Patents by Inventor Masahiro Hirokane

Masahiro Hirokane 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).

  • Publication number: 20190385563
    Abstract: In a display device having a display panel including a plurality of scanning lines, a plurality of data lines classified into a plurality of groups, and a plurality of pixel circuits, a scanning line drive circuit that drives the plurality of scanning lines, and a plurality of data line drive circuits, each driving the data lines in each group, the plurality of data line drive circuits apply voltages to the data lines in each group in accordance with a plurality of latch strobe signals that change at timings different from each other. The plurality of latch strobe signals are generated by delaying a base control signal by times different from each other. With this, a display device that suppresses noise imposed on a voltage of the scanning line when a voltage of the data line changes is provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 2, 2018
    Publication date: December 19, 2019
    Inventors: MASAHIRO HIROKANE, HIROKAZU FUJIMOTO
  • Patent number: 9288859
    Abstract: As a result of being provided with an enable signal generating unit that supplies, to an LED driver, an enable signal that is dependent on a low state period of a PWM signal, it is possible to realize a light emitting diode driver circuit that can suppress a booster circuit starting up suddenly and an excess current flowing in a power source in the case where the PWM signal enters a high state (on state) after having been held in a low state (off state) for a prescribed period or longer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2016
    Assignee: SHAPR KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Masahiro Hirokane
  • Publication number: 20150296579
    Abstract: As a result of being provided with an enable signal generating unit that supplies, to an LED driver, an enable signal that is dependent on a low state period of a PWM signal, it is possible to realize a light emitting diode driver circuit that can suppress a booster circuit starting up suddenly and an excess current flowing in a power source in the case where the PWM signal enters a high state (on state) after having been held in a low state (off state) for a prescribed period or longer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 25, 2013
    Publication date: October 15, 2015
    Applicant: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Masahiro Hirokane
  • Patent number: 8952880
    Abstract: A display panel drive circuit includes a shift register constructed of unit circuits connected in stages. The unit circuits generate signal line selection signals, respectively, which signal line selection signals are made active for a respective certain period of time to form a respective pulse, and the pulses are outputted successively from respective unit circuits in order of ordinal number starting from a first stage until an end stage. In at least one embodiment, each of the unit circuits receive (i) clock signals generated based on a sync signal received from outside of the display panel drive circuit, (ii) a start pulse signal generated based on the sync signal, or a signal line selection signal generated in a stage different from its own stage, and (iii) a clear signal. The clear signal is made active in a case where anomalousness is included in the sync signal, and no pulse is outputted from the shift register until a subsequent vertical scanning period starts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2015
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takayuki Mizunaga, Hideki Morii, Akihisa Iwamoto, Masahiro Hirokane, Yuuki Ohta
  • Patent number: 8749469
    Abstract: A display device, in at least one embodiment, includes: a gate driver including a plurality of shift register stages each provided so as to correspond to each row, the gate driver outputting a gate signal for turning on switching elements in the each row; and a source driver outputting a data signal in accordance with an image to be displayed. For a row (first row) located at an outermost position from which scanning by use of the gate signal starts, a dummy line is provided. The dummy line is driven by a gate start pulse inputted into a shift register in the first row.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2014
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Akihisa Iwamoto, Hideki Morii, Takayuki Mizunaga, Masahiro Hirokane, Yuuki Ohta
  • Publication number: 20110267541
    Abstract: A display apparatus capable of reducing unevenness in color resulting from the viewing angle property of a curved portion of a seamless lens is provided. The display apparatus is provided with the seamless lens on the front side of a display surface. The display apparatus includes: a video signal input portion for inputting a video signal; and an image conversion portion for subjecting, for each horizontal line, of display images obtained from video signals inputted by the video signal input portion, those corresponding to a curved portion of the seamless lens to image conversion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 9, 2010
    Publication date: November 3, 2011
    Applicant: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Masahiro Hirokane
  • Publication number: 20110018845
    Abstract: A display panel drive circuit includes a shift register constructed of unit circuits connected in stages. The unit circuits generate signal line selection signals, respectively, which signal line selection signals are made active for a respective certain period of time to form a respective pulse, and the pulses are outputted successively from respective unit circuits in order of ordinal number starting from a first stage until an end stage. In at least one embodiment, each of the unit circuits receive (i) clock signals generated based on a sync signal received from outside of the display panel drive circuit, (ii) a start pulse signal generated based on the sync signal, or a signal line selection signal generated in a stage different from its own stage, and (iii) a clear signal. The clear signal is made active in a case where anomalousness is included in the sync signal, and no pulse is outputted from the shift register until a subsequent vertical scanning period starts.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2008
    Publication date: January 27, 2011
    Inventors: Takayuki Mizunaga, Hideki Morii, Akihisa Iwamoto, Masahiro Hirokane, Yuuki Ohta
  • Publication number: 20110001732
    Abstract: In at least one embodiment, each of stages connected in cascade includes a first circuit which causes a predetermined section in a corresponding one of the stages to be connected to a low-potential power source, the first circuit being constituted by TFTs, a first type of clock signal being used as a signal which is transferred to an output terminal of each of the stages so as to be outputted as an output signal, a second type of clock signal being used as a signal which drives the first circuit. With the arrangement, it is possible to realize a shift register circuit that is capable of further suppressing a shift phenomenon of a threshold voltage in each of the TFTs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 22, 2008
    Publication date: January 6, 2011
    Inventors: Hideki Morii, Akihisa Iwamoto, Takayuki Mizunaga, Yuuki Ohta, Masahiro Hirokane, Shinya Tanaka, Hajime Imai, Tetsuo Kikuchi
  • Publication number: 20110001752
    Abstract: A display panel drive circuit including a shift register including unit circuits connected in cascade, each of the unit circuits outputting a signal line selection signal, is so configured that: each of the unit circuits receives a clock signal nd either a signal line selection signal outputted from another-stage unit circuit or a start pulse signal, and the clock signal has a returned portion following an activation portion thereof, the returned portion including a first region that is sloped and a second region that is sloped more steeply than the first region. With the configuration, it is possible to realize a display panel drive circuit and a display panel driving method each of which (i) restrains an occurrence of a poor gate-on pulse signal, (ii) improves a pixel charging rate, and (iii) allows a clock signal to have higher frequency.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2008
    Publication date: January 6, 2011
    Inventors: Yuuki Ohta, Hideki Morii, Akihisa Iwamoto, Takayuki Mizunaga, Masahiro Hirokane
  • Publication number: 20100321372
    Abstract: Each stage of first and second shift registers outputs a scan pulse by transferring a clock pulse of a clock signal supplied through a first clock input terminal. A first transistor is provided in at least one embodiment so as to connect and disconnect a scan signal line corresponding to the individual stage to and from a low-level power source of the scan pulse, and the first transistor has a gate that receives a clock signal supplied through a second clock input terminal. Two clock signals supplied to the first shift register and two clock signals supplied to the second shift register are different from each other in timings of their clock pulses. This realizes a display device capable of curbing the phenomenon in which a threshold voltage of a sink-down transistor is shifted, while sinking the gate line voltage down.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 20, 2008
    Publication date: December 23, 2010
    Inventors: Akihisa Iwamoto, Hideki Morii, Takayuki Mizunaga, Yuuki Ohta, Masahiro Hirokane
  • Publication number: 20100325466
    Abstract: In at least one embodiment, a display panel drive circuit including a shift register including unit circuits connected in cascade, each of the unit circuits outputting a signal line selection signal, is configured such that: each of the unit circuits receives a clock signal and either a signal line selection signal outputted from another-stage unit circuit or a start pulse signal; and the clock signal has a rising portion which is caused by activation of the clock signal and which is sloped or a falling portion which is caused by activation of the clock signal and which is sloped. With the configuration, it is possible to realize a display panel drive circuit and a display panel driving method each of which hardly causes a poor gate-on pulse signal (which causes unevenness in electric potential during inactivation, for example.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2008
    Publication date: December 23, 2010
    Inventors: Yuuki Ohta, Hideki Morii, Akihisa Iwamoto, Takayuki Mizunaga, Masahiro Hirokane
  • Publication number: 20100238156
    Abstract: A display device, in at least one embodiment, includes: a gate driver including a plurality of shift register stages each provided so as to correspond to each row, the gate driver outputting a gate signal for turning on switching elements in the each row; and a source driver outputting a data signal in accordance with an image to be displayed. For a row (first row) located at an outermost position from which scanning by use of the gate signal starts, a dummy line is provided. The dummy line is driven by a gate start pulse inputted into a shift register in the first row.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 28, 2008
    Publication date: September 23, 2010
    Applicant: NISSHA PRINTING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Akihisa Iwamoto, Hideki Morii, Takayuki Mizunaga, Masahiro Hirokane, Yuuki Ohta