Patents by Inventor Yoshiharu Nakajima

Yoshiharu Nakajima 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: 8031188
    Abstract: A digital/analog converter circuit, a level shift circuit, a shift register containing this level shift circuit, a sampling latch circuit and a latch circuit as well as a liquid crystal display device mounted with these respective circuits, wherein a drive circuit integrated with the LCD device containing the digital/analog converter circuit has polysilicon thin film transistors arrayed in a matrix on the substrate as switching devices for the pixels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2011
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshiharu Nakajima, Toshikazu Maekawa
  • Patent number: 8018415
    Abstract: A display device includes a display unit in which pixels are arranged in a matrix state and a drive circuit selecting respective pixels in the display unit by each row and giving additional potential to pixel electrodes of the pixels by using coupling, in which the drive circuit has a function of allowing the reverse polarity of potential added to pixel electrodes to be a potential which can add suitable voltage to additional potential lines in a frame before adding the additional potential.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2011
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Hirotoshi Koyama, Yoshiharu Nakajima, Yoshitoshi Kida, Daisuke Ito
  • Patent number: 7973863
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a liquid crystal display apparatus, including: a liquid crystal panel having a display region for displaying an image and having a plurality of pixels disposed in the region; and a pair of first and second polarizing plates provided in an opposing relationship to each other through the display region; the liquid crystal panel including a first substrate, a second substrate opposed in a spaced relationship to the first substrate, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched by and between the first and second substrates and oriented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2011
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Daisuke Takama, Naoyuki Itakura, Takayuki Nakanishi, Yoshiharu Nakajima
  • Publication number: 20110141408
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a liquid crystal display apparatus, including: a liquid crystal panel having a display region for displaying an image and having a plurality of pixels disposed in the region; and a pair of first and second polarizing plates provided in an opposing relationship to each other through the display region; the liquid crystal panel including a first substrate, a second substrate opposed in a spaced relationship to the first substrate, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched by and between the first and second substrates and oriented.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 17, 2011
    Publication date: June 16, 2011
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Daisuke Takama, Naoyuki Itakura, Takayuki Nakanishi, Yoshiharu Nakajima
  • Patent number: 7961167
    Abstract: A display device and mobile terminal are provided. The display device can narrow the pitch, narrow the frame, and further reduce power consumption. The display device includes a display area; a vertical drive circuit; a first horizontal drive circuit converting input first and second digital image data to analog image signals, and supplying the same to a data line selected by the vertical drive circuit; and a second horizontal drive circuit converting input third digital image data to an analog image signal, and supplying the same to a data line selected by the vertical drive circuit. The first horizontal drive circuit includes a sampling latch circuit, a second latch circuit, a digital/analog conversion circuit, and a line selector for selecting the first and second digital image data in a time division manner in a predetermined period and outputting the same to the data line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2011
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshitoshi Kida, Yoshiharu Nakajima, Masaki Murase, Yoshihiko Toyoshima, Kazuya Nomura, Masaaki Tonogai, Daisuke Ito
  • Publication number: 20110109605
    Abstract: A display device with an image pickup function includes: a plurality of pixel signal lines each supplied with a pixel signal; a plurality of display pixels each performing a display operation based on the pixel signal; and a plurality of image pickup elements each including a photo-detector and a capacitor, the photo-detector generating a current of a magnitude corresponding to a photo-detection amount, the capacitor performing a discharging operation which follows a charging operation with the current from the photo-detector to output a charged voltage for a read operation. In the display device, a voltage level of the pixel signal line during the discharging operation is equal to a voltage level of the pixel signal line during the reading operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2010
    Publication date: May 12, 2011
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hideyuki Omori, Go Yamanaka, Michiru Senda, Yoshiharu Nakajima
  • Patent number: 7940343
    Abstract: The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device for displaying a desired image by a display unit, the display unit being formed by sandwiching a liquid crystal layer between a thin film transistor substrate and a CF substrate and arranging liquid crystal cells formed by the liquid crystal layer in a form of a matrix, wherein the thin film transistor substrate is created by disposing at least a transistor used to drive a liquid crystal cell and a pixel electrode of the liquid crystal cell on an insulating substrate, and a part or all of a storage capacitor of an adjacent liquid crystal cell is created in a layer below the pixel electrode with a shield layer interposed between the pixel electrode and the storage capacitor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2011
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yasuyuki Teranishi, Yoshiharu Nakajima
  • Patent number: 7932901
    Abstract: A timing generating circuit with low power consumption and a small layout area, a display apparatus including the timing generating circuit as one peripheral driving circuit, and a portable terminal including the display apparatus as a display output section are provided. In the timing generating circuit, which is formed on an insulating substrate and generates output pulses SRFF1out to SRFFnout having different frequencies based on a master clock MCK, a clock generating circuit (11) generates an operating clock having a lower frequency than the master clock MCK frequency. Then, a counter section (12) operates based on this operating clock and successively outputs shifted pulses S/R1out to S/Rmount from shift registers (121-1) to (121-m). An output pulse generating section (13) generates output pulses SF1out to SFnout based on combinations of the shifted pulses S/R1out to S/Rmount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2011
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshitoshi Kida, Yoshiharu Nakajima, Toshikazu Maekawa
  • Publication number: 20110090158
    Abstract: An information input device includes: an input panel having an effective photo-detectable region in which a plurality of photodetectors are arranged for detecting an external proximity object, and having a shading region located in a margin of the effective photo-detectable region; a correction section performing outermost-region correction on an outermost photo-detection signal to increase intensity thereof, the outermost photo-detection signal being obtained from a photodetector located in an outermost-region of the effective photo-detectable region; and an image processor acquiring object information about one or more of a position, a shape and size of the external proximity object based on a resultant photo-detection signal obtained from the outermost-region correction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2010
    Publication date: April 21, 2011
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hideyuki Omori, Tsutomu Harada, Kazunori Yamaguchi, Yoshiharu Nakajima
  • Patent number: 7928974
    Abstract: An active-matrix liquid crystal display device has pixels arranged in a matrix which each include a thin film transistor (TFT) as an active element. When the device is in a power-off state, TFTs in all the pixels are switched on, and all horizontal switches are turned on so that all data lines are supplied with a potential equal to the potential of common electrodes of the pixels. This forms a discharging path for discharging residual charge in all the pixels, and the discharging path can instantaneously discharge the residual charges.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2011
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Noboru Toyozawa, Yoshiharu Nakajima, Yoshihiko Toyoshima
  • Patent number: 7911434
    Abstract: This invention realizes reduction in consumption of DC current in a level converter circuit by setting level shifters in an operating state only when necessary in accordance with hierarchical control, in which an output pulse of a level shifter (311) that is constantly in a power-ON state is used to set a level shifter (321) of the next hierarchical level in the operating state, then output pulses of the level shifter (311) and the level shifter (321) are used to generate control pulses LT1 and LT2, which are used to set level shifters (341 to 346) of the next hierarchical level in the operating state, and an output pulse of one of the level shifters is used to set level shifters (351), (352) and (353) of the next hierarchical level in the operating state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2011
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Noboru Toyozawa, Yoshiharu Nakajima
  • Publication number: 20110058126
    Abstract: With reference to a direction perpendicular to a direction of forming electrodes to which a voltage can be applied, fine structures are each arranged within ±5 degrees at a substantially even interval, and a semiconductor element is formed by using the fine structures. On an insulating substrate, at least two electrodes are arranged at a predetermined interval, and there are formed one or more fine structure arranging regions, each of which is formed by a unit of the two electrodes. A semiconductor element electrode is made in contact with the plurality of the fine structures, each having two ends in contact with the two electrodes and a length in a longitudinal direction of a nano order to a micron order, and arranged within ±5 degrees with reference to the direction perpendicular to the direction of forming the electrodes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2009
    Publication date: March 10, 2011
    Inventors: Yasunobu Okada, Akihide Shibata, Yoshiharu Nakajima, Hiroshi Iwata, Ai Naitou, Yutaka Takafuji, Tetsu Negishi
  • Patent number: 7898516
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display is provided that allows miniaturization, cost lowering, thickness reduction, and saving of unnecessary spaces of the device, and enhancement of the reliability of the device. If a variable resistor is used to set the DC potential of a VCOM potential, miniaturization of a liquid crystal display is precluded since the size of the variable resistor is large. A DA converter is used instead of a conventional variable resistor as a unit for setting (adjusting) the DC potential of a VCOM potential (counter electrode voltage), and the DA converter is formed on the same glass substrate by using the same process as those of a display area part, to thereby achieve miniaturization of the liquid crystal display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2011
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshiharu Nakajima, Yoshitoshi Kida
  • Publication number: 20110043471
    Abstract: Touch sensor methods and apparatus are provided. A first photodiode includes an i-region of a first length. A second photodiode includes an i-region with a second length. A sensing component including a capacitive element is operably coupled to the first photodiode and the second photodiode. The first length of the i-region of the first photodiode is different than the second length of the i-region of the second photodiode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 6, 2010
    Publication date: February 24, 2011
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michiru Senda, Yoshiharu Nakajima, Keiichiro Ishihara, Tsutomu Tanaka, Makoto Takatoku, Masanobu Ikeda, Ryoichi Ito
  • Patent number: 7872646
    Abstract: A power supply generating circuit, a display apparatus incorporating the same, and a portable terminal device using the display apparatus as an output display unit are provided. In a DC-DC converter having a charge pump circuit (31), a voltage dividing circuit (32), and a regulation circuit (33), p-channel MOS transistors (Qp21, Qp22, Qp31) are turned on/off based on an enable pulse enb to make the voltage dividing circuit (32) and a comparator (41) active only for a period of regulation time and inactive otherwise. This can cause a current to flow in voltage-divider resistors (R1, R2) and the comparator (41) only for a certain period of time required for the regulation operation, thus reducing the power consumption loss caused by a constant current flow in the voltage-divider resistors (R1, R2) and the comparator (41).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2011
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Noboru Toyozawa, Yoshiharu Nakajima
  • Patent number: 7864170
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device enabling a reduction in size and costs associated with the system as a whole, starting to display images without image distortion at power on time, and turning the screen off without image retention at power off time, a method of controlling the liquid crystal display device, and a mobile terminal incorporating the liquid crystal display device as a screen display. On a glass substrate (11) provided with a display unit (12), peripheral drive circuits such as an interface circuit (13), a timing generator (14), a reference voltage driver (15), a CS driver (18), a VCOM driver (19), and a voltage regulation circuit (20), together with a horizontal driver (16) and a vertical driver (17) are disposed. When a display reset control pulse PCI is supplied from an external source, a predetermined voltage is written into pixels while a CS voltage and a VCOM voltage adjusted to the same level as that of a pixel voltage are applied to a common-electrode-side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2011
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshitoshi Kida, Yoshiharu Nakajima, Toshikazu Maekawa
  • Publication number: 20100271321
    Abstract: An information input device includes an input panel including an illumination light source, a plurality of first light-receiving elements and one or more second light-receiving elements, the illumination light source emitting detection light for detecting an external proximity object, the plurality of first light-receiving elements receiving detection light emitted from the illumination light source and then reflected from the external proximity object, the second light-receiving elements for monitoring the intensity of the detection light; a correction section performing adaptive sensitivity correction on light-receiving signals obtained by the first light-receiving elements through use of an intensity monitor signal of detection light obtained by the second light-receiving element; and an image processing section obtaining object information about one or more of the position, shape and size of the external proximity object based on a picked-up image obtained from the light-receiving signals subjected to the
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 12, 2010
    Publication date: October 28, 2010
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michiru SENDA, Yoshiharu NAKAJIMA, Tsutomu HARADA, Go YAMANAKA, Daisuke TAKAMA
  • Publication number: 20100271336
    Abstract: Provided is an image pickup device with which object detection can be performed with a good stability no matter in what use conditions. A display area 21 of an I/O display panel 20 is provided therein with a plurality of main sensors 32 each including, as a photosensitive wavelength region, a wavelength region ??23 of detection light for use to detect any proximity object, and a plurality of auxiliary sensors 33 whose photosensitivity in the wavelength region of the detection light is lower than photosensitivity of the main sensors 32. Moreover, with use of a composite image F derived based on a differential image MC obtained by the main sensors 32 and a differential image HC obtained by the auxiliary sensors 33, object information about the proximity object is acquired. Accordingly, even when the proximity object is moving on the display area 21 of the I/O display panel 20, for example, any false signal can be prevented from being generated in the composite image F.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 14, 2009
    Publication date: October 28, 2010
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tsutomu Harada, Yasuyuki Matsui, Daisuke Takama, Go Yamanaka, Yoshiharu Nakajima, Hiroshi Mizuhashi, Hideyuki Omori, Ryoichi Tsuzaki
  • Patent number: 7821511
    Abstract: A supply voltage conversion circuit allowing fabrication of a charge pump circuit having a large current capability with a small area is provided. In a charge pump DC-DC converter (10) for converting a supply voltage VDD1 to a supply voltage VDD2, a level shifter (12) implements amplitude conversion to convert from a control pulse with amplitude of VSS-VDD1 to a control pulse with amplitude of VSS-VDD2. By using the control pulse having the converted amplitude as a pumping pulse, a flying capacitor (C11) is charged/discharged by MOS transistors (Qp11), and (Qn11) of a charge pump circuit (11), and switching of MOS transistors (Qn12), and (Qp12) coupled to the output of the flying capacitor (C11) is controlled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2010
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshiharu Nakajima, Yoshitoshi Kida
  • Patent number: 7796126
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device enabling a reduction in size and costs associated with the system as a whole, starting to display images without image distortion at power on time, and turning the screen off without image retention at power off time, a method of controlling the liquid crystal display device, and a mobile terminal incorporating the liquid crystal display device as a screen display. On a glass substrate (11) provided with a display unit (12), peripheral drive circuits such as an interface circuit (13), a timing generator (14), a reference voltage driver (15), a CS driver (18), a VCOM driver (19), and a voltage regulation circuit (20), together with a horizontal driver (16) and a vertical driver (17) are disposed. When a display reset control pulse PCI is supplied from an external source, a predetermined voltage is written into pixels while a CS voltage and a VCOM voltage adjusted to the same level as that of a pixel voltage are applied to a common-electrode-side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2010
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshitoshi Kida, Yoshiharu Nakajima, Toshikazu Maekawa