Patents Examined by Nicholas G. Giles
  • Patent number: 10855908
    Abstract: A focus control device, comprising an image sensor capable of generating a phase difference detection signal, a focus detection region setting circuit that sets a plurality of focus detection regions having at least some parts in common, in a region of the image sensor that receives the light flux, an AF control circuit comprising a first calculation section that calculates a first focus direction based on a phase difference detection signal from a first focus detection region, and a second calculation section that is capable of detecting a larger focus deviation amount than a focus deviation amount that can be detected by the first calculation section, and calculates a second focus direction based on a phase difference detection signal from a second focus detection region, and a controller that determines focus direction in which to perform focus adjustment based on the first focus direction and the second focus direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: Olympus Corporation
    Inventor: Shingo Miyazawa
  • Patent number: 10848658
    Abstract: The invention relates to an imager system comprising a main image sensor (1) and comprising a main matrix (2) of active pixels exhibiting a first instantaneous dynamic span of luminous sensitivity, and a main reading circuit adapted for reading the pixels of the main image sensor (1) and for acquiring a main image on the basis of said reading, an auxiliary image sensor (11) comprising a second matrix (12) of active pixels exhibiting a second instantaneous dynamic span of luminous sensitivity which is more extensive than the first instantaneous dynamic span of luminous sensitivity, and an auxiliary reading circuit adapted for reading the active pixels of the auxiliary image sensor (11) and for acquiring an auxiliary image on the basis of said reading, and a data processing unit (10) configured to determine at least one value of an acquisition parameter of the main image sensor on the basis of the auxiliary image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: New Imaging Technologies
    Inventor: Yang Ni
  • Patent number: 10848702
    Abstract: A solid-state imaging device according to an embodiment includes: plural pixels, plural readout circuits, a control circuit, and a driving circuit. The plural pixels have light receiving elements. The plural readout circuits are connected to each of the plural pixels, and read out the charges accumulated by the light receiving elements. The control circuit gives a readout instruction to a readout pixel serving as a readout target out of the plural pixels. The driving circuit gives a driving instruction for driving a first constant current source provided in the readout circuit of the readout pixel and a second constant current source provided in a readout circuit of a corresponding pixel associated with the readout pixel out of the plural pixels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation
    Inventor: Yutaka Okada
  • Patent number: 10834348
    Abstract: An imaging sensor includes a pixel, an amplifier, and a successive approximation analog-to-digital (AD) converter. The pixel is configured to output a pixel signal. The amplifier is configured to output an amplification signal obtained by amplifying the pixel signal. The successive approximation AD converter detects whether or not the amplification signal is within a predetermined signal range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Daisuke Yoshida, Takahiro Shirai
  • Patent number: 10834324
    Abstract: Correcting image distortion during camera motion using a system including a processor and a camera having a rolling shutter. Multiple image frames are captured by the camera equipped with the rolling shutter. The captured image frames include a base image frame and a previous image frame. Multiple time stamps are recorded respectively for multiple corresponding image points in the previous and base image frames. For the corresponding image points, multiple ego-motions are computed responsive to the time stamps of the corresponding image points of the base image frame and the previous image frame to correct the image distortion caused by the rolling shutter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Mobileye Vision Technologies Ltd.
    Inventor: Yael Berberian
  • Patent number: 10823937
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to the technical field of optical lenses and discloses a lens module. The lens module includes: a lens; a lens barrel receiving the lens; a lens seat receiving the lens barrel; and a pressure-proof part having a receiving space. The lens barrel is installed into the lens seat from an object side of the lens seat to form an imaging body. The pressure-proof part includes a top wall forming a through hole and disposed at an object side of the lens barrel and a side wall extending from an edge of the top wall facing away from an optical axis while being bent towards an image side, the top wall and the side wall forming the receiving space. The receiving space receives at least a portion of the imaging body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: AAC Optics Solutions Pte. Ltd.
    Inventor: Chuandong Wei
  • Patent number: 10827121
    Abstract: A digital camera controls a blur correction lens used to correct image blur occurring due to vibration applied to the digital camera. The digital camera controls a focus lens used for focus adjustment and a zoom lens used to change an angle of view in connection with driving of the blur correction lens during exposure to an image sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yosuke Fukai, Kiyoshi Nitto, Toshihiro Ogawa, Junichiro Iwamatsu
  • Patent number: 10827143
    Abstract: An image sensor includes a pixel array including a plurality of pixels. A bit line is coupled to a column of pixels of the pixel array. The bit line is separated in to a plurality of portions coupled to the column of pixels. The portions of the bit line are electrically isolated from one another. A readout circuit is coupled to a first portion of the bit line coupled to a first portion of rows of pixels from the column of pixels to read image data from the first portion of rows of pixels from the column of pixels. The readout circuit is further coupled to a second portion of the bit line coupled to a second portion of rows of pixels from the column of pixels to read image data from the second portion of rows of pixels from the column of pixels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: OmniVision Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Hiroaki Ebihara
  • Patent number: 10827156
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a light filling method and apparatus for photographing environment, and a computer-readable storage medium. The method includes detecting a color temperature value of a current photographing environment to obtain a first color temperature value; and displaying an optimal light filling image acquired from a plurality of prestored light filling images in a light filling region of a display screen based on the first color temperature value, to implement light filling for the photographing environment, wherein the optimal light filling image is a light filling image that does not destroy white balance of a camera after light filling is implemented for the photographing environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: BEIJING XIAOMI MOBILE SOFTWARE CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Guosheng Li, Chuan Gao
  • Patent number: 10819883
    Abstract: According to one or more embodiments, a system of generating a two-dimensional (2D) image of an environment includes a 2D scanner system that includes a measurement device that is mounted to a first body equipment of an operator and one or more processors that are mounted to a second body equipment of the operator. The measurement device includes a light source, an image sensor, and a controller to determine a distance value to one or more object points. The processors generate a 2D submap of the environment in response to an activation signal from the operator and based at least in part on the distance value, each submap generated from a respective point in the environment. Further, the processors generate a 2D image of the environment using multiple 2D submaps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: FARO TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Oliver Zweigle, Ahmad Ramadneh, Muhammad Umair Tahir, Aleksej Frank, João Santos, Roland Raith
  • Patent number: 10819927
    Abstract: An imaging system comprises an image sensor and black level correction (BLC) circuitry. The image sensor includes an image pixel array adapted to generate an image signal in response to incident light and a dark pixel array adapted to generate a black reference signal representative of a black level value of the image sensor. The BLC circuitry is adapted to adjust the image signal of the image pixel array based, at least in part, on the black reference signal of the dark pixel array. The BLC circuitry includes a plurality of measurement circuits to readout the black reference signal from the dark pixel array to determine the black level value of the image sensor. The BLC circuitry also includes a plurality of calculation circuits to calculate a BLC value based, at least in part, on the black level value determined from the plurality of measurement circuits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: OmniVision Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Gabor Mikes
  • Patent number: 10812744
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a defective pixel compensation method and device capable of compensating for defective pixels of an RGBIr sensor. An embodiment of the method includes: determining the type of a sensor; determining a plurality of sample positions according to the type of the sensor and the position of a target pixel; obtaining the values of a plurality of reference pixels in a sampling window according to the sample positions; determining a value range and at least one compensation value(s) according to the values of the reference pixels; determining whether an input value of the target pixel is within the value range; when the input value is within the value range, outputting the input value as an output value of the target pixel; and when the input value is outside the value range, outputting one of the compensation value(s) as the output value of the target pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: REALTEK SEMICONDUCTOR CORPORATION
    Inventor: Wen-Tsung Huang
  • Patent number: 10771702
    Abstract: A movable support device includes: a movable unit that includes an imager, a first flexible substrate including wirings connected to terminals other than a power supply terminal and a ground terminal among terminals of the imager, and a second flexible substrate including wirings connected to the power supply terminal and the ground terminal; and a support member that supports the movable unit to be movable in a longitudinal direction of a light receiving surface of the imager and a short direction of the light receiving surface, the first flexible substrate includes a first portion extending in one direction of the short direction and a folded portion folded at an end portion of the first portion in other direction of the short direction, and the second flexible substrate includes a second portion and a folded portion as defined herein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2020
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventor: Kouhei Awazu
  • Patent number: 10768345
    Abstract: The present embodiment relates to a dual camera module comprising: a first camera module including a first liquid lens and capturing a first image; and a second camera module including a second liquid lens and capturing a second image, wherein a viewing angle of the first camera module is smaller than a viewing angle of the second camera module, at least a part of the viewing angle of the first camera module is included in the viewing angle of the second camera module such that there is an overlapping area between the first image and the second image so as to enable a composite image formed by combining the first image and the second image to be generated, and when the first camera module is focused, a focal length of the first liquid lens is varied according to the distance between the first liquid lens and a subject, and when the second camera module is focused, a focal length of the second liquid lens is varied according to the distance between the second liquid lens and the subject.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2020
    Assignee: LG INNOTEK CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Young Seop Moon, Ui Jun Kim, Han Young Kim, Hyung Kim, Sang Hun Lee
  • Patent number: 10764519
    Abstract: A system and method is provided for performing high dynamic range digital double sampling. More particularly, a CMOS image sensor is provided that includes a pixel array with each pixel sampling both dark and bright values for digital double sampling. After the sampled signals are digitized, a mean dark value is determined and each dark value is further fed to a lookup table that generates an output value taking into account whether the pixel has been saturated. In over exposed conditions, the lookup table will generate a negative value output to eliminate image artifacts. All three values are fed to adder logic circuit that subtracts the mean dark value and the lookup table output from the bright value. This resulting output is fed to a video viewer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2020
    Assignee: GVBB HOLDINGS S.A.R.L.
    Inventors: Jeroen Rotte, Rik Visser, Juul Josephus Johannes Van Den Heijkant
  • Patent number: 10764503
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus (2000) includes a determination unit (2020) and a notification unit (2040). The determination unit (2020) determines whether a field of view of a second camera is correct, on the basis of a first captured image (40), a second captured image (50), and relationship information (information indicating the relationship to be satisfied between a field of view of a first camera and the field of view of the second camera). In a case in which the field of view of the second camera is not correct, the notification unit (2040) notifies that the field of view of the second camera is not correct. The first camera is provided in a head-mounted display worn by a person. The second camera is provided in a part other than the head-mounted display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2020
    Assignee: NEC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ryoma Oami, Katsuhiko Takahashi, Yuusuke Konishi, Hiroshi Yamada, Hiroo Ikeda, Junko Nakagawa, Kosuke Yoshimi, Ryo Kawai, Takuya Ogawa
  • Patent number: 10757318
    Abstract: A method for determining a local contrast value for a digital image captured by an image sensor in a camera comprising: applying an edge detection algorithm to image data of the digital image, thereby obtaining a data set pertaining to edges in the digital image; calculating, based on said data set, an edge occurrence value for the digital image; estimating, based on image data of the digital image and a noise model of the image sensor, an estimated image sensor noise for the digital image; and computing the local contrast value as a relationship between the edge occurrence value of the digital image and the expected edge occurrence value for the digital image. A method for adjusting a focus setting of a camera using the local contrast value for images captured by the camera.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2020
    Assignee: Axis AB
    Inventors: Dennis Nilsson, Björn Benderius, Johan Jeppsson, Johan Nyström
  • Patent number: 10757317
    Abstract: A zoom lens has, in order from an object side, a focusing unit including a focusing lens group moving for focusing, a variable magnification unit including at least two variable magnification lens groups moving while changing a mutual interval for variable magnification, an aperture stop, and an image forming unit including an image forming lens group. The image forming unit consists of, in order from the object side, an M1 lens group, an M2N lens group, and an M3 lens group. The M2N lens group is replaceable with an M2E lens group that enlarges an image forming magnification. The M2E lens group satisfies predetermined conditional expressions (1) to (4).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2020
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventor: Takuya Tanaka
  • Patent number: 10742901
    Abstract: Audio/video (A/V) recording and communication devices with multiple cameras for superimposing image data in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure are provided. In one embodiment, an audio/video (A/V) recording and communication device comprising: a first camera configured to capture image data at a first resolution; a second camera configured to capture image data at a second resolution that is higher than the first resolution; a memory including a rolling buffer; a communication module; and a processing module comprising: a processor; and a camera application that configures the processor to: capture first image data using the first camera; store the first image data in the rolling buffer of the memory; maintain the second camera in a low-power state; power up the second camera in response to motion detection; capture second image data using the second camera; and superimpose the first image data onto the second image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: James Siminoff, Mark Siminoff
  • Patent number: 10734422
    Abstract: There is provided a semiconductor apparatus including a first semiconductor region of a first conductive type in which a potential to be detected appears, a second semiconductor region of a second conductive type forming a p-n junction with the first semiconductor region, an amplification transistor including a gate to which the first semiconductor region is connected, and a reset transistor configured to reset a potential of the first semiconductor region. In the semiconductor apparatus, one of a source and a drain of the reset transistor is connected to the first semiconductor region, and the other one of the source and the drain of the reset transistor is connected to the second semiconductor region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tomoya Sasago, Kazuaki Tashiro