Famous Patents
3M employee and church chorister Art Fry needed something to temporarily mark pages in his hymnal. He was in luck because his colleague, Spencer Silver, accidentally developed a glue that was too weak for other purposes. After initially discouraging consumer response, Post-it Notes became a hit in 1979.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7982766 | Method and device for determining the alignment of the wheels of a vehicle Method for determining the angles and the characteristic parameters of the alignment of a vehicle situated at a measurement location comprising the following steps: equipping each of the wheels of the vehicle with a flat target carrying any design; determining the r... | 07/19/2011 |
| 7760493 | Flat panel display having a multi-functional support The flat panel display (FPD) comprises a body, a central pivoting segment and two supports. The body has a screen, and the central pivoting segment is mounted through one side of the body. The supports are attached pivotally to the central pivoting segment and are o... | 07/20/2010 |
| 7405746 | Image navigation device An estimate image is generated from a position and an angle of a camera and the estimate image is stored. A collating unit collates an estimate image with a scenery image, and corrects estimate values of a position and angles of the camera according to a result of t... | 07/29/2008 |
| 7365779 | Image processing apparatus for selectively storing specific regions of an image The invention provides an image processing apparatus that can reduce the memory capacity of a memory forming part of the image processing apparatus and can correct the optical axis misalignment of a video camera in a simple manner. The image processing apparatus ... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7295227 | Apparatus for assisting steering of vehicle when backing A steering assist apparatus that assists a driver when backing a vehicle in an S-shaped path or parallel parking. The apparatus displays guidance marking on a monitor screen and the driver refers to the guidance marking, which permits the driver to easily back the v... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7292269 | Context aware projector A method displays an output image on an object. A set of unique markers are fixed to the object at predetermined locations. An input image of the object and the markers is acquired with a camera in a fixed physical relationship to a projector. A pose of the projecto... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7262798 | System and method for simulating fill flash in photography A digital camera simulates the use of fill flash. The camera takes a series of photographs of a scene at various focus distances. The photographs are stored, along with their corresponding focus distances. The photographs are analyzed to determine the distance to ob... | 08/28/2007 |
| 7260260 | Image processing apparatus and method An object of the present invention is to separate in real time a captured image into a foreground component image and a background component image. An image captured by an image-capturing unit 74 is separated into a foreground component image and a background... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7242817 | System and method for detecting obstacle A system for realizing support of safety driving or automatic driving is provided, in which a vehicle-mounted stereo camera is used to detect obstacles on a road surface such as vehicles going ahead and pedestrians with a high accuracy even in a situation in which a... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7239958 | Apparatus and method for discerning a driver's intent and for aiding the driver Methods and apparatus are provided for determining the intent of a driver of a motor vehicle in moving a trailer towed by the motor vehicle along a desired path. The method comprises the step of positioning a first reference point at a first location spaced apart fr... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7221777 | Image analysis device An image analysis device installed on a vehicle for detecting objects that are likely to affect the vehicle. An image processing unit included in the image analysis device sets a seeking area in a left-hand image of the field, and calculates a moving increment for s... | 05/22/2007 |
| 7219364 | System and method for selectable semantic codec pairs for very low data-rate video transmission A system and method for using computer image processing for selectable task-based digital video compression is described. The system is intended to reduce travel of experts and let these experts direct field agents in performing tasks remotely. The tasks to be perfo... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7197074 | Phase plane correlation motion vector determination method A phase plane correlation motion vector determination method identifies images areas in which motion took place. A reference image is shifted by the candidate motion vectors obtained from the phase plane correlation. The shifted reference image is correlated to dete... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7184072 | Airborne inventory and inspection system and apparatus A system and apparatus for acquiring images of electric transmission line tower structures, equipment attached to said tower structures, and transmission lines suspended from said towers. The system uses a fixed wing aircraft and an arrangement of at least one still... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7124053 | Image processing method and apparatus therefor A system is provided for obtaining parameters about the position and orientation of a camera, where the camera has a fixed position and orientation, by using the image coordinates and world coordinates of markers included in an image photographed by the camera. This... | 10/17/2006 |
| 7113202 | Autotiller control system for aircraft utilizing camera sensing An automatic control system for directional control of an aircraft moving on the ground utilizing computer vision methods and camera sensing methods (visible, infrared or microwave) to optically recognize and track taxiway navigation features thereby providing pilot... | 09/26/2006 |
| 7030924 | Image reading device and method for the same When an image object is read using a camera including a line sensor having pixels arrayed in a line, a relative-movement-detecting section detects a movement of a transfer head holding the object in X direction relative to the camera. The detecting section outputs a... | 04/18/2006 |
| 6970595 | Method and system for chroma key masking A method for chroma key masking including for a given pixel color, calculating a quadratic function of the pixel color coordinates based on a prescribed chroma key color, the quadratic function corresponding to an ellipsoid in a color space, generating a substantial... | 11/29/2005 |
| 6937651 | Method and apparatus for compressing image information A system (10) includes an image detector (12) which is a video camera, and which detects and outputs a succession of video images of a selected subject. A technique for processing these images involves preparing compressed image information. The compre... | 08/30/2005 |
| 6912313 | Image background replacement method An image's pixels are initially segmented into pixels of the image foreground and background by comparing the pixels of the image to updated models of background reference pixels. Pixel structures are identified in the image. The probability that a pixel is in the b... | 06/28/2005 |
| 6847392 | Three-dimensional structure estimation apparatus A three-dimensional structure estimation apparatus by which an image of a wide visual field and another image which has a high resolution at part of the visual field are provided and a high resolution three-dimensional structure of an object in the visual field can ... | 01/25/2005 |
| 6791673 | Ground surveillance system The invention is a method and apparatus for exercising surveillance over a surface from an observation point above the surface utilizing three-dimensional map data pertaining to the surface. The method comprises the steps (1) intercepting the light rays from a surfa... | 09/14/2004 |
| 6782118 | System for measuring, substantially instantaneously, the distance and trajectory traveled by a body in flight during sports competitions A system for measuring the distance traveled by bodies in flight during sports events, the bodies executing trajectories having a common predetermined take-off area, and a variable landing point within a landing surface. The system includes a fixed image acquisition... | 08/24/2004 |
| 6775014 | System and method for determining the location of a target in a room or small area A system is provided for locating a target, such as a person, relative to a projection screen, the system including two infrared light sources for casting separate shadows of the target on a translucent screen, such as those commonly used for back-projection display... | 08/10/2004 |
| 6748121 | Intelligent interpolation methods for automatic generation of an accurate digital elevation model The present invention relates generally to interpolation methods for automatic generation of an accurate digital elevation model, and more particularly relates to intelligent interpolation methods for accurate extraction of 3-dimensional digital elevation models fro... | 06/08/2004 |
| 6734787 | Apparatus and method of recognizing vehicle travelling behind Images of objects existing behind a first vehicle are detected to obtain distance data on the objects in relation to the first vehicle for recognizing one of the objects as a second vehicle travelling behind the first vehicle based on the distance data. The type of ... | 05/11/2004 |
| 6697147 | Position measurement apparatus and method using laser A position measurement apparatus and method using laser includes a laser generating device, an image device, and a control unit. The laser generating device generates three or more laser beams progressing in parallel with each other at regular intervals. ... | 02/24/2004 |
| 6628322 | Device and method for positioning a measuring head on a noncontact three-dimensional measuring machine A positioning device for a measuring machine wherein a measuring head is movable in a three-dimensional space with respect to a first reference system, and supports a visual sensor having a television camera and a source of a laser beam. The device displa... | 09/30/2003 |
| 6384871 | Method and apparatus for automatic electronic replacement of billboards in a video image Apparatus for automatic electronic replacement of a billboard in a video image including an automatic camera orientation measurement apparatus including motion measurement means operative to measure the Field of View (FOV) of the TV camera relative to a k... | 05/07/2002 |
| 6310644 | Camera theodolite system A three-dimensional coordinate measuring system which includes first and second towers, first and second viewing devices mounted on the first and second towers, respectively, and a pair of targets mounted on each of the first and second towers a known dis... | 10/30/2001 |
| 6304298 | Method and apparatus for determining the position of a TV camera for use in a virtual studio A method of determining the position of a TV camera relative to a patterned panel being viewed by the TV camera including the steps of: identifying a plurality of edge points of the pattern from the video signal produced by said camera and using these edge poi... | 10/16/2001 |
| 6208386 | Method and apparatus for automatic electronic replacement of billboards in a video image Apparatus for automatic electronic replacement of a billboard in a video image including an automatic camera orientation measurement apparatus including motion measurement means operative to measure the Field of View (FOV) of the TV camera relative to a k... | 03/27/2001 |
| 6191812 | Method of providing background patterns for camera tracking An improved method of tracking a camera in dynamic chroma-keying of the type in which a foreground object is photographed against a multicolored chroma-key screen. The multicolor patterns are created by projection on a monochrome screen, for example by pr... | 02/20/2001 |
| 6108497 | Standard measurement scale and markers for defining standard measurement scale A standard scale used in a photogrammetric measurement system has a polygonal plate having three apexes which are arranged to define a reference plane, where each of the apexes defines a reference point. Another standard scale has a light-guide plate memb... | 08/22/2000 |
| 6021209 | Distance detection method using images In a distance detection method, a pair of image data representing a pattern of images is obtained by using a pair of image sensors for receiving optical images. Then, a detection target extracted from each of the image data is captured while sequentially ... | 02/01/2000 |
| 5999634 | Device and method for analyzing an electronic image signal A number of systems and methods for analyzing electronic image signals are provided which include processing the image signal as one or more cells, each comprising a plurality of pixels. For consecutive frames of the monitored image, a set of pointers are... | 12/07/1999 |
| 5856844 | Method and apparatus for determining position and orientation A method for determining degrees of freedom of an object, and in particular, to a device for determining up to six degrees of freedom of a head mount display and a handle. A first camera is attached to a head mount display and senses an optically modulate... | 01/05/1999 |
| 5832139 | Method and apparatus for determining degrees of freedom of a camera A method for determining up to six degrees of freedom of a camera relative to a reference frame comprises sensing an optically modulated target with the camera and processing the camera's video output signal with a digital computer. The target may have a ... | 11/03/1998 |
| 5742699 | Passive velocity measuring device The presented invention provides the velocity of a moving target from a remote location. A CCD camera receives the image of the target vehicle and records this information on CCD array. The camera then outputs this information in a standard video format s... | 04/21/1998 |
| 5557323 | Distance measuring apparatus A distance measuring apparatus sets a plurality of sub-windows in a picture plane so that the size of each sub-window having a contrast higher than a predetermined value is as small as possible but is greater than a minimum size. Therefore, it is possible... | 09/17/1996 |
