive of the moving body, unlike the case when an encoder system is arranged on a stage surface plate. Accordingly, it becomes possible to drive the movable body with good precision.

An apparatus and method for estimating a location of a mobile body and generating a map of a mobile body environment using an upper image of the mobile body environment, and a computer readable recording medium storing a computer program for controlling the apparatus. The apparatus includes: a landmark generating unit observing corner points from the upper image obtained by photographing in an upper vertical direction in the mobile body environment and respectively generating landmarks from the observed corner points; and a location and map operation unit estimating the location of the mobile body and generating the map of the mobile body environment from the landmarks.

An inverted pendulum type moving body subject to a traveling control in response to a traveling instruction based on an intention of a rider while keeping a balance, a manipulation mode is performed based on the intention of the rider and an automatic operation mode is performed without being based on the intention of the rider.The inverted pendulum type moving body includes a center-of-gravity position adjusting unit for adjusting a center-of-gravity position of the rider in accordance with a manipulation signal outputted from a control device. When an instruction for switching a control mode to an automatic operation mode, where a predetermined traveling control is performed without being based on intention of the rider, is generated, and controls a wheel drive unit in accordance with a traveling instruction based on the center-of-gravity position.

A movable-body navigation information display unit is provided. In the movable-body navigation information display unit, a driver can intuitively and accurately recognize a relation between navigation information and a real picture or a real landscape. In addition, it is possible to avoid a state that visibility of a caution-needed picture such as a pedestrian in the real picture and a real picture of a road construction site is inhibited by an image of the navigation information. An image data creating section (405) matches road shape data with a road shape model to estimate posture data. In addition, the image data creating section creates picture (image) data for accurately compositing and displaying the image of the navigation information in an appropriate position in a real picture (or in a real landscape) of a road ahead of a movable body, and displays the navigation information as a three-dimensional icon or the like. A picture display section (5) performs display based on the picture data.