Patents Examined by Padma Haliyur
  • Patent number: 11509835
    Abstract: An imaging system for producing images for display apparatus. Imaging system includes at least one imaging unit arranged to face real-world scene including camera, optical element including first optical portion and second optical portion having different focal lengths, first focal length of first optical portion is smaller than second focal length of second optical portion, and means for adjusting optical focus; and processor. Processor is configured to obtain gaze direction of user; determine region of interest within real-world scene; and control means for adjusting optical focus of imaging unit, based on focal lengths of first and second optical portions, to capture warped image of real-world scene, the warped image having spatially-uniform angular resolution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: Varjo Technologies Oy
    Inventor: Mikko Ollila
  • Patent number: 11496660
    Abstract: A dual sensor imaging system and a depth map calculation method thereof are provided. The dual sensor imaging system includes at least one color sensor, at least one infrared ray (IR) sensor, a storage device, and a processor. The processor is configured to load and execute a computer program stored in the storage device to: control the color sensor and the IR sensor to respectively capture multiple color images and multiple IR images by adopting multiple exposure conditions suitable for an imaging scene, adaptively select a combination of the color image and the IR image that are comparable to each other from the color images and the IR images; and calculate a depth map of the imaging scene by using the selected color image and IR image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: Altek Semiconductor Corp.
    Inventors: Shih-Yuan Peng, Shu-Chun Cheng, Hsu-Lien Huang, Yun-Chin Li, Kuo-Ming Lai
  • Patent number: 11487192
    Abstract: An optical redirection adapter for an electronic device having a camera includes a housing. An optical element is attached to the housing and positioned such that, when the adapter is attached the electronic device, the optical element is positioned in the camera's field of view. The optical element reflects light in the camera's field of view from a redirection angle that is offset from the camera's field of view. The optical redirection adapter facilitates ergonomically sound use of the camera.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Assignee: HAND HELD PRODUCTS, INC.
    Inventor: Donald Anderson
  • Patent number: 11487079
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a lens actuating apparatus, a periscope lens module including the lens actuating apparatus, and a photographing device including the periscope lens module. Light enters a lens group after being reflected, where a direction of an optical axis of the lens group is different from a thickness direction of the photographing device to eliminate a limitation of a length of the direction of the optical axis of the lens group on a thickness of the photographing device, and implement thinness of the photographing device. A translation motor and an axis-moving motor are disposed on a holder of the lens actuating apparatus to implement focusing and anti-shake of the periscope lens module including an optical component and the lens actuating apparatus. The translation motor and the axis-moving motor are independent of each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Li-Te Kuo, Yushun Wu, Kuni Lee
  • Patent number: 11490042
    Abstract: An image sensor and pixel circuit therefor includes a photoelectric conversion device; an amplifier including a first input terminal connected to the photoelectric conversion device, and an output terminal; a capacitor disposed between the first input terminal and the output terminal; and a reset switch network disposed between the first input terminal and the output terminal in parallel with the capacitor, the reset switch network including at least a first reset transistor, a second reset transistor, and a third reset transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Assignee: Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation
    Inventors: Eric Bohannon, Hirotaka Murakami, Christopher Urban
  • Patent number: 11483459
    Abstract: Disclosed is a camera module including an imaging lens supported in such a manner as to be displaceable in a first direction, an image sensor supported in such a manner as to be displaceable in a second direction different from the first direction, a first actuator that carries out positioning of the imaging lens in the first direction, and a second actuator that carries out positioning of the image sensor in the second direction. Autofocus operation is carried out by one of the first actuator, and the second actuator and optical image stabilization operation is carried out by the other of the first actuator and the second actuator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2022
    Assignee: ROHM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Akihito Saito, Yoshihiro Sekimoto
  • Patent number: 11483460
    Abstract: A camera system may include one or more voice coil motor (VCM) actuators to implement focus, tilt and shift functions. The VCM actuators may include coils segmented into multiple coil segments having individually impedances lower than the impedance of the respective coil as a whole. The coil segments may be individually driven by respective currents at different points in time to interact with magnet(s) to produce motive forces along the same axis. Based on the winding configuration and driving mode of the coil segments, the motive forces may move a lens group relative to an image sensor in a direction substantially orthogonal to an image plane, tilt the lens group relative to the image sensor, or shift the image sensor relative to the lens group on the image plane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Shahrooz Shahparnia, Anish Bhide
  • Patent number: 11483482
    Abstract: An electronic device comprising a display control unit configured to perform control to display a plurality of display items on a display, each display item corresponding to one of a plurality of setting items including a specified setting item; and a control unit configured to perform control to in case where the predetermined operation for the specified setting item is received and a line-of-sight input to a corresponding region for a display item corresponding to the specified setting item is received, display the display item corresponding to the specified setting item in a first display appearance, and in case where the predetermined operation for the specified setting item is received and a line-of-sight input to the corresponding region is not received, display the display item corresponding to the specified setting item in a second display appearance different from the first display appearance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2022
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Takashi Sugie
  • Patent number: 11476294
    Abstract: A solid-state imaging device including: a first substrate having a pixel unit, and a first semiconductor substrate and a first wiring layer; a second substrate with a circuit, and a second semiconductor substrate and a second wiring layer; and a third substrate with a circuit, and a third semiconductor substrate and a third wiring layer. The first and second substrates are bonded together such that the first wiring layer and the second semiconductor substrate are opposed to each other. The device includes a first coupling structure for electrically coupling a circuit of the first substrate and the circuit of the second substrate. The first coupling structure includes a via in which electrically-conductive materials are embedded in a first through hole that exposes a wiring line in the first wiring layer and in a second through hole that exposes a wiring line in the second wiring layer or a film-formed structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: SONY SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hideto Hashiguchi, Reijiroh Shohji, Hiroshi Horikoshi, Ikue Mitsuhashi, Tadashi Iijima, Takatoshi Kameshima, Minoru Ishida, Masaki Haneda
  • Patent number: 11470286
    Abstract: A high sensitivity image sensor with panchromatic and color pixels arranged to enable high sensitivity, efficient binning and minimize aliasing is disclosed. Efficient binning is enabled by composing the color filter array of tiles containing pixels of at most two types, one panchromatic and the other colored, so that like color pixels to be binned are adjacent to each other. Aliasing is minimized by the twin methods of evenly spacing out tiles containing pixels of like color over the image sensor, and optimizing the arrangement of panchromatic and color pixels within each tile if the tile contains both panchromatic and colored pixels. An image sensor with these color filter arrays can be used to realize cameras with high sensitivity and a plurality of resolutions, with the lower resolutions consuming less power, while minimizing alias artifacts in each supported resolution. A variant of this image sensor with both infrared and color pixels is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2022
    Inventors: Mritunjay Singh, Tripurari Singh
  • Patent number: 11467369
    Abstract: A lens assembly module includes a base, a cover, a lens unit, an elastic element, at least two conductive elements, at least one AF coil element and at least two first magnetic elements. The cover is coupled to the base. The lens unit is movably disposed in the cover. The elastic element is coupled to the lens unit. The conductive elements are coupled to the lens unit. The AF coil element is disposed on the lens unit, and two ends of the AF coil element are electrically connected to the conductive elements, respectively. The first magnetic elements are disposed in the cover. A part of each of the extending structures is overlapped along a direction parallel to an optical axis and electrically connected to each conductive element. The AF coil element and the conductive elements are electrically connected by a welding method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2022
    Assignee: LARGAN DIGITAL CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Te-Sheng Tseng, Wen-Hung Hsu, Ming-Ta Chou, Hao-Jan Chen
  • Patent number: 11463621
    Abstract: A control apparatus is configured to control a driver configured to drive a driven member, which driver is provided in an optical apparatus that is attachable to and detachable from an image pickup apparatus. The control apparatus includes an information acquirer configured to acquire information on a suppliable power from the image pickup apparatus to the optical apparatus, and a changer configured to change a control method of the driver according to the information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Suguru Tsukamoto
  • Patent number: 11463646
    Abstract: An imaging element includes: a processing circuit that performs analog/digital conversion on captured image data; a memory that is capable of storing the captured image data obtained as a result of performing the analog/digital conversion by the processing circuit; and an output circuit that outputs output image data based on the captured image data to an exterior of the imaging element, wherein the output circuit includes a first output line and a second output line, the first output line is connected to a first signal processing circuit disposed at the exterior, the second output line is connected to a second signal processing circuit disposed at the exterior, and at least one of an output frame rate or an output data amount of the output image data is different between the first output line and the second output line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: FUJIFILM CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ryo Hasegawa, Tomoyuki Kawai, Hitoshi Sakurabu
  • Patent number: 11460661
    Abstract: An embodiment includes a housing including a guide protrusion projecting from an upper surface thereof and a guide groove formed adjacent to the guide protrusion, a first magnet disposed at the housing, a bobbin on which a lens is mounted, a first coil disposed on an outer circumferential surface of the bobbin to move the bobbin by interaction with the first magnet, an upper elastic member coupled to the bobbin and the housing and having an end disposed in the guide groove, a damping member disposed between a side surface of the guide protrusion and a first end of the upper elastic member disposed in the guide groove, and a second coil for moving the housing by interaction with the first magnet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: LG INNOTEK CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Jung Cheol Kim, Jin Suk Han
  • Patent number: 11455738
    Abstract: Electronic devices and methods for processing images are provided. The method includes obtaining a first image and a second image through a first image sensor, extracting depth information from at least one third image obtained through a second image sensor, applying the extracted depth information to the obtained first image and displaying the first image, and applying the extracted depth information to the obtained second image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2022
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Young-Kwon Yoon, Moon-Soo Kim, Tae-Ho Kim
  • Patent number: 11457136
    Abstract: Provided is an imaging element in which a first frame rate is a frame rate higher than a second frame rate, and a first processor is configured to read out image data of a plurality of frames in parallel within an output period of image data of one frame defined by the second frame rate, acquire a focus driving speed and a rolling shift amount, decide a combining condition for the image data of the plurality of frames stored in a memory based on the acquired focus driving speed and the rolling shift amount, perform combining processing on the image data of the plurality of frames in accordance with the decided combining condition, and output the image data after combining obtained by the combining processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2022
    Assignee: FUJIFILM CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hitoshi Sakurabu, Ryo Hasegawa, Tomoyuki Kawai, Makoto Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 11448894
    Abstract: A lens interchangeable digital camera includes an image sensor in which a subject image is formed on an imaging surface through an imaging optical system including a zoom lens and a sensor movement type shake correction mechanism that performs a sensor movement operation of moving the image sensor in a direction to cancel a shake. A zoom operation determination unit determines whether or not a zoom operation in which the zoom lens moves is being performed. In a case where the zoom operation determination unit determines that the zoom operation is being performed, an operation deciding unit prohibits a shift operation which is at least a part of a sensor movement operation which is allowed while the zoom operation is stopped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Akihiro Uchida, Koichi Tanaka, Kenkichi Hayashi, Hideo Kobayashi, Seiichi Izawa
  • Patent number: 11451752
    Abstract: A grid gain calculation circuit includes a region setting component suitable for setting a grid region corresponding to a pixel array; a virtual grid point setting component suitable for setting virtual grid points with respect to outer grid points located on a border of a grid region and with respect to an inner grid point located in an inner area of the grid region close to the outer grid points; and a gain calculation component suitable for calculating a gain of the outer grid points based on a gain of the inner grid point and a gain of the virtual grid points.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventor: Jae Yoon Yoo
  • Patent number: 11445115
    Abstract: An image stabilization apparatus comprising a calculation unit that calculates a driving amount for moving an image sensor so as to compensate for shake, an image stabilization control unit that controls image stabilization by moving the image sensor based on the calculated driving amount, a determination unit that determines whether a current state is a first state according to an image shooting state, and a control unit that controls a shift amount of a center position of image stabilization control so as to be smaller in a case where a center position of the image circle of a lens apparatus is moved from a first position to a second position and the first state is determined than in a case where the center position is moved from the first position to the second position and the first state is not determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yusuke Jota, Takeshi Omata, Kenya Fukabori
  • Patent number: 11431882
    Abstract: The disclosure provides a camera module and an assembling method therefor. The camera module includes a lens, a holder, an image sensor assembly, and one or more self-locking screws for fixing the lens, the holder and the image sensor assembly. The holder is provided with a lens mounting hole for assembling the lens and one or more screw holes for assembling the one or more self-locking screws. The holder includes a supporting platform, a location guiding sleeve and internal threads. The lens (100) includes external threads engaged with the internal threads, a location guiding step cooperated with the location guiding sleeve, and a limiting ring cooperated with the supporting platform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: JIANGXI LIANYI OPTICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Binquan Deng, Xinyu Xiong