Patents by Inventor Kenichi Iwamoto

Kenichi Iwamoto 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: 11947216
    Abstract: A backlight apparatus includes a light source emitting blue light, a light guide layer, a quantum dot phosphor layer, a reflective layer, and a yellow phosphor layer. The light guide layer includes a first main surface, a second main surface, at least one light-receiving side surface, and at least one non-light-receiving side surface. The quantum dot phosphor layer is provided on the first main surface side of the light guide layer and includes a red quantum dot phosphor and a green quantum dot phosphor. The reflective layer is disposed on the second main surface side of the light guide layer. The yellow phosphor layer is provided between the second main surface and the reflective layer and in a region along the at least one non-light-receiving side surface, and includes a yellow phosphor. The quantum dot phosphor layer is in contact with the first main surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: Sharp Display Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Kenichi Iwamoto, Satsuki Hagihara, Kazuhiko Negoro
  • Publication number: 20230393431
    Abstract: A backlight apparatus includes a light source emitting blue light, a light guide layer, a quantum dot phosphor layer, a reflective layer, and a yellow phosphor layer. The light guide layer includes a first main surface, a second main surface, at least one light-receiving side surface, and at least one non-light-receiving side surface. The quantum dot phosphor layer is provided on the first main surface side of the light guide layer and includes a red quantum dot phosphor and a green quantum dot phosphor. The reflective layer is disposed on the second main surface side of the light guide layer. The yellow phosphor layer is provided between the second main surface and the reflective layer and in a region along the at least one non-light-receiving side surface, and includes a yellow phosphor. The quantum dot phosphor layer is in contact with the first main surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 2, 2023
    Publication date: December 7, 2023
    Inventors: Kenichi IWAMOTO, Satsuki HAGIHARA, Kazuhiko NEGORO
  • Patent number: 11561433
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device (100) according to the present invention is provided with a liquid crystal display panel (10) and a backlight device (50) which emits light toward the back surface (10r) of the liquid crystal display panel. The backlight device comprises: an LED substrate (21) that has a front surface (21s) on which a plurality of LED chips (22) are arranged so as to emit excitation light toward the back surface of the liquid crystal display panel; a phosphor layer (25) which contains a phosphor (25q) that emits fluorescent light upon reception of the excitation light; a wavelength selective reflection layer (28) which is arranged between the phosphor layer and the LED substrate, and wherein the transmittance of the excitation light is higher than the transmittance of the fluorescent light; and an optical layer laminate (30) which is arranged on the liquid crystal display panel side of the phosphor layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: SAKAI DISPLAY PRODUCTS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kenichi Iwamoto, Mayumi Hori, Kazuhiko Negoro
  • Patent number: 11287698
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display apparatus includes a liquid crystal display panel and a backlight device disposed on a rear face of the liquid crystal display panel. The backlight device includes a chassis, a plurality of LED units being disposed on the chassis and arranged in at least one direction, and a cooling structure thermally coupled to rear faces of the plurality of LED units. The cooling structure includes a plurality of enclosed spaces, each of the plurality of enclosed spaces containing a coolant in which a liquid phase and a gas phase coexist at room temperature. Each of the plurality of enclosed spaces is disposed correspondingly to at least one LED unit among the plurality of LED units arranged in the at least one direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: SAKAI DISPLAY PRODUCTS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mayumi Hori, Kazuhiko Negoro, Kenichi Iwamoto, Akira Toyama, Makoto Noda
  • Publication number: 20220004060
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display apparatus includes a liquid crystal display panel and a backlight device disposed on a rear face of the liquid crystal display panel. The backlight device includes a chassis, a plurality of LED units being disposed on the chassis and arranged in at least one direction, and a cooling structure thermally coupled to rear faces of the plurality of LED units. The cooling structure includes a plurality of enclosed spaces, each of the plurality of enclosed spaces containing a coolant in which a liquid phase and a gas phase coexist at room temperature. Each of the plurality of enclosed spaces is disposed correspondingly to at least one LED unit among the plurality of LED units arranged in the at least one direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 25, 2018
    Publication date: January 6, 2022
    Inventors: MAYUMI HORI, KAZUHIKO NEGORO, KENICHI IWAMOTO, AKIRA TOYAMA, MAKOTO NODA
  • Publication number: 20210271135
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device (100) according to the present invention is provided with a liquid crystal display panel (10) and a backlight device (50) which emits light toward the back surface (10r) of the liquid crystal display panel. The backlight device comprises: an LED substrate (21) that has a front surface (21s) on which a plurality of LED chips (22) are arranged so as to emit excitation light toward the back surface of the liquid crystal display panel; a phosphor layer (25) which contains a phosphor (25q) that emits fluorescent light upon reception of the excitation light; a wavelength selective reflection layer (28) which is arranged between the phosphor layer and the LED substrate, and wherein the transmittance of the excitation light is higher than the transmittance of the fluorescent light; and an optical layer laminate (30) which is arranged on the liquid crystal display panel side of the phosphor layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2018
    Publication date: September 2, 2021
    Inventors: KENICHI IWAMOTO, MAYUMI HORI, KAZUHIKO NEGORO
  • Patent number: 11009746
    Abstract: A backlight device includes an LED substrate including LED devices arrayed and a quantum dot layer disposed to receive light output from the LED devices. Each LED device emits first blue light and at least one of first green light and first red light, and when relative radiance of the first blue light is 1.00, relative radiance of the first green light is 0.21 or less and relative radiance of the first red light is 0.48 or less. The quantum dot layer includes, in accordance with the at least one of the first green light and the first red light, at least one of a green quantum dot excited by the first blue light and emitting second green light and a red green quantum dot excited by the first blue light and emitting second red light, and the quantum dot layer contains 300 ppm or less of cadmium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kenichi Iwamoto, Mayumi Hori, Satsuki Kawai
  • Publication number: 20210116751
    Abstract: A backlight device includes an LED substrate including LED devices arrayed and a quantum dot layer disposed to receive light output from the LED devices. Each LED device emits first blue light and at least one of first green light and first red light, and when relative radiance of the first blue light is 1.00, relative radiance of the first green light is 0.21 or less and relative radiance of the first red light is 0.48 or less. The quantum dot layer includes, in accordance with the at least one of the first green light and the first red light, at least one of a green quantum dot excited by the first blue light and emitting second green light and a red green quantum dot excited by the first blue light and emitting second red light, and the quantum dot layer contains 300 ppm or less of cadmium.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2020
    Publication date: April 22, 2021
    Inventors: KENICHI IWAMOTO, MAYUMI HORI, SATSUKI KAWAI
  • Publication number: 20190196270
    Abstract: Provided is a display apparatus in which the occurrence of color nonuniformity can be prevented or reduced. A display apparatus in which light from a light source unit is transmitted through a fluorescent film before reaching a display panel, includes an optical path changing member provided between the light source unit and the fluorescent film and for changing optical path lengths within the fluorescent film of the light rays entering the fluorescent film from an incident surface of the fluorescent film.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2016
    Publication date: June 27, 2019
    Inventors: MAYUMI HORI, KENICHI IWAMOTO
  • Patent number: 8482680
    Abstract: In a power board, relay terminals penetrate a circuit board through fitting holes, and are connected to output terminals. The fitting holes are thus formed as through holes on the circuit board, and thereby on-board connectors provided for connection to the relay terminals on a chassis can be arranged on the back surface of the circuit board on the opposite side of the chassis. Electronic components free from restriction of the positional relationship with the chassis can be mounted on the back surface of the circuit board, as are the on-board connectors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2013
    Assignees: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Limited
    Inventors: Yoshiki Takata, Kenichi Iwamoto, Takaaki Kudo, Naofumi Ikenaga
  • Patent number: 8405295
    Abstract: In a discharge tube, a conductive ferrule is provided on an end portion of a glass tube. The ferrule includes a body that is to be mounted to the outer circumference of the glass tube and has a contact portion to be electrically conductively fixed to a relay connector (or a bearing device). Further included is a conductive portion that extends from the body so as to have elastic contact with an outer lead. The outer lead will not be under load due to the weight of the discharge tube, but the conductive portion solely has elastic contact therewith. Thus, stress concentration on the outer lead can be prevented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2013
    Assignees: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Limited
    Inventors: Yoshiki Takata, Kenichi Iwamoto, Takaaki Kudo
  • Patent number: 8319901
    Abstract: Discharge tubes, each of which includes a glass tube and a ferrule that has a substantially cylindrical shape and is fitted to each end portion of the glass tube, are supported by a plurality of pairs of relay connectors (or supporting members) provided on the front side of a chassis having substantially a plate-shaped configuration. When a discharge tube is supported by relay connectors, stoppers provided on the relay connectors lock the ferrules so that axial movement of the discharge tube relative to the relay connectors is restricted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2012
    Assignees: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Limited
    Inventors: Yoshiki Takata, Kenichi Iwamoto, Takaaki Kudo, Naofumi Ikenaga
  • Patent number: 8297770
    Abstract: Discharge tubes, each of which includes a glass tube and a ferrule that has a substantially cylindrical shape and is fitted to each end portion of the glass tube, are supported by a plurality of pairs of relay connectors (or supporting members) provided on the front side of a chassis having substantially a plate-shaped configuration. When a discharge tube is supported by relay connectors, stoppers provided on the relay connectors lock the ferrules so that axial movement of the discharge tube relative to the relay connectors is restricted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2012
    Assignees: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshiki Takata, Kenichi Iwamoto, Takaaki Kudo, Naofumi Ikenaga
  • Patent number: 8284154
    Abstract: In a discharge tube, a conductive ferrule is provided on an end portion of a glass tube. The ferrule includes a body that is to be mounted to the outer circumference of the glass tube and has a contact portion to be electrically conductively fixed to a relay connector (or a bearing device). Further included is a conductive portion that extends from the body so as to have elastic contact with an outer lead. The outer lead will not be under load due to the weight of the discharge tube, but the conductive portion solely has elastic contact therewith. Thus, stress concentration on the outer lead can be prevented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2012
    Assignees: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Limited
    Inventors: Yoshiki Takata, Kenichi Iwamoto, Takaaki Kudo
  • Patent number: 8220954
    Abstract: In a discharge tube, a conductive ferrule is provided on an end portion of a glass tube. The ferrule includes a body that is to be mounted to the outer circumference of the glass tube and has a contact portion to be electrically conductively fixed to a relay connector (or a bearing device). Further included is a conductive portion that extends from the body so as to have elastic contact with an outer lead. The outer lead will not be under load due to the weight of the discharge tube, but the conductive portion solely has elastic contact therewith. Thus, stress concentration on the outer lead can be prevented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2012
    Assignees: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Limited
    Inventors: Yoshiki Takata, Kenichi Iwamoto, Takaaki Kudo
  • Publication number: 20120154692
    Abstract: A lighting device includes a hot cathode tube (17) and a chassis (14) housing the hot cathode tube (17). The discharge tube includes an exposed portion that is exposed to the outside of the chassis (14). The lighting device further includes an inverter board (26) configured to supply driving power to the hot cathode tube (17). The hot cathode tube (17) has an a glass tube (17a) and a ferrule (17b) which is electrically connected to the inverter board (26), and the exposed portion of the hot cathode tube (17) is the ferrule (17B).
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 12, 2010
    Publication date: June 21, 2012
    Applicant: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yasumori Kuromizu, Kenichi Iwamoto, Kiyoshi Kakuda, Mayumi Nakamura
  • Patent number: 8169158
    Abstract: A cold cathode tube lighting device prevents emission-position-dependent unevenness from occurring in the brightness of light emitted from the cold cathode tube lighting device and includes a plurality of discharge tubes connected in parallel; ballast capacitors each integrally attached to a respective one of the plurality of discharge tubes; power supplies arranged to supply power to the plurality of discharge tubes; and a voltage detection unit connected to the plurality of discharge tubes to detect voltages between pairs of internal electrodes of the plurality of discharge tubes. The power supply to the plurality of discharge tubes is controlled according to the voltages detected by the voltage detection unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kenichi Iwamoto
  • Patent number: 8134286
    Abstract: In a discharge tube, a conductive ferrule is provided on an end portion of a glass tube. The ferrule includes a body that is to be mounted to the outer circumference of the glass tube and has a contact portion to be electrically conductively fixed to a relay connector (or a bearing device). Further included is a conductive portion that extends from the body so as to have elastic contact with an outer lead. The outer lead will not be under load due to the weight of the discharge tube, but the conductive portion solely has elastic contact therewith. Thus, stress concentration on the outer lead can be prevented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2012
    Assignees: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Limited
    Inventors: Yoshiki Takata, Kenichi Iwamoto, Takaaki Kudo
  • Patent number: 8118446
    Abstract: Discharge tubes, each of which includes a glass tube and a ferrule that has a substantially cylindrical shape and is fitted to each end portion of the glass tube, are supported by a plurality of pairs of relay connectors (or supporting members) provided on the front side of a chassis having substantially a plate-shaped configuration. When a discharge tube is supported by relay connectors, stoppers provided on the relay connectors lock the ferrules so that axial movement of the discharge tube relative to the relay connectors is restricted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2012
    Assignees: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Limited
    Inventors: Yoshiki Takata, Kenichi Iwamoto, Takaaki Kudo, Naofumi Ikenaga
  • Patent number: 8057055
    Abstract: A light source holding structure eliminates non-uniformity of temperature distribution of a tube body of a light source in order to make uniform the amount of light emitted or prevent portions at which the amount of light emitted is locally lowered. The light source holding structure has a linear light source and a first light source holding member substantially in the shape of a bar. An engaging groove arranged to engage with a portion of a tube body of the light source is provided on the front side of the first light source holding member. The portion of the tube body is engaged in the engaging groove and substantially the entire length of the tube body is brought into surface contact with the inner surface of the engaging groove.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2011
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kenichi Iwamoto