Alps Electric Co., Ltd.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Hisashi Murata

Tsutomu Kanno

Kazuo Hasegawa

Takashi Kondo

Ikuo Ouchi

Masatoshi Togashi

Junichi Ouchi

Hironobu Watanabe

Takayuki Wakimura

Satoshi Ushida

Kazuya Koshimo

Yasuhide Kobayashi

In an optical lens including a lens portion having a convex or concave lens surface on each side, each lens surface of the lens portion has a convex portion of a small projection centered on the optical axis thereof, and the convex portion has the height which is approximately less than four times the used wavelength so as not to have an effect on an optical characteristic of the lens portion.

Optical lens and method of manufacturing the same

A portable information terminal inserted in an entertainment apparatus operates as if it had a life therein and functions as company that the user can talk to. The portable information terminal comprises a display unit and a casing surrounding said display unit. The display unit and said casing representing a form comprising a head and a body. The display unit functions to present facial expressions of the form. The display unit has a display screen for displaying an image based on image data generated by an image processor. The image processor has a facial expression display controller for reading facial expression information selected by a facial expression selector from a plurality of items of facial expression information, and displaying a moving image representing a deformation from a present facial expression to a facial expression based on the read facial expression information according to a morphing technique.

Portable toy, portable information terminal, entertainment system, and recording medium

A small-sized optical reading device for performing the high-speed optical scanning of an object to be read, and for returning light irregularly reflected by the object. In this device, a first reflector element is driven in such a manner as to perform reciprocative rotations or vibrations clockwise and counterclockwise. Further, a medium, on which a bar code, namely, the object is recorded, is scanned by light beams reflected by the first reflector element. The light beams irregularly reflected by the medium are returned to a reflector element array consisting of second reflector elements of a reciprocative vibration reflector. Independent drive signals are provided concurrently to the first reflector element and the reflector element array. The reflecting surface of the first reflector element has a size sufficient to the extent that the entire spotlight caused by a semiconductor laser can be reflected. The reflector elements, which have widths sufficient to the extent that the light beams irregularly reflected by the medium can be further reflected by the reflector elements, are arranged in a scanning direction.

Optical reading device

An optical reading system including a warning sound for preventing theft of a portable optical reading apparatus (scanner). A timer is activated when movement of the scanner is detected by a movement detection device mounted on the scanner, indicating that the scanner has been lifted (moved) from a stationary condition. A user determination unit determines whether the movement of the scanner is caused by an authorized user. When the user is an authorized person, a timer is reset. When the timer is not reset during a predetermined time period, a warning sound is generated at a sound level which changes from a low sound level to a loud sound level over a period of time unless a predetermined operation is performed. In one embodiment, a second warning sound is generated at a stationary receiving station when the scanner does not respond to a polling signal.

Optical reading system

Combined cradle and receiver for a bar code reader

Receiver for bar code reader

Bar code reader

This invention relates to a photoelectric switch and a photoelectric detector for detecting the presence or absence of an object by using a light, and more particularly to prevention of mutual interference in the case of using a plurality of photoelectric switches. For example, an LED in a light emitting unit intermittently emits a sensing light at the timing of an output pulse from a pulse generator. The resultant pulse is divided in frequency by a frequency divider and then delayed by a one-shot circuit. At the timing of an output pulse from the one-shot circuit, another LED emits a transmission light to a photoelectric switch at next stage. Therefore, the transmission light is always delayed from the sensing light. The transmission light from the preceding photoelectric switch of the same construction is received by a photodiode, and an output pulse is outputted from a pulse generator in synchronism with a synch timing signal produced from the light receiving unit. Thus, the sensing lights from the respective photoelectric switches are emitted at the timings shifted from one another through delays effected by the one-shot circuits.

Photoelectric switch including synch timing signal emitter and detector

An illumination type optical recorded information reading device including a plurality of light emitting elements, a photo detector for detecting optical indication on a media and converting the detected indication to electrical information, a plurality of driving elements for driving the light emitting elements, a driving current detector for detecting a total value of driving currents flowing through the driving elements, and a controller for comparing the total value with a reference value and generating a control signal to the driving elements so as to make a difference between the total value and the reference value constant. Further, a distribution of an illuminance of the light to be applied to the media is set in such a manner that the illuminance at positions spaced away from a central portion of a maximum detectable range of the photo detector is higher than that at the central portion, and that the illuminance at opposite end portions of the maximum detectable range is lower than that at the positions spaced away from the central portion.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Hisashi Murata