Patents by Inventor Dennis I. Couzin
Dennis I. Couzin 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).
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Patent number: 9075177Abstract: Various embodiments comprise light recycling films comprising an array of parallel ridges and grooves that form prisms that selectively reflect or transmit light. In some embodiments, the light recycling film may be used in displays that include spatial light modulators comprising a plurality of pixels. The light recycling film can limit the field-of-view of the display and enhance the luminance within that field-of-view. Various embodiments comprising multiple arrays of ridges and/or grooves can enhance uniformity of illumination of the pixels in the spatial light modulator and reduce Moiré effects.Type: GrantFiled: January 4, 2011Date of Patent: July 7, 2015Assignee: Avery Dennison CorporationInventors: Dennis I. Couzin, William J. Cassarly, Steven R. Chapman
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Publication number: 20110255306Abstract: Various embodiments comprise light recycling films comprising an array of parallel ridges and grooves that form prisms that selectively reflect or transmit light. In some embodiments, the light recycling film may be used in displays that include spatial light modulators comprising a plurality of pixels. The light recycling film can limit the field-of-view of the display and enhance the luminance within that field-of-view. Various embodiments comprising multiple arrays of ridges and/or grooves can enhance uniformity of illumination of the pixels in the spatial light modulator and reduce Moiré effects.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 4, 2011Publication date: October 20, 2011Applicant: AVERY DENNISON CORPORATIONInventors: Dennis I. Couzin, William J. Cassarly, Steven R. Chapman
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Patent number: 7959427Abstract: Retroreflective articles having cube corner elements are disclosed, with the dihedral angle errors of the cube corner elements selected to limit the visibility range of the retroreflective article. Also disclosed are methods for making the cube corner elements and the retroreflective articles.Type: GrantFiled: February 29, 2008Date of Patent: June 14, 2011Assignee: Avery Dennison CorporationInventor: Dennis I. Couzin
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Patent number: 7866871Abstract: Various embodiments comprise light recycling films comprising an array of parallel ridges and grooves that form prisms that selectively reflect or transmit light. In some embodiments, the light recycling film may be used in displays that include spatial light modulators comprising a plurality of pixels. The light recycling film can limit the field-of-view of the display and enhance the luminance within that field-of-view. Various embodiments comprising multiple arrays of ridges and/or grooves can enhance uniformity of illumination of the pixels in the spatial light modulator and reduce Moiré effects.Type: GrantFiled: November 8, 2006Date of Patent: January 11, 2011Assignee: Avery Dennison CorporationInventors: Dennis I. Couzin, William J. Cassarly, Steven R. Chapman
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Patent number: 7513629Abstract: Retroreflective articles having cube corner elements are disclosed, with the dihedral angle errors of the cube corner elements selected to limit the visibility range of the retroreflective article. Also disclosed are methods for making the cube corner elements and the retroreflective articles.Type: GrantFiled: July 5, 2007Date of Patent: April 7, 2009Assignee: Avery Dennison CorporationInventor: Dennis I. Couzin
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Patent number: 7445347Abstract: Both a metallized cube corner retroreflective sheeting having a high measured daytime luminance factor and a method of manufacture thereof are provided. The sheeting is formed from a transparent planar sheet material including on one side a dense array of retroreflective cube corners having height H. The cube corners are canted edge-more-parallel by within about 1.5 degrees of 10n-9 degrees, where n is the index of refraction within the cube corners, and the cube corner faces are metallized by the application of a thin coating of reflective metal. The thickness of the sheet material between the bases of the cube corners and the opposite side of the sheeting is preferably between 1.75 H and 4.00 H. The resulting metallized, retroreflective sheet material may be mounted on a vehicle to increase its nighttime visibility through the ability of the sheet material to efficiently retroreflect a beam of light from a headlight or other source across a broad range of incident and orientation angles.Type: GrantFiled: November 9, 2005Date of Patent: November 4, 2008Assignee: Avery Dennison CorporationInventor: Dennis I. Couzin
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Patent number: 7427139Abstract: A ruling of cube corner elements comprising intersecting ruled vee-grooves is characterized in that at least one of the vee-grooves is made such the substrate being ruled and the cutting tool are oscillated with respect to one another during the ruling of the vee-groove. Rulings made in accordance with the instant invention can be designed to produce a cube corner element having broader divergence.Type: GrantFiled: August 31, 2005Date of Patent: September 23, 2008Assignee: Avery Dennison CorporationInventors: Dennis I. Couzin, Ronald A. Sandler, legal representative, Sidney A. Heenan
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Publication number: 20080211120Abstract: Retroreflective articles having cube corner elements are disclosed, with the dihedral angle errors of the cube corner elements selected to limit the visibility range of the retroreflective article. Also disclosed are methods for making the cube corner elements and the retroreflective articles.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 29, 2008Publication date: September 4, 2008Applicant: AVERY DENNISON CORPORATIONInventor: Dennis I. COUZIN
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Patent number: 7370981Abstract: Retroreflective articles having cube corner elements are disclosed, with the dihedral angle errors of the cube corner elements selected to limit the visibility range of the retroreflective article. Also disclosed are methods for making the cube corner elements and the retroreflective articles.Type: GrantFiled: December 21, 2004Date of Patent: May 13, 2008Assignee: Avery Dennison CorporationInventor: Dennis I. Couzin
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Patent number: 7334904Abstract: A rulable array of cube corners defined by three sets of parallel, equidistant, symmetrical vee-grooves is provided. The directions of the three vee-groove sets make three angles, no two of which are equal. When the array in viewed in plan, lines along the roots of the grooves determine a pattern of triangles in which the apices of the cube corners lie at distances from their respective triangle's centroid that are substantially less than the distance between the triangle's orthocenter and its centroid. In an unmetallized prismatic retroreflective sheeting, the array of quasi-triangular cube corners has the entrance angularity advantages of compound cant with nearly the efficiency of uncanted triangular cube corners at small entrance angles.Type: GrantFiled: September 8, 2004Date of Patent: February 26, 2008Assignee: Avery Dennison CorporationInventor: Dennis I. Couzin
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Patent number: 7168814Abstract: A cube corner array with minute modifications of the dihedral angles of some of the cube corners is produced by introducing a stress or change via the opposite side of the substrate. The array having aberrated elements can be replicated for use in the manufacture of a tool, and the tool can be used in the manufacture of retroreflective products of broader divergence.Type: GrantFiled: February 8, 2006Date of Patent: January 30, 2007Assignee: Avery Dennison CorporationInventors: Dennis I. Couzin, Steven R. Chapman, Kejian Huang
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Patent number: 7029134Abstract: A cube corner array with minute modifications of the dihedral angles of some of the cube corners is produced by introducing a stress or change via the opposite side of the substrate. The array having aberrated elements can be replicated for use in the manufacture of a tool, and the tool can be used in the manufacture of retroreflective products of broader divergence.Type: GrantFiled: March 29, 2005Date of Patent: April 18, 2006Assignee: Avery Dennison CorporationInventors: Dennis I. Couzin, Steven R. Chapman, Kejian Huang
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Patent number: 6984047Abstract: A ruling of cube corner elements comprising intersecting ruled vee-grooves is characterized in that at least one of the vee-grooves is made such the substrate being ruled and the cutting tool are oscillated with respect to one another during the ruling of the vee-groove. Rulings made in accordance with the instant invention can be designed to produce a cube corner element having broader divergence.Type: GrantFiled: June 11, 2002Date of Patent: January 10, 2006Assignee: Avery Dennison CorporationInventors: Dennis I. Couzin, Ronald A. Sandler, legal representative, Sidney A. Heenan, deceased
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Patent number: 6902280Abstract: A rulable array of cube corners defined by three sets of parallel, equidistant, symmetrical vee-grooves is provided. The directions of the three vee-groove sets make three angles, no two of which are equal. When the array in viewed in plan, lines along the roots of the grooves determine a pattern of triangles in which the apices of the cube corners lie at distances from their respective triangle's centroid that are substantially less than the distance between the triangle's orthocenter and its centroid. In an unmetallized prismatic retroreflective sheeting, the array of quasi-triangular cube corners has the entrance angularity advantages of compound cant with nearly the efficiency of uncanted triangular cube corners at small entrance angles.Type: GrantFiled: December 17, 2002Date of Patent: June 7, 2005Assignee: Avery Dennison CorporationInventor: Dennis I. Couzin
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Patent number: 6871966Abstract: A cube corner array with minute modifications of the dihedral angles of some of the cube corners is produced by introducing a stress or change via the opposite side of the substrate. The array having aberrated elements can be replicated for use in the manufacture of a tool, and the tool can be used in the manufacture of retroreflective products of broader divergence.Type: GrantFiled: December 12, 2002Date of Patent: March 29, 2005Assignee: Avery Dennison CorporationInventors: Dennis I. Couzin, Steven R. Chapman, Kejian Huang
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Patent number: 6767102Abstract: A method for tooling a pattern of retroreflective microcubes, which pattern can be subdivided into smaller increments within which there are straight line tooling paths, none of which pass through an otherwise solid part of the incremental pattern. The tooling paths within the various increments need not be parallel to a common plane. Various adaptions of the method enable the tooling of a number of specific microcube shapes and for modifying such optical properties of the microcubes as entrance angularity, incidence angularity, orientation angularity, observation angularity, percent active aperture and retroreflectance. Specific techniques govern the pre-selection of cube parameters such as cube axis cant, cube apex decentration, and cube boundary proportions, which parameters can be adjusted independently of each other. Designs tooled by the method can have 100% active aperture at near zero degrees entrance angle.Type: GrantFiled: December 2, 1999Date of Patent: July 27, 2004Assignee: Avery Dennison CorporationInventors: Sidney A. Heenan, Anthony J. Montalbano, Liviu A. Coman, Dennis I. Couzin
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Publication number: 20040142150Abstract: A method of making an embossed optical sheet material includes: providing an optically anisotropic, uniaxially oriented polymer substrate having a first major surface and a second major surface; heating a patterned tool using radiant energy from a radiant energy source, wherein the pattern comprises a plurality of parallel raised microstructures having a longitudinal direction; pressing the tool against the first major surface of the polymer substrate such that the longitudinal direction of the raised microstructures is substantially parallel to the direction of orientation of the polymer substrate, to soften the first major surface of the polymer substrate and emboss groove-shaped microchannels into the polymer substrate; cooling the embossed polymer substrate; and separating the tool from the polymer substrate; wherein the orientation of the polymer substrate is unchanged throughout the polymer substrate and first major surface.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 12, 2003Publication date: July 22, 2004Inventors: Rishikesh K. Bharadwaj, Dennis I. Couzin, David N. Edwards, Reza Mehrabi
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Publication number: 20040130057Abstract: A method of embossing a sheet material includes: heating at least a portion of the sheet directly or indirectly with radiant energy from a radiant energy source; pressing a tool against the heated portion of the sheet, thereby patterning a surface of the sheet; and separating the sheet and the tool. The radiant energy may travel through a solid material that is relatively transparent to radiation, on its way to being absorbed by a relatively-absorptive material. The relatively-transparent material may be an unheated portion of the sheet, and the relatively-absorptive material may be either the tool or the heated portion of the sheet. Alternatively, the relatively-transparent material may be the tool, and the relatively-absorptive material may be all or part of the sheet. The method may be performed as one or more roll-to-roll operations.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 4, 2003Publication date: July 8, 2004Inventors: Reza Mehrabi, David N. Edwards, Robert J. Fermin, Ali R. Mehrabi, Chunhwa Wang, Rishikesh K. Bharadwaj, Ronald F. Sieloff, Hsiao Ken Chuang, Dennis I. Couzin, Karen L. Spilizewski, William J. Buttermore, Donald J. Davis, Christopher P. Frank, Barbara B. Hyde, Michael F. Lang, Keith A. Lutz, Austin E. Short, Mark Wisniewski
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Patent number: RE40455Abstract: A method for tooling a pattern of retroreflective microcubes, which pattern can be subdivided into smaller increments within which there are straight line tooling paths, none of which pass through an otherwise solid part of the incremental pattern. The tooling paths within the various increments need not be parallel to a common plane. Various adaptions of the method enable the tooling of a number of specific microcube shapes and for modifying such optical properties of the microcubes as entrance angularity, incidence angularity, orientation angularity, observation angularity, percent active aperture and retroreflectance. Specific techniques govern the pre-selection of cube parameters such as cube axis cant, cube apex decentration, and cube boundary proportions, which parameters can be adjusted independently of each other. Designs tooled by the method can have 100% active aperture at near zero degrees entrance angle.Type: GrantFiled: August 31, 2006Date of Patent: August 12, 2008Assignee: Avery Dennison CorporationInventors: Sidney A. Heenan, Liviu A. Coman, Dennis I. Couzin
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Patent number: RE40700Abstract: A method for tooling a pattern of retroreflective microcubes, which pattern can be subdivided into smaller increments within which there are straight line tooling paths, none of which pass through an otherwise solid part of the incremental pattern. The tooling paths within the various increments need not be parallel to a common plane. Various adaptions of the method enable the tooling of a number of specific microcube shapes and for modifying such optical properties of the microcubes as entrance angularity, incidence angularity, orientation angularity, observation angularity, percent active aperture and retroreflectance. Specific techniques govern the pre-selection of cube parameters such as cube axis cant, cube apex decentration, and cube boundary proportions, which parameters can be adjusted independently of each other. Designs tooled by the method can have 100% active aperture at near zero degrees entrance angle.Type: GrantFiled: August 30, 2006Date of Patent: April 14, 2009Assignee: Avery Dennison CorporationInventors: Sidney A. Heenan, Liviu A. Coman, Dennis I. Couzin