Patents Examined by Nelson D Runkle, III
  • Patent number: 8902169
    Abstract: A device, computer program product and method of inputting a character in a touch screen device, in which a touch area is partitioned into a plurality of array positions, and one or more letters are assigned to each of the partitioned array positions. The method comprises the steps of: partitioning a touch area of the touch panel into a plurality of array positions and assigning one or more characters to each of the partitioned array positions; sensing an expansion event of selecting one among the array positions; dividing the touch area into a plurality of selection positions and assigning the characters assigned to the array position selected by the expansion event to the respective selection positions; sensing a selection event of selecting one among the selection positions; and recognizing the character assigned to the selection position selected by the selection event as an input character.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2014
    Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: U-Beom Heo, Jeong-Hee Ahn, Joo-Ho Lee, Kyung-Wook Park
  • Patent number: 8872809
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display apparatus is disclosed, which is capable of suppressing sound emission caused by the AC drive of liquid crystal while suppressing an increase in power consumption. A non-active period during which polarity reversal of a common electrode signal (VCOM) is repeated at predetermined intervals is provided in each horizontal scanning period. During an active period, a common electrode drive circuit provides a common electrode signal (VCOM) indicating either one of potentials LV1 and LV2 to a common electrode, based on a polarity instruction signal (POL). During the non-active period, the common electrode drive circuit provides a common electrode signal (VCOM) whose potential changes between LV3 and LV4 to the common electrode, based on a reversal timing control signal (CTRL). Here, the amplitude of the common electrode signal (VCOM) for the non-active period is made smaller than the amplitude of the common electrode signal (VCOM) for the active period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 28, 2014
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tatsuhiko Suyama, Norio Ohmura
  • Patent number: 8854294
    Abstract: A display architecture providing independent adjustment of gamma with respect to each color channel of a display is provided. In one embodiment, gamma adjustment circuitry may utilize separate resistor strings for each color channel of the display. Gamma adjustment voltage taps for each resistor string may each be coupled to a respective switching logic block that includes a plurality of switches, each of which may be coupled to different respective locations of the resistor string. Based upon a gamma correction profile defining optimal gamma adjustment points for a particular color channel based at least partially upon its transmittance sensitivity characteristics, appropriate control signals may be provided to each of the switching logic blocks to facilitate the connection of the gamma adjustment voltage taps to desired adjustment points on a respective resistor string in order to optimize gamma correction and provide for increased accuracy in color output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Kapil V. Sakariya
  • Patent number: 8803840
    Abstract: A touch panel includes: a first conductive film divided into regions insulated from each other; a second conductive film facing and located away from the first conductive film; a pair of electrodes provided to the second conductive film, the electrodes facing each other; another pair of electrodes provided to the second conductive film, the electrodes facing each other; and a control unit configured to determine whether the first conductive film contacts with the second conductive film in each region, detect one of an X-coordinate and a Y-coordinate of a point where the first conductive film contacts with the second conductive film by applying a voltage to the pair of electrodes in a case where the first conductive film contacts with the second conductive film, discharge the voltage applied to the pair of electrodes after detecting one of the X-coordinate and the Y-coordinate in each region, and detects the other of the X-coordinate and the Y-coordinate in each region by applying a voltage to the another pair
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: Fujitsu Component Limited
    Inventors: Satoshi Sakurai, Kazuyuki Yoshifusa, Daisuke Ichikawa, Masanobu Hayama
  • Patent number: 8754880
    Abstract: Provided is a method of driving a pixel circuit including a light emitting element and a driving transistor which are connected in series to each other, and a storage capacitor disposed between a path between the light emitting element and the driving transistor and a gate of the driving transistor, the method including the steps of: supplying a driving signal to a gate of the driving transistor; and changing the potential of the driving signal over time so that the time rate of change of the potential of the driving signal at the point in time when the supply of the driving signal stops becomes the time rate of change corresponding to a specified gradation of the pixel circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2014
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Hideto Ishiguro, Satoshi Yatabe
  • Patent number: 8743104
    Abstract: An organic light emitting display includes a current driving unit, an organic light emitting diode and a memory unit. The current driving unit is employed to provide a driving current according to a driving voltage generated therein. The organic light emitting diode generates a light output based on the driving current. The operation of the memory unit is controlled by a first auxiliary power voltage and a second auxiliary power voltage. When the first auxiliary power voltage is greater than the second auxiliary power voltage, the memory unit is enabled to perform a voltage retaining operation on the driving voltage. When the second auxiliary power voltage is greater than the first auxiliary power voltage, the memory unit is disabled for ceasing the voltage retaining operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: AU Optronics Corp.
    Inventors: Tsung-Ting Tsai, Yuan-Chun Wu
  • Patent number: 8736596
    Abstract: A display panel includes a gate driving circuit, a plurality of gate lines, a plurality of data lines and a dummy gate line. The gate driving circuit is disposed in a peripheral area surrounding a display area. The gate lines are disposed in the display area and receive a plurality of gate signals sequentially outputted from the gate driving circuit. The data lines are disposed in the display area and cross the gate lines. The dummy gate line is disposed adjacent to the last gate line of the gate lines and receives a dummy gate signal transmitted from an external device. Thus, a dummy gate line is adjacent to the last gate line and a pixel electrode connected to the last gate line is affected by a dummy gate signal applied to the dummy gate line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2014
    Assignee: Samsung Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Soong-Yong Joo, Young-Bae Jung, Jung-Bae Bae, Jeong-Il Oh
  • Patent number: 8723814
    Abstract: A handheld electronic communication device including a body including an input device facing a first direction, and a display device coupled to the body. The display device has a first display screen and a second display screen. The second display screen faces an opposite direction as the first display screen. The display device is rotatable between a first position in which the first display screen faces the first direction, and a second position in which the second display screen faces the first direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventors: Jason Tyler Griffin, Todd Andrew Wood, Albert Pegg
  • Patent number: 8723760
    Abstract: A-light-emitting device which realizes a high aperture ratio and in which the quality of image is little affected by the variation in the characteristics of TFTs. A large holding capacitor Cs is not provided in the pixel portion but, instead, the channel length and the channel width of the driving TFTs are increased, and the channel capacitance is utilized as Cs. The channel length is selected to be very larger than the channel width to improve current characteristics in the saturated region, and a high VGS is applied to the driving TFTs to obtain a desired drain current. Therefore, the drain currents of the driving TFTs are little affected by the variation in the threshold voltage. In laying out the pixels, further, wiring is arranged under the partitioning wall and the driving TFTs are arranged under the wiring in order to avoid a decrease in the aperture ratio despite of an increase in the size of the driving TFT.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Mitsuaki Osame, Aya Anzai, Jun Koyama, Makoto Udagawa, Masahiko Hayakawa, Shunpei Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 8717292
    Abstract: Even when a user is gazing at one point intentionally but the eyeball of the user is actually moving slightly, the slight movement is not reproduced as it is as the position of a cursor but a determination is made that the user is gazing at one point intentionally, that is, the eyeball is stopping. Thus, when a determination is made that the eyeball is stopping, the cursor is displayed still even when the gazing point is moving slightly depending on the slight movement. Furthermore, when a determination is made that the cursor is stopped, selection of an object such as other icon displayed at a position where the cursor is displayed is identified.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2014
    Assignee: Osaka Electro-Communication University
    Inventor: Takuya Niikawa
  • Patent number: 8692776
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention relate to correction of erroneous touch data on a touch sensor panel. Erroneous touch data may occur when a user is touching locations on the touch sensor panel but fails to be in good contact with another part of the device including the touch sensor panel. These erroneous readings may be statistically compensated for. A capacitance value that combines various external capacitances that may cause erroneous results can be calculated. Then, if necessary, received touch data can be modified to take into account the external capacitance. Accordingly, improved accuracy is provided for determining touch event(s) on a touch sensor panel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Marduke Yousefpor, Sean O'Connor, Wayne Westerman
  • Patent number: 8692779
    Abstract: A pointer detection apparatus includes a conductor pattern with first conductors disposed in a first direction and second conductors disposed in a second direction that crosses the first direction, and a code string signal production circuit for producing signals based on orthogonal code strings with phases different from each other and supplying the produced signals to the first conductors. The apparatus also includes a signal detection circuit connected to the second conductors for detecting a signal corresponding to a variation of electrostatic capacitance between the conductor pattern and a pointer, an analog to digital conversion (ADC) circuit for converting the signal output from the signal detection circuit into a digital signal comprising a word string of multiple bits, and a correlation detection circuit for determining correlation values between the code strings and the word string.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: Wacom Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuo Oda, Yoshihisa Sugiyama, Sadao Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 8681136
    Abstract: A vehicle display apparatus includes a first indicator, a second indicator, and an illuminance detector. The illuminance detector is configured detect illuminance outside a vehicle. Display luminance of the second indicator is capable of being changed in a specific luminance range in accordance with the illuminance outside the vehicle detected by the illuminance detector irrespective of daytime or nighttime. A luminance setting device is configured to set the specific luminance range. A controller is configured to increase or decrease the display luminance of the second indicator at least in a portion of the specific luminance range set by the luminance setting device based on display luminance for each of daytime and nighttime of the first indicator set by the luminance setting device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2014
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Masatoshi Kubota
  • Patent number: 8681183
    Abstract: A display apparatus includes a display panel, a timing controller and a data driver. The display panel includes a plurality of unit pixels respectively including a first sub-pixel and a second sub-pixel. The timing controller includes a first compensation unit which receives grayscale data corresponding to the unit pixels and generates first compensation data of the grayscale data using offset values of first sample compensation data sampled from a first gamma curve. The data driver includes a second compensation unit which generates second compensation data of the grayscale data using second sample compensation data sampled from a second gamma curve and the first compensation data. Accordingly, the first and second compensation data comprise color compensation data, which improve image quality. A method for driving the display panel of the display apparatus is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2014
    Assignee: Samsung Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Bong-Im Park, Hoi-Sik Moon, Bong-Ju Jun, Jae-Won Jeong, Yong-Jun Choi
  • Patent number: 8670008
    Abstract: An organic light emitting display device includes: pixels connected to corresponding scanning lines and corresponding data lines; a scanning driver for supplying scanning signals to the scanning lines; a data driver for supplying data signals to the data lines; and a data processor for generating a luminance look-up table corresponding to a likelihood of burn-in for the pixels, for generating output data from input data corresponding to the look-up table, and for supplying the output data to the data driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2014
    Assignee: Samsung Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kyong-Tae Park
  • Patent number: 8665295
    Abstract: An electroluminescent (EL) panel with 2T1C subpixels is compensated for initial nonuniformity (“mura”). The current of each subpixel is measured at a selected time to provide a status signal representing the characteristics of the subpixel. A compensator receives a linear code value and changes it according to the status signals. A linear source driver drives the panel with the changed code values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: Global OLED Technology LLC
    Inventors: Felipe A. Leon, Christopher J. White, Gary Parrett, Bruno Primerano
  • Patent number: 8624823
    Abstract: A light source assembly includes a light source which emits light; a detector which detects the light and generates a light signal based on a property of the light; an operator operably connected to the detector and which receives the light signal and calculates a color coordinate of the light source based on the light signal; a comparator operably connected to the operator and which compares the color coordinate of the light source to a predetermined reference color coordinate; and a control unit operably connected to the comparator and which controls a pulse width modulation signal transmitted to the light source based on a result of the comparison of the comparator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignee: Samsung Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Se-Ki Park, Gi-Cherl Kim, Sang-Il Park, Jung-Hyeon Kim
  • Patent number: 8605123
    Abstract: A backlight assembly outputs scan signals having a scanning frequency synchronized with a frame frequency to sequentially drive light emitting blocks providing a light to a display panel. A dimming step of each light emitting block corresponds to one of a plurality of dimming steps in response to local dimming data. A dimming clock having a value obtained by dividing a value obtained by multiplying the scanning frequency and the number is dimming steps by a duty ratio of each scan signal is generated. The dimming step of each light emitting block is counted using the dimming clock, and the counted values are combined with the scan signals to generate dimming signals having a dimming duty ratio corresponding to the dimming step of the light emitting blocks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Samsung Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Won Sik Oh, Youngsup Kwon, Hwanwoong Lee, Moonshik Kang, Jin-Won Jang
  • Patent number: 8587534
    Abstract: A pointer detection apparatus includes a conductor pattern with first conductors disposed in a first direction and second conductors disposed in a second direction that crosses the first direction, and a code string signal production circuit for producing signals based on orthogonal code strings with phases different from each other and supplying the produced signals to the first conductors. The apparatus also includes a signal detection circuit connected to the second conductors for detecting a signal corresponding to a variation of electrostatic capacitance between the conductor pattern and a pointer, an analog to digital conversion (ADC) circuit for converting the signal output from the signal detection circuit into a digital signal comprising a word string of multiple bits, and a correlation detection circuit for determining correlation values between the code strings and the word string.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2013
    Assignee: Wacom Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuo Oda, Yoshihisa Sugiyama, Sadao Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 8587535
    Abstract: A pointer detection apparatus includes a conductor pattern with first conductors disposed in a first direction and second conductors disposed in a second direction that crosses the first direction, and a code string signal production circuit for producing signals based on orthogonal code strings with phases different from each other and supplying the produced signals to the first conductors. The apparatus also includes a signal detection circuit connected to the second conductors for detecting a signal corresponding to a variation of electrostatic capacitance between the conductor pattern and a pointer, an analog to digital conversion (ADC) circuit for converting the signal output from the signal detection circuit into a digital signal comprising a word string of multiple bits, and a correlation detection circuit for determining correlation values between the code strings and the word string.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2013
    Assignee: Wacom Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuo Oda, Yoshihisa Sugiyama, Sadao Yamamoto