Patents Examined by Jimmy Hai Nguyen
  • Patent number: 6556204
    Abstract: An image processor is composed of a game device body, an operation panel and a display. The game device body is composed of a data processor 12 and a memory 12. The data processor realizes a hit determining circuit 112, an enemy control circuit 112, an enemy (object) set circuit 114, a cursor control circuit 114, an enemy retrieval circuit 116 and a camera control circuit 116 in accordance with corresponding programs used. When an object is displayed on the display, the cursor control circuit displays a cursor in accordance with predetermined processing performed on the basis of data on the coordinates of the object. The camera control circuit 116 performs a zoom-in display process for the object when the object is displayed on the display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2003
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Sega Enterprises
    Inventors: Katsunori Itai, Yu Suzuki
  • Patent number: 6160538
    Abstract: A method of encoding manipulations of a multidimensional input device, such as a mouse, into data to be communicated to a data processing apparatus. Sensors in the input device detect manipulations of a member of the input device with respect to an X-axis and a Y-axis. From the sensor data, a direction and a magnitude of the manipulation is derived. These intermediate quantities are communicated to the data processing apparatus instead of the X- and a Y-values themselves. In the data processing apparatus, a decoder decodes the intermediate quantities into a further pair of X-and Y-values. The intermediate values more adequately represent the manipulations. Therefore, in input devices having a limited power budget, like TV remote controls and other wireless input devices, the method achieves a higher performance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2000
    Assignee: U.S. Philips Corporation
    Inventor: Marc E. C. Lambrechts
  • Patent number: 6151016
    Abstract: An erasing device for a liquid crystal display image of the present invention is furnished with an auxiliary power source for continuously supplying power source to a liquid crystal display panel for a certain period after the main power source of the main body of the liquid crystal display device is turned OFF. Upon input of a power source OFF signal directing to turn OFF the main power source, a driving signal generating circuit and a driver controller light up the liquid crystal display panel entirely on a saturation voltage of the liquid crystal and subsequently shut off the same entirely using the power supply from the auxiliary power source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2000
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Makoto Kanbe, Yasuhisa Itoh, Shigeto Yoshida, Hiroshi Yoneda
  • Patent number: 6147682
    Abstract: A computer monitor for allowing the easy connection of computer peripherals thereto, and supplying a power supply voltage from an internal power supply therein to the computer peripherals via universal serial bus hubs. The monitor has a power supply for converting externally applied AC power into DC power; and a universal serial bus hub having at least one upstream port and at least two downstream ports; wherein the upstream port is electrically connected in communication with the computer system, and the downstream ports receive DC power in response for a power switching signal in accordance with power supply control information from the computer system through the upstream port to selectively provide the DC power to external devices connected therewith in response to the power switching signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2000
    Assignee: SamSung Electronics, Ltd.
    Inventor: Yong-Hee Kim
  • Patent number: 6147680
    Abstract: A unique layout with a matrix of traces having at least traces in one direction provided with portions which are interleaved with portions of adjacent traces. Unlike the prior art zigzag pattern, the extensions of the traces of the present invention are actually interleaved, so that they overlap with portions of the adjacent trace. Thus, a finger moving from one trace to the next will contact the interleaved portions of the adjacent trace before it leaves the interleaved portions of the first trace.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2000
    Assignee: KOA T&T Corporation
    Inventor: Aleksey A. Tareev
  • Patent number: 6140991
    Abstract: A liquid-crystal display apparatus is provided that achieves a flickerless display while, at the same time, achieving a reduction in crosstalk by reducing the effects of variations in rms voltage. A drive waveform in a period that determines the gray scale of liquid crystal display is produced with a front-edge drive waveform having an edge at its front end or a back-edge drive waveform having an edge at its back end, and the drive waveform is switched between the front-edge drive waveform and the back-edge drive waveform alternately for every n horizontal scanning signals (where n is a positive integer).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2000
    Assignee: Citizen Watch Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kosei Miyabe
  • Patent number: 6118420
    Abstract: A display device comprises a transparent type LCD including a pair of transparent plates facing each other, spaced with a predetermined gap and a polymer dispersed liquid crystal disposed between the transparent plates, which can be switched between a transparent state and a diffraction state pixel by pixel to display images or characters; a signal generator for giving display signals to the transparent type LCD; and a light system including a light source emitting light rays that enter the transparent plates from their edge faces, and a stop plate disposed between the edge faces of the transparent plates and the light source. This stop plate has an opening that extends along the longitudinal direction of the edge face of the transparent plate, and the width of the opening in the cross direction changes cyclically along the longitudinal direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2000
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshiharu Yamamoto, Motonobu Yoshikawa, Kazutake Boku
  • Patent number: 6115010
    Abstract: A circuit receives at least two input signals and produces exactly three output signals in response to the two input signals, whereby two of the output signals shine constantly in an activated state and the third output signal shines constantly or flashes in the activated state. Each time exactly one of the three output signals is activated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2000
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Dietmar Trager
  • Patent number: 6088015
    Abstract: A waveform generator generates a specified exponential function for converting a position signal corresponding to the position on the screen one by one to a corrected position signal thereby obtaining a waveform with shifted phase near the screen center compared to the original waveform. A conversion unit receives a position signal corresponding to the position on the screen one by one or the output of a second addition unit, a first addition unit for adding the output of the conversion means and an offset coefficient, a first multiplication unit for multiplying the output of the first addition unit and a frequency correction coefficient, a second addition unit for adding the position signal P and the output of the first multiplication unit, and a second multiplication means for multiplying the output of the conversion unit by an amplitude coefficient A. The position signal is input to the conversion unit and the first addition unit receives the output of the conversion unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 1997
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2000
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Toshiyuki Kato
  • Patent number: 6088010
    Abstract: An AC-discharge color plasma display panel has a matrix of unit discharge spaces which include unit discharge spaces for emitting light in the same color that are arranged along the scan electrodes, and sets of three adjacent unit discharge spaces for emitting light in three different colors that are arranged along the data electrode. Scan pulses and data pulses applied to the unit discharge spaces to generate writing discharges according to display information and pairs of sustaining pulses applied to the unit discharge spaces to generate and maintain sustaining discharges are controllable with respect to pulse durations, oscillation frequencies, voltages, etc. for each of the colors. A method of driving the AC-discharge color plasma display panel is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 1997
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2000
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Mitsuyoshi Makino, Toshihiro Yoshioka
  • Patent number: 6084561
    Abstract: A liquid crystal controller for controlling display of a liquid crystal display device of passive matrix type includes gray scale processing being performed on input data before being written in a frame memory for frame frequency conversion and gray scale processing being performed after the frequency conversion and reading of the data from the frame memory so that an amount of information of display data written in the frame memory can be reduced. Further, since the gray scale display pattern is switched by the same switching frequency as the converted frame frequency, pattern movement and flicker of the gray scale display portions can be reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2000
    Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Video & Information
    Inventors: Yasuyuki Kudo, Hiroyuki Mano, Tsutomu Furuhashi, Shinji Uchida, Tomohide Ohira, Tatsuhiro Inuzuka
  • Patent number: 6075509
    Abstract: A method of multiplex driving a passive liquid crystal display (LCD) using a bi-level LCD multiplex driver for providing one or more bi-level waveforms on the ROW/common lines and COLUMN/segment lines of a multiplexed liquid crystal display (LCD). These waveforms drive the LCD display using binary data from display memory locations. At periodic intervals the machine state is advanced with the present state used to 1) look-up in a table the bi-level data to output on the ROW/commons, and 2) look-up memory locations associated with the active COLUMN/segments; and 3) to provide inverted COLUMN/segments data before sending the bi-level data to the COLUMN/segment lines of the LCD. The states advance four times the number of ROW/commons before being reset to the initial state and the waveforms repeated. Thus, the machine produces one ON/select voltage and one OFF/non-select voltage are provided to the LCD according to predetermined formulas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 1997
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2000
    Assignee: Motorola, Inc.
    Inventors: David L. Ellis, II, Ruben Rivera, Patrick M. Dunn
  • Patent number: 6072452
    Abstract: A display driver circuit and method for receiving a display data stream, modifying the display data stream to enhance gray scale performance, and outputting the modified display data stream. The display driver includes a forced state generator for adding at least one forced state to the display data stream to create the modified display data stream. The forced state generator includes a multiplexer and a forced state controller. The multiplexer includes a data input terminal for receiving the display data stream, a first forced state input terminal for receiving first forced state data, a second forced state input terminal for receiving second forced state data, a data output terminal for outputting the modified display data stream, and a pair of control input terminals. The forced state controller includes a pair of control output terminals coupled the control input terminals of the multiplexer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2000
    Assignee: Aurora Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: W. Spencer Worley, III, Raymond Pinkham
  • Patent number: 6064367
    Abstract: N expansion bits are added to the LSB side of original data of m bits and thereby expanded data of (m+n) bits is obtained. In the case of m.ltoreq.n, each bit of original data of m bits is repeatedly assigned to the LSB side of original data. In the case of m>n, n bits on the MSB side of the original data of m bits are added to the LSB side of original data. Since the bit values of expansion bits vary corresponding to the values of the original data, a bit expansion can be smoothly performed in the full range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2000
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Toshio Horioka
  • Patent number: 6064365
    Abstract: An apparatus for displaying a waveform of an input signal on a display includes a synchronization detecting circuit, a sweep generating circuit, a horizontal axis drive circuit, a switching circuit, a variable gain amplifier, a vertical axis drive circuit, and a vertical location arrangement circuit. The horizontal axis drive circuit drives the horizontal axis of the display on the basis of a sweep signal generated at the sweep generating circuit synchronously with a sweep trigger signal obtained by dividing synchronization detecting pulses from the synchronization detecting circuit by N (N-1, 2, . . . ). The switching circuit alternately transfers the input signal and a cursor signal at a high rate to provide a multiplexed input/cursor signal to the vertical axis drive circuit through the variable gain amplifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2000
    Assignee: Leader Electronics, Corporation
    Inventor: Kentaro Ozawa
  • Patent number: 6057815
    Abstract: A driver circuit for a plasma display panel has first, second, third, and fourth switches. The first switch is connected to the higher potential side of a sustaining pulse power supply and supplies a current to sustaining electrodes. The second switch is connected to the lower potential side of the sustaining pulse power supply and draws a current from the sustaining electrodes. The third switch is connected to the higher potential side of the sustaining pulse power supply and supplies a current to the scanning electrodes. The fourth switch is connected to the lower potential side of the sustaining pulse power supply and draws a current from the scanning electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2000
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Yoshio Sano
  • Patent number: 5982397
    Abstract: A video graphics controller (VGC) for communicating with a frame buffer memory and a display device includes a first-in, first-out (FIFO)-configured memory, a memory controller for communicating with the frame buffer memory and controlling the FIFO-configured memory, and read and write pointers for the FIFO-configured memory. A subtractor is coupled to the read and write pointers for generating a difference signal which is coupled to the memory controller, and the read pointer generates a read carrier signal which is provided to a lock detector along with an end-of-frame signal. The lock detector generates an output signal which is coupled to the memory controller in order to place the video graphics controller in a locked mode of operation if no read carry signal is generated during an inputting of an entire frame of information into the FIFO-configured memory, and in an unlocked mode of operation if a read carry signal is generated prior to the completion of the inputting of an entire frame of information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 9, 1999
    Assignee: Philips Electronics North America Corporation
    Inventor: Christopher Walsh
  • Patent number: 5936597
    Abstract: A cell driving device of a field emission display having a field emission pixel cell with a cathode (10) for emitting electrons and a gate electrode (12) for focusing and accelerating the electrons emitted from the cathode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 10, 1999
    Assignee: Orion Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Chang Ho Hyun, Oh Kyong Kwon