Panasonic Corporation

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Toshiyasu Tanaka

Yoshiaki Komma

Kanji Wakabayashi

Fumitomo Yamasaki

Kousei Sano

Hidenori Wada

Keiichi Matsuzaki

Noriaki Terahara

Osamu Kajino

Takeshi Ohta

Junichi Asada

Yasuo Ueda

Toshiaki Takasu

Yoshiyuki Hashimoto

Shinsuke Hatanaka

Katsuhiko Hayashi

Toyoji Gushima

Hironori Tomita

Akihiro Arai

Kazuhiro Minami

Shigenori Maeda

Yohichi Saitoh

Saori Ueno

Seiji Hoshi

Hiroshi Shiroiwa

Yu Kawase

Renji Honda

An illumination control method includes: causing an illumination apparatus to illuminate a predetermined space with light; and controlling at least one of a color temperature of light which the illumination apparatus emits and an illuminance of the light which the illumination apparatus emits in the predetermined space, to cause an integrated value to be at least 10 &#x3bc;W&#xb7;h/cm. The integrated value is a value resulting from integrating time and an effective amount of melatonin during a first time frame from 5:00 to 14:00.

Illumination control method and illumination control apparatus

A method for forming a crystal nucleus in a latent heat storage material contains a solvent and a dissolved substance. The solvent contains water as the main ingredient. The latent heat storage material retains latent heat in a supercooled state. The method includes: (a) separating out an anhydride of the dissolved substance by heating or cooling part of the latent heat storage material in the supercooled state; and (b) supplying a droplet comprising water to the anhydride, to terminate the supercooled state of the latent heat storage material, and make the latent heat storage material dissipate heat.

Method for forming crystal nucleus in latent heat storage material and heat storage device

An optical disc information device is an optical disc information device for reproducing and/or recording information with respect to an optical disc including a track in the form of a groove, and capable of recording information in a land portion and in a groove portion of the groove. The optical disc information device includes a laser light source, an objective lens, a transmittance limiting element, a dividing element, a light detector, a central amplifier, at least two end amplifiers, a gain controller, an adder, a reproduction signal processor, and a control signal processor. The transmittance limiting element includes a first central region, and at least two first end regions which interpose the first central region therebetween, and attenuates light passing through at least the first end regions out of a light flux emitted from the laser light source more strongly than light passing through the first central region.

Optical disc information device and information processing device

An RF hologram is divided in a direction perpendicular to a tangent line of an information track of an information recording surface of an optical disc, and includes a central region including an optical axis of laser light as well as a first end portion region and a second end portion region which sandwich the central region, the central region is formed by a binary diffraction grating and generates &#xb1;1 order diffracted light, the first end portion region is formed by a blazed diffraction grating and generates first +1 order diffracted light, the second end portion region is formed by a blazed diffraction grating and generates second +1 order diffracted light, and an RF light receiving element receives both the &#xb1;1 order diffracted light, the first +1 order diffracted light, and the second +1 order diffracted light.

Optical information apparatus and information processing apparatus

The present application discloses detection lens provided with lens portion and flange portion including first surface connected to lens portion and second surface opposite to first surface. Flange portion includes base along optical axis of lens portion, and first to fourth projections projecting from base. First and second projections are point-symmetric around optical axis. Third and fourth projections are point-symmetric around optical axis. Flange portion excludes projection extending beyond second surface. First projection includes first intersecting surface which intersects with first axis. Second projection includes second intersecting surface which intersects with first axis. Third projection includes third intersecting surface which intersects with second axis. Fourth projection includes fourth intersecting surface which intersects with second axis. First distance between first and second intersecting surfaces is longer than second distance between third and fourth intersecting surfaces.

Detection lens, lens unit, optical pickup device, optical disc device, computer, optical disc player and optical disc recorder

A disclosed objective lens includes: a lens having an entrance surface and an emission surface; and an anti-reflection coat formed on the emission surface, wherein a transmittance T[%] of the anti-reflection coat when an incident angle of a first laser beam having a first wavelength &#x3bb;(390 nm&#x2266;&#x3bb;&#x2266;430 nm) is 0&#xb0;, and the transmittance T[%] of the anti-reflection coat when the incident angle of the first laser beam is 40&#xb0; satisfy 0.95&#x2266;T/T&#x2266;1.05, and a transmittance T[%] of the anti-reflection coat when an incident angle of a second laser beam having a second wavelength &#x3bb;(630 nm&#x2266;&#x3bb;&#x2266;680 nm) is 0&#xb0; and a transmittance T[%] of the anti-reflection coat when the incident angle of the second laser beam is 40&#xb0; satisfy 0.85&#x2266;T/T&#x2266;0.97.

Objective lens, optical head, optical disk device, and information processing device

An objective lens unit according to the present invention includes a first objective lens; and a first lens holderfor supporting the first objective lens. The first lens holderis formed of a material which transmits ultraviolet. Preferably, the first lens holderincludes a through-hole, having first and second openingsand, through which light incident on the first objective lenspasses, and an opening limiting sectionprovided along a circumferential direction of the through-hole and projecting toward a central axis of the through-hole. The first objective lensis supported so as to block the first opening. The opening limiting sectionguides light incident thereon from the second openingin a direction away from an optical axis of the first objective lens.

Objective lens unit, optical pickup, and optical information apparatus

When performing a read or write operation on an optical disc with information storage layers, this compatible optical head with a two-focus lens can reduce interference caused by an unnecessary diffracted light reflected from a non-target layer and not contributing to reading or writing. The head reads and/or writes information from/on storage media, including first and second media with different protective substrate thicknesses, by irradiating a given one with a laser beam and includes: a diffraction element that diffracts the beam to produce diffracted light of multiple orders; an objective lens for converging nand morder ones of the light on the respective storage layers of the first and second media; a photodetector that receives the beam reflected from the medium and condensed; and a light shielding portion for preventing a portion of the beam reflected from the storage layer of the second medium and including its optical axis from reaching the photodetector. The light shielding portion is arranged so as to reduce loss to be caused by cutting off the portion of the beam to a predetermined value or less.

Optical head, optical disc drive, computer, optical discplayer and optical disc recorder

An optical pickup includes a lens holder; an objective lens provided on the lens holder and having an effective region for collecting light from a light source and an edge located outer to the effective region; and a lens protector provided on the lens holder. The lens protector protrudes toward an optical disc more than the objective lens. The edge of the objective lens includes a convexed portion protruding toward the optical disc. An apex of the effective region of the objective lens protrudes toward the optical disc more than the convexed portion of the edge. A straight line connecting a part of the edge of the objective lens and a part of the lens protector is closer to the optical disc than the apex of the effective region of the objective lens.

Optical pickup and drive apparatus

An optical disk driving apparatus includes an optical head device having a laser light source, a converging optical system converging a light beam emitted by the laser light source onto an optical disk, a photo detector receiving reflected light reflected by the optical disk, and an aberration correcting optical system controlling aberration of the converging optical system; a motor rotating the optical disk; and a control section receiving a signal from the photo detector, wherein the converging optical system has an objective lens formed using resin as a main material, the aberration correcting optical system has a spherical aberration correcting element correcting spherical aberration, and the control section evaluates quality of a reproduction signal for information in the optical disk by using the reflected light received by the photo detector, and utilizes a result of the evaluation to perform closed loop control on the spherical aberration correcting element.

Optical disk driving apparatus, optical disk driving system, vehicle equipped with optical disk driving system, method of correcting spherical aberration in optical disk driving apparatus, program and recording medium

In an optical head device which performs recording/reading of data in/from a high-density optical disc using an objective lens with a large NA, a saw-tooth shape diffraction element is used for also performing recording/reading of data in/from a conventional optical disc, such as DVD, CD, or the like. A step difference that produces an optical path length for blue light which is equal to or longer than the wavelength of the blue light and optical path lengths for red and infrared light which are shorter than the wavelengths of the red and infrared light is utilized so as to exert an inverse action on the blue light to those exerted on the red and infrared light. The effect of increasing the working distances for CD and DVD enables multiple compatibility. The optical element is integrally combined with the objective lens to perform a tracking servo following operation.

Complex objective lens including saw-tooth diffractive element for using on blue, red and infrared lights

An objective lens, an optical head, an optical disk apparatus and an information processing apparatus which can suppress deterioration of a focal spot caused by a drop in the diffraction efficiency. Inner and outer circumference areas converge a laser beam, out of laser beams having a wavelength &#x3bb;which are diffracted by the inner and outer circumference areas, on a first information recording medium; the inner circumference area and a mid-circumference area converge a laser beam, out of the laser beams having a wavelength &#x3bb;which are diffracted by the inner circumference area and the mid-circumference area, on a second information recording medium; and the diffraction efficiency of the laser beam having the wavelength &#x3bb;is greater than the diffraction efficiency of the laser beam having the wavelength &#x3bb;

Objective lens, optical head, optical disk apparatus, and information processing apparatus

An information recording medium includes a first information recording layer and a second information recording layer. The first information recording layer is formed at a laser beam entrance surface, and is configured so that information can be recorded thereupon and/or reproduced therefrom using a first objective lens having a numerical aperture NAand laser beam of a wavelength &#x3bb;. The second information recording layer is formed so as to have a distance to the laser beam entrance surface of 0.05 mm to 1.2 mm and is configured so that information can be recorded thereupon and/or reproduced therefrom using a second objective lens having a numerical aperture NAand laser beam of a wavelength &#x3bb;. When a diffraction limit &#x3b4;, determined by numerical aperture NAand wavelength &#x3bb;, is taken as &#x3b4;0.61&#xd7;&#x3bb;/NA, a track pitch Tpof a track formed on the first information recording layer is Tp

Information recording medium, information supply system, and optical information device

In an electronic device including a temperature sensor and an electronic component which is a heat generation source, the temperature is measured while the influence of heat from the electronic component is reduced. The electronic device includes: a base formed of a resin material; a board which is disposed at one side of the base, and includes an electronic component and a temperature sensor; and a heat sink which is disposed at the other side of the base for dissipating heat generated by the electronic component. The heat sink includes an extension part extending from the other side of the base toward a position of the board at which the electronic component is provided.

Electronic device

An optical disc type is determined by detecting focus error signals and an amount of returned light, while (i) emitting light having a wavelength maximizing a focal length and (ii) moving an objective lens in a direction of an optical axis. If an S shape and AS immediately after a surface are greater than those at the surface, the optical disc is determined to have a largest capacity. It is also determined whether there is a reflective layer at a depth equal or less than 0.1 mm, if not, then it is determined whether there is a reflective layer at a depth of 0.6 mm. If there is a reflective layer at the depth of 0.6 mm, then the type of the reflective layer is determined based on TE/RF signals, using blue light. If the blue light is not adaptable, red light is emitted to replay at a depth of 0.6 mm.

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Toshiyasu Tanaka