Patents Examined by Joel W Fosselman
  • Patent number: 11317046
    Abstract: An imaging element includes: an imaging unit in which a plurality of pixel groups including a plurality of pixels that output pixel signals according to incident light are formed, and on which incident light corresponding to mutually different pieces of image information is incident; a control unit that controls, for each of the pixel groups, a period of accumulating in the plurality of pixels included in the pixel group; and a readout unit that is provided to each of the pixel groups, and reads out the pixel signals from the plurality of pixels included in the pixel group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shiro Tsunai, Hironobu Murata
  • Patent number: 11306861
    Abstract: Oftentimes a site owner requires onsite capture devices (e.g., still or video cameras, microphones) for reasons of security, increasing revenue (e.g., streaming content to subscribed users), or otherwise. In the current state of the art various capture devices come from a variety of vendors and are often only adapted to work with software from the same manufacturer. It can be frustrating for a site owner to attempt to cobble together a capture and distribution system from individual parts and devices. Discussed herein is an approach to producing a capture and distribution system customized to an owner's particular needs and a site's particular characteristics in which capture devices are at least partially factory wired, aimed, and commissioned so to reduce both time on site to install of said capture devices and potential errors in the installation, and in a manner that in at least some cases adds value for the owner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: Musco Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew D. Drost, Logan J. Bogatzke
  • Patent number: 11308597
    Abstract: An image capture device may detect presence of an on-housing hand within a periphery of a field of view of an optical element during capture of visual content through the optical element. The image capture device may generate an alarm to indicate the presence of the on-housing hand within the periphery of the field of view of the optical element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: GoPro, Inc.
    Inventors: Eva Coupeté, Matias Tassano Ferres, Nicolas Bessou
  • Patent number: 11310415
    Abstract: A computer-implemented camera function control method of an electronic device includes receiving a user selection, the user selection corresponding to a camera function selected from a camera list which includes a plurality of camera functions of a camera application installed on the electronic device, the plurality of camera functions each being configured in a package form to be operable in an individual camera mode of the camera application; and constructing, using a package of the camera function corresponding to the user selection, a user interface for image capturing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: Snow Corporation
    Inventors: SangCheol Jeon, Sam-Yeol Lim, Jihun Jeong
  • Patent number: 11290632
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing at least one program, method, and user interface to facilitate a camera sharing session between two or more users. A camera sharing session is initiated based on session configuration information comprising a user identifier of a user permitted to control image capturing at a camera communicatively coupled to a first device. A trigger request is received from the second device and in response, an image capture, which results in at least one image, is triggered at the camera and the image is transmitted to the second device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: Snap Inc.
    Inventors: Brian Anthony Smith, Rajan Vaish
  • Patent number: 11281931
    Abstract: An aerial camera for capturing images along two or more curved scan paths, the aerial camera comprising a scanning camera associated with each scan path, each scanning camera comprising an image sensor, a lens, a scanning mirror, and a drive coupled to the scanning mirror; wherein the drive is operative to rotate the scanning mirror about a spin axis according to a spin angle, the spin axis is tilted relative to the camera optical axis, the scanning mirror is tilted relative to both the camera optical axis and the spin axis and is positioned to reflect an imaging beam into the lens, the lens is positioned to focus the imaging beam onto the image sensor, and the image sensor is operative to capture each image along the scan path by sampling the imaging beam at a corresponding spin angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2022
    Assignee: nearmap australia pty ltd
    Inventor: Paul Lapstun
  • Patent number: 11284008
    Abstract: A scanning camera for capturing images along three or more curved scan paths, the scanning camera comprising a camera assembly associated with each scan path, each camera assembly comprising an image sensor and a lens; a scanning mirror; and a drive coupled to the scanning mirror; wherein the drive is operative to rotate the scanning mirror about a spin axis according to a spin angle; the spin axis is tilted relative to each camera optical axis; the scanning mirror is tilted relative to the spin axis and each camera optical axis; the scanning mirror is positioned to reflect an imaging beam into each lens in turn; and each image sensor is operative to capture each image along a respective one of the scan paths by sampling the imaging beam at a corresponding spin angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2022
    Assignee: nearmap australia pty ltd
    Inventor: Paul Lapstun
  • Patent number: 11277571
    Abstract: An image generation device includes: a voltage generator that generates a plurality of voltages each having a different voltage value; an image capturer that includes an organic photoconductive film, and performs imaging every time each of the plurality of voltages is applied; a luminance data obtainer that obtains a plurality of luminance data items corresponding to the plurality of voltages applied, each of the plurality of luminance data items being obtained from the imaging performed by the image capturer; and a color image generator that generates a color image based on the plurality of luminance data items.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2022
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kunio Nobori, Satoshi Sato, Takeo Azuma, Nobuhiko Wakai, Mitsuru Harada, Shinichi Machida, Masumi Izuchi
  • Patent number: 11276723
    Abstract: A semiconductor device comprising: a substrate; a semiconductor layer; and a wiring structure section between the substrate and the semiconductor layer, the wiring structure section including a plurality of stacked wiring layers and a plurality of stacked insulating films, the wiring structure section including an electrode, wherein an opening for connecting a member to the electrode is formed in the semiconductor layer and the wiring structure section; the semiconductor layer has an isolation region in which an insulating film is embedded and which surrounds the opening; the wiring structure section has a ring which is formed of the plurality of wiring layers and surround the opening; and a distance between the opening and the ring closest to the opening is larger than a distance between the opening and the isolation region closest to the opening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takumi Ogino, Hideaki Ishino, Akihiro Shimizu, Katsunori Hirota, Tsutomu Tange
  • Patent number: 11272124
    Abstract: A device includes an acquiring unit acquiring a plurality of images including a first image, a second image, and a third image; a region detecting unit comparing pixel values of the first image and the third image to detect a moving object region; and a compositing unit generating a composite image by synthesizing a target image selected from a plurality of images and the second image wherein the compositing unit performs a ghost removing process for pixels of the target image corresponding to the moving object region and pixels of the second image corresponding to the moving object region to bring the pixel values of one of these images closer to the pixel values of the other image, and synthesizes the target image and the second image after the ghost removing process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2022
    Assignee: Morpho, Inc.
    Inventor: Michihiro Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 11265466
    Abstract: An electronic device with image-capturing functionality is provided. The electronic device includes a device housing, a module substrate, an image-capturing element, a switch unit and a control unit. The module substrate is adapted to be slid between a first substrate position and a second substrate position. The image-capturing element is disposed on the module substrate. The control unit is coupled to the image-capturing element and the switch unit. When the module substrate is in the first substrate position, the switch unit is activated, the switch unit sends a pressed signal, and the control unit deactivates the image-capturing element according to the pressed signal. When the module substrate is in the second substrate position, the switch unit is not activated, and the control unit activates the image-capturing element. The electronic device of the embodiment protects the privacy of the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2022
    Assignee: Wistron Corp.
    Inventors: Cheng Hung Chen, Cheng-Wei Chang
  • Patent number: 11265524
    Abstract: An apparatus configured to correct a captured image using a gloss component based on a virtual light source sets a light-source color of the virtual light source. The apparatus generates the gloss component on a subject in the captured image using the light-source color corrected according to a color tone of the captured image. The apparatus corrects the captured image by adding the generated gloss component to the captured image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2022
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yuichi Nakada
  • Patent number: 11258977
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a readout circuit of a pixel array comprising: a first analog to digital converter coupled to a first column line of the pixel array and configured to convert a reference voltage level and a captured voltage level of a first pixel based on a first conversion gain of the first pixel; and a second analog to digital converter coupled to the first column line of the pixel array and configured to convert a reference voltage level and a captured voltage level of the first pixel based on a second conversion gain of the first pixel, the first and second conversion gains being different from each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2022
    Assignee: STMICROELECTRONICS (GRENOBLE 2) SAS
    Inventor: Tarek Lule
  • Patent number: 11258973
    Abstract: An AD conversion circuit includes a comparator configured to compare an analog signal with a ramp signal and output a comparison result signal indicating a result of the comparison, and performs an AD conversion using the comparison result signal. In the comparison, a potential of the ramp signal changes with a lapse of time from a first potential to a second potential. Before the comparison, the potential of the ramp signal changes at a first change rate and then changes at a second change rate smaller than the first change rate, the potential of the ramp signal changes from the first potential to a third potential between the first potential and the second potential, and the comparator is reset in a state where the third potential is input to the comparator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2022
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Koichiro Iwata, Yoshiaki Takada, Kohichi Nakamura
  • Patent number: 11252389
    Abstract: Disclosed is an electronic apparatus comprising: a camera module; a communication module; and a processor electrically connected to the camera module and the communication module, wherein the processor is capable of: obtaining an image of one or more external objects by using the camera module; recognizing at least one specified external object among the one or more external objects; transmitting image color information, corresponding to said at least one recognized specified external object, to an external electronic apparatus via the communication module; receiving attribute information on a light source for the image, determined using reference color information, corresponding to said at least one specified external object, and the image color information, from the external electronic apparatus; and correcting the color temperature of the image by using the attribute information received from the external electronic apparatus. Other various embodiments identified in the description are possible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2022
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Su Hee Kim, Jong Hyon Park
  • Patent number: 11252309
    Abstract: A monitoring device is disclosed, including: a base; a first rotary mechanism which is connected to the base and rotatable relative to the base; a supporting bracket fixed to the first rotary mechanism; a second rotary mechanism which is connected to the supporting bracket and rotatable relative to the supporting bracket; a lens assembly fixed to the second rotary mechanism; and a housing fixed to the supporting bracket and having an opening to expose the lens assembly; the first rotary mechanism, the supporting bracket, and the second rotary mechanism are located in the housing, a rotation axis of the first rotary mechanism is perpendicular to the base and a rotation axis of the second rotary mechanism. The monitoring device can implement omnidirectional imaging while maintaining an overall appearance of the entire device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2022
    Assignee: SHANGHAI IMILAB TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Jian Zhang
  • Patent number: 11246038
    Abstract: An image capturing apparatus is provided. Upon receiving a request for encrypted communication from an external apparatus that received an advertising signal in a state where the image capturing apparatus is not paired with the external apparatus and accepting a predetermined operation made on a release switch, the request is allowed. Upon receiving a request for encrypted communication from the external apparatus that received the advertising signal in a state where the image capturing apparatus is paired with the external apparatus, the request is allowed without accepting the predetermined operation made on the release switch. In response to an operation different from the predetermined operation being received in a state where the dial is in a state corresponding to the communication mode and the image capturing apparatus is paired with the external apparatus, the pairing is canceled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2022
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Eiko Hirose, Kenta Watanabe
  • Patent number: 11240455
    Abstract: The present technology relates to an AD conversion device, an AD conversion method, an image sensor, and an electronic apparatus that are able to achieve high-speed, low-power-consumption AD conversion. In a case where an electrical signal and a variable-level reference signal are compared by a comparator and the result of comparison is used to perform AD (Analog to Digital) conversion of the electrical signal, control is exercised in such a manner that a bias current flowing in the comparator to operate the comparator during a certain section of the reference signal including a section where the reference signal changes is increased from a first current, which is larger than 0 (zero), to a second current, which is larger than the first current. The present technology is applicable, for example, to AD conversion of an electrical signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation
    Inventors: Tomonori Yamashita, Yosuke Ueno, Atsumi Niwa
  • Patent number: 11233934
    Abstract: A portable electronic device with image capturing capabilities automatically or semi-automatically adjusts one or more image capturing parameters based on an input attribute of user engagement with a single-action haptic input mechanism. For example, the duration for which a single-action control button carried on a frame of the device is pressed automatically determines an image stabilization mode for on-board processing of captured image data. In one example, an above-threshold press duration automatically activates a less rigorous image stabilization mode, while button release before expiry of the threshold automatically activates a more rigorous photo stabilization mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2022
    Assignee: Snap Inc.
    Inventors: Rong Yan, Liu Liu
  • Patent number: 11228746
    Abstract: Image analysis and processing may include a multiple-tone-control (MTC) unit configured to obtain a tone-control gain lookup table, a plurality of MTC gain lookup tables, wherein the input image is divided into a plurality of blocks and wherein the plurality of MTC gain lookup tables includes a respective MTC gain lookup table corresponding to each respective block from the plurality of blocks, MTC grid parameters, MTC weighting parameters, a tone-control gain based on the tone-control gain lookup table, a MTC gain based on at least one MTC gain lookup table from the plurality of MTC gain lookup tables, the MTC grid parameters, and the MTC weighting parameters, and an output value based on the tone-control gain and the MTC gain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2022
    Assignee: GoPro, Inc.
    Inventors: Guillaume Matthieu Guérin, Violaine Marie Mong-Ian Sudret