Did You Know...
...that Thomas Edison's patent application on his phonograph was approved by the Patent Office in just seven weeks? In contrast, it took Gordon Gould, the inventor of the laser, 30 years to obtain his patent -- finally awarded in 1988!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8417109 | Photographing device and photographing control method A photographing device, which includes a photographing section; a display section that displays a photography image taken by the photographing section; a person indicator setting section that sets a person indicator prepared beforehand on the display screen; an oper... | 04/09/2013 |
| 8116622 | Photographing method and apparatus using an infrared sensor to control plural camera functions Disclosed is a photographing apparatus using an infrared ray in a portable terminal, the apparatus includes: a camera module for photographing an image; a display unit for providing a preview for the image photographed by the camera module; and an infrared sensor un... | 02/14/2012 |
| 8090254 | System and method for controlling shutter of image pickup device based on recognizable characteristic image An image pickup device uses an image recognition system to control the actuation of an electronic shutter. The image pickup device has an optical lens that picks up an image through the electronic shutter and the image so picked up is detected by an image detection ... | 01/03/2012 |
| 7920785 | System and method of photography using desirable feature recognition To improve the quality of photographs of people, the disclosure describes a system and method of photography using desirable feature recognition. The system and method recognize when the subject persons in a photograph possess one or more desirable features for a de... | 04/05/2011 |
| 7817914 | Camera configurable for autonomous operation The present disclosure relates to an image capture device and a technique for capturing an image. The technique includes selecting at least one subject displayed on an image capture device as an image trigger condition and entering a threshold level corresponding to... | 10/19/2010 |
| 7813638 | System for generating camera triggers A system for generating a camera trigger that causes a camera to capture image data includes a memory for storing a plurality of trigger values. Each trigger value corresponds to a position of a moving stage. The system includes a controller for receiving position i... | 10/12/2010 |
| 7787762 | Image photographing apparatus, image photographing method, and computer program An image photographing apparatus for capturing a subject image in accordance with smile detection of a subject includes an optical unit; an image capturing unit configured to capture the subject image; an optical mechanism driving control unit configured to control ... | 08/31/2010 |
| 7783191 | Digital camera A digital camera has an image sensor, a photographing processor, a driving signal controller, and a timing adjuster. The image sensor driver drives an image sensor by outputting a driving signal corresponding to a moving image. The photographing processor carries ou... | 08/24/2010 |
| 7738784 | Image capture device with automatic focusing function In an image capture device comprising an image capture unit which captures an object and outputs image data, and a shutter button which is half pressable, fully pressable, and pressable at one stroke, a first determining unit determines whether the shutter button is... | 06/15/2010 |
| 7676150 | Image pickup apparatus, image pickup method and image pickup program An image pickup apparatus having a photographing condition setting section which sets photographing conditions of a subject, a photographing condition determination section which determines whether the image data in the storage section meet the photographing conditi... | 03/09/2010 |
| 7664389 | System and method of photography using desirable feature recognition To improve the quality of photographs of people, the disclosure describes a system and method of photography using desirable feature recognition. The system and method recognize when the subject persons in a photograph possess one or more desirable features for a de... | 02/16/2010 |
| 7616883 | User-rotatable camera for enhancing panoramic image capture A pair of rotation plates 10 are provided on an upper surface and a lower surface of a camera body 30. The rotation plates 10 are rotatable with respect to the camera body 30. During panorama imaging, a user holds the pair of rotation pla... | 11/10/2009 |
| 7499642 | Portable electronic device and method of preventing close-up photography by using the portable electronic device In a portable electronic device with camera, a radio wave detection circuit detects specific radio waves, and when the radio wave detection circuit detects the specific radio waves, a control circuit prohibits close-up photography by a camera. ... | 03/03/2009 |
| 7460781 | Photographing system The invention easily photographs a subject from plural directions collectively. When a picture photographing instruction and a moving picture photographing instruction are inputted in a master digital still camera 3 set as a master of photographing for a subj... | 12/02/2008 |
| 7430369 | Image capture apparatus and control method therefor An image capture apparatus, such as a digital camera or a digital still camera, is capable of easily capturing an optimal image by determining a state of a subject via image processing during capturing, and executing re-capturing or giving a warning to prompt re-cap... | 09/30/2008 |
| 7369761 | Method of remote capture with user interface providing separate inside- and outside-light-box modes A method of remote capture with user interface providing separate inside- and outside-light-box modes is provided, wherein when the user selects the inside-light-box mode together with an automatic mode to take a photograph, it is the photographic parameters, which ... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7355649 | Image sensing apparatus cleaning operation and control method of said cleaning operation Image sensing apparatus having an image sensing element for sensing an object of shooting is provided. According to one aspect of the invention, when a cleaning mode is designated and executed to remove a foreign substance in the neighborhood of and on the image sen... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7342210 | Remote control for auto-darkening lens systems and method A wireless remote control is provided for an auto-darkening lens (ADL) system used in a welding helmet, respirator system or other device to control or to adjust settings of an ADL of a controllable light shutter. A display system facilitates providing information i... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7333725 | Method and apparatus for metadata synchronization A method and apparatus provides for accurately synchronizing a plurality of sensors, as well as for providing accurate timing information (e.g. timing metadata) associated with the synchronized data capture. According to one aspect of the invention, an apparatus inc... | 02/19/2008 |
| 7308196 | Motion detector camera A motion detector camera includes a camera mechanism mounted inside a housing, a motion detector exposed on a surface of the housing, and a controller for controlling the camera mechanism in response to signals received from the motion detector. The camera can inclu... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7282694 | Optical navigation system having a ring pixel array An optical navigation system having an optical navigation integrated circuit (“navigation IC”) is described. The optical navigation system may include an emitter module and a pixel array surrounding the emitter module. The optical navigation system may further i... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7274401 | Digital camera for fast start up The present invention provides a digital camera in which the start-up time which is from when a power source is turned on until the digital camera is in a state in which photographing is possible is short. A DC motor and a stepping motor are driven simultaneously. A... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7260270 | Image creating device and image creating method An image-capturing unit generates an image signal corresponding to an image of a subject formed by a photographing optical system. A point spread function generating unit generates varying point spread functions corresponding to various distances based upon two-dime... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7254484 | Detection of lightning A lightning detector for lightning detection and a lightning detection method, wherein the mobile lightning detector is provided with an antenna, an amplifier front-end, an A/D converter and a digital signal processor, and wherein the lightning detector is a mobile ... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7250596 | Circuit with an opto-electronic display unit A circuit provided with an optoelectronic display unit. For discrete display of the settings of a regulating/control unit, said circuit comprises at least one detection element for detecting the actuation of an object in order to modify the settings of the regulatin... | 07/31/2007 |
| 7245131 | Capacitance detection apparatus A capacitance detection apparatus includes a detection electrode for detecting approach of an object on the basis of a change of capacitance, a calculating circuit for calculating a value associated with the capacitance change, a judging circuit for judging whether ... | 07/17/2007 |
| 7194204 | Photographic firearm apparatus and method A telescopic firearm scope/sight which is fully integrated with a compact digital camera, and which has size, shape and weight characteristics that are substantially the same as those of a conventional, camera-less telescopic scope, is used to photograph a target pr... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7194131 | Image selection based on image content An image capture system comprises an image input and processing unit. The image input obtains image information which is then passed to the processing unit. The processing unit is coupled to the image input for determining image metrics on the image information. The... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7184606 | Image processing apparatus and method, recording medium, and program In an image processing apparatus, the head top of a subject is detected, and the positions of a camera and a mirror are adjusted so that the coordinates of the detected head top coincide with the coordinates of a reference head top. When it is determined that the co... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7177537 | Automated portrait studio An automated studio and control system for taking photographs is disclosed that alleviates many exposure problems and simplifies variables with which the photographer must deal in order to achieve consistent high quality photographs. The studio includes a multi-ligh... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7149422 | Motion detector camera A motion detector camera includes a camera mechanism mounted inside a housing, a motion detector exposed on a surface of the housing, and a controller for controlling the camera mechanism in response to signals received from the motion detector. The camera can inclu... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7133603 | Motor driving apparatus, digital camera, and motor controlling method A motor driving apparatus includes a power circuit that controls an output voltage via a feedback resistance. The power circuit varies the output voltage by changing a value of the feedback resistance at a time of at least one of activation and termination of a moto... | 11/07/2006 |
| 7106204 | Shared attention detection system and method An attention detection system detects a condition of shared attention of plural persons. The system includes plural body language detectors each associated with a different person for detecting body language of the associated person. An analyzer receives body langua... | 09/12/2006 |
| 7035536 | Flash control mechanism A flash case, in which a flash is provided, is automatically moved to an up position, when a user selects a flash mode in a state where the flash case is at a down position, when a user begins to forcibly raise the flash case by hand in a state where the flash case ... | 04/25/2006 |
| 7027094 | Modeless digital still camera using touch-sensitive shutter button A modeless electronic imaging apparatus, such as a digital still camera, uses a touch-sensitive shutter button to automatically display “live” images from an image sensor whenever a user touches the shutter button. When the user is not touching the shutter butto... | 04/11/2006 |
| 7002269 | Slip ring unit with a printed circuit board A device for transferring electric currents that includes a slip ring unit that has a rotor with connecting wires and a stator and a printed circuit board fastened to the rotor, wherein the printed circuit board includes connectors in electrical contact with the con... | 02/21/2006 |
| 6996340 | Automatic photography system Photography is automatically performed when a subject assumes expressions or poses that are considered to be desirable. Shapes that represent facial expressions of human subjects are repeatedly extracted from images, which are being imaged by a camera. Degrees of ma... | 02/07/2006 |
| 6989761 | Photo-timer module A photo-timer module, including a upper cover which has a hollow window; a lower cover which could affix to said upper cover; a control and power circuit which is placed into said upper cover, wherein a portion of said control and power circuit is revealed in said h... | 01/24/2006 |
| 6952528 | Variable force camera control A camera is adjustable such that the force required to actuate one or more of the camera's controls can be adjusted by a camera user. In a preferred embodiment, the force required to depress the camera's shutter release button is adjustable. The force may be adjuste... | 10/04/2005 |
| 6950013 | Incident recording secure database A device and method for permanently and securely storing incident information, relating to a vehicle, from remote download to create a secure non-tamperable, permanent database of criminal activity and/or accident evidence for evidentiary purposes. The information m... | 09/27/2005 |
