Patents by Inventor Arao Sato

Arao Sato 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).

  • Patent number: 6028592
    Abstract: In a relative angle detecting device, plural received light outputs are subjected to time division. Received light detection voltage is shifted by a phase shifter and sampling pulse is formed, and peak detecting means holds peak value of received light output based on the sampling pulse. In a CPU, peak value of each voltage is stored in a memory, and the stored value is operated thereby information regarding relative position between a light source and a light reception element is operated. Utilizing the time division, each received light detection voltage can be processed in the same condition, and the peak value of each received light output can be detected with high precision.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 1995
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2000
    Assignee: Alps Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuichi Umeda, Junichi Saito, Arao Sato
  • Patent number: 6014129
    Abstract: A pair of detecting stations A.sub.i and A.sub.-i on a plane H extends along an axis X. Each of the detecting stations is provided with an iris member and a divided light receiving section. Received light outputs at each of the light receiving elements are defined as R.sub.i, L.sub.i, R.sub.-i, and L.sub.-i, and the following equation is calculated to enable a coordinate (x.sub.0, z.sub.0) of the moving light source to be attained by a simple calculation: S.sub.i =(R.sub.i -L.sub.i)/(R.sub.i +L.sub.i)+(R.sub.-i -L.sub.-i)/(R.sub.-i +L.sub.-i); T.sub.i =(R.sub.i -L.sub.i)/(R.sub.i +L.sub.i)-(R.sub.-i -L.sub.-i)/(R.sub.-i +L.sub.-i).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 1996
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2000
    Assignee: Alps Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuichi Umeda, Junichi Saito, Ichiro Morishita, Masaru Nakayama, Arao Sato, Kazuhiro Katagiri
  • Patent number: 5963194
    Abstract: An apparatus is disclosed for inclination detection wherein infrared transmitted signal, signal groups S1, S2, S3, . . . including a leader code, a parity bit and bits for data transfer are sequentially transmitted with an interval time t3. At each bit of the signal group S1, "1" and "0" of a binary signal expressing the data are not inverted, at the signal group S2, "1"and "0" expressing the data are inverted, and inversion and non-inversion are repeated every signal group. At bits of each signal group, since a time length expresses "1" and "0", a total time length of each signal group is different from that of other signal group. By repeating sets of inverted and non-inverted signal groups, the time length of each set is averaged, and hence, data processing can be made more efficient.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 5, 1999
    Assignee: Alps Electric Co. Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuichi Umeda, Junichi Saito, Ichiro Morishita, Masaru Nakayama, Arao Sato, Kazuhiro Katagiri
  • Patent number: 5627565
    Abstract: According to the present invention there is provided a space coordinates detecting device wherein a detecting section for detecting light emitted from a light source is provided, thereby permitting detection of a relative angle between a light emitting sections and the detecting section and hence permitting application of the detecting device to an input apparatus. The detecting section is provided with a light sensing element 23 having quartered light sensing portions. In the light emitting section, distinguishable lights are emitted from two light sources. The lights thus emitted are throttled through apertures and applied as separate square light spots S16 and S17 to the light-sensitive surface of the light sensing element 23. By calculating a difference in the detected output among the quartered light sensing portions, it is possible to determine the center I1 of the square light spot S16 and the center I2 of the square light spot S17.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 6, 1997
    Assignee: Alps Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ichiro Morishita, Yuichi Yasuda, Yuichi Umeda, Arao Sato, Junichi Saito, Masahiro Tanaka, Tomomitsu Muta, Masatoshi Uchio, Kazuhiro Katagiri, Masaru Nakayama
  • Patent number: 5486403
    Abstract: An alignment layer for use in liquid crystals including a macromolecular material deposited on a glass substrate, the macromolecular material composed of main molecular chains which are, on the average, aligned in a first direction. A series of parallel microgrooves are formed in the macromolecular material and aligned perpendicular to the first direction, each microgroove being separated by a ridge having a triangular cross-section, and each ridge having first and second sides meeting at an apex, wherein the first side has a shorter length than the second side. As a result, disclination does not occur and sufficient reliability against external forces and heat may be obtained. In addition, numerous methods are disclosed for forming the alignment layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 1994
    Date of Patent: January 23, 1996
    Assignee: Alps Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshihiko Ishitaka, Yumiko Sato, Munemitsu Abe, Yorihiko Sasaki, Mitsuru Kano, Arao Sato, Kiyomi Sugawara