...that in 1800 ether was first used by partyers as a fun diversion? Sniffing the gas led to hilarious and raucous laughter as people watched each other become more and more intoxicated and silly. Several doctors independently realized the value ether would have to anesthetize surgery patients. Of those who claimed rights to the "discovery," none had a happy ending. One had a seizure and died defending his rights. Another spent his life in an asylum because he had been denied acclaim. A third became addicted to chloroform and, in a New York City jail, he soaked a cloth in the drug, severed an artery and bled to death.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7863550 | Focus detection device and focus detection method based upon center position of gravity information of a pair of light fluxes A focus detection device comprises: an image shift detection unit that detects a relative shift amount of a pair of images formed by a pair of light fluxes having passed through an optical system; and a conversion unit that converts the shift amount to a defocus amo... | 01/04/2011 |
| 7718940 | Compound-eye imaging apparatus A plurality of imaging optical lenses (301a to 301c) form a plurality of subject images on a plurality of imaging regions (302a to 302c), respectively. When viewed along a direction parallel with optical axes, ... | 05/18/2010 |
| 7412159 | Image pickup apparatus and defocus amount correction value calculation method An image pickup apparatus, in which a light is projected toward a physical object by projection means, and based on the reflected light by the physical object of the light, a defocus amount is detected (steps S2003 to S2008) by the first focus detectio... | 08/12/2008 |
| 7405762 | Camera having AF function A camera having an electronic image pickup element and a distance-measuring circuit that uses light signals obtained from light images of a plurality of distance-measuring areas set in a photographing screen to select a main subject and measure the distance to the s... | 07/29/2008 |
| 7372486 | Photographing apparatus and method of adjusting an image of a photographing object A photographing object image adjusting apparatus including a plurality of adjusting operation devices corresponding to a plurality of object image adjusting modes, respectively, and an object image adjusting device. Each of the plurality of adjusting operation devic... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7365310 | Increased depth of field for high resolution imaging for a matrix-based ion source The invention provides a method of producing an in-focus image of an area on a sample plate for an ion source, e.g., a matrix-based ion source or any other type of ion source that employs a sample plate onto which samples are deposited. The method generally includes... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7283736 | Imaging apparatus and imaging method An imaging apparatus including a ranging device for measuring a distance to a subject, a device for radiating fill-light to the subject, and a re-ranging determining device for determining as to whether re-measurement is executed based on a measured result of the ra... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7266248 | Method and apparatus for generating data representative of an image A method and device for generating image data are disclosed herein. One embodiment of the method comprises focusing an image of an object onto a two-dimensional photosensor array, wherein an optical element is located between the object and the two-dimensional photo... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7259923 | Lens barrel A lens barrel, including, a moving frame (2) to hold a lens (8), a direct-advance ring (4) provided on an outer periphery of the moving frame and movable relative to the moving frame in an optical direction, a resilient member (6) provide... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7250974 | Image pickup apparatus with improved auto focusing and method of autofocusing An image pickup apparatus for electronically photographing a still image using a photo-voltaic transducer device. The focusing position of a focusing lens is detected from the contrast of the photographed image as AF supplementary light is illuminated on the object.... | 07/31/2007 |
| 7248795 | Image projection apparatus, projection image pattern, laser drive apparatus, camera apparatus Image projection apparatus wherein, a focusing lens is controlled when a shutter is operated so that a contrast signal, obtained when a luminance signal from a camera signal processing circuit is supplied to an auto focusing detection circuit, may become maximum. A ... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7228070 | Image projection apparatus, projection image pattern, laser drive apparatus, camera apparatus Image projection apparatus wherein, a focusing lens is controlled when a shutter is operated so that a contrast signal, obtained when a luminance signal from a camera signal processing circuit is supplied to an auto focusing detection circuit, any become maximum. A ... | 06/05/2007 |
| 7224498 | Image reading apparatus Disclosed is an image reading apparatus which includes an illumination system, a reading unit, and an imaging optical system for imaging imagewise information provided on a surface of an original as illuminated by the illumination system, upon a surface of the readi... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7216463 | Camouflaged structure and method of camouflaging a structure against a background having a generally uniform composition A camouflaged structure and a method of camouflaging a structure against a background having a generally uniform composition of hue, saturation and brightness. In one embodiment, the camouflaged structures comprises a cell tower (100) camouflaged to decrease ... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7216081 | Interactive process and system for screening cytological specimens Concentration by cytology personnel, i.e. users, is induced during scanning and marking of cytology slides, by electronic recognition of parsed voice inputs that are spoken by the users, electronic generation of selected voice output alerts that are heard by the use... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7193196 | Methods and systems for evaluating optical systems Systems and method for determining, based on a gray scale image, focus of an imaging system. A method of this invention includes the steps of: a) acquiring a gray scale image of a test target, b) binarizing the acquired gray scale image, c) analyzing the binarized a... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7190389 | Stereo camera A stereo camera includes a pair of photographing optical systems arranged in a common plane so that a common photographing coverage occurs between a pair of photographing areas taken by the pair of photographing optical systems, an object distance measuring device, ... | 03/13/2007 |
| 7167194 | Printing a code on a product A method for printing is described. The method includes providing a printing system for printing a code on a product moving in a direction. The code is constructed from a plurality of pixels in a first data set indicating the positions of the pixels and generates a ... | 01/23/2007 |
| 7161684 | Apparatus for optical system coherence testing The present invention is directed at a coherence test reticle or lithographic plate, and a method for testing the coherence of a laser beam using the test reticle. The quality or coherence of the laser beam is measured by illuminating the test reticle and recording ... | 01/09/2007 |
| 7154642 | Display device having image acquisition capabilities and method of use thereof A digital picture frame device is provided with image acquisition capabilities. The digital picture frame device may include a display device mounted on a hinged lid. An image acquisition device may be located beneath the hinged lid. The image acquisition device may... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7132634 | Distance measuring apparatus using passive AF sensor A distance measurement object is imaged by a pair of line sensors of an AF sensor, and sensor data showing the sensor images is generated. A CPU generates AF data showing the contrast of sensor images with the sensor data being sequentially acquired by the CPU for e... | 11/07/2006 |
| 7126098 | Taking lens having focus determination optical system The taking lens comprises a picture-taking optical system, which allows object light to enter an image-capturing element for picture-taking of a camera, and a focus determination optical system, which splits the object light and allows the split light to enter a foc... | 10/24/2006 |
| 7123287 | Autostereoscopic display A multi-viewer autostereoscopic display system having a viewing field across which the system is capable of steering exit pupils, in each of which a viewer is capable of viewing an image for a selected eye. The system comprises an image forming device for generating... | 10/17/2006 |
| 7119820 | Scanning heads A scanning head for use in a register mark detection apparatus for detecting register marks on a web during relative movement between the web and the scanning head. The scanning head comprises an optical sensor and a first optical mask spaced from the optical sensor... | 10/10/2006 |
| 7119319 | Solid-state image sensing element and its design support method, and image sensing device A solid-state image sensing element has a photoelectric conversion element which converts incoming light into an electrical signal in accordance with an amount of the light, a microlens which is arranged on an incident surface, a light guide which is arranged betwee... | 10/10/2006 |
| 7106376 | Method and system for improving image quality of portrait images using a focus zone shift A method for capturing an image using an image capture device is disclosed. The image is capable of including a plurality of objects. Each of the plurality of objects is a corresponding distance from the imaging device. The image is associated with a focus zone. The... | 09/12/2006 |
| 7099574 | Distance measuring apparatus Correlation value calculation is carried out while a pair of window ranges being shifted using uncorrected AF data, and a pair of window ranges providing the highest correlation value is determined. Then, the difference between the smallest values in the respective ... | 08/29/2006 |
| 7081917 | Automatic collimation surveying apparatus having image pick-up device An automatic collimation surveying apparatus is provided with a collimation camera optical system (47) of a high magnification ratio; a wide-angle CCD camera optical system (89) having a wide field of view; a touch-panel display (64) for display... | 07/25/2006 |
| 7071985 | Optical device and method for selecting object of focus A camera capable of automatically detecting a main object in a sensed image. A distance distribution generation unit discriminates a plurality of areas in the sensed image on the basis of a predetermined condition, and a main object area determination unit automatic... | 07/04/2006 |
| 7042560 | Angle detecting apparatus and projector having the same A control circuit computes relative horizontal and vertical inclination angles between a screen and a projector by a line-type passive range-finding device. A display driving section adjusts a projection optical system including a condensing lens on the basis of the... | 05/09/2006 |
| 7040759 | Apparatus and method for determining relative positional and rotational offsets between a first and second imaging device Apparatus and methods can determine positional and rotational offsets between a first and second imaging device. Embodiments may determine the relative offsets between a Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor and a pupil camera using a calibration apparatus having a rotati... | 05/09/2006 |
| 7027233 | Closed-loop focal positioning system and method A closed-loop focusing system and method positions a focusing assembly to a desired positioned. A feedback positioning device, such as a linear encoder, provides an actual or “read” value for the linear movement of the focusing assembly. The desired position is ... | 04/11/2006 |
| 6973263 | Image projection apparatus, projection image pattern, laser drive apparatus, camera apparatus Image protection apparatus wherein, a focusing lens is controlled when a shutter is operated so that a contrast signal, obtained when a luminance signal from a camera signal processing circuit is supplied to an auto focusing detection circuit, may become maximum. A ... | 12/06/2005 |
| 6970647 | Image projection apparatus, projection image pattern, laser drive apparatus, camera apparatus Image projection apparatus wherein, a focusing lens is controlled when a shutter is operated so that a contrast signal, obtained when a luminance signal from a camera signal processing circuit is supplied to an auto focusing detection circuit, may become maximum. A ... | 11/29/2005 |
| 6934038 | Method for optical system coherence testing The present invention is directed at a coherence test reticle or lithographic plate, and a method for testing the coherence of a laser beam using the test reticle. The quality or coherence of the laser beam is measured by illuminating the test reticle and the record... | 08/23/2005 |
| 6934415 | Visual attention system The most significant features in visual scenes, is identified without prior training, by measuring the difficulty in finding similarities between neighbourhoods in the scene. Pixels in an area that is similar to much of the rest of the scene score low measures of vi... | 08/23/2005 |
| 6933978 | Focus detecting device with photoelectric conversion portion having microlens and with light blocking portion having first and second openings A focus detecting device comprises a first photoelectric conversion section for performing photoelectric conversion of a light beam emitted from a first pupil area of a image pickup optical unit, a second photoelectric conversion section for performing photoelectric... | 08/23/2005 |
| 6930297 | Image sensing device and distance measuring device using the image sensing device A first and a second sensor array 21 and 22 arranged at the approximate image forming plane of a pair of optical systems, and a third sensor array 23 arranged at a spacing h from the first and second sensor arrays 21 and 22. The im... | 08/16/2005 |
| 6927376 | Autofocusing method for telescopes pertaining to surveying equipment The invention relates to an autofocusing method, particularly for telescopes for surveying instruments which are fitted with image sensors that resolve the image signal into individual image elements (pixels), such as CCD lines and/or matrices as well as CMOS image ... | 08/09/2005 |
| 6922524 | Camera having blur detecting function A camera having a blur notifying function according to one aspect of the present invention has a blur mode setting section which is used to set a blur notification mode in which a blur is detected in the camera and a blur state is notified, a blur detection section ... | 07/26/2005 |