Patents by Inventor Chin-Wen Chou

Chin-Wen Chou has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7782303
    Abstract: A multi-direction input device for computers includes a directional wheel, a sliding member and a plurality of electrodes. The directional wheel has a rotational degree-of-freedom and two moving degree-of-freedom to be moved downwards, perform forward rolling, backward rolling and sideward moving thereby to connect corresponding electrodes to generate corresponding signals. In regular conditions the sliding member can be in cooperation with a movable contact to support the directional wheel. When the directional wheel is moved downwards the sliding member drives a corresponding electrode to generate a click signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2010
    Assignee: Zippy Technology Corp.
    Inventor: Chin-Wen Chou
  • Patent number: 7728815
    Abstract: A multi-direction input device for computers includes a direction wheel, a toggle mechanism and a plurality of electrodes. The direction wheel has one-degree of rotational freedom and two-degree of freedom to perform clicking, forward rolling, backward rolling, leftward moving and rightward moving operations. Thereby mating electrodes are electrically connected to generate corresponding signals. In normal conditions, the toggle mechanism and a movable contact jointly support the direction wheel. When the direction wheel is depressed, the toggle mechanism drives and connects a corresponding electrode to generate a click signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2010
    Assignee: Zippy Technology Corp.
    Inventor: Chin-Wen Chou
  • Patent number: 7683552
    Abstract: A circuit structure for a lamp set which includes a socket, a lamp assembly mounted onto the socket and an electrode portion. The lamp assembly surrounds a housing space inside to hold a power distribution dock connecting to the socket. The power distribution dock has a holding space to hold a power conversion element which is electrically connected to the electrode portion to receive external electric power and transform to starting power to drive the lamp assembly to generate light. The power distribution dock and the power conversion element are located in the housing space. Thus the total height of the socket is reduced and the lamp set can be shrunk to a smaller size.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2010
    Assignee: Zippy Technology Corp.
    Inventor: Chin-Wen Chou
  • Publication number: 20100068325
    Abstract: A pellet article forming apparatus includes a bottom mold and a top mold. The bottom mold has at least one forming cavity to hold polymer powder. The forming cavity has a first arched surface at the bottom that has an edge extended to form a first compression surface and an opening to hold a thrust member. The top mold is located above the bottom mold and has a second arched surface opposing the first arched surface. The second arched surface has another edge formed a second compression surface corresponding to the first compression surface. The top mold and the bottom mold are movable against each other to provide a compression force to the polymer powder held in the forming cavity to form a desired pellet article. The pellet article thus formed has a desired genuine spherical surface. Damage of the molds that might otherwise occur due to compression can be prevented.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 15, 2008
    Publication date: March 18, 2010
    Inventor: Chin-Wen CHOU
  • Publication number: 20100061789
    Abstract: A self-luminous keyboard with brightness-enhanced keycaps of the present invention comprises a baseplate, a substrate arranged above the baseplate, a plurality of keycaps coupled to the substrate and able to move up and down, a circuit board triggered by the contact of the keycap to output a signal, and a light emitting element. The substrate has a plurality of via-holes each corresponding to one keycap. There is a light transmission path from the light emitting element through the via-hole to the keycap. In each light transmission path, there is a light concentration member, and the light emitted by the light emitting element is concentrated by the light concentration member and then transmitted to the keycap. Thereby, the brightness of the keycaps is enhanced to be higher than the brightness of the gap between the adjacent keycaps, and the recognizability thereof is promoted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2008
    Publication date: March 11, 2010
    Inventor: Chin-Wen CHOU
  • Publication number: 20100039297
    Abstract: A keyboard with illuminating architecture includes a keyboard portion and a substrate carrying the keyboard portion, wherein the keyboard portion includes a plurality of pressing elements for receiving a pressing force from the user and inter-dependent mechanisms respectively under a force receiving surface of each pressing element for providing a moving stroke of the pressing element following the force direction, and the substrate has an assembling portion for assembling with the other end of the inter-dependent mechanism. Moreover, the surface of the substrate has at least one light guiding groove, which forms a light channel for transmitting light, and at least one inner sidewall of the light guiding groove is a light reflecting surface, so that the light in the light guiding groove is reflected by the light reflecting surface to the keyboard portion, thereby providing the pressing elements the brightness, and reducing whole keyboard thickness and thinning.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 15, 2008
    Publication date: February 18, 2010
    Inventor: Chin-Wen CHOU
  • Publication number: 20100039386
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a slim backlighted keyboard comprising a plurality of press members; and a support plate arranged below the press members. The support plate includes a first plane and a second plane interconnecting to each other optically. The first plane has at least one elastic support element corresponding to the press members. The second plane is on the opposite side of the first plane and has at least one light conduction groove. The light propagating inside the light conduction grooves penetrates the support plate and reaches the first plane to illuminate the press members. Thereby, the present invention can reduce the thickness of a backlighted keyboard and facilitate fabricating a slim backlighted keyboard.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2008
    Publication date: February 18, 2010
    Inventor: Chin-Wen CHOU
  • Publication number: 20100026528
    Abstract: A slim self-luminous keyboard structure comprises a keyboard unit and luminous units. The keyboard unit has a press plane containing a plurality of press members, and a baseplate is arranged below the press plane and supporting the press members. The luminous units generate light, and the light is conducted to a luminous space defined by the press plane and the baseplate to make the luminous space have brightness sufficient to enable users to recognize the press members. The slim self-luminous keyboard structure does not use a backlight plate. Therefore, the present invention can reduce the thickness of a self-luminous keyboard and facilitate fabricating a slim self-luminous keyboard.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 4, 2008
    Publication date: February 4, 2010
    Inventor: Chin-Wen CHOU
  • Patent number: 7628500
    Abstract: A luminous keyboard includes a cap which has a bottom lid with a first light directing zone formed thereon. The cap also has a first light blocking surface on an outer surface corresponding to the first light directing zone. At least one luminous unit is provided to provide light to the first light directing zone so that the light projects to the first light directing zone is diffused and blocked by the first light blocking surface, and finally projected to a keyboard portion to illuminate keycaps. The bottom lid replaces the light directing layer used in the conventional luminous keyboards. Thus the interior space of the keyboard can be shrunk to make fabrication and assembly of the keyboard simpler. The keyboard thus formed is thinner and lighter and suitable for mass production.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2009
    Assignee: Zippy Technology Corp.
    Inventor: Chin-Wen Chou
  • Publication number: 20090295725
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a scroll wheel module, which comprises: a scroll wheel; a displacement seat accommodating the scroll wheel; and a carry seat arranged outside the displacement seat. The displacement seat has a receiving member, which receives the scroll wheel and implements the displacement seat to move in the same direction as the scroll wheel moves. The displacement seat has at least one actuation member, and the carry seat has at least one instruction switch corresponding to the actuation member. At least one support member is arranged in between the displacement seat and the carry seat. The support member implements the displacement seat to move horizontally inside the carry seat, which makes the actuation member trigger the instruction switch to generate and output an instruction signal. Thereby, the assembling process of the scroll wheel module is simplified, and the volume of the scroll wheel module is reduced.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 2, 2008
    Publication date: December 3, 2009
    Inventor: Chin-Wen CHOU
  • Patent number: 7612307
    Abstract: A light directing structure for instruction switches includes an instruction switch, a control element coupled on the perimeter of the instruction switch that is made from a light directing material and has an installation opening to hold the instruction switch, and a circuit board which is electrically connected to the instruction switch and has at least one lighting element to emit light to the control element to enable the control element to generate uniform illumination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2009
    Assignee: Zippy Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Chin-Wen Chou, Tsui-Jung Su
  • Patent number: 7598940
    Abstract: An inverter for boosting rotational image displaying gain has a driving module to output a plurality of driving signals of the same frequency and same phase to synchronously drive a plurality of voltage transformation modules. The driving signals have a duty cycle consisting high luminance cycles and low luminance cycles. The driving module has a time sequence control means to code the driving signals that drive the voltage transformation modules as the high luminance cycles corresponding to the image display time of a front end display panel. The transformation time difference between the preceding image and the following image of the display panel is coded as the low luminance cycles. Thereby the rotational image displaying gain of the display panel can be enhanced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2009
    Assignee: Zippy Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Chin-Wen Chou, Ying-Nan Cheng, Ying-Chang Cheng, Chin-Biau Chung
  • Patent number: 7595847
    Abstract: An audio/video playback control system of liquid crystal display television (LCD TV) is provided to control an audio signal system, an image display system and a backlight source system of an LCD TV, and the control system uses an audio/video control unit to maintain an activated status in normal conditions, and the audio/video control unit receives a signal transmitted from an external control interface to determine whether or not to output an activate signal to activate the audio processing unit or activate the video processing unit and the backlight source system, or jointly activate the audio processing unit, the video processing unit and backlight source system, so as to achieve the digital control of the LCD TV and the power-saving purpose.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2009
    Assignee: Zippy Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Chin-Wen Chou, Ying-Nan Cheng, Chin-Biau Chung
  • Patent number: 7588338
    Abstract: A keyboard equipped with a backlight structure includes a keyboard portion, a bridge board and a base board located beneath the keyboard portion to form a light transmission space. The bridge board has a light channeling portion to channel light entering the light transmission space to the keyboard portion where light emission is desired to refract the light. The structure can be made at a lower cost and converge light to display the keyboard portion without illuminating the entire keyboard portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2009
    Assignee: Zippy Technology Corp.
    Inventor: Chin-Wen Chou
  • Patent number: 7590402
    Abstract: A power-saving clipping apparatus for wireless electronic devices aims to hold and anchor a receiver in a wireless electronic device. The clipping apparatus has a power-saving switch which is electrically connected to the wireless electronic device. The power-saving switch is actuated by the clipping apparatus to make the wireless electronic device to enter an OFF or sleeping mode when the receiver is in the holding and anchoring condition. Thus when the wireless electronic device is not in use it can hold and anchor the receiver and save electric power at the same time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2009
    Assignee: Zippy Technology Corp.
    Inventor: Chin-Wen Chou
  • Publication number: 20090189852
    Abstract: An index wheel having notations adopted on an electronic device to be freely rotated to generate signal command output includes at least an inner axis layer and an operation layer encasing the inner axis layer in a coaxial manner and movable together at the same time. The operation layer is made from a ceramic material and formed integrally by molding and sintering. The operation layer also has a graphic notation zone on the surface that contains desired graphics or texts. Thus the profile of the index wheel is more versatile and provides a greater appeal to users.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 25, 2008
    Publication date: July 30, 2009
    Inventor: Chin-Wen CHOU
  • Publication number: 20090107825
    Abstract: The preset invention includes a circuit board wired to connect at least one common terminal and a plurality of signal terminals to form multiple instruction switches and an annular click member. Each of the instruction switches has an elastic contact element built with a return force. The circuit board has a plurality of displacement portions. The annular click member has actuating portions corresponding to and engageable with the displacement portions such that the annular click member is movable up and down relative to the circuit board to form a normal position and an instruction generating position. When the annular click member receives a force and is moved to the instruction generating position, a contact depresses the elastic contact element to store the return force When the force is released from the annular click member it is pushed by the return force of the elastic contact element to the normal position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 30, 2007
    Publication date: April 30, 2009
    Inventors: Chin-Wen Chou, Tsui-Jung Su
  • Publication number: 20090107818
    Abstract: A light directing structure for instruction switches includes an instruction switch, a control element coupled on the perimeter of the instruction switch that is made from a light directing material and has an installation opening to hold the instruction switch, and a circuit board which is electrically connected to the instruction switch and has at least one lighting element to emit light to the control element to enable the control element to generate uniform illumination.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 30, 2007
    Publication date: April 30, 2009
    Inventors: Chin-Wen Chou, Tsui-Jung Su
  • Publication number: 20090096747
    Abstract: A method of rolling picture by using input device is disclosed. The input device has a housing and a rotatable component relative to the housing, and through rotating the component, an instruction signal for rolling picture being produced. The method includes steps of setting picture rolling, wherein the input device is set to have at least a first mode or a second mode for rolling the picture, in which each mode is set to have a picture rolling displacement which is corresponding to the driven picture rolling by the single instruction signal every time, and different modes have different displacements; and deciding the mode, wherein a standard value which is compared with the number of instruction signal generated per unit time for deciding the mode of the instruction signal is provided, and through the standard value, the instruction signal is decided to enter the first mode or the second mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 10, 2007
    Publication date: April 16, 2009
    Inventor: Chin-Wen Chou
  • Patent number: 7518839
    Abstract: An arc discharge protection apparatus operating in a current detection mode aims to prevent arc discharge caused by abnormal conditions in a high voltage output zone. The arc discharge protection apparatus has a current signal sampling unit to receive an arc discharge current signal generated in the high voltage output zone, an interpretation unit to provide a determination level to sift out an abnormal current frequency signal, a commutation unit to receive and rectify the abnormal current frequency signal and output an arc DC signal, and a touch control unit driven by the arc DC signal to output a trigger signal to stop operation of the high voltage output zone. Thereby sparking or burning caused by heat accumulation of the peripheral elements resulting from the arc discharge can be prevented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2009
    Assignee: Zippy Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Chin-Wen Chou, Ying-Nan Cheng