Patents by Inventor Takahiro Funakoshi

Takahiro Funakoshi 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: 6415531
    Abstract: A plane-shaped lighting device has a light-directing plate and a light source that is placed in contact with or in the proximity of the light-incident surface of the light-directing plate, and the light source is constituted of a plurality of LED lamps each of which has an LED chip for emitting light and a semispherical lens for directing the light from the LED chip into the light-directing plate. Here, the distance from the LED chip to the top of the semispherical lens is set to be 1.8 times as long as the radius of curvature of the semispherical lens. This arrangement allows the light emitted from the LED chip to be efficiently incident on the light-incident surface of the light-directing plate, thereby improving the light-incidence efficiency to the light-directing plate. Further, the application of this plane-shaped lighting device to display devices makes it possible to improve the efficiency of light utilization, and consequently to provide thinner display devices with high visibility.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2002
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Terukazu Ohtsuki, Masahiko Kimoto, Hiroshi Minematsu, Nobuyuki Tominaga, Takahiro Funakoshi, Yasuhiro Wada, Hitoshi Azuma
  • Patent number: 6036328
    Abstract: A plane-shaped lighting device has a light-directing plate and a light source that is placed in contact with or in the proximity of the light-incident surface of the light-directing plate, and the light source is constituted of a plurality of LED lamps each of which has an LED chip for emitting light and a semispherical lens for directing the light from the LED chip into the light-directing plate. Here, the distance from the LED chip to the top of the semispherical lens is set to be 1.8 times as long as the radius of curvature of the semispherical lens. This arrangement allows the light emitted from the LED chip to be efficiently incident on the light-incident surface of the light-directing plate, thereby improving the light-incidence efficiency to the light-directing plate. Further, the application of this plane-shaped lighting device to display devices makes it possible to improve the efficiency of light utilization, and consequently to provide thinner display devices with high visibility.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2000
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Terukazu Ohtsuki, Masahiko Kimoto, Hiroshi Minematsu, Nobuyuki Tominaga, Takahiro Funakoshi, Yasuhiro Wada, Hitoshi Azuma
  • Patent number: 5786665
    Abstract: A plane-shaped lighting device has a light-directing plate and a light source that is placed in contact with or in the proximity of the light-incident surface of the light-directing plate, and the light source is constituted of a plurality of LED lamps each of which has an LED chip for emitting light and a semispherical lens for directing the light from the LED chip into the light-directing plate. Here, the distance from the LED chip to the top of the semispherical lens is set to be 1.8 times as long as the radius of curvature of the semispherical lens. This arrangement allows the light emitted from the LED chip to be efficiently incident on the light-incident surface of the light-directing plate, thereby improving the light-incidence efficiency to the light-directing plate. Further, the application of this plane-shaped lighting device to display devices makes it possible to improve the efficiency of light utilization, and consequently to provide thinner display devices with high visibility.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 28, 1998
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Terukazu Ohtsuki, Masahiko Kimoto, Hiroshi Minematsu, Nobuyuki Tominaga, Takahiro Funakoshi, Yasuhiro Wada, Hitoshi Azuma
  • Patent number: 5644124
    Abstract: Disclosed is a photodetector with a multilayer filter. A light-receiving substrate is mounted on a recessed portion of a ceramic stem. An electrode pad is formed on a P-type layer of the light-receiving substrate while another electrode pad is formed on an N-type layer of the light-receiving substrate. An optical multilayer filter is formed on the light-receiving substrate except the regions of the electrode pads. Further, an epoxy transparent resin is poured into the recessed portion of the stem and then cured, so that a resin portion to cover the light-receiving substrate is formed. The optical multilayer filter is formed of amorphous low refractive index films made of SiC.sub.2 and amorphous high refractive index films made of TiO.sub.2. The amorphous high and low refractive index films are alternately stacked.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 1, 1997
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Toshimasa Hamada, Masaru Iwasaki, Tetsuya Hanamoto, Shohichi Katoh, Takahiro Funakoshi, Koji Miyake, Masumi Nakamichi
  • Patent number: 5546496
    Abstract: There is provided an inexpensive light emitting display device which has a simple wiring structure and produces a bright screen display. A photo-transistor is connected in series with a light emitting diode. The photo-transistor is arranged so that light emitted from the light emitting diode enters into the photo-transistor. There is provided an optical guide for guiding a data signal light to the photo-transistor and an optical guide for guiding a scanning signal light to the phototransistor. Further, an optical control section has a laser diode array, a lens array, and a deflection mirror. The above-mentioned arrangement obviates the need of an electric wiring for a data signal and a scanning signal, and is able to turn on the photo-transistor with the emission light from the light emitting diode and makes the photo-transistor self-hold its conductive state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: August 13, 1996
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masahiko Kimoto, Masumi Nakamichi, Takahiro Funakoshi, Yasuhiro Wada, Takehiro Yamamoto, Yoichi Tsuda