Patents by Inventor Masatake Kato

Masatake Kato 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).

  • Patent number: 7193651
    Abstract: A camera system has a camera with a photosensitive member that records optical images; and a lens apparatus removably mounted on the camera and forming an optical image with an image taking optical system including a focus lens. Focus control of the focus lens is changed in accordance the photosensitive member. A control circuit controls a lens driving unit and sets a driving pattern in accordance with information stored in a photosensitive member information storage circuit, and controls the lens driving unit based on focus adjustment state detected by a focus detection unit. An in-focus state can be achieved with focus accuracy suited for a photosensitive member in a combination of different cameras provided with different photosensitive members and interchangeable lenses common to these cameras.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2007
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Masatake Kato
  • Publication number: 20020171750
    Abstract: A camera system comprising the following is disclosed:
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 19, 2002
    Publication date: November 21, 2002
    Inventor: Masatake Kato
  • Patent number: 6467912
    Abstract: A projection optical system for projecting onto a screen an image formed on a display device having a plurality of pixel sets each of which is composed of at least three pixels arranged in correspondence to at least three color light beams of respective different wavelengths. The projection optical system includes a projection lens formed so that lateral chromatic aberration for a color light beam having a wavelength longer than that of a predetermined color light beam has the same sign as that of lateral chromatic aberration for a color light beam having a wavelength shorter than that of the predetermined color light beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2002
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Masatake Kato
  • Patent number: 6148031
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus and method for inputting image data and coding the image data using inter-frame correlation in which image data of a desired frame out of the image data input is intra-frame coded. The image processing apparatus includes an imaging block, a coding block for coding the image data imaged by the imaging block using inter-frame correlation, a command block for activating still image taking, and a control block for controlling the coding block so that the still image data obtained by the command block is intra-frame coded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2000
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Masatake Kato
  • Patent number: 6104548
    Abstract: A zoom lens has, in succession from the object side, a first lens unit having positive refractive power, a second lens unit having negative refractive power, and a third lens unit having positive refractive power. The second and third lens units are moved to thereby effect zooming. When variations in the magnifications of the second and third lens units from the wide angle end to the telephoto end are Z.sub.2 and Z.sub.3, respectively, the zoom lens satisfies the condition that Z.sub.3 /Z.sub.2 >1.4. The zoom lens is compact and yet covers a wide angle range of an angle of view of 60.degree.-80.degree..
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 1995
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2000
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hiroki Nakayama, Masatake Kato
  • Patent number: 5790902
    Abstract: A device includes a zoom lens having a focusing lens the position of which varies according to a zooming operation, a first moving part arranged to mechanically move the focusing lens according to the zooming operation, and a second moving part arranged to move the focusing lens in such a way as to electrically correct any shift of focus that results from the movement of the focusing lens caused by the first moving part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 4, 1998
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Satoru Mizouchi, Masatake Kato, Masaharu Eguchi, Hideki Ogawa
  • Patent number: 5682203
    Abstract: A solid-state image sensing device including a plurality of photo cells provided on a substrate and a plurality of micro condenser members each provided on a corresponding photo cell. The interval at which the micro condenser members are arranged at a central portion of the substrate differs from the interval at which the micro condenser members are arranged at a peripheral portion. Further, a center of the micro condenser member and a center of the photo cell may coincide with each other at the central portion of the substrate and may shift from each other at the peripheral portion thereof. Also, a power of the micro condenser members arranged at the central portion of the substrate may differ from a power of the micro condenser members arranged at the peripheral portion thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 1993
    Date of Patent: October 28, 1997
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Masatake Kato
  • Patent number: 5173805
    Abstract: In the disclosed zoom lens three or more zoom components are located on the image side of a stationary component which is stationary during both focusing and zooming. The three or more zoom components are moved during zooming and are provided into a front portion which is moved for focusing, and a rear portion which remains stationary during focusing. The front focusing portion includes at least two components which move together when focusing, but when zooming move relative to each other so as to change the focal length or power of the front portion. This has the advantageous effect of reducing the difference between the amount the front portion needs to move for focusing at the wide angle position and at telephoto position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 1990
    Date of Patent: December 22, 1992
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazuo Tanaka, Keiji Ikemori, Masatake Kato
  • Patent number: 4998801
    Abstract: An optical low-pass filter formed in a trapezoid wave profile having the top and bottom sides of lengths "a" and "b" respectively, a height ".delta." thereof and a length of one period thereof and made from a material having a refractive index "n", and satisfying the following conditions: for a wavelength of .lambda..sub.M .gtoreq.1.6 .lambda.m, ##EQU1## wherein .lambda..sub.M and .lambda.m are respectively maximum and minimum wavelengths in a wavelength range in which the filter works, and MIN(x,y) represents the smaller one of values which variables x and y take.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 1989
    Date of Patent: March 12, 1991
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Akihiko Shiraishi, Kazuo Fujibayashi, Masatake Kato
  • Patent number: 4973995
    Abstract: An attachment lens and a camera system, comprising an attachment lens adapted to be attached to the subject side of a camera which is equipped with separate optical openings for the photography system, the finder system, the photometry system, and the colorimetry system. The attachment lens includes an optical element which is on the camera side and which is equipped with a plurality of integrally formed sections facing the optical openings of the camera and having different refractive power configurations, thereby allowing the optical systems to be arranged close to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 1989
    Date of Patent: November 27, 1990
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masatake Kato, Shohei Takeda
  • Patent number: 4969723
    Abstract: In an external-measured real image type finder optical system having a prism for a non-reverse erecting image interposed in between an objective lens system and an eyepiece lens system, parallax correction is accomplished by adjusting the position of at least a part of the objective lens system within a plane perpendicular to the optical axis of the finder optical system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 1988
    Date of Patent: November 13, 1990
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masatake Kato, Makoto Sekita, Kenichi Kawamoto
  • Patent number: 4964686
    Abstract: A secondary image forming type finder opitcal device having an objective lens solely used therefor, comprising, from front to rear, an objective lens unit including at least one positive lens, a relay lens unit formed by arranging a lens of positive refractive power and a lens of negative refractive power in spaced relation, a field lens unit consisting of a positive lens whose front surface is of strong curvature, and an eyepiece lens unit consisting of two positive lenses whose confronting surfaces are of strong curvature, satisfying the following conditions: ##EQU1## where f.sub.P is the focal length of the lens of positive refractive power of the relay lens unit, .nu..sub.P is the Abbe number of its material, R.sub.P is the radius of curvature of a lens surface of the lens of positive refractive power of the relay lens unit which is of strong curvature and faces the lens of negative refractive power of the relays lens unit, f.sub.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 1988
    Date of Patent: October 23, 1990
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaishi
    Inventor: Masatake Kato
  • Patent number: 4912500
    Abstract: For a single lens reflex camera in which an image bearing beam from the photographic objective is reflected by a movable mirror to the finder system, techniques are disclosed that the mirror is made half-reflective, and the transmitted light of the mirror is conducted by a supplementary optical member consisting of, at least, a prism fixedly secured (not movable relative) to the mirror toward an image sensor such as that of a focus detector positioned outside the optical axes of the objective and finder, that the movable mirror is made to take a quite different direction of movement from that to which the reflected beam from the mirror goes, and that as an image pickup device such as CCD is arranged on the optical axis of the objective and behind the movable mirror, the optical characteristics of optical members such as a filter positioned in front of the image pickup device are made equivalent to those of the supplementary optical member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 1989
    Date of Patent: March 27, 1990
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hideo Yokota, Masatake Kato, Akihiko Shiraishi, Makoto Sekita
  • Patent number: 4910545
    Abstract: A single reflex type electronic camera includes an imaging lens unit and five reflecting units beyond an image formed by an objective, and a finder optical system wherein an image can be observed with a high finder magnification and at a position easy to observe similar to that found in a single reflex camera using silver salt films.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 1988
    Date of Patent: March 20, 1990
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazuo Fujibayashi, Makoto Sekita, Masaharu Suzuki, Masatake Kato
  • Patent number: 4855814
    Abstract: An image pickup system includes a camera body having an image conversion device and a signal processor and a detachable lens including a memory and circuitry for transmitting the memory contents to the camera body signal processor. In one embodiment, the system provides for storage in the lens memory of the spectral characteristics of both the lens and the image conversion device. In a second embodiment, the system provides for storage of spectral characteristic data concerning a plurality of different lenses in memory in the camera body, with the lenses adapted for self-identification. In a third embodiment, camera body memory stores a single lens spectral characteristic for use in common with any one of plural lenses and representative of all such lenses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 1988
    Date of Patent: August 8, 1989
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Akihiko Shiraishi, Masatake Kato, Kenichi Kawamoto
  • Patent number: 4854681
    Abstract: A compact zoom lens comprising, from front to rear, a first lens unit of positive power for focusing, a second lens unit of negative power axially movable in one direction when zooming from one end of a range of image magnification to the other, a third lens unit of positive power axially movable in a path convex toward the rear to maintain the constant position of an image surface which shifts with zooming, and a fourth lens unit of positive power for forming an image which remains stationary during zooming, wherein a fixed diaphragm is arranged in a space between the second and third lens units.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 1986
    Date of Patent: August 8, 1989
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masatake Kato, Sadahiko Tsuji, Muneharu Sugiura, Kazuo Tanaka
  • Patent number: 4833498
    Abstract: This invention is based on the discovery of the fact that a proportional relationship exits between a reciprocal of an exit pupil of a photographic lens and an error in light measurement value and provides a camera which is characterized by the provision of means for measuring light of a beam passing through a photographic lens into the camera and deciding an exposure value, means for generating an information corresponding to the reciprocal of the exit pupil of the photographic lens and means for applying correction to said exposure value on the basis of the information generated by said information generating means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 1988
    Date of Patent: May 23, 1989
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masatake Kato, Akihiko Shiraishi, Kenichi Kawamoto
  • Patent number: 4789227
    Abstract: A zoom lens which performs focusing by using part of a movable lens unit. In zooming, a lens unit V for changing the focal length of the entire system and another lens unit C for maintaining the constant position of an image plane move in certain relation to each other. For all objects in the focusing range, a part of either the aforesaid lens unit V or the aforesaid lens unit C is made to move to effect focusing at any station in the entire zooming range, thereby the zoom lens can be constructed in compact form.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 1987
    Date of Patent: December 6, 1988
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tsunefumi Tanaka, Keiji Ikemori, Masatake Kato, Kazuo Tanaka
  • Patent number: 4763998
    Abstract: A zoom lens comprising a first lens unit of positive refractive power for focusing, a second unit of negative refractive power movable for zooming in a mono-direction throughout, a third unit of positive refractive power movable for zooming in the opposite mono-direction to that of movement of the second unit, and a fourth unit of positive refractive power having an image forming function which is held stationary during zooming, with a diaphragm being arranged in between the second and third units to be stationary.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 1986
    Date of Patent: August 16, 1988
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Sadahiko Tsuji, Muneharu Sugiura, Kazuo Tanaka, Masatake Kato
  • Patent number: 4712883
    Abstract: The disclosed zoom lens includes, from front to rear, a magnification-power variable lens assembly which serves for zooming and an image forming lens assembly which is stationary during zooming. The image forming assembly has a lens component B of negative refractive power which is preceded by at least one lens component A movable for focusing and which is followed by at least one lens component C movable for focusing. This structure makes achievement of a compact form and good stability in aberration correction possible throughout the entire focusing range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 1984
    Date of Patent: December 15, 1987
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masatake Kato, Sadahiko Tsuji, Toshiaki Asano