Patents Examined by Ali Zamani
  • Patent number: 6538627
    Abstract: The present invention provides an energy recovery driver circuit for the AC plasma display panel having an enhanced energy recovery efficiency with a short voltage rise and fall period. The energy recovery driver circuit comprises an energy recovery part interposed between the sustain driver circuits for the X1 and X2 electrodes and the other energy recovery part interposed between the sustain driver circuits for Y1 and Y2 electrodes, wherein X1 and Y1 electrodes are respectively defined as electrodes of a first and a second type of electrodes employed in the first AC-PDP cell group, and X2 and Y2 electrodes are respectively defined as electrodes of the first and the second type of electrodes employed in the second AC-PDP cell group. Thus the energy recovery circuit of the present invention utilizes the effect of reducing the load capacitance to a half of its original value, when two (2) loads are serially connected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2003
    Inventors: Ki Woong Whang, Jin Ho Yang
  • Patent number: 6531993
    Abstract: An active matrix type display device comprising: a substrate; a plurality of source signal lines and a plurality of gate signal lines formed over the substrate; a plurality of pixel TFTs formed over the substrate; a plurality of pixel electrodes electrically connected to said plurality of pixel TFTs; a shielding film (black matrix) formed over said substrate wherein said shielding film is floating; and a dielectric interposed between said pixel electrodes and said shielding film, wherein signals whose polarity is inverted per each of said plurality of source signal lines are applied to said source signal lines and the polarity of said signal applied to the respective one of said plurality of source signal lines is inverted per one frame period. It is preferable to form acoupling capacitor between the shielding film and a common electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2003
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Jun Koyama, Satoshi Murakami, Yukio Tanaka
  • Patent number: 6509887
    Abstract: An antiferroelectric liquid crystal display comprises: an antiferroelectric liquid crystal display element which includes an antiferroelectric liquid crystal that is sandwiched between a pair of substrates having a plurality of scanning electrodes and signal electrodes deposited respectively on the opposing surfaces thereof; and a light source which successively emits a plurality of different colors of light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2003
    Assignee: Citizen Watch Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shinya Kondoh, Shigekazu Takahashi
  • Patent number: 6507335
    Abstract: An apparatus which consists of a pointing device and a pad for supporting a portion of the hand. A connector is provided for connecting the pad to the pointing device such that the pad can be oriented at different angles to the pointing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2003
    Assignee: Logitech Europe S.A.
    Inventors: Stephan A. Von Ilberg, Peter Sheehan
  • Patent number: 6501444
    Abstract: In a plasma display panel, red, green, and blue pixels have the same voltage range for write discharges. The red, the green, and the blue pixels have first, second, and third data electrodes, respectively, covered with an insulating film. A red fluorescent substance layer is formed on the insulating film over the first data electrode. A green fluorescent substance layer is formed on the insulating film over the second data electrode. A blue fluorescent substance layer is formed on the insulating film over the third data electrode. The green fluorescent substance is smaller than both of the red and the blue fluorescent substance layers in thickness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2002
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuaki Yanagida, Masayuki Noborio
  • Patent number: 6496163
    Abstract: A memory type alternating current plasma display panel has two pixel blocks on both sides of a spacer wall, and scanning/sustain electrode pairs for the two pixel blocks respectively have the innermost sustain electrodes closer to the spacer wall than the associated scanning electrodes so as to increase an offset margin during assemblage of panel structures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2002
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Koki Iseki
  • Patent number: 6496170
    Abstract: A liquid crystal apparatus comprises: a liquid crystal device including a liquid crystal having a spontaneous polarization and causing a state change accompanied with a polarity inversion thereof within a response time. Drive means sequentially selects scanning signal lines each in a scanning selection period and applies data signal voltages to the pixels along an associated scanning signal line, wherein the scanning selection period for a scanning signal line is shorter than the response time for the liquid crystal at a pixel on the scanning signal line thus being liable to leave a remaining portion of polarity inversion to reach a desired state change, and the data signal voltage applied to the pixel is set to include a compensation voltage for compensating for a voltage decrease caused by the remaining portion of polarity inversion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2002
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Akio Yoshida, Katsumi Komiyama, Takashi Enomoto
  • Patent number: 6492979
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for discriminating against false touches in a touchscreen system is provided. The system is designed to confirm a touch registered by one touch sensor with another touch sensor, preferably of a different sensor type, prior to acting upon the touch (i.e., sending touch coordinates to the operating system). If the touch registered by the first touch sensor is not confirmed by the second touch sensor, the touch is invalidated. Thus the strengths of one type of sensor are used to overcome the deficiencies of another type of sensor. This system is particularly well suited to meet the demands of an outdoor or semi-outdoor application. In one embodiment, one or more force sensors are used as the false touch sensor and a projective-capacitive sensor is used as the position coordinate determining sensor. In another embodiment, a projective-capacitive sensor is used as the false touch sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2002
    Assignee: Elo TouchSystems, Inc.
    Inventors: Joel Kent, Geoffrey D. Wilson
  • Patent number: 6489932
    Abstract: A display device having an integral docking station to facilitate the display device to be used in conjunction with a palm sized computing device for applications executing on the palm sized computing device is disclosed. The display device includes a flat panel display, a display controller, a microcontroller, a docking station including a communication interface, and a chassis integrally housing the earlier enumerated elements. Together, the enumerated elements facilitate removable coupling of the palm sized computing device to the display device to allow the flat panel display to be used in conjunction with said palm sized computing device under the control of said microcontroller for applications executing on said palm sized computing device. In various embodiments, the display device additionally includes at least a selected one of a number of other I/O peripherals. In other embodiments, other extended I/O capabilities, such as storage media, keyboard and cursor control are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2002
    Inventors: Prasanna R. Chitturi, Sushil Shah
  • Patent number: 6489575
    Abstract: A position coordinates signal detecting circuit of a sensor panel is provided. The position coordinates signal detecting circuit of the sensor panel according to the present invention includes first through fourth resistors each of which has one end connected to one of the left upper-most edge, the left lower-most edge, the right upper-most edge, and the right lower-most edge of the sensor panel. First through fourth driving signal generators are respectively connected to the other side of the first through fourth resistors for generating a driving signal so as to drive the sensor panel. Analog switches receive first through fourth pairs of voltages respectively generated at both ends of the first through fourth resistors. The first through fourth pairs of voltage are multiplexed in response to first through fourth selecting signals to provide a multiplexed signal, and a differential amplifier for amplifies the multiplexed signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2002
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Do-youn Kim
  • Patent number: 6486856
    Abstract: In an apparatus for improving the contrast in a motor vehicle heads-up display, the windshield, as viewed by the driver, is dark-tinted in a specific solid angle. Information shown by the heads-up display is visible to the driver in this specific solid angle. Furthermore, important information is visible when viewed in the specific solid angle, while other less important information is visible when viewed from a straight-ahead direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2002
    Assignee: DaimlerChrysler AG
    Inventor: Oliver Zink
  • Patent number: 6486869
    Abstract: A cursor control method, and an apparatus and a memory medium which stores a program related thereto controls a position of a cursor displayed on a screen based on an input from a pointing device. The cursor control method includes the steps of detecting a present position of the cursor based on the input from the pointing device, and (b) controlling a moving quantity of the cursor on the screen based on the input from the pointing device depending on mask information which indicates a specific region on the screen and the present position of the cursor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2002
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Ichiro Nakano
  • Patent number: 6483494
    Abstract: Disclosed is a multistage charging circuit for driving liquid crystal displays, designed particularly to provide a multistage charging driving circuit for liquid crystal display, in which the pixels can be pre-charged to a determined voltage value before the next data are written by performing charge-sharing and pre-charge. Due to the fact that the voltage and the next data have the same polarity, the problems resulted from gray-scale voltage imprecision and latch up at the output can be prevented and thus high gray-scale precision and low power dissipation can be achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2002
    Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
    Inventors: Ming-Jiun Liaw, Ho-Hsin Yang, Yuh-Ren Shen
  • Patent number: 6480179
    Abstract: An image display device has an image display section including an insulating substrate having a matrix of pixels formed on an inner surface thereof and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the insulating substrate and a substrate opposing the insulating substrate. The image display device includes signal lines, driver circuits for driving the matrix of pixels via the signal lines, voltage amplifiers formed by polycrystalline semiconductor TFTs and each coupled between one of the signal lines and a corresponding one of the driver circuits. The signal lines, the driver circuits and the voltage amplifiers are formed on a surface of the insulating substrate on a side thereof facing the liquid crystal layer. A channel, a source and a drain of the polycrystalline semiconductor TFTs each are formed of a polycrystalline semiconductor film. A gate insulating film and a gate electrode are superposed on the polycrystalline semiconductor film in the order named.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2002
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventor: Hajime Akimoto
  • Patent number: 6473061
    Abstract: A PDP drive method capable of restraining the generation of contour noise and making to be high a brightness level. In the PDP drive method, discharging cells on the plasma display panel start simultaneously on a radio frequency discharge by row lines. Next, the radio frequency discharge, which is caused in each discharging cell on the row line, is erased by applying an erasing pulse corresponding to a brightness level of video to the discharging cells on a row line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2002
    Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Geun-Soo Lim, Woo Hyun Paik, Jeong Pil Choi, Eun Ho Yoo, Myung Ho Park
  • Patent number: 6473065
    Abstract: Methods of improving the display uniformity of an OLED are disclosed. In order to improve the display uniformity of an OLED, the display characteristics of all organic-light-emitting-elements are measured, and calibration parameters for each organic-light-emitting-element are obtained from the measured display characteristics of the corresponding organic-light-emitting-element. The calibration parameters of each organic-light-emitting-element are stored in a calibration memory. One method for creating the compensated video data-signal is by storing into the video memory the compensated video word that is calculated based on the calibration parameters in the calibration memory and by fetching from the video memory the compensated video word. An alternative method for creating the compensated video data-signal is by fetching from the video memory the uncompensated video word and by using the calibration parameters in the calibration memory to calculate the compensated video data-signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2002
    Inventor: Nongqiang Fan
  • Patent number: 6462723
    Abstract: There is provided a semiconductor device having TFTs whose thresholds can be controlled. There is provided a semiconductor device including a plurality of TFTs having a back gate electrode, a first gate insulation film, a semiconductor active layer a second gate insulation film and a gate electrode, which are formed on a substrate, wherein an arbitrary voltage is applied to the back gate electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2002
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Jun Koyama, Setsuo Nakajima, Naoya Sakamoto
  • Patent number: 6462724
    Abstract: An ON/OFF control signal 105 directive of turning ON in a transmissive display mode or turning OFF in a reflective display mode is output by an ON/OFF state controlling means 111 to a light source 115. The ON/OFF control signal 105 is also output to a data signal converting means 104, and the data signal converting means 104 converts a data signal 102 into a data signal 103 in synchronization with the switching of ON and OFF of the light source 115 so as to prevent positive-negative inversion of the display on a liquid crystal panel 114. A data signal potential supplying means 112 supplies a potential of a data signal based on the data signal 103 to a data signal line 113 so as to drive the liquid crystal panel 114.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2002
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yutaka Ozawa, Akira Inoue, Katsunori Yamazaki, Tsuyoshi Maeda, Chiyoaki Iijima
  • Patent number: 6456272
    Abstract: The invention is an electric reusable paper sheet that uses a pattern of conductive charge-retaining islands on the outward-facing side of the first of two thin layers used to encapsulate a Electric reusable paper substrate which interact with conductive areas in the encapsulating sheet. The second encapsulating layer may also coated with a conductive material, or made of a conductive material, and may or may not be patterned. The Electric reusable paper substrate and two encapsulating layers comprise a sheet of Gyricon electric reusable paper on which images can be written and erased repeatedly. The patterned charge-retaining islands of the first encapsulating layer receive electric charges from an external charge-transfer device. After the charge-transfer device is removed, the conductive, charge-retaining islands hold electric charge, creating an electric field in the electric reusable paper sufficient to cause an image change.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2002
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew E. Howard, Edward A. Richley
  • Patent number: 6456267
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display has pixels in domains surrounded by data signal lines and scanning signal lines. Each of the pixels has a voltage holding device for a positive polarity and a voltage holding device for a negative polarity, two lines of voltage holding interconnections which always apply a maximum voltage and a minimum voltage of a voltage applied to the data signal lines formed for holding the voltage, and a switching device for switching between outputs from the voltage holding devices. One time or more within one frame time period thereof, the switching is performed between the voltage holding device for a positive polarity and the voltage holding device for a negative polarity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2002
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideo Sato, Yoshiro Mikami, Makoto Tsumura, Tetsuro Minemura, Yoshiharu Nagae