Patents by Inventor Hajime Inoue

Hajime Inoue 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: 20120140149
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display apparatus equipped with a backlight unit includes an LED, a light guide plate for light emission by guiding light from the LED to a liquid crystal panel, an LED board for driving the LED, a reflection sheet interposed between the light guide plate and the LED board, and a chassis on which the LED, the light guide plate, the reflection sheet and the LED board are mounted. The light guide plate has a half length and a half width of the liquid crystal panel, and the reflection sheet has substantially the same size as the light guide plate. The reflection sheet is extended at portions abutting on sides of the chassis to define flanges.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 18, 2011
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Inventors: Koichi SAKITA, Satoshi Ouchi, Hajime Inoue, Mayumi Nagayoshi, Hidenao Kubota, Yoshiharu Yamashita, Nobuyuki Kaku
  • Publication number: 20120113359
    Abstract: A backlight unit and a video display apparatus having a plural number of sets of one or more of light sources. A light guidance plate for guiding lights from the light sources to a side of a liquid crystal panel, to be emitted. The light sources are disposed on one end side of the light guidance plate. Assuming that width of the gap or groove is “d”, distance between a light incident surface of the liquid crystal panel and a light emission surface of the light guidance plate, or distance between a light incident surface of an optical member disposed between the liquid crystal panel and the light guidance plate and a light emission surface of the light guidance plate is “h”, and further 2.0 mm>d?0.1 mm and 10.0 mm>h?0.4 mm, then the following condition is satisfied: 4?h/d?100.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 19, 2012
    Publication date: May 10, 2012
    Applicant: Hitachi Consumer Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoshi Ouchi, Koichi Sakita, Hajime Inoue, Yoshiharu Yamashita
  • Publication number: 20120069158
    Abstract: [Object] To prevent image quality deterioration due to unnecessary format conversion. [Solution] An STB (set top box) 200 receives bit stream data that is transmitted from a broadcast station 100 in such a manner as to be carried on a broadcast wave, and obtains stereoscopic image data, audio data, and the like. Furthermore, the STB 200 transmits the stereoscopic image data and the audio data to the TV (television receiver) 300 through the digital interface of HDMI. In a case where the received stereoscopic image data can be handled by a TV 300 and, furthermore, the TV 300 has requested that transmission of the stereoscopic image data be performed without performing format conversion, the STB 200 does not convert the format of the received image data, and transmits the received image data to the TV 300 in the as-is format.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 22, 2011
    Publication date: March 22, 2012
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Atsushi Iwamura, Hajime Inoue
  • Patent number: 8115890
    Abstract: A backlight unit, being thin-sized, but having high definition and high uniformity of luminance, and a video display apparatus applying the same therein, has a plural number of sets of at least one or more of light source(s) (1) and a light guidance plate (2) for guiding lights from the light source(s) to a side of a liquid crystal panel, to be emitted therefrom, wherein the light source(s) is/are disposed on one end side of the light guidance plate, and other set of light source is disposed on a rear surface side of the other end of the light guidance plate opposite to the one end.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi Consumer Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoshi Ouchi, Koichi Sakita, Hajime Inoue, Yoshiharu Yamashita
  • Patent number: 8111354
    Abstract: A backlight unit having a LED light source includes a light guide plate partitioned in areas each having a tapered shape formed of a thick portion and a thin portion. The light guide plate is formed such that a thick portion and a thin portion are repeated at certain intervals, and the repeated thick portions and the repeated thin portions gradually decrease in thickness. The LED light source is attached to a lateral side of each thick portion. Grooves are formed in the light irradiation direction of the LED light source and in a direction perpendicularly intersecting the light irradiation direction. Each of the grooves is formed in an concave shape (V-shape or trapezoid-shape). There is a relation 0.2/30<=W/D<0.1 where D denotes the distance between the light guide plate and a light diffusion plate, and W denotes the width of each of the grooves. An inclination angle ? relative to the center of each of the grooves is between 9 and 15 degrees inclusive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi Consumer Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoshi Ouchi, Koichi Sakita, Hajime Inoue, Seiji Murata
  • Publication number: 20120027377
    Abstract: Program content is easily selected on a playback apparatus having a plurality of program content recording locations. A video recording management server (11) manages program IDs, the video recording condition of program content on a television apparatus (10), and recording location information indicating on which server each program content is recorded, in association with each other as program management information. The television apparatus (10) displays an electronic program guide (100) in which past and future programs are displayed integrally, and displays a video recording complete mark (RM) for programs previously recorded on a user content server (13). On the other hand, when an instruction to play back program content is made in the electronic program guide (100), the television apparatus (10) receives the program content from a server designated from the video recording management server (11) to perform streaming playback.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 9, 2010
    Publication date: February 2, 2012
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ikuo Tsukagoshi, Hajime Inoue
  • Publication number: 20110316766
    Abstract: A cross section of each divided light guiding plate is formed in a wedge shape, a step is formed at a portion of each divided light guiding plate where LEDs are arranged, and holes used for accommodating the LEDs are formed at the step. A plated face is formed on a lower face of each LED, and is coupled to a wiring substrate through solder. Each LED includes a light-emitting face, a lower frame, and an upper frame. The height of the lower frame of each LED is larger than the height of the upper frame, so that a lower end of the light-emitting face of each LED can be always located higher than a lower end of the divided light guiding plate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 20, 2011
    Publication date: December 29, 2011
    Inventors: Hidenao KUBOTA, Satoshi Ouchi, Hiroshi Iwasa, Mayumi Nagayoshi, Hajime Inoue
  • Publication number: 20110249220
    Abstract: A plurality of backlight blocks are aligned, each block includes light sources and a unit light guide plate for guiding light from the light sources to the side of a liquid crystal panel, unit diffusion patterns are formed in a zigzag alignment on the unit light guide plate and another diffusion pattern is formed on the back of the unit light guide plate. One side of the unit light guide plate is defined as a light entrance surface and LEDs as the light sources are aligned along the light entrance surface to satisfy p?a?c where a indicates the size of the unit diffusion pattern in a direction orthogonal to an exit optical axis of the LEDs, c indicates the size of an LED emission surface in the direction of alignment of the LEDs, and p indicates the pitch of alignment of the light sources.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 8, 2011
    Publication date: October 13, 2011
    Inventors: Satoshi OUCHI, Hajime Inoue, Hidenao Kubota, Mayumi Nagayoshi
  • Patent number: 8032919
    Abstract: In a digital broadcast receiving apparatus, digital broadcast signals provided by a digital broadcast method are supplied to various types of external units and are effectively utilized. In the above apparatus, a descrambler descrambles a transport stream output from a front end unit and supplies it to a digital interface and a demultiplexer. The demultiplexer extracts from the transport stream a compressed video signal and a compressed audio signal of a program specified by a user, and supplies the extracted signals to an MPEG decoder. The MPEG decoder decompresses the supplied video signal and the audio signal and supplies them to the digital interface, an NTSC encoder, and an audio signal D/A converter. The digital interface supplies either of the transport stream or the decompressed data to a digital external unit under the control of the controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2011
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Hajime Inoue, Noriyuki Yamamoto, Sadaharu Sato, Takehiko Nakano
  • Patent number: 7973849
    Abstract: An aspect of the present invention provides an image taking apparatus, comprising: a solid-state image sensor; and a taking lens including a lens barrel that houses a lens disposed in front of the solid-state image sensor, wherein a shielding member that blocks an electromagnetic wave radiated from the front surface of the solid-state image sensor is provided on an outer circumference of the lens barrel, and a metallic member electrically floating in the lens barrel is grounded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2011
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Oishi, Hajime Inoue, Toshiharu Izumi, Tadashi Jogetsu
  • Publication number: 20110080532
    Abstract: A backlight unit of thin-type comprises: at least one or more light source(s); plural numbers of light guide plates, each of which is configured to guide and irradiate the light of the light source(s) to a side of a liquid crystal panel; and a chassis, on which the light source(s) and the light guide plates are fixed, thereby being constructed by aligning the light guide plates, wherein the following conditions are satisfied: 15.0 mm>h, 20°???60° when assuming that a distance from an irradiation surface of the backlight unit to the light guide plate is “h”, and that an angle indicative of a half-value light intensity of a light emitting from a light emission surface of the light guide plate, thereby providing a video of high picture quality, and there is also provided a video display apparatus applying the same therein.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2010
    Publication date: April 7, 2011
    Inventors: SATOSHI OUCHI, Hajime Inoue, Hidenao Kubota, Mayumi Nagayoshi
  • Patent number: 7886324
    Abstract: In a system in which an IEEE 1394 interface is provided for an IRD, connected equipment can be easily selected and the operability is improved. Data can be transmitted among the equipment by providing the IEEE 1394 interface for the IRD. For example, five equipment units are selected from the equipment connected to the IEEE 1394 interface and node ID numbers are allocated to the five equipment units and registered. Thus, even if the equipment is removed from the interface and connected again, the IRD can recognize the equipment. The registration may easily be changed by user input. When the registration is changed, the change of the registration is inhibited among equipment units in which a program reservation has been set or the connected equipment. Thus, even if the registration is changed, an erroneous operation does not occur.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2011
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Hajime Inoue, Tatsuya Wakahara, Naoki Murayama, Masao Mizutani
  • Publication number: 20110018786
    Abstract: There is provided a technique for discharge stabilization of a plasma display panel by forming magnesium oxide with a large diameter and adjusting residual amounts of impurities contained in the magnesium oxide. That is, discharge stabilization material particle, which is coated on a protective-film layer of protecting electrodes and supplies sufficient amount of priming particles into a discharge gap, is focused. By setting each impurity concentration in the magnesium oxide used as the discharge stabilization material particle to 20 ppm or lower, discharge time lag is suppressed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 7, 2008
    Publication date: January 27, 2011
    Inventors: Keiichi Betsui, Tomonari Misawa, Tadayoshi Kosaka, Yoshiho Seo, Hajime Inoue, Shinya Fukuta, Minoru Hasegawa
  • Publication number: 20110001427
    Abstract: A technique for achieving both discharge voltage reduction and discharge stabilization in a PDP and the like is provided. This PDP manufacturing method includes, for a structure of a front plate structure (11) to be exposed to a discharge space (30) to be filled with a discharge gas, a step of forming a first layer (4) having an effect of discharge protective layer on a dielectric layer (3), a step of forming a second layer (5) for protecting the first layer on the first layer, and a step of forming a third layer (6) of a powder for discharge stabilization to be exposed to the discharge space (30), the steps being performed in vacuum manufacturing process. And, the structure is made such that a surface of the first layer is exposed to the discharge space (30) by a step of removing the second layer by an aging discharge in the discharge space (30).
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 2, 2007
    Publication date: January 6, 2011
    Applicant: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Keiichi Betsui, Shinya Fukuta, Tadayoshi Kosaka, Minoru Hasegawa, Hajime Inoue, Yoshiho Seo, Tomonari Misawa
  • Patent number: 7865929
    Abstract: When an analog-recorded tape cassette is loaded into an apparatus which can perform an analog recording/reproduction and a digital recording/reproduction by a same video tape and is reproduced, an alarm is displayed. When a tape cassette in which a transport stream of different specifications or a digital video signal of a system other than the MPEG2 system has been recorded is loaded into the apparatus and reproduced, an alarm is displayed. The user watches a smart file picture plane and recognizes recording system information of a program to be monitored from now on. If the program to be reproduced has been digitally recorded, the user switches the input to a digital video input. If the program to be reproduced has been analog-recorded, the user switches the input to an analog video input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2011
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Hajime Inoue, Tatsuya Wakahara, Naoki Murayama, Masao Mizutani, Yasuaki Ohta
  • Publication number: 20100265932
    Abstract: A wireless transmitter which includes: a packetizer which generates a special packet with a payload containing transmitted video signals and a header containing distinguishing information used to distinguish the special packet from an IP packet; and a wireless transmitting section for generating and transmitting wireless radio signals which contain a special packet generated by the packetizer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2010
    Publication date: October 21, 2010
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Hajime Inoue, Keiji Yuzawa, Haruhiko Yata, Shoji Ichiki
  • Publication number: 20100220246
    Abstract: In a backlight device manufactured by simultaneously arranging a plurality of backlight blocks in a combination manner, while each of the backlight blocks is comprised of: a light emitting source containing an LED, or a fluorescent lamp; a light conducting plate for conducting light emitted from the light emitting source to the side of a liquid crystal panel; and a reflection seat arranged on a rear plane of the light conducting plate; a dark luminance portion and a middle dark/bright luminance portion corresponding to dark/bright difference patterns for producing a dark/bright difference in luminance emitted from the backlight blocks are formed; and luminance of a bright luminance portion corresponding to a bright pattern of luminance emitted from a boundary between the backlight blocks is caused not to become visually conspicuous by a luminance fluctuation of the dark/bright difference pattern emitted from the backlight blocks.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2010
    Publication date: September 2, 2010
    Inventors: Hajime INOUE, Satoshi Ouchi, Koichi Sakita, Seiji Murata
  • Publication number: 20100214508
    Abstract: A backlight unit having a LED light source includes a light guide plate partitioned in areas each having a tapered shape formed of a thick portion and a thin portion. The light guide plate is formed such that a thick portion and a thin portion are repeated at certain intervals, and the repeated thick portions and the repeated thin portions gradually decrease in thickness. The LED light source is attached to a lateral side of each thick portion. Grooves are formed in the light irradiation direction of the LED light source and in a direction perpendicularly intersecting the light irradiation direction. Each of the grooves is formed in an concave shape (V-shape or trapezoid-shape). There is a relation 0.2/30<=W/D<0.1 where D denotes the distance between the light guide plate and a light diffusion plate, and W denotes the width of each of the grooves. An inclination angle ? relative to the center of each of the grooves is between 9 and 15 degrees inclusive.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 8, 2010
    Publication date: August 26, 2010
    Applicant: Hitachi Consumer Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoshi OUCHI, Koichi Sakita, Hajime Inoue, Seiji Murata
  • Publication number: 20100182541
    Abstract: A backlight unit, being thin-sized, but having high definition and high uniformity of luminance, and a video display apparatus applying the same therein, has a plural number of sets of at least one or more of light source(s) (1) and a light guidance plate (2) for guiding lights from the light source(s) to a side of a liquid crystal panel, to be emitted therefrom, wherein the light source(s) is/are disposed on one end side of the light guidance plate, and other set of light source is disposed on a rear surface side of the other end of the light guidance plate opposite to the one end.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 8, 2010
    Publication date: July 22, 2010
    Applicant: Hitachi Consumer Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoshi OUCHI, Koichi Sakita, Hajime Inoue, Yoshiharu Yamashita
  • Patent number: 7755573
    Abstract: A charging/discharging apparatus (602) for charging a capacitance to be charged/discharged (Cp) includes: a recovery capacitor (Cr1) for recovering electric energy which has one terminal connected to a first power supply (GND) through first switch means (SW11) and another terminal connected to a second power supply (Vs+Vo) through second switch means (SW12); first path forming means (D11) which has one terminal connected to a connection point between the second power supply and the other terminal of the recovery capacitor and another terminal connected to the capacitance to be charged/discharged, and charges the capacitance to be charged/discharged through a resonant inductor (L1) when the first switch means is turned on; second path forming means (D12) which has one terminal connected to a connection point between the first power supply and the one terminal of the recovery capacitor and another terminal connected to the capacitance to be charged/discharged, and discharges the capacitance to be charged/discha
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2010
    Assignee: Hitachi Plasma Patent Licensing Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Yoshiho Seo, Kazushige Takagi, Tadayoshi Kosaka, Hajime Inoue, Koichi Sakita