Patents Examined by Emily Frank
  • Patent number: 8581859
    Abstract: There is provided a device with a part or a whole of a housing thereof having flexibility. The device includes a display unit; a detection unit that detects a bent portion of the display device; and a display switching unit that switches display content of the display unit according to a position and a bent level of the bent portion of the display device detected by the detection unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2013
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yasushi Okumura, Naofumi Yoneda, Rui Morisawa, Mitsuhiro Nakamura
  • Patent number: 8576677
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to achieve both low noise and fast response in an optical signal detecting circuit capable of providing all of three signals—a focus error signal, a tracking error signal, and an RF signal—with only a single detection system. A single current-to-voltage converter converts a current signal obtained by adding currents flowing through two photodiodes, into a voltage signal. Not only currents flowing into the photodiodes, but also currents flowing out from the photodiodes are taken out as the voltage signals. Moreover, by applying two different reference voltages to the current-to-voltage converters, a reverse bias voltage is applied between the terminals of each photodiode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: Hitachi Consumer Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takahiro Kurokawa, Hideharu Mikami
  • Patent number: 8576197
    Abstract: Disclosed are various embodiments of a capacitive touchscreen or touch panel system comprising a controller operably connected to a first plurality of drive electrodes and a second plurality of sense electrodes. The controller includes a noise disruption detector circuit, a user noise source detector/anticipator circuit, clock control logic circuitry operably connected to the noise disruption detector circuit and to the user noise source detector/anticipator circuit, at least one static-clocked digital filter circuit operably connected to and controlled by the clock control logic circuitry, a central processing unit (CPU) operably connected to the clock control logic circuitry, firmware operably connected to the CPU; and touch position circuitry configured to deliver signals indicative of touch positions on the touchscreen to a host controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: Pixart Imaging, Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth Crandall, Michael Brosnan, Sam Sen Li
  • Patent number: 8576180
    Abstract: A method for switching a touch keyboard and a handheld electronic device and a storage medium using the method are provided. The method is suitable for a handheld electronic device having a touch screen. In the method, a character input function is first activated to display a first type touch keyboard on a side of the touch screen. A touch signal produced within a display area of the first type touch keyboard is then received and it is determined whether the touch signal moves to another side of the touch screen. If the touch signal is determined to move to the another side of the touch screen, a second type touch keyboard is displayed on the another side of the touch screen. Accordingly, the users can switch the touch keyboard to another one conveniently so as to input characters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: HTC Corporation
    Inventors: Hui-Wen Wang, Chia-Chun Li
  • Patent number: 8576159
    Abstract: A driving method for local dimming of a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) device and an apparatus using the same are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: LG Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Dae-Ho Cho, Kyung-Joon Kwon, Hee-Won Ahn, Chang-Kyun Park
  • Patent number: 8576163
    Abstract: A device includes: first and second substrates; an electrophoretic element between the substrates and including a dispersion medium containing electrophoretic particles; pixel electrodes on the first substrate; a common electrode opposite the pixel electrodes on the second substrate; a unit supplying an image signal having a first or second potential<the first potential to the pixel electrodes according to image data; and another unit supplying a common potential to the common electrode. The image signal is supplied in predetermined frame periods in an image signal supply period according to image data associated with the same frame image as the image data. The common potential is switched into a third potential?the first potential and>the second potential and a fourth potential<the third potential and?the second potential, and the switched potentials are supplied to the common electrode in the frame periods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Atsushi Miyazaki, Mitsutoshi Miyasaka
  • Patent number: 8570349
    Abstract: A method for dividing a display area for local dimming of LCD is disclosed. The method includes determining an initial number of pixels per data analysis area and a total number of residual pixels, calculating a first residual pixel sum of a current data analysis area using the total number of residual pixels and a second residual pixel sum of a previous data analysis area, determining whether to assign a residual pixel to the current data analysis area using the first residual pixel sum and the total number of data analysis areas, calculating a second residual sum of the current data analysis area whether to assign a residual pixel, and repeating the calculation above until the data analysis area index is a last data analysis area index.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2013
    Assignee: LG Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kyung-Joon Kwon, Si-Hoon Lee, Jung-Hwan Lee
  • Patent number: 8570848
    Abstract: An optical storage system includes an optical pick-up head for receiving and transforming an optical signal into an electric signal; a pre-amplifier for receiving the electric signal and outputting a RF signal and a position error signal; a data and timing recovery unit for receiving the RF signal and generating a modulated signal and a clock signal; an error correction unit for generating a data signal according to the modulation signal and the clock signal; a defect signal generator for receiving the RF signal and generating a defect signal according to the RF signal, wherein the defect signal is enabled when the RF signal has a defect; and an error correction controller for receiving the defect signal and generating an error correction control signal according to the defect signal, wherein the error correction unit further receives the error correction control signal and adjusts the decoding strategy of the error correction unit according to the error correction control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2013
    Assignee: Sunplus Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Lu Chia Tseng, Sih-Kai Wang, Zhi-Hsin Lin
  • Patent number: 8564517
    Abstract: A displaying method for field sequential color displays using two color fields to produce a full color image is disclosed. The displaying method includes: providing a target full color image, displaying a first color field and displaying a second color field. The target full color image is formed by a first color image optical stimulus, a second color image optical stimulus and a third color image optical stimulus. The first color field displays the first color image optical stimulus and a first part of the third color image optical stimulus, while the second color field displays the second color image optical stimulus and a second part of the third color image optical stimulus, which compensates the shortage of the third color image optical stimulus in the first color field. The target full color image is generated by displaying the first and second color fields in sequence, so as to decrease the displaying frequency of field sequential color displays.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: Au Optronics Corporation
    Inventors: Yu-Kuo Cheng, Yi-Pai Huang, Yi-Ru Cheng, Han-Ping D. Shieh
  • Patent number: 8553010
    Abstract: Provided are a touch screen-embedded liquid crystal display panel and a method of manufacturing the same in accordance with one or more embodiments. The touch screen-embedded liquid crystal display panel may include, for example, a transparent first substrate; a second substrate which faces the first substrate; a conductive spacer and a cell-gap spacer which are formed on the first substrate; and a common electrode which is formed on the second substrate and has an aperture in a region that contacts the cell-gap spacer on the first substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2013
    Assignee: Samsung Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Sang-Hun Lee, Byoung-Joo Kim, Chul Huh, Gwan-Soo Kim, Sun-Young Chang
  • Patent number: 8552951
    Abstract: In a driving method for a liquid crystal panel, overdriving pixel data is obtained either independently of the FRC pixel data or depending on a difference between the FRC pixel data and previous FRC pixel data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2013
    Assignee: Chimei Innolux Corporation
    Inventors: Yao-Ching Chiang, Yu-Yeh Chen
  • Patent number: 8537097
    Abstract: The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device having an LED drive circuit which can control a dimming control signal even with a pulse width of several tens ?sec or less. The LED drive circuit includes a booster circuit, a first stage current mirror circuit generating a reference current, a second stage current mirror circuit generating a driving current from the reference current, a light-emitting diode column having a light-emitting diode supplied with the driving current, and a dimming control circuit controlling the turning on and off of the light-emitting diode based on a dimming control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2013
    Assignees: Hitachi Displays, Ltd., Panasonic Liquid Crystal Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Norimitsu Nishikawa, Satoshi Takahashi
  • Patent number: 8536471
    Abstract: A pressure sensitive stylus, comprises a movable tip that recedes within a housing of the stylus in response to user applied contact pressure, wherein a displacement of the tip along an axis on which it recedes is a function of the applied contact pressure, and an optical sensor enclosed within the housing for optically sensing the displacement of the tip and for providing output in response to the sensing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2013
    Assignee: N-trig Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuval Stern, Rafi Zachut, Yonatan Tzafrir, Eytan Mann, Oran Tamir, Alex Kalmanovich
  • Patent number: 8531928
    Abstract: An optical storage apparatus and a method for automatically adjusting a loop gain thereof are provided. The method includes the following steps. Firstly, a compact disk is written by an erase power. Next, a writing state of the erase power is detected to generate an error signal. Finally, a loop gain of a servo control loop is corrected according to the error signal. Therefore, the loop gain can be corrected by the present invention according to a reflectance of the compact disk.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2013
    Assignee: Sunplus Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yao-Wen Liu
  • Patent number: 8525804
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus is provided with a signature window data generating unit that, by combining template window data stored in a template data storage unit with confirmation note item data and confirmation note content data acquired by a confirmation note data acquiring unit, generates signature window data indicating a signature window on which the confirmation note item data and the confirmation note content data are displayed in at least a portion of an input area, and a signature window display unit that causes a display apparatus to display the signature window indicated by the signature window data generated by the signature window data generating unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2013
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Yutaka Iwayama, Tatsuro Matsumoto, Kazuo Sasaki, Manabu Machida, Masanori Yasunaga, Hirokazu Miyashita
  • Patent number: 8525807
    Abstract: A touch device is disposed on a substrate having a plurality of scan lines. The touch device comprises a plurality of readout lines and a plurality of sensors. The readout lines and the scan lines are intersected with each other, and the sensors are electrically coupled to the corresponding scan lines and the corresponding readout lines respectively. A scan signal is introduced into the scan lines in sequence to control whether turning on the sensors, and the scan signal comprises at least one first turn-on pulse and a second turn-on pulse to simultaneously turn on at least two sensors which are electrically coupled to different scan lines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2013
    Assignee: AU Optronics Corp.
    Inventors: Yuet-Ping Lee, Seok-Lyul Lee, Yao-Jen Hsieh, Heng-Sheng Chou, Pang-Chiang Chia, Weng-Bing Chou, Chao-Chen Wang
  • Patent number: 8520480
    Abstract: An optical disc apparatus includes an optical pickup for outputting an output signal according to reflected light from an optical disc medium, measures a level of a reflected signal corresponding to reflected light from a medium surface prior to reading of information recorded on the medium, predicts, based on the measured level of the reflected signal, whether or not the reflected signal from the medium surface will satisfy a predetermined detection condition when a focus state is to be detected, and uses a result of the predicting to detect a state where the output signal satisfies the predetermined detection condition as a state where a focus of an objective lens included in the optical pickup is on a signal surface of the medium while relatively moving the objective lens with respect to the medium surface when the information recorded on the medium is to be read therefrom.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2013
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Toshimasa Aoki, Satoshi Mimura, Takashi Enokihara
  • Patent number: 8514199
    Abstract: A capacitive touch panel and capacitance sensing apparatus and method for the same are disclosed. The capacitive touch panel includes a plurality of electrodes, a multiplexer and a capacitance sensing apparatus. The multiplexer selectively connects one of the electrodes to the capacitance sensing apparatus. The capacitance sensing apparatus includes a reference voltage source and a differential comparator, where the reference voltage source generates a modified reference voltage according to noise on stray capacitance of the capacitive touch panel. In a discharging process, the comparator compares an input voltage at the selected electrode and the modified reference voltage. The capacitance change in the electrode can be precisely detected because the noise is eliminated by differential comparison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2013
    Assignee: Chimei Innolux Corporation
    Inventor: Kai-Chieh Yang
  • Patent number: 8488427
    Abstract: An optical disc apparatus in accordance with the present invention includes: a plurality of light sources; an optical system which has at least an objective lens that condenses light beam emitted from the light sources on a recording layer of an optical disc and a collimator lens that is arranged between the light sources and the objective lens; a lens tilting mechanism which tilts the objective lens; a collimator lens driving mechanism which moves the collimator lens along an optical axis direction; and a most appropriate setting deciding portion which decides in a prescribed timing a most appropriate setting about position of the collimator lens and tilting of the objective lens while changing the position of the collimator lens and the tilting of the objective lens utilizing the collimator lens driving mechanism and the lens tilting mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2013
    Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kenji Okamoto
  • Patent number: 8487893
    Abstract: Disclosed are capacitive touchscreen or touch panel systems, devices and methods which increase the dynamic range of touches that may be detected on a capacitive touch screen or touch panel. Increased dynamic range is provided by employing automatic gain control methodologies and circuitry to process signals corresponding to individual mutual capacitance cells in a touch screen or touch panel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2013
    Assignee: Pixart Imaging, Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth Crandall, Michael Brosnan, Jeffrey Stone, Thomas Murphy