Patents by Inventor Junichi Hirakata

Junichi Hirakata 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: 20070222743
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display is provided and includes: a liquid crystal panel; light sources for illuminate light from M kinds of colors onto the liquid crystal panel; and a light source driving unit in which a one-frame period of an input image signal is divided into M or more subfields, and the light sources are sequentially driven in a time-sharing mode in correspondence with the subfields. The light source driving unit changes in correspondence with the input image signal at least one of an emission intensity and an emission period of a light source in a period of the subfield and the number of emission times of the light source during the one-frame period. Alternatively, a liquid crystal driving unit performs gradation control for changing a gradation characteristic independently with respect to each of the light sources, the gradation characteristic representing a relationship of emission intensity of each of the light sources with respect to the input image signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 21, 2007
    Publication date: September 27, 2007
    Applicant: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventor: Junichi Hirakata
  • Patent number: 7271869
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device having first and second substrates with a liquid crystal layer therebetween, a plurality of gate signal lines and a plurality of drain signal lines, a plurality of pixel regions defined by neighboring gate signal lines and drain signal lines, and a pixel electrode in each pixel region. The drain signal line has a metal layer and another layer formed by a transparent conductor, and the another layer is electrically connected to the metal layer. The pixel electrode is made of a transparent conductor, and a transparent conductor of the pixel electrode and the transparent conductor of the drain signal line are of the same material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2007
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kikuo Ono, Makoto Yoneya, Tsunenori Yamamoto, Junichi Hirakata, Yoshiaki Nakayoshi
  • Patent number: 7256854
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device having first and second substrates with a liquid crystal layer therebetween, a plurality of gate signal lines and a plurality of drain signal lines, a plurality of counter voltage signal lines, a plurality of pixel regions defined by neighboring gate signal lines and drain signal lines, a counter electrode and a pixel electrode enabling formation of an electric field, and an orientation film being formed on the first substrate. The pixel electrode has a plurality of slits overlaps the counter electrode with an insulating layer therebetween. A pair of edges of the counter electrode and pixel electrode extend in parallel to the gate signal line and another pair of edges of the counter electrode and the pixel electrode extend in parallel to the drain line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2007
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kikuo Ono, Makoto Yoneya, Tsunenori Yamamoto, Junichi Hirakata, Yoshiaki Nakayoshi
  • Patent number: 7253863
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device having first and second substrates with a liquid crystal layer therebetween, a plurality of gate signal lines made of metal and a plurality of drain signal lines made of metal, a plurality of counter voltage signal lines, a plurality of pixel regions defined by neighboring gate signal lines and drain signal lines and a pixel electrode formed on first substrate in each pixel region. The pixel electrode and the counter voltage signal lines have an overlapping region, and an edge of the pixel electrode which extends in parallel to the drain signal line shifts to inside of the pixel region at the overlapping region as compared to the edge of the pixel electrode at a non-overlapping region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2007
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kikuo Ono, Makoto Yoneya, Tsunenori Yamamoto, Junichi Hirakata, Yoshiaki Nakayoshi
  • Patent number: 7251006
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device having a first transparent insulating substrate, a second transparent insulating substrate, a liquid crystal layer having liquid crystal molecules interposed between the first and second substrates, a plurality of gate bus lines and a plurality of data bus lines formed on the first substrate, wherein an area formed by two gate bus lines intersecting two data bus lines substantially defines a unit pixel. A pixel electrode made from a transparent conductor material is arranged in each unit pixel and has a plurality of upper slits parallelly arranged at a first tilt angle and a plurality of lower slits parallelly arranged at a second tilt angle and the upper slits and the lower slits are arranged in the unit pixel as an mirror image of each other and upper slits not connected to any of the lower slits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2007
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kikuo Ono, Makoto Yoneya, Tsunenori Yamamoto, Junichi Hirakata, Yoshiaki Nakayoshi
  • Patent number: 7251005
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device having first and second substrates with a liquid crystal layer therebetween, a plurality of gate signal lines and a plurality of drain signal lines, a plurality of counter voltage signal lines, a plurality of pixel regions defined by neighboring gate signal lines and drain signal lines. and a counter electrode and a pixel electrode formed on the first substrate in each pixel region so as to enable an electric field to be formed therebetween. The counter electrode is of planar shape and made of a transparent conductor. The counter voltage signal line is made of metal and has a branch in each pixel region with the counter electrode being directly connected to the branch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2007
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kikuo Ono, Makoto Yoneya, Tsunenori Yamamoto, Junichi Hirakata, Yoshiaki Nakayoshi
  • Patent number: 7248324
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device having first and second substrates with a liquid crystal layer therebetween, a plurality of gate signal lines and a plurality of drain signal lines, a plurality of counter voltage signal lines, a plurality of pixel regions defined by neighboring gate signal lines and drain signal lines and a counter electrode and a pixel electrode being formed on the first substrate in each pixel region and enabling forming of an electric field therebetween. The counter electrode is of planar shape and, the pixel electrode is of planar shape with plurality of slits and is overlapped with the counter electrode with an insulating layer provided therebetween. Both the counter electrode and pixel electrode are made of a transparent conductor. The counter voltage signal line is made of metal and extends in center region in each pixel region and is directly connected to the counter electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2007
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kikuo Ono, Makoto Yoneya, Tsunenori Yamamoto, Junichi Hirakata, Yoshiaki Nakayoshi
  • Publication number: 20070085794
    Abstract: A display device includes a display panel having display elements, arranged in a matrix, a drain driver which supplies gradation voltages corresponding to image data to the display elements, a gate driver which scans lines of the display elements for supplying the gradation voltage, and a data generation circuit which divides image data for one frame into a plurality of pieces of sub-field image data in a time direction. The data generation circuit operates to convert one piece of sub-field image data into bright gradation data which has a higher brightness than the inputted image data which has been inputted, and to convert another piece of sub-field image data into dark gradation data which has a lower brightness than the inputted image data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 14, 2006
    Publication date: April 19, 2007
    Inventors: Kazuyoshi Kawabe, Junichi Hirakata
  • Publication number: 20070052664
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal display panel having plural pixels, a lighting device having at least one light source and projecting light generated by the light source on the liquid crystal display panel, and a circuit supplying a first current during a first period and a second current smaller than the first current during a second period to the light source alternately. The circuit includes a current monitoring circuit which measures the first current and the second current, and a light control circuit which adjusts a ratio of the first period to the second period based upon a signal from the current monitoring circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 6, 2006
    Publication date: March 8, 2007
    Inventors: Junichi Hirakata, Kikuo Ono, Akira Shingai
  • Publication number: 20070036917
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device comprising a liquid crystal cell containing a nematic liquid crystal material aligned nearly in parallel to the surfaces of the cell at the time of no voltage application thereto, and two polarizers disposed on both outer sides of the liquid crystal cell, wherein the optically anisotropic layer comprising a hybrid-aligned compound is disposed between the liquid crystal cell and one of the polarizers and the alignment control direction of the hybrid-aligned compound is nearly in parallel to absorption axis of any one of the polarizers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 11, 2006
    Publication date: February 15, 2007
    Applicant: FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Junichi Hirakata
  • Publication number: 20070035682
    Abstract: A novel liquid crystal display device is disclosed. The device comprises two polarizer films, a liquid crystal cell disposed between these two polarizer films wherein liquid-crystalline molecules are oriented substantially normal to the substrates under non-operative state in the absence of applied external electric field; at least one layer of a first optically-anisotropic layer having an optically positive refractive anisotropy having Re falling within a range from 40 to 150 nm at visible light; and at least one layer of a second optically-anisotropic layer having an optically negative refractive anisotropy, and having Re of 10 nm or less and Rth falling within a range from 60 to 250 nm at visible light.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2004
    Publication date: February 15, 2007
    Applicant: FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tadashi Ito, Junichi Hirakata
  • Patent number: 7161576
    Abstract: A matrix-type display device includes a data generating circuit 102 for multiple scans for inserting blanking data to image data for one frame period of an image, and a timing controlling circuit 103 for multiple scans for generating clocks used by a gate line drive circuit 104 for scanning lines of a display element array 107 such that the image data and the blanking data can be displayed in one frame period. Here, the gate line drive circuit 104 simultaneously scans multiple lines adjacent to each other as a bundle. According to this configuration, the larger and more complicated construction can be suppressed, which can also suppress the image deterioration due to blurred moving picture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2007
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuyoshi Kawabe, Junichi Hirakata
  • Patent number: 7161577
    Abstract: In a liquid crystal display device having a backlight, the backlight has a first state which outputs a first amount of light and a second state which generates a second amount of light and the time for the first state and the time for the second state are controlled. Due to such a constitution, the liquid crystal display device can display clear motion picture images in spite of a simple constitution thereof. Further, the liquid crystal display device can display clear and bright motion picture images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2007
    Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Device Engineering Co. Ltd.
    Inventors: Junichi Hirakata, Kikuo Ono, Akira Shingai
  • Publication number: 20060279523
    Abstract: A display apparatus for executing display in accordance with an image signal, including, a display panel, a plurality of light-sources for illuminating the display panel, and a control circuit for controlling light-emission luminance of the light-sources. The light-emission luminance includes a first light-emission luminance and a second light-emission luminance, and the display panel includes a plurality of display areas, wherein each of the display areas corresponding to each of the light-sources. The control circuit controls switching timing between the first light-emission luminance and the second light-emission luminance of each of the light-sources in accordance with rewriting timing of the image signal concerned with each of the display areas.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 23, 2006
    Publication date: December 14, 2006
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Nitta, Takeshi Maeda, Kazuyoshi Kawabe, Junichi Hirakata
  • Patent number: 7138974
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal display panel having plural pixels, a lighting device having at least one light source and projecting light generated by the light source on the liquid crystal display panel, and a circuit supplying a first current during a first period and a second current smaller than the first current during a second period to the light source alternately. The circuit includes a current monitoring circuit which measures the first current and the second current, and a light control circuit which adjusts a ratio of the first period to the second period based upon a signal from the current monitoring circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2006
    Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Device Engineering Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Junichi Hirakata, Kikuo Ono, Akira Shingai
  • Patent number: 7113163
    Abstract: The present invention includes a panel on which a plurality of pixels are located, a light-source for visualizing an image displayed on the plurality of pixels, a controlling circuit for controlling the light-source, and an image-signal tone characteristic controlling circuit. Moreover, the light-source controlling circuit has a function of repeating a period. Here, the period includes a 1st time-period during which an electric current having a 1st intensity is fed to the light-source, and a 2nd time-period during which an electric current having a 2nd intensity differing from the 1st intensity is fed to the light-source. The light-source controlling circuit controls the 1st time-period and the 2nd time-period in accordance with display information. Also, in accordance with the display information as well, the tone characteristic controlling circuit is controlled so that the excellent contrast will be always available.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2006
    Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Video and Information System, Inc.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Nitta, Takeshi Maeda, Kazuyoshi Kawabe, Junichi Hirakata
  • Publication number: 20060176261
    Abstract: In a hold-type display device, such as a liquid crystal display device, so-called blurring which appears on a profile of a displayed animated image can be suppressed without degrading the brightness of the image. An image based on video data to be inputted to a display device is displayed for every frame period and, thereafter, the image is masked with a blanking image. Here, the ratio between an image display period of the video data and a blanking image display period in one frame period is adjusted, based on the number of pixel rows selected in a pixel array in response to a scanning clock for respective periods, the frequency of the scanning clock, and shortening of a horizontal period of display signal inputting to every pixel row with respect to a horizontal scanning period of the video data, whereby the image can be efficiently cancelled using the blanking image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 22, 2006
    Publication date: August 10, 2006
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Nitta, Tsutomu Furuhashi, Junichi Hirakata, Yoshinori Tanaka, Kazuyoshi Kawabe
  • Patent number: 7038651
    Abstract: In a hold-type display device, such as a liquid crystal display device, so-called blurring which appears on a profile of a displayed animated image can be suppressed without degrading the brightness of the image. An image based on video data to be inputted to a display device is displayed for every frame period and, thereafter, the image is masked with a blanking image. Here, the ratio between an image display period of the video data and a blanking image display period in one frame period is adjusted, based on the number of pixel rows selected in a pixel array in response to a scanning clock for respective periods, the frequency of the scanning clock, and shortening of a horizontal period of display signal inputting to every pixel row with respect to a horizontal scanning period of the video data, whereby the image can be efficiently cancelled using the blanking image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2006
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Nitta, Tsutomu Furuhashi, Junichi Hirakata, Yoshinori Tanaka, Kazuyoshi Kawabe
  • Publication number: 20060038771
    Abstract: In a liquid crystal display device having a backlight, the backlight has a first state which outputs a first amount of light and a second state which generates a second amount of light and the time for the first state and the time for the second state are controlled. Due to such a constitution, the liquid crystal display device can display clear motion picture images in spite of a simple constitution thereof. Further, the liquid crystal display device can display clear and bright motion picture images.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 7, 2005
    Publication date: February 23, 2006
    Inventors: Junichi Hirakata, Kikuo Ono, Akira Shingai
  • Publication number: 20050219188
    Abstract: A display device which includes a plurality of adjacent gate lines and drain lines disposed in a display area of the display device, and a plurality of pixels disposed in the display area, each of the plurality of pixels having a switching element coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of adjacent gate lines and a corresponding one of the plurality of drain lines. During one frame period, the plurality of adjacent gate lines are selected, and thereby video signals are written into the plurality of pixels via the plurality of drain lines, and thereafter during the one frame period, the plurality of adjacent gate lines are selected, and thereby signals corresponding to blanking data are written into the plurality of pixels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 31, 2005
    Publication date: October 6, 2005
    Inventors: Kazuyoshi Kawabe, Junichi Hirakata