Patents Represented by Attorney, Agent or Law Firm Price Gess & Ubell
  • Patent number: 6067400
    Abstract: A multimedia optical disc comprising a data area for storing at least one object that has sub-picture data and moving picture data, wherein the data area includes a plurality of small areas, each of which includes a first sub-area and a second sub-area, with the object in the data area being stored over consecutive small areas; the first sub-area stores the moving picture data having a certain time period and the sub-picture data being reproduced at the same timing as the moving picture data, the sub-picture data being a menu image which includes a plurality of buttons for showing menu items for display; and the second sub-area stores control information including button control data for responding to a user's operation applied onto a menu image reproduced in the first sub-area in the same small area and auxiliary control data for substituting the user's operation applied onto the menu.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2000
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shinichi Saeki, Kazuhiro Tsuga, Kazuhiko Yamauchi, Masayuki Kozuka, Kaoru Murase
  • Patent number: 6067196
    Abstract: A zoom lens system has the first and second lens units. During zooming from a wide-angle end to a telephoto end, the lens units are moved to decrease a distance therebetween. The first lens unit has a positive refractive power. The second lens unit has a negative refractive power. The zoom lens system is provided with at least one surface having a power to diffract light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2000
    Assignee: Minolta Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasushi Yamamoto, Yuichiro Ori
  • Patent number: 6062933
    Abstract: A manufacturing apparatus for a cathode ray tube attaches an electron gun to a neck of a glass valve while grasping the neck with a chuck apparatus. The chuck apparatus has at least three chuck members, a chuck member holding unit and an interlocking unit. Each chuck member has a neck contacting surface that lies on a single plane that is parallel with a central axis of the neck. The chuck member holding unit holds the chuck members so as to allow movement of the neck contacting surface of each chuck member from a periphery of the neck toward the central axis of the neck. The interlocking unit causes an interlocked movement of the chuck members so that the neck contacting surface of each chuck member moves with an equal displacement toward the central axis of the neck.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2000
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shinji Kasukawa, Akihiko Fukuyama, Koji Takahashi
  • Patent number: 6064890
    Abstract: In order to detect a base station for a call connect or handover in almost real time while a mobile communication apparatus is moving, the measured base station selecting unit 110 refers to the measured base station table 101 and selects a next base station to be measured. The measuring unit 111 measures the signal quality for the selected base station. The measuring result judging unit 112 compares the measured signal quality with a predetermined threshold and judges whether the measurement of the signal quality of the present base station should be continued or whether a switch to measuring a next base station should be performed. The periphery base station table updating unit 113 rearranges the content of the periphery base station table 102 in descending order of signal quality, based on the information stored in the periphery base station table 102 and on the averages of the signal quality measurements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2000
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takako Hirose, Yasunori Tanaka, Takayuki Hamaki, Jun Yamaguchi
  • Patent number: 6064769
    Abstract: A character extraction apparatus is provided for extracting character data for each character from a text image which is represented by first pixels corresponding to character images and second pixels corresponding to background images. The character extraction apparatus comprises a character row detecting means for detecting character rows from the text image and obtaining position data of each character row; a pixel array extracting means for extracting arrays of continuous first pixels in an area specified by the character row position data and computing position data of each of the arrays of continuous first pixels; a character array linking means for linking the arrays of continuous first pixels in the area based on the position data of the arrays of continuous first pixels; and a character extracting means for recognizing each set of arrays of continuous first pixels linked by the character array linking means as a character and outputting character data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2000
    Inventors: Ichiro Nakao, Mariko Takenouchi, Saki Takakura, Satoshi Emura
  • Patent number: 6061445
    Abstract: An improved surge protection circuit for withstanding surges is provided. A first node is provided for coupling to a tip lead, and second node is provided for coupling to a ring lead. The surge protection circuit has a first current path for turning on a first transistor, and a second current path for redirecting current from the remaining excess surge energy from one lead to the other lead. The first current path further includes a first sub-path to direct the initial voltage surge to the base electrode of the first transistor to cause the first transistor to turn on hard. The second sub-path redirects current from the initial excess surge energy from the voltage surge to a capacitor prior to the time before the first transistor is fully turned on, so as to protect the base-emitter junction of a second transistor from being reverse biased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2000
    Assignee: Conexant Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Raphael Rahamim, Brian D. Stroud
  • Patent number: 6061640
    Abstract: Factors which are adversely affecting a specific quality of products are extracted promptly and easily for common use by analyzing the causal relation between product quality data and quality affecting data. The apparatus comprises a memory unit 2 for saving the product quality data and the data which may adversely affect the product quality detected during a processing operation such as a diffusion process at a semiconductor plant, and a multistage multivariate analysis unit 4 for analyzing the relationship between the quality data as object variables and the quality affecting data as explanation variable saved in the memory unit 2. The analysis is conducted at multiple stages to reduce the number of the explanation variables to a fixed number so that possible abnormal items (explanation variables) are automatically screened at each stage, until the abnormal factors are extracted at the last stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2000
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masayuki Tanaka, Katsuyuki Ogawa
  • Patent number: 6061131
    Abstract: A light scattering particle size distribution measuring apparatus inches a light source for providing a beam of light to contact with a sample cell holding a specimen. A detector assembly includes a first set of detector assembly includes a first set of detector elements for receiving scattered and/or diffracted light from the sample cell and a second set of detector elements positioned between the first set of detector elements. A removable scattering and/or diffracting target member can be positioned on the optical axis to provide a predetermined scattered and/or diffraction pattern to the detector assembly whereby the second set of detector elements can measure the predetermined fraction pattern to enable a movement of one of the light source and the detector assembly to align them on an optical axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2000
    Assignee: Horiba, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tatsuo Igushi, Yoshiaki Togawa
  • Patent number: 6058476
    Abstract: In the first devices, MPU 53 generates random number R1 as challenge data. Random number R3 is generated by first encryption IC 54, and then combined with random number R1, encrypted, and sent to second device 52 as encrypted text C1. When encrypted text C2 is similarly received from second device 52, first encryption IC 54 decrypts C2 and separates the decrypted result into first separated data RR2 and second separated data RR4. The first encryption IC 54 returns the first separated data to second device 52 as response data. MPU 53 compares the first separated data returned from second device 52 with random number R1, and in the event of a match, authenticates second device 52 as a legitimate device. The first encryption IC 54 generates the time-varying data transfer key by combining second separated data RR4 with random number R3, and transfers the digital copyrighted data to second device 52 by using the data transfer key.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2000
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Inc.
    Inventors: Natsume Matsuzaki, Syunji Harada, Makoto Tatebayashi
  • Patent number: 6055724
    Abstract: A method and device for sealing an IC chip are provided, by which a sealing material is surely discharged onto the upper surface of a circuit board, and the occurrence of imperfect sealing can be eliminated. A first gap (h1) is provided between an application nozzle (15) and a circuit board (13) on which an IC chip (12) is mounted before discharging the sealing material (17), after which a second gap (h2) which is greater than the first gap (h1) is provided between the application nozzle (15) and the circuit board (13) while discharging the sealing material (17), thereby accomplishing the sealing of the IC chip (12), and ensuring that the sealing operation is performed after the sealing material (17) has completely come to contact with the upper surface of the circuit board (13).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2000
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenichi Nishino, Shinji Kanayama, Hiroyuki Otani, Kohei Enchi, Hiroyuki Yoshida
  • Patent number: 6058208
    Abstract: A color correction device for correcting colors in a color image, comprising: standard point registration means for registering coordinates of a standard point on a color space for at least one color to be used as a standard for color correction; object point registration means for registering coordinates of an object point on the color space which corresponds to a standard point and which is a desired color after color correction; and coordinate conversion means for determining a mapping function based on the standard point and the object point, and for generating a corrected color image by using the mapping function to convert pre-correction points on the color space which are equivalent to a color of each pixel in an inputted pre-correction image. By means of the construction described above, all of the colors in a color space can be converted based on at least one pair of standard point and object point. As a result, precise color correction can be easily achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2000
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jun Ikeda, Tsuyoshi Hirashima, Tadanori Tezuka, Hitoshi Fujimoto, Yuji Shimizu
  • Patent number: 6053715
    Abstract: An orbiting scroll is engaged to and moved orbitally in relation to a fixed scroll at variable speeds. An offset surface is provided in at least one of the wraps of the fixed scroll and/or the orbiting scroll, by which a space S is created in one of the compression chambers formed between the fixed scroll and the orbiting scroll, which is thereby unsealed and opened to the inlet port side. The offset surface has a length from a position in the spiral length which satisfies the required compression ratio of one of the compression chambers in a low speed operation to the end of the spiral. An injection port is positioned such as to open to an unsealed area of this compression chamber, and gas injection shutoff and resumption is controlled through this injection port as appropriate to the situation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2000
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideo Hirano, Hiroyuki Kawano, Hideto Oka, Masahiro Tsubokawa
  • Patent number: 6054068
    Abstract: A potting compound for use in the fabrication of fiber optic gyro sensor coils utilizes a silver-filled silicone base to reduce gyro sensitivity to changes in heat rate and thereby improve gyro performance during warm-up and periods of thermal cycling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2000
    Assignee: Litton Systems,Inc.
    Inventors: Kurt Randy Carlson, Amado Cordova, John P. Rahn
  • Patent number: 6052893
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method of manufacturing a small electronic component, by which its yield can be enhanced. The invention comprises the steps of: a component mounting step of mounting a necessary electronic component 2-4 on a substrate 1; a coating layer forming step of forming a coating layer 14 for covering and sealing the substrate 1 in its entirety including the electronic component 2-4 with a coating material having high heat resistance; and a package layer forming step of forming a package layer 17 for covering and sealing a circumference of the coating layer 14 with a thermoplastic resin material 12. In the package layer forming step, adverse effects by the heat from the thermoplastic resin 12 to the electronic components 2-4 and the substrate 1 are inhibited with the coating layer 14.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2000
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Koichi Yoshida, Tetsuo Fukushima, Kenichiro Suetsugu
  • Patent number: 6050035
    Abstract: A seismic brace having a brace arm for fastening to a support rod on one end and a structural portion of a building, on the other end, is attachable to the support rod without disconnecting it by a base bracket hinged to the brace arm and a locking bracket hinged to the brace arm or the base bracket to overlay the base bracket. Both the base bracket and locking bracket have a slot extending from an edge towards the middle with one slot offset form the other by ninety degrees (90.degree.).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2000
    Assignee: Tomarco Contractor Specialties, Inc.
    Inventors: William J. Thompson, Keith L. Watkins
  • Patent number: 6052117
    Abstract: An information display system having a housing with a location for receiving a document such as a book is provided. A location detection circuit is mounted on the housing adjacent the document and can determine any subjective selection of a location on the document. The document can have a plurality of indicia. When such indicia is selected, a control circuit can retrieve the information from a read only memory and appropriately display the information in an audible or visual manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 1995
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2000
    Assignee: Sega Enterprises, Ltd.
    Inventors: Makoto Ohara, Hirotsugu Tomizawa, Shinichirou Sugiura
  • Patent number: 6052431
    Abstract: An X-ray converging mirror that can be positioned adjacent an X-ray source for reflecting X-ray beams from the X-ray source includes an X-ray converging mirror having a reflecting surface of a cross-sectional profile expressed by a curve of the following equation:x=y tan .theta.[1-ln(y/b)]wherein x and y denote a coordinate system, .theta. is equal to or less than a Bragg critical angle of reflection for the X-ray beams, and b denotes a point on the y-axis when dx/dy is 0.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2000
    Assignee: Horiba, Ltd.
    Inventors: Akira Onoguchi, Kozo Kashihara
  • Patent number: D422565
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2000
    Assignee: Best Lighting Products, Inc.
    Inventor: Il Kim
  • Patent number: D423048
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2000
    Inventor: Iain Sinclair
  • Patent number: D424947
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2000
    Assignee: Golden West Packaging Concepts, Inc.
    Inventor: William A. Mangold