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Class 348/344 - Optical path switching


Subclass of Class 348 - Television
Definition: Subject matter including a device for selecting diverse
No. of patents: 72
Last issue date: 01/17/2012


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NumberTitleIssue Date
8098320Imaging device
An imaging device includes a housing including first and second photographing apertures which are open toward opposite directions; an image pickup device provided in the housing; a main optical system forming incident light from the first photographing aperture onto...
01/17/2012
7773144Lens device
A lens device, in which object light is branched by a half mirror after passing through a photographic lens to allow photographing with two photographing means and in which the half mirror can be retracted from the optical axis to obtain a clear image using one of t...
08/10/2010
7764320Portable imaging system for multimode camera with different focal length lens and fixed or moveable image sensors
Systems and methods for a portable electronic device are provided. The portable electronic device includes a multimode camera system for providing a plurality of operation modes for the portable electronic device. The multimode camera system includes at least one im...
07/27/2010
7656454Image pickup apparatus including adjustable reflection surface
An image pickup apparatus includes a finder optical system capable of guiding an observation beam to a finder window, the observation beam being a beam traveling from a photographing optical system and reflected by a main reflecting surface; and a first image pickup...
02/02/2010
7646419Multiband camera system
A multiband camera system includes: a first sensor for generating a first object image and a first alignment image in a first frequency band; a second sensor for generating a second object image and a second alignment image in a second frequency band; and an interna...
01/12/2010
7623177Image capturing device having multiple optical systems
In a digital camera having multiple optical systems, multiple image capturing elements are effectively driven to reduce power consumption. A digital camera has a first image capturing optical system having a lens and a first image sensor and a second image capturing...
11/24/2009
7548267Digital single-lens reflex camera
A digital single-lens reflex camera comprises: an optical viewfinder; a retractable movable mirror for guiding subject images to the optical viewfinder; an image display device, serving as an electronic viewfinder, for displaying a subject image captured by an image...
06/16/2009
7440009High definition imaging method and imaging apparatus having electro-optical polarization element between two birefrigent elements forming alternately on sensor single and overlapping images
In a method for forming an image of a subject on a solid-state imaging device, a first time period for splitting a light beam from a subject into a plurality of light beams that have different polarization directions and then combining the plurality of light beams t...
10/21/2008
7432977Portable electronic device with built-in digital camera
A mobile phone (100) includes a main body (20), a display (21) embedded in a user interface (24) of the main body, a containing space (23) spanning through to the user interface and at least one of a top surface (26) and a b...
10/07/2008
7414664Image taking apparatus and lens apparatus
An image taking apparatus performs a focusing operation quickly and includes a light splitting unit which splits a light flux from an image-taking lens into a plurality of light fluxes, a view finder optical system observing an object image formed by the light flux ...
08/19/2008
7400827Camera provided with optical finder
According to the present invention, light from a taking lens is reflected by a quick return mirror in a lateral direction of a body unit. Then, after passing through a screen, the light is reflected toward an upper side of the body unit by a second mirror except par...
07/15/2008
7375759Digital image capturing apparatus capable of capturing images from different directions
A digital image capturing apparatus includes a housing, a first hole installed on the front side of the housing for inputting light from the front, a second hole installed on the rear side of the housing for inputting light from the rear, a reflector module installe...
05/20/2008
7358998Image switching apparatus providing an optical compensator
An image switching apparatus for an electronic camera. The electronic camera has a lens, an image sensor and a viewfinder. The image switching apparatus includes a housing, an optical assembly and a reciprocating driving device. The housing is disposed between the l...
04/15/2008
7358475Solid-state imaging device and camera
A solid-state imaging device includes pixels 2 arranged two-dimensionally on a semiconductor substrate 1. In a predetermined area in each pixel is formed a light-sensitive area 3 for receiving incident light 11, and each pixel includes a ...
04/15/2008
7286299Zoom lens and image sensing apparatus
A zoom lens sequentially includes, along an optical axis from the object (to be imaged) side, a first lens group which has positive refracting power and is always fixed at a position in the optical axis direction in zooming and focusing, a second lens group having n...
10/23/2007
7242529Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus
A zoom lens includes: a first lens group having a positive refractive power and statically positioned along an optical axis when a power of the zoom lens is varied or the zoom lens is focused; a second lens group having a negative refractive power; a third lens grou...
07/10/2007
7224395Camera having a shutter to cut reverse-incident light from the eyepiece lens
A camera comprises a beam splitter configured to divide an incident light from a subject through a photographing lens, an eyepiece lens configured to observe the incident light divided by the beam splitter with a viewfinder, a relay lens provided between the beam sp...
05/29/2007
7192202Mirror apparatus
A mirror apparatus has a reflecting surface to reflect an incident luminous flux. A fixed member has a plurality of driving electrodes on a surface of the fixed member. A movable member is formed with the reflecting surface on one side, and capable of escaping out o...
03/20/2007
7176967Method and apparatus for a two-chip cinematography camera
A camera includes a first sensor disposed to image light that propagates along a reflected axis, a second sensor disposed to image light that propagates along a direct axis, and a rotatable structure disposed to define a rotation plane that is oblique to both the re...
02/13/2007
7170558Compact and low-profile digital camera
A digital camera which allows to make thickness, height and width of its camera body small. The camera has a first optical member for generally perpendicularly bending a first optical axis of light coming from an object through a lens opening part, a second optical ...
01/30/2007
7092030Image pickup apparatus with prism optical system
An image pickup apparatus includes an image pickup apparatus body, an image recording/reproducing section placed on the right-hand side within the image pickup apparatus body when viewed in a photographing direction, an image-displaying monitor disposed on the left-...
08/15/2006
7079185Camera with optical axis bending optical system
A camera includes a first lens unit on which a light beam is incident from a subject, a reflective mirror for reflecting the light beam through the first lens unit, in a direction substantially perpendicular to the optical axis of the first lens unit, a first diaphr...
07/18/2006
7042510Setting operation device and electronic apparatus
It is an object of this invention to provide a setting operation device which can effectively cope with the tendency toward multiple functions and allows a user to easily change and check functions. In order to achieve this object, the device includes a first rotati...
05/09/2006
7034882Electronic camera
A photographic lens system for forming an object image is placed in the lens barrel of an electronic camera. In a camera body, a beam splitter for forming branched optical paths and an image sensing element for photoelectrically converting the formed object image ar...
04/25/2006
7012643One chip, low light level color camera
A high sensitivity, single chip, low light level imaging device is provided. The imaging device of the present invention utilizes sparse color sampling, to maximize the luminance information gathered. In particular, color information is gathered by a small proportio...
03/14/2006
7006140Digital still camera with shifting focus lens
A digital still camera of the present invention has a photographing optical system, a body, an image sensor, a half mirror, a phase difference focus detector. The image sensor is arranged in the body and backward of the photographing optical system along an optical ...
02/28/2006
6975358Dual channel imaging device
An imaging device may include two channels, for example each with different magnification or fields of view as two examples. The user may select one of the channels and the image captured through that channel may be both viewed through a viewfinder and recorded on a...
12/13/2005
6924948Multifocal lens system for digital cameras
A multifocal lens system to be used for digital cameras for setting any one of a plurality of lenses in a picture taking (image capturing) position comprising a wide-angle lens (shorter focal length lens) mounted in front of an image sensor in a picture taking (imag...
08/02/2005
6914634Digital camera
A digital camera having a taking lens, a finder for viewing light transmitted through the taking lens, an image sensing element for optoelectrically converting light which passes through the taking lens, a light splitter capable of changing transmittance and dividin...
07/05/2005
6882368Image pickup apparatus
An image pickup apparatus is provided having first and second image pickup portions for receiving at least first and second distinct wavelength components of object light, respectively, and first and second optical systems for guiding the first and second wavelength...
04/19/2005
6850279Optical image recording system, and associated processing system
An optical image recording system for electronic recording of optical information comprising a lens system and a body. The body has a configuration with a low height and with broad surfaces. Optical information is received through one of these surfaces. An image rec...
02/01/2005
6809772Shutterless digital camera and method of using same
A shutterless digital camera includes an optical viewfinder having a pair of spaced apart mirrors for facilitating in one mode of operation through-the-lens viewing of an object image to be captured and for facilitating in the same one mode of operation through-the-...
10/26/2004
6804056Multi-eye image sensing apparatus
In a multi-eye camera head unit (10), a panoramic image sensing exchangeable camera head unit (111) and three-dimensional image sensing exchangeable camera head unit (112) are exchanged in correspondence with the image sensing mode. The panorami...
10/12/2004
6778220Color video camera system and method with optical prefilter
A technique for producing electronic video signals representative of color images of a scene, includes the following steps: providing a luminance sensor and a color sensor having a color filter thereover; providing a beamsplitter, and providing a motion picture film...
08/17/2004
6778218Electronic image pickup apparatus
In an electronic image pickup apparatus, a beam splitter and an image pickup element are incorporated into an optical finder unit together with optical parts used for an optical finder. The optical finder unit includes a finder case for receiving the optical parts u...
08/17/2004
6753906Image sensing apparatus utilizing pixel-shifting
Two plane parallel plates, orthogonally intersecting each other, are provided in front of a CCD device. The plane parallel plate is supported by its two ends which are deviated from an optical path. Each end of the plane parallel plate includes an armature made of s...
06/22/2004
6714247Apparatus and method for inputting reflected light image of a target object
An area image sensor outputs the difference between charges received by light-receiving cells arranged in an array pattern. A system controller generates a timing signal for generating a pulse or modulation signal. A control signal generator generates a control sign...
03/30/2004
6677999Non-polarizing LCD shutter
An electronic shutter apparatus and light shuttering method for a still image capturing device are provided according to the invention. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a beam splitter positioned in an incoming light beam path and splitting the i...
01/13/2004
6661460Electronic camera with a view finder optical path switching device for selective transmission and reflection of light beam
An electronic camera including a built-in strobe, an external strobe synchronization terminal, a photographic optical system, a prism, an imaging device, a viewfinder optical system, a light adjustment device, a movable mirror, and a drive source and driv...
12/09/2003
6650370Apparatus for coupling multiple data sources onto a printed document
A system for providing a printed output image including information from a data collection system onto a single print medium is disclosed. Data collection systems and methods are disclosed for collecting data from a plurality of spatially separated source...
11/18/2003
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