Patents by Inventor Akira Tamatani

Akira Tamatani 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: 20200241343
    Abstract: An absorption axis of the second polarizing plate provided on a counter substrate is parallel to an alignment axis of the liquid crystal molecules of a liquid crystal layer, the biaxial retardation film is arranged such that a slow axis of the biaxial retardation film forms a first angle formed counterclockwise with the absorption axis or formed clockwise with the alignment axis in a plane of the liquid crystal panel, and a transmission axis of a first polarizing plate provided on an array substrate is arranged such that the transmission axis of the first polarizing plate forms a second angle larger than the first angle from the absorption axis or the alignment axis in the same direction as the first angle in the plane of the liquid crystal panel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 8, 2018
    Publication date: July 30, 2020
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Manabu IWAKAWA, Naoko IWASAKI, Toshiaki FUJINO, Akira TAMATANI, Kazushi KIYOTA, Hironori MATSUEDA
  • Patent number: 10620484
    Abstract: At least one columnar spacer is formed on a first substrate. A height of the columnar spacer is measured. In order to provide a liquid crystal layer, liquid crystal is dropped onto any one of the first substrate and a second substrate with an amount of the liquid crystal determined based on a determination function dependent upon the height of the columnar spacer. The determination function is provided in advance in consideration of prevention of maldistribution the liquid crystal layer caused by temperature increase, prevention of generation of air bubbles inside a gap caused by temperature decrease, and satisfaction of an upper limit condition and a lower limit condition for a dimension of the gap required by optical properties of a liquid crystal panel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2020
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventor: Akira Tamatani
  • Publication number: 20180148531
    Abstract: At least one columnar spacer is formed on a first substrate. A height of the columnar spacer is measured. In order to provide a liquid crystal layer, liquid crystal is dropped onto any one of the first substrate and a second substrate with an amount of the liquid crystal determined based on a determination function dependent upon the height of the columnar spacer. The determination function is provided in advance in consideration of prevention of maldistribution the liquid crystal layer caused by temperature increase, prevention of generation of air bubbles inside a gap caused by temperature decrease, and satisfaction of an upper limit condition and a lower limit condition for a dimension of the gap required by optical properties of a liquid crystal panel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 27, 2017
    Publication date: May 31, 2018
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventor: Akira TAMATANI
  • Publication number: 20160266432
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device includes a TFT array substrate, a CF substrate arranged at the position opposite to the TFT array substrate via a liquid crystal layer, a sealing pattern that seals liquid crystal held between the TFT array substrate and the CF substrate, a bead-like spacer that is arranged in the sealing pattern and elastically deformable, and a columnar spacer arranged in the sealing pattern and formed to have a length shorter than the bead-like spacer in the thickness direction of the liquid crystal layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 12, 2016
    Publication date: September 15, 2016
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventor: Akira TAMATANI
  • Patent number: 9075256
    Abstract: A method includes the steps of: (a) measuring a height of a pillar spacer after the pillar spacer is formed on a main surface of a CF substrate; (b) measuring a gap between a TFT substrate and the CF substrate after the TFT substrate and the CF substrate are bonded to each other; and (c) determining a quality of a liquid crystal panel based on the difference between the measured height of the pillar spacer and the measured gap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Akira Tamatani, Takashi Taguchi
  • Publication number: 20150160497
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display panel includes: two substrates, whose inner surfaces are formed with a display region, which are arranged to face each other and at least one of which is transparent; a liquid crystal material, which is sandwiched between the display region of the two substrates; a columnar spacer, which is formed on the inner surface of the substrate and on the outer periphery of the display region and maintains a gap between the two substrates; a first annular seal frame, which is continuously formed on the inner periphery of the columnar spacer and on the outer periphery of the display region; and a second annular seal frame, which is continuously formed on the outer periphery of the columnar spacer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2014
    Publication date: June 11, 2015
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shingo SONODA, Akira TAMATANI
  • Publication number: 20140140366
    Abstract: A method includes the steps of: (a) measuring a height of a pillar spacer after the pillar spacer is formed on a main surface of a CF substrate; (b) measuring a gap between a TFT substrate and the CF substrate after the TFT substrate and the CF substrate are bonded to each other; and (c) determining a quality of a liquid crystal panel based on the difference between the measured height of the pillar spacer and the measured gap.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 25, 2013
    Publication date: May 22, 2014
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Akira TAMATANI, Takashi TAGUCHI
  • Patent number: 8098359
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device in accordance with one aspect of the present invention includes a liquid crystal panel including a electrode substrate, a opposed substrate disposed opposite to the electrode substrate, and liquid crystal sandwiched between the electrode substrate and the opposed substrate, and a transparent conductive film formed on the opposite surface of the opposed substrate to the liquid crystal, wherein the thickness d1 (cm) of the transparent conductive film satisfies the equation d1>0.5×R1×?0×?r×S/d0 (cm), where R1 (?·cm) is specific resistance of the transparent conductive film, ?0 (F/m) is the electric constant, ?r (F/m) is relative dielectric constant of the opposed substrate, d0 (cm) is thickness of the opposed substrate, and S (m2) is size of the display area of the liquid crystal panel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2012
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Akira Tamatani, Takanori Okumura
  • Publication number: 20090128761
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device in accordance with one aspect of the present invention includes a liquid crystal panel including a electrode substrate, a opposed substrate disposed opposite to the electrode substrate, and liquid crystal sandwiched between the electrode substrate and the opposed substrate, and a transparent conductive film formed on the opposite surface of the opposed substrate to the liquid crystal, wherein the thickness d1 (cm) of the transparent conductive film satisfies the equation d1>0.5×R1×?0×?r×S/d0 (cm), where R1 (?·cm) is specific resistance of the transparent conductive film, ?0 (F/m) is the electric constant, ?r (F/m) is relative dielectric constant of the opposed substrate, d0 (cm) is thickness of the opposed substrate, and S (m2) is size of the display area of the liquid crystal panel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 12, 2008
    Publication date: May 21, 2009
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Akira TAMATANI, Takanori OKUMURA
  • Patent number: 7362409
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device comprising a sealing material provided on a periphery of a substrate, projections formed by etching a film formed on the subtrate, and another substrate opposite the substrate being remote therefrom by a gap and being supported by the projections. An area occupying rate of the projections portions with respect to a region enclosed by the sealing material is not less than 0.0001 and not more than 0.003. It is possible to obtain a liquid crystal display device free of display blurs at the time of using the same in a high temperature condition and with which no bubbles are generated when using the same in a low temperature condition by setting the area occupying ratio for the columnar spacers to be optimal value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2008
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Akira Tamatani, Yasunori Niwano
  • Publication number: 20050036094
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device comprising a sealing material provided on a periphery of a substrate, projections formed by etching a film formed on the substrate, and another substrate opposing the substrate being remote therefrom by a gap and being supported by the projections. An area occupying rate of the projections portions with respect to a region enclosed by the sealing material is not less than 0.0001 and not more than 0.003. It is possible to obtain a liquid crystal display device free of display blurs at the time of using the same in a high temperature condition and with which no bubbles are generated when using the same in a low temperature condition by setting the area occupying ratio for the columnar spacers to be an optimal value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2004
    Publication date: February 17, 2005
    Applicant: ADVANCED DISPLAY INC.
    Inventors: Akira Tamatani, Yasunori Niwano
  • Patent number: 6493054
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display of the present invention includes: a pair of substrates, at least one of which is transparent; a liquid crystal layer being interposed between said pair of substrates; electrodes for applying an electric field to liquid crystals molecules in said liquid crystal layer; active switching elements connected with said electrodes; an alignment film being formed on a surface of at least one of said pair of substrates, said surface being contacted with said liquid crystal layer; and an optical device for controlling a transmission of light in cooperation with alignment of said liquid crystal molecules in each pixel, said means being located on at least one said pair of substrates; wherein an aligning direction of each liquid crystal molecule in each pixel is ranged between −2 degrees to +2 degrees with respect to an average aligning direction &thgr;1c of said liquid crystal layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2002
    Assignee: Advanced Display Inc.
    Inventors: Masaya Mizunuma, Akira Tamatani, Ken Nakashima
  • Patent number: 6356329
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a liquid crystal display apparatus including (1) a liquid crystal panel including an electrodes substrate provided with pixel electrodes and counter electrodes, a counter substrate which opposes the electrodes substrate, and a liquid crystal layer containing therein liquid crystal molecules which are driven by an electric field that is generated in a substantially parallel manner with respect to a surface of the electrodes substrate when voltage is applied on the pixel electrodes and counter electrodes; and (2) a driving circuit for supplying predetermined electric signals to the pixel electrodes and the counter electrodes, wherein inclining directions of liquid crystal molecules which are closest to the electrodes substrate and those of liquid crystal molecules which are closest to the counter substrate are identical, and aligning directions of liquid crystal molecules which are closest to the electrodes substrate and those of liquid crystal molecules which are closest to the
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2002
    Assignees: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha, Advanced Display Inc.
    Inventors: Akira Tamatani, Fumio Matsukawa, Akira Tsumura, Shin Tahata, Masaya Mizunuma, Yasuhiro Morii, Masayuki Fujii, Yasuo Fujita
  • Patent number: D470086
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2003
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Iwao Koizumi, Kaname Sawai, Akira Tamatani, Kouichi Hayashi, Kunihiko Kurisu
  • Patent number: D595192
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2009
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Kunihiko Kurisu, Akira Tamatani, Kosuke Takahashi, Koji Miyamoto, Masatoshi Miyake, Ryuji Kumagai, Keisuke Nakai, Tomoyuki Suzuki
  • Patent number: D595193
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2009
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Kunihiko Kurisu, Akira Tamatani, Kosuke Takahashi, Yoshikazu Miyachi, Yuta Takanashi, Hideki Nakamura
  • Patent number: D595194
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2009
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Kunihiko Kurisu, Akira Tamatani, Kosuke Takahashi, Yuta Takanashi, Hideki Nakamura
  • Patent number: D613650
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2010
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Akira Tamatani, Takeshi Fujii, Masahiro Kagekata
  • Patent number: D693274
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2013
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Akira Tamatani, Masanori Minamisawa, Takeshi Shinohara, Takanori Tsubaki, Yukiharu Asano, Tetsuji Kawakami
  • Patent number: D830910
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2018
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Akira Tamatani, Takeshi Shinohara, Ryouichi Kayakabe, Takanori Tsubaki, Heitetsu Takemoto