Patents Issued in May 2, 2017
  • Patent number: 9640110
    Abstract: A light-emitting device comprising an emitting unit including at least two emitting elements, a driving unit configured to control the emitting unit, and a capacitor unit formed over the driving unit. A shield layer may be located between the two emitting elements. In one example, the capacitor unit is formed at a level higher than a level of the driving unit, and a shield layer that is located between the two emitting elements is formed at a level that is higher than the level of the driving unit and equal to or lower than the level of the capacitor unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Tetsuo Minami, Junichi Yamashita
  • Patent number: 9640111
    Abstract: A display device includes: a plurality of light-emitting elements, each light-emitting element having a light-emitting unit and a driving circuit for driving the light-emitting unit. The driving circuit at least includes (A) a drive transistor having source/drain regions, a channel forming region, and a gate electrode, (B) a video signal write transistor having source/drain regions, a channel forming region, and a gate electrode, and (C) a capacitive unit. In the drive transistor, (A-1) one of the source/drain regions is connected to the corresponding current supply line, (A-2) the other region of the source/drain regions is connected to the light-emitting unit and connected to one end of the capacitive unit, and forms a second node, and (A-3) the gate electrode is connected to the other region of the source/drain regions of the video signal write transistor and connected to the other end of the capacitive unit, and forms a first node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Junichi Yamashita, Yusuke Onoyama, Tetsuo Minami, Naobumi Toyomura, Tetsuro Yamamoto, Katsuhide Uchino
  • Patent number: 9640112
    Abstract: A local priority-based scanning scheme that focuses scanning to areas of a display panel whose measured characteristics are under continuous change (e.g., aging or relaxation). The algorithm identifies areas or regions needing compensation, using a current measurement from a single pixel in an area as a candidate to determine whether the rest of the region needs further compensation. The algorithm thus detects newly changed areas quickly, focusing time-consuming measurements on those areas that need high attention. Optionally, neighboring pixels sharing the same state (e.g., aging or overcompensated) as the measured pixel can be adjusted automatically given the likelihood that the neighboring pixels will also require compensation if the measured pixel needs compensation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Ignis Innovation Inc.
    Inventors: Javid Jaffari, Gholamreza Chaji, Abdorreza Heidari
  • Patent number: 9640113
    Abstract: A compensation circuit of IR drop of a display system, the display system having m pixel circuits, the compensation circuit comprising: m current comparators composed of TFT devices, wherein each current comparator is configured to compare the input current signal with a reference current signal and output a voltage signal according to the comparison result; m encoders composed of TFT devices, wherein each encoder is configured to encode the voltage signal into a digital voltage signal to output; a controller which is configured to calculate a difference value between the digital voltage signal and an ideal digital voltage signal and generate a digital difference signal; m compensation voltage generators each of which is configured to convert the digital difference signal into a compensation voltage signal, and write the compensation voltage signal into a corresponding pixel circuit according to control of a timing control signal; and a driver IC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Ying Wang
  • Patent number: 9640114
    Abstract: A device includes a matrix of active pixels. Each active pixel includes an OLED and a control circuit configured to refresh the active pixel and including at least one transistor having a first conduction terminal coupled to a supply line and a second conduction terminal coupled to the OLED. Supply circuitry is configured to apply a supply voltage to the supply line of each active pixel during the refreshing of the active pixel and for a time period less than a duration of the refreshing of the active pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics International N.V.
    Inventors: Jerome Nebon, Christophe Forel
  • Patent number: 9640115
    Abstract: A semiconductor integrated circuit and corresponding display panel and electronic apparatus. A pixel element includes a self-luminous element and a drive transistor connected to a power supply line. In an emission period of the self-luminous element, an active voltage and an intermediate voltage are sequentially applied between the power supply line and a potential line with a pulse-shaped waveform such that a predetermined luminance duration is obtained in the emission period. In a non-emission period of the self-luminous element, an off-state voltage is applied between the power supply line and the potential line so as to maintain the self-luminous element in a non-emission state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroshi Hasegawa, Teppei Isobe
  • Patent number: 9640116
    Abstract: The present invention provides an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display apparatus displaying a grayscale of one frame with N number of subfields. The OLED display apparatus includes a display panel where pixels are defined by an intersection of data lines and gate lines, a gate driving unit that provides a scan signal to the gate line, and a data driving unit that controls a data voltage in an analog manner. Here, the data voltage is provided to the data line in at least one subfield.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: LG DISPLAY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Jongmin Park, Younghwan Ahn, Yunki Won, JoonHee Lee
  • Patent number: 9640118
    Abstract: A display device includes a base structure, a plurality of modules coupled to the base structure, where each of the modules include a plurality of actuator assemblies. Each of the actuator assemblies is individually controllable to move the actuator assemblies between a retracted state and a plurality of extended states. A controller is coupled to each of the modules and is programmed to control the actuator assemblies to move the actuator assemblies between the retracted state and the plurality of extended states.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: The Coca-Cola Company
    Inventors: William Jefferson Jurewicz, James Allen Squires, Barrett David Haroldson, Lawrence Alexander Duarte, Jeremiah Matthew Hueske, Lo Chi Kwong, Shawn Roske, Julio Obelleiro, Mervin Perkins, Ryan West, Peter Revelas, Jonathan Kirschner, Lisa R. Marchbanks, Marjorie Presten, Katherine Marie Brown, Jeremy D. Billig, Gregory Oren Bryant
  • Patent number: 9640119
    Abstract: The present invention provides driving methods for color displays using electrophoretic fluids comprises four types of particles to display four colors at each pixel. Methods are also provided for displaying mixtures of certain pairs of colors at each pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: E INK CALIFORNIA, LLC
    Inventors: Craig Lin, Ming-Jen Chang
  • Patent number: 9640120
    Abstract: A virtual reality (VR) headset includes an electronic display element, a corrective element, and an optics block. The electronic display element outputs image light via a plurality of sub-pixels that are separated from each other by a dark space. The corrective element is configured to generate blur spots in the image light that mask the dark space between adjacent sub-pixels, with each blur spot corresponding to a blurred image of a sub-pixel in the image light. The optics block is configured to magnify the image light received from the corrective element and to optically correct the magnified image light. Optically corrected light is directed form the optics block to an exit pupil of the VR headset for presentation to a user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Oculus VR, LLC
    Inventor: Yury Anatolievich Petrov
  • Patent number: 9640121
    Abstract: One display frame period is divided into one or a plurality of display driving periods and non-display driving periods, and immediately before transition from the non-display driving period to the display driving period, a dummy driving period is inserted. During the dummy driving period, using dummy data changed from display data at the time of driving stop of a signal electrode during the non-display driving period, driving of the signal electrode starts. Thereafter, a display line is selected, and, using the display data corresponding to each display line selected, the signal electrode is driven.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Synaptics Japan GK
    Inventor: Isao Munechika
  • Patent number: 9640122
    Abstract: Provided is a liquid crystal display device, including a first and second substrates, the second substrate including data signal lines, gate signal lines, pixel electrodes, a plurality of common electrodes that extend in one of a column direction and a row direction, and a plurality of shield electrodes overlapping at least one of the data signal lines or the gate signal lines, the plurality of common electrodes including a first common electrode to which a first voltage is supplied and a second common electrode to which a second voltage is supplied, the first common electrode and the second common electrode being alternately arranged in one of the row direction and the column direction, in which, in plan view, each of the plurality of shield electrodes is formed to overlap at least a gap formed between the first common electrode and the second common electrode that are adjacent to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Panasonic Liquid Crystal Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kikuo Ono
  • Patent number: 9640123
    Abstract: The embodiment of the present invention provides a display driving method which can reduce the coupling effect due to the rapid changes of the voltage on the gate line and improve stability of display. The display driving method uses an overlapping scan mode, wherein every two rows of pixel units have two gate lines, the two gate lines drive the pixel units connected thereto respectively, each gate line group including N pairs of adjacent two gate lines, N being a natural number, said driving method comprising: providing a switching voltage signal to the odd gate lines in the gate line group sequentially; and providing a switching voltage signal to the even gate lines in the gate line group sequentially; wherein when the switching voltage signal on the odd gate lines is in the falling edge, the switching voltage signal on the even gate lines is in the rising edge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Beijing BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Rui Liu, Hao Zhang, Xue Dong, Hyungkyu Kim, Xiaobo Xie
  • Patent number: 9640124
    Abstract: The present invention provides a GOA circuit based on LTPS semiconductor TFT, comprising a plurality of GOA units which are cascade connected, and N is set to be a positive integer and an Nth GOA unit comprises a pull-up control part (100), a pull-up part (200), a first pull-down part (400), a pull-down holding part (500) and a transfer part (600); the pull-down holding part (500) utilizes a high/low voltage reverse design and comprises a first, a second and a third DC constant low voltage levels (VSS1, VSS2, VSS3) which are sequentially abated and a DC constant high voltage level (H), the influence of electrical property of the LTPS semiconductor TFT to the GOA driving circuit, and particularly the bad function due to the electric leakage issue can be solved; meanwhile, the existing issue that the second node voltage level the pull-down holding circuit part in the GOA circuit based on the LTPS semiconductor TFT cannot be at higher voltage level in the functioning period can be solved to effectively maintain
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd
    Inventor: Juncheng Xiao
  • Patent number: 9640125
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides methods for transmitting data in a display system, a clock controller, a source driver, and a display system. The method includes the steps of: receiving, by the clock controller, a reference clock signal and a data signal from an external data source; determining a phase difference between the data signal and the reference clock signal in each cycle; encoding the determined phase difference to generate a corresponding encoded signal; and transmitting the encoded signal and the reference clock signal to the source driver. By encoding the phase difference between the data signal and the reference clock signal in each cycle, it is able to use the encoded signal and the reference clock signal to transmit the data signal and the reference clock signal between the clock controller and the source driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignees: BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD., BEIJING BOE DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Yizhen Xu
  • Patent number: 9640126
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention disclose an array substrate, a driving method thereof and a display panel. The array substrate includes: data lines, connected with a source driver IC; gate lines, connected with a gate driver IC; and pixel units, arranged in an array, wherein each row of pixel units are connected with a first gate line and a second gate line, the first gate line receives a gate driving signal in the case of displaying an odd frame image, the second gate line receives a gate driving signal in the case of displaying an adjacent even frame image, each pixel unit comprises a first and second TFTs, the first TFT is connected with the first gate line; the second TFT is connected with the second gate line; each column of pixel units are connected with two data lines, two adjacent columns of pixel units share one data line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignees: BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd., Beijing BOE Display Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Zhihua Sun, Baoyu Liu, Weichao Ma
  • Patent number: 9640127
    Abstract: The amplitude voltage of a signal input to a level shifter can be increased and then output by the level shifter circuit. Specifically, the amplitude voltage of the signal input to the level shifter can be increased to be output. This decreases the amplitude voltage of a circuit (a shift register circuit, a decoder circuit, or the like) which outputs the signal input to the level shifter. Consequently, power consumption of the circuit can be reduced. Alternatively, a voltage applied to a transistor included in the circuit can be reduced. This can suppress degradation of the transistor or damage to the transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jun Koyama, Atsushi Umezaki
  • Patent number: 9640128
    Abstract: Provided are a Gamma voltage tuning method and a Gamma voltage tuning system. The method includes: dividing a display panel into at least two display areas; and for each divided display panel, controlling a gate driving integrated circuit to drive multiple gate lines in the display area in turn and a data driving integrated circuit to drive data lines in the display area simultaneously to lighten pixels in the display area, and performing a Gamma voltage tuning on the display area whose pixels are lightened. The display panel is divided into display areas and the tuning of Gamma voltage values is performed for each divided display area respectively; therefore the tuning of Gamma voltage for large size display panels is more accurate, which can effectively improve the uniformity of the picture display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignees: BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD., HEFEI BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Xiangyang Xu
  • Patent number: 9640129
    Abstract: Disclosed are a voltage adjustment circuit for a common electrode and a display apparatus, which are capable of improving a sensitivity and a precision in an adjustment of a voltage of the common electrode. The voltage adjustment circuit for the common electrode includes a first fixed resistor, a second fixed resistor and a first adjustable resistor and the voltage adjustment circuit for the common electrode further includes an adjustment module, which is connected to an output terminal of the voltage adjustment circuit for the common electrode and an adjustable terminal of the first adjustable resistor, and is configured to cooperate with the first adjustable resistor to adjust a resistance of the voltage adjustment circuit for the common electrode in order to adjust the output voltage of the common electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignees: BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD., HEFEI BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Ping Chen, Zhiyu Qian, Lei Jin, Yimin Wang
  • Patent number: 9640130
    Abstract: A display driver is connectable with and serves to activate an active matrix type display panel having a plurality of source lines wired to run in an up-and-down direction and a plurality of gate lines wired to run in left and right directions when viewed from a direction perpendicular to a substrate, and a plurality of pixels respectively arranged at intersections where the source and gate lines intersect with one another; electric charges corresponding to display data are transmitted from the source lines to the pixels selected by the driven gate line. The display driver includes a circuit capable of adjusting, in amplitude, first gate drive circuits operable to drive, of the plurality of gate lines, gate lines wired from the left, and second gate drive circuits operable to drive gate lines wired from the right independently of one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Synaptics Japan GK
    Inventor: Kimihiko Sugiyama
  • Patent number: 9640131
    Abstract: An overdrive engine generates output frames to be used to drive a display from input frames to be displayed. Each output frame is generated on a region by region basis from the corresponding regions of the input frames. If it is determined that an input frame region has changed significantly since the previous version(s) of the input frame, an overdriven version of the input frame region is generated for use as the corresponding region in the output frame. On the other hand, if it is determined that the input frame region has not changed since the previous version of the input frame, then the new input frame region is used without performing any form of overdrive process on it for the corresponding region in the output frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: ARM Limited
    Inventor: Daren Croxford
  • Patent number: 9640132
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display panel is disclosed and has a driving circuit, a plurality of data lines, a plurality of scanning lines, and a plurality of pixel units. The driving circuit further includes a programmable DC current source being used to output a corresponding shaping electric current according to a reference voltage, and a shaping resistor being used to generate a corresponding shaping voltage according to the outputted shaping electric current. A liquid crystal display apparatus is also disclosed. The apparatus is able to output shaping voltages with different voltage levels at the same time, thus having a better 3D display effect.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Xianming Zhang, Dan Cao
  • Patent number: 9640133
    Abstract: The present invention provides a power supply circuit for supplying power for a display device, the display device comprising a standby module and a plurality of functional modules, the power supply circuit comprising a power supply module; a plurality of transformer modules, receiving a power voltage provided by the power supply module, and converting the power voltage into working voltages provided to the plurality of functional modules; and a switch module, connected between the power supply module and the plurality of transformer modules, for controlling the power supply module to provide the power voltage to the plurality of transformer modules, wherein the power supply module supplies power to the standby module directly, and supplies power to the plurality of functional modules through the plurality of transformer modules.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignees: BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD., BEIJING BOE VISION-ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Naijia Guo, Jianzi He
  • Patent number: 9640134
    Abstract: A display device includes: a storage unit, a communication unit and a control unit. In the storage unit, preregistered path information indicating a network path is stored. The communication unit receives path information indicating a network path sent from a terminal device. The control unit (i) compares the received path information with the stored path information so as to determine whether or not the received path information and the stored path information indicate approximately the same path and (ii) displays display information on a display unit when determining that the received path information and the stored path information indicate approximately the same path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Tamotsu Irie
  • Patent number: 9640135
    Abstract: A semiconductor device having a normal function means is provided, in which the amplitude of an output signal is prevented from being decreased even when a digital circuit using transistors having one conductivity is employed. By turning OFF a diode-connected transistor 101, the gate terminal of a first transistor 102 is brought into a floating state. At this time, the first transistor 102 is ON and its gate-source voltage is stored in a capacitor. Then, when a potential at the source terminal of the first transistor 102 is increased, a potential at the gate terminal of the first transistor 102 is increased as well by bootstrap effect. As a result, the amplitude of an output signal is prevented from being decreased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hajime Kimura, Yutaka Shionoiri
  • Patent number: 9640136
    Abstract: An onboard computer, included in a display device, has a sensing unit that is designed to sense the presence of at least one occupant in the motor vehicle. A control unit, also included in the display device, is coupled to the sensing unit and is designed to retrieve data from the sensing unit and also vehicle-related and surroundings-related data from the onboard computer that are suitable for characterizing a past travel behavior and/or influencing a future travel behavior. Also included in the display device is a display unit controllable by the control unit and designed to display the vehicle-related data retrieved by the control unit which is designed to control the display unit such that it displays the vehicle-related and surroundings-related data at least in part until the sensing unit senses that there is at least no longer a driver in the motor vehicle, to conveniently display a piece of information particularly for a stationary motor vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: AUDI AG
    Inventors: Ulrich Mueller, Marcus Kuehne
  • Patent number: 9640137
    Abstract: An electronic apparatus includes a locking unit to selectively lock a physical connection with an external apparatus and a control unit to control an operation mode of the electronic apparatus, according to a connection state with the external apparatus, in which the control unit controls the locking unit to lock the connection with the external apparatus, when the electronic apparatus is in an operation mode of using a graphic processing unit of the external apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Ja-goun Koo
  • Patent number: 9640138
    Abstract: An information processing system includes a first information processing terminal which can be connected to an external network and a second information processing terminal which receives data from the external network through the first information processing terminal. The first information processing terminal stands by in a sleep mode, and when a predetermined condition is satisfied, it cancels the sleep mode and transmits data from the external network to the second information processing terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: NINTENDO CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shumpei Yasuda, Masaaki Sugino, Yu Horii, Masatoshi Yamazaki, Eiji Tokunaga, Yuma Iwai, Nobutaka Torigoe
  • Patent number: 9640139
    Abstract: An information handling system includes a processor; a memory, a firmware, and a video agent. The memory includes a frame buffer for image data. The frame buffer accessible to an operating system. The firmware is configured to present to the operating system a graphics output protocol. The graphics output protocol includes an address of the portion of the reserved portion of the memory and soft video display parameters. The video agent is configured to retrieve image data from the reserved portion of the memory, and provide the image data to an external system for remote video display to be completed upon finalization of application.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: DELL PRODUCTS, LP
    Inventor: William A. Moyes
  • Patent number: 9640140
    Abstract: A color management system is provided that includes a color transformation unit that uses a profile connection space to perform a color transformation process on input image data based on an input side color transformation parameter associated with the input image data for translating an input device-dependent color value that describes the input image data into a device-independent color value of the profile connection space and an output side color transformation parameter for matching the device-independent color value to an output device-dependent color value. The color management system further includes an output device selection unit that enables a user to select at least two output devices from plural output devices that are available for selection, and a profile connection space generation unit that automatically generates the profile connection space according to a predetermined profile connection space generation method based on the gamuts of the output devices selected by the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventor: Takeshi Shibuya
  • Patent number: 9640141
    Abstract: A color to be emulated by an ambient light source associated to a display is determined. A saliency map is determined for an image displayed on the display. A subset of pixels of the image with a saliency below a given threshold is selected based on the saliency map. The color to be emulated by the ambient light source is then determined from color values of the determined subset of pixels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Thomson Licensing
    Inventors: Julien Fleureau, Jeremie Bernon, Fabien Danieau, Philippe Guillotel
  • Patent number: 9640142
    Abstract: A method for detecting a region of interest (ROI) is provided, which includes acquiring a plurality of photographed images by photographing a display apparatus sequentially displaying thereon a plurality of different mono-color images, comparing gray levels of the plurality of photographed images and detecting a target region, and detecting a plurality of corner points of the target region, and detecting the region of interest (ROI) corresponding to a display screen of the display apparatus based on the plurality of corner points.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Xianli Ren, Hye-rin Choi
  • Patent number: 9640143
    Abstract: Instead of a monochromatic projection screen, an active projection screen is provided which varies reflectance and gray level (black to white) in synchronization with the content being shown. Groups of multiple screen pixels, which are smaller than each projected pixel from the projector, are assigned to each respective larger projection pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas Dawson, Steven Richman
  • Patent number: 9640144
    Abstract: Blocking a view of a whiteboard by a position of an attendee writing thereon is prevented, and writing records made by all attendees are stored to use the writing records including a course of the written records later. Each terminal of the attendees has a touch-panel-equipped terminal can divide any input line drawing on the terminal into line segment data, successively transmit the line segment data to the controller, and display line drawing information on the display of the touch-panel-equipped terminal. A liquid crystal projector having a controller that can be embedded therein or connected thereto is provided, the controller can sequentially record line drawing information transmitted from each touch-panel-equipped terminal in a data base, add the line drawing information to a video image memory of the whiteboard, and project the video image memory contents onto a wall surface while transmitting information of the data base to each touch-panel-equipped terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: HITACHI MAXELL, LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Shimizu, Kazuhiko Yoshizawa, Motoyuki Suzuki, Hideo Nishijima, Nobuo Masuoka
  • Patent number: 9640145
    Abstract: A display apparatus is provided. The display apparatus includes: a detector configured to detect one or more user viewing positions; a display configured to have a changeable curvature; and a controller receiving information of the one or more user viewing positions from the detector, the controller configured to determine deviations between right-side viewing angles and left-side viewing angles at each of the one or more detected user viewing positions for a first curvature and a second curvature of the display; and the controller configured to set the changeable curvature of the display based on the deviation determinations between the right-side viewing angle and the left-side viewing angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Young-gwi Cho
  • Patent number: 9640146
    Abstract: A self refresh method with dithering has at least the following steps: generating a plurality of original frames; performing a dithering process upon the plurality of original frames to generate a plurality of dithering frames to a timing controller; checking if the plurality of original frames is unaltered; and when it is detected that the plurality of original frames is unaltered, requesting the timing controller to enter a self refresh mode, and stopping transmission of dithering frames after transmitting a specific frame and dithering information associated with the specific frame to the timing controller for further dithering processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: HIMAX TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED
    Inventor: Chi-Cheng Chiang
  • Patent number: 9640147
    Abstract: A driving circuit of a display panel and driving method thereof are provided. The driving circuit of the display panel has a capacitor, a first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth thin film transistor, a reset thin film transistor, and an output thin film transistor. A sixth and seventh drain electrode, and an eighth gate electrode are connected to a signal output line, a sixth source electrode is configured to receive a fourth power source signal, an eighth is configured to receive a fifth power source signal, and an eighth drain electrode is connected to a sixth gate electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Xiaoxiang He
  • Patent number: 9640148
    Abstract: A data processing system comprises a host processor and a graphics processor that renders frames to be output and writes those frames to a frame buffer. When a new frame is to be generated and written to the frame buffer, the host processor determines, for a set of plural sub-regions that the frame has been divided into, which of those sub-regions could have changed from the frame previously used for the frame buffer 30 and generates information indicating which sub-regions should be rendered to generate the new frame on the basis of the determination 31. The information indicating which sub-regions should be rendered to generate the frame is provided to the graphics processor 32 and the graphics processor uses the provided sub-region information to render only the indicated sub-regions 33.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: ARM LIMITED
    Inventor: David Brown
  • Patent number: 9640149
    Abstract: A set of methods, techniques and hardware is described for compressing image data for memory bandwidth and memory storage reduction in graphics processing systems. The disclosed technology can be used for compressing image data sent to the frame buffer and/or image data residing in the frame buffer. The compression process can be based on an adaptive number of base color points and an adaptive number of quantized color points. An adaptive technique for compressing alpha values based on pre-calculated maps or using an estimated alpha value based on thresholds is also disclosed. An implementation of the disclosed methods has, for example, a low hardware overhead, low buffering requirements, and low and predefined compression latency. Also, the disclosed methods allow, for example, random accesses to compressed image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: THINK SILICON SA
    Inventors: Georgios Keramidas, Chrysa Kokkala, Iakovos Stamoulis, George Sidiropoulos, Michael Koziotis
  • Patent number: 9640150
    Abstract: Methods, systems and apparatuses for selecting graphics data of a server system for transmission are disclosed. One method includes reading data from memory of the server system, checking if the data is being read for the first time, checking if the data was written by a processor of the server system during processing, comprising checking if the data is available on a client system or present in a transmit buffer, placing the data in the transmit buffer if the data is being read for the first time and was not written by the processor during the processing as determined by the checking if the data was written by the processor of the server system during processing, wherein if the data is being read for the first time and was written by the processor of the server system during processing the data is not placed in the transmit buffer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: ThinCI, Inc.
    Inventors: Satyaki Koneru, Ke Yin, Dinakar C. Munagala
  • Patent number: 9640151
    Abstract: A plectrum or pick for an instrument is provided. The pick includes: a pick body having a central portion configured to be held by a user and a tip configured to contact an instrument string; at least one sensor arranged on or embedded in the pick body and configured to sense information representative of a pluck of the string with the pick body; and at least one pressure sensor arranged on or embedded in the pick body. The at least one pressure sensor can be configured to sense pressure between the pick body and the user's hand. The pick also includes a wireless transmitter configured to obtain information from the respective sensors and to transmit the obtained information to a remote device. A system for providing feedback to a user regarding picking techniques including an instrument pick and feedback device is also provide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Pickatto LLC
    Inventor: Michael G. Murawski
  • Patent number: 9640152
    Abstract: A musical instrument mute, a mute body, a microphone, a speaker, and a microcontroller for electronic modification of sound emitted from a musical instrument. A mute body is positionable within a bell or horn of the musical instrument, and the body has a proximal end portion and is configured to at least partially occlude the bell or horn. A microphone is positioned at the proximal end portion of the mute body and is configured to transduce a sound produced by the musical instrument. A speaker is positioned in the mute body as well. A microcontroller is configured to receive a signal from the microphone and to electronically modify the sound of the instrument when emitted through the speaker. Some mutes also provide a communication transceiver, sensors, and input devices to control and manipulate sound produced by the mute.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Carl J. Allendorph, LLC
    Inventor: Carl J. Allendorph
  • Patent number: 9640153
    Abstract: A drum-supporting component is provided for maintaining a drum or cymbal acoustically separated from an underlying support surface. A body of the component is configured to maintain the drum separated from the underlying support thereby increasing the sound generated from the drum which is projected therefrom.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Inventors: Richard Wiley, Toby L. Ahrens
  • Patent number: 9640154
    Abstract: Drum pedal assemblies are disclosed which can include one or more adjustment features. Adjustment features which can be included in embodiments of the present disclosure can include components for adjusting pedal angle and/or height, and the resistance offered by the pedal (such as due to a spring connection). Pedal assemblies according to some embodiments of the present disclosure can include rotatable base plates for easy storage and travel. Pedal assemblies according to some embodiments the present disclosure can include securing means such as retractable spikes for stabilizing the pedal assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: DRUM WORKSHOP, INC.
    Inventor: Richard A Sikra
  • Patent number: 9640155
    Abstract: The invention relates to a musical box comprising: a comb (30) with a plurality of vibrating blades (3) of different lengths so as to produce audible sounds of different frequencies when the vibrating blades are vibrated; a plate or a cylinder (2) provided with points (20) so as to alternately vibrate the different vibrating blades (3) when the plate or cylinder is rotated; and a visual animation device (4, 5) actuated by said blades.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: REUGE SA
    Inventor: Francois Junod
  • Patent number: 9640156
    Abstract: System, apparatus and method for determining semantic information from audio, where incoming audio is sampled and processed to extract audio features, including temporal, spectral, harmonic and rhythmic features. The extracted audio features are compared to stored audio templates that include ranges and/or values for certain features and are tagged for specific ranges and/or values. The semantic information may be associated with audio codes to determine changing characteristics of identified media during a time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Alan Neuhauser, John Stavropoulos
  • Patent number: 9640157
    Abstract: The present invention relates to the field of audio recognition, in particular to computer implemented note recognition methods. Furthermore, the present invention relates to improving latency of such audio recognition methods. One of the embodiments of the invention described herein is a method for note recognition of an audio source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Berggram Development Oy
    Inventor: Ali Ahmaniemi
  • Patent number: 9640158
    Abstract: In some implementations, a computing device can be configured to present a graphical user interface that enables the dynamic authoring of music by a user of the computing device. The computing device can present a grid of cells, where each cell represents a music segment. The cells can be configured to playback the music segment once or playback the music segment in a repeating loop. The user can select (e.g., touch) one or more cells in the grid to cause the corresponding music segment to play. While playing selected cells, the user can provide input selecting various musical effects to apply to the playing music. The user can record a dynamically selected sequence of cells and musical effects to create an original musical product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Robert Baker, Gerhard Lengeling, Alec Little, Patrick Beard, Ole Lagemann, Danny Patterson, Tobias Hermann
  • Patent number: 9640159
    Abstract: Multiple audio files may be synchronized using harmonic sound included in audio content obtained from audio tracks. Individual audio tracks are partitioned into multiple temporal windows of a first and second temporal window length. Individual audio waveforms for individual temporal windows of the first and second window length are transformed into frequency space in which energy is represented as a function of frequency. Individual pitches and magnitudes of harmonic sound determined for individual temporal windows may be compared using a multi-resolution framework to correlate pitches and harmonic energy of multiple audio tracks to one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: GoPro, Inc.
    Inventor: David Tcheng
  • Patent number: 9640160
    Abstract: Synthetic multi-string musical instruments have been developed for capturing and rendering musical performances on handheld or other portable devices in which a multi-touch sensitive display provides one of the input vectors for an expressive performance by a user or musician. Visual cues may be provided on the multi-touch sensitive display to guide the user in a performance based on a musical score. Alternatively, or in addition, uncued freestyle modes of operation may be provided. In either case, it is not the musical score that drives digital synthesis and audible rendering of the synthetic multi-string musical instrument. Rather, it is the stream of user gestures captured at least in part using the multi-touch sensitive display that drives the digital synthesis and audible rendering.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Smule, Inc.
    Inventors: Ge Wang, Jeannie Yang, Jieun Oh, Tom Lieber