Patents by Inventor Shigeru Aoyama

Shigeru Aoyama 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: 6926415
    Abstract: A metal die having a reverse pattern of a irregular surface in which a height of a convex increases from the center toward the outer periphery is pressed onto a surface of a molding resin on a substrate. A total volume of convexes protruding from a cutting plane and a total volume of concaves depressed below the cutting plane coincide with each other over all of the metal die as a whole, so that it is possible to form the irregular surface on a reflective plane with good precision. A reflective film such as an aluminum film is provided on a surface of an uneven layer formed in such a manner, thereby obtaining a reflective plate having high light-collecting performance in a direction toward the center. As a result, it is possible to provide a reflective plate capable of collecting reflected light in a specified direction and of being formed with good precision by embossing, a method of making same, and a reflective type liquid crystal display having the reflective plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2005
    Assignee: Omron Corporation
    Inventors: Akihiro Funamoto, Shigeru Aoyama
  • Patent number: 6894746
    Abstract: Unit reflection areas (13) each consisting of one or plural recesses and projections (17) are formed on the surface of a reflection plate (11). Light incident into the reflection plate (11) and reflected by respective unit reflection areas (13) is emitted to the entire specified plane area (emission area (14)) established on a specified plane, which is like a band: ring. The emission area (14) is established so that overlap thereof with a shining area of light regularly reflected by a liquid crystal panel (18) is made slight. With such a construction, in a reflection plate that is used for a reflection type or semi-transmission type display device, light that is reflected in useless directions, is reduced, and light utilization efficiency of incident light-can be increased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2005
    Assignee: Omron Corporation
    Inventors: Katsuyuki Manabe, Shigeru Aoyama, Akihiro Funamoto, Masayuki Shinohara
  • Publication number: 20050099792
    Abstract: In a front light equipped with a light source and a transparent plate emitting light from a light emitting surface which is situated at the reverse side against an observation side surface by conducting light from the light source, the reflection preventive patterns comprising the minute unevennesses 30 for prevention of reflection are formed on the light emitting surface. When a wavelength of visible light with the shortest wavelength among light which is emitted from the light source 24 is ?min, the refractive index of the transparent plate is n1 and the refractive index of air is n0, the period p of the minute unevennesses 30 satisfies the following equation. p<?min/(n0+n1). Thereby, it can be prevented that the diffracted light is emitted from the reflection preventive patterns (light emitting surface) of the transparent plate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2004
    Publication date: May 12, 2005
    Applicant: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Yuki Matsui, Akihiro Funamoto, Shigeru Aoyama
  • Publication number: 20050079331
    Abstract: A manufacturing method of an optical device having a micro-asperity pattern that has various kinds of accurate three-dimensional shapes and is realized as thin films includes: a first step of coating a substrate with a resin thin film made of a photosensitive resin; a second step of forming a material-property-changed part at a part of the resin thin film by photolithography; a third step of controlling a temperature of the resin thin film to be a temperature that is lower than a photosensitivity extinction temperature or a hardening reaction starting temperature of the resin thin film; a fourth step of pressing a die having a micro-asperity pattern against the surface of the resin thin film to form a first micro-asperity pattern in a state in which the resin thin film has been softened or melted; and a fifth step of forming a second micro-asperity pattern at a part of the resin thin film by removing the material-property-changed part.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2004
    Publication date: April 14, 2005
    Applicant: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Masaaki Ikeda, Shigeru Aoyama
  • Publication number: 20050063068
    Abstract: A lens array capable of effectively converging light entering from a light source and constituting a liquid crystal device of a high contrast includes liquid crystal of a twisted nematic type sandwiched between a TFT substrate and a counter substrate. A micro lens array is formed in the counter substrate. Lenses constituting the micro lens array respectively have a shape of a rotational aspheric surface, and an optical center axis F thereof is tilted in a bright vision direction of the liquid crystal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 27, 2004
    Publication date: March 24, 2005
    Applicant: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Kenji Sakurai, Daido Uchida, Shigeru Aoyama
  • Publication number: 20050046758
    Abstract: A method of mass-producing minute structures such as biochips, protein chips, quantum dots, and quantum chips involves arranging an antigen two-dimensionally on a board and arranging probes two-dimensionally facing the same direction so that the binding sites of the probes may bind to the antigen. An inorganic substance such as Ni is deposited on the board from the upper side of the probes by sputtering or evaporation to form a thin film layer and on the top surface of the flatly formed thin film layer, a supporting layer is formed by separating out the same inorganic substance using electrotyping. Then, by peeling the thin film layer and the supporting layer off of the board together, the mother stamper having cavities for the patterns of biomolecules is obtained.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2004
    Publication date: March 3, 2005
    Inventors: Tomohiko Matsushita, Shigeru Aoyama, Takeo Nishikawa, Yuko Tsuda, Shigemi Norioka, Tetsuichi Wazawa
  • Patent number: 6856359
    Abstract: A biochip includes a liquid crystal panel having liquid crystal cells each corresponding to each sample on a substrate. The liquid crystal panel includes an upper polarization filter, an upper transparent electrode, an upper orientation film, a liquid crystal, a lower orientation film, a lower transparent electrode and a lower polarization filter in this order. By application of voltage to a desired liquid crystal cell, external light is selectively radiated onto the sample. Thus, it is possible to achieve downsizing, cost reduction and high-speed operation of a biochip reader.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2005
    Assignee: Omron Corporation
    Inventors: Tomohiko Matsushita, Takeo Nishikawa, Shigeru Aoyama
  • Patent number: 6856366
    Abstract: It is an object to provide a reflector plate capable of suppressing coloring caused by interference and enhancing visibility. A plurality of first reflecting units 10 and a plurality of second reflecting units 11 are provided together. In this case, a reflecting plane 11a of the second reflecting unit 11 is set to be smaller in diameter and have smaller difference in in-plane height than those of a reflecting plane 10a of the first reflecting unit 10, and an arrangement interval between the second reflecting units 11 is set to be greater than that between the first reflecting units 10.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2005
    Assignee: Omron Corporation
    Inventors: Motohiko Matsushita, Akihiro Funamoto, Shigeru Aoyama
  • Publication number: 20050002175
    Abstract: According to a front light comprising an optical waveguide 25 and a light source 24 arranged on the side of the optical waveguide 25, the optical waveguide 25 comprises a light input surface and light emission surface 28, and a plurality of deflection patterns 26 are formed on the surface opposed to the light emission surface 28. Light from the light source 24 is input from the light input surface of the optical waveguide 25 and propagated in the optical waveguide 25. The light totally reflected by the deflection patterns 26 among the light propagated in the optical waveguide 25 is emitted from the light emission surface 28 in the direction oblique to the normal direction of the light emission surface 28. The light is emitted from the light emission surface 28 so as to be aligned in one direction regardless of its position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 11, 2004
    Publication date: January 6, 2005
    Inventors: Yuki Matsui, Makoto Ohhira, Motohiko Matsushita, Akihiro Funamoto, Shigeru Aoyama
  • Publication number: 20040246698
    Abstract: A front light and a reflective display using the same are provided. A light guide of the front light includes a plurality of patterns on the upper surface, each of the patterns including a first surface inclining relative to the light-emitting surface toward the light-entering surface, a second surface substantially perpendicular to the light-emitting surface or inclining relative to the light-emitting surface opposite to the light-entering surface, and a third surface inclining relative to the light-emitting surface toward the light-entering surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 6, 2004
    Publication date: December 9, 2004
    Inventors: Tetsu Shimizu, Motohiko Matsushita, Akihiro Funamoto, Shigeru Aoyama
  • Patent number: 6829050
    Abstract: A cylindrical embossment roll whose outer circumferential surface is formed with a micro-asperity pattern is prepared. A substrate is coated with a thin resin film. The substrate is held by a transfer stage, and a micro-asperity pattern is formed on the thin resin film by pressing the outer circumferential surface of the embossment roll against the thin resin film with a pressurizing mechanism while rolling the embossment roll on the thin resin film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2004
    Assignee: Omron Corporation
    Inventors: Masaaki Ikeda, Akihiro Funamoto, Motohiko Matsushita, Shigeru Aoyama
  • Patent number: 6816216
    Abstract: In a reflective type liquid crystal display unit which is provided with a reflective plate, there is provided a reflective liquid crystal display unit free from color mixture by preventing color mixing of reflected light is presented. The unit includes a substrate, a reflective layer disposed on the substrate, and a color filter, wherein the reflective layer has a plurality of reflective unit regions each of which has a first reflective surface for reflecting a light in a predetermined direction, and an inclination angle of the first reflective surface is defined so that an incident light which passes through a pixel of a determined color of the color filter to enter the first reflective surface is reflected by the first reflective surface to pass through the pixel of the same color as the color through which the incident light of the color filter has passed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2004
    Assignee: Omron Corporation
    Inventors: Akihiro Funamoto, Shigeru Aoyama
  • Patent number: 6802081
    Abstract: The moisture-absorbent/releasable heat-generating intermediate material of the present invention is inserted between an outer material and a lining, both having a moisture-permeable/waterproof property, a windproof property and other desired properties, thereby constituting a heat-retaining article. It comprises a blend of a heat-retaining fiber including an air layer of not less than 50 ml per 1 gram and a moisture-absorbent/releasable heat-generating fiber. The moisture-absorbent/releasable heat-generating fiber generates heat by absorbing moisture in a vapor phase or in a liquid phase discharged from a human body and an immobile air layer formed by the heat-retaining fiber retains the heat.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2004
    Assignee: Mizuno Corporation
    Inventors: Takeshi Ogino, Shigeru Aoyama
  • Publication number: 20040189897
    Abstract: A reflector is used in a display device and is disposed parallel to a predetermined plane, and has plural unit reflecting portions each having a reflection face for reflecting incident light in a direction different from that of regular reflection light of the predetermined plane. Further, the distance between a first tangential plane abutting on a first reflection face arranged in an arbitrarily extracted first unit reflecting portion at a reference point arranged in an arbitrary position on the first reflection face, and a second tangential plane abutting on a second reflection face arranged in a second unit reflecting portion adjacent to the first unit reflecting portion in parallel with the first tangential plane is preferably half or more of a coherent length of the incident light.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 27, 2004
    Publication date: September 30, 2004
    Inventors: Makoto Ohhira, Motohiko Matsushita, Akihiro Funamoto, Shigeru Aoyama
  • Publication number: 20040183966
    Abstract: A reflector used for a display device has a plurality of unit reflecting portions. The unit reflecting portions are arranged by repeating arrangement patterns of unit regions. The unit regions have a repetition pitch that is integral times the pitch of pixels of a liquid crystal display and more than 5000 &mgr;m. More preferably, the repetition pitch of unit regions is integral times the pitch of pixels of a liquid crystal display and more than 10000 &mgr;m.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 27, 2004
    Publication date: September 23, 2004
    Inventors: Tomohiko Matsushita, Shigeru Aoyama, Makoto Ohhira, Motohiko Matsushita, Yasuhiro Kawabata
  • Patent number: 6774964
    Abstract: In a reflection type display apparatus in which a forward lightening apparatus is arranged in front of a reflection type display panel, lowering of contrast occurred when the forward lightening apparatus is turned ON is prevented. In this reflection type display apparatus, the forward lightening apparatus is adhered via an adhesive layer to a front surface of the reflection type display panel having a reflection plane. The reflection plane is constituted by a large number of first very fine patterns having a spherical shape, and a large number of second very fine patterns whose front surfaces are inclined. External light which is vertically entered into the front surfaces is reflected by the first patterns, and thereafter, the reflected external light is projected as a display along a forward direction. The forward lightening apparatus is arranged by providing a light source on a side surface of a light conducting plate having a wedge shape.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2004
    Assignee: Omron Corporation
    Inventors: Akihiro Funamoto, Motohiko Matsushita, Masayuki Shinohara, Masaaki Ikeda, Shigeru Aoyama
  • Patent number: 6759182
    Abstract: There is provided a manufacturing method of an optical device having a micro-asperity pattern that has various kinds of accurate three-dimensional shapes and is realized as thin films. A substrate is coated with a resin thin film made of a photosensitive resin, and the temperature of the resin thin film is controlled so as to be lower than the photosensitivity extinction temperature of the resin thin film. A micro-asperity pattern of a stamper is pressed against the resin thin film when the resin thin film is in a softened or melted state by pressurizing means, whereby a micro-asperity pattern is formed on the surface of the resin thin film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2004
    Assignee: Omron Corporation
    Inventors: Masaaki Ikeda, Akihiro Funamoto, Motohiko Matsushita, Shigeru Aoyama
  • Publication number: 20040105157
    Abstract: The present invention provides an optical film having a diffusion pattern that can diffuse light and direct at least a part of incident light vertically to the surface of the optical film. Further, the present invention provides an optical film having both a function of a prism sheet and a function of a diffusion sheet.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2003
    Publication date: June 3, 2004
    Inventors: Motohiko Matsushita, Akihiro Funamoto, Shigeru Aoyama, Yuki Matsui, Kenji Kawato
  • Publication number: 20040080746
    Abstract: Components, apparatus, and method for detecting emission signals from target molecules include a substrate having a plurality of pixel locations on a surface, each location including at least one target molecule; a reflecting plate disposed opposite a side of the substrate having the pixel location; and a lens array disposed between the substrate and the reflecting plate, including the first lens array on the substrate side, a medium layer, and the second lens array on the reflecting plate side. Each lens of the second lens array has its focus on each lens of the first lens array, and the first lens array and the second lens array focus into an image of each of the at least one target molecule on the reflecting plate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 7, 2003
    Publication date: April 29, 2004
    Inventors: Tomohiko Matsushita, Takeo Nishikawa, Shigeru Aoyama
  • Publication number: 20040027702
    Abstract: It is an object to provide a reflector plate capable of suppressing coloring caused by interference and enhancing visibility. A plurality of first reflecting units 10 and a plurality of second reflecting units 11 are provided together. In this case, a reflecting plane 11a of the second reflecting unit 11 is set to be smaller in diameter and have smaller difference in in-plane height than those of a reflecting plane 11a of the first reflecting unit 10, and an arrangement interval between the second reflecting units 11 is set to be greater than that between the first reflecting units 10.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 6, 2003
    Publication date: February 12, 2004
    Inventors: Motohiko Matsushita, Akihiro Funamoto, Shigeru Aoyama