Did You Know...
...that the inventor of the electric motor was a blacksmith named Thomas Davenport? Described as "a brilliantly unsuccessful inventor", Davenport invented the first rotary electric motor. In 1836 he headed out -- on foot -- from his Vermont home to file a patent application at the Patent Office in Washington, D.C. By the time he got there, he had squandered away his money and couldn't afford the $30 filing fee so he turned around and went home. When he later mailed in his application with money he'd raised, the Patent office was destroyed in a fire. He did finally get credit for his invention on Feb. 5, 1837.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8121470 | Focusing device, image pick-up apparatus, and control method A focusing device includes a first focus-position determining unit configured to determine a focus position based on a change in a radio-frequency component in an image signal obtained with movement of a focusing lens, a second focus-position determining unit config... | 02/21/2012 |
| 8103158 | Image sensing apparatus and control method thereof In continuous shooting processing, the defocus amounts of respective focus detection areas and the reliabilities of the defocus amounts are detected from information of the focus detection areas. Weightings are determined based on the reliabilities and defocus amoun... | 01/24/2012 |
| 8098984 | Focus detecting apparatus and an imaging apparatus Disclosed is a focus detecting apparatus detecting an image offset of an optical system. The apparatus comprises a micro lens array arranged with a plurality of micro lenses, a photo-detector having a plurality of detecting elements provided so as to correspond to e... | 01/17/2012 |
| 8078046 | Image sensing apparatus, control method therefor, program, and storage medium An image sensing apparatus includes a focus detection unit, determination unit, and selection unit. The focus detection unit includes a plurality of focus detection regions in a frame. The determination unit determines whether the focus detection unit has captured a... | 12/13/2011 |
| 7983549 | Image capturing apparatus and control method therefor Subjects are detected in a captured image and a main subject is selected from the detected subjects. Focusing areas are set up that correspond to the detected subjects and focus detection is performed in the focusing areas that have been set up. When providing in-fo... | 07/19/2011 |
| 7978968 | Auto focus device Disclosed is an auto focus device that automatically and easily sets an AF frame to a focus range desired by a cameraman in an AF system. An auto focus device includes: a focusing unit that performs focusing on an imaging screen of a camera; a best focus rang... | 07/12/2011 |
| 7945151 | Focus control method and unit determining in-focus lens position based on read times of the autofocus areas and focus lens position and time A focus control method is provided that performs focus control by sensing a plurality of images of an object while moving a position of a focusing lens and determining in-focus positions in auto focusing areas located at a plurality of positions. The focus control m... | 05/17/2011 |
| 7920781 | Image capturing apparatus and control method therefor An image capturing apparatus includes an image sensor, composition unit, coupling unit, and arithmetic unit. The image sensor has a plurality of pupil-divided focus detection portions each formed from a first focus detection pixel and second focus detection pixel. T... | 04/05/2011 |
| 7917024 | Imaging apparatus and imaging method Digital camera is provided with face detection section that detects faces of a plurality of photographing objects, microcomputer performs continuous shooting in optimum photographing conditions in accordance with the number of faces of the photographing objects for ... | 03/29/2011 |
| 7881600 | Photographing device A photographing device for photographing an object in a photographing area has a detection processor, and first and second determination processors. The detection processor conducts repetitive detection processes for detecting a specific area where a specific object... | 02/01/2011 |
| 7873268 | Focus adjusting apparatus and method A focus adjusting apparatus adjusts a focus of a camera imaging a moving object. The apparatus includes a calculating unit that calculates a first out-of-focus level of a portion corresponding to the moving object within a first region of an image picked up by the c... | 01/18/2011 |
| 7844173 | Image capturing apparatus An image capturing apparatus includes an image sensing device that receives object light and generates an image signal relating to the object image, a phase difference detection unit that receives the object light using a ranging sensor and generates a phase differe... | 11/30/2010 |
| 7844174 | System and method for manual selection of multiple evaluation points for camera control A method and system for additively, manually sequentially or manually in parallel, selecting multiple points or regions of interest in the analog or digital viewfinder of a photo or video camera with automatic controls like auto-focusing, auto-metering and auto whit... | 11/30/2010 |
| 7831138 | Focus adjusting method and focus adjusting device A focus adjusting method for adjusting focus by moving a focusing lens group of a photographing optical system, wherein the focus adjusting method includes a first search stage at which a focus search operation is performed based on an image formed in a large focus ... | 11/09/2010 |
| 7809259 | Optical disk and optical disk device A first recording layer for recording information of an optical disk and a second recording layer of the optical disk on which a visible image can be recorded are disposed at an interval of 0.5 mm or more. Thus, even when a high power laser is used on one of the lay... | 10/05/2010 |
| 7796876 | Lens driving apparatus having improved vibration when auto focusing and method of manufacturing the same There are provided a lens driving apparatus and method for transferring a lens on a plurality of focus positions previously set, in which a physical or mechanical vibration generated by a lens driving actuator when auto focusing is improved. The apparatus includes: ... | 09/14/2010 |
| 7773874 | Focus detection method and focus detection device A focus detection method for detecting a focus state based on object images formed through a photographing optical system in at least one focus detection area, while performing a search operation, includes determining at least one support area which overlaps the foc... | 08/10/2010 |
| 7720371 | Depth layer extraction and image synthesis from focus varied multiple images A camera (210) for providing an adjusted image (214) of a scene (12) includes an apparatus frame (224), an optical assembly (222), a capturing system (226), and a control system (232). The optical assembly (222... | 05/18/2010 |
| 7668451 | System for and method of taking image An image taking method includes the steps of taking an image of an object to be taken, thereby generating image data. A predetermined objective body is detected from the image data. Exposure and/or focusing position are determined for each of the detected objective ... | 02/23/2010 |
| 7660518 | Automatic focusing apparatus An automatic focusing system comprises: a region configuring device which configures a main subject region including a main subject within a photographing screen; a focusing control device which controls focusing so that a focus state of the main subject is a best f... | 02/09/2010 |
| 7657169 | Focus detection method and focus detection device A focus detection method includes moving a focusing lens group from the near extremity toward the far extremity in a search operation, and stopping the focusing lens group upon first detecting an in-focus state to determine an in-focus position of the focusing lens ... | 02/02/2010 |
| 7653298 | Image capturing apparatus, image capturing method, image capturing program, image recording output system and image recording output method To provide an image in which a plurality of subjects are focused and which has an extended depth of field even if the image capturing apparatus captures a plurality of subjects with different focus distances each other. The image capturing apparatus includes: a focu... | 01/26/2010 |
| 7646972 | Method and apparatus for capturing multiple images at different image foci A camera described herein captures a plurality of images at different focus settings to improve the probability that the camera captures a clear representation of a desired object in a potentially ambiguous scene. According to one exemplary embodiment, the camera se... | 01/12/2010 |
| 7634187 | Dynamic auto-focus window selection that compensates for hand jitter The invention relates to methods and devices for mitigating and/or minimizing effects of hand jitter or shaking during an auto-focusing process of an image-capturing device. In order to more accurately focus a lens for capturing a digital image, the lens is moved be... | 12/15/2009 |
| 7590340 | Electronic camera having improved focus performance An image is divided into areas in accordance with degrees of focusing. As the divided areas, there are a focus area and a non-focus area. With respect to the non-focus area, the image thereof is processed so as to emphasize its blur. In contrast, with respect to the... | 09/15/2009 |
| 7565072 | Camera, control method therefor, program, and storage medium This invention can increase the focusing speed and quickly focus a camera to an object regardless of the position of the object within the field of the viewfinder. When the position of a main object falls within a range in which phase difference AF is impossible, th... | 07/21/2009 |
| 7565071 | Metering method of automatic exposure This invention provides a metering method of automatic exposure for determining an exposure value of a picture having a subject, including a subject detecting step that uses focus values of the picture to detect the subject, and an exposure value calculating step th... | 07/21/2009 |
| 7536097 | Autofocusing apparatus of camera and autofocusing method thereof The present invention relates to autofocusing apparatus of a camera. The autofocusing apparatus of a camera includes a lens section on which a light signal is incident; an image sensor and ISP section that receives the light signal incident on the lens section so as... | 05/19/2009 |
| 7515819 | Solid-state image pickup device for auto-focus and auto-focus camera using the same The invention provides a solid-state image pickup device for an auto-focus and a camera for an auto-focus in which focusing precision is improved. The device has first and second linear sensor pairs (for example, 2-1, 2-2) each having a linear s... | 04/07/2009 |
| 7502556 | Photographing device with auto focusing function A focusing device includes a distance measurer, a focus adjuster, a focusing judge, and an area display. The focus adjuster measures area subject distances that are distances to a plurality of distance-measuring areas on a subject. The focus adjuster adjusts a focus... | 03/10/2009 |
| 7454134 | Image signal processing unit and digital camera An image signal processing unit which processes image signals corresponding to an image divided into a plurality of image-areas is provided. The image signal processing unit comprises a first detector, a second detector, and a blurring processor. The first detector ... | 11/18/2008 |
| 7444074 | Autofocus lens apparatus and camera system with the same An autofocus lens apparatus is disclosed which is capable of changing a focus target area in position and size without degrading the operability of manual focusing when taking images with an autofocus function. The autofocus lens apparatus comprises an operating mem... | 10/28/2008 |
| 7440690 | Focus detection apparatus and control method thereof An output from an auto focus sensor is converted into a digital signal by an A/D converting section, and an output from the A/C converting section is stored in a memory section. Further, a second AF arithmetic section is used to concurrently execute a plurality of f... | 10/21/2008 |
| 7433586 | Camera with an auto-focus function A first area of a predetermined size is set as a focus area from which AF evaluation values are picked up in AF control when a focus mode is a normal one. When the focus mode changes to a macro mode, a second area narrower than the first area is set as the AF area. ... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7432975 | Automatic focusing method and digital photographing apparatus using the same Provided are an automatic focusing method in which a photograph region is brought into focus through automatic movement of a focal lens to a focal position, in response to a photographing-command signal, and a digital photographing apparatus using the method. The me... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7394943 | Methods, software, and apparatus for focusing an optical system using computer image analysis Methods, software, and apparatus for focusing an image in biological instrument are disclosed. Focusing elements are moved to various focus positions within a focus element travel range, and sample images are captured at the various focus positions. The sample image... | 07/01/2008 |
| 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 |
| 7355647 | Image pickup apparatus An image pickup apparatus including a first photoelectric conversion circuit that has a photoelectric conversion area and is used for performing focus adjustment; a second photoelectric conversion circuit that has a photoelectric conversion area and is used for perf... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7339149 | Vehicle headlight control using imaging sensor A headlamp control system for a motor vehicle includes an imaging array sensor operable to sense light in a field of view forward of the motor vehicle and a control that is responsive to the imaging array sensor. The control is operable to identify at least one obje... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7333182 | Range finder and method of reducing signal noise therefrom A range finder includes an optical sensor circuit including optical sensors and an integrator circuit disposed for the optical sensors. It further includes selection switches (MOSFETs), which selectively connect optical sensors to the integrator circuit, non-selecti... | 02/19/2008 |
