Patents by Inventor Yasushi Mizoguchi

Yasushi Mizoguchi 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).

  • Publication number: 20170041511
    Abstract: An optical scanner includes a movable section, shaft sections configured to support the movable section to be capable of swinging, a supporting section configured to support the shaft sections, a holding section joined to the upper surface of the movable section, a light reflecting section provided in the holding section, a wire provided on the lower surface of the supporting section, and a projecting section provided on the lower surface of the movable section. The supporting section, the movable section, and the shaft sections are formed from the same substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 5, 2016
    Publication date: February 9, 2017
    Inventors: Makiko HINO, Yasushi MIZOGUCHI
  • Publication number: 20170038578
    Abstract: An optical scanner includes a first Si layer, a second Si layer, and an SiO2 layer present between the Si layers. The optical scanner includes a movable section and shaft sections formed from the first Si layer, a holding section formed from the second Si layer and disposed to be separated from the movable section, a coupling section formed from the SiO2 layer and configured to couple the movable section and the holding section, and a light reflecting section provided on the upper surface of the holding section and configured to reflect light. The movable section and the coupling section are joined by direct joining.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 4, 2016
    Publication date: February 9, 2017
    Inventor: Yasushi MIZOGUCHI
  • Patent number: 9563054
    Abstract: An optical scanner includes: a movable portion that includes a base portion and a light reflecting plate which is fixed to the base portion and includes a light reflecting portion with a light reflecting property and is rotatable about the Y-axis; a frame portion that is provided so as to surround the base portion and is rotatable about the X-axis perpendicular to the Y-axis; a shaft portion that supports the movable portion so as to be rotatable about the Y-axis with respect to the frame portion; and a permanent magnet that is provided in the frame portion. The light reflecting plate is provided such that it is separated from the shaft portion in a thickness direction and overlaps the shaft portion, as viewed from the thickness direction. The permanent magnet is fixed to a surface of the frame portion close to the light reflecting plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yasushi Mizoguchi, Makiko Hino
  • Patent number: 9547170
    Abstract: An optical scanner includes: a movable body that is able to oscillate around a first axis; a first shaft member that is connected to the movable body along the first axis; and a drive unit that includes a permanent magnet, a coil that generates a magnetic field by application of voltage, and a voltage applying section that applies a voltage to the coil and oscillates the movable body around the first axis, wherein the movable body includes a light reflecting plate provided with a light reflecting section having light reflectivity, a support frame that surrounds the light reflecting plate and has a thickness that is, ten times or less, larger than the thickness of the light reflecting plate, and a plurality of connecting sections that connects the light reflecting plate and the support frame at a plurality of locations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Makiko Hino, Yasushi Mizoguchi
  • Publication number: 20160377962
    Abstract: An optical device includes a glass plate, a movable section that supports the glass plate, shaft sections that swingably support the movable section around a swing axis, a support section that supports the shaft sections, a permanent magnet provided in the movable section, a coil that is so disposed as to face the permanent magnet and produces a magnetic field acting on the permanent magnet, and a coil support section that is supported by the support section and supports the coil, and the coil support section is made of a material having thermal conductivity higher than that of the support section and intersects the in-plane direction of a light incident surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 17, 2016
    Publication date: December 29, 2016
    Inventor: Yasushi MIZOGUCHI
  • Publication number: 20160363840
    Abstract: An optical device includes a movable unit that supports a glass plate, axis portions that swingably support the movable unit around a swing axis, a support unit that supports the axis portions and, a permanent magnet that is provided in the movable unit, and a coil that is disposed to face the permanent magnet, and a coil support unit that is supported by the support unit and supports the coil. A conductive wire is wound around the coil and a drawn wire is drawn from the side of the inner circumference of the coil. The coil support unit includes a through hole overlapping the inner circumference of the coil and the drawn wire is inserted through the through hole.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2016
    Publication date: December 15, 2016
    Inventors: Yasushi MIZOGUCHI, Shinichi WAKABAYASHI
  • Publication number: 20160363841
    Abstract: An optical device includes a glass plate, a movable unit that supports the glass plate, axis portions that swingably support the movable unit around a swing axis, a support unit that supports the axis portions and, a permanent magnet that is provided in the movable unit, and coils that are disposed to face the permanent magnet and generate a magnetic field to be applied to the permanent magnet. The movable unit includes a through hole that the permanent magnet is inserted into and a protrusion portion that protrudes inside the through hole to support the permanent magnet.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2016
    Publication date: December 15, 2016
    Inventors: Makiko HINO, Yasushi MIZOGUCHI
  • Patent number: 9423609
    Abstract: An actuator includes: a movable plate; a first axial member adapted to swingably support the movable plate around a first axis; a reflecting section fixed to the movable plate, and having a reflecting surface adapted to reflect light; and a coil disposed on an opposite surface of the reflecting section to the reflecting surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2016
    Assignee: Seiko Epspon Corporation
    Inventors: Emi Mizuno, Yasushi Mizoguchi
  • Publication number: 20160227176
    Abstract: An optical device includes a glass plate, a movable section that supports the glass plate, a shaft section that supports the movable section so as to be swingable around the swing axis, a support section that supports the shaft section, a permanent magnet that is provided in the movable section and is thinner than the glass plate, and a pair of coils that are disposed opposite to each other with the permanent magnet interposed therebetween. The movable section includes thin wall portions that are thinner than the glass plate. The permanent magnet is disposed in the thin wall portions. In side view, the surface of each of the coils on the permanent magnet side is located between both the main surfaces of the glass plate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 29, 2016
    Publication date: August 4, 2016
    Inventor: Yasushi MIZOGUCHI
  • Publication number: 20160227177
    Abstract: A projector includes a light source, liquid crystal panels that modulate light emitted from the light source, a dichroic prism that combines modulated light fluxes modulated by the liquid crystal panels with one another into video light and outputs the video light, and a pixel shift device that changes the optical path of the video light output from the dichroic prism. The pixel shift device includes a glass plate on which the video light is incident and an electromagnetic actuator that causes the glass plate to swing. The electromagnetic actuator is arranged in a position outside the dichroic prism and different from the positions of the liquid crystal panels when viewed along the optical axis of the video light.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 29, 2016
    Publication date: August 4, 2016
    Inventor: Yasushi MIZOGUCHI
  • Publication number: 20160187645
    Abstract: An optical device includes a glass plate, a movable section adapted to support the glass plate, shaft sections adapted to support the movable section so as to be able to oscillate around an oscillation axis, a support section adapted to support the shaft sections, a permanent magnet provided to the movable section, and a coil disposed so as to be opposed to the permanent magnet, and generating a magnetic field acting on the permanent magnet, and the support section has a window section through which a gap between the permanent magnet and the coil can visually be recognized.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2015
    Publication date: June 30, 2016
    Inventors: Yasushi Mizoguchi, Shinichi Wakabayashi
  • Patent number: 9343946
    Abstract: An actuator including a movable portion that swings about a swing axis, a connecting portion that extends from the movable portion and torsionally deforms in response to the swinging of the movable portion, and a support portion that supports the connecting portion, wherein the movable portion is so shaped that the length thereof parallel to the swing axis decreases stepwise with distance from the swing axis in a plan view, and the movable portion, the support portion, and the connecting portion are formed by anisotropically etching a silicon substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2016
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Makiko Hino, Yasushi Mizoguchi
  • Patent number: 9335543
    Abstract: An optical scanner includes: a movable plate which includes a light reflection unit; a first torsion bar which oscillatably supports the movable plate around a first axis; a first displacement member which is connected to the first torsion bar; a second torsion bar which oscillatably supports the first displacement member around a second axis; a second displacement member which is connected to the second torsion bar; and an actuator which is installed on the second displacement member and applies a displacement to the second displacement member so as to apply torsional deformation and bending deformation to the second torsion bar, in which the first displacement member includes a frame member surrounding the movable plate, and a damper which has a smaller thickness than that of the frame member and extends in a direction intersecting with a direction in which the second torsion bar extends from the frame member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2016
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yasushi Mizoguchi, Hisako Kojima
  • Patent number: 9337711
    Abstract: An actuator including a movable portion that swings about a swing axis, a connecting portion that extends from the movable portion and torsionally deforms in response to the swinging of the movable portion, and a support portion that supports the connecting portion, wherein the movable portion is so shaped that the length thereof parallel to the swing axis decreases stepwise with distance from the swing axis in a plan view, and the movable portion, the support portion, and the connecting portion are formed by anisotropically etching a silicon substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2016
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Makiko Hino, Yasushi Mizoguchi
  • Publication number: 20160124217
    Abstract: An optical device includes: an optical portion that has a light incident surface on which light is incident; a movable portion that supports the optical portion; a shaft portion that supports the movable portion so that the movable portion is oscillatable; and a fixing portion that is connected to the shaft portion, wherein the fixing portion has a thickness greater than the shaft portion and includes a portion of which an end not connected to the shaft portion serves as a free end.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2015
    Publication date: May 5, 2016
    Inventors: Hisako KOJIMA, Yasushi MIZOGUCHI, Shinichi WAKABAYASHI
  • Publication number: 20160124216
    Abstract: An optical device includes: an optical portion that has a light incident surface on which light is incident; a movable portion that includes a disposition surface on which the optical portion is disposed and a concave disposition portion; and a shaft portion that supports the movable portion so that the movable portion is oscillatable, wherein a portion in which the disposition surface is not formed is included between the optical portion and the shaft portion in a plan view in a normal line direction of the light incident surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 28, 2015
    Publication date: May 5, 2016
    Inventors: Hisako KOJIMA, Yasushi MIZOGUCHI, Makiko HINO
  • Patent number: 9310607
    Abstract: An actuator includes a light reflection part having light reflectivity, a movable part having the light reflection part and being rotatable around a rotation center axis, a pair of connection parts connected to the movable part, and a support part that supports the pair of connection parts, and each of the connection parts includes a pair of beam members, a distance between the pair of beam members gradually increases from a first surface side toward a second surface side of the movable part when seen from a direction in parallel to the rotation center axis of the movable part, and given that a distance between ends at the first surface side of the pair of beam members is W1 and a thickness of the pair of beam members in a thickness direction of the movable part is t, the following expression (1) is satisfied. w 1 < t tan ? ? 54.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2016
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Makiko Hino, Yasushi Mizoguchi
  • Publication number: 20160091773
    Abstract: An optical device includes an optical section, a moving section, a shaft section, and an actuator. The optical section includes a light-incident surface on which light is incident. The moving section supports the optical section and the shaft section swingably supports the moving section. The actuator swings the moving section based on a drive signal having a trapezoidal waveform. A swing waveform representative of a trajectory of the moving section as the moving section is swung has a trapezoidal waveform. A maintenance time of a flat portion of the trapezoidal waveform of the drive signal is shorter than a maintenance time of a flat portion of the trapezoidal waveform of the swing waveform of the moving section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2015
    Publication date: March 31, 2016
    Inventors: Yasushi MIZOGUCHI, Takao HIRAKURA
  • Publication number: 20160094819
    Abstract: An optical device includes: an optical section that includes a light-incident surface on which light is incident; a moving section that supports the optical section; a shaft section that swingably supports the moving section around a swing axis; a permanent magnet that is provided in the moving section; an air core coil that is provided so as to face the moving section, and generates an electric field acting on the permanent magnet; and a coil holding member that is provided on a side opposite to the permanent magnet of the air core coil, and holds the air core coil, wherein the coil holding member includes a window section, and wherein an edge section of the air core coil is viewable through the window section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2015
    Publication date: March 31, 2016
    Inventor: Yasushi MIZOGUCHI
  • Patent number: 9293975
    Abstract: An actuator includes: a movable portion that can oscillate around an oscillation axis; a connection portion that extends from the movable portion and is torsionally deformed in accordance with oscillation of the movable portion; and a support portion that supports the connection portion. The movable portion forms a cross shape in a plan view from a thickness direction of the movable portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2016
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Makiko Hino, Yasushi Mizoguchi