Did You Know...
...that the video game, Pong, was invented by a guy who graduated at the bottom of his engineering class? Nolan Bushnell spent more time running the games at a local amusement park than he did on his studies at the University of Utah. His dreams of working for Disney's amusement empire were dashed when the company wouldn't hire him. Taking a boring job, Nolan daydreamed about electronic versions of popular games. He invented Pong, the first video game, and went on to found Atari Co.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7850320 | System for creating spectral displays A highly adaptable system for creating colorful spectral displays or for achieving a prismatic effect using visible light is provided. The invention includes a fixed-angle or monolithic prismatic element fabricated from plate glass mirror material. A compound versio... | 12/14/2010 |
| 7401931 | Apparatus for optical beam shaping and associated methods This invention relates to an apparatus for optical beam shaping and diffusing, a method for making the apparatus, and a method for using the apparatus. The apparatus comprises a crystalline material object shaped to fit within an optical train and with a pattern of ... | 07/22/2008 |
| 7364341 | Light redirecting films including non-interlockable optical elements The light redirecting films include a thin optically transparent substrate having a pattern of non-interlocking individual optical elements oriented and placed to produce a desired surface coverage of at least one of the surfaces of the transparent substrate of the ... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7357521 | Chromatic dispersion compensation device and method A chromatic dispersion compensator whereby the amount of dispersion and the group delay time can be easily adjusted. A dispersion unit, a transmitting lens and a group delay generation unit are arranged along the optical axis of incident light. The dispersion unit s... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7349155 | Screen having a layer of reflectors A reflector comprises a core and a first dielectric mirror formed over at least a portion of the core to reflect light having a preselected wavelength. The reflector may comprise a plurality of dielectric mirrors formed concentrically over the first dielectric mirro... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7349089 | High transmission multi-wavelength filter and method An optical arrangement and method of filtering include a beam splitter that accepts an incident beam and transmits light from the incident beam of a first polarization and reflects light from the incident beam of a second polarization. The transmitted light is a fir... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7320823 | Light diffusing body and a transmission type screen A light diffusing body and transmission type screen, which can reduce the shift of the color tone of the light source light seen through the light diffusing body and prevent the phenomenon that the white light source seen through the light diffusing body looks color... | 01/22/2008 |
| 7321112 | Optical elements, related manufacturing methods and assemblies incorporating optical elements The present invention relates to various optical elements, related manufacturing methods and systems incorporating the optical elements. In at least one embodiment an optical element is provided that improves a vision systems capability to accurately measure a spect... | 01/22/2008 |
| 7300168 | System for creating spectral displays A highly adaptable system for creating colorful spectral displays or for achieving a prismatic effect using visible light. The invention includes a fixed-angle or monolithic prismatic element fabricated from plate glass mirror material. A compound version of this mo... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7302189 | Optical component provided with demultiplexing function and wavelength dispersion compensator It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical component provided with a demultiplexing function capable of reducing an insertion loss and downsizing, and a wavelength dispersion compensator using such an optical component. In order to achieve the ob... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7295357 | Apparatus for handling minute object An apparatus for handling a minute object such as a cell by using a holographic optical tweezers that comprises a laser light source 1, holographic plate 3 having a specified pattern to form a hologram with light emitted from the light source, and a tr... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7258456 | Light filtering apparatus A light filtering apparatus includes a first dispersion device, a spatial filter and a second dispersion device. The first dispersion device is arranged to cause spatial dispersion of an incident light beam as a function of its frequency. The spatial filter is arran... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7254294 | Dispersion compensating filters A filter device provides for the modification of the group delay of an optical signal without attenuation of adjacent optical signals in a WDM optical communication systems. The filters devices may be combined and used in various methods to modify the GD and dispers... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7253907 | Measuring method and apparatus using shearing interferometry, exposure method and apparatus using the same, and device manufacturing method A measuring method for measuring a wave front of light, which has passed through a target optical system. The method includes the steps of dividing the light that passes the target optical system into a first wave front and a second wave front made by offsetting the... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7248415 | Optical deflector Provided is an optical deflector for deflecting radiation beams. The optical deflector includes: a peripheral region having a first effective refractive index; and a deflection pattern region having a predetermined shape and a second effective refractive index, wher... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7224911 | Adaptive distortion compensation in optical fiber communication networks An apparatus for adaptively receiving, compensating, and transmitting data in optical fiber communication networks are provided. A receiver according to this invention includes at least one optical device for compensating distortion in a channel of an optical signal... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7201955 | Privacy screen for a display A privacy screen for a display (e.g., a LCD) having a polarizing film and a birefringent film is described. The privacy screen transmits substantial amounts of light emanating from the display in an orthogonal (or near-orthogonal) direction while not transmitting su... | 04/10/2007 |
| 7193778 | Optical apparatus which uses a virtually imaged phased array to produce chromatic dispersion Various configurations of a virtually imaged phased array (VIPA) generator in combination with a mirror to compensate for chromatic dispersion. A VIPA generator produces a light traveling from the VIPA generator. In some embodiments, a variable curvature mirror is p... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7176446 | Method and apparatus for distributing light onto electronic image sensors An apparatus that directs light onto individual photodetectors in an electronic image sensor array is disclosed. In one embodiment, refractive elements are used to appropriately refract different colors of light onto matching photodetector elements for different col... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7165851 | Optical frequency linear chirp variable unit A linear opto-frequency chirp amount variable apparatus using a dielectric multilayer film mirror, which does not require the optical axis to be realigned each time the amount of a chirp is to be varied includes a pair of opposed, parallel, dielectric, multilayer fi... | 01/23/2007 |
| 7158304 | Optical apparatus which uses a virtually imaged phased array to produce chromatic dispersion An optical apparatus for producing chromatic dispersion. The apparatus includes a virtually imaged phased array (VIPA) generator, a mirror and a lens. The VIPA generator receives an input light at a respective wavelength and produces a corresponding collimated outpu... | 01/02/2007 |
| 7136233 | Device for the generation and projection of light marks A device (1) for generating and projecting light marks (MP, ML) in which projection optics (P) have a cylindrical lens (Z). The cylindrical lens (Z) can be irradiated by a light beam bundle (L2) such that a central beam bundle (L2Z) radiates com... | 11/14/2006 |
| 7133205 | Atmospheric stabilizer filter and method A diffracting optical filter for use with telescopes provides a plurality of cells separated by opaque lines on an translucent substrate, the spacing of the cells proportionally spaced to match the Airy disk of a specific optical system for the telescope to aid obse... | 11/07/2006 |
| 7106512 | Wavelength selective switching device and method for selectively transmitting optical signals based on wavelength A wavelength selective switching device and method for selectively transmitting optical signals based on wavelength utilizes diffraction to spatially separate the optical signals of different wavelengths such that the optical signal of a selected wavelength can be s... | 09/12/2006 |
| 7104659 | Apparatus for using optical tweezers to manipulate materials A method and apparatus for control of optical trap arrays and formation of particle arrays using light that is in the visible portion of the spectrum. The method and apparatus provides a laser and a time variable diffractive optical element to allow dynamic control ... | 09/12/2006 |
| 7079331 | Device for holding a beam splitter element The invention relates to a device for holding a beam splitter element having an optically active beam splitter layer in an optical imaging device, the beam splitter element being connected to at least one support element that is fastened in the housing of the imagin... | 07/18/2006 |
| 7079676 | Method and apparatus for quantitatively evaluating scintillation, antiglare film and method of producing the same A method capable of quantitatively evaluating the intensity of scintillation caused by surface unevenness. Light from a white light source is made incident on a surface of an object to be measured through a matrix filter. Reflected light or transmitted light from th... | 07/18/2006 |
| 7075723 | Optical apparatus which uses a virtually imaged phased array to produce chromatic dispersion An optical apparatus for producing chromatic dispersion. The apparatus includes a virtually imaged phased array (VIPA) generator, a mirror and a lens. The VIPA generator receives an input light at a respective wavelength and produces a corresponding collimated outpu... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7072113 | Wavelength selective switching device and method for selectively transmitting optical signals based on wavelength A wavelength selective switching device and method for selectively transmitting optical signals based on wavelength utilizes diffraction to spatially separate the optical signals of different wavelengths such that the optical signal of a selected wavelength can be s... | 07/04/2006 |
| 7068885 | Double diffraction grating planar lightwave circuit The invention relates to a planar lightwave circuit including a pair of opposed concave reflective diffraction gratings sharing the same focal line, which separates first and second slab waveguide regions. The ends of input and output waveguides are positioned along... | 06/27/2006 |
| 7060957 | Device and method for spatially resolved photodetection and demodulation of modulated electromagnetic waves A device and method for spatially resolved photodetection and demodulation of temporally modulated electromagnetic waves makes it possible to measure phase, amplitude and offset of a temporally modulated, spatially coded radiation field. A micro-optical element (... | 06/13/2006 |
| 7037005 | Pan and tilt apparatus using achromatic prisms An apparatus for providing pan and tilt capability to a stationary imaging device comprises a first achromatic prism doublet positioned on a first axis, a second achromatic prism doublet positioned on the first axis, and at least one motor for rotating the first and... | 05/02/2006 |
| 7038849 | Color selective screen, enhanced performance of projection display systems Optical properties of a screen on which an image is being projected are considered. A patterned surface is given a predetermined pattern of color pixels whereby a degree of wavelength selectivity is employed to improve the color qualities of the projected image. A s... | 05/02/2006 |
| 7027688 | Tunable optical filter based on a physically-deformable diffractive element The tunable optical filter includes an elastic substrate, a diffractive element in the elastic substrate, an actuator for stretching the elastic substrate to control the pitch of the diffractive element, a first optical path and a second optical path. The diffractiv... | 04/11/2006 |
| 7022387 | Decorative glass block and method for making a decorative glass block The decorative glass block includes a bowl-shaped first half and a bowl-shaped second half joined together. The first half and the second half each include a face, a lip surrounding the perimeter of the face, and a wall portion extending outwardly from the lip aroun... | 04/04/2006 |
| 7014326 | Wavelength blocker A wavelength blocker including an input port for launching an input beam of light, first dispersing means for dispersing the input beam of light according to wavelength, an array of independently addressable elements for selectively blocking a portion of the dispers... | 03/21/2006 |
| 7016615 | System comprising a single-stage all-pass optical filter A single-stage all-pass optical filter is disclosed that may be applied to generate a large tunable delay of an optical pulse train. The all-pass optical filter includes an input port for receiving an input optical pulse having a regular repetition rate; an output p... | 03/21/2006 |
| 7009789 | Optical device, system and method An optical device is formed of an array of micro-wedges where each micro-wedge is different in size and shape from adjacent micro-wedges. Each micro-wedge of the array directs light in a predetermined direction toward a particular sub-region of an angular pattern. T... | 03/07/2006 |
| 6963447 | Light diffusing agent, light diffusing sheet, and nonglare sheet There are provided a light diffusing sheet and a nonglare sheet, which have good diffusion efficiency, can provide bright and high-contrast images and can reproduce high-quality images with reduced unnecessary scattered light and free from image haze and blur. The l... | 11/08/2005 |
| 6958861 | Method and apparatus for combining optical beams According to one aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for optically combining light beams is disclosed. The apparatus includes a set of prism shaped doorways configured to receive output beams from at least one optical device. Each of the plurality of doorw... | 10/25/2005 |
