Patents Represented by Attorney, Agent or Law Firm Matthew K. Ryan
  • Patent number: 6599090
    Abstract: A cooling device is provided for cooling the inside of a main body of an electronic apparatus. The electronic apparatus includes the main body having a movable bottom surface portion and a display unit openable/closable relative to the main body. The cooling device is characterized by including means for transmitting an opening/closing angle of the display unit, and means for driving the movable bottom surface portion in accordance with the opening/closing angle of the display unit transmitted by the transmission means, to enlarge the inner space of the main body, thereby cooling the inside of the main body. Another cooling device is disclosed, which includes means for sucking a first gas, means for discharging the first gas sucked by the sucking means, and means for sucking and discharging a second gas by the action of the first gas discharged by the discharging means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2003
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yuzo Ozaki, Yasuhiro Nakai, Takashi Sonehara, Shigeyuki Hokao, Motoshi Mizoguchi
  • Patent number: 6600718
    Abstract: The package mounted to a recording and/or reproducing apparatus with a disk-form recording medium such as a magneto-optic disk, etc. housed is formed with thin a sheet plate member such as a plastic thin sheet, etc., thereby enabling simplification of the construction and reduction of cost. In a housing container (3) equipped with a housing section (2) for housing a disk-form recording medium, a cover (4) formed with a thin plate member for closing the opening of the housing section (2) is joined to form a package (1). To the cover (4), a detaching section (7) is formed at a section opposite at least a part of the recording section of a disk-form recording medium housed in the housing section (2), and the detaching section (7) is detached to form an opening at the cover (4) when the disk-form recording medium is used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 1999
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2003
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Mitsuhiro Shimada, Atsuhiro Kumagai
  • Patent number: 6583595
    Abstract: A humanoid robot including upper limbs, lower limbs, and a trunk. Hip joints which connect the lower limbs and the trunk each possess degrees of freedom provided in correspondence with a hip joint yaw axis, a hip joint roll axis, and a hip joint pitch axis. The humanoid robot is a leg-movement-type robot which walks on two feet. By arbitrarily offsetting the hip joint yaw axes in a roll axis direction, the effects of the movement of the center of gravity occurring when the mode of use of the robot is changed are accommodated to in order to flexibly balance the weights of the upper and lower limbs. The waist is made more compact in order to form a humanoid robot which is well proportioned and which makes it possible to prevent interference between the left and right feet when the direction of a foot is changed. Accordingly, a robot which moves naturally and in a way sufficiently indicative of emotions and feelings using fewer degrees of freedom is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2003
    Assignees: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yuichi Hattori, Yoshihiro Kuroki, Tatsuzo Ishida
  • Patent number: 6570737
    Abstract: To perform ejection of a disk cartridge and head loading (landing) and/or unloading (takeoff) with a single driving source and prevent damage to a disk upon head landing and takeoff. A cam protrusion which is an outputting section of a geared motor is moved at a low speed and acts upon a head lifting mechanism by which, by rotation of the geared motor in one direction (CW direction), ejection of a cartridge is performed, but by rotation in the other direction (CCW direction), landing of magnetic heads is performed for head loading of the magnetic heads.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2003
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Toshiro Ota
  • Patent number: 6570696
    Abstract: An optical system and optical scanning apparatus can form a minute beam spot and big size images. The optical scanning apparatus deflects a beam with a polygon mirror, and focuses the beam on a target surface through a f&thgr;-lens, a cylindrical lens, and a cylindrical mirror. The scanning stroke on the target surface is longer than 500 mm, and the incident angle in the sub-scan direction of the incident light into the cylindrical mirror is 15 degrees or less. The ratio of the beam size DX in the sub-scan direction of the incident light into the cylindrical mirror to the distance DL between the cylindrical mirror and the target surface satisfies 0.03<DX/DL<0.06.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2003
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Optical Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Tetsuya Ori
  • Patent number: 6565371
    Abstract: A connecting device and a robot having a cover on a first connector half unit, usually covering first electrodes and turning so that first electrodes come out of electrode projection holes when a second connector half unit is pushed against said first connector half unit, resulting in a state wherein said first electrodes are covered up when said first and second connector units are not connected. Consequently electrical reliability and safety can be remarkably improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2003
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Hiroshi Watanabe
  • Patent number: 6563767
    Abstract: A recording and/or reproducing head which is small-sized and lightweight and which does not require focussing servo. In order to achieve this result, a head slider is mounted on a supporting spring movable radially of an optical disc. The head slider includes a base having a recording medium facing surface facing the optical disc, a head unit mounted to the head slider so that an optical recording and/or reproducing head will face the optical disc, a connecting unit for connecting the head unit to the air outlet side of the base, and connecting beams including electro-mechanical transducer elements. The electro-mechanical transducer elements of the beams are driven in response to the supplied driving signals to cause fine movement of the recording and/or reproducing head relative to the optical disc along the tracking direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2003
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Kanzo Okada
  • Patent number: 6559998
    Abstract: Provided is an optical scanning apparatus in which images are formed precisely on the target surface to be scanned with a plurality of beams and low manufacturing cost is realizes. The optical scanning apparatus comprises four light sources, each of which emits a beam, a collimator lens and a polygon mirror. Provided between the polygon mirror and the target surface, cylindrical mirrors to form images with beams on the respective target surfaces. The optical path, from the polygon mirror to the target surface, of the beams emitted from the light sources away from the optical axis of the collimator lens is shorter than the corresponding optical path of the beams emitted from the light sources close to the optical axis. Thus, even though the collimator lens has the curvature of field, all of the image spots formed with the beams are located just on the target surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2003
    Inventor: Hiromitsu Yamakawa
  • Patent number: 6554434
    Abstract: An interactive projection system for displaying an image on a planar surface includes a base, a projector, a convex mirror, and at least one support. The base is disposed on the planer surface. The projector is housed in the base. The projector has an image projecting portion that projects an image along a projection path away from the projector. The at least one support is connected to the base and supports the convex mirror at a position along the projection path so as to face the image projecting portion of the projector and the planar surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2003
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Eduardo A. Sciammarella, Haruo Oba
  • Patent number: 6533421
    Abstract: A projection apparatus including an optical unit for magnifying and projecting an image by using light of a light source and a reflecting member for reflecting the projected image from the optical unit. This projected image is reflected by the reflecting member onto a rear surface of a screen. The projection apparatus further includes a housing containing the light source and which has a plurality of housing surfaces and an air exhausting member for discharging interior heat of the housing with the air exhausting member including an air passage. First and second aperture sections are provided on different housing surfaces from each other for exhausting air from the housing. These first and second aperture sections communicate with the same air passage but are respectively exhausting air from the same air passage in generally perpendicular air path directions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2003
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Hiroyuki Ono
  • Patent number: 6517654
    Abstract: Fiber-reinforced semi-finished articles made of thermoplastics of medium to high viscosity and a process for their production. To produce a fiber-reinforced composite material, a multiplicity of continuous filaments having single-filament diameters of 7 to 30 micrometers are arranged in parallel in the form of a band and tensioned, and the filament band is wetted by a thermoplastic polymer melt in a melt pultrusion process. In this process, the filament band is pulled over at least two heated spreader surfaces. The viscosity of the melt, measured at low shearing rates, is 105 to 2500 Pa·s. The tension upon entering the first spreader surface is 5 N to 50 N per 4000 single filaments, and the speed of the filament band is at least 3 m/min.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 1997
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2003
    Inventors: Horst Heckel, Detlef Skaletz, Bruno Wagner, Joachim Heydweiller
  • Patent number: 6515830
    Abstract: A main cartridge body unit is to be reduced in size and thickness to reliably protect a disc-shaped recording medium. To this end, a disc cartridge includes a disc-shaped recording medium 5, a main cartridge body unit 6 including an upper plate 21 and a lower plate 22, both of a metal material, forming a plate pair, and an intermediate frame 23, sandwiched between the upper and lower plates 21, 22, and an upper liner sheet 101 and a lower liner sheet 110, forming a set of liner sheets, bonded to inner surfaces of the upper and lower plates 21, 22 for protecting the disc-shaped recording medium 5. The disc-shaped recording medium 5 is accommodated in the main cartridge body unit 6.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2003
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Hiroshi Meguro
  • Patent number: 6512491
    Abstract: In an antenna device and its assembly method as well as a wireless communication terminal and its assembly method, an antenna element is held in an antenna holding member. A circuit board formed with an electrode to supply power to the antenna element is held on a board holding member. The antenna element and the electrode of the circuit board are electrically connected each other by means of a connection member having elasticity by fixing the antenna holding member on the board holding member. This enables the antenna holding member to be fixed on the board holding member easily because the antenna element is held in the antenna holding member in advance, and concurrently the antenna element can be electrically connected to the electrode of the circuit board by means of the connection member by merely fixing the antenna holding member on the board holding member, thus markedly enhancing the assembly of the antenna devices and wireless communication terminal units.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2003
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshiki Kanayama, Yuichiro Saito
  • Patent number: 6496332
    Abstract: A head slider for a flexible magnetic disk has a magnetic pole pad including a magnetic head buried in the pad and being disposed on a surface of the head slider opposed to the flexible magnetic disk, and the magnetic head performs the recording of a signal on the flexible magnetic disk or the reproducing of the signal from the flexible magnetic disk in a state that the pad contacts the flexible magnetic disk rotating at a relative speed of 0 m/s to 25.0 m/s to the magnetic head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2002
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Daido Tokushuko Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yutaka Okazaki, Naoto Kojima, Hiroyuki Ryoson, Kazuo Goto
  • Patent number: D475125
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2003
    Assignee: American Standard Inc.
    Inventor: Marin Marinov
  • Patent number: D475127
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2003
    Assignee: American Standard Inc.
    Inventors: Sean W. Svendsen, Michael J. Painter, Sherry Lynn Jones, Christopher P. Marks, Paul P. Kolada
  • Patent number: D475128
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2003
    Assignee: American Standard Inc.
    Inventors: Sean W. Svendsen, Michael J. Painter, Sherry Lynn Jones, Christopher P. Marks, Paul P. Kolada
  • Patent number: D475771
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2003
    Assignee: American Standard Companies
    Inventors: Sean W. Svendsen, Michael J. Painter, Sherry Lynn Jones, Christopher P. Marks, Paul P. Kolada
  • Patent number: D477656
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2003
    Assignee: American Standard Inc.
    Inventors: Sean W. Svendsen, Michael J. Painter, Christopher P. Marks, Paul P. Kolada
  • Patent number: D478189
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2003
    Inventor: Wen-Cheng Sheng