Patents Represented by Attorney Greenblum & Bernstein, P.L.C.
  • Patent number: 8167284
    Abstract: A second spiral spring is smaller than a first spiral spring and is housed in an open space in the center of the first spiral spring. A folded portion that is formed in an inner end of the first spiral spring and a folded portion that is formed in an outer end of the second spiral spring are hooked in a latch plate, under tension, that is cut and raised from a side. A receiving space is formed between the latch plate and an initial winding portion that starts winding in a curved shape from the inner end of the first spiral spring so as to house a tip of the folded portion of the outer end of the second spiral spring that is hooked in the latch plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Toyota Boshoku Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Masato Kuroda
  • Patent number: 8166705
    Abstract: A resin window includes a plate-shaped main body portion and a gear projection portion that is molded integrally with the main body portion so as to project in a thickness direction of the main body portion from a rear end portion of the main body portion. A part of a side face of the gear projection portion is surrounded by a gear-side guide frame for guiding the raising/lowering of the resin window. The gear projection portion includes a meshing gear provided along a vertical direction to mesh with a drive gear, and positioning members provided respectively on upper and lower end portions of the gear projection portion to abut on an inside surface of the gear-side guide frame. When the drive gear is rotated, the positioning members slide relative to the inside surface of the gear-side guide frame, and thus the resin window can be raised or lowered along the gear-side guide frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Jidoshokki
    Inventors: Yasushi Iimori, Kenji Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 8170115
    Abstract: A media processing method for performing media processing by causing a processor to execute plural program modules, including: a first step of controlling input/output of media data, determining at least one call time, and calling a second program module in a second layer at each determined call time, by executing a first program module in a first layer, the first layer being higher than the second layer; a second step of calling at least one third program module in a third layer, the third layer being lower than the second layer, by executing the second program module in the second layer; and a third step of causing the processor to perform data conversion on the media data, the data conversion being an element of the media processing, by executing the third program module in the third layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Kiyohiko Sumida, Kensuke Odani, Yoshihiro Koga, Takaharu Morohashi
  • Patent number: 8168444
    Abstract: A substrate having a channel portion in which a liquid transfers, wherein, even if the channel portion has no micro-channel interconnecting chambers, a liquid can transfer stepwise from one region to the next region according to the speed of rotation of the substrate. The substrate can be rotated about a rotation axis as the center, and has the channel portion including the chambers formed therein. The inner wall of each chamber has a first area including an area intersecting with a centrifugal direction from the center; and also has a second area placed at a position farther from the center than the first area, and including a surface intersecting with the centrifugal direction from the center. Further, the first area has a region for holding a droplet of a liquid provided; and also has a region where a contact with the droplet expands when the substrate is rotated, and that communicate with the second area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Nobuhiko Ozaki, Tomohiro Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 8169530
    Abstract: An autofocus camera having a face recognition function, includes a photographing optical system including a focusing lens group; an image pickup device; an autofocusing system which performs a focus search process, and further performs a focusing operation in which the focusing lens group is moved to an in-focus position that is detected by the focus search process; a switch which activates the autofocusing system; a face recognition device for recognizing a face image based on object images; and a controller which makes the autofocusing system set the focus detection area on a face recognition area at which the face image is recognized and makes the autofocusing system perform the focus search process and the focusing operation on the focus detection area regardless of whether the switch is turned ON when the face recognition device recognizes the face image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Pentax Ricoh Imaging Company
    Inventor: Naoto Nakahara
  • Patent number: 8168728
    Abstract: A polycarbonate diol comprising repeating units represented by the following formula (A) and a terminal hydroxy group. It is characterized in that 60-100 mol % of the repeating units represented by the formula (A) are repeating units represented by the following formula (B) or (C), the amount of the repeating units represented by the formula (B) is 10-50 mol %, excluding 50 mol %, based on the total amount of the repeating units represented by the formula (A), and the polycarbonate diol has a terminal primary OH ratio of 95-98.5%. (A) (In the formula, R represents a C2-12 divalent aliphatic or alicyclic hydrocarbon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corporation
    Inventors: Tetsuo Masubuchi, Eizaburo Ueno
  • Patent number: 8169346
    Abstract: An apparatus for processing digital input signals transferred from a plurality of circuit breakers includes: a plurality of signal input terminals configured to receive a plurality of digital input signals, which are generated from the plurality of circuit breakers and indicate an ON/OFF state of the plurality of circuit breakers, in parallel; a digital input signal parallel-to-serial converting unit configured to convert the parallel digital input signals from the plurality of signal input terminals into serial digital input signals, and output the converted serial digital input signals according to a control signal; and a controller configured to receive and process the serial digital input signals transferred from the digital input signal parallel-to-serial converting unit, and transmit the control signal to the digital input signal parallel-to-serial converting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: LS Industrial Systems Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Min Cheol Song
  • Patent number: 8171284
    Abstract: An encryption device, a decryption device, an encryption method, and a decryption method effectively perform encryption and decryption by using a packet type judgment result. An encryption/decryption device includes a packet reception unit that acquires a packet, a first encryption engine that is formed by hardware and encrypts or decrypts a packet; and a second encryption engine that encrypts or decrypts a packet by using software. The encryption/decyption device also includes a head data identification unit that judges the real time feature of the acquired packet according to the header information on the acquired packet, and an encryption/decryption process judgment unit that decides the acquired packet encryption destination or decryption destination in accordance with the real time feature from the first encryption engine and the second encryption engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Satoshi Senga, Toshio Oka
  • Patent number: 8169466
    Abstract: An endoscope system comprises a light source, a light sensor, a signal processor, a video-signal generator, and a switcher. The light source emits red light including a first wavelength, green light including a second wavelength, and blue light including a third wavelength. The light sensor receives the light of the light source. The signal processor obtains a red signal based on the red light, a green signal based on the green light, and a blue signal based on the blue light. The video-signal generator generates video signal based on the red, green, and blue signals. The switcher switches between a first switching state and a second switching state. The red, green, and blue signals are output to the video-signal generator in the first switching state. The green and blue signals are output to the video-signal generator in the second switching state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Hoya Corporation
    Inventors: Kohei Iketani, Hideo Sugimoto
  • Patent number: 8169720
    Abstract: A rear focus wide-angle lens system includes a first lens group, a diaphragm, and a second lens group, in this order from the object. The second lens group is moved along the optical axis of the lens system when focusing is performed from infinity to an object at a closer distance. The rear focus wide-angle lens system satisfies the condition 1.5 <F1/F2<3.0, wherein F1 designates the focal length of the first lens group and F2 designates the focal length of the second lens group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Hoya Corporation
    Inventor: Masaru Eguchi
  • Patent number: 8167975
    Abstract: A system is provided that prevents inhibition of adsorption of Hg and other heavy metals by activated carbon or other heavy metal adsorbent due to prior adsorption of sulfur trioxide (SO3) in an exhaust gas containing SO3. As it has been found that while SO3 is adsorbed, the adsorption of SO3 precedes the adsorption of Hg and other heavy metals onto activated carbon, a basic substance injection system is disposed along an exhaust gas flow channel at an upstream side of an activated carbon injection system, thereby attaining effective removal of Hg and other heavy metals from the exhaust gas by adsorption thereof onto surface pores of the activated carbon. The SO3 concentration after removal by basic substance conversion is computed from the SO3 concentration before removal, and the activated carbon injection rate can be controlled based on the concentration after removal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Babcock-Hitachi Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Jun Shimamura, Takanori Nakamoto, Toshio Katsube, Hirofumi Kikkawa, Hiroyuki Nosaka, Takayuki Saitou, Yoshinori Taguchi, Hiroshi Ishizaka
  • Patent number: 8170362
    Abstract: An edge-enhancement device for subjecting input image data to edge enhancement so as to generate output image data has an edge-component generator, a weighting processor, and an addition processor. The input image data is obtained from a frame image having a plurality of pixels, and the input image data contains luminance data. The edge-component generator generates an edge component of the input image data. The weighting processor applies a weight according to the value of the luminance data of each pixel to a calculated edge component of each pixel so as to generate a weighted edge component for each pixel. The addition processor adds the weighted edge component of each pixel to the input image data of the pixel so as to generate the output image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Hoya Corporation
    Inventor: Shinichi Takayama
  • Patent number: 8169307
    Abstract: To provide a vehicle rear-view mirror equipped with a display device, configured so that: a warning indication is easy to see from the driver and is hard to see from following vehicles and vehicles on the adjacent lanes; and when no warning is indicated, no discontinuities occur in the rear-area image reflected in the mirror and the warning symbol is unnoticeable. A mirror element 18 is configured by forming a semi-transmissive reflective film 24 or 56 formed of a dielectric multilayer film on the back or front surface of a transparent glass substrate 22. A dark color mask member 26 is arranged on the back surface of the mirror element 18. An opening 26a is formed on the mask member 26. A light-orienting tube 28 is arranged in such a manner that it protrudes in the backward direction of the mask member 26 so as to surround the opening 26a. The tube axis 28a of the light-orienting tube 28 is inclined in the direction toward the driver's viewpoint.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Murakami Corporation
    Inventors: Masatoshi Nakamura, Shinya Takayanagi, Atsunori Bandou, Yoshifumi Masuda
  • Patent number: 8170359
    Abstract: An encoding device 100 includes a quantization parameter generating circuit 111 that generates a provisional quantization parameter, a quantizing circuit 121 that generates quantized data by quantizing a signal to be quantized on the basis of the provisional quantization parameter, a binarizing circuit 131 that binarizes the quantized data to output binary symbol data, an arithmetic coding circuit 141 that generates coded data by arithmetic-coding the binary symbol data, a quantization parameter calculating circuit 112 that generates a suitable quantization parameter on the basis of a symbol amount of the binary symbol data, a code amount of the coded data, an upper limit of the symbol amount, and an target code amount, a quantizing circuit 122 that quantizes the signal to be quantized on the basis of the suitable quantization parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventor: Toshihiro Tanaka
  • Patent number: 8162400
    Abstract: One aspect of the present invention can include a connecting apparatus for rotatably connecting a first and second object member of a vehicular seat relative to each other having a first and second connecting member and a holding member. The first and second connecting member are integrated in a direction of matching disks thereof to be able to rotate relative to each other. The first connecting member is integrally attached to the first object member. The second connecting member is integrally attached to the second object member. The holding member straddles outer peripheral surfaces of the first and second connecting member to hold the connecting members in a plate thickness direction. The holding member is provided with an opening portion. The first connecting member is provided with a protruding portion. The protruding portion extends through the opening portion in a radial direction, and the protruding portion is attached to the first object member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2012
    Assignee: Toyota Boshoku Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Atsutaka Mitsuhashi, Hideki Uramichi
  • Patent number: 8166015
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method, system and computer program for management of paid advertisements displayed in response to a search query entered into a search engine. A vendor's inventory is discovered by reading from an inventory database. Search terms are determined for item categories in the inventory database, reading from fields of the inventory database. A user can specify additional or replacement search terms to be associated with a particular item. Advertisement sets are then created for items which are currently available or “in stock,” each set containing an advertisement corresponding to an item, the associated search terms, and a landing page identifier. The landing page displays search results from the vendor's inventory database, relating to the corresponding item category for that advertisement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2012
    Assignee: E-Channel Online Pty Ltd
    Inventor: Francesco Grasso
  • Patent number: 8165452
    Abstract: A BD-ROM on which an AVClip and a Java™ application are recorded. The AVClip includes a video stream and an audio stream multiplexed therein. On the BD-ROM recorded further are management information and the Mixing_On flag corresponding to the management information. The management information indicates a playback control of the AVClip that is to be played back when the Java™ application is executed. The Mixing_On flag indicates whether or not when a user performs an operation on the Java™ application being executed while the AVClip is under the playback control, mixing of the click sound with an audio output of the AVClip is available.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2012
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Satoshi Hashimoto, Masahiro Oashi, Tomoyuki Okada, Hiroshi Yahata
  • Patent number: 8162393
    Abstract: A headrest includes a base member assembled to a seat back; a support plate assembled to the base member by a link mechanism; a lock mechanism which operates along with the link mechanism, whereupon the support plate springs out, a return prevention mechanism configured to prevent the support plate from returning to an initial position by a load imposed during the support plate springing out. The return prevention mechanism includes a ratchet including a step at an outer peripheral surface thereof, and a stopper rotatably attached to the base member to be capable of engaging with the step of the ratchet. The stopper is provided to be switchable between a first state in which the stopper is urged in a first rotating direction to engage with the step and a second state in which the stopper is urged in a second rotating direction opposite to the first rotating direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2012
    Assignee: Toyota Boshoku Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Taiyo Otsuka
  • Patent number: 8163324
    Abstract: An extruded, directly expanded, high fiber reduced calorie food product, such as a ready-to-eat (RTE) cereal or sweet or savory snack, is produced at high production rates without substantial loss of extrusion functionality and extrudability by replacing a substantial portion of at least one flour with a gelatinized, enzyme-resistant starch type III ingredient or bulking agent as a reduced-calorie, high fiber flour replacer. The resistant starch type III ingredient or bulking agent contains an enzyme-resistant starch type III having a melting point with an endothermic peak temperature of at least about 140° C., and may have a water-holding capacity of less than 3 grams water per gram of the starch-based bulking agent. The total dietary fiber retention of the gelatinized, starch-based bulking agent may be at least about 90% by weight after the extrusion using a die temperature of least about 100° C., and a die pressure of at least about 150 psig.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2012
    Assignee: Kraft Foods Global Brands LLC
    Inventors: Jeanny E. Zimeri, Lynn Haynes, Allan R. Olson, Vijay Kumar Arora, Louise Slade, Harry Levine, Meera Kweon
  • Patent number: 8164839
    Abstract: An objective lens for an endoscope, including a negative front lens group and a positive rear lens group arranged such that an aperture stop is positioned therebetween, wherein the front lens group has at least a front-side negative lens and a front-side positive lens arranged in this order from an object side, and the rear lens group has at least a rear-side positive lens and a cemented lens arranged in this order from the object side, the cemented lens being configured by cementing together negative and positive lenses. The objective lens satisfies following conditions: ?4.5?fF/f??2.0 and 1.5?fRP/f?2.5, where fF (unit: mm) represent of the front lens group, f (unit: mm) represents a total focal length of the front lens group and the rear lens group, and fRP (unit: mm) represents a focal length of the rear-side positive lens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2012
    Assignee: Hoya Corporation
    Inventor: Sachiko Nasu