Patents Examined by LaTanya Bibbins
  • Semi-transmissive liquid crystal display device
    Patent number: 8760377
    Abstract: In a liquid crystal panel, a reflective pixel electrode and a transmissive pixel electrode in a unit pixel are supplied with an image signal output from a data line drive circuit, the two mutually different scanning signals output from a scanning line drive circuit, and common signals output from a common line drive circuit. The phase of the image signal is set different from that of the common signal. Further, a period during which the two scanning signals are selected is set in one horizontal period, the ending of the selection period for one of the scanning signals is set to a point in time before an electrical potential of the common signal changes, and the ending of the selection period for the other scanning signal is set to a point in time after the electrical potential of the common signal changes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2014
    Assignee: NLT Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenichi Mori, Michiaki Sakamoto
  • Method and apparatus for detecting land pre-pits
    Patent number: 8755257
    Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure provide a method for detecting land pre-pits. The method includes detecting, based on a land pre-pit threshold, a land pre-pit data stream from a signal responsive to land pre-pits on an optical medium, comparing a characteristic of the detected land pre-pit data stream in a specific number of wobble periods with a pre-determined land pre-pit characteristic in the specific number of wobble periods, and adjusting the land pre-pit threshold based on the comparison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2014
    Assignee: Marvell World Trade Ltd.
    Inventors: Mats Oberg, Jingfeng Liu
  • Multi-touch surface interaction
    Patent number: 8754856
    Abstract: A computing device including a multi-touch surface, and a method of operation thereof are described. The method comprises: detecting a customer's hand placed palm downwards on the multi-touch surface and detecting the customer's hand pivoting upwards from the detected palm downwards position so that an edge of the hand is placed on the multi-touch surface. The method also comprises displaying a private interaction window located adjacent to, and on the palm side of, the customer's hand; and communicating private data on the private interaction window. The private interaction window is dimensioned to be shielded by the customer's hand.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2014
    Assignee: NCR Corporation
    Inventor: Jonathan S. Black
  • Negative pixel compensation
    Patent number: 8749512
    Abstract: Negative pixel compensation in a touch sensor panel is disclosed. The panel can compensate for a negative pixel effect in touch signal outputs due to poor grounding of an object touching the panel. To do so, the panel can reconstruct a captured touch image to remove negative pixel values indicative of the negative pixel effect and compute a composite image from the captured image and the reconstructed image to replace the captured image. In addition or alternatively, the panel can reconstruct a captured touch image to remove negative pixel values indicative of the negative pixel effect and replace the captured image with the reconstructed image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Wayne Carl Westerman, Sean Erik O'Connor
  • Detection method for a capacitive touchpad to identify a real touch point
    Patent number: 8749520
    Abstract: A two-step detection for a capacitive touchpad to identify a real touch point first detects the self capacitances from multiple capacitance sensor traces of the capacitive touchpad to identify any touch point on the capacitive touchpad and then, if multiple touch points are detected, further detects the mutual capacitance at one of the detected touch points to identify whether it is a real touch point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2014
    Assignee: Elan Microelectronics Corp.
    Inventors: Chun-Chung Huang, Tsun-Min Wang, Te-Sheng Chiu
  • Electrochromic display element, display device and information apparatus
    Patent number: 8743048
    Abstract: A disclosed electrochromic display element includes a display substrate, a counter substrate facing the display substrate, display electrodes arranged between the display substrate and the counter substrate, electrochromic layers formed on the respective display electrodes, a plurality of drive elements arranged on the counter substrate at predetermined intervals, a plurality of pixel electrodes arranged on the drive elements, a charge retention layer formed over the pixel electrodes as a continuous layer, the charge retention layer being formed of a mixed film including a polymer and one of electric conductive microparticles and semiconductor microparticles, and an electrolyte layer sandwitched between the display substrate and the charge retention layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Takahashi, Yoshinori Okada, Tohru Yashiro, Akishige Murakami, Shigenobu Hirano, Yoshihisa Naijo
  • User interface with annular touch sensor array
    Patent number: 8730185
    Abstract: Provided is a user interface comprising a substrate having a through-hole, an annular touch sensor array located on the substrate and at least partially surrounding the through-hole, and a display device in alignment the through-hole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Electrolux Home Products, Inc.
    Inventor: John Rudolph
  • Brightness control apparatus, display apparatus and lighting apparatus
    Patent number: 8723784
    Abstract: A brightness control apparatus configured to perform brightness control for backlights formed by plural light-emitting elements for a display screen, including: a pulse control signal transmit unit configured to transmit a pulse control signal for performing driving control on the plural light-emitting elements based on a preset brightness control signal; a voltage control unit configured to control a voltage of the pulse control signal obtained by the pulse control signal transmit unit for each set of light-emitting elements of the same color so as to correct brightness variation in a regular state for the plural light-emitting elements; and a current control unit configured to control a current for each of the plural light-emitting elements based on a voltage value obtained by the voltage control unit so as to correct brightness variation due to temperature change or temporal change.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignees: Mitsumi Electric Co., Ltd., ATRC Corporation
    Inventor: Takeshi Adachi
  • Display device and electronic product
    Patent number: 8723847
    Abstract: A display device includes: a screen unit; a drive unit; and a signal processing unit, wherein the screen unit includes rows of scanning lines, columns of signal lines, matrix-state pixel circuits and a light sensor, the drive unit includes a scanner supplying a control signal to the scanning lines and a driver supplying a video signal to the signal lines, the screen unit is sectioned into plural regions each having plural pixel circuits, the pixel circuit emits light in accordance with the video signal, the light sensor is arranged with respect to each region and outputs a luminance signal in accordance with the light emission; and the signal processing unit corrects the video signal in accordance with the luminance signal and supplies the signal to the driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Junichi Yamashita, Keisuke Omoto, Katsuhide Uchino
  • Image processing apparatus, image processing method, image display apparatus, and image display method
    Patent number: 8723898
    Abstract: A brightness detection unit detects brightness. An interpolation image signal generation unit generates interpolation image signal which are to be interpolated between each two adjacent frames of an input image signal. A temporal emphasis unit emphasizes high temporal frequency components of the input image signal and interpolation image signal. A time-series conversion memory converts the frame frequency of the image signal with the high temporal frequency components emphasized. A temporal emphasis unit adjusts amplitudes of a pair of inputted image signals according to the image brightness and determines a gain coefficient based on the pair of image signals with the amplitudes adjusted, the gain coefficient indicating the degree to which the high temporal frequency components are to be emphasized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignee: JVC Kenwood Corporation
    Inventor: Hideki Aiba
  • Capacitive touch system with noise immunity
    Patent number: 8723833
    Abstract: Systems and methods for determining a user's touch in a capacitive touch sensor system is provided, including performing a series of potential touch detection tests for a plurality of sensors until a potential touch is detected and measuring a test frequency for one of the sensors, such that a potential touch may be detected when the measured test frequency deviates from a previously measured test frequency for the same sensor. After detecting a potential touch, the method may additionally include performing a series of baseline comparison tests for each of the sensors, for example, measuring a current frequency for one of the sensors, comparing the current frequency to a baseline frequency, and assigning a deviation value based on the comparison the current frequency and the baseline frequency. The method may identify the sensor with the largest deviation value as a touched sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignee: Microchip Technology Incorporated
    Inventors: Keith E. Curtis, Stephen B. Porter, Burke T. Davison, Aurelian Floricica-Voicu
  • Multiple electrode touch sensitive device
    Patent number: 8704779
    Abstract: Two different sets of electrodes in a touch sensitive device are formed to produce an electric field gradient from one end of the electrodes to the other end when opposite ends of the electrodes are driven with different voltages. A signal measuring cycle is performed by alternately driving the ends of one set of electrodes, while using the other set of electrodes to receive signals. The roles of the sets of electrodes are then reversed, such that the set that that was driven is now used to receive signals from the other set of electrodes. Reference signals may be obtained by driving both sides of one set of electrodes, and then both sides of the other set of electrodes. The signals obtained are then used to determine the touch position on the touch sensitive device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: Atmel Corporation
    Inventors: Luben Hristov, Harald Philipp
  • Method and apparatus for detecting hold condition on an acoustic touch surface
    Patent number: 8659579
    Abstract: A bending wave touch system includes at least one sensor and a touchscreen controller. The at least one sensor is coupled to a substrate and is responsive to vibrations in the substrate. The at least one sensor outputs signals. The controller receives the signals from the at least one sensor and identifies touch coordinates based on high frequency components of the signals when a touch on the substrate includes at least one of a tap, a drag and a lift-off. The controller identifies a status of a hold condition of the touch based on at least two different time averages of low frequency components of the signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2014
    Assignees: Elo Touch Solutions, Inc., Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC
    Inventors: Hamid Sheikhzadeh Nadjar, Joe Henry Babb, Robert L. Brennan, Steven W. Haungs, James R. Wynne, Jr., Joel C. Kent
  • Apparatus for processing input data
    Patent number: 8648813
    Abstract: An apparatus for processing input data by means of instructions and outputting the processed data, comprising a central data processing unit, memory means in which the instructions are stored, data input means for inputting the data, and data output means for outputting the processed data, wherein said data input means are arranged for detecting a user's input motion in at least two dimensions, and wherein said data processing unit is arranged for determining representatives of the directions of the detected input motion, wherein the data processing unit is furthermore arranged for carrying out a predetermined instruction from the memory in dependence on the determined values of the representatives of the directions of the input motion and, providing a minimum length or direction has been exceeded, independently of the length or direction of the input motion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2014
    Inventor: Albertus Petrus George Van Meeteren
  • Data retention of ferroelectric films by controlling film composition and strain gradient for probe-based devices
    Patent number: 8644050
    Abstract: For a probe based data storage (PDS) device a ferroelectric film stack may be used as a media to store data bits by polarizing areas of the film as either an up domain or a down domain to represent bits. However a built-in-bias field (BBF) may create domain retention problems. By growing the ferroelectric films with stress and composition gradients this may generate polarization gradients which reduce the bias field. Thus, the retention (or imprint) may be improved with minimized BBF.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Li-Peng Wang, Qing Ma, Valluri Rao
  • Stylus settings
    Patent number: 8638303
    Abstract: Stylus settings techniques are described. In implementations, an input is recognized as selecting at least one object displayed in a user interface by a display device of a computing device. Responsive to the recognition, an indication is displayed on the display device that is selectable. Responsive to selection of the indication, a portion is displayed by the computing device that is configured to accept one or more inputs as a note to be associated with the at least one object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2014
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Jonathan R. Harris, Andrew S. Allen
  • Rotation sensing device and portable electronic device having the same
    Patent number: 8624879
    Abstract: A rotation sensing device comprises a capacitor module comprising an upper substrate and a lower substrate. The upper substrate comprises a plurality top plates mounted thereon, and the lower substrate comprises a plurality bottom plates mounted thereon. A pointing module comprises a pointer rotatably set between an upper substrate and a corresponding lower substrate. The pointer comprises a first portion. A detection circuit is electronically connected to the top plates and the bottom plates, and is configured for detecting pulses caused by a change of the capacitance resulting from movement of the first portion, determining a position change of the first portion relative to the initial position according the detected pulses, and determining a rotation orientation of the capacitor module according to the determined position change.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignees: Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd., Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Song-Ling Yang
  • Electronic device including tactile touch-sensitive display and method of controlling same
    Patent number: 8619044
    Abstract: A method of controlling an electronic device having a touch-sensitive display includes imparting, by an actuator, a force on the touch-sensitive display to provide tactile feedback, determining the force applied by the actuator on the touch-sensitive display, and adjusting a subsequent force imparted by the actuator based on the determined force.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventors: Michael Joseph Pertuit, Scott Leonard Dill
  • Electrode crossovers
    Patent number: 8610688
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a touch sensor includes drive electrodes. The drive electrodes include drive electrode structures that are each coupled to an adjacent drive electrode structure by a first strip of conductive material. The touch sensor also includes sense electrodes. The sense electrodes include sense electrode structures that are each coupled to an adjacent sense electrode structure by a second strip of conductive material. The sense electrode structures are formed on a same layer as the drive electrode structures. The first or second strip of conductive material include one or more conductive crossovers that each couple two drive electrode structures to each other or couple two sense electrode structures to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2013
    Assignee: Atmel Corporation
    Inventors: Luben Hristov, Harald Philipp
  • Display device, display data processing device, and display data processing method
    Patent number: 8599189
    Abstract: A display device includes: an extraction unit extracting an edge component of a display data signal; an adder unit adding an edge component to the display data signal; a signal generation unit generating a control signal in accordance with the display data signal and an output signal of the adder unit; a correction unit carrying out correction processing on the edge component in accordance with the control signal and outputting the corrected edge component to the adder unit; and a display unit carrying out a display operation in accordance with the output signal of the adder unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Atsushi Ozawa, Katsuhide Uchino