Patents Represented by Attorney Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP
  • Patent number: 8116647
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: a photoconductive drum; a developing roller carrying toner; a DC voltage application portion outputting a DC voltage to be applied to the developing roller, and receiving a feedback voltage; an AC voltage application portion applying an AC voltage to be applied to the developing roller; a detection portion detecting occurrence of electric discharge; a first resistor portion generating a feedback voltage that is fed to the DC voltage application portion; a second resistor portion connected between the DC voltage application portion and the AC voltage application portion, and having a switching portion with which conducting on and off are switchable; and a control portion controlling the switching portion, at the time of printing, to bring the second resistor portion into a conducting state and, at the time of electric discharge detection, to bring the second resistor portion into a non-conducting state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2012
    Assignee: Kyocera Mita Corporation
    Inventors: Kensuke Fujihara, Tamotsu Shimizu, Ryota Maeda, Kouji Fujii, Tomoyuki Kikuta
  • Patent number: 8114009
    Abstract: A coronary artery bypass grafting device includes a plurality of attachment members each having: a flexible tube (102); a suction cup portion (101) provided in a tip end side of the flexible tube (102); a three-way cock (103) provided in the flexible tube (102); and a holding member (104) that holds the flexible tube (102). At least one of the attachment members further includes a duckbill valve (111) provided in the flexible tube (102).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2012
    Assignee: Sumitomo Bakelite Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hirokuni Arai, Akira Kawamata, Hideaki Asai
  • Patent number: 8113342
    Abstract: Provided is an instrument housing case, which is capable of preventing an instrument from falling down, and which is capable of achieving a reduction in weight.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2012
    Assignee: Sakai Composites Corp.
    Inventors: Jiro Sonoda, Takuji Kishita, Sumito Yamagishi
  • Patent number: 8110444
    Abstract: A prepreg which can meet a demand for thickness reduction is provided. The prepreg has first and second resin layers having different applications, functions, capabilities, or properties, and allows an amount of a resin composition in each of the first and second resin layers to be set appropriately depending on a circuit wiring portion to be embedded into the second resin layer. Further, a method for manufacturing the above prepreg, and a substrate and a semiconductor device having the prepreg are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2012
    Assignee: Sumitomo Bakelite Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takeshi Hosomi, Maroshi Yuasa, Kazuya Hamaya, Takayuki Baba
  • Patent number: 8109504
    Abstract: The paper feeding cassette 10 has the cassette frame 10 for loading and storing paper, and the width-wise cursor 20 which is disposed in the cassette frame 10 and movably carries out the positioning of paper in the paper-width direction intersecting at right angles with the paper feeding direction, and can be pulled out from a machine main body. Provided are the plurality of engagement holes 14 formed in the cassette frame 10 corresponding to a paper width, the through-holes 23 formed through the width-wise cursor 20, and the lock pins 40 which engage with the engagement holes 14 via the through-holes 23 to prevent the width-wise cursor 20 from deviating in the paper-width direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2012
    Assignee: Kyocera Mita Corporation
    Inventor: Keiji Matsuoka
  • Patent number: 8100033
    Abstract: A vehicle pedal displacement control structure, which is capable of causing a vehicle pedal to displace so as to turn aside from driver's lower extremities and of reducing load on a steering support member in the event of an external force being applied to the front of the vehicle, is provided. A protrusion and a slide member are provided between the steering support member and a pedal bracket for suspending the vehicle pedal. When the pedal bracket moves backward with a toe board due to the external force from the front of the vehicle, the vehicle pedal and the pedal bracket are guided to turn aside from driver's lower extremities in a width direction of vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2012
    Assignee: Fuji Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazuma Hasegawa, Takashi Ikeda, Takeshi Tomomitsu, Satoru Funabashi, Toyohiko Mouri, Yoshitaka Fukushima
  • Patent number: 8096730
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for repairing failed metal pipe inverts includes an apparatus for distributing concrete that is positioned at one entrance of the metal pipe invert. The apparatus includes a frame having a forward end and a rearward end. A trough is connected to the forward end, and a support arm is connected to said rearward end. One end of a chute traverses the trough, while the other is supported by the support arm. A scraper is to the chute to spread concrete distributed from the trough into the pipe invert. The concrete is poured into the chute and distributed into the trough. The apparatus is pulled through the metal pipe invert to distribute concrete from an opening in the trough onto the metal pipe invert. The scraper engages the concrete to selectively spread the concrete on the metal pipe invert and repair the invert.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2012
    Inventor: Alan Hollis
  • Patent number: 8097534
    Abstract: On an etching target film formed on a substrate, a three-layer resist is laminated. This three-layer resist includes an organic film and a resist film developed into a resist pattern. Through the resist pattern, the organic film is etched into a mask pattern through which the etching target film will be etched. The organic film is etched with plasma which is obtained by exciting a process gas containing carbon dioxide and hydrogen to the plasma state. This scheme makes it possible to form a high perpendicularity mask pattern in the organic film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2012
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Shuhei Ogawa, Shin Hirotsu
  • Patent number: 8095015
    Abstract: A method to reduce a peak power consumption of an optical transceiver including a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) is disclosed. The transceiver includes three power units, one of which powers the temperature control unit including the TEC driver and the TEC, second one of which powers the transmitter unit including an LD and an LD driver, and the last of which powers the receiver unit. Once the transceiver is set in the host system, the transceiver first activates the first and second power units to start up the temperature control unit and the transmitter unit, and subsequently, the transceiver sets up the third power unit after the temperature of the LD is stabilized at a target temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2012
    Assignee: Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
    Inventor: Moriyasu Ichino
  • Patent number: 8094934
    Abstract: An object detection system is provided a plurality of image capture units for capturing images of surroundings of the system, a distance information calculation unit for dividing a captured image which constitutes a reference of captured images captured by the plurality of image capture units into a plurality of pixel blocks, individually retrieving corresponding pixel positions within the other captured image for the pixel blocks, and individually calculating distance information, and a histogram generation module for dividing a range image representing the individual distance information of the pixel blocks calculated by the distance information calculation unit into a plurality of segments having predetermined sizes, providing histograms relating to the distance information for the respective divided segments, and casting the distance information of the pixel blocks to the histograms of the respective segments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2012
    Assignee: Fuji Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Noboru Morimitsu
  • Patent number: 8088701
    Abstract: Melt formed inorganic fibers are disclosed having the composition:— Al2O3 5-90 mol % K2O 5-90 mol % SiO2 5-90 mol % in which SiO2+Al2O3+K2O>=50 mol %. Fibers of like composition having K2O greater than 12 mol % are also encompassed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2012
    Assignee: The Morgan Crucible Company PLC
    Inventor: Gary Anthony Jubb
  • Patent number: 8088580
    Abstract: The present invention provides an RNA detection method detecting, from a reaction system containing a target sample, a target RNA chain originated from the target sample, using a surface having on the surface thereof a polymer substance which contains a first unit having a group derived from a phosphate ester composing the hydrophilic portion of a phospholipid and a second unit having a carboxylic acid derivative group composed of an electron-attractive substitutional group bound to a carbonyl group, while being provided with at least one reaction space, the reaction space having an immobilized nucleic acid primer immobilized therein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2012
    Assignee: Sumitomo Bakelite Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenji Kinoshita, Kanehisa Yokoyama, Kentaro Fujimoto, Toru Yakabe, Shin Saito, Kazuhiko Fujiwara
  • Patent number: 8087099
    Abstract: A cap-like head backing cover includes a plurality of types of cover components. The plurality of types of cover components include cover main body portions, and connecting means capable of separably connecting and combining the cover main body portions of one of the cover components to and with the cover main body portions of another at least one of the cover components. The cover main body portions of the plurality of types of cover components are connected to and combined with each other by the connecting means, to form the cap-like head backing cover which includes the plurality of types of cover components and is independent. With the helmet having this arrangement, even when a helmet wearer whose head shape is different from that of an average human head is to wear the helmet, the helmet can be matched to the head of the helmet wearer substantially optimally. The helmet size can be not only partially decreased but also partially increased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2012
    Assignee: Shoei Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Akira Sawabe
  • Patent number: 8088308
    Abstract: A resin composition which is excellent in quick curing and can be used for curing in conventionally used ovens, and a semiconductor device which is excellent in reliability such as solder crack resistance or the like when the resin composition is used as a die attach material for semiconductor. Further preferably, a resin composition which has a sufficient low stress property, good adhesion and excellent bleeding property. A resin composition comprising a filler (A), the compound (B) comprising a structure represented by the formula (I) and a functional group represented by the formula (2) and a thermal radical initiator (C), and substantially not containing a photo polymerization initiator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2012
    Assignee: Sumitomo Bakelite Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hikaru Okubo, Nobuki Tanaka, Itaru Watanabe
  • Patent number: 8088019
    Abstract: An adjustable golf club is disclosed having a hosel with a spherical section and positioning linkage that allows the face angle of the head to be changed without changing the lie angle or rotating the shaft around its axis. The hosel is fixed in place by tightening the spherical surface of a compression nut against the spherical section of the hosel and a receiving compression cup with matching spherical surface radiuses, along with a slotted rotation prevention section consisting of two flat surfaces, a threaded linkage engaging the lower hosel piece and anchored to a tube attached to the skirt of the head. The linkage is used to threadably position the angle of the hosel piece. The invention also provides a quick and easy way to remove and replace the hosel piece along with the shaft for additional customization of the club.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2012
    Assignee: Plus 2 International, Inc.
    Inventors: D. Clayton Long, Michael R. Cummings
  • Patent number: 8089031
    Abstract: The present invention provides a heating apparatus for heating objects to be processed, which can detect a temperature of the objects to be processed with higher precision and accuracy, thereby to achieve higher precision temperature control. A heating apparatus 2 includes a processing vessel 8 configured to contain therein a plurality of objects W to be processed, the objects W including objects 58a to 58e to be processed for temperature measurement, each object 58a to 58e having each corresponding elastic wave element 60a to 60e, a heating means 10 adapted for heating the objects W to be processed, and a holding means 22 adapted to hold the objects W to be processed. To the processing vessel 8, a transmitter antenna 52 adapted to transmit an electric wave for measurement toward each elastic wave element 60a to 60e, and a receiver antenna 52 adapted to receive an electric wave having a frequency corresponding to the temperature and generated from each elastic wave element 60a to 60e are provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2012
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventor: Kenichi Yamaga
  • Patent number: 8083857
    Abstract: The present invention provides a substrate cleaning method capable of reducing non-uniformity of a removal efficiency of particles between lots with a simple procedure. The substrate cleaning method comprises: a step of supplying a gas into a cleaning tank, while an irradiation of ultrasonic waves to the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank is being stopped, so as to increase a dissolved gas concentration of the gas dissolved in the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank to a saturated concentration; and a step of irradiating ultrasonic waves to the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank so as to clean a substrate immersed in the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank. In the step of increasing the dissolved gas concentration to the saturated concentration, the gas is supplied to the cleaning tank so as to increase the dissolved gas concentration of the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank to the saturated concentration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2011
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Tsukasa Watanabe, Naoki Shindo, Kazuyoshi Eshima
  • Patent number: 8084131
    Abstract: There is provided a transparent hybrid sheet having superior transparency and thermal resistance and having smaller linear expansion coefficient and optical anisotropy and higher degree of flatness. In a transparent hybrid sheet obtained by curing a hybrid composition including an epoxy resin composition containing alicyclic epoxy compound and a curing agent and curing a glass filler together, the alicyclic epoxy compound contains, as a principal component thereof, a diepoxybicyclohexyl compound represented by Formula (1) below, with amounts of isomers of the diepoxybicyclohexyl compound being 20% or less, of a sum of the diepoxybicyclohexyl compound and the isomers, in terms of a ratio of its peak area determined by a gas chromatography.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2011
    Assignee: Sumitomo Bakelite Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Wataru Oka
  • Patent number: 8080767
    Abstract: A thermal processing apparatus comprising a processing vessel containing, in addition to a plurality of objects subject to heat treatment, an acoustic wave device for temperature measurement. A holding unit holds the plurality of objects to be processed and an object for temperature measurement utilizing an acoustic wave device. A heating unit heats the objects to be processed and the object for temperature measurement. A first conductive member functions as an antenna for transmitting an electromagnetic wave toward the acoustic wave device in the processing vessel; a second conductive member functions as a receiver antenna for receiving an electromagnetic wave dependent on a temperature of the acoustic wave device which is emitted from the acoustic wave device. A temperature analysis part obtains a temperature of the object based on the electromagnetic wave received by the receiver antenna, and a temperature control part controls the heating unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2011
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Kenichi Yamaga, Wenling Wang
  • Patent number: D652287
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2012
    Assignee: EBSCO Industries, Inc.
    Inventor: Ronald Woller