Patents Represented by Attorney, Agent or Law Firm Stephen H. Shaw
  • Patent number: 6869185
    Abstract: A display system for providing a user viewable visible image, includes a view screen for receiving organic laser light and having a diffusing optical element so that the view screen, in response to organic laser light, produces a viewable visible image, wherein the diffusing optical element includes a viewing angle greater than 160° in a first viewing direction and greater than 100° in a second viewing direction orthogonal to the first direction; one or more organic laser light sources arranged in an array with each such laser light source including a vertical cavity design and means for projecting and modulating the intensity of the organic laser light from the array onto the view screen in a pattern to cause a visual image to be produced by the view screen; and means associated with the view screen for reducing speckle in the organic laser light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2005
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Cheryl J. Kaminsky, Robert P. Bourdelais, Keith B. Kahen, John A. Lebens, John P. Spoonhower
  • Patent number: 6866715
    Abstract: A method and apparatus is disclosed for gravure coating a liquid reactive with the atmosphere onto a web. The gravure apparatus comprises an engraved gravure cylinder, an impression roller backing the web and pressing it onto the gravure cylinder to form a nip, a curtain or jet formation means to wet the surface of the gravure cylinder, and a doctor blade means for wiping excess coating liquid from the surface of the gravure cylinder prior to the nip. A shroud encompassing the gravure cylinder and the curtain or jet formation means creates a first zone between the nip and a partitioning baffle extending from the shroud, a second zone between the partitioning baffle and the doctor blade means, and a third zone between the doctor blade means and the nip. A gas non-reactive with the coating liquid is supplied to each zone by a gas distribution means such that the reaction rate of the coating liquid with the atmosphere is greatly reduced and the curtain or jet is not disrupted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2005
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Kenneth J. Ruschak, Rukmini B. Lobo, Jess A. Anderson, Richard A. Gilkey, David A. Wakefield
  • Patent number: 6864915
    Abstract: An electronically originated image is converted into a modified electronic image simulating an image originated from a film system and converted into an electronically displayed image. The technique employed is based on a set of electronic camera system spectral product curves that are substantially approximated by a linear combination of a set of spectral product curves characteristic of the film system. An image is captured having red, green and blue exposure signals resulting from these electronic camera system spectral product curves, and the red, green and blue exposure signals are then converted into a modified electronic image simulating an image originated from a film system and converted into an electronically displayed image. Because of the linear approximation between the spectral product curves, the conversion step can be performed by a matrixing operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2005
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Marcelo de C. Guimaraes, John C. Brewer, Nestor M. Rodriquez
  • Patent number: 6857333
    Abstract: A rotational stop that includes: a lead screw having a longitudinal axis, a motor integrally mounted to the lead screw, wherein the motor provides rotation to the lead screw; a slide mounted to a support structure to provide movement relative to the lead screw longitudinal axis; a rotational control plate attached to the motor and having a plurality of protrusions extending from the rotational control plate, and; a rotational control guide having a rotational control surface on its face, wherein the rotational control surface is in intimate contact with the plurality of protrusions extending from the rotational control plate such that linear error is substantially reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2005
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventor: Roger S. Kerr
  • Patent number: 6853660
    Abstract: An organic laser cavity structure is described, comprising a plurality of organic laser cavity devices, each organic laser cavity device characterized by: i) a first dielectric stack for receiving and transmitting pump beam light and being reflective to laser light over a predetermined range of wavelengths; ii) an organic active region for receiving transmitted pump beam light from the first dielectric stack and for emitting light; iii) a second dielectric stack for reflecting transmitted pump beam light and laser light from the organic active region back into the organic active region, wherein a combination of the first and second dielectric stacks and the organic active region produces the laser light; and a predetermined arrangement of the plurality of organic laser cavity devices, such that a desired laser output is obtained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2005
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: John P. Spoonhower, Joseph A. Manico, Edward Covannon, David L. Patton
  • Patent number: 6845114
    Abstract: A vertical cavity organic laser device, that includes: an organic laser cavity including: a bottom dielectric stack for receiving and transmitting pump beam light and being reflective to laser light over a predetermined range of wavelengths; an organic active region for receiving transmitted pump beam light from the bottom dielectric stack and for emitting the laser light; a top dielectric stack for reflecting transmitted pump beam light and laser light from the organic active region back into the organic active region, wherein a combination of the bottom and the top dielectric stacks and the organic active region produces the laser light; the device further including an external pump beam light source for optically pumping light to the organic laser cavity; and a positioner for locating the organic laser cavity in a spaced relationship to the external pump beam light source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2005
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: David L. Patton, Joseph A. Manico, Edward Covannon, John P. Spoonhower
  • Patent number: 6844960
    Abstract: An electrostatic micromechanical device with continuously variable displacement, that includes: a movable member having a first electrode; an opposing surface having a second electrode; a channel separating the movable member from the opposing surface; a liquid situated in the channel, wherein the liquid has a sufficiently high dielectric constant so as to enable continuously variable and stable control of a displacement of the movable member over a travel range spanning at least half of the channel; the displacement being a result of a voltage applied between the first electrode and the second electrode; and at least one solid dielectric layer physically situated between the first electrode and the second electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2005
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventor: Marek W. Kowarz
  • Patent number: 6843955
    Abstract: A method for compounding gel-free injection molding feed stock for injection molding net-shape ceramic parts, including the steps of: mixing inorganic particles with non-gel forming water soluble organic binders having molecular weight between 1000 and 1,000,000 and that are between 0.5 weight % and 10 weight % based upon the inorganic particles, along with plasticizers, water and processing aids in a mixer to form a mixture, wherein the non-gel forming water soluble organic binders are composed of high and low molecular weight organic binders; compounding the mixed inorganic particles and the non-gel forming water soluble organic binders at a high temperature in the range of between 70° and 98° Centigrade, under shear force, to form a homogenous viscous slurry in the range of 5×103 and 7×104 Pa.sec at a shear rate of 10 sec?1; cooling the homogenous viscous slurry to room temperature to form a compounded solid mass.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2005
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Syamal K. Ghosh, Donn B. Carlton
  • Patent number: 6821000
    Abstract: A light integrator comprising: an elongated cylindrical light integrating cavity having a longitudinal cylindrical chamber wall with a diffusely reflecting interior surface, said chamber wall having a longitudinally extending output slit for emitting light from the cavity; an elongated glass rod extending into the cavity, said glass rod having an input port at one end thereof for introducing the beam of light and a treatment along its length for emitting light entering its port into the cavity; and an end wall including a supporting feature for supporting an end of the elongated glass rod opposite its input port so that the glass rod extends along a length of the integrating cavity in relation to the chamber wall thereof to direct light emitted therefrom toward the diffusely reflecting interior surface, whereby the supporting feature comprises a bore that is recessed into the end wall with a linear dimension leaving an enclosed open space between the end of the glass rod and the end wall of the cavity for dif
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2004
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Ronald E. Meiers, William H. Russel
  • Patent number: 6812994
    Abstract: A method is described for scheduling a playlist from digital content supplied to a server in a multi-screen digital cinema theater, where the playlist includes components of the content stored in the server and represents a digital entity that is subsequently projected in the digital cinema theater.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2004
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Walter C. Bubie, Curtis R. Cates, David S. Jones, Paul Tomblin, Michael E. McCrackan, William A. Orfitelli
  • Patent number: 6807211
    Abstract: A white-light laser integrated structure that includes a substrate; and one or more individually addressable laser light pixels formed on the substrate for emitting a white beam of laser light perpendicular to the substrate. Each of the one or more individually addressable laser light pixels include one or more organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and a plurality of organic vertical cavity lasers that are arranged to be optically pumped by the one or more OLEDs. The plurality of organic vertical cavity lasers emits differently colored light and the one or more individually addressable laser light pixels emit substantially white light when the differently colored light is combined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2003
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2004
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Ronald S. Cok, John P. Spoonhower
  • Patent number: 6802613
    Abstract: An improved imaging apparatus having an expanded color gamut defined by more than three vertex colors for forming a color image on a display surface, that includes: a light source including at least one dichroic combiner for transmitting a first vertex color and reflecting a second vertex color toward a color combining element that directs, along an illumination axis, a colored illumination beam having, at any one time, any one of at least four different vertex colors; a linear array of electromechanical grating devices for receiving the colored illumination beam along the illumination axis; an obstructing element for blocking a zeroth order light beam reflected from the linear array of electromechanical grating devices from reaching the display surface; a projection lens cooperating with a scanning element, and a logic control processor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2004
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: John A. Agostinelli, Marek W. Kowarz, Louis S. Horvath
  • Patent number: 6803011
    Abstract: A method of making a feedstock for injection molding, including the steps of: mixing at a temperature of at least 100° C. polymeric materials having a thermal conductivity in the range of 0.001 to 0.01 cal/cm-sec-° C. wherein the polymeric materials are selected from the group consisting of polyethylene, polystyrene, polyester, and polycarbonate or combinations thereof, and one or more materials selected from the group consisting of ceramics, ceramic composites, metals and metal alloys in a blended relationship to form a viscous phase mixture, the materials in the viscous phase mixture being selected so that when in a solid phase it has a density greater than 4 grams/cc and a thermal conductivity greater than 0.101 cal/cm-sec-° C. and; cooling the blended viscous phase mixture to form the feedstock.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2004
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Syamal K. Ghosh, Dilip Chatterjee, Donn B. Carlton
  • Patent number: 6791739
    Abstract: A method of reducing the appearance of speckle resulting from a coherent light beam, includes the steps of: providing an electro-optic device having, an electro-optic substrate, an electrode array arranged on the surface of the electro-optic substrate, at least one electrode located on the opposite surface of the electro-optic substrate, and means for applying voltage to the electrodes to generate a variation in a refractive index profile within the substrate; and directing the light beam through the electro-optic device while applying voltage to the device, whereby the temporal and spatial phase of a light beam passing through the substrate is altered, thereby reducing the appearance of speckle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2004
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Sujatha Ramanujan, Andrew F. Kurtz
  • Patent number: 6778699
    Abstract: A method of determining a vanishing point related to an image, the method includes the steps of: detecting line segments in the image; determining intersections from pairs of line segments; assigning a probability to each intersection of the pairs of line segments; determining a local maximum corresponding to a plurality of probabilities; and outputting an estimated vanishing point vector &ngr;E that corresponds to the determined local maximum such that an estimated location of the vanishing point about the estimated vanishing point vector &ngr;E results.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2004
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventor: Andrew C. Gallagher
  • Patent number: 6767155
    Abstract: A high stability ball-in-cone type latch mechanism is taught that is particularly useful for large deployable optical systems. It provides a nearly perfect kinematic mount between structural or optical elements and can easily be remotely controlled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2004
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Michael J. O'Brien, Calvin E. Abplanalp, Richard A. Colleluori
  • Patent number: 6760065
    Abstract: A computer system has a processor running an operating system that supports one or more filesystems and removable storage device capable of storing images captured by a digital camera and formatted by the operating system according to a supported filesystem.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2004
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventor: Timothy J. Whitcher
  • Patent number: 6750998
    Abstract: An electro-mechanical grating device including: a base having a surface; a bottom conductive layer provided above said base; a spacer layer is provided and a longitudinal channel is formed in said spacer layer, wherein said spacer layer defines an upper surface and the channel having a first and a second opposing side wall and a bottom; a plurality of spaced apart ribbon elements disposed parallel to each other and spanning the channel, said ribbon elements are fixed to the upper surface of the spacer layer on each side of the channel and each of the ribbon elements is provided with a conductive layer; a mechanical stop provided between the bottom conductive layer and the bottom of the channel wherein the mechanical stop forms a rigid barrier that is separated from a lower ribbon surface of the ribbon elements by a distance h0.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2004
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Brian E. Kruschwitz, John C. Brazas
  • Patent number: 6746108
    Abstract: A method for printing ink droplets that strike print media substantially perpendicularly, including the steps of: emitting a first drop having a first volume and a second drop having a second volume as a stream of ink from a plurality of nozzle bores formed in a printhead; moving either the first or second drop into a perpendicular strike position relative to the print media; separating either the first drop or the second drop along different droplet paths; capturing either the first drop or the second drop with an ink gutter; and striking the print media with either the first drop or the second drop substantially perpendicular to the print media.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2004
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventor: David L. Jeanmaire
  • Patent number: 6724515
    Abstract: An electromechanical conformal grating device including: at least two sets of elongated ribbon elements; a pair of end supports for supporting each elongated ribbon element at both ends over a substrate; a plurality of intermediate supports placed under each elongated ribbon element; and at least two inputs for selectively applying a force to the at least two sets of elongated ribbon elements; wherein the force causes selected elongated ribbon elements to deform between first and second operating states, wherein during the second operating state the elongated ribbon elements mechanically conform to the intermediate supports.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2004
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventor: Marek W. Kowarz