Patents Examined by Jean Lesperance
  • Patent number: 7015902
    Abstract: Each horizontal driving section and a driving control section of a display apparatus have a data communicating function. The driving control section has a first communicating section receiving data from an external device and a second communicating section communicating data with each horizontal driving section. The second communicating section adds individual identification information for identifying each horizontal driving section to the transferred data, and transfers the data in packet format. The horizontal driving section receives the data packet for it based on the identification information, and performs current driving for a display section. The driving control section adds the individual identification information to the control data to be transferred to each horizontal driving section corresponding to connecting form of the horizontal driving sections, and transfers the control data not concerned with connecting order of the horizontal driving sections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2006
    Assignee: Nichia Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshifumi Nagai, Ryuhei Tsuji
  • Patent number: 7002555
    Abstract: The display device with touch sensor according to the invention consists of an electrochromic cell known per se or a liquid crystal cell, which is located between two transparent plates, a transparent cover plate and a transparent support plate. A radiation source whose light enters the cover plate and illuminates it is arranged on at least one of the end faces of the transparent cover plate. At least one photodetector, in whose photosensitive solid angle range some or all of the cover plate surface lies, is mounted on the support plate is.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2006
    Assignee: Bayer Innovation GmbH
    Inventors: Wolfgang Jacobsen, Ralf Neigl
  • Patent number: 7002554
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a button to which a to-be-executed program can be assigned. The apparatus further includes a unit which executes the program in response to an operation of the button, a unit which executes a button function setting process base on a request for setting of the button function for executing the program, and a unit which controls the execution of the button function setting process, depending upon a user authority level of the user who has made the request for the setting of the button function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2006
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Fujihito Numano, Yuki Akiyama
  • Patent number: 7002605
    Abstract: An image display apparatus fixes the luminance of a blank area and varies only the luminance of an image. The image display apparatus includes an A/D conversion device to convert an input analog image signal into digital image data, a black level setting device for setting the black level of the digital image data by adjusting a lower-limit reference voltage of the A/D conversion device, a blank data generation device to generate blank data to display a blank area around an image display area on the screen, an image data combining device to combine the blank data generated by this blank data generation device and the digital image data output from the A/D conversion device, and a display device to display the output of this image data combining device on the screen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2006
    Assignees: Alps Electric Co., Ltd., Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoyasu Katsuyama, Naoki Hagiwara, Yoshihiro Date, Fumiaki Inage
  • Patent number: 6999066
    Abstract: What is presented is a system and method by which a visually impaired worker could easily and quickly navigate menu options on touch screen displays. An Audible Feedback ON/OFF Switch is provided which turns the audible feedback feature of the present invention on or off. The software monitoring which row/column areas of the touch screen's display grid have been touched by the user in response to a menu option selection is made switchable into one of two modes. A first mode is when the audible feedback feature is OFF or otherwise disabled. In this mode the software operates the touch screen's menu selections in the normal manner in which the machine is intended to perform. When a user selects an option, the option is immediately activated whether it be a machine activity or a jump to another level of menus. A second mode is when the audible feedback feature has been turned ON or otherwise activated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2006
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventor: Debora Margaret Hejza Litwiller
  • Patent number: 6995748
    Abstract: An apparatus for controlling the position of a screen pointer for an electronic device having a display screen includes a light source for illuminating an imaging surface, thereby generating reflected images. An optical motion sensor generates digital images from the reflected images at a first frame rate. The motion sensor is configured to generate movement data based on the digital images. The movement data is indicative of relative motion between the imaging surface and the apparatus. The motion sensor is configured to modify the first frame rate to one of a plurality of alternate frame rates based on a current relative velocity between the imaging surface and the apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2006
    Assignee: Agilent Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Gary B. Gordon, Michael J. Brosnan
  • Patent number: 6985128
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to a liquid crystal display panel to which an external horizontal drive circuit is connected in a TAB, COG, or other form. The liquid crystal display panel is capable of performing aging by a substrate alone by connecting the external drive circuit. The liquid crystal display panel includes an active matrix display area, a vertical drive circuit, and a horizontal aging circuit that supplies signals to a plurality of source lines at one time provided on a substrate. The medium-sized to small-sized active matrix type liquid crystal display apparatus is used in a PDA applications, among other, and is capable of being produced at a high quality and a low cost without using a time sharing driving method. The active matrix type liquid crystal display apparatus is provided with a horizontal drive circuit as an external circuit, wherein a vertical drive circuit is formed integrally with a liquid crystal display area on a glass substrate by using low temperature PolySi TFTs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2006
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshitoshi Kida, Yoshiharu Nakajima, Naoshi Goto, Toshikazu Maekawa, Hideo Kataoka
  • Patent number: 6985131
    Abstract: In a liquid crystal display device having the so-called side-edge type backlight system which comprises: a liquid crystal display panel; a light guide plate being disposed opposite to a main surface of the liquid crystal panel; and a linear lamp being disposed along one of sides of the light guide plate, the present invention provides a plurality of grooves at a corner area of an edge of the light guide plate along which the linear lamp is disposed so that the plurality of grooves are extended in a direction slanted to the edge of the light guide plate. In accordance with this structural feature, the present invention enables a high quality image display performance of the liquid crystal display panel by suppressing the display irregularity appearing therein effectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2006
    Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Electronic Devices Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomoaki Kawada, Akio Tezuka, Hisao Hirayama, Toshitsugu Miyawaki, Masataka Natori
  • Patent number: 6982696
    Abstract: A moving magnet actuator for providing haptic feedback. The actuator includes a grounded core member, a coil is wrapped around a central projection of the core member, and a magnet head positioned so as to provide a gap between the core member and the magnet head. The magnet head is moved in a degree of freedom based on an electromagnetic force caused by a current flowed through the coil. An elastic material, such as foam, is positioned in the gap between the magnet head and the core member, where the elastic material is compressed and sheared when the magnet head moves and substantially prevents movement of the magnet head past a range limit that is based on the compressibility and shear factor of the material. Flexible members can also be provided between the magnet head and the ground member, where the flexible members flex to allow the magnet head to move, provide a centering spring force to the magnet head, and limit the motion of the magnet head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2006
    Assignee: Immersion Corporation
    Inventor: Erik J. Shahoian
  • Patent number: 6982687
    Abstract: Data drive circuit for a current writing type AMOEL display panel including a plurality of current output channels, and a plurality of channel current generating circuits on respective current output channels for minimizing a difference of current levels occurred between the current output channels, each inclusive of one pair of transistors, a current generating part for generating a current of a small deviation proportional to square of a difference of threshold voltages of the one pair of the transistors, and a current mirror part for mirroring the current, and forwarding the mirrored current as a channel current for the channel, thereby minimizing a difference of current levels occurred between output channels, and driving the AMOEL display panel uniformly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2006
    Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Hak Soo Kim, Young Sun Na, Oh Kyoung Kwan
  • Patent number: 6980190
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device includes a driver circuit for outputting a charging voltage at a beginning of a horizontal scanning period and then a gray scale voltage corresponding to a display data to a video signal line. The liquid crystal display device is driven by inverting a polarity of the gray scale voltage on a pixel electrode with respect to a common voltage on a common electrode every N lines of scanning lines, where N?2 and by making a first charging time of the charging voltage corresponding to a first line of N lines of the scanning lines scanned immediately after inversion of the polarity of the gray scale voltage different from a second charging time of the charging voltage corresponding to a second line of the N lines scanned immediately succeeding the first line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2005
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventor: Shiro Ueda
  • Patent number: 6975290
    Abstract: An active matrix type organic EL display apparatus according to the present invention which apparatus uses current writing type pixel circuits is provided with a current control circuit for each of data lines connected to the pixel circuits. The current control circuit supplies part of a data line current to a pixel circuit as a bypass current. The current control circuit handles the bypass current of the data line current represented by (data line current=data current+bypass current). Thereby, the data line driving current can be set greater than the data current flowing through TFTs provided in the pixel circuit, thus reducing luminance data writing time. Also, when the writing time is set unchanged, transistor size of the TFTs provided in the pixel circuit can be reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2005
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Mitsuru Asano
  • Patent number: 6970161
    Abstract: A drive circuit for driving a display device includes a voltage level shift circuit which receives a control signal and a data signal and which shifts a voltage level of the control signal and the data signal to output a voltage level shifted control signal and a voltage level shifted data signal. The drive circuit also includes an output circuit which receives the voltage level shifted data signal and which outputs an output data signal corresponding to the voltage level shifted data signal in response to the voltage level shifted control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2005
    Assignee: Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Junji Kashiwada
  • Patent number: 6954200
    Abstract: A flat panel display comprises a system and a display module. The system comprises an image processing part for deciding a timing format of an image data and generating a control signal for the image data, an encoder for encoding the data and the control signal output from the image processing part in an RSDS specification, and a power output part for outputting a constant-voltage. The display module includes a column driver integrated circuit and a scan driver integrated circuit, and the decoding of the encoded image data and the control signal are performed at a decoder of the column driver integrated circuit and the scan driver integrated circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2005
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Haeng-Seon Kim
  • Patent number: 6930659
    Abstract: In a light emitting indicator drive circuit which supplies a current to display elements different in display areas, a constant-current is supplied from a P-channel MOS-FET to a display element and a pulse width control circuit controls a on/off ratio. deterioration information from a deterioration detecting circuit and saved segment area information is calculated, and its result decides a time to supply a current to the display elements as a result of the arithmetic operation. With the above operation, a difference in luminance between the display elements and the degradation of luminance caused by the deterioration can be corrected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2005
    Assignee: Seiko Instruments Inc.
    Inventors: Masafumi Hoshino, Susumu Fujita, Tokuya Akase, Hiroshi Odagiri, Kazumi Sakumoto
  • Patent number: 6922180
    Abstract: A PDP driving apparatus having a resonance driver of a PDP electrode for shortening a time required to display an image since the power-up. A power collecting capacitor included in each electrode resonance driver is charged rapidly to a predetermined potential upon power-up of the PDP driving apparatus by allowing each electrode resonance driver to drive electrodes by means of excitation. Also, while the power collecting capacitor included in the row electrode pair driver is charged, charge driving pulses in-phase and of the same polarity are applied respectively to corresponding two electrodes to drive these electrodes by means of excitation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2005
    Assignees: Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer Display Products Corporation
    Inventors: Takashi Iwami, Nozomu Kikuchi
  • Patent number: 6919884
    Abstract: A fireplace generally including a display driven by a controller. The display may be configured to show images associated with a fireplace. The images may be in two dimensions or three dimensions. The display may be driven by the controller, and a user interface may be provided to configure the fireplace. The display may also be driven by other peripheral components as well. The display may optionally be a flat-panel display. The display may be placed against a wall of a structure and surrounded by a decorative facade, or may be placed in an enclosure of a wall. Various optional components, such as a simulated electric glowing ember system and a retractable grate and artificial log set, may also be included.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2005
    Assignee: HON Technology Inc.
    Inventors: Devin Eugene Mix, Thomas J. Bachinski, Dan Curtis Shimek, David Charles Lyons, Mark Richard Schroeder
  • Patent number: 6909419
    Abstract: An active matrix color crystal display has an active matrix circuit, a counterelectrode panel and an interposed layer of liquid crystal. The active matrix display is located in a portable microdisplay system that has a display computer that generates images to be displayed on the liquid crystal display and connected to the active matrix liquid crystal display. A data link transmits data at a rate of speed of greater than 200 Mbytes per second in series for at least a portion between the display computer and the active matrix liquid crystal display. In a preferred embodiment, the display system has a randomizing device that alternates the amplifier through which an analog video signal passes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2005
    Assignee: Kopin Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew Zavracky, Jeffrey Jacobsen, Frederick P. Herrmann, Wen-Foo Chern, Hiap L. Ong, John C. C. Fan, Bor-Yeu Tsaur, Alan Richard, Ron Gale, Jason Lo, Stephen A. Pombo, Rodney Bumgardner
  • Patent number: 6909410
    Abstract: A driving circuit for a light-emitting element, in which it is possible to exactly control a current flown in the light-emitting element, and perform a stable operation while reducing a power-supply voltage as low as possible, is provided. The driving circuit includes a current supply circuit and a driving control circuit in which, based on a current flown from a supply transistor for supplying a current for driving the light-emitting element, and information relating to a source-drain voltage of the supply transistor, it is possible to perform control so that the current approaches a desired setting current value, and the source-drain voltage of the supply transistor has the same value when setting the voltage of the gate-terminal and when driving the light-emitting element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2005
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Somei Kawasaki, Masanobu Oomura
  • Patent number: 6903754
    Abstract: An array and row and column line architecture for a display is disclosed. The array consists of a plurality of row and column positions and a plurality of three-color pixel elements. A three-color pixel element can comprise a blue emitter, a pair of red emitters, and a pair of green emitters. Several designs for the three-color pixel element are contemplated. The drive matrix consists of a plurality of row and column drivers to drive the individual emitters. The row drivers drive the red, green and blue emitters in each row. The red and green emitters in each column are driven by a single column driver. However, a single column driver can drive two column lines of blue emitters, a first column line and a second column line of the next nearest neighboring three-color pixel element. Methods of driving a three-color pixel element are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2005
    Assignee: Clairvoyante, Inc
    Inventor: Candice Hellen Brown Elliott