Did You Know...
...that two musicians were responsible for the invention of color print film? Fascinated by photography, Leopold Godowsky and Leopold Mannes worked together to produce an easy-to-use, practical color film. They worked full time as music teachers and gave concerts while experimenting during their off hours in Mannes' kitchen. Their success earned them full-time, well-paying jobs at Kodak and their efforts resulted in Kodachrome film, which was introduced in 1935.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8189091 | Apparatus and method for electro-optical split image focusing Provided are an electro-optical split image focusing apparatus and method through which an in-focus position of a photographed plane with respect to the image of a subject can be detected with accuracy and speed. The apparatus comprises at least one electro-optical ... | 05/29/2012 |
| 8189092 | Apparatus and method for adjusting focus using modulation transfer functions Provided are an apparatus and method for adjusting focus using the MTF characteristics of a lens in a digital image processing apparatus that adjusts focus using optical characteristics of a lens. The apparatus for adjusting focus includes: an image pickup unit in w... | 05/29/2012 |
| 8179471 | Focusing device and image pickup apparatus A focusing device includes a distance information acquisition section acquiring information on a distance to a subject based on a plurality of image data acquired by taking images of the subject at a plurality of different viewpoint positions. A subject detection se... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8169534 | Volumetric imaging using “virtual” lenslets A system constructs an image using virtual lenslets. ... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8164682 | Dithered focus evaluation The invention utilizes an autofocus system (806) that is capable of very fast changes in focus over a relatively small portion of the focus range of the focusing system. When operating continuously in a repeating series of images or frames such as are found i... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8149324 | Phase difference detection device, imaging apparatus, phase difference detection method The ratio between an image A and an image B is calculated as the comparison result of the images A and B obtained from a pair of optical images. The variance is then calculated in order to evaluate the statistical fluctuation of the ratio obtained for each pixel. Th... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8144238 | Image processing apparatus and method In position and orientation measurement based on natural features, erroneous detection of the natural features is prevented when an observation target object is occluded by another object, and registration stability is improved. To this end, an occluding object that... | 03/27/2012 |
| 8125560 | System for topology based automatic focus A method for automatically focusing a camera including the steps of (A) recording a first topology and a second topology, where the second topology occurs temporally after the first topology, and (B) comparing the first topology with the second topology. A focus of ... | 02/28/2012 |
| 8120696 | Methods, apparatuses and systems using windowing to accelerate automatic camera functions Methods, apparatuses and systems are disclosed for accelerating the operation of the automatic functions of an imager, e.g. a camera system. The automatic functions may, for example, include one or more of auto-focus, auto-exposure and auto-white balance. A special ... | 02/21/2012 |
| 8106999 | Focus adjustment apparatus, method, and program A focus adjustment apparatus including a face detector for detecting a person's face included in an image obtained by photographing, an eye detector for detecting an eye of the person included in the image, an evaluation value calculator for calculating an evaluatio... | 01/31/2012 |
| 8102463 | Solid-state image device having focus detection pixels A solid-state image device has a photoelectric conversion part and has pixels for focus detection and image pixels that are allocated in a row direction and a column direction, and the solid-state image device includes a vertical image scanning circuit that reads im... | 01/24/2012 |
| 8102464 | Automatic focusing method in high-noise environment and digital imaging device using the same An automatic focusing method in a high-noise environment and a digital imaging device using the same are used for determining an object distance. The method includes taking two digital images at a farthest object distance and taking two digital images at a nearest o... | 01/24/2012 |
| 8098321 | Image pickup element for performing focus detection based on phase-difference detecting and image pickup device having such image pickup element An image pickup element includes a light receiver having a matrix arrangement formed by disposing first-direction arrays, each having photoelectric converters arranged in a first direction with a gap therebetween, in a second direction orthogonal thereto, and micro-... | 01/17/2012 |
| 8094232 | Imaging apparatus An imaging apparatus includes: an image sensor with imaging pixels and focus detection pixels arrayed on a plane, which captures an image via an optical system; and a correction unit that corrects image data output from an imaging pixel based upon output data from a... | 01/10/2012 |
| 8077250 | Electronic still camera with capability to perform optimal focus detection according to selected mode An electronic still camera includes a finder optical system for viewing a subject image. An imaging section obtains the subject image. A display section displays the subject image based on image data associated with the subject image obtained by the imaging section.... | 12/13/2011 |
| 8072531 | Imaging device An imaging device of the present invention includes a normal operation period and a focusing operation period; a CCD (102) able to mix image signals of a plurality of pixels and read the mixed image signals; an AFE (103) that converts the image signals... | 12/06/2011 |
| 8054372 | Autofocus control circuit, autofocus control method and image pickup apparatus An image compression circuit provided in an image pickup apparatus for generation of compressed image data for record can also serve as an evaluation value calculation circuit that generates a contrast evaluation value to be used as an index for finding an in-focus ... | 11/08/2011 |
| 8049813 | System for topology based automatic focus A method for automatically focusing a camera including the steps of (A) recording a first topology and a second topology, where the second topology occurs temporally after the first topology, and (B) comparing the first topology with the second topology. A focus of ... | 11/01/2011 |
| 8045046 | Four-dimensional polynomial model for depth estimation based on two-picture matching Camera depth estimation is performed in response to picture matching based on blur difference computed between images captured at different focal positions. A blur difference model is stored in the camera based on characterization of the camera with a series of matc... | 10/25/2011 |
| 8035725 | Multi-focus camera apparatus and image processing method and program used therein In a multi-focus camera apparatus that photographs the same region with cameras having different focal lengths, detection means for detecting a specified target in images obtained by the cameras, region acquisition means for obtaining in the images regions comprisin... | 10/11/2011 |
| 8004599 | Automatic focus adjusting apparatus and automatic focus adjusting method, and image pickup apparatus and image pickup method In an automatic focus adjusting method for adjusting the focus based on image signals in a preset focus detection area, the face is detected from an image, and the detected face area is set as the focus detection area in a front-light scene. On the other hand, when ... | 08/23/2011 |
| 7990460 | System and method for focusing a digital camera A method of focusing a digital camera module with an image sensor including capturing an image of a test target with the digital camera module, determining a focus quality of the image with the image sensor, outputting a signal related to the focus quality of the im... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7973852 | Auto-focus apparatus, image capture apparatus, and auto-focus method Disclosed is an auto-focus apparatus including an evaluation value calculator periodically calculating evaluation values using high frequency components of image signals in a specific region of a subject image. The auto-focus apparatus further includes a control uni... | 07/05/2011 |
| 7936392 | Imaging arrangements and methods therefor Image data is processed to facilitate focusing and/or optical correction. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, an imaging arrangement collects light data corresponding to light passing through a particular focal plane. The light data is colle... | 05/03/2011 |
| 7929044 | Autofocus searching method An autofocus searching method includes the following procedures. First, focus values of images, which are acquired during the movement of the object lens, are calculated, in which the focus value includes at least the intensity value of the image derived from the in... | 04/19/2011 |
| 7920202 | Apparatus and method to control focusing of photographing device An apparatus and method to control the focusing of a photographing device, in which a light source portion is removed from an image, is provided. The focusing of the photographing device is controlled according to whether the image is in a high- or low-illuminance s... | 04/05/2011 |
| 7916206 | Focus detection apparatus and focusing control apparatus utilizing photoelectric converting element output A focus detection apparatus is disclosed which enables accurate AF operations without a focusing judgment performed in an out-of-focus state even when taking an image including a high-luminance object. The focus detection apparatus generates luminance information of... | 03/29/2011 |
| 7916207 | Apparatus and method for generating focus data in an image sensor An apparatus for generating a focus data in an image sensor, the apparatus includes a green interpolation unit for generating a M×N green plane from the RGB bayer pattern of a predetermined selected image window through a green interpolation; and a focus data gener... | 03/29/2011 |
| 7911526 | Automatic focusing apparatus and optical device The present invention is directed to the provision of an automatic focusing apparatus that can detect a focusing point at a sufficiently high speed for practical use and can achieve a lens condition having good focusing performance. The automatic focusing apparatus ... | 03/22/2011 |
| 7898592 | Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and image processing system An image processing apparatus includes a face detecting unit that detects a face included in image data generated by a photographing operation, a face transforming and correcting unit that performs a face correcting process for shrinking a width of a detected face i... | 03/01/2011 |
| 7876375 | Focusing device that adjusts focus based on a measured luminance value and method for the same An automatic focus adjustment device has an image sensing element for converting an object optical image into an electrical signal, and outputting an image signal, a filter for extracting high-frequency components of the image signal obtained by the image sensing el... | 01/25/2011 |
| 7859588 | Method and apparatus for operating a dual lens camera to augment an image An electronic camera for producing an output image of a scene from a captured image signal includes a first imaging stage comprising a first image sensor for generating a first sensor output and a first lens for forming a first image of the scene on the first image ... | 12/28/2010 |
| 7847855 | Image capturing apparatus and focusing method with focus evaluation The image capturing apparatus includes: a taking optical system which includes a focusing lens; an imaging unit which receives a subject light through the taking optical system and converts the subject light to image data representing frame images; a face detection ... | 12/07/2010 |
| 7821568 | Imaging device, automatic focusing method and recording medium on which a program is recorded An imaging device that can shorten focus searching search times and enable correct focusing in accordance with shooting conditions. An autofocus function operates when a shutter button of a digital camera is half-pressed. At this time, a current shooting mode, which... | 10/26/2010 |
| 7808544 | Electronic still camera with capability to perform optimal focus detection according to selected mode An electronic still camera includes a finder optical system for viewing a subject image. An imaging section obtains the subject image. A display section displays the subject image based on image data associated with the subject image obtained by the imaging section.... | 10/05/2010 |
| 7791668 | Digital camera A digital camera includes: an evaluation value calculation unit that calculates a focal point evaluation value that changes in correspondence to a position assumed by a focus lens based upon image signals; a focal adjustment unit that executes an AF search by detect... | 09/07/2010 |
| 7791669 | Picture taking apparatus having focusing device A plurality of distance measuring points in a picture can be correctly and rapidly focused on. Images at a plurality of distance measuring points in the picture can be detected through a photographing lens by means of an image pickup element. These detected distance... | 09/07/2010 |
| 7733412 | Image pickup apparatus and image pickup method An image pickup apparatus which can reduce the time required for automatic focus scanning. The size of the face is determined based on information on a subject's face, which is detected from image data acquired by shooting by an image pickup device. The subject dist... | 06/08/2010 |
| 7728904 | Skin color prioritized automatic focus control via sensor-dependent skin color detection The disclosure is directed to techniques for automatic focus control. The automatic focus control techniques prioritize focus of a camera based on skin tone using a skin color detection approach which is intrinsically image sensor-dependent. Sensor-dependent skin co... | 06/01/2010 |
| 7705908 | Imaging method and system for determining camera operating parameter Methods are provided for determining an operating parameter for an image system. Evaluation images are obtained during composition of an archival image and the evaluation images are stored. The evaluation images are compared to determine common image elements and an... | 04/27/2010 |
