Did You Know...
...that a workman who left the soap mixing machine on too long was responsible for making Ivory Soap? He was so embarrassed by his mistake that he threw the mess in a stream. Imagine his dismay when the evidence of his error floated to the surface! Result: Ivory soap, the soap that floats.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8190015 | Method and device for damping lens vibration In a method for reducing lens vibration in an image capture device, a lens movement requirement is broken up into N smaller lens move steps, and the lens is moved a first of the N smaller steps. A wait time is inserted after completing the first of the N smaller ste... | 05/29/2012 |
| 8131143 | Focus control circuit for adjusting the focus by moving a lens A focus control circuit is installed in an image pickup apparatus including a lens, a driver element for adjusting the position of the lens, and a position detecting element for detecting the position of the lens. An equalizer included in the focus control circuit g... | 03/06/2012 |
| 7747159 | Focusing device and image-capturing device provided with the same A focusing device capable of setting (S402) a focusing area according to a detection result of a target subject, wherein even if the target subject is no longer detected, when the target subject is assumed to be present, the velocity of the movement of the fo... | 06/29/2010 |
| 7630623 | Optical apparatus, imaging apparatus, and control method An optical apparatus includes a control unit configured to perform an operation for moving a focusing lens at a first speed to detect a first position corresponding to an in-focus state and then moving the focusing lens at a second speed lower than the first speed i... | 12/08/2009 |
| 7253575 | Industrial optical shutter A highly versatile optical shutter for industrial and scientific applications is disclosed. The has a aperture which defines a light path through the shutter, and a shutter vane or blade that is moved into and out of the light path using a precision, microprocessor ... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7224397 | AF control apparatus and AF control method A CPU performs a control for photographing a main subject in absence of auxiliary light, whereby an image signal is outputted from an analogue signal processing section. Next, the CPU performs a control for photographing the main subject in presence of the auxiliary... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7193651 | Camera system, lens apparatus and camera A camera system has a camera with a photosensitive member that records optical images; and a lens apparatus removably mounted on the camera and forming an optical image with an image taking optical system including a focus lens. Focus control of the focus lens is ch... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7139612 | Multi-phasic microphotodiode retinal implant and adaptive imaging retinal stimulation system An artificial retina device and a retinal stimulation system and method for stimulating and modulating its function is disclosed. The artificial retina device includes multi-phasic microphotodiode subunits. In persons suffering from blindness due to outer retinal la... | 11/21/2006 |
| 7116502 | Optical apparatus An optical apparatus is disclosed which can control a position of a driven member with precision using a simple control algorithm. The optical apparatus includes an actuator, a driven member, a transmission mechanism for transmitting a driving force from the actuato... | 10/03/2006 |
| 7110037 | Automatic focus control based on voltage, temperature, and power supply A digital camera is provided with, a voltage detection unit for a driving power supply, a temperature detection unit which detects an inner temperature and an outer temperature of the apparatus, a power supply detection unit which detects whether the power supply is... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7019914 | Lens barrel and image taking apparatus A lens barrel has its length which is reduced by dispensing with guide rods or a travel mechanism long extending from a base which fixes an image pickup device. The optical axes of multiple lens groups can be easily aligned. An image taking apparatus has its body wh... | 03/28/2006 |
| 7003222 | Camera, lens apparatus, and camera system A camera which maintains accuracy of stop position in accordance with the state of an image-taking optical system and allows driving of a focus lens to a target position in a short time period, is disclosed. The camera comprises a motor which drives the focusing len... | 02/21/2006 |
| 6999684 | Camera system and camera A camera system which is capable of performing highly accurate focusing in a short time by using two kinds of AF methods, is disclosed. The camera system calculates the target driving amount of the focusing lens based on the result of detection by a first focus dete... | 02/14/2006 |
| 6954233 | Electronic image pick-up apparatus and method of adjusting the focal position thereof An electronic image pick-up apparatus acquires auto-focus data from each of an AF sensor module and an image sensor disposed in conjugate positions in a test mode, stores data on any relative deviation between those items of auto-focus data and drives a photographic... | 10/11/2005 |
| 6937285 | Image pickup apparatus and power supply control method therefor In order to be able to reduce power consumption while making possible manual operation in any scene when the photographic situation demands its use, an image pickup apparatus has a ring member arranged concentrically with the optical axis of lenses, a detecting devi... | 08/30/2005 |
| 6922032 | Electric motor control device In the driving operation of a sensorless three-phase motor to be used in a rotation at a comparatively low speed (approximately 2000 RPM or less) and to be bipolar driven, the number of rotations and a rotating position are accurately detected from an induced voltag... | 07/26/2005 |
| 6892028 | Camera system, camera and lens apparatus A camera system which controls the driving of a focus lens through overlap control with a high degree of accuracy, is disclosed. The camera system comprises a lens apparatus with an image-taking optical system and a camera on which the lens apparatus is mountable. T... | 05/10/2005 |
| 6862409 | Camera, lens apparatus, and camera system A camera which maintains accuracy of stop position in accordance with the state of an image-taking optical system and allows driving of a focus lens to a target position in a short time period, is disclosed. The camera comprises a motor which drives the focusing len... | 03/01/2005 |
| 6847785 | Camera system, camera and lens apparatus A camera system which controls the driving of a focus lens through overlap control with a high degree of accuracy, is disclosed. The camera system comprises a lens apparatus with an image-taking optical system and a camera on which the lens apparatus is mountable. T... | 01/25/2005 |
| 6831793 | Optical apparatus and image-pickup apparatus An optical apparatus capable of reducing processing burden on the controller and achieving high-speed driving and improvement of the resolution of stop positions of an optical element. The optical apparatus includes a drive unit that drives the optical element, an o... | 12/14/2004 |
| 6822686 | Lens control apparatus A lens control apparatus for controlling the position of a focusing lens includes a rotary operation member, a detector, having a rotary encoder coupled with the rotary operation member, which detects the amount of rotation per unit time of the rotary operation memb... | 11/23/2004 |
| 6798989 | Motor control apparatus, lens apparatus, camera system and camera A motor control apparatus capable of accelerating the motor speed to a target speed and stabilizing the motor speed in a short time is disclosed. The motor control apparatus includes a speed detection unit which outputs a signal according to the speed of the motor (... | 09/28/2004 |
| 6704503 | Optical device, optical device driving unit, information write device, preset information setting system, and camera system Disclosed is an optical device including an optical member, a driving member for driving the optical member, a storage member for storing preset information about driving of the optical member, an information write device for writing the preset informatio... | 03/09/2004 |
| 6546202 | Lens driving apparatus The present invention provides a lens driving apparatus which can accurately detect the position of a movable lens group while preventing the apparatus from increasing in size and cost by using a simple position detecting sensor. A first lens group, a sec... | 04/08/2003 |
| 6301441 | Lens driving device A lens driving device for driving a focusing lens of a photographing lens for a camera is provided with a focusing ring that is rotated to move the focusing lens, an AF motor and an MF (manual focusing) ring. Each of the AF motor and the MF ring is connec... | 10/09/2001 |
| 6085044 | Driving control device, optical apparatus and driving control method A driving control device includes a driving direction storing part for storing a driving direction of a driven body, a position detecting circuit for detecting a position of the driven body, and an amount-of-driving varying part for, when a direction of t... | 07/04/2000 |
| 6075945 | Lens apparatus The present invention relates to a lens apparatus employed in a video camera. The present invention provides a lens apparatus, suited to manipulation of an operator, using a vibratory wave motor as a driving source for driving a photographing lens of the ... | 06/13/2000 |
| 6051949 | Apparatus for driving stepping motor of camera A stepping motor driving apparatus for a camera includes 1-2 phase excitation type stepping motors and a drive controller for driving and stopping the stepping motors so that the driven stepping motors are stopped always at a detent position.... | 04/18/2000 |
| 6040677 | Apparatus for driving stepper motor of camera A stepping motor driving apparatus for a camera having a 1-2 phase excitation type stepping motor which is driven by a 1-2 phase excitation in response to a drive signal includes a drive control device for stopping the stepping motor at a 1-phase excitati... | 03/21/2000 |
| 5933661 | Optical apparatus having the image blur correcting function An optical apparatus having the image blur correcting function has control means for effecting first drive control for moving optical means to correct image vibration and second drive control for moving the optical means for focus adjustment, and varying ... | 08/03/1999 |
| 5887201 | Camera driving stop apparatus In a camera driving stop apparatus, a motor serves as a driving source upon reception of a current. A driven unit performs a predetermined operation associated with driving of a camera by using the motor as the driving source. A pulse generator outputs a ... | 03/23/1999 |
| 5842059 | Automatic focus adjusting device An automatic focus adjusting device for automatically adjusting focus by using a predetermined signal component of a picked-up image signal outputted from an image sensor is arranged to find the state of an object from information on the distribution of f... | 11/24/1998 |
| 5832318 | Movable optical member control device in optical apparatus having a control means and a conversion means A driving device includes a movable object, a driving part for moving the object, a manual operation member, a pulse generator for generating a plurality of pulses successively according to an operation of the operation member with pulse intervals varying... | 11/03/1998 |
| 5799214 | Autofocusing device An automatic focusing device according to the present invention includes a lens drive section that drives and automatically focuses a photographing lens, a defocus amount detecting section that detects a defocus amount of the photographing lens, a locus s... | 08/25/1998 |
| 5765051 | Focus detection device and method A focus detection device and method permits the shooting lens to follow the movement of the photographic object without a focussing delay due to the calculation time and the movement of the object. The system includes a camera, a shooting lens, a focus de... | 06/09/1998 |
| 5754895 | Photographic camera using frequency divided pulses for rapid adjustment of movable features A photographic camera has a movable part to be driven by an electric motor. A rotary encoder generates a pulse for every predetermined angle rotation of the motor and the motor is feedback-controlled on the basis of a pulse signal consisting of a pluralit... | 05/19/1998 |
| 5745804 | Automatic focus device An automatic focus device capable of optimum focus lens driving control corresponding to the magnitude of the positional error of the focus lens. The automatic focus device specifies the target position of the focus lens based on information relating to t... | 04/28/1998 |
| 5664238 | Focal controller of camera In a focal controller of a camera, two brightness components in different frequency bands are obtained by two band pass filters from a video signal obtained by image pickup. Integral values a and b of the respective brightness components are detected by i... | 09/02/1997 |
| 5640225 | Backlash compensation for automatic focusing apparatus A focus detecting apparatus including an optical system having a group of focusing lenses, an object distance measuring device which measures the amount of defocus for a specific object imaged by the focusing optical system, a focus judging device which j... | 06/17/1997 |
| 5614972 | Camera with movable lens and method of operation A camera is equipped with a photographic lens and a drive for moving the lens relative to the camera body. If an external or other force prevents the lens from moving to a prescribed position within a set time interval, for example, the drive changes the ... | 03/25/1997 |
