Abstract: An outboard motor has an internal combustion engine with a carburetor. The carburetor is designed to extend maintenance interval greatly by preventing or suppressing the deposition of solid matters in the gap between the intake passage and a butterfly-type throttle valve therein. The throttle valve is divided, by a valve axis about which the throttle valve turns, into a first valve part that turns from the downstream side to the upstream side with respect to an air intake direction when the fully closed throttle valve is opened and a second valve part that turns from the upstream side to the downstream side with respect to the air intake direction when the fully closed throttle valve is opened. The first valve part has an edge that moves to the upstream side past bypass ports when the fully closed throttle valve is opened, and the second valve part is provided with a through hole that allows air to flow therethrough at a flow rate necessary for idling when the throttle valve is fully closed.

Abstract: An internal combustion engine installed in an engine compartment 15 covered with an engine cover C is provided with an intake air passage P. The intake air passage P extends continuously from an intake air inlet Pi to intake air outlets Pe in the engine compartment 15 and has a first down passage 62, a reversing passage 63, an up passage 64 and a second down passage 67c arranged in the order in the flowing direction of combustion air. The combustion air taken through the intake air inlet Pi into the intake air passage P flows down through the first down passage 62, the reversing passage 63 reverses the flowing direction of the combustion air that has flowed down through the first down passage 62 such that the combustion air flows up, flows up through the up passage 64 to a position at a level higher than that of an uppermost intake air outlet Pe. Then, the combustion air flows down through the second down passage 67c and flows through the intake air outlets Pe into combustion chambers 30.

Abstract: An outboard motor S is provided with an internal combustion engine E installed in an engine compartment 15 which is defined by an engine cover C. The engine E has an intake air inlet Pi of an intake system of the engine. The intake air inlet Pi is formed by an air intake duct 54. The intake duct 54 communicates with an air intake space 42 located outside the engine compartment 15. The engine cover C includes an upper cover 14 formed with a receiving ring 14b which is fitted on the air intake duct 54. The receiving ring 14b and the intake duct 54 form an overlapping part W in which the receiving ring 14b and the intake duct 54 overlap each other in the direction F of flow of combustion air. The overlapping part W has a sealing member 55 therein which forms a seal between the air intake space 42 and the interior space of the engine compartment 15.

Abstract: An outboard motor S includes an internal combustion engine E having a crankshaft 7, and an alternator G having a shaft 81 and a housing 82. The engine E and the generator G are disposed in an engine compartment 15 with the crankshaft 7 of the engine E and the shaft 81 of the alternator G spaced a center distance d apart from each other. The housing 82 is provided with air inlets 83 through which cooling air for cooling the interior of the alternator G flows into the housing 82 and air outlets 84 through which cooling air that has cooled the alternator G is discharged as exhaust air. An exhaust air duct 91 surrounds the outlets 84 of the housing 82 and carries the exhaust air to a predetermined position from which the exhaust air cannot easily flow again through the inlets 83 into the housing 82. The alternator G spaced the center distance apart from the internal combustion engine E can be cooled at improved cooling efficiency.

Abstract: A multi-plate solid-state imaging element module comprising a plurality of solid-state imaging devices identical in structure, each comprising a set of pixels, wherein said plurality of solid-state imaging devices are arranged so that the sets of pixels of said plurality of solid-state imaging devices are effectively deviated to each other, so as to effectively arrange all the pixels of the plurality of solid-state imaging devices in a checkered form.

Abstract: A solid-state imaging device comprises: photoelectric conversion elements including color-detecting photoelectric conversion elements and luminance-detecting photoelectric conversion elements; color filters each provided above each of the color-detecting photoelectric conversion elements; and luminance filters each provided above each of the luminance-detecting photoelectric conversion elements. Each of the luminance-detecting photoelectric conversion elements is provided adjacent to each of the color-detecting photoelectric conversion elements.

Abstract: An imaging apparatus is provided and includes a solid-state imaging device including a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements; and a image data-generation unit that generates image data represented by a first luminance signal and a color-difference signal, based on signals from the plurality of the photoelectric conversion elements. The plurality of photoelectric conversion elements include a photoelectric conversion element for obtaining a second luminance signal. In the image data-generation unit, a signal in each pixel position of image data to be generated is interpolated, a third luminance signal is generated in the each pixel position from the interpolated signal, and the first luminance signal in the each pixel position is generated by synthesizing the second and third luminance signals.

Abstract: Photoelectric conversion elements 1 and VCCDs 2 are formed in a light reception region. A region is used to obtain an image having the maximum size is defined as a maximum light reception region 3. An image capturing apparatus includes a CPU 15 that performs control of reading signals only from the photoelectric conversion elements 1 disposed in a moving image capturing light reception region A; and a shading member 16b that, when a moving image is captured, shades at least a part of a region where formed are the photoelectric conversion elements 1 from which chargers are read to the VCCD 2 to which charges are also read from the photoelectric conversion elements 1 disposed in the moving image capturing light reception region A. The at least part of the region is the maximum light reception region 3 except the moving image capturing light reception region A.

Abstract: A solid state imaging device comprises: a semiconductor substrate; and a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements arranged on the semiconductor substrate in a row direction and a column direction substantially perpendicular to the row direction, wherein said plurality of photoelectric conversion elements are divided to first and second groups, when positions of the photoelectric conversion elements of the second group are considered as reference positions, the photoelectric conversion elements of the first group are disposed at positions shifted in a given direction from the reference positions in such a manner that each of the photoelectric conversion elements of the first group adjoins the each of the photoelectric conversion elements of the second group, spectral filters are respectively provided upwardly of light receiving surfaces of the photoelectric conversion elements of the first group, the spectral filters comprising three or more kinds of spectral filters respectively transmitting different c

Abstract: A first imaging portion includes a first group of photoelectric conversion elements. A second imaging portion includes a second group of photoelectric conversion elements. The first imaging portion and the second imaging portion are disposed at adjacent positions. An array pattern of the imaging portions is determined so that photoelectric conversion elements detecting all color components needed for reproducing a color image are included by two adjacent lines. Among pairs of adjacent lines, a line of the first imaging portion is paired with a line of the second imaging portion, which is selected so that the combination of color components detected by the photoelectric conversion elements arranged on the line of the first imaging portion differs from the combination of color components detected by the photoelectric conversion elements arranged on the line of the second imaging portion.

Abstract: A reference image is cut out from a first image and a comparison image is cut out from a second image while shifting a cutting block by n pixels and correlation between each of the comparison images. The reference image is calculated to obtain a motion vector of the second image with respect to the first image. Plural second images (hereinafter, referred to as 2-1 image, 2-2 image, . . . ) obtained by shifting the second image by m pixels (m<n) are created and stored in a memory. Also, when cutting out the comparison image, plural comparison images are cut out from each of the 2-1 image, 2-2 image, . . . and operations of calculating correlation between each of the comparison images and the reference image are performed in parallel.

Abstract: An outboard motor has an internal combustion engine with a carburetor. The carburetor is designed to extend maintenance interval greatly by preventing or suppressing the deposition of solid matters in the gap between the intake passage and a butterfly-type throttle valve therein. The throttle valve is divided, by a valve axis about which the throttle valve turns, into a first valve part that turns from the downstream side to the upstream side with respect to an air intake direction when the fully closed throttle valve is opened and a second valve part that turns from the upstream side to the downstream side with respect to the air intake direction when the fully closed throttle valve is opened. The first valve part has an edge that moves to the upstream side past bypass ports when the fully closed throttle valve is opened, and the second valve part is provided with a through hole that allows air to flow therethrough at a flow rate necessary for idling when the throttle valve is fully closed.

Abstract: A signal processing method comprises: generating thinned data by thinning, in a checkerboard like manner, image data comprising a plurality of pixels that are arranged, as a square, in a row direction and in a column direction perpendicular to the row direction; generating a first square array by extracting odd-numbered lines from lines of the thinned data in the row direction and in the column direction, and generating a second square array by extracting even-numbered lines from the lines of the thinned data in the row direction and in the column direction; and performing an image compression process for each of the first square array and the second square array.

Abstract: A solid-state image pickup element is mounted on a digital camera. The solid-state image pickup element has: first color pixels which detect an amount of incident light of a first color of the three primary colors; second color pixels which detect an amount of incident light of a second color; third color pixels which detect an amount of incident light of a third color; and luminance detection pixels which are adjacent to the color pixels, respectively, and which detect luminance information. In the digital camera, when data of a reduced image in which the resolution is more reduced than the resolution of all the pixels of the solid-state image pickup element are to be produced, data of each of the color pixels (R, G, B), and data of one or more of the luminance detection pixels (Y) which are adjacent to the color pixel are added together. A signal processing is applied to the added data to reproduce a photographed image.

Abstract: A signal processing method comprises: applying white balance correction to R (red), G (green), and B (blue) color signals output from a solid-state image pickup element so as to form white-balance corrected R, G, and B color signals; comparing levels of the white-balance corrected R, G, and B color signals with each other; correcting the level of the white-balance corrected G signal to coincide with a lower one of the levels of the white-balance corrected R and B color signals in the case where both of the levels of the white-balance corrected R and B signals are higher than the level of the white-balance corrected G signal when the G color signal is saturated; and outputting the white-balance corrected R, G, and B color signals as image signals.

Abstract: In fuel supply system for an engine in which a discharge port in a fuel pump driven by the engine to draw up fuel in a fuel tank is connected to an inlet port which is provided in a fuel reservoir and which is controlled in opening and closing by a float valve so that the fuel in the fuel reservoir is supplied to the engine, a second discharge port is provided in the fuel pump, and a second inlet port without a float valve is provided in the fuel reservoir. The second discharge port and the second inlet port are connected to each other through a control valve opened during starting of the engine. Thus, when the engine is started, fuel vapor generated in a pump chamber in the fuel pump can be discharged to the fuel reservoir having an air vent, to normalize the function of the fuel pump, leading to an enhancement in hot startability of the engine.

Abstract: In an intake system of a variable air-intake characteristic type for a multi-cylinder engine, an intake air-dispensing box is comprised of a dispensing box body which includes an intake air inlet, first and second intake branch pipes and one of halves of a partition wall and which has an opening provided in its outer wall opposite from the first and second intake branch pipes to extend between first and second dispensing chambers, and a lid detachably coupled to the dispensing box body to close the opening and having the other half of the partition wall. The lid is made of a light alloy by casting, and a valve bore and bearing bores for supporting a valve shaft of the on-off valve are defined in the other half of the partition wall. Thus, it is possible to carry out the maintenance of the on-off valve only by removing the lid disposed outside the intake air-dispensing box from the box, leading to an enhancement in maintenance property.

Abstract: To improve a freedom of layout within a narrow cowling of the outboard engine, achieve a reduction of manufacturing cost and an improvement of a maintenance performance of a filter member, a fuel supply apparatus in an outboard engine is structured such that fuel within a fuel tank is supplied into a vapor separator (V) via a low pressure fuel pump, the fuel stored within the vapor separator (V) is pressurized by a high pressure fuel pump (P) and is supplied to a fuel injection valve via a filter, a pump case (10) receiving the high pressure fuel pump (P) is arranged in a side portion of the vapor separator (10), an upper opening thereof is fixed by a cover member (14), a fuel discharge passage (15) connected to a pump discharge passage (PB) of the high pressure fuel pump (P) and a filter receiving recess portion (16) connected to the fuel discharge passage (15) are formed in the cover member (14), and a filter member (17) is detachably arranged in the filter receiving recess portion (16).

Abstract: In fuel rail/fuel conduit connecting structure in an engine for an outboard engine system, a first connecting bore opens into an end face of a fuel rail, and a second connecting bore opens into an end face of a terminal member having a connecting pipe portion which is projectingly provided on one side thereof and to which an end of the fuel conduit is connected. One of halves of a joint collar is fitted to an inner peripheral surface of the first connecting bore with a first seal member interposed therebetween, and the other half of the joint collar is fitted to an inner peripheral surface of the second connecting bore with a second seal member interposed therebetween. Thus, it is possible to connect the fuel rails and the fuel conduits to each other, while providing reduction in number of parts and number of assembling steps for the connecting structure and moreover, the connecting structure is excellent in corrosion resistance.

Abstract: A box-shaped intake silencer for an engine is obtained by joining together an upper half and a lower half. The intake silencer includes a connecting duct for supplying air to the engine and an intake duct for bringing in outside air. The intake silencer brings in a blow-by gas generated by the engine and returns fresh air purified by a filter to the engine. The filter is inserted into a retaining part made up of the upper and lower halve and held at the retaining pat by joining the upper and lower halves together.