ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,249,072, issued on March 11, was assigned to PANASONIC HOLDINGS Corp. (Osaka, Japan).
"Imaging device" was invented by Toshihide Mori (Osaka, Japan), Hirofumi Kanai (Osaka, Japan) and Yuka Yamada (Nara, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An image capturing device which captures an image of excrement is provided at a toilet having a bowl and includes a sensor unit including an image capturing sensor. A view angle and an attachment position of the sensor unit are set so that a detection area presumed to receive dropping excrement in the bowl falls within a view field of the sensor unit."
The patent was filed on Nov. 21, 2022, under App...