Patents Examined by Ngoc-Yen T. Vu
  • Patent number: 10554891
    Abstract: An image stabilization apparatus comprising: an image stabilization unit that performs image stabilization by changing a crop position at which part of image is cropped from an image obtained by photoelectric conversion of an optical image formed through a detachable lens unit by an image sensor based on a vibration amount detected by a vibration detection unit; a control unit that controls the image stabilization unit so as to shift the crop position by a predetermined swing back amount toward a center of the image; and a determination unit that determines whether or not zooming is performed based on focal lengths obtained from the lens unit at a predetermined time interval, wherein the control unit increases the swing back amount in a case where zooming is performed than in a case where zooming is not performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Ken Nadamoto, Wataru Takayanagi
  • Patent number: 10539859
    Abstract: An interchangeable lens serving as an accessory apparatus includes a power control unit configured to switch between a first power state where communication with a camera main body serving as an image pickup apparatus is possible and a second power state which provides smaller power consumption than the first power state. The interchangeable lens also includes a setting unit configured to switch a communication setting between a first setting corresponding to a first communication method that is a communication method used in an initial communication and a second setting corresponding to a second communication method different from the first communication method. In addition, in a case where the communication setting of the interchangeable lens is the second setting, the power control unit does not perform the switching from the first power state to the second power state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2020
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yutaka Watanabe
  • Patent number: 10534153
    Abstract: Digital cameras, optical lens modules for such digital cameras and methods for assembling lens elements in such lens modules. In various embodiments, the digital cameras comprise an optical lens module including N?3 lens elements Li, each lens element comprising a respective front surface S2i?1 and a respective rear surface S2i. In various embodiments the first lens element toward the object side, L1 and its respective front surfaces S1 have optical and/or mechanical properties, such as a clear aperture, a clear height and a mechanical height that are larger than respective properties of following lens elements and surfaces. This is done to achieve a camera with large aperture stop, given a lens and/or camera height.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2020
    Assignee: Corephotonics Ltd.
    Inventors: Gal Shabtay, Ephraim Goldenberg, Michael Dror, Itay Yedid, Gil Bachar
  • Patent number: 10530995
    Abstract: A system accesses an image with each pixel of the image having luminance values each representative of a color component of the pixel. The system generates a first histogram for aggregate luminance values of the image, and accesses a target histogram for the image representative of a desired global image contrast. The system computes a transfer function based on the first histogram and the target histogram such that when the transfer function is applied, a histogram of the modified aggregate luminance values is within a threshold similarity of the target histogram. The system modifies the image by applying the transfer function to the luminance values of the image to produce a tone mapped image, and outputs the modified image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: GoPro, Inc.
    Inventors: Bruno César Douady-Pleven, Michael Serge Andre Kraak, Guillaume Matthieu Guérin, Thomas Nicolas Emmanuel Veit
  • Patent number: 10531029
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes: an acquisition unit configured to obtain image data generated by an image sensor forming an array pattern using color filters having mutually different spectral transmittances and to obtain a correction coefficient for correcting a difference between pixel values corresponding to a difference between a spectral sensitivity and a preset reference spectral sensitivity in a wavelength range in a pixel-of-interest; a correction amount calculation unit configured to calculate an estimation value of a color component in the pixel-of-interest using a pixel value of each of pixels in surrounding pixels of a same color and the correction coefficient and configured to calculate a correction amount of the pixel value of the pixel-of-interest based on the estimation value and the correction coefficient of the pixel-of-interest; and a pixel value correction unit configured to correct the pixel value of the pixel-of-interest based on the calculated correction amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroki Maruyama, Manabu Ichikawa
  • Patent number: 10531021
    Abstract: An object is to extract the motion tracks of other vehicles from an image taken from a target vehicle. An image generating apparatus includes: a determiner circuit that determines whether surroundings of the target vehicle are in a dark place; and a control circuit that causes an image sensor including a high-sensitivity cell and a highly-saturated cell to create a highly-saturated frame by multiple exposures through the highly-saturated cell, the highly-saturated cell having lower sensitivity and larger charge storage capacity than the high-sensitivity cell, when the determiner circuit determines that the surroundings of the target vehicle are in the dark place.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Osamu Shibata, Hiroshi Iwai, Kazuko Nishimura, Yasuo Miyake, Yoshiaki Satou
  • Patent number: 10531032
    Abstract: An image sensor chip includes an internal voltage generator for generating internal voltages using an external voltage received at a first terminal of the image sensor chip, a temperature sensor for generating a temperature voltage, a selection circuit for outputting one of the external voltage, the internal voltages, and the temperature voltage, a digital code generation circuit for generating a digital code using an output voltage of the selection circuit, and a second terminal for outputting the digital code from the image sensor chip.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Sang Hyun Cho, Ji Yong Park, Dae Hwa Paik, Kyoung Min Koh, Min Ho Kwon, Seung Hyun Lim
  • Patent number: 10523882
    Abstract: Provided is an AD converter including a first AD converting unit in which pixel columns of a pixel array are divided into at least two groups, and that compares a first ramp signal and a first pixel signal output from a first group of the pixel columns and performs AD conversion on the first pixel signal; and a second AD converting unit that compares a second ramp signal and a second pixel signal output from a second group of the pixel columns and performs AD conversion on the second pixel signal, in which the first ramp signal is a signal of which a level is decreased with a constant slope over time in a D-phase period for detecting a signal level of a pixel signal, and the second ramp signal is a signal of which a level is increased with a constant slope over time in the D-phase period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Kyoichi Kanagawa
  • Patent number: 10516817
    Abstract: There is provided an information processing apparatus including a correspondence relationship information change unit for changing a correspondence relationship information indicating each correspondence relationship between a plurality of image pickup devices and a plurality of controllers, the image pickup devices and the controllers being associated with each other, the controller being used to operate at least one of the plurality of image pickup devices, and the controller being capable of operating the image pickup device associated with the controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2019
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hitoshi Nakamura
  • Patent number: 10514483
    Abstract: In illustrative implementations, an imaging system may comprise a lens, an optical cavity and a time-of-flight camera. The imaging system may capture an image of a scene. The image may be formed by light that is from the scene and that passes through the optical cavity and the lens. In some cases, the lens is in front of the optical cavity, enabling the Euclidean distance between the lens and the camera sensor to be less than the nominal focal length of the lens. In some cases, the lens is inside the optical cavity, enabling the camera to acquire ultrafast multi-zoom images without moving or changing the shape of any optical element. In some cases, the lens is behind the optical cavity, enabling the system to perform ultrafast multi-spectral imaging. In other cases, an optical cavity between the scene and time-of-camera enables ultrafast ellipsometry measurements or ultrafast spatial frequency filtering.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2019
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Barmak Heshmat Dehkordi, Matthew Tancik
  • Patent number: 10511758
    Abstract: An image capturing apparatus including: a display unit comprising a display panel, the display unit configured to display an image including at least one subject; a detection unit comprising detection circuitry, the detection unit configured to detect an input for setting a region of interest in the image; and a controller configured to detect at least one candidate region from the region of interest set based on the input, and set one of the at least one detected candidate region as an auto-focus (AF) region based on priorities of the at least one detected candidate region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hyun-seok Hong, Sahng-gyu Park, Yeong-rok Lee, Jin-gu Jeong
  • Patent number: 10506086
    Abstract: The disclosure provides an optical system including an optical element and a driving module. The driving module includes a fixed part and an electromagnetic driving assembly. The fixed part includes a casing and a circuit unit. The circuit unit is connected to the casing and includes a base and a circuit element. The electromagnetic driving assembly is disposed inside the casing and is electrically connected to the circuit element. The electromagnetic driving assembly is configured to force the optical element to move relative to the base. There is no position-sensing component disposed inside the driving module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: TDK TAIWAN CORP.
    Inventors: Chao-Chang Hu, Shih-Ting Huang, Kuo-Chun Kao, Yi-Hsin Nieh
  • Patent number: 10498962
    Abstract: A camera module includes an image pickup portion, a motion detector, and a coordinate transformation processor. The motion detector detects a motion of the image pickup portion while an image of a subject is captured in the image pickup portion. The coordinate transformation processor executes coordinate transformation processing for collectively transforming coordinates of the image captured by the image pickup portion in such a way that effects on the image caused by camera shake of the image pickup portion, and by a distortion of an optical system used to obtain the image, are suppressed based on the motion of the image pickup portion detected by the motion detector, and based on a correction coefficient with which the distortion of the optical system is corrected. Technology used for the camera module may be applied to a CMOS image sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Daisuke Iso, Soichi Kuwahara, Hideshi Yamada
  • Patent number: 10484618
    Abstract: An imaging array having a plurality of pixel sensors connected to a bit line is disclosed. Each pixel sensor includes a capacitive overflow pixel sensor characterized by an overflow capacitor having a switching terminal, and a floating diffusion node, a buffer amplifier that connects the floating diffusion node to a bit line in response to row select signal, and a switch that connects the switching terminal to either ground or a boost voltage. The imaging array also includes a switch controller that controls the switch and is connected to the bit line, the switch controller determining a voltage on the bit line, the switch controller connecting the switching terminal to the boost voltage during an exposure of the pixel sensor to light and to either ground or the boost voltage during a readout of charge stored on the overflow capacitor depending on the voltage on the bit line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2019
    Assignee: BAE Systems Imaging Solutions Inc.
    Inventors: Hung T. Do, Chenguang Gong, Paul G. Lim, Alberto M. Magnani
  • Patent number: 10474011
    Abstract: A plate provides clearance between a camera and a quick-release receiver securing the camera to a support.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: Really Right Stuff, LLC
    Inventors: Joseph M. Johnson, Sr., Matthew L. Burk
  • Patent number: 10477096
    Abstract: Embodiments are directed to an electronic device including a camera module capturing a video, a memory, and a processor sequentially storing, in the memory, each of a plurality of frames respectively focused during the video capture on a plurality of frame areas selected from the video.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Ho-Suk Han
  • Patent number: 10469777
    Abstract: Devices, systems and methods relating to a distortion-correcting imaging for collecting image-related data of a substrate are disclosed, comprising: a beam emitter for directing an emission at an intended location on the substrate, and a signal detector for determining a signal intensity value associated with the emission; wherein the signal intensity value is associated with a corrected substrate location, said corrected substrate location determined from the intended substrate location and a correction factor, said correction factor being a function of said intended substrate location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: TECHINSIGHTS INC.
    Inventors: Christopher Pawlowicz, Alexander Sorkin, Vladimir Martincevic
  • Patent number: 10455179
    Abstract: An active pixel sensor is provided. The active pixel sensor includes a substrate, a plurality of sensing circuits, and a plurality of output circuits. The substrate is divided into a plurality of pixel rows. A plurality of pixel areas are disposed on the plurality of pixel rows. The plurality of sensing circuits are disposed in the pixel areas on the pixel rows excluding a specific pixel row among the plurality of pixel rows. The plurality of sensing circuits are further disposed on a plurality of pixel columns to form an array. Each of the plurality of sensing circuits includes a sensing element, a transfer transistor, and a floating diffusion node. The plurality of output circuits are disposed in the pixel areas on the specific pixel row. The sensing circuits on the same pixel column are coupled to the same output circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: SILICON OPTRONICS, INC.
    Inventor: Xinping He
  • Patent number: 10455172
    Abstract: Conventional image sensors cannot generate highly-accurate correction values in a short time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: RENESAS ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hirokazu Shimizu
  • Patent number: 10447917
    Abstract: A portable device adapted to enable its user to manually adjust the focus and photometry locations during photography and a method for taking images with the device is disclosed. A GUI for indicating the focus or photometry location is provided on the screen so that the user can manually move the GUI on the screen with a keypad or a touch panel. In this manner, a desired object is taken at the focus or photometry location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Jong Pil Shin, Do Hwan Choi, Jong Hyun An, Chang Woo Park, Ha Ran Jung