Patents by Inventor Akihiko Kanda

Akihiko Kanda has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20240126472
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a logic circuit, a memory, and a storage device. The storage device has a first special information storage region into which special information is written before a solder reflow process, a second special information storage region into which special information for updating is written after the solder reflow process, and a data storage region. The first special information storage region is constituted by a memory cell having a high reflow resistance and in which data is retained even after the solder reflow process. The second special information storage region and the data storage region are constituted by memory cells having a low reflow resistance and in which data may not be retained during the solder reflow process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2023
    Publication date: April 18, 2024
    Inventors: Ken MATSUBARA, Takashi ITO, Takashi KURAFUJI, Yasuhiko TAITO, Tomoya SAITO, Akihiko KANDA
  • Publication number: 20240127476
    Abstract: An object determining apparatus includes a memory storing instructions, and a processor configured to execute the instructions to detect an object from image data obtained by imaging, acquire information about orientation of the object from the image data, determine a main object in the image data using a detection result of the object and the information about the orientation, and change a condition for determining the main object according to one of the detection result of the object and the information about the orientation, using the other of the detection result of the object and the information about the orientation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2023
    Publication date: April 18, 2024
    Inventors: Akihiko KANDA, Hideki Ogura, Hiroshi Yashima, Yohei Matsui, Kuniaki Sugitani
  • Publication number: 20240098366
    Abstract: An apparatus configured to perform focus tracking on an object within a detection area to detect a defocus amount within an imaging angle of view includes a memory storing instructions, and a processor configured to execute the instructions to perform focus tracking determination to determine whether or not the focus tracking is to be performed using information about the defocus amount, and acquire information about a shield against the object from image data generated by imaging. The processor is configured to perform the focus tracking determination using information about the shield acquired in the detection area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2023
    Publication date: March 21, 2024
    Inventors: YOHEI MATSUI, HIDEKI OGURA, HIROSHI YASHIMA, KUNIAKI SUGITANI, AKIHIKO KANDA
  • Publication number: 20230402080
    Abstract: A clamp element 46 applies a fixed potential to a bit line BL at a time of a readout operation. A reference current source RCS generates a reference current Iref. An offset current source OCS1 is activated at a time of a readout operation for an OTP cell OTPC, and at a time of being activated, generates an offset current Iof1 to be subtracted from a cell current Icel. At the time of the readout operation for the OTP cell OTPC, the sense amplifier SA detects a magnitude relationship between the reference current Iref and a readout current Ird obtained by subtracting the offset current Iof1 from the cell current Icel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 15, 2023
    Publication date: December 14, 2023
    Inventors: Koichi TAKEDA, Akihiko KANDA, Takahiro SHIMOI
  • Patent number: 11800245
    Abstract: An image pickup apparatus capable of keeping a focus on a subject even when a moving direction of the subject changes in time series is provided. The image pickup apparatus comprising at least one processor and/or circuit configured to function as following units, an image pickup unit configured to pick up a subject image formed by an image pickup optical system and generate image data, a subject detecting unit configured to detect a subject included in the image data generated by the image pickup unit and obtain a subject detection result, a focus detection unit configured to obtain a focus detection result of a focus detection area, which is set based on the subject detection result, and a control unit configured to perform a predictive calculation, which predicts a position of the subject detected by the subject detecting unit at a time after a predetermined period of time has elapsed from a focus detection time, and perform focus control of the image pickup optical system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akihiko Kanda, Hideyuki Hamano
  • Publication number: 20230247290
    Abstract: An image capture apparatus detects a subject area from an image that has been shot and enlarges a focus detection area in a case where the subject area is not detected or a reliability that the detected subject area corresponds to an intended subject is determined to be low. The image capture apparatus enlarges the focus detection area based on the distances previously obtained by the obtainment unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 26, 2023
    Publication date: August 3, 2023
    Inventors: Hideki Ogura, Akihiko Kanda, Hiroshi Yashima, Hideyuki Hamano
  • Publication number: 20230209188
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus detects, from an image, a subject(s) of a first type and a subject(s) of a second type. The apparatus further detects a posture for each of the subject(s) of the first type. The apparatus then obtains, for each of the subject(s) of the first type, reliability that the subject is a main subject, based on the posture, and obtains a focus condition for each of the subject(s) of the first type and each of the subject(s) of the second type. The apparatus determines, based on the reliability and the focus condition, a main subject from the subject(s) of the first type and the subject(s) of the second type detected from the image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2022
    Publication date: June 29, 2023
    Inventors: Akihiko KANDA, Hiroshi Yashima, Hideki Ogura, Hideyuki Hamano
  • Patent number: 11662809
    Abstract: An image pickup apparatus includes an image sensor configured to capture a subject image, a display unit configured to display image data generated with an output of the image sensor, a line-of-sight detector configured to detect a line of sight of a user viewing the display unit, a subject detector configured to detect a state of a subject from the image data, and a controller configured to control imaging according to the state of the subject at a gaze position corresponding to the line of sight in an imaging area of the image sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akihiko Kanda, Yoshihito Tamaki
  • Publication number: 20230025357
    Abstract: A semiconductor device capable of changing a data programming process in a simple manner according to a situation is provided. The semiconductor device includes a plurality of memory cells, a programming circuit for supplying a programming current to the memory cell, and a power supply circuit for supplying power to the programming circuit. The power supply circuit includes a charge pump circuit for boosting the external power supply, a voltage of the external power supply according to the selection indication, and a selectable circuit capable of switching the boosted voltage boosted by the charge pump circuit. The control circuit further includes a control circuit for executing data programming processing by the programming circuit by switching the selection indication.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 23, 2022
    Publication date: January 26, 2023
    Inventors: Genta WATANABE, Ken MATSUBARA, Tomoya SAITO, Akihiko KANDA, Koichi TAKEDA, Takahiro SHIMOI
  • Patent number: 11539874
    Abstract: The image-capturing apparatus (100) includes an image sensor (14), a focus detector (42) performing focus detection using output from the image sensor; and a controller (50) configured to cause the focus detector to perform the focus detection and configured to control emission of a light emitter for illuminating an object and movement of a focus element for focusing. The controller selectively performs: a first focus detection process that causes the focus detector to perform the focus detection with the focus element being stopped while causing the light emitter to intermittently emit light; and a second focus detection process that causes the focus detector to perform the focus detection with the focus element being moved while causing the light emitter to intermittently emit the light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hideyuki Hamano, Akihiko Kanda
  • Publication number: 20220382483
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a logic circuit, a memory, and a storage device. The storage device has a first special information storage region into which special information is written before a solder reflow process, a second special information storage region into which special information for updating is written after the solder reflow process, and a data storage region. The first special information storage region is constituted by a memory cell having a high reflow resistance and in which data is retained even after the solder reflow process. The second special information storage region and the data storage region are constituted by memory cells having a low reflow resistance and in which data may not be retained during the solder reflow process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 17, 2022
    Publication date: December 1, 2022
    Inventors: Ken MATSUBARA, Takashi ITO, Takashi KURAFUJI, Yasuhiko TAITO, Tomoya SAITO, Akihiko KANDA
  • Publication number: 20220272271
    Abstract: An image pickup apparatus capable of keeping a focus on a subject even when a moving direction of the subject changes in time series is provided. The image pickup apparatus comprising at least one processor and/or circuit configured to function as following units, an image pickup unit configured to pick up a subject image formed by an image pickup optical system and generate image data, a subject detecting unit configured to detect a subject included in the image data generated by the image pickup unit and obtain a subject detection result, a focus detection unit configured to obtain a focus detection result of a focus detection area, which is set based on the subject detection result, and a control unit configured to perform a predictive calculation, which predicts a position of the subject detected by the subject detecting unit at a time after a predetermined period of time has elapsed from a focus detection time, and perform focus control of the image pickup optical system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 23, 2022
    Publication date: August 25, 2022
    Inventors: Akihiko Kanda, Hideyuki Hamano
  • Publication number: 20220264024
    Abstract: An image pickup apparatus capable of setting a focus detection area to an area that a user wants to set for a detectable subject is provided. The image pickup apparatus comprising a first detecting unit configured to detect an area, which corresponds to at least a part of a subject area within an image and shows subject characteristics, as a first local area, a second detecting unit configured to detect an area, which corresponds to at least a part of the subject area and shows photographing scene characteristics, as a second local area, and a local area selecting unit configured to select one of the first local area and the second local area as an area to be focused according to information about a photographing scene of a subject in a case that both the first local area and the second local area are detected by the first detecting unit and the second detecting unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2022
    Publication date: August 18, 2022
    Inventors: Akihiko Kanda, Hideyuki Hamano
  • Patent number: 11290648
    Abstract: An image capture apparatus comprises an image sensor, from which a first viewpoint image and a second viewpoint image that share the same charge accumulation period can be read out. The apparatus further comprises a correction circuit that applies correction processing to the images read out from the image sensor. The apparatus controls the image sensor and the correction circuit so that correction processing performed on the first viewpoint image by the correction circuit during continuous shooting is performed in parallel with the readout of the first viewpoint image and the second viewpoint image from the image sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akihiko Kanda, Hideyuki Hamano
  • Publication number: 20210297587
    Abstract: An image pickup apparatus includes an image sensor configured to capture a subject image, a display unit configured to display image data generated with an output of the image sensor, a line-of-sight detector configured to detect a line of sight of a user viewing the display unit, a subject detector configured to detect a state of a subject from the image data, and a controller configured to control imaging according to the state of the subject at a gaze position corresponding to the line of sight in an imaging area of the image sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 16, 2021
    Publication date: September 23, 2021
    Inventors: Akihiko Kanda, Yoshihito Tamaki
  • Patent number: 11032465
    Abstract: An imaging element of an imaging apparatus has a configuration in which a plurality of pixels provided with a plurality of photoelectric conversion units for receiving light fluxes transmitting each of different pupil partial regions of an image forming optical system are arrayed. A CPU performs control to acquire a plurality of viewpoint images corresponding to different pupil partial regions from the imaging element and to generate output images using an image processing unit. The CPU and the image processing unit sets a detection range of an image shift amount using a photographing condition of an input image and a conversion coefficient for a conversion an image shift amount to a defocus amount, generates an image shift amount distribution of the detection range on the basis of a plurality of viewpoint images, and generates an image shift difference amount distribution. Image processing in accordance with the image shift amount distribution is performed to generate refocused images as output images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akihiko Kanda, Koichi Fukuda
  • Patent number: 11025884
    Abstract: An image capturing apparatus has an image sensor and a mechanical shutter; a generation unit configured to generate a parallax image from signals acquired from the plurality of photoelectric converters, wherein by the image sensor and the mechanical shutter, a first shutter operation by a first front curtain and a first rear curtain, and a second shutter operation by a second front curtain and a second rear curtain are realized, and the generating unit generates more parallax images than the number of the plurality of photoelectric conversion units by using a first signal group acquired by the first shutter operation and a second signal group acquired by the second shutter operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshihito Tamaki, Hideyuki Hamano, Akihiko Kanda
  • Publication number: 20210127067
    Abstract: The image-capturing apparatus (100) includes an image sensor (14), a focus detector (42) performing focus detection using output from the image sensor; and a controller (50) configured to cause the focus detector to perform the focus detection and configured to control emission of a light emitter for illuminating an object and movement of a focus element for focusing. The controller selectively performs: a first focus detection process that causes the focus detector to perform the focus detection with the focus element being stopped while causing the light emitter to intermittently emit light; and a second focus detection process that causes the focus detector to perform the focus detection with the focus element being moved while causing the light emitter to intermittently emit the light.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 2, 2021
    Publication date: April 29, 2021
    Inventors: Hideyuki Hamano, Akihiko Kanda
  • Patent number: 10964739
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus includes an image acquisition unit that acquires a plurality of viewpoint images, an operation information acquisition unit that acquires imaging conditions when the viewpoint image is captured, and a compression unit that compresses the viewpoint image to be recorded on a flash memory (133), and the compression unit compresses the viewpoint image according to imaging conditions such as ISO sensitivity and an aperture value or a value of contrast information corresponding to a contrast distribution. The compression unit changes a compression rate for compressing the viewpoint image according to the imaging conditions or the value of the contrast information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akihiko Kanda, Yoshihito Tamaki, Hideyuki Hamano
  • Patent number: 10924655
    Abstract: The image-capturing apparatus (100) includes an image sensor (14), a focus detector (42) performing focus detection using output from the image sensor; and a controller (50) configured to cause the focus detector to perform the focus detection and configured to control emission of a light emitter for illuminating an object and movement of a focus element for focusing. The controller selectively performs: a first focus detection process that causes the focus detector to perform the focus detection with the focus element being stopped while causing the light emitter to intermittently emit light; and a second focus detection process that causes the focus detector to perform the focus detection with the focus element being moved while causing the light emitter to intermittently emit the light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hideyuki Hamano, Akihiko Kanda