Alps Electric Co., Ltd.

Yokohama City Rehabilitation Corporation

Masatoshi Uchio

Junichi Saito

Yuichi Umeda

Kazuyoshi Yamagata

Yuichi Yasuda

Tomomitsu Muta

Masahiro Tanaka

Shinichi Higuchi

Ichiro Morishita

Masaru Nakayama

Arao Sato

Kazuhiro Katagiri

Takuro Hatakeyama

Yoshiki Koizumi

In the transmitter receiver of the present invention, a light-shielding sheet is arranged in front of a light-emitting portion having a LED whose light-emitting central axis is inclined and an aperture from which only the head of the light-emitting portion is exposed is made in the light-shielding sheet. The light-shielding sheet masks the inclined side portion of the light-emitting portion to prevent a light-receiving portion from detecting the light leaking from the inclined side portion. Therefore, the light-receiving portion can detect with high accuracy a change in the amount of light emission that is produced by a change in the direction of the light-emitting portion.

Transmitter receiver

A remote coordinate designating device has a remote control with a light emitting device for emitting light, and a controller for detecting a designated position by receiving light from the remote control at a distance from the remote control. One cycle of a light signal from the light emitting device is composed of switch data and a coordinate detection timing header at the head, and a coordinate detection carrier. The switch data and the coordinate detection timing header use the same frequency as the normal remote control frequency band, and the frequency of the coordinate detection carrier is lower than the frequency of the switch data and the coordinate detection timing header. The switch data contains on-off information about a switch for pointing, and coordinate detection is started when a predetermined time has passed from the rise of a burst portion in the switch data.

Remote coordinate designating device

A light emitting device including a base with five planar surface sections formed at five different angles, with a plurality of receiving holes, which are spaced apart, passing through the planar surface sections; light-emitting diode chips mounted at about the center of their respective planar surface sections with a conductive paste such that they emit light in a direction perpendicular to the plane of their respective planar surface sections; terminals inserted into their respective receiving holes, with one end of each terminal being electrically connected to the corresponding LED chip; and a mold case which covers each LED chip.

Light-emitting apparatus and method of producing the same

An input apparatus that allows those who are severely physically handicapped for example to enter characters with comparative ease and minimizes the chance of making error entries. The input apparatus comprising: an optical signal transmitter constituted to be worn on the head of an operator and having a plurality of light-emitting elements for transmitting an optical signal and a breath-operated switch; an image display device on which a cursor is shown; and an optical signal receiver connected to the image display device and having a single light-receiving element for receiving the optical signal and a data processor; wherein the optical signal transmitter, when worn on the operator head, transmits, on the optical signal, a data signal containing switch data to be generated when the breath-operated switch is operated, the optical signal receiver generates coordinate data from positional data indicating a shift of the operator head from a predetermined position in the optical signal transmitter and switch data contained in the data signal according to a reception state of the optical signal coming from the optical signal transmitter and supplies the generated coordinate data to the image display device, and the image display device moves a display position of the cursor according to the positional data contained in the coordinate data and selects a display capability according to the switch data contained in the coordinate data.

Input apparatus

A light-emitting diode device includes a light-emitting diode, a lens cap made of synthetic resin, for covering the light-emitting surface of the light-emitting diode means, and a refractive layer formed between the light-emitting surface and the lens cap, the refractive layer having a composition, such as an air layer, with a refractive index different from the refractive index of said synthetic resin. In this arrangement the relationship between the light intensity and directional angles is shown by characteristics in which the light intensity is maximum in the center of the directional angles, and is relatively flat in the form of a sinusoid in the wide range of the directional angles. Therefore, even when the characteristics of each light-emitting diode is not verified, a predetermined light-signal transmission range is readily obtained without being affected by a scatter in the characteristics.

Light-emitting diode device with reduced scatter

A relative-angle detection apparatus which has an infrared-signal transmitting unit and an infrared-signal receiving unit. The transmitting unit includes a first light-emitting device array formed of a plurality of light-emitting devices disposed in a direction substantially coinciding with the fiducial axis for angle detection, and a second light-emitting device array formed of a plurality of light-emitting devices located to be slightly angled in the different directions with respect to the axis. The devices of the first light-emitting device array generate a continously-output first infrared signal in which an infrared signal is intermittently modulated by a first frequency and also modulated by a second frequency higher than the first frequency. The devices of the second light-emitting device array generate a second infrared signal in which an infrared signal is modulated by the first frequency and also divided into a plurality of signals so as to be output at different timings. The receiving unit detects and amplifies the first frequency contained in the first and second infrared signals and executes signal-processing on the amplified first frequency, thereby detecting the angle of the transmitting unit relative to the receiving unit.

Relative-angle detection apparatus

A portable input apparatus used in conjunction with a controllable information processing apparatus which comprises a light receiving element receiving a base light emitted from a light emitting section of the controllable information processing apparatus and being composed of a first detector light receiving element, a second detector light receiving element and a reference light receiving element arranged therebetween, each being of a non-split type; an optical signal transmitting section transmitting an optical signal to the controllable information processing apparatus side; signal conversion sections converting an output current of the non-split type light receiving element and generating a time shared output voltage; a signal processing section processing the time shared output voltage to generate relative angle data; and a control section performing operation and calculation of the relative angle data to form a coordinate signal and transmitting the optical signal including the coordinate signal to the controllable information processing apparatus side.

Portable input apparatus

According to the present invention there is provided a space coordinates detecting device wherein a detecting section for detecting light emitted from a light source is provided, thereby permitting detection of a relative angle between a light emitting sections and the detecting section and hence permitting application of the detecting device to an input apparatus. The detecting section is provided with a light sensing element 23 having quartered light sensing portions. In the light emitting section, distinguishable lights are emitted from two light sources. The lights thus emitted are throttled through apertures and applied as separate square light spots S16 and S17 to the light-sensitive surface of the light sensing element 23. By calculating a difference in the detected output among the quartered light sensing portions, it is possible to determine the center I1 of the square light spot S16 and the center I2 of the square light spot S17. A relative rotational angle of the light emitting section and the detecting section with respect to Z axis can be determined by calculating an inclination angle .alpha. on X-Y orthogonal coordinates of a line x connecting both centers I1 and I2.

Growing community of inventors

Fukushima-ken, Japan

Masatoshi Uchio