Patents Examined by Anthony J. Daniels
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Patent number: 11089193Abstract: A camera module, a mobile terminal and a method of controlling a camera module are provided. The camera module includes a module support, a driving device, a first reflector, a second reflector and a lens module. The first reflector, the second reflector and the lens module are in the module support. Based on the position arrangement and the connection of the multiple components including the module support, the two reflectors, the lens module and the driving device, the lens module alternately collects light passing through the first light inlet and light passing through the second light inlet, so that the camera module alternately has the function of the front camera and the function of the rear camera, and the camera module has the same high quality imaging effect in all directions.Type: GrantFiled: May 3, 2018Date of Patent: August 10, 2021Assignee: VIVO MOBILE COMMUNICATION CO., LTD.Inventors: Xing Mao, Peng Wang
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Patent number: 11089185Abstract: A cleaning apparatus for cleaning a detection device having a detection surface includes a cleaning unit provided with a cleaning member for performing a cleaning and configured to perform a wipe-off cleaning in a state where the cleaning member is in contact with the detection surface, a drive unit configured to press the cleaning member onto the detection surface, a detection unit configured to detect a force with which the cleaning member presses the detection surface, and a control unit configured to, while controlling the drive unit based on a result of the force detection by the detection unit to control the force, drive the cleaning unit to perform the wipe-off cleaning.Type: GrantFiled: September 13, 2019Date of Patent: August 10, 2021Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Akihiko Sakamaki
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Patent number: 11076122Abstract: A communication terminal includes a communicator, an image processing circuit, and a controller. The controller is configured to acquire a first image. The image processing circuit is configured to generate a second image by performing image processing on the first image. The controller is configured to upload the second image to a page of a social networking service (SNS) by transmitting the second image to an SNS server by using the communicator. The controller is configured to record image management information in which the first image, image processing information that identifies the image processing, and an address of the page are associated with each other onto a storage medium.Type: GrantFiled: September 26, 2019Date of Patent: July 27, 2021Assignee: Olympus CorporationInventors: Saori Matsumoto, Kensuke Ishii, Arata Shinozaki, Yoshitaka Sato
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Patent number: 11076087Abstract: An electronic device and a method for setting image quality are provided. An electronic device includes a camera, a memory, and a processor configured to obtain, using the camera, a plurality of images for one or more external objects, identify a region of interest and a background region using one or more images of the plurality of images, recognize a first object included in the region of the interest, identify a type of the background region by recognizing a second object included in the background region, determine a scene corresponding to the one or more images, based on the recognized first object and the identified type of the background region, and adjust at least one of an image quality setting associated with the camera or an image quality setting associated with the one or more images using a specified image quality setting corresponding to the determined scene.Type: GrantFiled: August 6, 2019Date of Patent: July 27, 2021Inventors: Moojung Kim, Jungchan Cho, Changhoon Kang, Daehee Kim, Youngil Shin, Seonghun Cho, Kyungjae Lee, Seoyoung Lee, Byounggeun Choi, Jiyoon Park
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Patent number: 11064103Abstract: A video image transmission apparatus configured to transmit a video image captured by an image capturing unit includes a determination unit configured to determine whether to add object information to metadata based on a video type of an image to be transmitted to an information processing apparatus, an addition unit configured to add, to the metadata, the object information about the video image to be transmitted to the information processing apparatus in a case where the determination unit determines that the object information is to be added to the metadata, and a transmission unit configured to transmit the video image and the metadata to the information processing apparatus.Type: GrantFiled: January 25, 2019Date of Patent: July 13, 2021Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Shinjiro Takami
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Patent number: 11061555Abstract: A housing for an accessory is disclosed. The housing comprises: a support region for a display screen for displaying images; the support region comprising a bezel comprising a narrow width just sufficient to maintain structural integrity of the housing material to retain a display screen to the housing, the width in the lower area of the bezel comprises a greater width compared to the narrow width to accommodate a microphone, the lower area comprising a microphone aperture.Type: GrantFiled: January 31, 2019Date of Patent: July 13, 2021Inventors: Robert George Grant, Graham Keith Lambert, Ceri Hill
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Patent number: 11064099Abstract: An imager includes: an imaging element chip; a fixing member to which the imaging element chip is adhered, and which is electrically connected to the imaging element chip; a circuit board that is fixed to the fixing member via a plurality of conductive members; and a stress relaxing member that is fixed to a second surface of the circuit board opposite to a first surface of the circuit board, the first surface being a surface of the circuit board to a side of which the fixing member is fixed, a linear expansion coefficient of the fixing member, a linear expansion coefficient of the circuit board, and a linear expansion coefficient of the stress relaxing member are as defined herein, and the stress relaxing member overlaps an entire adhesion portion between the imaging element chip and the fixing member as defined herein.Type: GrantFiled: July 15, 2020Date of Patent: July 13, 2021Assignee: FUJIFILM CorporationInventors: Daisuke Kusuda, Tomoyuki Kawai
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Patent number: 11056518Abstract: There is provided an imaging section that allows multiple pixels generating a pixel signal based on incident light to act as polarization pixels each having one of multiple polarizing directions. A polarization element is attached on the side of the incidence plane side of the imaging section, causes linearly polarized light to enter the imaging section. A control section, for example, controls a sensitivity detecting section to detect a sensitivity level in each of the polarizing directions of the polarization pixels in the imaging section. An image signal processing section performs gain adjustment on the polarization pixels on the basis of the sensitivity level detected in each of the polarizing directions by the sensitivity detecting section, and carries out image composition using the gain-adjusted image signals to generate a captured image having wide dynamic range with minimum motion blur.Type: GrantFiled: August 9, 2017Date of Patent: July 6, 2021Assignee: SONY CORPORATIONInventors: Hitoshi Mitani, Masafumi Wakazono
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Patent number: 11057550Abstract: A camera lens control system includes a hand control unit equipped with an adaptive display for marking. The adaptive display is electronically controlled or programmed to display any desired objects for marking. The hand control unit includes a body, a control knob attached to the body, and a marking ring concentrically coupled with the control knob. The control knob is configured to receive a user input for controlling a lens setting. The marking ring includes a display configurable to display one or more markings corresponding to the lens setting.Type: GrantFiled: June 20, 2019Date of Patent: July 6, 2021Assignee: TILTA INC.Inventor: Wenping Zeng
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Patent number: 11050961Abstract: The present invention relates to technical field of analog integrated circuit design. TDI function is better realized by CMOS image sensor and it improves scanning frequency of the CMOS-TDI image sensor and extends application range of TDI technique. To this end, the present invention proposes a technical solution of high scanning frequency CMOS-TDI image sensor. The pixels include a photodiode, an operational amplifier, integration capacitors C1 and C2 of the same capacitance, an offset voltage removing capacitor C3, and plural switches S1-S10. The anode of the photodiode is connected to a zero voltage ground wire, while the cathode thereof is connected to one end of the switch S9. The other end of the switch S9 is connected to a reference voltage Vref. The above pixels are cascaded and an output end of the last pixel is connected to a column-parallel ADC through a readout switch Read. The invention mainly applies to analog integration circuit design.Type: GrantFiled: December 12, 2014Date of Patent: June 29, 2021Assignee: Tianjin UniversityInventors: Kaiming Nie, Suying Yao, Jiangtao Xu, Zhiyuan Gao, Zaifeng Shi, Jing Gao
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Patent number: 11044408Abstract: A multi-camera zooming method includes: during zooming from an i-th magnification range to an adjacent j-th magnification range, a j-th camera corresponding to the j-th magnification range is selected from n cameras, 1?i?n and 1?j?n; when the j-th camera is in a non-operating state, a transition camera and a target camera are determined; the transition camera is set as a camera configured to acquire a preview image; the target camera is unloaded from an operating state to the non-operating state and the j-th camera is loaded from the non-operating state to the operating state; and the camera configured to acquire the preview image is switched from the transition camera to the j-th camera.Type: GrantFiled: July 17, 2019Date of Patent: June 22, 2021Assignee: BEIJING XIAOMI MOBILE SOFTWARE CO., LTD.Inventors: Yi Guo, Zifei Dou, Peng Zhang
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Patent number: 11039067Abstract: This image pickup apparatus includes: an image pickup unit including an image pickup element; a first video signal processing unit that generates a first video signal having a first resolution from a pixel signal obtained by the image pickup unit; a second video signal processing unit that sets a plurality of divided areas for spatially segmenting the first video signal generated by the first video signal processing unit, cuts out the first video signal in a region smaller than a size of the corresponding divided area as a block from the first video signal in each of the individual divided areas, and connects them to one another, to thereby generate a second video signal having a second resolution lower than the first resolution; and a view finder that displays the second video signal.Type: GrantFiled: March 6, 2018Date of Patent: June 15, 2021Assignee: SONY CORPORATIONInventors: Koji Kamiya, Yukihiro Kinoshita, Yasutaka Nakashima
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Patent number: 11039099Abstract: An increase in memory capacity is suppressed in a solid-state imaging element that performs correlated double sampling processing. A pixel circuit sequentially generates each of a predetermined reset level and a plurality of signal levels corresponding to the exposure amount. An analog-to-digital converter converts a predetermined reset level into digital data and outputs the data as reset data, converts each of the plurality of pieces of signal data into digital data, and outputs the data as signal data. An arithmetic circuit holds a difference between the reset data and the signal data output first, as held data in a memory, and then adds the held data and the signal data output second and subsequent times together and causes the memory to hold the added data as new held data.Type: GrantFiled: October 10, 2017Date of Patent: June 15, 2021Assignee: SONY SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS CORPORATIONInventors: Masaki Sakakibara, Yorito Sakano, Satoko Iida
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Patent number: 11035517Abstract: This application is directed to a passively-cooled electronic device including a housing, a plurality of electronic assemblies and a plurality of thermally conductive parts. The electronic assemblies are enclosed in the housing, and include a first electronic assembly and a second electronic assembly. The first and second electronic assemblies are disposed proximately to each other within the housing, and the second electronic assembly is substantially sensitive to heat, including heat generated by operation of the first electronic assembly. The thermally conductive parts are coupled between the first electronic assembly and the housing, and configured to create a first plurality of heat conduction paths to conduct the heat generated by the first electronic assembly away from the second electronic assembly without using a fan. At least a subset of the thermally conductive parts mechanically supports one or both of the first and second electronic assemblies.Type: GrantFiled: June 16, 2020Date of Patent: June 15, 2021Assignee: Google LLCInventors: Arun Raghupathy, Benjamin Niewood, Cheng-Jung Lee, Adam Scott Kilgore
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Patent number: 11039074Abstract: The present disclosure generally relates to user interfaces for managing exposure compensation when capturing media (e.g., an image, video).Type: GrantFiled: September 21, 2020Date of Patent: June 15, 2021Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Behkish J. Manzari, Graham R. Clarke, Andre Souza Dos Santos
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Patent number: 11025852Abstract: An image capturing apparatus includes a pixel portion in which a plurality of pixel blocks are arranged, each pixel block including a predetermined number of pixels; a plurality of readout circuits arranged corresponding to the plurality of pixel blocks; a supply unit that supplies drive signals to the plurality of readout circuits; a setting unit that sets image capturing conditions for each of the plurality of pixel blocks; and a control unit that carries out control so that when the setting unit has set different image capturing conditions for a first pixel block and a second pixel block, the supply unit supplies a first drive signal to the readout circuits corresponding to the first pixel block, and supplies a second drive signal to the readout circuits corresponding to the second pixel block.Type: GrantFiled: October 22, 2019Date of Patent: June 1, 2021Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Kazuki Ohshitanai
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Patent number: 11012598Abstract: An apparatus for aligning a lens module with an image sensor to form a camera module includes a chart holder, a positioning unit and a reflective elements holder assembly. In use, the chart holder holds a test chart having a region of interest (ROI), the positioning unit holds the lens module and the image sensor, and the reflective elements holder assembly holds multiple reflective elements between the chart holder and the positioning unit. A first optical path from the ROI is directed to a first position on the image sensor. Second optical paths from the ROI are reflected by the reflective elements to respective second positions on the image sensor, the second positions being spaced from the first position. The images captured by the image sensor (arising from the aforementioned optical paths) are analysed and the positioning unit aligns the lens module with the image sensor based on such analysis.Type: GrantFiled: August 23, 2019Date of Patent: May 18, 2021Assignee: ASM TECHNOLOGY SINGAPORE PTE LTDInventors: Koon Sung Yeung, Po Lam Au, Fan Leuk Lai, Chi Piu Wong, Kwong Sik Chan
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Patent number: 11012611Abstract: An electronic apparatus including an imaging unit, an operation unit, an output unit, and a control unit, wherein the control unit outputs a sound relating to a first warning using the output unit, in a case where a condition for issuing the first warning is satisfied, wherein the control unit stops outputting the sound relating to the first warning, in a case where an instruction is received by the operation unit, wherein the control unit doesn't output the sound relating to the first warning even when the condition for issuing the first warning is satisfied, in a case where the output of the sound relating to the first warning is stopped, and wherein the control unit outputs a sound relating to a second warning, when a condition for issuing the second warning is satisfied, in a case where the output of the sound relating to the first warning is stopped.Type: GrantFiled: November 27, 2019Date of Patent: May 18, 2021Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Yu Narita, Yoshinori Hayashi, Koichi Sasaki, Dai Miyauchi, Tomotaka Uekusa, Hitoshi Nishitani
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Patent number: 11006064Abstract: A CMOS image sensor, and a method of operating a pixel array by a CMOS image sensor is provided. The CMOS image sensor includes a sensor, and a readout circuit. The sensor is configured to generate a first voltage signal and a first reset signal. The readout circuit is configured to perform a first readout operation by reading out the first reset signal and the first voltage signal simultaneously at a first predetermined time. After the first readout operation, the readout circuit turns on a plurality of switches to obtain a common-mode signal by making the first reset signal equal to the first voltage signal and re-perform a second readout operation by reading out the common-mode signal at a second predetermined time. The first predetermined time and the second predetermined time do not overlap each other.Type: GrantFiled: September 16, 2019Date of Patent: May 11, 2021Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.Inventors: Chin Yin, Po-Sheng Chou, Shang-Fu Yeh, Calvin Yi-Ping Chao, Chih-Lin Lee
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Patent number: 10986381Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes accessing multiple temporally synchronized video streams from multiple cameras operated by a first user. At least one of the cameras is a wireless camera worn on the first user's hand. The video streams are stitched together for presentation to one or more second users. The video streams as stitched together are provided for presentation to one or more second users.Type: GrantFiled: November 22, 2019Date of Patent: April 20, 2021Assignee: FACEBOOK, INC.Inventors: Hamid Hemmati, Shauhwa Cuan