Did You Know...
...that the video game, Pong, was invented by a guy who graduated at the bottom of his engineering class? Nolan Bushnell spent more time running the games at a local amusement park than he did on his studies at the University of Utah. His dreams of working for Disney's amusement empire were dashed when the company wouldn't hire him. Taking a boring job, Nolan daydreamed about electronic versions of popular games. He invented Pong, the first video game, and went on to found Atari Co.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8175447 | Image pickup apparatus and control method therefor The image pickup apparatus includes an image pickup element including first pixels for photoelectrically converting an object image formed by a light flux from an image taking optical system and second pixels for photoelectrically converting optical images formed by... | 05/08/2012 |
| 7995907 | Camera A camera having a shutter button, a photo sensor array, an anti-shake module controlled by an anti-shake enable signal, and a mechanical shutter. By pressing the shutter button, a first operation and a second operation are provided to trigger an auto-focus enable si... | 08/09/2011 |
| 7822327 | Method for automatically selecting scene mode A method for automatically selecting a scene mode applied in a photographic device is described. The method includes detecting an image to be captured; analyzing a principal feature of the image; comparing the principal feature with a feature standard of each scene ... | 10/26/2010 |
| 7693403 | Method of performing automatic focus and a related digital image capturing device A method of performing an automatic focusing procedure is used with a digital image capturing device. The method includes the steps of: executing an image capturing procedure; activating a pre-control signal by a processor; activating a control signal by a timing ge... | 04/06/2010 |
| 7398017 | Method and arrangement for taking a camera into use in a mobile device The invention relates to a method for using a mobile device camera, and particularly to implementing the camera rapidly and easily. The method according to the invention for triggering a mobile device camera (322) includes a predetermined key sequence for tri... | 07/08/2008 |
| 7336307 | Camera having accumulation operation in the period between the time of fully opening a leading shutter and the time of starting of a trailing shutter Disclosed is a camera including: an image-taking device; a shutter unit having a first shutter member that travels from a position where a shutter opening is closed to a position which is retreated from the opening, and a second shutter member that travels from the ... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7272304 | Image sensing device and control method thereof An image sensing device allows to shoot an image using correct object distance information and light emitting amount when the main light emitting amount upon shooting an object image is calculated by making the pre-light emission after the auto-focusing process. Whe... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7265868 | Controlled print size for image data The present invention enables to ensure printing the entire desired image. An image data interpreter 21 interprets the header portion of data transmitted by a digital camera to detect the number of dots indicative of height and width of an image to be printed... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7187858 | Camera and method for operating a camera based upon available power in a supply In one aspect of the invention, a camera for use with a power supply is provided. The camera has a voltage detecting circuit adapted to detect a voltage level at the power source and to generate a voltage level signal. An image capture system is also provided and pe... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7149423 | Lens apparatus diagnostic system, diagnostic program, record medium, lens diagnostic system and controller diagnostic system The lens apparatus diagnostic system, the diagnostic program, the record medium, the lens diagnostic system and the controller diagnostic system have the effects of, by connecting a personal computer to a TV lens and having a diagnosis of the TV lens performed by th... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7142781 | Self-luminous device and electric machine using the same To provide a self-luminous device capable of clear, multi-gray scale, color display and an electric machine provided with the same. Gray scale display is attained by a time division driving method in which an EL element (109) provided in a pixel (104) ... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7126641 | System and method for adjusting start-up of a digital camera The present invention provides a digital camera which can adjust the start-up time in accordance with an amount of an electric energy of a power source being used at the time. The electric energy of the power source and the type thereof are determined on the basis o... | 10/24/2006 |
| 7111109 | Control system, recording device and electronic apparatus A control system comprises multiple memories consuming different current amounts for operation, wherein multiple programs corresponding to different functions are stored in the memories, wherein, in accordance with a function to be processed by an operating circuit,... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7092768 | Distributed control system A technique is disclosed for controlling a plurality of devices in a building. The technique includes detecting a first network event at a first device, updating a network state on the first device based on the first network event, determining at the first device an... | 08/15/2006 |
| 6978087 | Camera having display device A disclosed photographing apparatus has a LCD display, a select member, and a controller. The display displays information about a photographic condition, in arbitrary display form using a dot-matrix. The select member selects one display mode among a plurality of d... | 12/20/2005 |
| 6914855 | Circuit for driving motor coils in stepping motors A circuit for selectively driving n motor coils associated with a plurality of stepping motors, wherein only (n+1) motor coil drivers are needed. A timepiece that utilizes such a circuit is also provided. ... | 07/05/2005 |
| 6892026 | Electronic equipment, camera and control method thereof An electronic equipment provided with plural function performing elements for performing various functions, a first control unit, and a second control unit; wherein the first control unit, in order to perform a function specified by an operator, issues an instructio... | 05/10/2005 |
| 6694095 | Motor driving apparatus A motor driving apparatus is basically composed of a driving circuit for driving a plurality of loads contained in a plurality of motors, and a control circuit for controlling the driving circuit to sequentially drive the plurality of the motors. The driv... | 02/17/2004 |
| 6353709 | Camera capable of detecting an abnormality A camera capable of detecting an abnormality has photographing operation programs, an abnormality detection program, and a checking operation program installed therein. The photographing operation programs cause a plurality of mechanisms included in the c... | 03/05/2002 |
| 6215958 | Power transmission apparatus including plural selectable drive transmission mechanisms usable with single drive source, and camera using same A camera includes a plurality of camera operation mechanisms, a sun gear which rotates by means of a motor, a planetary gear which revolves around the sun gear, and a plurality of output gears each capable of meshing with the planetary gear by means of re... | 04/10/2001 |
| 6167198 | Camera featuring a single drive source and a plurality of selectable drive transmission mechanisms An apparatus, such as a camera, comprises a plurality of operation mechanisms, a first rotation member, such as a sun gear, rotatable by operation of a motor, a second rotation member, such as a planetary gear which revolves around the sun gear, and a plu... | 12/26/2000 |
| 6151450 | Programmable electronic device An electronic device includes a first non-volatile memory for storing a control program for controlling an operation of the electronic device, and a second non-volatile memory for storing at least one modifying program for modifying the control program. T... | 11/21/2000 |
| 6058268 | Camera with self-diagnostic function A self-diagnostic camera is disclosed which checks the state of each of components operating to take a picture and, upon detecting the occurrence of an abnormal operation, stops the camera operation, reads a corresponding error code from an error code sto... | 05/02/2000 |
| 6014523 | Time-sharing drive apparatus for motor of camera A time-sharing drive apparatus for a camera having a plurality of motors includes a motor drive control system which alternately drives the motors in a time-sharing control. When the camera includes a zoom lens provided with a first stationary lens group,... | 01/11/2000 |
| 6006039 | Method and apparatus for configuring a camera through external means A camera having a built in microprocessor for accepting configuration data from an external device. The camera has a serial port, and a slot for receiving standard type II and III PCMCIA cards for data input and output. These features provide the camera w... | 12/21/1999 |
| 5915133 | Camera with a photographic mode automatic selecting apparatus A camera having a photographic mode automatic selecting apparatus. A photographic mode selecting device selects a photographic mode from a plurality of photographic modes. A photographic distance detecting device detects photographic distance data of a ph... | 06/22/1999 |
| 5878288 | Power transmission apparatus The invention is directed to an engaging mechnism. The engaging mechanism comprises a cam element which moves upon modification of an engaging position, a cam follower abutted against a cam surface of the cam element, a detecting element for detecting a p... | 03/02/1999 |
| 5835796 | Camera with vibration reducing function A camera with vibration reducing function includes a vibration detecting device for detecting vibrations of a camera, a photography directing unit for directing the camera to perform photometric/distance measuring operations by a turn-ON process and stopp... | 11/10/1998 |
| 5809345 | Programmable electronic device An electronic device includes a first non-volatile memory for storing a control program for controlling an operation of the electronic device, and a second non-volatile memory for storing at least one modifying program for modifying the control program. T... | 09/15/1998 |
| 5809344 | Camera A camera includes an operation device having a plurality of operation modes for executing an operation, a mode changing device for changing over operation modes, a designation device for designating a desired operation mode as an initial mode, and a reset... | 09/15/1998 |
| 5805945 | Electronic still video camera having electro-developing recording medium An electronic still video camera has an electro-developing recording medium. As soon as an optical image is formed on the medium, the image is recorded and developed as a visible image therein. The developed image is electronically read as image data by a... | 09/08/1998 |
| 5752089 | System operable with a given apparatus and capable of pseudo-rewriting a program The camera system comprises a camera and an external device. The camera includes a microcomputer, a write control circuit for receiving replacement data from the external device and writing the replacement data into a replacement program memory of the mic... | 05/12/1998 |
| 5729776 | Camera having multiple imprinting and photographic mode setting and method for performing same A camera equipped with a date imprinting circuit capable of setting multiple imprinting modes and a photographic mode setting circuit capable of setting multiple photographic modes. The camera includes an operational circuit to set and modify the previous... | 03/17/1998 |
| 5708861 | Camera Disclosed is a camera comprising a plurality of controlled devices each operated in at least one of a photographing action and a photographing standby action, the photographing standby action having a first photographing standby action and a second photog... | 01/13/1998 |
| 5701519 | Control device for preventing red-eye effect on camera A camera capable of operating in a red-eye prevention mode. The camera has an electronic flash device which is activated by a drive circuit in synchronization with the exposure. The electronic flash device also serve as a pre-light-emission device capable... | 12/23/1997 |
| 5701520 | Camera A camera comprising a mode setting portion in which either mode is set out of a first focusing mode and a second focusing mode. The camera includes: a mode switch, detecting means, focusing means, and focusing mode controlling means for performing such a ... | 12/23/1997 |
| 5694622 | Camera with vibration correction function A camera with a vibration correction function provided with a continuous shot mode for carrying out continuous photographing, has a vibration detecting device for detecting vibration of the camer, a vibration correcting device for correcting the vibration... | 12/02/1997 |
| 5621462 | Image pickup device capable of controlling made pickup operation In an image pickup device capable of effecting the exposure control with plural control parameters such as the iris aperture, shutter speed and gain, the set range of the control parameters is divided into plural areas according to the phototaking conditi... | 04/15/1997 |
| 5606391 | Exposure control apparatus for camera There is disclosed an exposure control apparatus for a camera, enabling appropriate exposure control for varied photographing situations. The apparatus determines the optimum exposure value, referring to various conditions including the season and time of... | 02/25/1997 |
| 5604529 | Three-dimensional vision camera To provide a three-dimensional vision camera where no disagreement is caused between two-dimensional image information and distance information, the three-dimensional vision camera is provided with a memory (11), a neural network (12) and a three-dimensio... | 02/18/1997 |
