Did You Know...
...that while attempting to develop a super strong glue, 3M employee Spencer Silver accidentally developed a glue that was so weak it would barely hold two pieces of paper together? However, his colleague Art Fry needed the glue. Fry sang with his church choir and marked the pages of his hymnal with small scraps of paper that often fell out. He used Silver's glue to hold the papers in place. Today we call this invention Post-it Notes.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8150252 | Imaging apparatus and imaging apparatus control method When the depth information indicating a difference among a plurality of subjects in the size of subject distance is large, an imaging apparatus lowers a threshold value of the subject luminance to be referred to when determining whether to perform a shooting operati... | 04/03/2012 |
| 7970269 | Image acquisition apparatus The invention relates to an image acquisition apparatus, in particular a camera, for the identification of objects, comprising a focusable optical receiving system and an illumination unit including an object illumination and/or positioning illumination, wherein the... | 06/28/2011 |
| 7925147 | Mobile terminal having camera flash and method for controlling camera flash A mobile terminal including an LED camera flash includes a lens, which is for photographing an object, an image sensing unit, which generates a sensor result value by executing automatic exposure and automatic white balance, a flash module, which includes a flash dr... | 04/12/2011 |
| 7894715 | Image pickup apparatus, camera system, and control method for image pickup apparatus An image pickup apparatus capable of executing photographing using an emission unit that emits light to a subject includes an acquisition unit for obtaining distance-to-subject information based on lens driving information on a taking lens obtained upon focus adjust... | 02/22/2011 |
| 7813631 | Image-taking apparatus In an image-taking apparatus, a main CPU reads a sensitivity level that has been set, thereby determining whether a subject distance measured in AF processing is longer as compared to a threshold. The threshold is variable such that the higher the sensitivity level ... | 10/12/2010 |
| 7801429 | Image taking apparatus An aspect of the present invention provides an image taking apparatus comprising a flash emission device, a flash control device which adjusts a flash emission amount at the time of image taking using flash, an automatic focusing device which automatically performs ... | 09/21/2010 |
| 7706674 | Device and method for controlling flash A flash controlling method is disclosed. The method includes: acquiring image data by photographing a subject; detecting a predetermined target object from the image data; calculating a distance to the predetermined target object based on a size of the detected pred... | 04/27/2010 |
| 7616874 | Image-taking apparatus An image-taking apparatus includes two-dimensionally arranged LEDs for emitting fill lights to eradiation areas. The image-taking apparatus also includes light-receiving sensors for respectively receiving reflected lights from the irradiation areas. The amount of th... | 11/10/2009 |
| 7529477 | Image-taking apparatus An image-taking apparatus includes a lighting section having LEDs that individually correspond to areas, into which a field is divided, and that each emit light to the corresponding one of the areas. The apparatus also includes a CCD and an AF section. The lighting ... | 05/05/2009 |
| 7499636 | Method for automatically coordinating flash intensity and camera system as the same A camera system with function of automatically coordinating flash intensity includes a lens, an image sensor, a focus system, a focus sensor and a control unit. The lens controls light amount that entrance into camera. The focusing system drives the lens to focus th... | 03/03/2009 |
| 7483627 | Image-taking apparatus The present invention provides an image-taking apparatus which includes: a first light-emitting section having a xenon tube and a main capacitor; and a second light-emitting section having an LED. When an image is to be taken with an auxiliary light emission immedia... | 01/27/2009 |
| 7415199 | Image capture apparatus, methods and computer program products using auto-focus-generated distance estimates to control flash and image stabilization A distance to a subject in a scene is determined using an automatic focus (AF) system of a digital camera. Image stabilization and flash are selectively automatically enabled based on the determined distance to capture an image of the scene. For example, in some emb... | 08/19/2008 |
| 7385641 | Camera arrangement with multiple illuminators for close in photography A camera arrangement comprising an illumination assembly for illuminating an object to be photographed by the camera arrangement, the illumination assembly comprising a sensor for sensing the object, first and second illuminators and a controller for controlling the... | 06/10/2008 |
| 7362368 | Perfecting the optics within a digital image acquisition device using face detection Within a digital acquisition device, acquisition parameters of a digital image are perfected as part of an image capture process using face detection within said captured image to achieve one or more desired image acquisition parameters. Default values are determine... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7362370 | Image capturing apparatus, image capturing method, and computer-readable medium storing program using a distance measure for image correction An image capturing apparatus, an image capturing method, and a computer-readable medium storing program for correcting appropriately an image for each area independently. A digital camera for capturing a subject includes an image pick-up unit for capturing a first i... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7355648 | Camera having a through the lens pixel illuminator A camera comprising: a photosurface comprising light sensitive pixels that generate signals responsive to light incident thereon and optics that focus an image of a scene onto the photosurface; and an illumination system for illuminating the scene, the illumination ... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7342650 | Electronic display and control device for a measuring device The invention relates to an electronic display and control device for a geodesic measuring device containing capturing means and representation means for detecting and reproducing a measuring range together with input means for controlling the measuring processes. T... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7336307 | Camera having accumulation operation in the period between the time of fully opening a leading shutter and the time of starting of a trailing shutter Disclosed is a camera including: an image-taking device; a shutter unit having a first shutter member that travels from a position where a shutter opening is closed to a position which is retreated from the opening, and a second shutter member that travels from the ... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7324156 | Attachable carrier having an optical accessory for a portable electronic device A portability enhancement device (100) for enhancing portability and optical capability of a portable electronic device (102) equipped with a camera (108) and camera lens (110) is provided. The portability enhancement device (100) ... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7321725 | Light-amount control device for photographing A light-amount control device includes a plurality of lighting units each of which emits light for illuminating a photographing area of a photographing optical system. Further, the light-amount control device includes a peripheral light amount data calculator and a ... | 01/22/2008 |
| 7317815 | Digital image processing composition using face detection information A method of automatic or assisted recomposing of digital image processing uses face detection. Pixels that correspond to a face within a digital image are identified. A re-compositioned image is based on spatial or other parameters of the detected image, particularl... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7315630 | Perfecting of digital image rendering parameters within rendering devices using face detection Within a digital rendering device, such as printers, hard copy and soft copy display, and copiers, rendering parameters of a digital image are perfected as part of an image rendering process using face detection within said rendered image to achieve one or more desi... | 01/01/2008 |
| 7312854 | Position sensitive photoelectric sensor and method of setting reference distance in the same In a position sensitive photoelectric sensor that calculates a distance to a target based on a triangular range finding using a light and outputs a result compared with a reference distance, first the reference distance Dref is set roughly by using a light receiving... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7269292 | Digital image adjustable compression and resolution using face detection information A method of adjustable spatial and/or temporal compression of an image including a face includes identifying a group of pixels that correspond to a face within a digitally-acquired image. A first compression portion of the image including the group of pixels is dete... | 09/11/2007 |
| 7265789 | Camera with flange back adjusting mechanism A camera includes a flange back adjusting mechanism in which the operation of the flange back adjusting mechanism is not obstructed, and the flange back adjustment is easily performed. A flange back adjusting mechanism which moves and adjusts a CCD in the direction ... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7254321 | Image capturing apparatus, image capturing method, and computer program An image capturing apparatus in which the ratio between the brightness just before preliminary light emission and the brightness at preliminary light emission is calculated for each of a plurality of photometric areas. The highest ratio among the ratios in the areas... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7248245 | Liquid crystal display device and manufacturing method thereof, and drive control method of lighting unit A liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal display panel having a first substrate, a second substrate, a liquid crystal disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, plural pixel electrodes arranged in a matrix on a second substrate, ... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7224894 | Lighting apparatus, electronic flash apparatus and camera A lighting apparatus includes: a reflecting surface for reflecting light, formed on a circuit board;—an LED light source for emitting illumination light with a light-emitting diode, mounted on a part of the reflecting surface; and a reflector for reflecting ahead ... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7221864 | Lighting apparatus for photographing A lighting apparatus for lighting subjects to be photographed, includes a plurality of lighting units each having a lighting element and a radiating surface for radiating light from the lighting element, and each radiating surface having a normal line oriented in th... | 05/22/2007 |
| 7184658 | Automatic flash switching rotational strobe frame In the realm of professional photography, and those amateur wanting professional results, when photographing people, the illumination devices must be located directly above and on the centerline of the camera lens. This is the desired effect as not to have shadows b... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7142241 | Image pickup device An image pickup device has an image sensor having rectangular light receiving portions arranged in a matrix, and microlenses disposed in correspondence with said light receiving portions, said light receiving portions and said microlenses being formed integrally wit... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7139612 | Multi-phasic microphotodiode retinal implant and adaptive imaging retinal stimulation system An artificial retina device and a retinal stimulation system and method for stimulating and modulating its function is disclosed. The artificial retina device includes multi-phasic microphotodiode subunits. In persons suffering from blindness due to outer retinal la... | 11/21/2006 |
| 7134707 | Selective light attenuation system A system for selectively attenuating light from a source of light, such as the sun, to a person's eyes in a vehicle. The system includes an electro-optical element (10) interposed between the source of light (16) and the person's eyes (14). The ... | 11/14/2006 |
| 7130535 | Camera system with flash control based on focal length When the focal length of a photographic lens is less than a first focal length, a dimming correction amount deltaY is set to a certain minus value (deltaYW=−WddY) (S100, S150). When the focal length is greater than a second focal length, the dimming ... | 10/31/2006 |
| 7123828 | Camera assemblies having overlapping rocker and link projections A camera assembly has a main member having a mount defining an optical axis. A rocker supported by the mount, is pivotable between first and second positions. First and second taking lenses are movable by the rocker between a first configuration, in which the optica... | 10/17/2006 |
| 7120355 | Camera assembly having lens turret and independently movable rocker A camera assembly has a mount defining an optical axis. The mount has opposed first and second stops. A rocker pivots between the stops. An over-center mechanism biases the rocker toward the nearer stop. A lens turret has primary and secondary openings. The lens tur... | 10/10/2006 |
| 7106378 | Electronic flash, electronic camera and light emitting head R, G and B LEDs are used as a light source of an electronic flash. Electric energy is supplied to a capacitor to the LEDs. A system controller controls light emitting amounts of the LEDs so that a color temperature of the electronic flash light becomes a color tempe... | 09/12/2006 |
| 7103215 | Automated detection of pornographic images A method of detecting pornographic images, wherein a color reference database is prepared in LAB color space defining a plurality of colors representing relevant portions of a human body. A questionable image is selected, and sampled pixels are compared with the col... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7103273 | AF driving mechanism of camera A worm gear is provided on a rotating shaft of an AF motor. A first supporting cylinder includes a gear portion and a receiving portion. A wheel gear, which is in engagement with the worm gear, is formed on an outer surface of the gear portion. A slit is formed at t... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7095892 | Object-of-interest image capture A method and apparatus for object-of-interest image capture accomplishes the functions of capturing (120) a current image, determining (125) an object region of the object-of-interest in the current image, calculating (130) a contrast measuremen... | 08/22/2006 |
