Patents Issued in August 14, 2003
  • Publication number: 20030151541
    Abstract: Apparatus for and methods of obtaining positional information about one or more objects in a detection field are disclosed. An array including a transmitting element and a plurality of receiving elements is provided. In one aspect a truncated cross-correlation function is applied to determine the interval between signals received by a plurality of the receiving elements, thereby to determine an angular position of an object. In another aspect a warning zone is defined and it is determined whether an object is within the warning zone. Also disclosed are techniques for stretching received signals, and techniques for obtaining positional information relating to an object using non-Doppler radar. Various implementations, modifications and applications of the techniques described are disclosed. Typical applications of the techniques described are with vehicles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 24, 2003
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Gordon Kenneth Andrew Oswald, Alan Trevor Richardson, Michael Hugh Burchett, Eric Nicol Clouston, Danielle Emma Toutoungi
  • Publication number: 20030151542
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a radar system having means (12) for producing a code, means (18) for modulating a transmission signal in a transmit branch, using the code, means (32) for delaying the code, means (20) for modulating a signal in a receive branch, using the delayed code, and means (26) for mixing a reference signal with a receiving signal, the modulation of one of the signals being performed by an amplitude modulation (ASK; “amplitude shift keying”) and the modulation of the other signal by a phase modulation (PSK; “phase shift keying”). Furthermore, a radar system is proposed in which blanking of phase transitions is provided. The present invention also relates to methods which may advantageously be carried out, using the radar systems according to the present invention.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2003
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Siegbert Steinlechner, Thomas Brosche
  • Publication number: 20030151543
    Abstract: A radar system includes a transmitting/receiving unit, having a voltage controlled oscillator, for repeatedly transmitting a triangular transmission signal including a frequency-gradually-rising up-modulation interval and a frequency-gradually-dropping down-modulation interval and for receiving a reception signal including a reflected signal from a target, a frequency analysis unit, a data storing unit for storing time-varying characteristics of input values to a D/A converter that monotonically change an oscillation frequency of the voltage controlled oscillator with time, in the form of data concerning an expression representing the time-varying characteristics, and a data processing unit for determining the input values to the D/A converter with reference to the data. At least one of the relative distance to the target and the relative speed of the target is detected based on a beat signal during the up-modulation interval and the beat signal during the down-modulation interval.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 17, 2003
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Applicant: Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Motoi Nakanishi, Toru Ishii, Tetsu Nishimura
  • Publication number: 20030151544
    Abstract: A radar device precisely detects a target in short time intervals by detecting a true peak frequency with high accuracy via a calculation which does not require a large amount of computation. A discrete frequency spectrum of a beat signal multiplied by a window function is determined, and values of signal strength at two discrete frequencies which are, respectively, higher and lower than a peak frequency of the discrete frequency spectrum of the beat signal and which are adjacent to the peak frequency. The frequency difference between the discrete peak frequency of the beat signal and the peak frequency of the window function is then determined from the ratio between the values of signal strength at those two discrete frequencies adjacent to the peak frequency. Thus, the true peak frequency of the beat signal is determined with a high frequency resolution.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2003
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Applicant: Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tetsu Nishimura, Motoi Nakanishi, Toru Ishii
  • Publication number: 20030151545
    Abstract: A pulse radar device includes a transmitting unit, a receiving unit, a first integrating unit for sampling a reception signal at predetermined time intervals from transmission and integrating results of a predetermined number of times of the sampling at each sampling timing, a differential operating unit for, each time a predetermined time period has passed, reading results of the integrating at each sampling timing and differentiating the read results of the integrating in a sampling direction, a second integrating unit for integrating absolute values of a predetermined number of outputs from the differential operating unit at each sampling timing, a peak detecting unit for detecting the peak of an output from the second integrating unit, a distance measuring and detecting unit for calculating a distance to an object and judging presence or absence of an object based on an output from the peak detecting unit and the like.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 13, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI DENKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Katsuji Matsuoka
  • Publication number: 20030151546
    Abstract: A system and method for monitoring and controlling transportation of material. The system comprises a central managing device (130), a vehicle information inputting device (110), a material information inputting device (120), a central monitoring device (140), and a global positioning subsystem. Information input through the vehicle information inputting device and the material information inputting device is stored in the central managing device and can be accessed by the central monitoring device. Information on current location of a vehicle (180) transporting material is sent to a web server (150) via the global positioning subsystem and accessed by the central monitoring device. The central monitoring device can control logistics by checking whether the current location of the vehicle is along a predetermined route of the vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Alex Lee, David Luo, Cheng-Min Hu, Xiaobing Yang
  • Publication number: 20030151547
    Abstract: In general, the invention is directed to techniques for directly acquiring P-codes without first acquiring C/A-codes. For example, in one embodiment, a system comprises an assist server to track a P-code signal from a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite and generate acquisition assistance information from the signal. The system further comprises a mobile unit to receive the acquisition assistance data from the assist server, and to acquire the P-code signal from the satellite based on the acquisition assistance data. The acquisition assistance data may include time-of-week data indicating an initial time offset into a P-code pseudorandom code sequence for the satellite. The mobile unit may include a reference generator to locally generate a reference pseudorandom code sequence based on the time-of-week data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Anthony Mauro, Norman Krasner
  • Publication number: 20030151548
    Abstract: An array of dielectric resonator antenna elements (1), each element (1) being composed of a dielectric resonator disposed on a grounded substrate (3), a plurality of feeds (2) for transferring energy into and from the dielectric resonator elements (1), wherein the feeds (2) of each element (1) are activatable either individually or in combination so as to produce at least one incrementally or continuously steerable beam which may be steered through a predetermined angle. Both the element beam patterns generated by the individual elements (1) and the array factor generated by the array as a whole may be independently steered. When these are steered in synchronism, it is possible to improve the overall gain of the array in any particular direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Simon P Kingsley, Steven O'Keefe
  • Publication number: 20030151549
    Abstract: A receiving array antenna with a variety of channels for converting received signals from receiving antenna elements (ANT) into an intermediate frequency signal (ZF) by using a circuit having one or several preamplifiers (LNA) and a mixer (MIX) connected in series, whereby a centrally generated local oscillator signal (LO) and calibration signal (CAL) are supplied to the circuit. A common distribution network (VNG) is available for the central oscillator signal (LO) and calibration signal (CAL), which is interconnected in such a way that the central local oscillator signal (LO) and calibration signal (CAL) is coupled into the circuit at the output of the receiving antenna element (ANT).
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 22, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventor: Klaus Solbach
  • Publication number: 20030151550
    Abstract: This invention provides a phased array antenna comprising an input, a feed network electronically coupled to the input, a plurality of radiating elements, a plurality of continuously voltage tunable phase shifters for receiving signals from the feed network and providing phase shifts for the signals prior to transmitting the signals to the radiating elements, and a controller for controlling the phase shift provided by the phase shifters. The phased array antennas can be configured to produce beams that can be scanned in one dimension (one-dimensional) or two dimensions (two-dimensional) by using continuously adjustable phase shifters that are based on low cost, low loss voltage-tunable dielectric materials.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2003
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Shuguang Chen, Daniel F. DiFonzo, Ernest P. Ekelman
  • Publication number: 20030151551
    Abstract: This invention provides a phased array antenna comprising an input, a feed network electronically coupled to the input, a plurality of radiating elements, a plurality of continuously voltage tunable phase shifters for receiving signals from the feed network and providing phase shifts for the signals prior to transmitting the signals to the radiating elements, and a controller for controlling the phase shift provided by the phase shifters. The phased array antennas can be configured to produce beams that can be scanned in one dimension (one-dimensional) or two dimensions (two-dimensional) by using continuously adjustable phase shifters that are based on low cost, low loss voltage-tunable dielectric materials.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2003
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Shuguang Chen, Daniel F. DiFonzo, Ernest P. Ekelman
  • Publication number: 20030151552
    Abstract: A circuit for the selective activation of a plurality of antennas (L1 to L4) from a common end stage (8) contains a first selector switch (10) at a terminal (6) of the end stage (8), the switch contacts (12, 22) of which are each connected to a switch contact (20, 26) and via an antenna (L1, L2) each to one fixed contact each of a twin selector switch (14, 24). The fixed contacts of the twin selector switch are each connected via a further antenna (L3, L4) to the other terminal (18) of the end stage and these are also connected to the other switch contacts (16, 28) of the twin selector switch.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 11, 2003
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Johannes Ilq, Franz Waltl
  • Publication number: 20030151553
    Abstract: The invention relates to a base station for a radio communications network. In order to be able to enhance the resolution for a direction of arrival estimation, the base station comprises: a first phasing network (31) for forming beams (B1-B4) for fixed reception angles; a second phasing network (33) for co-phasing and summing the signals of at least two neighbouring beams (B2, B3), thus forming a beam (B2-3) for a reception angle in-between at least those two neighbouring beams (B2, B3), and for scaling each resulting beam (B2-3) with a predetermined factor; and means for estimating the direction of arrival in the uplink from the beams (B1-B4, B2-3) provided by the first and the second phasing network (31, 33). The invention equally relates to a corresponding method and to a base station module comprising such a first and second phasing network.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 18, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventor: Juha Ylitalo
  • Publication number: 20030151554
    Abstract: A computer-based data processing system is described that employs at least one remote sensing device or system capable of providing time-indexed 2D or 3D spatial location, and subsequently uses the location data and other measured or derived data to automatically detect, identify, extract and characterize distinctive athletic performance features such as start and finish times of training regiments (e.g. sprints on a racetrack). Performance data is archived for historical comparison. The preferred embodiment includes visualization media, such as digitized video or icon-based graphical rendering, such that recorded performance data and derived attributes can be associated and synchronized through a common time-index reference.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 1, 2003
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventor: Robert J. McCarthy
  • Publication number: 20030151555
    Abstract: Antennas for a communications device and wireless terminals are provided. A conductive element is provided along with a ground assembly including a ground element coupled to the conductive element. The ground element has a first state and a second state. The first state provides a first resonant frequency band when the ground element is in a first relative position that is a first distance from the conductive element. The second state provides a second frequency band when the ground element is in a second relative position that is a second distance, different from the first distance, from the conductive element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventor: Howard E. Holshouser
  • Publication number: 20030151556
    Abstract: An antenna system includes a fractalized element that may be a ground counterpoise, a top-hat located load assembly, or a microstrip patch antenna having at least one element whose physical shape is at least partially defined as a first or higher iteration deterministic fractal. The resultant fractal element may rely upon an opening angle for performance, and is more compact than non-Euclidean ground counterpoise elements or the like. A vertical antenna system includes a vertical element that may also be a fractal, and a vertical antenna can include vertically spaced-apart fractal conductive and passive elements, and at least one fractal ground element. Various antenna configurations may be fabricated on opposite surfaces of a substrate, including a flexible substrate, and may be tuned by rotating elements relative to each other, and/or by varying the spaced-apart distance therebetween.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 4, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventor: Nathan Cohen
  • Publication number: 20030151557
    Abstract: An apparatus for reducing hearing aid radio frequency (RF) interference including a directional multi-band and/or single band antenna for use with PWDs such as digital cellphones is disclosed. The apparatus greatly reduces or eliminates the audio noise induced in hearing aids by the PWDs and allows operation of a hearing aid during PWD operation. In operation, the apparatus may be provided on the PWD side away from the user's head. The apparatus may be integrated into the PWB during its manufacture or provided as an after market assembly for a PWD that has a port for connection of an external antenna. The apparatus provides for improved front-to-back ratio as compared to antennas currently in use on PWD's, and therefore also reduces SAR (specific absorption rate), the level of RF energy received into the head by a PWD.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventor: Gregory F. Johnson
  • Publication number: 20030151558
    Abstract: In order to provide a reflector antenna apparatus which can be installed within a small space, which has adequate practicality, and which can perform scanning by pivoting about two axes which are perpendicular to each other, in a reflector antenna apparatus having a Cassegrain reflector and a rotating mechanism which rotates the reflector about an azimuth axis and an elevation axis, a reflector with a substantially rectangular aperture has its elevation axis passing through substantially the central portion of the height dimension of the reflector, and reflector surface adjustment is carried out such that substantially all of the electromagnetic waves which are supplied are received and reflected, whereby the antenna height does not become large when the reflector rotates about the elevation axis. The reflector may be an array of a plurality of reflector elements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Yoshio Inasawa, Izuru Naito, Shigeru Makino, Naofumi Yoneda, Moriyasu Miyazaki, Yoshihiko Konishi, Shuji Urasaki
  • Publication number: 20030151559
    Abstract: A microwave antenna for use in a sectorized cellular communication system comprises a wide-flare pyramidal horn having two pairs of opposed flared side walls. At least one of the two pairs of opposed walls has corrugated interior surfaces. The length of the horn and the flare angle of the walls having the corrugated interior surfaces are selected to produce a ratio &Dgr;e/&lgr; greater than 1.5, where &Dgr;e/&lgr;=[&agr;/(2/&lgr;)] tan (&agr;e/2) is the spherical-wave error of said horn, &lgr; is the free space wavelength of the microwave signals to be transmitted by said antenna, &agr; is the horn's aperture width, and &agr;e the half-angle of the horn in the horizontal plane.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 12, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Charles M. Knop, Nabil Soliman, Greg Orseno
  • Publication number: 20030151560
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an antenna system for a level measuring device for emitting microwaves by means of an antenna horn (2), at the front side of the smaller funnel aperture thereof, HF energy in the form of microwave signals is directly axially coupled by means of planar structures having one patch or several patches (4).
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 26, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Applicant: Vega Grieshaber KG
    Inventors: Klaus Kienzle, Jurgen Motzer, Daniel Schultheiss, Josef Fehrenbach
  • Publication number: 20030151561
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an electronic device that suppresses reduction in reception sensitivity and occurrence of distortion when IC cards are used while stacked. A loop antenna 1 equipped to the IC card has four turns, and it is designed so that one turn comprises a linear portion L2, a curved line portion L3, a linear portion L4 and a curved line portion L5, for example. When two loop antennas 1 having such a shape is stacked with being faced in the opposite directions, the corners thereof are not overlapped. For example, the corner formed of the curved line portion L3 and the linear portion L4 of the loop antenna 1 is overlapped with the curved line portion L3 of the loop antenna 1 superimposed with being faced in the opposite direction, so that the corners are not overlapped and the overlap portion is reduced as a whole. The present invention may be applied to an IC card for receiving/transmitting data under non-contact state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 4, 2003
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Shigeru Arisawa, Osamu Ishii, Toshiharu Tsuchiya
  • Publication number: 20030151562
    Abstract: The present invention allows a user to arbitrarily position display screens so that a larger field of view can be presented by a computer system that senses the screen positions and provides appropriate display information. This is in contrast to the typical use of display screens where a single display screen is used and the position of the display screen is assumed to be directly in front of a user's viewpoint. For example, two screens can be placed side-by-side so that their viewing surfaces together form a rectangular plane. This can be useful for viewing movies or other presentations that benefit from a larger horizontal viewing field. More complex arrangements of multiple screens can be set up for more immersive presentations such as virtual reality, simulations, computer games, etc. A mounting bracket for holding screen in a fixed orientation with respect to each other is described.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventor: Charles J. Kulas
  • Publication number: 20030151563
    Abstract: A system for reducing blind spots in various situations, such as in an automobile. The invention uses display screen surfaces to cover objects that are opaque, or objects which it is difficult to see through. Small cameras are used to generate images on the display screens that correspond to images that a viewer would see in the absence of the objects. For example, where the left windshield post of a car is covered with a display screen, the invention uses a camera that receives image information from the left-front of the car. The image information is used by a processor to compute what the driver would see if the door post were not there. A preferred embodiment uses the driver's viewpoint to generate a more accurate screen display. The screen display approximates images that the driver would see so that the images mesh, or are coherent with, other images presented to the driver such as the views through the front windshield and driver's side window.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventor: Charles J. Kulas
  • Publication number: 20030151564
    Abstract: A display apparatus is disclosed which uses an improved precharge method and includes a reduced number of precharge switches. A pixel array section includes gate lines disposed in the direction of a row, signal lines disposed in the direction of a column, and pixels arranged in rows and columns at points at which the gate lines and the signal lines intersect with each other. A precharge switch is connected between a precharge line and each of the signal lines. A precharge drive circuit performs batch precharge wherein it drives the precharge switches at a time within a horizontal blanking period preceding to a horizontal scanning period to apply a precharge signal of a first level at a time to the signal lines and sequential precharge wherein it successively drives the precharge switches within the horizontal scanning period to successively apply a precharge signal of a second level to the signal lines.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Junichi Yamashita, Katsuhide Uchino
  • Publication number: 20030151565
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a driving device for a flat panel display and driving method of, capable of enhancing an image quality. In the present invention, a gray level of an original image is rearranged using the minimal distribution lower and upper gray levels determined using a histogram. The present invention provides the means to solve an excessive change of color that can be generated when rearranging the gray level of the original image, an image display deterioration due to the low gray level area and a saturation of the high gray level area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Applicant: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Hwan Yu Kim, Byung Soo Song
  • Publication number: 20030151566
    Abstract: A driving method and a PDP apparatus of a dot-matrix type PDP, in which a display of high-luminance and high-quality can be obtained when driven by the interlacing method, have been disclosed. In the driving method to drive, using the interlacing method, a dot matrix type AC plasma display panel comprising display electrodes that are arranged adjacently, extend in the same direction, and execute a light-emitting action in each display cell, and a rib that separates individual display cells, wherein a display line is formed between every pair of the display electrodes, the data in a line of the interlaced signal is displayed simultaneously in two neighboring lines and the centers of display are shifted in the odd field and the even field.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 15, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Applicant: FUJITSU HITACHI PLASMA DISPLAY LIMITED
    Inventors: Masanori Takeuchi, Hideaki Ohki
  • Publication number: 20030151567
    Abstract: An input side drive current of a D/A converter circuit is controlled by a switch circuit connected in series with at least one of a plurality of input side transistors connected in parallel to form a current mirror connection. By turning the switch circuit from ON to OFF, a constant current flowing through the input side transistor, which is turned OFF by the switch circuit, is distributed to the remaining input side transistors, resulting in a large D/A converted current in a current mirror connected output side transistor. Thus, it is possible to correspondingly reduce a value of a display data, so that the number of bit positions of the D/A converter circuit can be reduced by 1 or more.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2003
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Kouichi Hanada, Yuji Shimada, Masanori Fujisawa
  • Publication number: 20030151568
    Abstract: For the purpose of providing a display apparatus capable of improving display quality by expanding the light-emission area of pixels by improving the layout of pixels and common power-feed lines formed on a substrate, pixels (7A, 7B) including a light-emission element (40), such as an electroluminescence element or an LED element, are arranged on both sides of common power-feed lines (com) so that the number of common power-feed lines (com) is reduced. Further, the polarity of a driving current flowing between the pixels (7A, 7B) and the light-emission element (40) is inverted so that the amount of current flowing through the common power-supply lines “com” is reduced.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 19, 2003
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Applicant: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Tokuroh Ozawa
  • Publication number: 20030151569
    Abstract: An image display includes an addressable image display pixel, having a substrate; a light emitter formed on the substrate; a photo-sensor formed on the substrate and optically coupled to the light emitter to detect light emitted by the light emitter to generate a feedback voltage signal in response to light emitted by the light emitter; and, a feedback readout circuit formed on the substrate and responsive to the feedback voltage signal to provide a feedback signal representing the light output of the light emitter, the feedback readout circuit including a transistor amplifier, means for resetting the readout circuit, and a select switch.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 12, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Applicant: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Paul P. Lee, Ronald S. Cok
  • Publication number: 20030151570
    Abstract: A method of applying an adaptive current boost to precharge current-driven elements in a matrix. Elements, such as OLEDs in a display matrix, are driven during successive scan cycles, each having a precharge period and an exposure period. Changes in conduction voltages are sensed during conduction periods, while an element conducts part of a selected exposure current, typically by capacitively coupling an element connection to a sense circuit. The sensed conduction voltage changes are used to control a charge delivered during the precharge period, typically by changing a precharge current level based upon conduction period voltage changes integrated over time, and for a selectable number of different matrix elements. Precharge charge delivery may also be controlled digitally, for example by varying a time duration of precharge current delivery.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 17, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Robert E. LeChevalier, William C. Boling
  • Publication number: 20030151571
    Abstract: In a liquid crystal display device capable of display large and small characters simultaneously, upper portions or lower portions of all the longitudinal liquid crystal tubes or those at specific positions are divided in the center transversely, and a transverse liquid crystal tube is disposed between the left and right longitudinal liquid crystal tubes such that the corresponding segment circuits and common circuits are connected electrically. By activation or according to the calculation result of a control chip (CPU), the control chip can control the corresponding segment circuits and common circuits to connect electrically the upper portions or lower portions of the liquid crystal tubes that are provided with the transverse liquid crystal tubes and that are at the specific positions or that are after the decimal point so as to display small characters, whereas the liquid crystal tubes that are at the other positions are connected electrically to display large characters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 13, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventor: Wilson Wang
  • Publication number: 20030151572
    Abstract: In a signal line drive circuit of an active-matrix type liquid-crystal display which is a voltage-controlled type display with a capacitive load, n selector switches (161 to 16n) are provided between buffer circuits (151 to 15n) to which voltages responsive to an image to be displayed are inputted from reference voltage selection circuits (131 to 13n), and output terminals (T1 to Tn) to which are connected image signal lines. These selector switches (161 to 16n), based on a shorting control signal (Csh) that is at a high level when the polarity is reversed to perform AC drive of the liquid-crystal panel, switch the output signals (OUT1 to OUTn of the image signal line drive circuit between the output signals of the buffer circuits (151 to 15n) and the common electrode signal (Vcom). By doing this, each of the image signal lines is, for a prescribed time only when the polarity is reversed, separated from the buffer circuits (151 to 15n) and shorted to the common electrode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 4, 2003
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Kouji Kumada, Takashige Ohta, Haruhito Kagawa
  • Publication number: 20030151573
    Abstract: In a monochromatic image display system, the number of tone levels which can be expressed is multiplied. As a display device, a liquid crystal panel 40 which can express each picture element 41 of a monochromatic image by three cells 41a, 41b and 41c is employed. A tone number conversion processing means 20 carries out a tone number conversion processing on an input original image signal Sorig according to the maximum number of tone levels which can be expressed by the liquid crystal panel 40, thereby obtaining a monochromatic image signal So. Luminance of the monochromatic image signal So is allotted to the cells 41a, 41b and 41c. Time modulation is carried out on each cell by a time modulation means 12 which can express four tone levels (but tone level 0) so that each cell outputs allotted luminance. In this manner, the liquid crystal panel 40 can express thirteen tone levels (4×3+1=13) in total (tone level 0 inclusive).
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 12, 1999
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: AKIRA YAMAGUCHI, EIJI OGAWA
  • Publication number: 20030151574
    Abstract: The present invention provides a pixel signal line module of a liquid crystal display, wherein a plurality of sub-pixels are alternately arranged in delta form on a liquid crystal display panel. A plurality of signal scan lines are used to cover and connect each transversally arranged pixel. A plurality of longitudinal data signal lines alternately shift leftwards and rightwards according to the checkered arrangement of the longitudinal sub-pixels so as to connect the sub-pixels in two adjacent longitudinal rows together in indented way. The present invention lets the signal lines be not limited by the arrangement of sub-pixels, and has the advantages of enhanced resolution, larger signal line's width, reduced impedance, and less signal distortion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 12, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Pin Chang, Heng-Chung Wu
  • Publication number: 20030151575
    Abstract: A selector circuit, for selecting and outputting, in accordance with N-bit input data, one gray level reference voltage from 2N gray level reference voltages, comprises: a plurality of select transistor arrays, which are provided in parallel between terminals of the gray level reference voltages and an output terminal and which have a plurality of serially connected transistors that are drive-controlled by the input data, wherein the select transistor arrays are each commonly provided for a group of M (M is a plurality and M<2N) gray level reference voltages among the 2N gray level reference voltages and are made to assume a drive enabled state by means of time division in correspondence with the M gray level reference voltages.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 30, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Applicant: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventors: Shinya Udo, Masao Kumagai, Masatoshi Kokubun
  • Publication number: 20030151576
    Abstract: A designing method and circuit of gray level and luminance characteristic of liquid crystal display are disclosed. A LCD is used to actually measure data about gray level and luminance of the liquid crystal display for building a gray level and luminance database of the liquid crystal display. The characteristic of gray level and luminance at other voltages is calculated to estimate a relation between gray level and luminance using a different driving circuit chip, thereby adjusting internal resistance of the driving circuit chip of the liquid crystal display to have optimal relation between gray level and luminance, and adjusting black signal high voltage, white signal high voltage, white signal low voltage and black signal low voltage to match the display data and generate outputs of a high voltage and a low voltage of each gray level.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 6, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Applicant: Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Ltd.
    Inventor: Shih-Hsiung Huang
  • Publication number: 20030151577
    Abstract: A reference voltage generation circuit includes a positive polarity ladder resistor circuit including a first ladder resistor circuit having resistance ratio for a positive polarity and a negative polarity ladder resistor circuit including a second ladder resistor circuit having resistance ratio for a negative polarity. First to 2i-th reference voltage output switching circuits are respectively inserted between first to i-th and (i+1)th to 2i-th division nodes and first to i-th reference voltage output nodes. The positive polarity ladder resistor circuit generates a reference voltage at a positive polarity inversion period and the negative polarity ladder resistor circuit generates a reference voltage at a negative polarity inversion period.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 23, 2003
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akira Morita
  • Publication number: 20030151578
    Abstract: A reference voltage generation circuit includes first to third resistance ladder circuits. The first resistance ladder circuit has at least one variable resistance circuit in which a resistance value between both ends is variable, and outputs multi-valued reference voltages. The second resistance ladder circuit has series-connected resistance circuits each of which has a fixed resistance value, and outputs a plurality of reference voltages. The third resistance ladder circuit has at least one variable resistance circuit in which a resistance value between both ends is variable, and outputs multi-valued reference voltages. The first to third resistance ladder circuits are connected in series between first and second power supply lines. The resistance values of the variable resistance circuits in the first and third resistance ladder circuits are variably controlled by a given command or a variable control signal input through an external input terminal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 31, 2003
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akira Morita
  • Publication number: 20030151579
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display according to the present invention includes a gray signal modifier connected with a frame memory outputting and storing data by a burst mode. The gray signal modifier receives a gray signal of current frame from a data gray signal source and stores it in the frame memory by the burst mode, and reads a gray signal of previous frame stored in the frame memory to generate and output a modified gray signal in consideration of a gray signal of current frame and a gray signal of previous frame. Data pins and instruction pins of the frame memory share buses interfacing with the gray signal modifier.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2003
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventor: Baek-Woon Lee
  • Publication number: 20030151580
    Abstract: The present invention relates to cholesteric liquid crystal display, especially, to a passive motion video cholesteric liquid crystal display. The display provides not only a video speed with full color moving picture when supplying electric field, but also a video-rate response, long-term memory and high-resolution image in the absence of electric field. The field-induced nematic texture has been denoted as an optical state and cholesteric focal conic texture as another optical state during the video rate display mode. And the cholesteric planar texture has been denoted as an optical state and cholesteric focal conic texture as another during the storage-type display mode. The video rate addressing is accomplished by a narrow pulse scanning at a seed of 30-60 microseconds per row. The novel display mode and driving means deliver a passive display with a property that the display not only looks like a TV or a computer monitor dynamically but also like a permanent picture or prints statically.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 11, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventor: Yao-Dong Ma
  • Publication number: 20030151581
    Abstract: The present invention provides a compact-size driving voltage controller which can be driven with low power. The compact-size driving voltage controller which can be driven with low power includes a High output operational amplifier and a Low output operational amplifier for supplying driving voltages VcomH, VcomL to a load such as a liquid crystal display panel, an output switch for alternating between the outputs of the operational amplifiers, a Low voltage setting operational amplifier for generating a set voltage to be supplied to the non-inverted input terminal of the Low output operational amplifier, a set voltage generator including a current mirror circuit and a clamping circuit, a bias current controller for controlling the bias current flowing in each operational amplifier with a predetermined timing, and a timing controller for controlling the changeover timing of the output switch.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 24, 2003
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Applicant: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tooru Suyama, Tsutomu Sakakibara, Tomokazu Kojima, Tetsuro Ohmori, Yoshito Date, Yasuyuki Doi, Masahiro Akabori, Kenji Miyake, Miki Fujino, Takahito Kushima, Tsukasa Kawahara, Kazuhiko Nagaoka, Shinji Miyamoto, Yoshiyuki Konishi
  • Publication number: 20030151582
    Abstract: The present invention controls writing or holding a data signal to and in a memory circuit in a pixel driving circuit according to whether a row scanning line and a column scanning line are selected or not. According to a data signal held in the memory circuit, a pixel driver connects a first voltage signal line or a second voltage signal line to a pixel. A reference voltage is applied to a common electrode of a opposite substrate, and display is performed by a potential difference between the reference voltage and a first voltage signal or a second voltage signal. Thus, an electro-optic device is provided that consumes less power and features a simpler control method and a simpler control circuit configuration than a conventional static drive liquid crystal device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 4, 2000
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventor: RYO ISHII
  • Publication number: 20030151583
    Abstract: The present invention provides a display driver circuit having a simple configuration due to a decrease in the number of voltage levels and capable of preventing deterioration of contrast ratio in display drive by using MLS, an electro-optical device, and a display drive method. First to fourth bits of grayscale data corresponding to a display pattern for three lines are supplied to each ROM. The ROMs decode and output 4MLS operation results for a display pattern defined by the first to fourth bits of the grayscale data and a dummy display-pattern corresponding to the display pattern based on orthogonal functions defined by combinations of a scan pattern and a dummy scan pattern of a virtual electrode based on a field signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 27, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yusuke Ota
  • Publication number: 20030151584
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display includes a liquid crystal display panel having liquid crystal cells arranged at crossings of gate lines and data lines and include thin film transistors that are alternately connected to adjacent data lines every ‘i’ number of horizontal lines (i is a positive number); a gate driver for driving the gate lines; and a data driver for driving the data lines; a multiplexor array for determining an output channel of an inputted pixel data and for adding one blank data in response to the control signals having their polarity inverted every ‘i’ number of horizontal lines, and a digital-analog converter array for converting the pixel data and the blank data to a pixel signal and a blank signal having their polarities inverted according to the data lines and frames.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Hong Sung Song, Sang Chang Yun
  • Publication number: 20030151585
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display can operate with as the small number of control signals supplied to individual drivers as possible while current control functions are maintained. The liquid crystal display comprises a liquid crystal panel containing a data line, a data driver driving a data line, and a controller outputting N control functions controlling a driving operation the data driver driving the data line to less than or equal to (N−1) control signal lines connected to the data driver.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 31, 2003
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Applicant: FUJITSU DISPLAY TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takae Ito, Kazuhiro Nukiyama
  • Publication number: 20030151586
    Abstract: A vehicle-use liquid crystal display device which is capable of securing high visibility even under a low temperature environment without increasing or enlarging power consumption is provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 16, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Kazuhiko Mori, Atsushi Hatayama
  • Publication number: 20030151587
    Abstract: Each of a plurality of source lines is connected to a video signal line via an analog switch and a read-out switch, which are turned ON/OFF by a source line driving circuit. When the analog switch of the source line is turned ON and the read-out switch thereof is turned OFF, the selected source line is connected to the video signal line, thereby writing a video signal to a storage capacitor of a picture element via a picture element transistor. When the analog switch of the source line is turned OFF and the read-out switch thereof is turned ON, a signal stored in a storage capacitor is read out from the source line to the read-out line via the picture element transistor. The read-out line is a single line shared by the plurality of source lines.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2003
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventor: Hidehiko Yamashita
  • Publication number: 20030151588
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for smoothing cursor motion on a display is provided. In an embodiment of the invention, an indication of an amount of movement of an operation instrumentality of a pointing device in a first direction is received from the pointing device. At a reporting time, a predetermined portion of the amount of movement of the pointing device in the first direction is reported to a computer. In at least one subsequent reporting time, a remainder of the amount of the movement in the first direction is reported. Preferably, at least two reports are sent to the computer for each time an indication of the amount of movement of the pointing device is received from the pointing device. In addition to smoothing of cursor motion, higher rates of movement of the operation instrumentality can be reported for a given bit length of the reports as the total amount of movement is divided into separate smaller reports.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 11, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Gary Rensberger
  • Publication number: 20030151589
    Abstract: A configurable operator panel that uses a tactile sensor with electrically conductive elastomer and appropriate electronics is disclosed herein. The device relies on a robust and inexpensive tactile sensor that senses the touch position (and may or may not sense touch pressure as well). The physical interface is easily configurable along with the electronics, which execute the desired function based on touch location and pressure. The configurable operator panel is designed to communicate with most industrial automation equipment, including but not limited to, motion control equipment, programmable logic controllers (PLC), personal computers, and can be made to control other types of machines requiring external analog or digital input.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 13, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Applicant: Siemens Technology-To-Business Center, LLC
    Inventors: Daniel Conrad Bensen, Irving S. Scher
  • Publication number: 20030151590
    Abstract: An interactive display system (10) for providing information including a data storage, a display (12) and at least one selector (18), wherein the display (2) sequentially displays summary information from said data storage, and wherein the at least one selector (18) is capable of causing the display (12)to display further information relating to selected summary information; wherein said further information is obtained from said data storage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventor: Andrew William Pollard