Patents by Inventor Akira Shimizu

Akira Shimizu 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: 20110165948
    Abstract: Provided is a gaming machine having a cabinet. Between the back as a back face and the right side face of the sides of the cabinet, the gaming machine has a right end side, which is formed by cutting a plane parallel to the gravitational direction in a manner to join lines spaced at predetermined distances in the individual directions of the back and the right side face from a line of intersection, on which the back and the right side face intersect when extended. The gaming machine also has a left end side between the back and a left side face. Moreover, the right end side and the left end side are symmetric with respect to a plane dividing the cabinet equally to the right and left.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 8, 2009
    Publication date: July 7, 2011
    Applicant: ARUZE GAMING AMERICA, INC.
    Inventors: Yoshitomo Sasaki, Akira Shimizu, Katsuhiro Kido, Kenta Kitamura, Hideaki Kishi, Hiroatsu Ike
  • Patent number: 7972980
    Abstract: A method of forming a conformal dielectric film having Si—N bonds on a semiconductor substrate by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) includes: introducing a nitrogen- and hydrogen-containing reactive gas and a rare gas into a reaction space inside which a semiconductor substrate is placed; applying RF power to the reaction space; and introducing a hydrogen-containing silicon precursor as a first precursor and a hydrocarbon gas as a second precursor in pulses into the reaction space wherein a plasma is excited, thereby forming a conformal dielectric film doped with carbon and having Si—N bonds on the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2011
    Assignee: ASM Japan K.K.
    Inventors: Woo Jin Lee, Akira Shimizu
  • Publication number: 20110123766
    Abstract: There is provided an over-sheet for a card, the sheet being formed of at least three layers including a skin layer and a core layer and laminated by a coextrusion technique. The skin layer, which is an outermost layer on both sides of the three-layer sheet, is formed of a substantially amorphous aromatic polyester-based resin composition containing 0.01 to 3 parts by mass of at least one lubricant selected from the group of fatty acid ester, fatty acid amide, and fatty acid metal salt. The core layer is formed of a polycarbonate resin.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2008
    Publication date: May 26, 2011
    Applicant: Japan Coloring Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshinori Sakagami, Akira Shimizu
  • Patent number: 7945731
    Abstract: Provided is a database management system obtains storage mapping information which associates addresses in a plurality of physical disk drives within the storage system and addresses in logical disk drives including these physical disk drives, to create queues individually for each of the plurality of physical disk drives. The database management system receives a plurality of read requests which request to read data out of the physical disk drives via the logical disk drives provided by the storage system, sorts the read requests by their destination, and accumulates the read requests in the respective queues associated with the request destination physical disk drives. The database management system reallocates the accumulated read requests into an order that shortens the data read time in each physical disk drive, and then issues the read requests to the storage system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Seisuke Tokuda, Akira Shimizu
  • Publication number: 20110088749
    Abstract: In a solar cell module in which each lead wire is disposed on a back face electrode film of a solar cell string with one end thereof connected to an electrode lead-out portion provided at an end of the solar cell string and the other end of the lead wire is bent so as to stand up from the face of the back face electrode film to form an output lead portion, in the output lead portion, only one side of a tip-side portion of the lead wire including a bent portion is coated with an insulating film.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2009
    Publication date: April 21, 2011
    Inventor: Akira Shimizu
  • Publication number: 20110086516
    Abstract: A method of forming dielectric film having Si—N bonds on a semiconductor substrate by plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD), includes: introducing a nitrogen- and hydrogen-containing reactive gas and a rare gas into a reaction space inside which the semiconductor substrate is placed; introducing a hydrogen-containing silicon precursor in pulses of less than 1.0-second duration into the reaction space wherein the reactive gas and the rare gas are introduced; exiting a plasma in pulses of less than 1.0-second duration immediately after the silicon precursor is shut off; and maintaining the reactive gas and the rare gas as a purge of less than 2.0-second duration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 8, 2010
    Publication date: April 14, 2011
    Applicant: ASM JAPAN K.K.
    Inventors: Woo Jin Lee, Kuo-wei Hong, Akira Shimizu, Deakyun Jeong
  • Patent number: 7919416
    Abstract: A method of forming a conformal dielectric film having Si—N bonds on a semiconductor substrate by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) includes: introducing a nitrogen- and hydrogen-containing reactive gas and an additive gas into a reaction space inside which a semiconductor substrate is placed; applying RF power to the reaction space; and introducing a hydrogen-containing silicon precursor in pulses into the reaction space wherein a plasma is excited, thereby forming a conformal dielectric film having Si—N bonds on the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2011
    Assignee: ASM Japan K.K.
    Inventors: Woo-Jin Lee, Akira Shimizu, Atsuki Fukazawa
  • Publication number: 20110073362
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a terminal box includes a box case placed on and fixed to a back film of a solar cell string and a terminal panel formed on the box case. The box case includes a case main body placed on and fixed to the back film of the solar cell string and a terminal panel fixing portion for placing and fixing the terminal panel above the case main body. An opening for passing an output lead wire through the terminal panel is formed continuously from the bottom face of the case main body to the top face of the terminal panel. One edge of the terminal panel is provided so as to protrude from the terminal panel fixing portion such that the tip of the output lead wire can be bent and latched on.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2009
    Publication date: March 31, 2011
    Inventor: Akira Shimizu
  • Publication number: 20110076452
    Abstract: A laser marking multilayer sheet includes a multilayer sheet A, and a multilayer sheet B that is stacked under the multilayer sheet A. The multilayer sheet A is a transparent laser marking multilayer sheet. A skin layer that forms each outermost layer of the multilayer sheet A is formed of a noncrystalline aromatic polyester resin composition, and a core layer of the multilayer sheet A is formed of a polycarbonate resin composition. The multilayer sheet B is a colored laser marking multilayer sheet. A skin layer that forms each outermost layer of the multilayer sheet B is formed of a noncrystalline aromatic polyester resin composition, and a core layer of the multilayer sheet B is formed of a polycarbonate resin composition.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 13, 2009
    Publication date: March 31, 2011
    Applicant: JAPAN COLORING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Toshinori Sakagami, Akira Shimizu, Akira Hashimoto
  • Publication number: 20110069134
    Abstract: There is provided a laser-marking multilayer sheet for an electronic passport formed by laminating five sheets of a multilayer sheet A/a multilayer sheet B/a film C/a multilayer sheet B/a multilayer sheet A. The multilayer sheet B is a colored laser-marking multilayer sheet. The film C is a laser-marking multilayer sheet made of a film for the electronic passport. The laser-marking multilayer sheet can have clear letters, symbols, and images, which are excellent in a laser-marking property and high in contrasts between the original surface color and the printed portions. The laser-marking multilayer sheet is excellent especially for inhibiting the falsification and forgery thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 13, 2009
    Publication date: March 24, 2011
    Applicant: JAPAN COLORING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Toshinori Sakagami, Akira Shimizu, Akira Hashimoto
  • Patent number: 7902451
    Abstract: A plurality of photoelectric conversion elements delimited by connection line regions and isolation line regions are provided on a glass substrate having an external profile of a right triangle. A connection line region is configured to connect photoelectric conversion elements in series. An isolation line region is configured to electrically isolate adjacent photoelectric conversion elements and to separate (divide) photoelectric conversion elements by a predetermined area. A connection line region is orthogonal to an isolation line region. The external profile of a photoelectric conversion elements represents a rectangle. An external interconnection to electrically connect photoelectric conversion elements is formed at an outer circumferential region of the glass substrate at the side outer to the region where photoelectric conversion elements are formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2011
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Akira Shimizu
  • Patent number: 7899851
    Abstract: A database management system has a plurality of database servers and data can be transferred between them by partitioning a data area into small areas and altering allocation of the small areas to the database servers. After altering the configuration, there occurs degradation in processing speed that accompanies re-creation of the index. If this problem is solved by using conventional techniques, noticeable degradation in processing speed will occur to a specific query at the time of a steady state operation. Accordingly, an index created for each of the small areas and an index to all of the small areas are allocated to the database server and used in combination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Daisuke Ito, Kazutomo Ushijima, Akira Shimizu
  • Patent number: 7889467
    Abstract: In a protection circuit connected, via lines including an inductance component, to a circuit to be protected, a first transistor is arranged on a path to ground from a connection point of the protection circuit and the line. A second transistor is arranged on a path to ground from a connection point of the circuit to be protected and the line, and extracts, from a connection point, a current corresponding to a current flowing in the first transistor. The first and the second transistors are NPN bipolar transistors having a base and an emitter are commonly connected. A resistor is connected between the base and the emitter of the first transistor, and a diode is connected between the base and a collector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2011
    Assignee: Rohm Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Mitsuru Okazaki, Naoki Takahashi, Akira Shimizu, Kenichi Nakata
  • Publication number: 20110014795
    Abstract: A method of forming stress-tuned dielectric films having Si—N bonds on a semiconductor substrate by modified plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD), includes: introducing a nitrogen-and hydrogen-containing reactive gas and an additive gas into a reaction space inside which a semiconductor substrate is placed; applying RF power to the reaction space using a high frequency RF power source and a low frequency RF power source; and introducing a hydrogen-containing silicon precursor in pulses into the reaction space wherein a plasma is excited, thereby forming a stress-tuned dielectric film having Si—N bonds on the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 8, 2010
    Publication date: January 20, 2011
    Applicant: ASM JAPAN K.K.
    Inventors: Woo Jin Lee, Kuo-Wei Hong, Akira Shimizu
  • Publication number: 20110011439
    Abstract: A system of high efficiency and low cost is provided as a photovoltaic power system comprising a solar cell connected to a power converter. A photovoltaic power system comprising a plurality of solar cell modules connected in parallel to a power converter, the solar cell modules outputting a voltage higher than an output voltage of the power converter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 23, 2009
    Publication date: January 20, 2011
    Inventors: Masatomo Hasegawa, Akira Shimizu
  • Publication number: 20110005572
    Abstract: To provide an integrated thin-film solar cell that prevents deterioration of hotspot resistance and has a high output voltage. A thin-film solar cell module comprising: a thin-film solar cell string comprising a plurality of thin-film solar cell elements interconnected in series, each of the thin-film solar cell elements including a surface electrode, a photoelectric conversion layer, and a back surface electrode laminated in this order, the thin-film solar cell module being configured so that the number of stages n of the series connection of the thin-film solar cell elements in the thin-film solar cell string satisfies the following formula (1): n<Rshm/2.5/Vpm×Ipm+1??(1), wherein Rshm is the most frequent short-circuit resistance value of the thin-film solar cell elements; Vpm is an optimum operation voltage of the thin-film solar cell elements; and Ipm is an optimum operation current of the thin-film solar cell elements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 17, 2009
    Publication date: January 13, 2011
    Inventor: Akira Shimizu
  • Publication number: 20110000085
    Abstract: A cylindrical internal surface processing method comprises forming a cylinder bore, roughening an upper section of the bore, depositing coating onto the bore, and machining a lower section of the bore and the coating. The forming of the cylinder bore includes forming the upper and lower sections with the lower section being axially spaced from the upper section and having an axial length greater than zero. The roughening creates a roughened surface such that a radially innermost edge of the roughened surface has an internal diameter smaller than an internal diameter of the lower section. The coating is deposited to cover the upper section and at least a portion of the lower section. The machining forms a tapered portion and a cylindrical portion, a radially outermost edge of the cylindrical portion having an internal diameter larger than that of a radially outermost edge of the roughened surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 17, 2010
    Publication date: January 6, 2011
    Applicant: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Koichi KANAI, Kiyokazu SUGIYAMA, Eiji SHIOTANI, Kimio NISHIMURA, Junichi UCHIYAMA, Kiyohisa SUZUKI, Jun INOMATA, Daisuke TERADA, Akira SHIMIZU, Hidenobu MATSUYAMA, Kiyoshi HASEGAWA, Takashi IIYA
  • Patent number: 7854179
    Abstract: A shift lever assembly includes a shift lever swingably with a rotational axis as a swing support point, an axis supporting bracket for supporting the rotational axis, two axis supporting elements for supporting both ends of the rotational axis together with the axis supporting bracket. In addition, two beams are provided with each of the axis supporting elements. The beams will break off in case where an impact load is to be applied via the shift lever. Furthermore, a metal plate is provided with the axis supporting bracket for each of the axis supporting elements. The metal plate will be bent by the each of the axis supporting elements moving after break-offs of the beams. According to the shift lever assembly, stroke displacement for energy absorbing can be made relatively long. In addition, relatively large impact energy can be absorbed with short stroke displacement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2010
    Assignee: Fuji Kiko Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Akira Shimizu
  • Patent number: D627722
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2010
    Assignee: Sanyo Denki Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Daigo Kuraishi, Yoshi Ishizuka, Akira Shimizu, Tomoharu Sekine, Yutaka Nishimiya
  • Patent number: D627723
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2010
    Assignee: Sanyo Denki Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Daigo Kuraishi, Yoshi Ishizuka, Akira Shimizu, Tomoharu Sekine, Yutaka Nishimiya