Patents by Inventor Seiji Nishiwaki

Seiji Nishiwaki 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: 9257469
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus 10 according to one implementation of the present invention includes: a plurality of photodetectors 5a and 5b; a transparent layer 2 provided at the side of a light-receiving surface 15a, 15b of the photodetectors 5a and 5b; a plurality of spectroscopic portions 3 provided between a light-entering surface 2a of the transparent layer 2 and the photodetectors 5a and 5b; and a plurality of high refractive index transparent members 6 provided closer to the photodetectors 5a and 5b than are the spectroscopic portions 3. The high refractive index transparent members 6 have a higher refractive index than does the transparent layer 2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2016
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tatsuya Nakamura, Seiji Nishiwaki, Shinichi Wakabayashi
  • Patent number: 9194545
    Abstract: A light-emitting device disclosed herein includes: an emission layer; a diffraction grating structure including a diffraction grating; and a diffusion layer having a structure for diffusing light which is transmitted from one face to another face. The light going out from the emission layer has a central wavelength ?. The diffraction grating has a period p which is not less than 1.0? and not more than 3.5?. The diffusion layer has a haze of 80% or more and a total light transmittance of 80% or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuhisa Inada, Seiji Nishiwaki
  • Patent number: 9188717
    Abstract: A light-trapping sheet of the present invention includes: a light-transmitting sheet 2 having first and second principal surfaces; and a plurality of light-coupling structures 3 arranged in an inner portion of the light-transmitting sheet at a first distance or more and a second distance or more from the first and second principal surfaces, respectively, wherein: each of the plurality of light-coupling structures 3 includes a first light-transmitting layer, a second light-transmitting layer, and a third light-transmitting layer arranged therebetween; a refractive index of the first and second light-transmitting layers is smaller than a refractive index of the light-transmitting sheet 2; a refractive index of the third light-transmitting layer is larger than the refractive index of the first and second light-transmitting layers; and the third light-transmitting layer has a diffraction grating parallel to the first and second principal surfaces of the light-transmitting sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Seiji Nishiwaki
  • Patent number: 9179114
    Abstract: This solid-state image sensor includes an array of photosensitive cells and an array of dispersive elements. The photosensitive cell array is comprised of a plurality of unit blocks 40, each including four photosensitive cells 2a, 2b, 2c and 2d. A condensing element 4c is further arranged to cover the photosensitive cells 2a and 2b and condenses incoming light onto the photosensitive cells 2a and 2b.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America
    Inventors: Masao Hiramoto, Toshiya Fujii, Tatsuya Nakamura, Seiji Nishiwaki, Yusuke Monobe
  • Patent number: 9103978
    Abstract: A light-trapping sheet of the present disclosure includes: a plurality of light-transmitting sheets each having first and second principal surfaces; and a plurality of light-coupling structures arranged in an inner portion of each of the plurality of light-transmitting sheets at a first and second distance from the first and second principal surfaces, respectively. Each of the plurality of light-coupling structures includes a first light-transmitting layer, a second light-transmitting layer, and a third light-transmitting layer sandwiched therebetween. A refractive index of the first and second light-transmitting layers is smaller than a refractive index of the light-transmitting sheet; and a refractive index of the third light-transmitting layer is larger than the refractive index of the first and second light-transmitting layers. The third light-transmitting layer has a diffraction grating parallel to the first and second principal surfaces of the light-transmitting sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Seiji Nishiwaki, Shinichi Wakabayashi
  • Patent number: 9099369
    Abstract: This solid-state image sensor includes an array of photosensitive cells and an array of dispersive elements. The photosensitive cell array is comprised of a plurality of unit blocks 40, each including four photosensitive cells 2a, 2b, 2c and 2d. An optical filter 11a is arranged to cover those photosensitive cells 2a through 2d. A portion of the optical filter 11a that covers the photosensitive cells 2a and 2b is located closer to the imaging area than another portion thereof that covers the photosensitive cells 2c and 2d.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America
    Inventors: Masao Hiramoto, Toshiya Fujii, Tatsuya Nakamura, Seiji Nishiwaki, Yusuke Monobe
  • Patent number: 9099370
    Abstract: A solid-state image sensor includes a dispersing element array which is arranged to face a photosensitive cell array and which includes a plurality of high-refractive-index transparent portions, a low-refractive-index transparent layer that fills a gap between the high-refractive-index transparent portions, and pairs of dispersing elements arranged to face multiple unit blocks of the photosensitive cell array. Each pair of dispersing elements is comprised of: a first dispersing element which includes one of the high-refractive-index transparent portions and which splits incoming light into two light rays representing first and second color components, respectively; and a second dispersing element which includes another one of the high-refractive-index transparent portions and which splits the incoming light into two light rays representing third and fourth color components, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Seiji Nishiwaki, Tatsuya Nakamura, Masao Hiramoto
  • Publication number: 20150168651
    Abstract: A light capturing sheet includes a light transmitting sheet and a plurality of optical coupling structures disposed therein. The optical coupling structures each include a first light-transmitting layer, a second light-transmitting layer, a third light-transmitting layer interposed therebetween, and a diffraction grating. Refractive indices of the first and second light-transmitting layers are lower than a refractive index of the light transmitting sheet, and a refractive index of the third light-transmitting layer is higher than the refractive indices of the first and second light-transmitting layers. The optical coupling structures are arranged in first and second directions in a plane parallel to principal surfaces of the light transmitting sheet, and in a third direction not parallel thereto.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 24, 2015
    Publication date: June 18, 2015
    Inventor: SEIJI NISHIWAKI
  • Publication number: 20150092027
    Abstract: An image display device includes a display including a plurality of light emitting elements that are two-dimensionally arranged, the plurality of light emitting elements being divided into a plurality of division regions, each of which includes more than one of the plurality of light emitting elements; and a lens that is located near a surface of the display so as to correspond to the division regions and that forms a display image by focusing each of images displayed in the respective division regions as a real image or a virtual image so that the focused images overlap on a same image plane.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 18, 2014
    Publication date: April 2, 2015
    Inventor: SEIJI NISHIWAKI
  • Patent number: 8993871
    Abstract: A concentrating lens array according to the present disclosure includes a plurality of unit structures arranged at least one-dimensionally. Each unit structure includes: a first surface through which light enters inside of the structure; a second surface which reflects the light that has entered the structure through the first surface; a third surface which reflects the light that has been reflected from the second surface; and a fourth surface which lets the light that has been reflected from the third surface go out of the structure. In each unit structure, the second and third surfaces are located between an incident plane including the first surface and an emitting plane including the fourth surface. At least one of the second and third surfaces reflects the light after having converged the incoming light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Seiji Nishiwaki
  • Patent number: 8934743
    Abstract: A light-receiving device of the present disclosure includes a light-trapping sheet, and a photoelectric conversion section optically coupled thereto. The light-trapping sheet includes: a light-transmitting sheet; and a plurality of light-coupling structures arranged in an inner portion of the light-transmitting sheet. The light-coupling structure includes first, second and third light-transmitting layers. A refractive index of the first and second light-transmitting layers is smaller than that of the light-transmitting sheet; and a refractive index of the third light-transmitting layer is larger than those of the first and second light-transmitting layers. The third light-transmitting layer has a diffraction grating parallel to the light-transmitting sheet. At least a part of the photoelectric conversion section is located along an outer edge of at least one of the surfaces of the light-transmitting sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Seiji Nishiwaki, Shinichi Wakabayashi
  • Patent number: 8902514
    Abstract: A diffractive lens according to the present invention has the function of focusing light. The diffractive lens has a side on which a diffraction grating is arranged on either an aspheric surface or a spherical surface in its effective area. The diffraction grating has n0 phase steps, which are arranged concentrically around the optical axis of the diffractive lens. And the radius rn of the circle formed by an nth one (where n is an integer that falls within the range of 0 through n0) of the phase steps as counted from the optical axis of the diffractive lens satisfies rn=?{square root over (a{(n+c+dn)?b(n+c+dn)m})}{square root over (a{(n+c+dn)?b(n+c+dn)m})} where a, b, c and m are constants that satisfy a>0, 0?c<1, m>1, and 0.05 ? b 0 < b < b 0 b 0 = 1 mn 0 m - 1 and dn is an arbitrary value that satisfies ?0.25<dn<0.25.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Seiji Nishiwaki, Takamasa Ando, Tsuguhiro Korenaga
  • Publication number: 20140333796
    Abstract: This solid-state image sensor includes a dispersing element array which is arranged to face a photosensitive cell array and which includes a plurality of high-refractive-index transparent portions, a low-refractive-index transparent layer that fills a gap between the high-refractive-index transparent portions, and pairs of dispersing elements arranged to face multiple unit blocks of the photosensitive cell array. Each pair of dispersing elements is comprised of: a first dispersing element which includes one of the high-refractive-index transparent portions and which splits incoming light into two light rays representing first and second color components, respectively; and a second dispersing element which includes another one of the high-refractive-index transparent portions and which splits the incoming light into two light rays representing third and fourth color components, respectively.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 2, 2013
    Publication date: November 13, 2014
    Inventors: Seiji Nishiwaki, Tatsuya Nakamura, Masao Hiramoto
  • Publication number: 20140327783
    Abstract: A solid-state image sensor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a photodetector array 100 in which photodetectors A and B are arranged two-dimensionally within an image capturing plane. Some of those photodetectors B located in multiple different mutually intersecting directions with respect to each photodetector A are adjacent to the photodetector A. The sensor further includes a light-splitting element array 200 in which a plurality of light-splitting elements 30, each including a phase filter 3, are arranged two-dimensionally and which is configured so that each of the light-splitting elements 30 faces an associated one of the photodetectors A. The phase filter 3 makes light falling within a first wavelength range incident on the photodetector A that the phase filter 3 faces, and makes light falling within a second wavelength range incident on the photodetectors B that are adjacent to the photodetector A.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 18, 2014
    Publication date: November 6, 2014
    Inventors: Seiji NISHIWAKI, Tatsuya NAKAMURA
  • Publication number: 20140284455
    Abstract: This solid-state image sensor includes a photosensitive cell array including first through fourth photosensitive cells 2a to 2d, a dispersing element array including first and second dispersing elements 1a and 1b arranged to face the first and third photosensitive cells 2a and 2c, respectively, and a microlens array including first and second microlenses 4a and 4b. The first dispersing element 1a makes parts of incoming light that have come through the first microlens 4a and that have first and second color components incident on the first and second photosensitive cells 2a and 2b, respectively. The second dispersing element 1b makes parts of incoming light that have come through the second microlens 4b and that have third and fourth color components incident on the third and fourth photosensitive cells 2c and 2d, respectively. In addition, light that has not passed through the first and second microlenses 4a and 4b is also incident on the second and fourth photosensitive cells 2b and 2d.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Publication date: September 25, 2014
    Inventors: Masao Hiramoto, Seiji Nishiwaki, Toshiya Fujii, Tatsuya Nakamura
  • Publication number: 20140263968
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus 10 according to one implementation of the present invention includes: a plurality of photodetectors 5a and 5b; a transparent layer 2 provided at the side of a light-receiving surface 15a, 15b of the photodetectors 5a and 5b; a plurality of spectroscopic portions 3 provided between a light-entering surface 2a of the transparent layer 2 and the photodetectors 5a and 5b; and a plurality of high refractive index transparent members 6 provided closer to the photodetectors 5a and 5b than are the spectroscopic portions 3. The high refractive index transparent members 6 have a higher refractive index than does the transparent layer 2.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 4, 2012
    Publication date: September 18, 2014
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tatsuya Nakamura, Seiji Nishiwaki, Shinichi Wakabayashi
  • Publication number: 20140203700
    Abstract: A light-emitting device disclosed herein includes: an emission layer; a diffraction grating structure including a diffraction grating; and a diffusion layer having a structure for diffusing light which is transmitted from one face to another face. The light going out from the emission layer has a central wavelength ?. The diffraction grating has a period p which is not less than 1.0? and not more than 3.5?. The diffusion layer has a haze of 80% or more and a total light transmittance of 80% or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 3, 2012
    Publication date: July 24, 2014
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasuhisa Inada, Seiji Nishiwaki
  • Publication number: 20140158183
    Abstract: A concentrating lens array according to the present disclosure includes a plurality of unit structures arranged at least one-dimensionally. Each unit structure includes: a first surface through which light enters inside of the structure; a second surface which reflects the light that has entered the structure through the first surface; a third surface which reflects the light that has been reflected from the second surface; and a fourth surface which lets the light that has been reflected from the third surface go out of the structure. In each unit structure, the second and third surfaces are located between an incident plane including the first surface and an emitting plane including the fourth surface. At least one of the second and third surfaces reflects the light after having converged the incoming light.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 22, 2012
    Publication date: June 12, 2014
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Seiji Nishiwaki
  • Patent number: 8733983
    Abstract: A transparent sheet for use with a light emitting body with one of surfaces of the transparent sheet being adjacent to the light emitting body, wherein the other surface of the sheet is divided into a plurality of minute regions ?, a largest inscribed circle of the minute regions ? having a diameter from 0.2 ?m to 1.5 ?m, each of the minute regions ? being adjoined by and surrounded by two or more other ones of the plurality of minute regions ?, the plurality of minute regions ? include a plurality of minute regions ?b which are randomly selected from the plurality of minute regions ? so as to constitute 40% to 98% of the minute regions ? and a plurality of minute regions ?a which constitute the remaining portion of the minute regions ?, the minute regions ?a are provided with a first tiny element which has thickness d and effective refractive index na, and the minute regions ?b are provided with a second tiny element which has thickness d and effective refractive index nb, nb being greater than na.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Jyunpei Matsuzaki, Shin-ichi Wakabayashi, Seiji Nishiwaki, Tatsuya Nakamura
  • Publication number: 20140124650
    Abstract: The imaging device disclosed herein includes: a plurality of photodetection sections 15a and 15b having a light-receiving face, the plurality of photodetection sections 15a and 15b being disposed in a two-dimensional array along a first direction and along a second direction different from the first direction, such that the light-receiving faces of the plurality of photodetection sections constitute an imaging plane; a transparent layer 11 having an incident face and an outgoing face and being disposed so that the outgoing face opposes the imaging plane; and a plurality of spectroscopic sections 12 having a greater refractive index than a refractive index of the transparent layer 11 and being disposed in a two-dimensional array in a plane of arrangement, the plane of arrangement being within the transparent layer and parallel to the imaging plane.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2012
    Publication date: May 8, 2014
    Applicant: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Tatsuya Nakamura, Seiji Nishiwaki, Shinichi Wakabayashi, Masaaki Suzuki