Patents Examined by Richard Hjerpe
  • Patent number: 8248328
    Abstract: Visual artifact reduction methods for a display including gamma corrections, error diffusion and/or dithering. The invention is described with reference to an AC gas discharge display (PDP) comprising a multiplicity of plasma-shells, but may be practiced with other display technologies. The methods of this invention are disclosed for use with a number of PDP structures and PDP electronic addressing architectures including ADS, AWD, SAS, and ALIS.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2012
    Assignee: Imaging Systems Technology
    Inventors: Carol Ann Wedding, Jeffrey W. Guy, Daniel K. Wedding, Oliver M. Strbik, III
  • Patent number: 8199117
    Abstract: Existing tools for organizing family memories offer few possibilities for easily integrating both physical and digital materials in order to produce a single archive for a family (or other group of users). This also applies to archiving of physical objects and digital media in general (even for applications outside the field of family use). An archiving system is described which incorporates at least one image capture device, a display, a sensing apparatus arranged to detect user input associated with the display, a processor and memory, and a receptacle for holding digital media storage devices such as mobile telephones, digital cameras, personal digital assistants and the like. The image capture device is operable to capture digital images of physical objects for archiving. The receptacle comprises a data transmission apparatus for automatically transferring data with the digital media storage devices and optionally also a power charging apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Shahram Izadi, Abigail J Sellen, Richard M Banks, Stuart Taylor, Stephen E Hodges, Alex Butler
  • Patent number: 8188953
    Abstract: A semiconductor device receives differential input signals, performs predetermined signal processing, and outputs differential output signals. Plural rear surface electrodes, disposed in an m-row, n-column (m and n being integers) matrix form, on a rear surface of the semiconductor device, are formed. The rear surface electrodes for the differential input signals or differential output signals are disposed in rows, 1, 2, m?1, and m, or in columns, 1, 2, n?1, and n, of a matrix. Furthermore, a pair of rear surface electrodes for differential input signals that for a pair, and a pair of rear surface electrodes PAD for differential output signals that form a pair, are respectively disposed so as to be adjacent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2012
    Assignee: Rohm Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hirotoshi Usui
  • Patent number: 8188940
    Abstract: An organic electroluminescent display device and a method of driving the same, which can prevent a voltage drop and ensure a simple layout, are disclosed. In one embodiment, the organic electroluminescent display device includes: i) a display unit including a plurality of pixel circuits, ii) a data driver providing a data signal to the display unit, iii) a scan driver providing a scan signal to the display unit, iv) a first voltage source applying a first power supply voltage, v) a second voltage source applying a second power supply voltage to the display unit, and a switching unit electrically connected between the data driver and the second voltage source, and adapted to output the second power supply voltage to the display unit for a first period of time and output the data signal to the display unit for a second period of time in response to a predetermined control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2012
    Assignee: Samsung Mobile Display Co., Ltd
    Inventor: Yang-Wan Kim
  • Patent number: 8184079
    Abstract: A driving apparatus for a display device and display device having the driving apparatus. The display device has a plurality of pixels each having a switching element. The driving apparatus includes a gate line connected to the switching element, a gate driver to apply a gate signal having first to third voltages to the gate line, a first voltage generator to generate the first and third voltages, and a second voltage generator to generate the second voltage. The first and second voltages turn on the switching element, and the third voltage turns off the switching element. The second voltage is less than the first voltage. Thus, since the gate driver includes the second voltage generator to generate the second voltage and a plurality of transistors, and generates a gate output having a step shape, a kickback voltage is reduced and flicker is prevented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2012
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Young-Joo Park, Jin-Oh Kwag, Hoe-Woo You, Jin-Hee Park
  • Patent number: 8184092
    Abstract: A method and system of utilizing a game console with motion sensing technology is provided. The present invention, in various implementations, provides for a method for generating one or more symbols in response to one or more gestures using an input device of a gaming system. The method comprises providing the input device being capable of generating one or more gesture signals in response to one or more gestures and being operable to select a mode of one or more operational states. The method also provides for generating one or more gesture signals corresponding to the one or more gestures, respectively; mapping the one or more generated gesture signals in relation to one or more symbols, respectively; and, transmitting the one or more symbols corresponding to the respective one or more gesture signals to an output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jason Alan Cox, Lydia Mai Do
  • Patent number: 8179368
    Abstract: A manual operation device of the present disclosure allows a user to intuitively recognize a force pattern by providing a graphical representation of the force pattern on a display unit. The force pattern or a relationship between an operation position an operation unit of the manual operation device and a control value is visually represented as, for example, a two-dimensional line graph. In this manner, the reaction force is suitably adjusted to an operation force of the user to reduce an false operation of the manual operation device, because the user can easily controls the reaction force for achieving an improved operability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2012
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ichiro Yoshida, Hiroshige Asada, Yuuki Sawa
  • Patent number: 8179392
    Abstract: A driving circuit and a method of driving a liquid crystal display having an array of liquid crystal cells connected to a common line, a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of signal lines, each gate line being arranged to selectively enable a respective set of the liquid crystal cells such that signal lines connected to respective liquid crystal cells of a set can be used to charge respective liquid crystal cells of that set when that set is enabled by the respective gate line. At least some of the signal lines are selectively driven with the maximum level and the voltage on the at least some of the signal lines is monitored such that driving of the at least some of the signal lines with the maximum level ceases when the monitored voltage reaches a predetermined target value intermediate the minimum level and the maximum level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2012
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshitoshi Kida, Jarupoonphol Werapong, Daisuke Ito, Takeya Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 8174472
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display includes a first gate electrode, a storage electrode having a body and an extension, a first semiconductor formed on a gate insulating layer, a first drain electrode formed on the first semiconductor, separated from a first source electrode, and having an end portion overlapping the first gate electrode, and an expansion overlapping the body of the storage electrode and distanced from the end portion with a connection connecting the end portion and the expansion and overlapping the extension of the storage electrode, a passivation layer having a contact hole exposing the expansion of the first drain electrode, and a first field-generating electrode connected to the first drain electrode through the contact hole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2012
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Min-Cheol Lee
  • Patent number: 8174516
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to realize a transmission distortion correction system for allowing an image signal including a plurality of picture signals to be corrected, and to realize an image signal transmitter and an image display unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2012
    Assignee: NEC Display Solutions, Ltd.
    Inventor: Reiichi Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 8174546
    Abstract: Apparatus and methods are provided that employ one or more of a variety of techniques for reducing the time required to display high resolution images on a high dynamic range display having a light source layer and a display layer. In one technique, the image resolution is reduced, an effective luminance pattern is determined for the reduced resolution image, and the resolution of the effective luminance pattern is then increased to the resolution of the display layer. In another technique, the light source layer's point spread function is decomposed into a plurality of components, and an effective luminance pattern is determined for each component. The effective luminance patterns are then combined to produce a total effective luminance pattern. Additional image display time reduction techniques are provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2012
    Assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventors: Lorne A. Whitehead, Helge Seetzen, Gregory John Ward, Wolfgang Heidrich
  • Patent number: 8174475
    Abstract: A D/A conversion circuit includes a first D/A converter and a second D/A converter that respectively output a first voltage and a second voltage. An ith two-input selector among a plurality of input selectors of the first D/A converter selects a (4i+1)th input voltage or a (4i+3)th input voltage based on input data, and outputs the selected input voltage to a selector of a selector block in the subsequent stage. An ith three-input selector among a plurality of three-input selectors of the second D/A converter selects a 4ith input voltage, a (4i+2)th input voltage, or a (4i+4)th input voltage based on the input data, and outputs the selected input voltage to a selector of a selector block in the subsequent stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2012
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Motoaki Nishimura, Haruo Kamijo, Katsuhiko Maki
  • Patent number: 8174479
    Abstract: In one embodiment of the present invention, the present shift register is a shift register provided in a display device by which a partial-screen display is available. The shift register includes a shift stopping circuit that is provided in an in-between stage, and stops operation of the shift register between a first stage and a last stage of the shift register in partial-screen display. The shift register also includes a circuit that is provided in a stage other than the in-between stage in such a manner that the circuit does not perform signal processing but serves as a signal path. The circuit is same as the shift stopping circuit in configuration. The foregoing allows improvement in display quality of the display device employing the present shift register.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2012
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yuhichiroh Murakami, Seijirou Gyouten, Noboru Matsuda, Hajime Washio
  • Patent number: 8169390
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of controlling luminance of a backlight based on a processed image data after receiving information of image data, in order to improve the visibility of moving picture. An inverter according to the present invention includes a first block generating a first luminance control signal with an analog value depending on the luminance control signal with a duty ratio depending on a synchronization signal. The luminance control signals generated by the respective blocks are synthesized luminance control signal. Accordingly, a liquid crystal display employing two backlight control methods can be provided. Thus, it is possible to remove the drag phenomenon of a screen and, at the same time, to improve the visibility for moving picture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Moon-Shik Kang, Inn-Sung Lee, Song-Yi Han
  • Patent number: 8169388
    Abstract: A display system provides a display assembly having a display screen. LEDs are presorted into a plurality of groups, each group of LEDs having substantially the same color that is different than the color of another group. LEDs are selected from one of the groups. The selected LEDs are mounted in the display assembly to illuminate the display screen. A non-electronic color adjuster is mounted in the light path from the selected LEDs to shift the light color to a predetermined color.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Walter J. Galbraith, Jr., Wei Chen, John Zhong, Victor Yin
  • Patent number: 8169420
    Abstract: An integrated resolution switching surface detection system for an optical navigation device. The integrated resolution switching surface detection system includes a resolution switching engine, a surface detection engine, and a navigation engine. The resolution switching engine sets a resolution status based on a motion speed of a tracking surface relative to a navigation sensor, wherein the motion speed is a measure of motion data over time. The surface detection engine sets a surface detection status based on the resolution status that is set by the resolution engine. The navigation engine reads motion data from the navigation sensor and reports the motion data to a computing device according to the surface detection status that is set by the surface detection engine. Embodiments of the integrated resolution switching surface detection system maintain smooth and predictable cursor movement associated with a plurality of finger assert and finger de-assert events.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Avago Technologies ECBU IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Wui Pin Lee, Jin Kiong Ang
  • Patent number: 8169425
    Abstract: A source driver and a driving method thereof are provided. The source driver is adapted to a display panel. The source driver includes an output buffer and a regulating unit. The output buffer has an input terminal and an output terminal. The input terminal of the output buffer receives a pixel signal. The output terminal of the output buffer is coupled to the display panel for outputting an output signal. The regulating unit is coupled to the output terminal of the output buffer, for providing a charging current or a discharging current to the output terminal of the output buffer according to a polarity of the pixel signal. Thereby, a slew rate of the output signal is increased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Himax Technologies Limited
    Inventor: Da-Rong Huang
  • Patent number: 8169424
    Abstract: A display device includes a dynamic ratioless shift register which is operated in a stable manner and can expand the degree of freedom of design. In the dynamic ratioless shift register which is provided with thin film transistors having semiconductor layers made of p-Si on a substrate surface, a node which becomes the floating state is connected to a fixed potential through a capacitance element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignees: Hitachi Displays, Ltd., Panasonic Liquid Crystal Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshio Miyazawa, Iwao Takemoto, Atsushi Hasegawa, Masashiro Maki, Kazutaka Goto
  • Patent number: 8169387
    Abstract: An LED driver includes an embedded non-volatile memory (NVM) capable of being programmed and storing control data for setting a variety of features of the LED driver, such as the maximum current for driving the LEDs, analog parameters such as the resistance of the internal resistor for setting the reference current for the LEDs, and the operation modes of the charge pump of the LED driver. This enables implementation of multiple LED driver product options without the need for different metallization steps during the fabrication process for the LED driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: IXYS Corporation
    Inventors: Rohit Mittal, Donato Montanari
  • Patent number: 8169429
    Abstract: The object of the present invention is reducing power consumption of a driving power supply circuit. In the case where the driving voltage Vi is higher than the reference voltage ViH, The signal S3P, S3N of the differential amplifier 30P, 30N become level “L” concurrently, and the signal S4P, S4N of the output circuit 40P, 40N become level “H”. Subsequently, the NMOS 62 becomes on-state and decreases the driving voltage Vi of the node N6. At the above stage, the control signal CP becomes level “L”, then the operation of the constant current circuit 20P is halted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Oki Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hijiri Shirasaki