Did You Know...
...that Robert Adler has the dubious distinction of being the Father of the Couch Potato? Back in 1955 Adler was employed by what was then Zenith Radio Corp., where he was charged to invent something that would allow viewers to turn down the TV volume without leaving their chairs. After a series of flops (such as a wired contraption that people tripped over), Adler hit on the idea of using sound waves. Thus the Remote Control was born...
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7746509 | Method for removing defects in scanned images A method for removing show-through defects in scanned document images is provided by adjusting the scanner's image sensor calibration gain in the area of a drive roll gap. The method will also compensate for drive roll contamination. The invention uses a modified ca... | 06/29/2010 |
| 7719726 | Image reading apparatus and method of displaying alien substance location thereof There is provided an image reading apparatus for acquiring a read signal of an image by receiving and photoelectrically converting a light reflected from a document. The location of an alien substance on an original plate is detected based on a reflected light recei... | 05/18/2010 |
| 7551326 | Image reading apparatus for detecting noise in image data An image reading apparatus includes, with the purpose of detecting noise in an image due to dust on a platen, three line sensors, a platen between an original and the line sensors, a moving mechanism for moving the platen, a noise detection processor detecting noise... | 06/23/2009 |
| 7437013 | Directional spatial video noise reduction A method of reducing spatial noise in an image. Low-pass (smoothing) filters are calculated simultaneously from three successive image rows. Three blocks (m1, m2, m3) are associated with the three successive image rows, and the blocks are proces... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7436553 | Image reading device, image reading method and image forming apparatus An image reading device includes: a solid-state image sensor for converting image information into an electric signal; an analog processing section for generating an analog processing signal by sampling and amplifying the electric signal at a sampling position; an A... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7433093 | Method and apparatus for increasing signal to noise ratio A method for increasing signal to noise ratio is disclosed. The method can automatically detect saturation output voltage of the photosensors via adjusting exposure time or illumination intensity so as to obtain optimum output voltage of the photosensors as well as ... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7433538 | Image processing apparatus and control method thereof This invention provides an image processing apparatus which can effectively remove conspicuous noise contained in image data, while suppressing deterioration of image information. Image data containing noise is input from an input terminal (100). Based on the... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7432965 | Black level correcting device and electronic camera A black level correcting device includes: an A/D converting section converting a result of subtracting a feedback signal from an input pixel signal into a pixel value to be output; and a feedback controlling section generating the feedback signal and having a holdin... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7426315 | Method for reducing blocking artifacts A method for removing blocking artifacts from moving and still pictures, comprising classifying horizontal and vertical boundaries in each picture as blocky or non-blocky; for each blocky boundary, defining an adaptive, picture content-dependent, one-dimensional fil... | 09/16/2008 |
| 7424170 | Automated statistical self-calibrating detection and removal of blemishes in digital images based on determining probabilities based on image analysis of single images A method of automatically correcting dust artifact within images acquired by a system including a digital camera includes determining probabilities of dust artifact regions corresponding to pixels within a digitally-acquired image based at least in part on a pixel a... | 09/09/2008 |
| 7421146 | Apparatus and method of processing shoot artifacts of image signals An apparatus and method of processing shoot artifacts of an image signal includes a maximum gradient value calculation part to set a window of a predetermined size based on a current pixel of an input image signal and to calculate a maximum gradient value based on v... | 09/02/2008 |
| 7421145 | Image correction method, apparatus, article and image An image correction method able to avoid error image. According to opposite properties of black and white, only the last few bits of the scanned digital signal are extracted for black correction, while only the first few bits of the scanned digital signal are extrac... | 09/02/2008 |
| 7420711 | Image reading and forming apparatus, control method, and program with scheduling of correction processing based on time interval between documents An image reading apparatus is provided which allows a reading device fixed at a reading position to read images from a document while transporting the document. The apparatus includes a correcting unit adapted to perform correction processing associated with image r... | 09/02/2008 |
| 7408682 | Image reading apparatus In an image reading apparatus according to the invention, the switching frequency of a switching power supply is set to a value equal to integral multiples of a reading frequency corresponding to each line, thereby correcting, for example, uneven image density due t... | 08/05/2008 |
| 7400766 | Image edge extraction via fuzzy reasoning A computer-based technique for detecting edges in gray level digital images employs fuzzy reasoning to analyze whether each pixel in an image is likely on an edge. The image is analyzed on a pixel-by-pixel basis by analyzing gradient levels of pixels in a square win... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7400777 | Preprocessing for information pattern analysis Pre-processing techniques for processing an image to improve the distinctiveness of an information pattern captured in the image before the information pattern is analyzed in a decoding process. The brightness of an image first is normalized by dividing the image in... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7391928 | Image processing for correcting defects of read image An image reading apparatus having a visible light source for emitting visible light, an invisible light source for emitting invisible light, an imaging optical system for irradiating a document by these light sources to form optical images of the document, and a CCD... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7385732 | Image reading apparatus, image forming apparatus and image reading method An image reading apparatus that reads out an original document image synchronously with a frequency dispersion clock gained by modulating the frequency of a reference clock so as to be changed cyclically at a predetermined modulation period, comprising: | 06/10/2008 |
| 7386184 | Electronic camera An electronic camera of the present invention includes an image pickup device, a positional data generating section, a memory, and an image processing section. The image pickup device includes a light-receiving plane photoelectrically converting a subject image. On ... | 06/10/2008 |
| 7382406 | Noise reduction system, noise reduction method, recording medium, and electronic camera A noise reduction system comprises an inputting unit inputting image data, and a noise reduction unit performing a process for removing noise of the image data input by the inputting unit. The noise reduction unit includes a representative value calculating unit cal... | 06/03/2008 |
| 7375856 | Halftone screen frequency and magnitude estimation for digital descreening of documents An efficient method and system for eliminating halftone screens from scanned documents while preserving the quality and sharpness of text and line-art is disclosed. The method and system utilizes one or more independent channels with different sensitivities (e.g., M... | 05/20/2008 |
| 7376210 | Apparatus and method for performing adaptive channel estimation in a mobile communication system Disclosed is an adaptive channel estimator for improving a performance of a general channel estimator in a mobile communication system, and a method for controlling the same. The adaptive channel estimator further detects a noise level of a channel and a channel spe... | 05/20/2008 |
| 7375862 | Method for multi-function scanner A method for a multi-function scanner for scanning a document with a laser/anti-counterfeit mark includes the steps of: pre-scanning the document to obtain a preview image; recording a zone of the laser/anti-counterfeit mark selected by a user on the preview image a... | 05/20/2008 |
| 7373014 | Post-processing method for reducing artifacts in block-coded digital images, and post-processing device for actuating such method A post-processing method reduces artifacts in block-coded digital images. The method includes: dividing an input image into a plurality of image blocks; for each image block, estimating global features of said image block providing information on an average content ... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7373015 | Image processing device and method In an image processing method for reducing an input image while preventing moire without deterioration of image quality, presence/absence of periodicity is detected for each pixel on the input image, and if there is periodicity, an image period is detected (S4 | 05/13/2008 |
| 7373013 | Directional video filters for locally adaptive spatial noise reduction Spatial noise is reduced in an image having a plurality of pixels by detecting object boundaries and unstructured areas in the image and applying 3-tap high pass filters to each pixel in the image in at least four, but less than eight directions to determine the bes... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7369712 | Automated statistical self-calibrating detection and removal of blemishes in digital images based on multiple occurrences of dust in images A method automatically corrects dust artifact within images acquired by a system including a digital acquisition device including a lens assembly. Multiple original digital images are acquired with the digital acquisition device. Probabilities that certain pixels co... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7369282 | Document reading device A document reading device includes a document transport and, for reading a document image, an optical reader having a movable exposure which stops at a predetermined reading position and emits light onto the document. A guide member guides the document to the readin... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7362472 | Color error diffusion A method for multi-toning an input digital image having input pixels with two or more color channels to form an output digital image having modified output levels. The method includes producing an error signal for each color channel, combining the error signals to p... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7359093 | Systems and methods for streak detection in image array scanning using overdetermined scanners and column filtering A streak detection method and system in a fixed imaging array digital scanning system obtains image data from each of the plurality of rows in the at least one full color spectrum channel set of rows of positionally discrete sensors and integrates this data to produ... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7359569 | Method of reducing a blocking artifact when coding moving picture A method of coding a moving picture is provided that reduces blocking artifacts. The method can include defining a plurality of defining pixels S0, S1, and S2, which are centered around a block boundary. If a default mode is selected... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7356194 | Image processing method, apparatus, and program A blurred image generating section generates a plurality of blurred images Sm (where m=1 to n and n≧2) different in frequency response characteristic from one another, based on an original image S0. A band-limited image generating section generates a plural... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7352400 | Solid-state image pickup apparatus having a differential output An image pickup apparatus including: a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements for photoelectrically converting light from an object, a first output line to which signals from the plurality of photoelectric conversion elements are successively outputted, a pl... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7352916 | Method of coding artifacts reduction A method to reduce coding artifacts within a discrete decoded picture includes a spatial and/or temporal filtering with respective filter characteristics dependent on an image quality value (Q). Preferably, the spatial filtering includes a deblocking filtering, wher... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7352495 | Image reading apparatus When an optical image obtained by an optical scanning unit of optically scanning an original sheet automatically fed by an original sheet feeder is read, it is discriminated in units of pixel whether or not dirt or scratch attached to a running reading glass plate i... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7352909 | Weighted overcomplete de-noising A de-noising algorithm that obtains an estimate of a noise-free portion of a noise-containing digital signal by applying a set of M linear transforms to the noise-containing digital signal, determining M initial de-noised estimates of each digital element of the dig... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7339620 | Image sensing apparatus having a signal processing device that uses a signal imaged in a non-exposure state to process a signal in an exposure state An apparatus has an image sensing device, and a signal processing device for performing a first image sensing operation for making the image sensing device perform an image sensing operation in an exposure state to obtain a sensed image signal, and a second image se... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7340109 | Automated statistical self-calibrating detection and removal of blemishes in digital images dependent upon changes in extracted parameter values A method of automatically correcting dust artifact within images acquired by a system including a digital camera includes determining that certain pixels correspond to dust artifact regions within a first digitally-acquired image. The dust artifact regions are assoc... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7336402 | Image reading apparatus Since a power supply circuit for a controller (31) and a power supply circuit for a buffer storage unit (32) are independently provided, the power voltage for the buffer storage unit (32) need only be reduced to obtain a corresponding reduction ... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7333226 | Program distribution from a program distribution source to an image forming apparatus An image forming apparatus receives, from a server connected to a network, a notification that a module operating units composing the apparatus can be added. The apparatus requests distribution of a program including the module to the server. Further, when a functio... | 02/19/2008 |
