Patents by Inventor Akira Sakai

Akira Sakai has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20210109269
    Abstract: The present invention provides: (I) a display device including a display panel, a retardation layer, and a polarizer which are stacked in the stated order from a back surface side to a viewing surface side and integrated without an adhesive layer; and (II) a method for producing a display device including: forming a first alignment film on a display panel, applying a solution containing first polymerizable liquid crystal to the first alignment film, and curing the first polymerizable liquid crystal to produce a retardation layer; and forming a second alignment film on the retardation layer, applying a solution containing second polymerizable liquid crystal and a dichroic material to the second alignment film, and curing the second polymerizable liquid crystal to produce a polarizer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 23, 2018
    Publication date: April 15, 2021
    Applicant: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: AKIRA SAKAI, MASAHIRO HASEGAWA, ATSUSHI BAN, KOJI MURATA, YUICHI KAWAHIRA, KIYOSHI MINOURA, TAKAKO KOIDE, KOZO NAKAMURA
  • Publication number: 20210103083
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for producing a retardation film excellent in retardation controllability against heat and the retardation film. The method for producing a retardation film includes, in the following order: fixing an alignment of liquid crystal compounds to form a retardation giving layer, and heating the retardation giving layer. Preferably, the heating is first heating and the method further includes second heating for heating the retardation giving layer after the first heating.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 18, 2017
    Publication date: April 8, 2021
    Inventors: KOJI MURATA, AKIRA SAKAI, YUICHI KAWAHIRA, MASAHIRO HASEGAWA, TAKAKO KOIDE, KOZO NAKAMURA, KIYOSHI MINOURA
  • Patent number: 10962839
    Abstract: The liquid crystal display panel includes in the following order from a viewing surface side to a back surface side: a first polarizer; a first ?/4 retardation layer; a first substrate; a second ?/4 retardation layer; a liquid crystal layer; a second substrate; and a second polarizer, the liquid crystal display panel being in a transverse electric field mode, the first substrate including a color filter layer in a display region, the second ?/4 retardation layer being a single layer covering the color filter layer and including a first retardation portion in an end region of the display region and a second retardation portion in a central region of the display region, the first retardation portion having a greater thickness than the second retardation portion, and the first retardation portion and the second retardation portion differing from each other in in-plane retardation by 10 nm or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuichi Kawahira, Kiyoshi Minoura, Akira Sakai, Takako Koide, Masahiro Hasegawa, Koji Murata
  • Patent number: 10948778
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display panel of the present invention includes, sequentially from the viewer side: a first linearly polarizing plate; a first ?/4-wavelength layer; a first substrate including a color filter, a black matrix, and a second ?/4-wavelength layer; a liquid crystal layer; a second substrate; and a second linearly polarizing plate, the liquid crystal display panel further including a sealing material disposed so as to surround the liquid crystal layer in a plan view, wherein the second ?/4-wavelength layer is disposed closer to the liquid crystal layer than the color filter and the black matrix are and such that an outer edge of the second ?/4-wavelength layer lies inside an arrangement region of the sealing material, and the first ?/4-wavelength layer and the second ?/4-wavelength layer are disposed such that their slow axes are perpendicular to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2021
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masahiro Hasegawa, Koji Murata, Yuichi Kawahira, Takako Koide, Kozo Nakamura, Akira Sakai, Kiyoshi Minoura
  • Publication number: 20210072959
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes an annealing control unit, a spin interaction memory, a random number generation unit, and a spin state update unit and obtains a solution by using an Ising model. The annealing control unit controls an annealing step and a parameter of a temperature and a parameter of a self-action. The spin interaction memory stores the interaction coefficient of a spin. The random number generation unit generates a predetermined random number. The spin state update unit includes a spin buffer that stores values of a plurality of spins, an instantaneous magnetic field calculation unit that calculates instantaneous magnetic fields of the plurality of spins, a probability calculation unit that calculates update probabilities of the plurality of spins, and a spin state determination unit that updates the values of the spins based on the update probabilities and a random number.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 28, 2020
    Publication date: March 11, 2021
    Inventors: Normann MERTIG, Takashi TAKEMOTO, Shinya TAKAMAEDA, Kasho YAMAMOTO, Masato MOTOMURA, Akira SAKAI, Hiroshi TERAMOTO
  • Patent number: 10928670
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal panel and a circularly polarizing plate disposed on a viewing side of the liquid crystal panel. The circularly polarizing plate sequentially includes, from a viewing side, a linearly polarizing plate and an out-cell retarder. The liquid crystal panel includes a thin-film transistor substrate, a color filter substrate facing the thin-film transistor substrate and including black matrix, a horizontal alignment liquid crystal layer disposed between the thin-film transistor substrate and the color filter substrate, and an in-cell retarder disposed in one substrate disposed on the viewing side selected from the thin-film transistor substrate and the color filter substrate. The in-cell retarder is disposed outside a region between the black matrix and the horizontal alignment liquid crystal layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuichi Kawahira, Takako Koide, Akira Sakai, Kiyoshi Minoura
  • Publication number: 20210048568
    Abstract: In order to make a step of forming an coated-type polarizer easier, provided is a display device including, from a lower layer, a TFT layer, a light-emitting layer, a sealing layer, and a polarization layer in this order, in which the polarization layer includes a polymerizable liquid crystal layer containing a polymerizable liquid crystal into which a dichroic pigment is mixed and an alignment film coming in contact with a portion of the polymerizable liquid crystal layer to align the polymerizable liquid crystal contained in the polymerizable liquid crystal layer with which the alignment film is in contact, and in a display region, a region in which the polymerizable liquid crystal layer and the alignment film of the polarization layer come into contact with each other is a polarization portion, and in a frame region surrounding the display region, a region in which the polymerizable liquid crystal layer and the alignment film of the polarization layer do not come in contact with each other is a black fr
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2018
    Publication date: February 18, 2021
    Inventors: AKIRA SAKAI, MASAHIRO HASEGAWA
  • Patent number: 10921638
    Abstract: The present invention provides a display device that can display chromatic color(s) and pattern(s) without power consumption in the non-display state (light off state) and an electronic apparatus including the display device. The display device includes a display panel and a transflective reflector disposed on a viewing surface side of the display panel. The transflective reflector includes a reflective polarizer and a color polarizer disposed on a side closer to the viewing surface than the reflective polarizer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hisashi Watanabe, Akira Sakai, Hiroyuki Hakoi, Masaki Tabata
  • Publication number: 20210028407
    Abstract: A display device including a light-emitting layer, a touch panel, a phase difference layer, and a linear polarizing layer, wherein the touch panel and the phase difference layer are provided between the light-emitting layer and the linear polarizing layer, the touch panel includes a touch panel base material and a touch panel electrode, the touch panel base material is formed from a resin film, a phase difference of the resin film is (?0/4)+?0 at reference wavelength ?0, the phase difference layer is formed from a polymerizable liquid crystal material, a phase difference ? of the phase difference layer is ?0 at reference wavelength ?0, and a slow axis of the resin film is orthogonal to a slow axis of the phase difference layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 29, 2018
    Publication date: January 28, 2021
    Inventors: AKIRA SAKAI, MASAHIRO HASEGAWA
  • Patent number: 10903247
    Abstract: A scanning antenna (1000) in which antenna units (U) are arranged, the scanning antenna including: a first dielectric substrate (1); a TFT substrate (101) including TFTs, gate bus lines, source bus lines, and patch electrodes (15); a slot substrate (201) including a second dielectric substrate (51), and a slot electrode (55) formed on a first main surface of the second dielectric substrate; a liquid crystal layer (LC) provided between the TFT substrate and the slot substrate; and a reflective conductive plate (65) provided opposing a second main surface of the second dielectric substrate (51) opposite to the first main surface via a dielectric layer (54). The slot electrode includes slots arranged corresponding to each of the patch electrodes, and the second dielectric substrate (51) and the slot electrode (5) further include an adhesive layer (92) formed therebetween from a thermosetting type or photocurable type adhesive material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2021
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Jumpei Takahashi, Masanobu Mizusaki, Kiyoshi Minoura, Akira Sakai
  • Patent number: 10890805
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device includes sequentially from a viewing surface side: a first polarizer; an out-cell retardation layer; a first substrate; an in-cell retardation layer; a horizontally aligned liquid crystal layer; a second substrate; and a second polarizer. The liquid crystal display device includes a viewing angle compensation film between the first polarizer and the out-cell retardation layer or between the second substrate and the second polarizer. The out-cell retardation layer is a laminate including sequentially from a viewing surface side: a first retardation layer having an NZ coefficient of 1.0-1.1 and an Re of 120 nm or greater and smaller than 137.5 nm; and a second retardation layer having an Re of 0-10 nm and an Rth of 80-150 nm. The in-cell retardation layer is a third retardation layer having an NZ coefficient of 0.7-1.4 and an Re of 120 nm or greater and smaller than 137.5 nm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2021
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masahiro Hasegawa, Akira Sakai, Takako Koide, Yuichi Kawahira, Koji Murata, Kiyoshi Minoura
  • Publication number: 20200381669
    Abstract: A display device, to provide compensation for change in color level due to different viewing directions of a display surface and compensation for other optical characteristics of the display surface in a compatible manner, includes a light-emitting element layer including a light-emitting layer including a light-emitting element, a first electrode disposed below the light-emitting layer, and a second electrode disposed above the light-emitting layer, wherein an optical compensation layer is disposed above the light-emitting element layer, the optical compensation layer being configured to compensate for prevention of external light reflection on a display surface and compensate for change in color level of the display surface due to different viewing directions of the display surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2017
    Publication date: December 3, 2020
    Inventors: HIDEFUMI YOSHIDA, KIYOSHI MINOURA, TOKIYOSHI UMEDA, KAORU ABE, AKIRA SAKAI
  • Patent number: 10845648
    Abstract: The switching mirror panel of the present invention includes, in the following order: a reflective polarizing plate; a liquid crystal panel including a pair of substrates facing each other and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the substrates; and an absorptive polarizing plate, at least one of the substrates including divided pixel regions, the pixel regions each including, in the following order from the liquid crystal layer side, a pixel electrode, a transparent insulating film, and transparent conductive lines superimposed on the pixel electrode, the pixel electrode being electrically connected to at least one of the transparent conductive lines through an aperture formed in the transparent insulating film, the switching mirror panel being configured to switch between a transparent mode and a mirror mode by applying voltage to the pixel electrode to control the alignment of liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Hakoi, Akira Sakai, Kiyoshi Minoura
  • Patent number: 10839127
    Abstract: A temperature calculation method for a substrate, the temperature calculation method includes: calculating, by a computer performing a circuit simulation based on a resistance equivalent to a component that joins two substrates included in a target model of an analysis, a value of a current that flows through the component or voltage values in respective end portions of the component; setting, based on model information for expressing the target model, the current value or the voltage values in a first surface and a second surface that are included in surfaces of an outer shape of the component and that are in contact with the respective substrates; and calculating a first current density distribution of the component by performing a first electrical analysis according to the setting.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventors: Tetsuyuki Kubota, Akira Ueda, Hideharu Matsushita, akihiro otsuka, Yasuhiro Ite, Takamasa Shinde, Kazuhisa Inagaki, Akira Sakai
  • Patent number: 10802343
    Abstract: A liquid crystal device (LCD) is configured for minimizing unwanted internal ambient light reflections. The LCD includes a plurality of layers, the layers comprising from a viewing side: a first linear polariser; an external retarder that is made of a cyclic olefin polymer (COP) material or a cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) material; a colour filter substrate; a colour filter layer; an internal reactive mesogen (RM) retarder alignment layer; an internal reactive mesogen (RM) retarder; a liquid crystal (LC) layer; and a second linear polarizer. The external retarder and the internal RM retarder are configured such that the optical properties (for example light polarization control function) of the external retarder and the internal retarder are matched to negate each other for light passing through the external retarder and the internal RM retarder. The LCD simultaneously maintains high image quality in both high and low ambient lighting conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Nathan James Smith, Andrew Acreman, Hywel Hopkin, Kiyoshi Minoura, Koji Murata, Yuichi Kawahira, Akira Sakai, Jiyun Yu
  • Patent number: 10802344
    Abstract: Provided is a liquid crystal display device including a first substrate; a second substrate; a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the first substrate and the second substrate and containing a negative liquid crystal material; a first alignment film provided on the surface of the first substrate on the liquid crystal layer side; a first phase difference layer having birefringence provided between the first substrate and the first alignment film; and a second alignment film disposed on the surface of the second substrate on the liquid crystal layer side, wherein at least one of the first alignment film and the second alignment film is a photo-alignment film being in contact with the liquid crystal layer and imparting a pretilt angle of 75° or more and less than 90° to the liquid crystal material; the first phase difference layer is formed of a first polymer material having a first photofunctional group; the photo-alignment film is formed of a second polymer material having a second photofunctional group; a
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masanobu Mizusaki, Kiyoshi Minoura, Akira Sakai
  • Patent number: 10802187
    Abstract: A circularly polarizing plate includes: a first retardation layer having negative refractive index anisotropy; a second retardation layer having positive refractive index anisotropy; and a linear polarizer, the first retardation layer and the second retardation layer being disposed such that their optical axes are parallel to each other, the first retardation layer providing an in-plane retardation whose absolute value is |R1(?)| to light having a wavelength of ? nm, the second retardation layer providing an in-plane retardation whose absolute value is |R2(?)| to light having a wavelength of ? nm, the first retardation layer and the second retardation layer satisfying the following formulas (1) to (4): |R1(450)|>|R1(550)|>|R1(650)|??(1) |R2(550)|>|R1(550)|??(2) |R2(550)|?|R1(550)|>|R2(450)|?|R1(450)|??(3) |R2(650)|?|R1(650)|>|R2(550)|?|R1(550)|??(4).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akira Sakai, Masahiro Hasegawa, Koji Murata, Yuichi Kawahira, Takako Koide, Kiyoshi Minoura
  • Patent number: 10795197
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a liquid crystal panel including in the following order from a viewing surface side: an antireflection film; a circularly polarizing plate including a linearly polarizing plate and an out-cell retarder; a touch panel including a support and a detection electrode; a panel substrate; and an in-cell retarder, the support having a retardation slow axis that forms an angle of 40° to 50° with a slow axis of the in-cell retarder and with a slow axis of the out-cell retarder, the support having a retardation of 3 nm or smaller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuichi Kawahira, Koji Murata, Takako Koide, Masahiro Hasegawa, Akira Sakai
  • Publication number: 20200310182
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for producing a liquid crystal panel. The method includes curing a first reactive mesogen layer with ultraviolet light at an illuminance within a range of 40 to 90 mW/cm2. The liquid crystal panel includes a first transparent base material, a TFT layer and a first alignment film stacked in order on the first transparent base material, a second transparent base material, a color filter layer, an in-cell retardation layer, and a second alignment film stacked in order on the second transparent base material, a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the first alignment film and the second alignment film, an out-cell retardation layer disposed on a side opposite to a color filter layer side of the second transparent base material, and a pair of linearly polarizing plates arranged so as to sandwich the first transparent base material and the out-cell retardation layer and having transmission axes orthogonal to each other.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2020
    Publication date: October 1, 2020
    Inventors: KOJI MURATA, AKIRA SAKAI, YUICHI KAWAHIRA, TAKAKO KOIDE, MASAHIRO HASEGAWA, KIYOSHI MINOURA
  • Publication number: 20200310200
    Abstract: A photo-alignment film of the present invention includes a polymer layer containing a photoreactive polymer and metal nanoparticles dispersed in the polymer layer at a concentration of 109 particles/(cm2×100 nm) or more and 1019 particles/(cm2×100 nm) or less. The metal nanoparticles have an absorption peak in a wavelength region of 420 nm or less. An absorbance A1 at the absorption peak of the metal nanoparticles and an absorbance A2 at an absorption peak of the polymer layer satisfy a relationship represented by the following formula 1: 0.2?A1/A2?25??(Formula 1).
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2020
    Publication date: October 1, 2020
    Inventors: KOJI MURATA, AKIRA SAKAI, YUICHI KAWAHIRA, TAKAKO KOIDE, MASAHIRO HASEGAWA, KIYOSHI MINOURA