The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 20, 2004
Filed:
Aug. 08, 2002
Applicant:
Inventors:
Junichi Ishikawa, Kariya, JP;
Masao Tokunaga, Gamagori, JP;
Assignee:
Denso Corporation, Kariya, JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H02P 7/00 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H02P 7/00 ;
Abstract
A rain sensor includes an amplifier circuit that amplifies an output voltage from a photodiode and then provides this voltage signal to a CPU. The amplifier circuit conducts an offset amplification. The output voltage from the amplifier circuit is controlled to be at a predetermined level, for example, 3.0V, and the CPU detects rainfall based on the drop in the output voltage from the predetermined level, 3.0V. Then it becomes possible to improve sensor sensitivity, maintain a small sensor size, and a low manufacturing cost.