Patents by Inventor Tomohiko Sasano

Tomohiko Sasano 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: 7782540
    Abstract: Disclosed is an optical head apparatus comprising: a light source; a collimating means of converting a beam of light emitted from the light source into a substantially parallel beam of light; a focusing means of focusing the light onto an information medium surface; a beam splitting means of splitting the beam of light modulated by the information medium; and a light receiving means of receiving the light modulated by the information medium, wherein a lens having a negative power and a lens having a positive power are arranged in this order as viewed from the collimating means side between the collimating means and the focusing means, and at least either one of the lenses is moved along an optical axis to correct spherical aberration occurring on the information medium surface, and wherein the distance from the lens having the positive power to the focusing means is set substantially equal to the focal length of the lens having the positive power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2010
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Tanaka, Tomohiko Sasano, Michihiro Yamagata, Daisuke Ogata
  • Patent number: 7602561
    Abstract: Disclosed is an optical head apparatus comprising: a light source; a collimating means of converting a beam of light emitted from the light source into a substantially parallel beam of light; a focusing means of focusing the light onto an information medium surface; a beam splitting means of splitting the beam of light modulated by the information medium; and a light receiving means of receiving the light modulated by the information medium, wherein a lens having a negative power and a lens having a positive power are arranged in this order as viewed from the collimating means side between the collimating means and the focusing means, and at least either one of the lenses is moved along an optical axis to correct spherical aberration occurring on the information medium surface, and wherein the distance from the lens having the positive power to the focusing means is set substantially equal to the focal length of the lens having the positive power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2009
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Tanaka, Tomohiko Sasano, Michihiro Yamagata, Daisuke Ogata
  • Publication number: 20070109669
    Abstract: Disclosed is an optical head apparatus comprising: a light source; a collimating means of converting a beam of light emitted from the light source into a substantially parallel beam of light; a focusing means of focusing the light onto an information medium surface; a beam splitting means of splitting the beam of light modulated by the information medium; and a light receiving means of receiving the light modulated by the information medium, wherein a lens having a negative power and a lens having a positive power are arranged in this order as viewed from the collimating means side between the collimating means and the focusing means, and at least either one of the lenses is moved along an optical axis to correct spherical aberration occurring on the information medium surface, and wherein the distance from the lens having the positive power to the focusing means is set substantially equal to the focal length of the lens having the positive power.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 5, 2007
    Publication date: May 17, 2007
    Applicant: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yasuhiro TANAKA, Tomohiko SASANO, Michihiro YAMAGATA, Daisuke OGATA
  • Publication number: 20070109948
    Abstract: Disclosed is an optical head apparatus comprising: a light source; a collimating means of converting a beam of light emitted from the light source into a substantially parallel beam of light; a focusing means of focusing the light onto an information medium surface; a beam splitting means of splitting the beam of light modulated by the information medium; and a light receiving means of receiving the light modulated by the information medium, wherein a lens having a negative power and a lens having a positive power are arranged in this order as viewed from the collimating means side between the collimating means and the focusing means, and at least either one of the lenses is moved along an optical axis to correct spherical aberration occurring on the information medium surface, and wherein the distance from the lens having the positive power to the focusing means is set substantially equal to the focal length of the lens having the positive power.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 5, 2007
    Publication date: May 17, 2007
    Applicant: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yasuhiro TANAKA, Tomohiko SASANO, Michihiro YAMAGATA, Daisuke OGATA
  • Patent number: 7177101
    Abstract: Disclosed is an optical head apparatus comprising: a light source; a collimating means of converting a beam of light emitted from the light source into a substantially parallel beam of light; a focusing means of focusing the light onto an information medium surface; a beam splitting means of splitting the beam of light modulated by the information medium; and a light receiving means of receiving the light modulated by the information medium, wherein a lens having a negative power and a lens having a positive power are arranged in this order as viewed from the collimating means side between the collimating means and the focusing means, and at least either one of the lenses is moved along an optical axis to correct spherical aberration occurring on the information medium surface, and wherein the distance from the lens having the positive power to the focusing means is set substantially equal to the focal length of the lens having the positive power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2007
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Tanaka, Tomohiko Sasano, Michihiro Yamagata, Daisuke Ogata
  • Patent number: 7099260
    Abstract: An objective lens for an optical disk including one lens and capable of satisfying an excellent focusing property on any of two kinds of optical disks each having a different thickness. The objective lens (2) is formed of a single lens having aspheric surfaces on both sides with the surface (3) at the side of the light source a rotationally symmetric aspheric surface. Furthermore, the surface at the side of the optical disk (6) of the objective lens (2) is divided into an inner circumference region (4) and an outer circumference region (5) and a surface (7) forming the difference in level of about 0.3 ?m that is provided in parallel to the optical axis (in the direction of the optical axis) at the boundary between the inner circumference region (4) and the outer circumference region (5). The spherical aberration is corrected by the inner circumference region (4) and outer circumference (5) of the objective lens (2) corresponding to the optical disks having a different thickness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2006
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Tanaka, Michihiro Yamagata, Tomohiko Sasano
  • Patent number: 7046350
    Abstract: A device for calculating diffraction efficiencies of a diffraction lens divided into a plurality of regions, each region comprising at least one grating ring, comprises a first memory for storing information about diffraction efficiencies of the regions; a second memory for storing information about weights corresponding to the regions; and a first processor for retrieving information from the first and the second memory, and calculating diffraction efficiencies of the entire diffraction lens using the formula E j = ? m = 1 M ? W m ? ? mj ( 1 ) wherein: j: integer indicating the order of diffraction light Ej: diffraction efficiency for j-th order diffraction light of the diffraction lens M: positive integer (M>1) indicating the number of regions for which the diffraction efficiency is calculated m: index of the region for which the diffraction efficiency is calculated ?mj: diffraction efficiency for the j-th order diffraction light of the m-th region (stored in the first m
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2006
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Michihiro Yamagata, Kazutake Boku, Yasuhiro Tanaka, Tomohiko Sasano, Shusuke Ono
  • Publication number: 20050122597
    Abstract: Disclosed is an optical head apparatus comprising: a light source; a collimating means of converting a beam of light emitted from the light source into a substantially parallel beam of light; a focusing means of focusing the light onto an information medium surface; a beam splitting means of splitting the beam of light modulated by the information medium; and a light receiving means of receiving the light modulated by the information medium, wherein a lens having a negative power and a lens having a positive power are arranged in this order as viewed from the collimating means side between the collimating means and the focusing means, and at least either one of the lenses is moved along an optical axis to correct spherical aberration occurring on the information medium surface, and wherein the distance from the lens having the positive power to the focusing means is set substantially equal to the focal length of the lens having the positive power.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 7, 2002
    Publication date: June 9, 2005
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Tanaka, Tomohiko Sasano, Michihiro Yamagata, Daisuke Ogata
  • Publication number: 20050018586
    Abstract: An objective lens for an optical disk including one lens and capable of satisfying an excellent focusing property on any of two kinds of optical disks each having a different thickness. The objective lens (2) is formed of a single lens having aspheric surfaces on both sides with the surface (3) at the side of the light source a rotationally symmetric aspheric surface. Furthermore, the surface at the side of the optical disk (6) of the objective lens (2) is divided into an inner circumference region (4) and an outer circumference region (5) and a surface (7) forming the difference in level of about 0.3 ?m that is provided in parallel to the optical axis (in the direction of the optical axis) at the boundary between the inner circumference region (4) and the outer circumference region (5). The spherical aberration is corrected by the inner circumference region (4) and outer circumference (5) of the objective lens (2) corresponding to the optical disks having a different thickness.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 19, 2004
    Publication date: January 27, 2005
    Applicant: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Tanaka, Michihiro Yamagata, Tomohiko Sasano
  • Patent number: 6833667
    Abstract: There are provided an organic electroluminescence element which is excellent in visibility and which can maintain a light emission performance with a high degree of efficiency, an image forming apparatus which is excellent in visibility and which can maintain a light emission performance with a high degree of efficiency, and a portable terminal unit which is lightweight and which has a long use life. The organic electroluminescence element incorporates at least, on a substrate, an anode for injecting holes, a luminous layer having a light emitting zone, a cathode for injecting electrons, wherein light radiated from the luminous layer is extracted through a surface opposed to the substrate, and an inverted V-like structure higher than the luminous layer is formed on at least a part of an element forming surface of the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2004
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takafumi Hamano, Hisanori Sugiura, Naohide Wakita, Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Tomohiko Sasano, Yasuhiro Tanaka
  • Patent number: 6829209
    Abstract: An objective lens for an optical disk including one lens and capable of satisfying an excellent focusing property on any of two kinds of optical disks each having a different thickness. The objective lens (2) is formed of a single lens having aspheric surfaces on both sides with the surface (3) at the side of the light source a rotationally symmetric aspheric surface. Furthermore, the surface at the side of the optical disk (6) of the objective lens (2) is divided into an inner circumference region (4) and an outer circumference region (5) and a surface (7) forming the difference in level of about 0.3 &mgr;m that is provided in parallel to the optical axis (in the direction of the optical axis) at the boundary between the inner circumference region (4) and the outer circumference region (5). The spherical aberration is corrected by the inner circumference region (4) and outer circumference (5) of the objective lens (2) corresponding to the optical disks having a different thickness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2004
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Tanaka, Michihiro Yamagata, Tomohiko Sasano
  • Patent number: 6807017
    Abstract: An objective lens (1) for an optical disk, which focuses a light beam from a light source, is designed so that a third-order coma aberration generated when the objective lens is inclined at a unit angle is larger than a third-order coma aberration generated when the optical disk (2) is inclined at the unit angle, mounted on an actuator for inclining the objective lens according to an inclination amount of the optical disk, and used. With this structure, it is possible to obtain an objective lens for an optical disk that has a large numerical aperture and is easy to manufacture and assemble, and in which the third-order coma aberration generated when the optical disk surface is inclined owing to a warp or the like can be corrected by small inclination of the objective lens, so as to reduce a residual astigmatism, which is generated according to the inclination amount, after the correction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2004
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomohiko Sasano, Yasuhiro Tanaka, Michihiro Yamagata
  • Patent number: 6627869
    Abstract: A beam shaper is made up of a single lens whose both surfaces are toric surfaces. Assuming that directions where the beam divergence angle are larger and smaller in the far field from the semiconductor laser source are referred to as the vertical and horizontal directions, respectively, both of the toric surfaces have aspheric surfaces in a cross-section in the vertical direction, both of the toric surfaces have spherical surfaces in a cross-section in the horizontal direction, and both centers of curvature of the spherical surfaces are located substantially at a luminous point of the semiconductor laser source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2003
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Tanaka, Michihiro Yamagata, Tomohiko Sasano
  • Publication number: 20030164679
    Abstract: There are provided an organic electroluminescence element which is excellent in visibility and which can maintain a light emission performance with a high degree of efficiency, an image forming apparatus which is excellent in visibility and which can maintain a light emission performance with a high degree of efficiency, and a portable terminal unit which is lightweight and which has a long use life. The organic electroluminescence element incorporates at least, on a substrate, an anode for injecting holes, a luminous layer having a light emitting zone, a cathode for injecting electrons, wherein light radiated from the luminous layer is extracted through a surface opposed to the substrate, and an inverted V-like structure higher than the luminous layer is formed on at least a part of an element forming surface of the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2003
    Publication date: September 4, 2003
    Inventors: Takafumi Hamano, Hisanori Sugiura, Naohide Wakita, Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Tomohiko Sasano, Yasuhiro Tanaka
  • Patent number: 6606198
    Abstract: In a lens array, a multiplicity of condenser lenses, each in a convex lens form, are arrayed in vertical and horizontal directions so as to correspond to pixel regions, respectively, and each condenser lens, when viewed from a direction perpendicular to a condenser lens-arrayed plane, takes a planar shape formed with a four straight sides along four sides of the pixel region and four circular arcs extending between the respective straight sides. A center of the four circular arcs substantially coincides with a center of the corresponding pixel region. This ensures an increase in area covered with the condenser lens in the pixel region, thereby causing more light rays to enter the condenser lens. In addition, a radius of curvature necessary for collecting can be obtained more easily. Consequently, light rays can be efficiently collected and guided to light receiving sections or the like provided in the pixel regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2003
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomohiko Sasano, Yasuhiro Tanaka, Michihiro Yamagata, Yoshikazu Sano, Tomoko Komatsu, Michiyo Ichikawa, Sumio Terakawa, Hiromitu Aoki
  • Patent number: 6590717
    Abstract: An optical system for an optical disk, comprising a light source (61), a collimating optical system (63) for converting a luminous flux from the light source into parallel rays of light, and an object lens (66) for condensing the parallel rays onto the information recording surface (71) of an optical disk. The object lens consisting of two or three lenses and having a numerical aperture (NA) of at least 0.82 enables a high-density recording. Since a third-order astigmatism produced when the object lens is tilted 0.7 degree with respect to an optical axis is as small as up to 10 m lambda, a residual aberration, after a third-order comatic aberration produced when the optical disk is tilted due to warping or the like is corrected by tilting the optical lens, can be reduced. Therefore, a tilted optical disk still can ensure a satisfactory recording and/or reproducing quality.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2003
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomohiko Sasano, Yasuhiro Tanaka, Michihiro Yamagata
  • Publication number: 20030035226
    Abstract: An objective lens (1) for an optical disk, which focuses a light beam from a light source, is designed so that a third-order coma aberration generated when the objective lens is inclined at a unit angle is larger than a third-order coma aberration generated when the optical disk (2) is inclined at the unit angle, mounted on an actuator for inclining the objective lens according to an inclination amount of the optical disk, and used. With this structure, it is possible to obtain an objective lens for an optical disk that has a large numerical aperture and is easy to manufacture and assemble, and in which the third-order coma aberration generated when the optical disk surface is inclined owing to a warp or the like can be corrected by small inclination of the objective lens, so as to reduce a residual astigmatism, which is generated according to the inclination amount, after the correction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 11, 2002
    Publication date: February 20, 2003
    Applicant: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomohiko Sasano, Yasuhiro Tanaka, Michihiro Yamagata
  • Publication number: 20030012496
    Abstract: A coupling lens (104) of the present invention is used for coupling a beam of light emitted from a semiconductor laser (101) to an optical fiber (108). The coupling lens (104) is formed of a single lens, and a diffraction lens formed of concentric zones is integrated on an incident plane or an outgoing-side plane of the single lens.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 17, 2000
    Publication date: January 16, 2003
    Inventors: MICHIHIRO YAMAGATA, YASUHIRO TANAKA, HIROYUKI ASAKURA, TOMOHIKO SASANO
  • Patent number: 6504975
    Abstract: A coupling lens (104) of the present invention is used for coupling a beam of light emitted from a semiconductor laser (101) to an optical fiber (108). The coupling lens (104) is formed of a single lens, and a diffraction lens formed of concentric zones is integrated on an incident surface or an exit surface of the single lens. The diffraction lens has a positive refracting power, a relief function of the diffraction lens has an approximately isosceles triangular shape, and a depth W of the relief function satisfies the following formula: 0.6≦W(n−1)/&lgr;≦1.0 where n denotes a refractive index of a material of the lens and &lgr; represents a wavelength of the semiconductor laser.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2003
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Michihiro Yamagata, Yasuhiro Tanaka, Hiroyuki Asakura, Tomohiko Sasano
  • Patent number: RE40954
    Abstract: An objective lens (1) for an optical disk, which focuses a light beam from a light source, is designed so that a third-order coma aberration generated when the objective lens is inclined at a unit angle is larger than a third-order coma aberration generated when the optical disk (2) is inclined at the unit angle, mounted on an actuator for inclining the objective lens according to an inclination amount of the optical disk, and used. With this structure, it is possible to obtain an objective lens for an optical disk that has a large numerical aperture and is easy to manufacture and assemble, and in which the third-order coma aberration generated when the optical disk surface is inclined owing to a warp or the like can be corrected by small inclination of the objective lens, so as to reduce a residual astigmatism, which is generated according to the inclination amount, after the correction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2009
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Tomohiko Sasano, Yasuhiro Tanaka, Michihiro Yamagata