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 |
| 8031412 | Optical part, lens barrel, and camera An imaging optical system O supported by a lens barrel 3 includes a second lens group G2. The second lens group G2 includes a fourth lens 54 and a black light shielding portion 54d formed by printing. The light shielding por... | 10/04/2011 |
| 8014082 | Lens unit One end of an FPC (21) for supplying power to the driving section of a light amount control section provided in a shutter unit (20) is disposed between a second lens holder (17) and the shutter unit (20) secured to this second lens holder... | 09/06/2011 |
| 8014081 | Chromatic aberration compensating image optics An imaging optics capable of compensating for chromatic aberration is provided with a light shielding means in a surface peripheral area of a certain lens element in a lens system so as to block a light flux of a specified wavelength range, thereby eliminating chrom... | 09/06/2011 |
| 8004776 | Optical plate for an imaging camera An optical plate for an imaging camera is proposed that is used for further deepening the depth of field. The optical plate is orthogonal to the optical axis, that, in shape, (1) is an optical plate that has the same effective aperture diameter as the imaging camera... | 08/23/2011 |
| 7982973 | Zoom lens, lens barrel and image pickup apparatus Disclosed herein is a zoom lens, wherein a stop moves in an optical axis direction n in a phase of zooming; a position of the stop in a telephoto end is located on an object side with respect to a position of the stop in a wide-angle end; an opening size of the stop... | 07/19/2011 |
| 7978422 | Incident-light controlling apparatus An incident-light controlling apparatus has a first aperture in a substrate, a diaphragm blade which rotates around an axis, and controls light passing through the first aperture, by the diaphragm blade rotating alternately between a first stationary position coinci... | 07/12/2011 |
| 7952816 | Optical system for processing a light beam Optical system for processing a light beam comprises first and second optical means that are convergent and divergent respectively and form an afocal optical device. The first optical means comprises a single convergent lens. According to the invention, this converg... | 05/31/2011 |
| 7936522 | System and method for imaging with extended depth of focus and incoherent light An optical arrangement is provided for use in imaging with a large depth of focus. The optical arrangement comprises an aperture unit, and a replication unit. The replication unit is configured for producing a plurality of replicas of an input optical field passed t... | 05/03/2011 |
| 7929220 | Adjustable apodized lens aperture An adjustable apodized lens aperture is described which is constructed using photochromic material. As the excitation energy increases, the aperture constricts so as reduce the amount of light through the aperture. As the excitation energy decreases, the aperture di... | 04/19/2011 |
| 7911709 | Apparatus and method for improving detected resolution and/or intensity of a sampled image At least one exemplary embodiment is directed to a detection aperture that varies the effective aperture index of refraction or provides scattering structures to improve the detected resolution and/or intensity of a sampled image. In at least one exemplary embodimen... | 03/22/2011 |
| 7859769 | Optical method and system for extended depth of focus An imaging arrangement and method for extended the depth of focus are provided. The imaging arrangement comprises an imaging lens having a certain affective aperture, and an optical element associated with said imaging lens. The optical element is configured as a ph... | 12/28/2010 |
| 7746568 | Three-channel camera systems with non-collinear apertures A three-dimensional imaging system uses a single primary optical lens along with three non-collinear apertures to obtain three offset optical channels each of which can be separately captured with an optical sensor. ... | 06/29/2010 |
| 7684124 | Optical element and optical unit An optical unit includes one or more optical elements. At least one 40 of the optical elements has: an optical functional surface, that refracts incident light, within an effective diameter; and a rough surface 49 formed on an optical functional surfac... | 03/23/2010 |
| 7672064 | Optical element and optical unit An optical unit includes one or more optical elements 15 and 25. At least one of the one or more optical elements has an optical functional surface that refracts incident light and rough surfaces 19 and 29 formed on an outer side with res... | 03/02/2010 |
| 7646549 | Imaging system and method for providing extended depth of focus, range extraction and super resolved imaging An imaging system is presented for imaging objects within a field of view of the system. The imaging system comprises an imaging lens arrangement, a light detector unit at a certain distance from the imaging lens arrangement, and a control unit connectable to the ou... | 01/12/2010 |
| 7576926 | Spill light removing device A spill light removing device includes a first blocker which is located perpendicularly to a stream route of light being irradiated from a light source and blocks a stream of light that is incident to the surface of the first blocker, except on a hole formed on the ... | 08/18/2009 |
| 7545585 | Uniformity correction system having light leak and shadow compensation A system and method for uniformity correction having light leak and shadow compensation is provided. The system includes multiple correction elements and an optical compensation plate. Adjacent correction elements are separated by a gap. The optical compensation pla... | 06/09/2009 |
| 7508598 | Apparatus for measuring aerial images produced by an optical lithography system At least one exemplary embodiment is directed to detection aperture array which includes a shield layer; and a plurality of apertures, where the plurality of apertures are formed in the shield layer and filled with a first medium having an effective index of refract... | 03/24/2009 |
| 7466500 | Lens unit and image pickup apparatus A lens unit according to the present invention is capable of varying power for forming an image onto an image pickup element. The lens unit includes: a plurality of lens groups, a diaphragm, and a shutter. In the plurality of lens groups, a distance between a k-th l... | 12/16/2008 |
| 7466499 | Projector A projector with a light source device; an optical modulator for modulating a light beam irradiated by the light source device; a projection optical device for projecting the light beam modulated by the optical modulator in an enlarged manner; and an exterior casing... | 12/16/2008 |
| 7466498 | Exposure device In an exposure device, a beam emitted from a light emitting point of a laser diode (LD) is limited by a slit. The slit limits a light beam in a direction orthogonal to an active layer of the LD. The exposure device has a moving mechanism which moves a plate in which... | 12/16/2008 |
| 7457052 | Light shield sheet, optical apparatus, and method of manufacturing light shield sheet A light shield sheet has an aperture that restricts a range of light transmission. In the light shield sheet, the thickness of the inner circumference in the periphery of the aperture is smaller than the thickness of the outer circumference. ... | 11/25/2008 |
| 7446953 | Imaging lens, image reading apparatus and image forming apparatus An imaging lens with a perfect imaging quality and a low manufacture cost is provided for using in an image reading apparatus or an image forming apparatus by controlling a surface shape error thereof in a predetermined range disclosed by the present invention. The ... | 11/04/2008 |
| 7436449 | Electronic imaging system The invention relates to an electronic imaging system such a video camera or digital camera, whose thickness or size is reduced while performance degradation is reduced as much as possible. The system comprises a zoom lens system comprising a first G1, a seco... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7428109 | Image pickup lens system and image pickup apparatus An image pickup lens system includes, successively in order from an object side, an aperture stop, a first lens as a double-convex positive lens, and a second lens as a negative meniscus lens having a convex surface on an image side. Each of the first and second len... | 09/23/2008 |
| 7423818 | Method of suppressing distortion of a working laser beam of a laser link processing system A method of suppressing distortion of a working laser beam directed for incidence on a target specimen presented for processing by a laser link processing system uses a spatial filter to remove stray light-induced distortion from the working laser beam. ... | 09/09/2008 |
| 7401987 | Photographing lens having an eccentricity adjusting device A photographing lens includes an eccentricity adjusting frame which holds an eccentricity adjusting lens group serving as a part of a photographing optical system of the photographing lens; a lens support frame, an axis of which is coincident with a predetermined op... | 07/22/2008 |
| 7400458 | Imaging optics with wavelength dependent aperture stop An imaging system includes a wavelength dependent aperture stop, which transmits light with different ranges of wavelengths through apertures of different diameters. Thus, different colored light will have different F-stops, which can be selected based on the power ... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7394593 | Transmitted-light base for a microscope, and method for regulating the illumination intensity of a transmitted-light base The invention relates to a transmitted-light base (1) for illuminating an object (15) for imaging through a zoom microscope (21), the transmitted-light base (1) comprising an integrated light source (3) having an associated electri... | 07/01/2008 |
| 7391457 | Image sensor module with light-shielding diaphragm made of ink, and method of making the same An image sensor module includes a lens member, a resin frame that holds the lens member, a diaphragm formed on the lens member, an image sensor chip that receives light converged by the lens member, and a supporting board upon which the image sensor chip is mounted.... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7375907 | Lens having a diffractive surface A lens system (46) that can be used in a digital camera includes, in sequence, a first lens element (20), a second lens element (30) and a third lens element (40). The first lens element is biconvex and includes a first spherical surface ... | 05/20/2008 |
| 7369315 | Beam splitter and optical imaging systems incorporating same An optical imaging system incorporates a beam splitter, which is moveable to a beam-splitting position where the beam splitter intercepts the light on an input optical path and a non-beam-splitting position where the beam splitter is located outside of the input opt... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7369303 | Dual band lens system incorporating molded chalcogenide An image forming system and lens system including at least one molded chalcogenide lens element and configured to simultaneously image light at the medium wave infrared region (MWIR) and the long wave infrared region (LWIR) at a common focal plane. ... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7365920 | Four-piece lens assembly A four-piece lens assembly, from the object side, comprises: an aperture, a first lens, a second lens, a third lens, a fourth lens, a flat parallel glass and an image plane. The first lens is a double convex positive lens. The second lens is a double concave negativ... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7365917 | Optical method and system for extended depth of focus An imaging arrangement and method for extended the depth of focus are provided. The imaging arrangement comprises an imaging lens having a certain affective aperture, and an optical element associated with said imaging lens. The optical element is configured as a ph... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7365921 | Lens and projection headlight of a motor vehicle including same The plano-convex lens of a projection headlight has a holding edge (4) integrally formed on an outer lens edge and a supporting edge (5) projecting from its plane surface (3) and formed integrally with the holding edge (4). The supporting... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7360902 | System and method for light source modulation In one embodiment, a method for modulating light in an image display system includes generating a plurality of light beams. The amount of light beams that are received by a modulator is selectively varied, and the modulated light beams are received at the modulator.... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7359598 | Surface plasmon optic devices and radiating surface plasmon sources for photolithography Disclosed is a surface plasmon optic device that has a periodic array of apertures in a dielectric substrate and a metal film formed on the dielectric substrate and emits light from metal-air interface. The surface plasmon optic device includes a surface plasmon gen... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7355801 | Image pickup lens assembly An image pickup lens assembly comprises three lens groups, from the object side to the image side: a first lens group, a second lens group, and a third lens group. The first lens group includes two lenses with refractive power, namely, a first lens with positive ref... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7354535 | Method and apparatus for adhering light-shielding sheets respectively onto transparent bodies An apparatus includes a machine bed, a holder unit disposed movably on the machine bed, and an adhesion unit. A method for adhering a light-shielding sheet onto a transparent body includes: (A) moving the transparent body on a mach... | 04/08/2008 |
