Patents by Inventor Kouichi Ihara

Kouichi Ihara 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: 8665681
    Abstract: There is provided an optical disc drive comprises an optical pick-up including a laser diode (LD) and a laser diode driver (LDD) for driving the laser diode, a digital signal processor (DSP) including a write strategy circuit and low voltage differential signaling (LVDS) drivers for transmitting a produced write strategy signal, a circuit board having the DSP mounted thereon and including a line for transmitting the write strategy signal, a transmission line connecting the circuit board and the LDD and transmitting a write strategy signal, and differential resistors connected between differential lines of outputs of the LVDS drivers. Especially, a resistor having a resistance value in a range of 80 to 500? is inserted between the differential lines of outputs of the LVDS driver inside the DSP.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: Hitachi-Lg Data Storage, Inc.
    Inventors: Akira Kitayama, Tatemi Ido, Nobuaki Sato, Hiroharu Sakai, Kouichi Ihara
  • Patent number: 8448196
    Abstract: An electronic device including a mechanism for changing the relative positions of two circuit boards such as in an optical disc drive is provided. A flexible printed circuit electrically connected between the two circuit boards changes shape to suppress fluctuations in the transmission characteristics occurring due to contact with metal such as a case, and provides stable signal transmission. The flexible printed circuit includes at least one or more differential lines, a fixed unit affixed to a case at least at one location, and a movable unit that changes shape according to the relative positions of two cases. The lines adjacent to the differential line are a grounded surface, and the flexible printed circuit is formed to narrow the distance between the movable unit lines more than the distance between the fixed unit lines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2013
    Assignees: Hitachi Consumer Electronics Co., Ltd., Hitachi—LG Data Storage, Inc.
    Inventors: Akira Kitayama, Kouichi Ihara, Kenji Takahashi, Tatemi Ido
  • Publication number: 20110126221
    Abstract: A electronic device including a mechanism for changing the relative positions of two circuit boards such as in an optical disc drive, in which a flexible printed circuit electrically connecting between the two circuit board changes shape to suppress fluctuations in the transmission characteristics occurring due to contact with metal such as a case, and provides stable signal transmission. A flexible printed circuit is comprised of at least one or more differential lines, a fixed unit affixed to a case at least at one location, a movable unit that changes shape according to the relative positions of two case. The lines adjacent to the differential line are a grounded surface, and the flexible printed circuit is formed to narrow the distance between the movable unit lines more than the distance between the fixed unit lines.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2010
    Publication date: May 26, 2011
    Applicants: Hitachi Consumer Electronics Co., Ltd., Hitachi - LG Data Storage, Inc.
    Inventors: Akira Kitayama, Kouichi Ihara, Kenji Takahashi, Tatemi Ido
  • Publication number: 20090103406
    Abstract: There is provided an optical disc drive comprises an optical pick-up including a laser diode (LD) and a laser diode driver (LDD) for driving the laser diode, a digital signal processor (DSP) including a write strategy circuit and low voltage differential signaling (LVDS) drivers for transmitting a produced write strategy signal, a circuit board having the DSP mounted thereon and including a line for transmitting the write strategy signal, a transmission line connecting the circuit board and the LDD and transmitting a write strategy signal, and differential resistors connected between differential lines of outputs of the LVDS drivers. Especially, a resistor having a resistance value in a range of 80 to 500? is inserted between the differential lines of outputs of the LVDS driver inside the DSP.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2008
    Publication date: April 23, 2009
    Inventors: Akira Kitayama, Tatemi Ido, Nobuaki Sato, Hiroharu Sakai, Kouichi Ihara
  • Patent number: 5088082
    Abstract: In a dust removing system, the level of influence of dust sticking to an objective lens of an optical head is detected from either an amount of light emitted from the optical head and reflected from an optical head or from an access time. Three stages of levels with regard to the degree of influence of the dust are set in accordance with such detection value, and a different message for the removal of dust is indicated on a display unit in response to the level of the influence. When the influence is low, a dust removing mechanism is automatically rendered operative to remove the dust. At the first level at which the influence of dust is low, the optical disk in the optical disk device is discharged and cleaning of the objective lens is performed, and an indication is provided on the display unit representing that cleaning is proceeding.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 1990
    Date of Patent: February 11, 1992
    Assignees: Hitachi Video Engineering, Inc., Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuichi Yamada, Kazuo Ikeda, Kouichi Ihara