Patents by Inventor Kazushige Hirata

Kazushige Hirata 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: 9113519
    Abstract: An LED driving apparatus converts AC input power into predetermined DC output power and supplies the DC output power to an LED load. The LED driving apparatus includes a switching element Q1 to be turned on and off, a ripple current reducer 3a that is connected in series with the LED load and reduces current ripples of the LED load, and a controller CNT that turns on and off the switching element according to a feedback voltage taken from a connection point of the LED load and ripple current reducer, thereby controlling the DC output power to a predetermined value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2015
    Assignee: Sanken Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kengo Kimura, Kazushige Hirata, Toshihiro Nakano
  • Patent number: 8804271
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes a hard disk drive, an acceleration detection portion, and a controller. The hard disk drive has a protective function for moving a head from a recording area of a disk to an evacuation position. The acceleration detection portion is configured to detect, as a detection target acceleration, an acceleration in one of a vertical direction and an almost-vertical direction with respect to a gravity direction. The controller is configured to detect a movement based on the acceleration detected as the detection target acceleration and determine whether to activate the protective function of the hard disk drive based on the detected movement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Kazushige Hirata
  • Publication number: 20120181941
    Abstract: An LED driving apparatus converts AC input power into predetermined DC output power and supplies the DC output power to an LED load. The LED driving apparatus includes a switching element Q1 to be turned on and off, a ripple current reducer 3a that is connected in series with the LED load and reduces current ripples of the LED load, and a controller CNT that turns on and off the switching element according to a feedback voltage taken from a connection point of the LED load and ripple current reducer, thereby controlling the DC output power to a predetermined value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 11, 2012
    Publication date: July 19, 2012
    Applicant: Sanken Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kengo Kimura, Kazushige Hirata, Toshihiro Nakano
  • Publication number: 20110261482
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes a hard disk drive, an acceleration detection portion, and a controller. The hard disk drive has a protective function for moving a head from a recording area of a disk to an evacuation position. The acceleration detection portion is configured to detect, as a detection target acceleration, an acceleration in one of a vertical direction and an almost-vertical direction with respect to a gravity direction. The controller is configured to detect a movement based on the acceleration detected as the detection target acceleration and determine whether to activate the protective function of the hard disk drive based on the detected movement.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 29, 2011
    Publication date: October 27, 2011
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Kazushige HIRATA
  • Patent number: 8022642
    Abstract: A discharge lamp lighting device is provided to comprise tube current detecting circuits 51 to 5n for outputting detection signals VI1 to VIn of tube currents I1 to In flowing through each discharge lamp 11 to 1n from an inverter 3 connected to DC power source 2 via a plurality of transformers 41 to 4n, a maximum detector 6 for detecting a maximum value VIMX of detected signals VI1 to VIn from current detector 51 to 5n, a minimum detector 7 for detecting a minimum value VIMN of detected signals VI1 to VIn from current detector 51 to 5n, a comparison circuit 8 for computing one or plural values of sum, difference, product and quotient between maximum value VIMX from maximum detector 6 and minimum value VIMN from minimum detector 7 to generate a cease signal VCP when the computed value exceeds a given value, and a control circuit 9 for halting operation of inverter 3 when comparison circuit 8 generates cease signal VCP.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2011
    Assignee: Sanken Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toru Ashikaga, Kazushige Hirata
  • Patent number: 7888887
    Abstract: A luminescent lamp lighting device includes a plurality of switch circuits 3, 4 each connected to each of luminescent lamps 5, 6 in series under one-to-one correspondence, a plurality of optical coupling circuits 9, 10 each connected to each of the switch circuits under one-to-one correspondence to turn on/off the switch circuits and a plurality of current detecting circuits 7, 8 each connected to each of the luminescent lamps in series under one-to-one correspondence to detect currents flowing the luminescent lamps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2011
    Assignee: Sanken Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Mizuki Utsuno, Kazushige Hirata, Toru Ashikaga, Toyotomo Morita
  • Publication number: 20100171433
    Abstract: A luminescent lamp lighting device includes a plurality of switch circuits 3, 4 each connected to each of luminescent lamps 5, 6 in series under one-to-one correspondence, a plurality of optical coupling circuits 9, 10 each connected to each of the switch circuits under one-to-one correspondence to turn on/off the switch circuits and a plurality of current detecting circuits 7, 8 each connected to each of the luminescent lamps in series under one-to-one correspondence to detect currents flowing the luminescent lamps.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2006
    Publication date: July 8, 2010
    Applicant: Sanken Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Mizuki Utsuno, Kazushige Hirata, Toru Ashikaga, Toyotomo Morita
  • Publication number: 20100164385
    Abstract: A discharge lamp lighting device is provided to comprise tube current detecting circuits 51 to 5n for outputting detection signals VI1 to VIn of tube currents I1 to In flowing through each discharge lamp 11 to 1n from an inverter 3 connected to DC power source 2 via a plurality of transformers 41 to 4n, a maximum detector 6 for detecting a maximum value VIMX of detected signals VI1 to VIn from current detector 51 to 5n, a minimum detector 7 for detecting a minimum value VIMN of detected signals VI1 to VIn from current detector 51 to 5n, a comparison circuit 8 for computing one or plural values of sum, difference, product and quotient between maximum value VIMX from maximum detector 6 and minimum value VIMN from minimum detector 7 to generate a cease signal VCP when the computed value exceeds a given value, and a control circuit 9 for halting operation of inverter 3 when comparison circuit 8 generates cease signal VCP.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 8, 2008
    Publication date: July 1, 2010
    Applicant: SANKEN ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Toru Ashikaga, Kazushige Hirata
  • Publication number: 20090045757
    Abstract: A discharge lamp lighter has an abnormality detecting circuit 7 for detecting an abnormality in an electrical load. The abnormality detecting circuit 7 includes a reference voltage part Ra1, Rb1, Ra2, Rb2 for generating a first reference voltage Vb1 and a second reference voltage Vb2, a detection voltage part Rc1, Rd1, Rc2, Rd2 for generating a first detection voltage Vc1 and a second detection voltage Vc2, a first determining part CP1 for determining the presence of abnormality in the electrical load when the second detection voltage Vc2 is outside a predetermined range with the first reference voltage Vb1 and a second determining part CP2 for determining the presence of abnormality in the electrical load when the first detection voltage Vc1 is outside the predetermined range with the second reference voltage Vb2.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 15, 2008
    Publication date: February 19, 2009
    Applicant: Sanken Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kengo Kimura, Kazushige Hirata, Jaehee Cho, Toshihiro Nakano
  • Publication number: 20070247082
    Abstract: A discharge lamp lighter capable of affording appropriate lighting characteristics and removing a dispersion in current of respective discharge lamps is provided. The discharge lamp lighter includes an inverter 2 for converting direct voltage into high frequency voltage, N (N: a positive integer) pieces of discharge lamps 11 to 14 and N+1 pieces of transformers T1 to T5. Between output terminals M1 and M2 of the inverter 2, an nth discharge lamp (n=1, 2, . . . , N), a primary winding of an n+1th transformer and a secondary winding of an nth. transformer are connected to each other in series. Further, a primary winding of a first transformer is connected to a secondary winding of an N+1th. transformer in series.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 1, 2006
    Publication date: October 25, 2007
    Applicant: Saken Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toru Ashikaga, Toyomi Yamashita, Kazushige Hirata