Minebea Company, Limited

Mineba Co., Ltd.

Motoji Egawa

Shingo Suzuki

Kazutoshi Takayanagi

Atsushi Kitamura

Akinobu Sano

Kozo Matsumoto

Akio Takayama

Tetsuji Fujita

Satoshi Kawashima

Takahiro Shimura

Hitoshi Mizutani

Mizuki Nakamura

Shigeyuki Oishi

Naoyuki Terada

Shigeyuki Ooishi

Koichi Toyoda

Toru Kunimochi

Edward L Packard

Katsuji Ishigami

Takashi Edamitsu

Nobuhiro Sato

Masuhiro Nitta

A transparent resin plate includes a plurality of slits formed intermittently and located along the border line between a housing frame portion and a light conductor plate portion, the slits includes either or both of respective first optical path converting portions and a second optical path converting portion, and flap portions of a reflector are inserted at least in the first optical path converting portions. Also, the second optical path converting portion of the plurality of slits is arranged to meet at least part of optical paths of hypothetical optical paths which are emitted forward from a light source in the forward direction, reach directly the housing frame portion and which do not cross the first optical path converting portion.

Spread illuminating apparatus

A spread illuminating apparatus includes an LED, a transparent resin plate and a light reflecting sheet, wherein the transparent resin plate includes slits adapted to have inserted therein flap portions of the light reflecting sheet, and wherein an adhesive tape with flexibility is placed along at least one flap portion of the light reflecting sheet so as to cover at least one slit of the transparent resin plate, whereby the light reflecting sheet is prevented from warping or undulating in spite of difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the materials of the transparent resin plate and the light reflecting sheet, and also whereby light emitted from the LED and traveling in the transparent resin plate is totally reflected by the flap portions and therefore prevented from leaking from the outer side surfaces of the transparent resin plate.

A spread illuminating apparatus of side light type includes a transparent resin plate integrally composed of a light conductor plate portion and a housing frame portion, a light reflecting sheet, and a light source, wherein an opening for housing the light source is provided at a side portion of the transparent resin plate, slits are provided along a boundary between the light conductor plate portion and the housing frame portion, and wherein a gate for injecting resin into a molding die cavity for the transparent resin plate is positioned outside the boundary of the light conductor plate portion and the housing frame portion and is positioned also between the opening and one of slits which are provided toward the side portion of the transparent resin plate having the opening and which are located clear of the opening.

Spread illuminating apparatus, transparent resin plate for use in spread illuminating apparatus, and method of injection-molding transparent resin plate

A spread illuminating apparatus is provided which includes: a light conductor plate having a light inlet surface and two major surfaces; a light source unit disposed at the light inlet surface of the light conductor plate; and a light diffuser pattern disposed at the lower major surfaces of the two major surfaces of the light conductor plate, wherein the light source unit includes first and second white light sources which have respective different light emitting principles, are arranged in the width direction of the light conductor plate with their respective ends set close to one another, and which can be turned on and off independently of each other.

Spread illuminating apparatus and display device incorporating same

A spread illuminating apparatus includes: at least one light source; a light conductive plate which has the at least one light source disposed at one end surface thereof, and which allows light emitted from the at least one light source and introduced therein to exit out therefrom through both major surfaces thereof toward first and second liquid crystal display elements disposed respectively over the both major surfaces of the light conductive plate, wherein the second liquid crystal display element has a smaller display screen size than the first liquid crystal display element; and a reflecting means which is disposed at the other major surface of the light conductive plate so as to cover at least areas not covered by the second liquid crystal display element, and which reflects light toward the first liquid crystal display element.

Spread illuminating apparatus to illuminate two liquid crystal display panels different in screen size

A spread illuminating apparatus for illuminating two objects includes: at least one light source; a light conductive plate having the at least one light source at an end surface thereof and defining first and second major surfaces from which light emitted from the at least one light source and introduced in the light conductive plate exits out respectively toward two objects to be illuminated; an optical sheet unit consisting of a diffuser sheet and condenser sheets, and disposed on at least the second major surface so as to cover an entire area thereof; and a reflecting means having a smaller surface area than the second major surface, and disposed directly on top of the optical sheet unit.

Spread illuminating apparatus adapted to allow light to exit out from both surfaces of light conductive plate

A spread illuminating apparatus comprises a plurality of LED's as light sources, a light conductive plate, and a light controlling means disposed between the LED's and the light conductive plate. The light controlling means includes a plurality of transparent resin films which have respective different refractive indexes, which are laminated over one another in a direction parallel to a major surface as a light exit surface of the light conductive plate thereby forming a refractive index profile in the direction parallel to the light exit surface of the light conductive plate, and two adjacent ones of which are put together by adhesive that can transmit light emitted from the LED.

Spread illuminating apparatus having light controlling means

An optical pickup apparatus for reading and recording information on recording media includes a semiconductor laser, a collimating lens, a half mirror, a reflecting mirror, and an objective lens. Further included therein are a super-resolution cutoff filter and an aperture control filter, one of which is appropriately selected and set right before the objective lens by a filter switching-over device. When reading the DVD, the super-resolution cutoff filter is set at the optical path, whereas when reading the CD, the aperture control filter is set thereat. The filter switching device is arranged separately from an actuator driving system having the objective lens integrally structured therewith.

Optical pickup apparatus for reading and recording information on recording media

A liquid crystal element is provided as a polarization plane rotating device between a laser beam source and a beam splitter. Light emitted from the laser beam source passes through the liquid crystal element and the beam splitter, and is converted into parallel light by a collimating lens. The collimated light is incident on a first light-selection device, is reflected at a flat first reflecting surface or a concave second reflecting surface, and is then incident on a super-resolution cut-off filter as a second light-selection device. The light having passed through the second light-selection device is incident on an objective lens, and is converged onto a recording surface. The selection of the reflecting surface of the first light-selection device is determined based on an operation mode of the liquid crystal element.

Optical pickup reproducing apparatus having reading compatibility among recording media with respective recording densities different from one another

A laser beam emitted from a laser diode and having a wavelength of 780 nm is S-polarized. A polarization plane rotating means (&#x3bb;/4 phase plate) is disposed between a super-resolution cut-off filter comprising a polarizing filter film and an objective lens. When reading on DVD, the objective lens, the polarization plane rotating means and the super-resolution cut-off filter in combination are set to the optical path. The S-polarized laser beam is focused to a micro spot diameter by super-resolution effects by the super-resolution cut-off filter together with the objective lens. Also, the S-polarized laser beam reflected at a disk and traveling backward along the incoming optical path is converted into a P-polarized laser beam while passing backward through the polarization plane rotating means. The P-polarized laser beam passes through the super-resolution cut-off filter without loss is received by a photo-detector.

Optical pickup apparatus for reading and recording information on recording medium

An optical information reading apparatus includes a semiconductor laser, a beam splitter, a collimating lens, a super-resolution cut-off filter, an objective lens having a high numerical aperture, and a photodetector. The super-resolution cut-off filter is disposed immediately in front of the incident side of the objective lens. The photodetector is a well-known eight-division photodetector with a signal processing circuit, reads recorded information and also outputs tracking and focusing control signals to a control circuit. The laser beam is separated into a 0-th order laser beam and &#xb1; primary laser beams, which are made incident on the objective lens, pass therethrough, and are made incident on the recording surface of a disk. The 0-th order laser beam is used to read information and to control focussing while the &#xb1; primary laser beams are used to control tracking.

Optical information reading apparatus with super-resolution cut-off filter

A plurality of minute lenticular elements made of a light-transmissible material and each having a substantially plano-convex cross section are formed on a major surface of a light conductive plate opposite to another major surface provided with a light reflection pattern, and are arranged radially with respect to a spot-like light source with their respective longitudinal directions oriented perpendicular to grooves of the light reflection pattern. Light rays guided in the lenticular element from its bottom surfaces are spread in a circumferential direction of its outer curved surfaces. A view field angle can be increased by the lenticular element in a direction tangential to the grooves improving view field angle distribution.

Spread illuminating apparatus with lenticular elements

A spread illuminating apparatus having a light conductive plate made of a light transmissible material and a bar-like lamp disposed along and close to an end face of the light conductive plate. The spread illuminating apparatus also having a light reflection pattern having a stair-like configuration from a cross-sectional perspective. The light reflection pattern is formed on a major face of the light conductive plate. The spread illuminating apparatus also has a light dispersive-reflection pattern which has, for example, a plurality of convex surfaces which are formed on a major face of the light conductive plate opposite to the major face of the light conductive plate, which is provided with the light reflection pattern.

Spread illuminating apparatus with means for reflecting light dispersely

A spread illuminating apparatus includes a light conductive plate provided with a light entry face at its corner, having a spot-like light source disposed close to or in contact with the light entry face, and having a light reflection pattern formed on its major surface. The light reflection pattern comprises a plurality of arced grooves and is configured such that the grooves have their depths increasing with an increase in the distance from the light source, and that each of the grooves has its depth increasing with an increase in the light emission angle made by a line of a light emission direction with respect to a diagonal line from the light source. Thus, the light reflection pattern is adapted to reflect more light at an area farther from the light source and the diagonal line as well, thereby further improving uniformity in brightness all over the light conductive plate.

Spread illuminating apparatus without light conductive bar

A magnetic head exhibits a good traceability without damaging itself or a magnetic disk. The magnetic head includes a slider, and the slider includes a plurality of magnetic cores and an outrigger having a plurality of substantially rectangular slots. The magnetic cores have respective operating gaps for a standard recording density and a high recording density and are inserted into the respective substantially rectangular slots. One magnetic core for a high recording density having a spacer superposed thereon is inserted in one of the slots in such a manner as to touch a wall of the slot. The slider includes a rail surface which has a groove passing longitudinally through the spacer substantially at the center of its thickness and reaching both lengthwise ends of the slider, and the rail surface slides against a magnetic recording medium.

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Iwata-gun, Japan

Motoji Egawa