Patents Examined by Euncha Cherry
  • Patent number: 9891408
    Abstract: A mirror drive device that eliminates the need of an additional driving source for releasing a mirror from a locked state, and achieves power saving, lower cost, and size reduction thereof. When a main mirror holder and a sub mirror holder rotatably attached thereto are in respective mirror-down positions, cams of a cam gear and a mirror drive gear that moves the sub holder are in contact to restrict movement of the mirror drive gear. When the holders are between the mirror-down position and a mirror-up position, gears of the cam gear and the mirror drive gear are in mesh for moving the sub holder. When the sub holder is moved from the mirror-down position to the mirror-up position, the sub holder is brought into contact with the main holder to push and move the main holder from the mirror-down position to the mirror-up position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Keisuke Morita
  • Patent number: 9894333
    Abstract: A light source unit mountable to an image display apparatus for irradiating scan light to an optical scanning system to generate an image includes a plurality of light emitters to emit corresponding lights having different wavelengths, a plurality of coupling lenses respectively disposed for the plurality of light emitters to respectively pass through the lights emitted from the plurality of light emitters, and a plurality of aperture-formed members respectively disposed for the plurality of coupling lenses to respectively pass through the lights coming from the coupling lenses, each of the plurality of aperture-formed members formed of an aperture having an aperture size set differently depending on the wavelengths of the lights emitted from the plurality of light emitters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Makoto Hirakawa
  • Patent number: 9891347
    Abstract: An electromagnetic energy-absorbing optical product useful as a composite for coloring an opaque article such as a paint composite or car wrap is disclosed. The electromagnetic energy-absorbing optical product includes a polymeric substrate and a composite coating with the composite coating including first and second layers each containing a binding group component which together form a complimentary binding group pair.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: Eastman Chemical Company
    Inventors: Brija Nand, Lee Campbell Boman, Kevin C. Krogman, Michael Hawkins, Anthony Brian Port, Timofey Gerasimov, Ralph Peter Schultz
  • Patent number: 9885945
    Abstract: In an electro-optical device, a light-transmitting cover is disposed in mirrors, and when light is applied toward the mirrors through the light-transmitting cover, the temperature of the light-transmitting cover tires to increase due to the applied light. Here, in the electro-optical device, first metal portions that are in contact with the light-transmitting cover and the element substrate are formed. For this reason, it is possible to release the heat of the light-transmitting cover to a substrate through the first metal portions and the element substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Terunao Hanaoka
  • Patent number: 9885908
    Abstract: An opposing substrate as a substrate for an electro-optical device includes a transparent base member and a light shielding portion disposed on a region between pixels on the base member. The light shielding portion includes a first reflective film and a second reflective film that is disposed to overlap the first reflective film and has a reflection rate lower than that of the first reflective film, and a first protective film that covers the first reflective film is provided between the first reflective film and the second reflective film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yutaka Tsuchiya, Takehiro Ono, Yusuke Kinoe, Yoshitaka Hama, Yasushi Kawakami
  • Patent number: 9874665
    Abstract: An optical device for the stabilization of images, including a first deformable membrane and a second deformable membranes, a support to which a respective peripheral anchoring area of each of said membranes is connected, and a constant volume of fluid enclosed between the first and the second membrane, said fluid producing mechanical coupling of said first and second membranes. The optical device also includes: a first actuation device of a region of the first membrane located between the peripheral anchoring area and a central part of the first membrane; and a second actuation device of a region of the second membrane located between the peripheral anchoring area and a central part of the second membrane. A control means of the first and second actuation devices is configured, from a rest position where the first and second actuation devices are inactive, to have multiple operating modes to apply respective actuation voltage to the first actuation device or the second actuation device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: Webster Capital, LLC
    Inventor: Sébastien Bolis
  • Patent number: 9874745
    Abstract: A collimation assembly includes a body, at least four light sources, and at least four collimation lenses. The body has inner surfaces that define at least four hollow portions extending through the body between opposed first and second sides thereof, each hollow portion having opposed first and second openings at the first and second sides of the body, respectively. Each light source is disposed at the first opening of one of the at least four hollow portions and controllable to emit a light beam therethrough. Each collimation lens is disposed at the second opening of one of the at least four hollow portions to receive the light beam emitted by the light source disposed at the first opening and diverge the light beam as the light beam passes through the collimation lens. The at least four light sources and the at least four collimation lenses are supported by the body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: LEXMARK INTERNATIONAL, INC.
    Inventors: Fei Chen, Randall Lee Hudson, Christopher Dane Jones, Jason Lee Rowe
  • Patent number: 9872606
    Abstract: Improved systems, methods, and devices relating to optical fiber scanners are provided. In one aspect, a scanning apparatus includes an optical fiber and a piezoelectric actuator coupled to the optical fiber to deflect a distal end of the optical fiber in a scanning pattern. The apparatus can include drive circuitry coupled to the piezoelectric actuator, sense circuitry electrically coupled to the piezoelectric actuator and the drive circuitry to determine displacement of the piezoelectric actuator, and a processor coupled to the drive circuitry and the sense circuitry to drive the piezoelectric actuator in response to the displacement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON THROUGH ITS CENTER FOR COMMERCIALIZATION
    Inventors: Ivan L. Yeoh, Per G. Reinhall, Eric J. Seibel, Matthew J. Kundrat
  • Patent number: 9873819
    Abstract: A curable composition having excellent storage stability and capable of forming a cured product having excellent scratch resistance. The composition comprises a silsesquioxane monomer having a radically polymerizable group in the molecule and a content of a component having a molecular weight measured by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) of not less than 10,000 of less than 9 mass % and a bifunctional polymerizable monomer represented by the following formula (1). (wherein B and B? are each an linear or branched alkylene group having 2 to 15 carbon atoms, “c” is an average value of 1 to 20, when a plurality of B's are existent, B's may be the same or different, and R5 and R6 are each a hydrogen atom or methyl group).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: Tokuyama Corporation
    Inventors: Yasutomo Shimizu, Katsuhiro Mori
  • Patent number: 9869802
    Abstract: An optical device with focal length variation including a first deformable membrane, a second deformable membrane, and a support to which a respective peripheral anchoring area of each of said membranes is connected. A constant volume of fluid is enclosed between the first and the second membrane, said fluid producing mechanical coupling of said first and second membranes. An actuation device of a region of the first membrane located between the anchoring area and a central part of the first membrane, configured to deform by application of electrical actuation voltage in a single direction of deflection to displace at least a portion of the fluid volume, said displacement of fluid being likely to cause deformation of the central part of the first membrane based on application of an electrical actuation voltage to the actuation device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: Webster Capital, LLC
    Inventor: Sebastien Bolis
  • Patent number: 9868399
    Abstract: Remote controlled electric mirrors include a main frame, housing horizontal and vertical electrical ram actuators. The body portion of each actuator is pivotally mounted to the main frame. The main frame includes clamp brackets on its lower side, for mounting to support arms extending from a motor vehicle. An elongated swivel member is pivotally mounted to the front of the main frame, for rotation about a horizontal axis. A movable portion of the vertical actuator is pivotally connected to the swivel member. The swivel member includes an upper pin and a lower pin. An upper bracket on the rear of the mirror frame includes an aperture, slip-fitted over the upper pin. An apertured clamp is slip-fitted over the lower pin, and bolted to a lower bracket on the mirror frame. The movable portion of the horizontal actuator is pivotally connected through a heim joint to rear of the mirror frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Inventors: William A. Ebert, Adam John Sullivan
  • Patent number: 9864187
    Abstract: A reflector micromechanical structure includes a frame with a window. The frame is elastically connected to an anchorage structure by first elastic elements. An actuation structure operatively coupled to the frame is configured to generate a first actuation movement of the frame about a first actuation axis. A mobile mass is positioned within the window and elastically coupled to the frame by second elastic elements. A mass distribution is associated to the mobile mass such as to generate, by an inertial effect in response to the first actuation movement, a second actuation movement of rotation of the mobile mass about a second actuation axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventor: Roberto Carminati
  • Patent number: 9857578
    Abstract: A laser scanning microscope for the acquisition of object images according to varied observation criteria. The microscope includes an illumination and detection unit, an illumination and a detection beam, a microscope objective, a scanning device with a scanning optical component and several scanners, with switching mirrors, each mirror with two switching positions, provided in the illumination and detection beams. Each switching position is assigned to one of several different, optically separate beam paths and each beam path defines a separate operating mode. A concave mirror for imaging a first scanner into at least one more scanner and vice versa is arranged in at least one of the beam paths.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignees: Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH, Carl Zeiss AG
    Inventors: Beate Boehme, Matthias Wald, Tiemo Anhut, Daniel Schwedt
  • Patent number: 9857508
    Abstract: A color filter pattern including a plurality of color filters arranged in a pattern and the manufacturing method thereof are provided. By performing at least one two-stage exposure process to a color filter layer, the plurality of color filters are formed with a sharp profile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: United Microelectronics Corp.
    Inventors: Hsin-Ting Tsai, Cheng-Hung Yu, Chin-Kuang Liu, Ming-Hsin Lee
  • Patent number: 9855895
    Abstract: A mirror reflective element suitable for use in an exterior rearview mirror assembly of a vehicle includes a glass substrate having a first side and an opposing second side. The mirror reflective element has a principal reflector portion and an auxiliary reflector portion. The auxiliary reflector portion includes a curved recess established at the second side of the glass substrate. An auxiliary mirror metallic reflector is coated at the curved recess at the second side of the glass substrate and a principal mirror metallic reflector is coated at the principal reflector portion. The mirror reflective element is configured so that, when an exterior rearview mirror assembly equipped with the mirror reflective element is normally mounted at a side of a vehicle, the curved recess is disposed at an outboard upper region of the mirror reflective element relative to the side of the equipped vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: DONNELLY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Mingtang Zhao
  • Patent number: 9851553
    Abstract: An optical shutter apparatus has a baseplate that defines an aperture in a plane and that has at least first and second tabs that extend outward from the plane. At least a first linear actuator is coupled to the first tab and drives a magnetic shaft between the first and second tabs according to an electrical signal. A shutter blade is coupled to the magnetic shaft and is linearly translatable along a translation path in the direction of the plane between a first and a second position, wherein the shutter blade blocks at least a first portion of the aperture in the first position and unblocks the first portion of the aperture in the second position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: Melles Griot
    Inventor: Stanley W. Stephenson
  • Patent number: 9851528
    Abstract: A stable single-carrier optical spring, comprising a pair of dielectric mirrors, each having a dielectric coating, and positioned to form a standing wave from an incident optic field. The dielectric coating has a plurality of layers, where at least the first layer is sized to be an odd multiple of half a wavelength of the laser beam, to feature an opposite-sign photo-thermal effect due to the detailed interaction of the optical field with the coating. This results in an opposite-sign photo-thermal effect at the optical spring frequency. The dampening effect is large enough to stabilize the radiation pressure based optical spring, resulting in a statically and dynamically stable optical spring. As a result this coating allows stable locking of a cavity with a single laser frequency using radiation pressure feedback.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
    Inventor: Stefan Ballmer
  • Patent number: 9845054
    Abstract: A mirror base, a mirror housing rotatable to the mirror base between a non-driving retracted position and a driving protracted position around an axis (X), a non-metallic spring for providing an axial spring force between the mirror base and the mirror housing whose force differs at least between the non-driving retracted and the driving protracted positions; and a first guide portion for contacting a first contact area of the non-metallic spring, and a second guide portion for contacting a second contact area of the non-metallic spring. The guide portions are configured such that, during rotation of the mirror housing to the mirror base, at least one deformable portion of the non-metallic spring between the first and second contact areas is deformed in a direction (Y) substantially perpendicular to the mirror rotation axis (X).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2017
    Assignee: FICO MIRRORS, S.A.
    Inventors: Adolfo Caballero Guirado, Miguel Ángel Gómez Castilla, José Manuel Espinosa Morales
  • Patent number: 9846349
    Abstract: A lens cover includes a housing defining an optical aperture. A pair of opposed lens cover blades are each pivotally mounted to the housing at a common pivot point. A biasing member biases the blades apart from one another about the pivot point to uncover the optical aperture in an open position. A pair of magnetic members is included, each magnetic member being mounted to a respective one of the blades to bias the blades together to cover the optical aperture in a closed position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2017
    Assignee: Sensors Unlimited, Inc.
    Inventor: John T. Foster
  • Patent number: 9842407
    Abstract: A method and system for generating light pattern using reflective polygons are provided herein. The method may include: rotating at least one polygon having a plurality of reflective facets along a rotation axis parallel to the facets; transmitting a light beam on the facets of the polygon; tilting the light beam relative to the polygon in parallel to the rotation axis so that the light beam hits each of the facets at a different tilt angle, thereby producing a light pattern comprising a plurality of lines; and controlling at least one of: the light intensity, the rotating, and the tilting, so as to produce an adjustable light pattern transmitted at a scene.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Guy Raz, Yair Alpern, Nadav Grossinger