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 |
| 7944619 | Zoom optical system and image pickup apparatus provided with the same An zoom optical system comprises a prism component which comprises in order from an object side, an entrance surface having negative refracting power, and a reflecting surface, and movable groups which are movable when either of zooming or focusing is carried out. A... | 05/17/2011 |
| 7746562 | Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus using the same A zoom lens, which changes a magnification by properly changing distances between a plurality of lens components, has, in order from the object side, a first lens component with positive power, a second lens component with negative power, a third lens component with... | 06/29/2010 |
| 7542214 | Imaging system with a prism having adjustable number of reflections The invention relates to a small-size and light-weight optical system with an adjustable focal length. The invention relates to a method and system comprising an image plane on which there is formed an image of the target observed by the optical system, a first opti... | 06/02/2009 |
| 7446947 | Variable magnification optical system and image taking apparatus provided therewith A variable magnification optical system includes lens units that focus a ray of light from an object side on an image sensor, in which the lens unit located at a first position from the object side toward the image side includes an optical path changing element for ... | 11/04/2008 |
| 7433584 | Variable-magnification optical system and image-taking apparatus therewith A variable-magnification optical system has, from the object side to the image side, at least a first lens group having a positive optical power, a second lens group having a negative optical power, and a third lens group having a positive optical power. The first l... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7391580 | Ultra compact mono-bloc catadioptric imaging lens A mono-bloc catadioptric imaging lens comprising a solid body and a single-focal Maksutov type construction characterized by two refractive surfaces and two reflective surfaces wherein all surfaces are surfaces of revolution and wherein at least one surface is asphe... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7385767 | Zoom optical system, and electronic equipment incorporating the same The invention concerns a zoom optical system in which, for zooming, an optical function surface is rotated about a point away from it to change the position of a light beam that passes through the optical function surface. The zoom optical system comprises a stop | 06/10/2008 |
| 7382546 | Zoom optical system, imaging lens device, and digital apparatus A reflecting prism (PR1) and a reflecting prism (PR2) each adapted to bend an incident ray at a predetermined angle for reflection are arranged in such a manner that an incident surface of the reflecting prism disposed on a side of a subject on an opti... | 06/03/2008 |
| 7372635 | Optical path bending type zoom lens system and image taking apparatus including the same A zoom lens system comprises, in order from an object side, a positive first lens unit including a reflective optical element, a negative second lens unit, a positive third lens unit and a positive fourth lens unit, or a positive first lens unit, a negative second l... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7365910 | Electronic image pickup system The invention relates to an electronic image pickup system whose depth dimension is extremely reduced, taking advantage of an optical system type that can overcome conditions imposed on the movement of a zooming movable lens group while high specifications and perfo... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7327953 | Zoom lens and imaging device A zoom lens with a reduced thickness and size in the depthwise direction consists of a plurality of lens groups (GR1 to GR5), so that it varies in power in response to variation in intervals between the lens groups. The zoom lens also has a prism G2... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7321108 | Dynamic focusing method and apparatus A method and apparatus for dynamically focusing an imaging mechanism on a moving target surface having a variable geometry is herein disclosed. Apparatus for focusing an imaging mechanism may include an objective, a prism, or another optical device that forms part o... | 01/22/2008 |
| 7289416 | Optical pickup and optical disk apparatus An optical pickup for performing data recording and reproduction with respect to both CDs and DVDs and a disk apparatus incorporating the optical pickup. The optical pickup comprises a CD laser diode and a DVD laser diode, and creates a composite CD/DVD laser beam u... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7268948 | Optical element and optical scanning device using the same To obtain an optical element capable of obtaining uniform anti reflection characteristics over the whole optical surface having a finite curvature of the optical element, a plurality of convex optical pieces having an anti reflection function are provided on a surfa... | 09/11/2007 |
| 7253928 | Imaging optical system and image reading apparatus using the same Obtained are an imaging optical system having a simple structure in which imaging position deviation due to deformation caused by a weight of an off-axial optical element is reduced and an image reading apparatus using the same. According to an imaging optical syste... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7253948 | Optical magnification device for distance variation An optical magnification device for varying the distance between an observer's eye (1) and an object (7), e.g., for a binocular magnifier or a microscope, in which focusing onto the object (7) is accomplished by means of progressive lenses (3) d... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7170690 | Zoom lens In a zoom lens (30) comprising, from the object side to the image side, a front lens group (12) and a controllable lens group (24), the controllable lens group comprises two lens elements (25, 26) having different dispersions and being mo... | 01/30/2007 |
| 7118227 | Projection display device An illuminating optical system for focusing a radiant light of a light source (1) onto a reflecting light valve (6) and a projection lens (7) for magnifying and projecting a reflected light from the reflecting light valve (6) onto a scree... | 10/10/2006 |
| 7113345 | Zoom lens, and electronic imaging system using the same A zoom lens with high optical specification performances and an incorporated electronic imaging system that is much slimmer in its depth direction, albeit having that zoom lens mounted thereon includes a lens group G1 located nearest to the object side, havin... | 09/26/2006 |
| 7085071 | Zoom lens A zoom lens includes a first lens unit fixed when the magnification of the zoom lens is changed and at least two positive lens units arranged on the image side of the first lens unit so that relative spacings between individual lens units are varied when the magnifi... | 08/01/2006 |
| 7068440 | Variable magnification optical system The present invention provides a variable magnification optical system for forming an optical image of an object on the light-receiving surface of an image sensor with a variable magnification. The variable magnification optical system includes an optical constructi... | 06/27/2006 |
| 7033030 | Projection-type display apparatus An illuminating optical system for focusing a radiant light of a light source (1) onto a reflecting light valve (6) and a projection lens (7) for magnifying and projecting a reflected light from the reflecting light valve (6) onto a scree... | 04/25/2006 |
| 6973266 | Finder optical system A finder optical system includes an eyepiece optical system with a positive refracting power. The eyepiece optical system includes an optical unit with a positive refracting power and a lens unit with a positive refracting power, In the eyepiece optical system, a re... | 12/06/2005 |
| 6947671 | Optical link module, optical interconnection method, information processor including the optical link module, signal transfer method, prism and method of manufacturing the prism An optical link module of the present invention for connecting light beams by deflection and including light-emitting devices arranged in a planar manner; an optical fiber bundle that is an optical waveguide for receiving the light beams from the light-emitting devi... | 09/20/2005 |
| 6862411 | Real image mode finder optical system A real image mode finder optical system is constructed to be independent of a photographing optical system and includes, in order from the object side, an objective optical system with a positive refracting power, a field frame located in the proximity of the imagin... | 03/01/2005 |
| 6775073 | Real image type zoom finder The invention relates to a compact, high-performance yet wide-field real image type zoom finder comprising a positive objective optical system Ob and a positive eyepiece optical system Ep and further including an image-inverting means for erecting an real image form... | 08/10/2004 |
| 6760164 | Optical system The invention provides an optical system that enables focal length, image-formation position, etc. to be controlled in simple construction by bending the optical system to shift a light beam passing through it and so making use of an arbitrary portion of the optical... | 07/06/2004 |
| 6754446 | Imaging device and digital camera using the imaging device An imaging device has a zoom lens system comprising a plurality of lens units and forming an optical image of an object so as to be continuously and optically zoomable by varying a distance between the lens units; and an image sensing element converting the optical ... | 06/22/2004 |
| 6671461 | Real image mode finder optical system A real image mode finder optical system is constructed to be independent of a photographing optical system and includes, in order from the object side, an objective optical system with a positive refracting power, a field frame located in the proximity of... | 12/30/2003 |
| 6636360 | Reflecting type of zoom lens A reflecting type of zoom optical system comprises a plurality of optical elements each of which includes a transparent body and two refracting surfaces and a plurality of reflecting surfaces formed on the transparent body and is arranged so that a light ... | 10/21/2003 |
| 6633431 | Optical system and optical apparatus having the same An optical system comprises, in succession from the object side, a first optical element of negative optical power, a second optical element of positive optical power, and a third optical element of negative optical power, at least one of the first to thi... | 10/14/2003 |
| 6560036 | Real image type view finder A real image type view finder comprising an objective optical system which has positive refractive power and forms an intermediate image, an image erecting optical system which erects the intermediate image and an eyepiece optical system which leads the i... | 05/06/2003 |
| 6333821 | Optical elements The invention relates to optical elements comprised of an optical isotropic completely aromatic polyester with a glass transition temperature Tgࣙ180° C.... | 12/25/2001 |
| 6278557 | Method and apparatus for stacking beams Methods and apparatus for reconfiguring a generally elliptically shaped beam produced by a laser diode bar into a single modified beam of substantially symmetrical shape. The methods and apparatus include the provision and utilization of a prism assembly ... | 08/21/2001 |
| 6163410 | Optical system A zoom optical system is disclosed. The zoom optical system provides a series of lens units designed to allow for zooming with minimal change in aberration resulting from the movement of the lens units. To achieve this goal each lens unit is has a plurali... | 12/19/2000 |
| 6137637 | Prism-type objective lens for the pickup head of an optical disc drive capable of driving two types of optical discs A prism-type objective lens is provided for use in the pickup head of an optical disc drive capable of driving two types of optical discs such as a CD and a DVD. The prism-type objective lens allows the pickup head to be made more compact in size with red... | 10/24/2000 |
| 6041193 | Real-image zoom finder with rotationally asymmetric surface A high-performance real-image finder with a zoom objective optical system wherein a power is given to a reflecting surface of an image-inverting optical system to reduce the size in the direction of the thickness, and at the same time, a rotationally asym... | 03/21/2000 |
| 6021004 | Reflecting type of zoom lens A zoom lens comprises a plurality of optical elements each of which includes a transparent body having two refracting surfaces and a plurality of reflecting surfaces and is arranged so that a light beam enters the transparent body from one of the two refr... | 02/01/2000 |
| 6002526 | Zoom lens system A zoom lens system that is free from parallax, is compact, and offers excellent optical performance has, from the object side, a positive first lens unit, a negative second lens unit, a positive third lens unit, and a negative fourth lens unit. The zoom l... | 12/14/1999 |
| 5912764 | Endoscope optical system and image pickup apparatus A compact endoscope optical system capable of providing a clear image of minimal distortion even at a wide field angle. The endoscope optical system includes an objective optical system for forming an object image. The objective optical system has a prism... | 06/15/1999 |
