Patents Examined by Ephrem Alemu
  • Patent number: 6900766
    Abstract: A vehicle antenna including a dielectric substrate having a surface, a first radiator disposed on the surface of the dielectric substrate and having an aperture therein at which the surface is partially exposed, a first ground conductor disposed on the surface of the dielectric substrate and surrounding the first radiator while providing a substantially loop-shaped space between the first radiator and the first ground conductor, a second radiator disposed on the surface of the dielectric substrate and in the aperture of the first radiator, and a second ground conductor disposed on the surface of the dielectric substrate and surrounding the second radiator while providing another substantially loop-shaped space between the second radiator and the second ground conductor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2005
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoru Komatsu, Hiroshi Kuribayashi, Tomoyuki Fukumaru
  • Patent number: 6900598
    Abstract: When a gas discharge panel is driven, a voltage is applied between scan and address electrode groups to perform set-up. The voltage waveform has four intervals. In a first interval, the voltage is raised in a short time (less than 10 ?s) to a first voltage, wherein 100 V?first voltage<starting voltage. Then, in a second interval, the voltage is raised to a second voltage no less than the starting voltage and with an absolute gradient smaller than that for the voltage rise in the first interval (no more than 9 V/?s). Next, in a third interval, the voltage is lowered in a short time (no more than 10 ?s) from the second voltage to a third voltage no more than the starting voltage. Following this, in a fourth interval, the voltage is lowered still further (for 100 ?s to 250 ?s) with a gradient smaller than that for the voltage fall in the third interval. The time occupied by the whole voltage waveform should be no more, than 360 ?s.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2005
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Company Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Junichi Hibino, Hidetaka Higashino, Nobuaki Nagao, Masaru Sekizawa, Kanako Miyashita, Masafumi Ookawa
  • Patent number: 6900765
    Abstract: A phased array antenna system having a corporate waveguide distribution network stripline printed circuit board. The stripline printed circuit board receives electromagnetic (EM) wave energy from a 1×4 waveguide distribution network input plate and distributes the EM wave energy to 524 radiating elements. The stripline circuit board enables extremely tight spacing of independent antenna radiating elements that would not be possible with a rectangular air filled waveguide. The antenna system enables operation at millimeter wave frequencies, and particularly at 44 GHz, and without requiring the use of a plurality of look-up tables for various phase and amplitude delays, that would otherwise be required with a rectangular, air-filled waveguide distribution structure. The antenna system can be used at millimeter wave frequencies, and in connection with the MILSTAR communications protocol, without the requirement of knowing, in advance, the next beam hopping frequency employed by the MILSTAR protocol.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2005
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Julio A. Navarro, John B. O'Connell, Richard N. Bostwick
  • Patent number: 6897826
    Abstract: A radio frequency radiation shield unit that is removably mounted on the antenna of a wireless telephone. It has an upright oriented front wall member that is detachably connected to an upright oriented rear wall member. These wall members are fabricated of a plastic material having carbon fibers therein for absorbing and dispersing radiation. A chamber is formed between the front wall member and rear wall member and one or more membranes are positioned therein and these membranes are made of carbon fiber material that has been cut into strips and tightly woven together. A tubular collar is formed on the rear surface of the lower portion of the rear wall member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2005
    Inventor: Kim R. Kunz
  • Patent number: 6897824
    Abstract: A planar array antenna comprising at least two groups of radiating elements, the two groups being arranged on one plane and connected to one coupling point respectively by means of one transmission network respectively. A wave guide configuration connects the coupling points to a common central coupling point. The E field vectors of the electromagnetic waves directed into the wave guide configuration are oriented parallel to the flat sides of the planar array antennae.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2005
    Inventor: Walter Gerhard
  • Patent number: 6897620
    Abstract: An electron emitter has an emitter section formed on a substrate, a cathode electrode formed on one surface of the emitter section, and an anode electrode formed on the same one surface of the emitter section and cooperating with the cathode electrode in providing a slit. A pulse generation source applies a drive voltage between the cathode electrode and the anode electrode. The anode electrode is connected to GND (ground). The slit has a width in the range from 0.1 ?m to 50 ?m.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2005
    Assignee: NGK Insulators, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yukihisa Takeuchi, Tsutomu Nanataki, Iwao Ohwada, Nobuyuki Kokune
  • Patent number: 6897619
    Abstract: A control circuit includes a plurality of drive current output circuits, a control voltage generating circuit, a first current output circuit, a second current output circuit, a voltage divider and a compensation voltage generating circuit. The voltage divider has one end connected to the control voltage generating circuit and a plurality of nodes each of which connected to the respective drive current output. The drive current output circuit outputs the control voltage to the drive circuits based on a power supply voltage and the control voltage. The compensation voltage generating circuit outputs a compensated voltage based on the difference between the current outputted from the first current output circuit and the current outputted from the second current output circuit. In order to supply the compensation voltage to the other end of the voltage divider, the values of the respective control voltage are equalized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2005
    Assignee: Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Nobuyuki Shimizu
  • Patent number: 6897621
    Abstract: A three-terminal organic electro-luminescent (EL) device is disclosed for achieving increased efficiency, decreased turn-on voltage, and increased brightness. The three-terminal organic EL device has a first electrode formed on a substrate, at least one organic material layer including an organic light-emitting layer formed on the first electrode, a second electrode formed on the organic material layer; and at least one third electrode formed on or inside said organic material layer. The third electrode is formed outside of a region, which is between the first electrode and the second electrode to prevent a reduction of luminescent area. The luminance of the organic EL device is controlled by adjusting potential of the third electrode with respect to the potentials of the first electrode and the second electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2005
    Inventor: Byoung Choo Park
  • Patent number: 6894443
    Abstract: A stage lighting lamp unit includes a processor for receiving control data from a remote console. Beam orientation data for the lamp unit is passed to the lamp in the form of the x, y and z co-ordinates of a point in space through which the beam is to pass. The processor divides the required lamp travel into a number of stages dependent on execution duration data sent with the position data, and calculates, for each stage, a new value for pan and tilt angles for the lamp. These values are passed to pan and tilt controlling co-processors which control servo-motors for pan and tilt operation. The lamp unit also incorporates a rotatable shutter for interrupting the lamp beam when required. The shutters of all the lamps in a system can be instructed from the remote console to open and close in synchronism, thereby providing a stroboscopic effect.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2005
    Assignee: Production Resource Group L.L.C.
    Inventors: Mark A. Hunt, Keith J. Owen, Michael D. Hughes
  • Patent number: 6891333
    Abstract: A vehicle headlamp is constituted to have a plurality of lamp units having light-emitting diodes as light sources. At that time, three types of lamp units of different radiation modes; that is, a projector-type lamp unit, direct-projection-type lamp units, and a reflection-type lamp unit, are used as the plurality of lamp units. As a result, a low-beam light distribution pattern obtained as a merged light distribution pattern formed from the light rays output from these three types of lamp units can be readily formed in a desired pattern geometry and a desired distribution of luminous intensity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2005
    Assignee: Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masashi Tatsukawa, Hiroyuki Ishida, Kiyoshi Sazuka
  • Patent number: 6888314
    Abstract: An electrostatic fluid accelerator having a multiplicity of closely spaced corona electrodes. The close spacing of such corona electrodes is obtainable because such corona electrodes are isolated from one another with exciting electrodes. Either the exciting electrode must be placed asymmetrically between adjacent corona electrodes or an accelerating electrode must be employed. The accelerating electrode can be either an attracting or a repelling electrode. Preferably, the voltage between the corona electrodes and the exciting electrodes is maintained between the corona onset voltage and the breakdown voltage with a flexible top high-voltage power supply. Optionally, however, the voltage between the corona electrodes and the exciting electrodes can be varied, even outside the range between the corona onset voltage and the breakdown voltage, in to vary the flow of fluid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2005
    Assignee: Kronos Advanced Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Igor A. Krichtafovitch, Robert L. Fuhriman, Jr.
  • Patent number: 6888317
    Abstract: The invention provides a tool to select reliable organic LED devices, where the risk for failure before the end of its lifetime is low. This tool comprises the steps of: i) subjecting the device to a high electric field over the electroluminescent layer. This leads to a division of the devices into two, clearly separated, populations, namely one population with a low leakage current (current through the electroluminescent layer in reverse voltage operation) and one population with a high leakage current. In this step, the first population is selected in accordance with a current criterion. ii) detecting instabilities in the leakage current, referred to as noise. It has been established that these instabilities arise in particular at reverse driving voltages between 1 and 10 Volts. These instabilities are a measure of the occurrence of early failures during operation. In this step, the devices are selected in accordance with a noise criterion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2005
    Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
    Inventors: Johannes N. Huiberts, Loic C. A. Mourier, Peter Van De Weijer, Coen T. H. F. Liedenbaum, Martinus H. W. M. Van Delden
  • Patent number: 6882110
    Abstract: A headlamp having a plurality of lighting units using light emitting diodes as light sources. A cutoff line forming unit, hot zone forming units, and a diffusion region forming unit are used as these lighting units. Consequently, a light distribution pattern for a low beam having a desirable pattern shape and light intensity distribution can be obtained as the synthetic light distribution pattern of light distribution patterns formed by the irradiation of a light from these three kinds of lighting units.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2005
    Assignee: Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Ishida, Kiyoshi Sazuka, Masashi Tatsukawa
  • Patent number: 6873113
    Abstract: A stand-alone plasma vacuum pump for pumping gas from a low-pressure inlet to a high-pressure outlet, composed of: a housing enclosing one or more pumping regions located between the inlet and the outlet; a plurality of permanent magnet assemblies providing magnetic fields that extend in the pumping region between the inlet and the outlet, the magnetic field forming magnetic flux channels for guiding and confining plasmas; elements disposed for coupling microwave power into the flux channels to heat electrons, ionize gas, and accelerate plasma ions in a direction from the inlet to the outlet; elements disposed for creating an electric in the magnetic flux channels to accelerate ions in the flux channels toward the outlet by momentum transfer; and a differential conductance baffle proximate to the outlet for promoting flow of plasma ions and neutral atoms to the outlet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2005
    Assignees: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Raphael A. Dandl, Bill H. Quon
  • Patent number: 6873304
    Abstract: A satellite dish assembly comprising a mast member having an open end and a level mounted interior of the mast member and visible through the open end of the mast member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2005
    Inventor: Deepak Malhotra
  • Patent number: 6870328
    Abstract: In an LED unit, all of eight LEDs are connected in series. The voltage of a power supply, that is, a battery of a vehicle, 12 V, is insufficient for the eight LEDs. To cope with this, a boosting circuit is provided within the control unit to boost the voltage to about 16 V which is then applied to the eight LEDs. The front end of the LED unit is connected to a constant-current circuit, and a voltage detection circuit is provided near and connected to this constant-current circuit for detecting the voltage applied to the constant-current circuit. The voltage detected by the voltage detection circuit is compared with a reference voltage drawn from the power supply, is amplified in an amplifier, and is input as a boosting control signal into the boosting circuit. The boosting control signal is output so as to regulate the boosted voltage in such a manner that the voltage detected in the voltage detection circuit is a lowest possible voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2005
    Assignee: Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tetshuo Tanabe, Shigeaki Tauchi
  • Patent number: 6864633
    Abstract: A standing wave electron beam accelerator and x-ray source is described. The accelerator has a plurality of on-axis resonant cells having axial apertures electrically coupled to one another by on-axis coupling cells having axial apertures. The accelerator includes a buncher cavity defined in part by an apertured anode and a half cell. The buncher cavity is configured to receive electrons injected through said anode aperture and r.f. focus them into a beam which is projected along the axis through said apertures. An x-ray target is supported in spaced relationship to said accelerator by a support having a smaller diameter than the accelerator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2005
    Assignee: Varian Medical Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark E. Trail, David H. Whittum, Gard E. Meddaugh
  • Patent number: 6858998
    Abstract: A new and improved undulator design is provided that enables a variable period length for the production of synchrotron radiation from both medium-energy and high-energy storage rings. The variable period length is achieved using a staggered array of pole pieces made up of high permeability material, permanent magnet material, or an electromagnetic structure. The pole pieces are separated by a variable width space. The sum of the variable width space and the pole width would therefore define the period of the undulator. Features and advantages of the invention include broad photon energy tunability, constant power operation and constant brilliance operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2005
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy
    Inventors: Gopal Shenoy, John Lewellen, Deming Shu, Nikolai Vinokurov
  • Patent number: 6859186
    Abstract: An apparatus mounted beneath or behind a surface and being operable to transmit or receive wireless communication signals for transmitting information from one location to a remote location. The apparatus includes an antenna mounted substantially flush with a surface. The apparatus also includes a communication device and a matching network having a radial transmission line. The communication device is connected to the antenna via the matching network and includes either a transmitter, a receiver or a transceiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2005
    Assignee: Silver Spring Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Gary C. Lizalek, Juan R. Luglio
  • Patent number: 6856098
    Abstract: An electronic converter converts high-voltage AC power main voltage, such as 120V, 240V or 277V, to a low-voltage suitable for driving a halogen lamp. The converter includes a rectifier circuit, starter circuit, a driver circuit, a current sensing circuit and a transformer circuit with an optional synchronous output rectifier. The current sensing circuit senses an output current of the converter. The sensed current is used to govern pulse-width modulation of the lamp drive voltage, to provide over-voltage protection. Temperature protection can also be provided to reduce drive current when the converter overheats. This enables reliable operation of the converter over an extended temperature range, and reduces the occurrence of converter component failures due to ground faults or overheating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2005
    Assignee: Éclairage Contraste
    Inventor: Andrew D. Piaskowski