Patents Examined by Jessie Ruoff
  • Patent number: 4818859
    Abstract: A low profile opto-device panel assembly suitable for use in an input detection apparatus used as an input device in conjunction with a visual display is disclosed. Arrays of light emitting devices and light detecting devices are juxtaposed along the internal edge of a peripheral frame printed circuit board to reduce the overall height of the panel assembly. Alignment housings surrounding each of the arrays of opto-devices are attached to the printed circuit board and extend inwardly of the sides of the peripheral frame printed circuit board. The opto-devices disposed in the alignment housings along the internal edge of the printed circuit boards are mechanically and electrically interconnected to the printed circuit board by bent leads which extend along the upper surface of the printed circuit board and into conventional printed circuit board holes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 1987
    Date of Patent: April 4, 1989
    Assignee: Carroll Touch Inc.
    Inventor: Stewart E. Hough
  • Patent number: 4808833
    Abstract: An image sensor having first wires formed in parallel on a first region of a substrate; a semiconductor layer formed on the first region covering the first wires and on a second region of said substrate; first electrodes arranged in line, connecting to the semiconductor layer of said second region; second electrodes arranged in line and connected to the semiconductor layer of said second region, and second wires extended from the first electrodes, the second wires connecting the first electrodes to said first wires at through holes formed in said semiconductor layer. The second electrodes are formed as a common electrode, and each of the first electrode, together with a portion of the second electrode facing the first electrodes and the semiconductor layer forming a photo-sensing element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 1986
    Date of Patent: February 28, 1989
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Tamio Saito
  • Patent number: 4806777
    Abstract: Device for the contact-free measurement of a distance from a surface, particularly for scanning the contour of a surface of a workpiece along a given measuring path, comprising a measuring body enclosing optoelectronic means for transmitting light to the surface to be measured and converting the light reflected by such surface into an electrical signal as a function of the distance from the surface. The measuring body is supported on a stand and is movable in the direction of measurement. The optoelectronic means comprise a focus position measuring system and an optoelectronic position scanning unit for scanning the position of the measuring body relative to the supporting stand.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 1987
    Date of Patent: February 21, 1989
    Assignee: Hommelwerke GmbH
    Inventors: Gerd Ulbers, Karl Hutter
  • Patent number: 4798963
    Abstract: The quality of rail wheels still attached to a rail vehicle or removed from the rail vehicle, is automatically monitored and measured for correction purposes as a rail vehicle or even an entire train passes through a measuring range. The measuring range includes auxiliary rails providing a running or reference plane, at least one diameter sensing device and at least one wheel tread profile quality sensing device. Both sensing devices can perform their function while a wheel or wheels are travelling through the measuring range. Signals provided by the sensing devices are supplied to signal processing and evaluating circuits which may provide a signal record and/or control signals for a wheel truing operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 1986
    Date of Patent: January 17, 1989
    Assignee: Wilhelm Hegenscheidt Gesellschaft mbH
    Inventors: Helmut Wittkopp, Helmut Gruteser, Wilfred Coenen, Walter Elschenbroich
  • Patent number: 4792694
    Abstract: A method of forming a three-dimensional stereo vision is disclosed in which, in order to prevent the erroneous detection of an object point in the conventional method using two image focusing lens systems, three image points of an object point formed by logically and/or physically selecting three image focusing lens systems and three image sensing surfaces from a multiplicity of image points on an image sensing surface by using the fact that a positional relation among three image points of the same object point is similar to the positional relation among the three image focusing lens systems, and the positional information of three selected image points on the image sensing surface is used for obtaining three-dimensional distance information of the object point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 1986
    Date of Patent: December 20, 1988
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Makoto Shioya, Motohisa Funabashi, Takushi Nishiya
  • Patent number: 4788439
    Abstract: A proximity sensing system and signal processing method are disclosed for detecting target objects from a movable vehicle while protecting against false target detection due to the presence of fog, clouds, or other aerosols. One or more target detectors are alternately disposed adjacent to one or more guard detectors so the edges of the fields of view are immediately adjacent. A collimated laser beam is projected away from the vehicle by a transmitter along an axis which intersects at an angle with the adjacent fields of view defining active areas in which the beam will be reflected from objects. Signals generated from any beam reflections to a target detector are made positive while signals generated by any beam reflections to a guard detector are made negative with respect to a threshold reference. The signals are summed in a differential amplifier and the resultant signal presented to a digital comparator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 1987
    Date of Patent: November 29, 1988
    Assignee: Santa Barbara Research Center
    Inventors: Arthur H. Hardy, Leland V. Gardner
  • Patent number: 4782224
    Abstract: In a light sensor with a housing (19) the light transmitter (17, 20) and the light receiver (12, 15) are arranged alongside one another. The received light beam (11) is deflected behind the front receiving lens (12) onto a photoelectric converter arrangement (15) via a deflecting mirror (14) which is pivotable about a transverse axis (13) and it is possible to change the sensing distance by pivoting the deflecting mirror (14).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 1986
    Date of Patent: November 1, 1988
    Assignee: Erwin Sick GmbH Optik-Elektronik
    Inventors: Klaus D. Haas, Thomas Meinert
  • Patent number: 4782225
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus comprises conveyor belts for conveying a plurality of supplied sheets one by one and optical detecting units for optically detecting sheets conveyed in the convey belts, and performs predetermined processing while the sheets are being conveyed by the conveyor belts. The apparatus further comprises cleaning pads, provided in the apparatus, for cleaning the optical detecting units and cleaning actuating units, provided in the apparatus, for actuating the cleaning pads to clean the optical detecting units.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 1987
    Date of Patent: November 1, 1988
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Minoru Hirose, Hideo Okuyama, Junichiro Hara, Hajime Watanabe
  • Patent number: 4779001
    Abstract: To align a grating on a mask with respect to an equivalent grating of a wafer in a photolithographic system where the mask is imaged by an imaging system onto the wafer, symmetrical diffraction orders (u.degree..sub.+1, u.degree..sub.-1) are focussed on the wafer grating and diffracted a second time to return colinear with the optical axis and to be deflected by a beam splitter to a photo detector. The intensity of the superimposed outbeams depends on the relative phase differences of the diffracted beams, and, hence, on the displacements of the mask and wafer gratings. The phase of the electrical output signal is determined by introducing periodic phase differences in the diffracted beams of the mask grating by a wobbling parallel glass plate. For simultaneous X-, Y- alignment, crossed gratings are used that operate on two pairs of diffracted beams. The polarization direction of one of these pairs is rotated by 90.degree.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 1987
    Date of Patent: October 18, 1988
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Guenter Makosch
  • Patent number: 4777360
    Abstract: A device which monitors the characteristics of an image cast upon a radiation sensitive substrate. This includes a shadow casting object or mask and at least one source of radiation disposed above the object or mask so that the image cast on the substrate can be analyzed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 1986
    Date of Patent: October 11, 1988
    Inventor: Don C. Carner, Jr.
  • Patent number: 4766309
    Abstract: A projection type exposure apparatus for projecting an original pattern formed on a mask onto a substrate, which comprises a projection optical system, a lens tube member for holding the projection optical system, an alignment optical system and a battle wall member disposed along the path of the projection light beam in the space between the mask and the projection optical system for shutting the space from the flow of external air.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 1986
    Date of Patent: August 23, 1988
    Assignee: Nippon Kogaku K. K.
    Inventor: Yoshihiko Kudo
  • Patent number: 4766310
    Abstract: A position measuring instrument, comprising a scanning grid, a scale grid and an illumination unit, is used to produce two sets of diffracted partial light rays. The scanning grid defines a grid constant and is formed by two scanning fields, constructed as phase grids, offset to one another in the measuring direction by 1/4 of the grid constant. The phase grids have a slat-to-furrow width ratio that deviates from a 1:1 ratio. The scale grid has the same grid constant as the scanning grid but has a slat-to-furrow ratio of 1:1. The grids cooperate with the illumination unit to produce diffracted partial light rays of several orders. An oppositely deflecting prism is allocated to each scanning field. A first and second set of diffracted partial light rays are generated, wherein the second set is opposite in phase to the first set. A photodetector is allocated to each respective selected order of the two sets of light rays to produce corresponding electrical signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 1986
    Date of Patent: August 23, 1988
    Assignee: Dr. Johannes Heidenhain GmbH
    Inventor: Dieter Michel
  • Patent number: 4751379
    Abstract: A photodetection type coordinate input device includes a frame having a substantially rectangular opening formed in the center, a light-emitting element array composed of a plurality of light-emitting elements disposed along each of the two sides of the opening of the frame, a light-receiving element array composed of a plurality of light-receiving elements disposed along each of the two sides which respectively oppose the first two sides, and a filter provided in a part or the whole area of the opening and adapted to transmit desired light alone. The opening of the frame is disposed in front of a display to form a plurality of optical paths by pairs of light-emitting and -receiving elements, respectively, in front of the display screen of the display, and a position at which optical paths are blocked is detected to specify a coordinate position on the display screen, thereby inputting the coordinate position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 1986
    Date of Patent: June 14, 1988
    Assignee: Alps Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroaki Sasaki, Kazuo Hasegawa, Junichi Ouchi
  • Patent number: 4740682
    Abstract: A precision optical tracking, stabilization, focusing, and information receiving system is described. This invention is designed to improve optical systems in two important areas. The first application is in systems that require both reception of information and target tracking using a single beam. A transparent pyramid with a truncated vertex (frustum of a pyramid) is used to split a beam into 5 parts. The central axial part is used as an information carrier, and the other four are used for tracking. The second application is for precise focusing. The light beam is focused onto the vertex of a frustum of a pyramid and the intensity of the central fraction of the beam, as compared with the side fractions, decreases as the focal point is moved away from the surface of the pyramid in either direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 1986
    Date of Patent: April 26, 1988
    Inventor: Michael Frankel
  • Patent number: 4704521
    Abstract: In an opto-mechanical scanner combining scanning and ranging functions the scanning beam, obtained from line-scanning means and frame-scanning means, and the ranging beam converge on a scanning detector array and a ranging detector, respectively. In accordance with the invention, the scanning beams and the ranging beams traverse an arrangement of fixed optical elements which are arranged to ensure that the beam each follow two different optical paths such that the ranging beam bypasses the line-scanning means. This ensures that the ranging beam has a fixed spatial orientation which is independent of the line-scanning means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 1987
    Date of Patent: November 3, 1987
    Assignee: U.S. Philips Corp.
    Inventor: Fernand R. Loy