Patents by Inventor Tomonori Masuda

Tomonori Masuda 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: 20210084225
    Abstract: A distance measurement device includes an imaging optical system, an imaging unit, an emission unit, a derivation unit which performs a distance measurement to derive a distance to a subject based on a timing at which directional light is emitted by the emission unit and a timing at which reflected light is received by a light receiving unit, a shake correction unit which performs shake correction as correction of shake of the subject image caused by variation of an optical axis of the imaging optical system, and a control unit which performs control such that the shake correction unit does not perform shake correction or performs shake correction with a correction amount smaller than a normal correction amount determined in advance in a case of performing the distance measurement and performs shake correction with the normal correction amount in a case of not performing the distance measurement.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 25, 2020
    Publication date: March 18, 2021
    Inventors: Tomonori MASUDA, Hiroshi TAMAYAMA
  • Patent number: 10944925
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus includes: an imager that has a plurality of pixels as defined herein, that includes a plurality of pixel rows including the plurality of pixels arranged in one direction, and that discharges charges of the photoelectric conversion element and the charge holder to a charge discharge region of the readout circuit as defined herein; and an imaging controller that performs a global reset drive, a global shutter drive, a first rolling readout drive, a rolling shutter drive and a second rolling readout drive as defined herein, and the imaging controller performs a first imaging control as defined herein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2021
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Hidekazu Kurahashi, Fuminori Irie, Yoshinori Furuta, Hitoshi Sakurabu, Tomonori Masuda
  • Patent number: 10908288
    Abstract: Disclosed are a distance image acquisition apparatus and a distance image acquisition method capable of achieving high distance measurement accuracy and omitting wasteful imaging or calculation. The distance image acquisition apparatus (10) includes a distance image sensor (14), a drive mode setting unit (20A), a distance image generation unit (20B), a pulse light emission unit (22), and an exposure control unit (24). The exposure control unit (24) controls emission and non-emission of pulse light emitted from the pulse light emission unit (22) according to a drive mode set by the drive mode setting unit (20A), and controls exposure in the distance image sensor (14). The distance image generation unit (20B) performs calculation processing of a sensor output acquired from the distance image sensor (14) according to the drive mode set by the drive mode setting unit (20A) to generate a distance image corresponding to a distance of a subject.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Tomonori Masuda, Tomoyuki Kawai
  • Patent number: 10911676
    Abstract: The memory card includes: a gyro sensor that detects each of angular velocities in respective directions of axial rotation about three orthogonal axes; a first recording unit that records the moving image captured by the electronic device; a second recording unit that records each of first, second, and third sensor outputs indicating the angular velocities in the directions of axial rotation about the three orthogonal axes, which are detected by the gyro sensor, in association with the moving image to be recorded in the first recording unit; a determination unit that determines a direction of insertion of the memory card, which is mounted on the electronic device, into the electronic device; and a third recording unit that records information indicating the direction of insertion determined by the determination unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Junya Kitagawa, Tomonori Masuda
  • Publication number: 20210006701
    Abstract: An imaging control device includes: a brightness measurer that acquires a first captured image signal obtained from an imager imaging a subject through a focus lens, and obtains brightness of each of divided areas of a focusing target area set in the first captured image signal; an imaging condition controller that controls an imaging condition of the imager to a state where brightness of a lowest divided area which is one of the divided areas having lowest brightness is set to the set value; a transmittance controller that decreases brightness of other divided areas than the lowest divided area by controlling light transmittance of the areas corresponding to the other divided areas; and a focusing controller that performs focusing control for the focus lens based on the focusing target area of a second captured image signal in a specific state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 16, 2020
    Publication date: January 7, 2021
    Applicant: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Hitoshi SAKURABU, Makoto KOBAYASHI, Ryo HASEGAWA, Tomonori MASUDA
  • Patent number: 10887520
    Abstract: A distance measurement device includes an imaging optical system, an imaging unit, an emission unit, a derivation unit which performs a distance measurement to derive a distance to a subject based on a timing at which directional light is emitted by the emission unit and a timing at which reflected light is received by a light receiving unit, a shake correction unit which performs shake correction as correction of shake of the subject image caused by variation of an optical axis of the imaging optical system, and a control unit which performs control such that the shake correction unit does not perform shake correction or performs shake correction with a correction amount smaller than a normal correction amount determined in advance in a case of performing the distance measurement and performs shake correction with the normal correction amount in a case of not performing the distance measurement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: FUJIFILM CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomonori Masuda, Hiroshi Tamayama
  • Publication number: 20200412935
    Abstract: An imaging control device includes: an imaging controller that obtains captured image data by controlling an imager imaging a subject through an optical element having variable transmittance of light; a flicker detector that detects a flicker occurring in the captured image data based on the captured image data; and a transmittance controller that controls, based on the flicker, the transmittance of the optical element to a state where a quantity of light incident on the imager is changed in a cycle shorter than a cycle of the flicker, and the imaging controller controls an exposure time of the imager to a natural multiple of a changing cycle of the quantity of light incident on the imager in a condition where the transmittance of the optical element is controlled to the state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2020
    Publication date: December 31, 2020
    Applicant: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Makoto KOBAYASHI, Ryo HASEGAWA, Hitoshi SAKURABU, Tomonori MASUDA
  • Publication number: 20200412931
    Abstract: An imaging control device includes: a controller that causes an imager to perform first imaging and further perform second imaging a plurality of times; and a dark image signal acquirer, the controller causes the imager to perform the second imaging in each of a plurality of exposure states where a quantity of light incident on the imager is greater than 0 and is different for each of the exposure states, by controlling the optical element, and the controller obtains, by controlling the movable lens at a time of the second imaging, a state where a first imaging condition value determined by a control state of the movable lens at the time of the second imaging is different from a second imaging condition value determined by a control state of the movable lens at a time of the first imaging.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2020
    Publication date: December 31, 2020
    Applicant: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Ryo HASEGAWA, Makoto KOBAYASHI, Hitoshi SAKURABU, Tomonori MASUDA
  • Publication number: 20200404139
    Abstract: An imaging control device includes: a transmittance control unit that controls transmittance of each of a plurality of regions in an optical element for controlling a quantity of light incident on an imaging element to a different value; an imaging control unit that causes the imaging element to perform imaging for light measurement in a state where the transmittance of each of the plurality of regions is controlled to the different value; a light measurement processing unit that measures brightness of a subject based on a captured image signal obtained from the imaging element by the imaging for light measurement; an image processing unit that generates image data for display from the captured image signal obtained by the imaging for light measurement; and an output unit that outputs the image data for display to a display unit displaying an image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 8, 2020
    Publication date: December 24, 2020
    Applicant: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Tomonori MASUDA, Hitoshi SAKURABU, Ryo HASEGAWA, Makoto KOBAYASHI
  • Patent number: 10863110
    Abstract: A digital camera that includes an imaging sensor having a stop 2 arranged in front of an imaging surface includes an imaging control unit that starts exposure of pixels on the entire imaging surface at the same time and then, ends the exposure of the pixels at the same time in a state where light from a subject is incident on the imaging surface, by controlling an imaging sensor drive circuit which drives the imaging sensor, and a processor that sequentially changes an F number of the stop 2 to a plurality of values during a period from the start of the exposure until the end of the exposure. The processor controls a time in which the F number is maintained at each of the plurality of values to be a time that is based on a function indicating light transmittance characteristics of an APD filter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Ryo Hasegawa, Masaru Kobayashi, Makoto Kobayashi, Hitoshi Sakurabu, Tomonori Masuda
  • Patent number: 10848692
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus includes an imager, an imaging controller and a display controller as defined herein, a time required for the first rolling readout drive is longer than a time required for each of the rolling reset drive, the rolling shutter drive and the second rolling readout drive, and in an imaging mode in which the imaging controller performs the first drive while continuously performing the second drive, the imaging controller sets a first start timing of the second drive performed first after a start of the first drive to be during an implementation period of the first rolling readout drive in the first drive, and synchronizes a second start timing of the rolling shutter drive performed first after the start of the first drive with the display update timing that comes first after an end of the first rolling readout drive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Fuminori Irie, Tomonori Masuda, Hidekazu Kurahashi, Yoshinori Furuta, Hitoshi Sakurabu
  • Publication number: 20200363527
    Abstract: A distance measurement device includes an imaging unit, a measurement unit that measures a distance to a subject by emitting directional light which is light having directivity to the subject and receiving reflection light of the directional light, and a deriving unit that acquires a correspondence relation between an in-provisional-image irradiation position, which corresponds to an irradiation position of the directional light onto the subject, within a provisional image acquired by provisionally imaging the subject by the imaging unit whenever each of a plurality of distances is provisionally measured by the measurement unit and a distance which is provisionally measured by the measurement unit by using the directional light corresponding to the in-provisional-image irradiation position, and derives an in-actual-image irradiation position, within an actual image acquired by performing actual imaging by the imaging unit, based on the acquired correspondence relation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2020
    Publication date: November 19, 2020
    Inventor: Tomonori MASUDA
  • Patent number: 10812705
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus includes: an imager as defined herein; an imaging controller as defined herein; and a display controller as defined herein, the imaging controller performs, as the rolling readout drive, a first rolling readout drive as defined herein, the display controller performs a start instruction of the drawing update process to the display device, prior to a start timing of the first rolling readout drive based on the start timing, and a drawing update timing, at which the start instruction is performed, is a timing that the update timing of the image drawn in the display pixel row corresponding to the specific one of the pixel rows in the drawing update process started by the start instruction becomes a timing after a predetermined time from the start timing of the first rolling readout drive is elapsed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Tomonori Masuda, Fuminori Irie, Yoshinori Furuta, Hitoshi Sakurabu, Hidekazu Kurahashi
  • Publication number: 20200329198
    Abstract: A distance measurement device includes an imaging optical system, an imaging unit, an emission unit, a derivation unit which performs a distance measurement to derive a distance to a subject based on a timing at which directional light is emitted by the emission unit and a timing at which reflected light is received by a light receiving unit, a shake correction unit which performs shake correction as correction of shake of the subject image caused by variation of an optical axis of the imaging optical system, and a control unit which performs control such that the shake correction unit does not perform shake correction or performs shake correction with a correction amount smaller than a normal correction amount determined in advance in a case of performing the distance measurement and performs shake correction with the normal correction amount in a case of not performing the distance measurement.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 25, 2020
    Publication date: October 15, 2020
    Inventors: Tomonori MASUDA, Hiroshi TAMAYAMA
  • Patent number: 10802143
    Abstract: A distance measurement device includes an imaging unit, a measurement unit that measures a distance to a subject by emitting directional light which is light having directivity to the subject and receiving reflection light of the directional light, and a deriving unit that acquires a correspondence relation between an in-provisional-image irradiation position, which corresponds to an irradiation position of the directional light onto the subject, within a provisional image acquired by provisionally imaging the subject by the imaging unit whenever each of a plurality of distances is provisionally measured by the measurement unit and a distance which is provisionally measured by the measurement unit by using the directional light corresponding to the in-provisional-image irradiation position, and derives an in-actual-image irradiation position, within an actual image acquired by performing actual imaging by the imaging unit, based on the acquired correspondence relation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: FUJIFILM CORPORATION
    Inventor: Tomonori Masuda
  • Patent number: 10798308
    Abstract: An processor that performs consecutive imaging control for consecutively imaging a subject by an imaging sensor and emitting auxiliary light in an imaging period in which each of the plurality of times of the imaging is performed, the imaging periods do not overlap, an end timing of a light emission period of the auxiliary light started in the imaging period is later than an end timing of the imaging period, the imaging control device further controls a light emission intensity of the auxiliary light in the light emission period started in the second imaging period or imaging sensitivity in the second imaging period based on the light emission intensity of the auxiliary light emitted in an overlapping period overlapping with the second imaging period in the light emission period started in the first imaging period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Tomonori Masuda, Hitoshi Sakurabu, Ryo Hasegawa, Makoto Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 10778903
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide an imaging apparatus, an imaging method, and a program that can leave information related to gradations on a high brightness side and a low brightness side as far as possible even in a case where a scene has a wide dynamic range and a histogram of a captured image is biased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventor: Tomonori Masuda
  • Patent number: 10735662
    Abstract: A digital camera includes an imaging control unit that images a subject by performing driving based on a rolling shutter method on an imaging sensor, and a light emission control unit that emits auxiliary light a plurality of times from a light emission device while the imaging is performed. A difference ?t between start timings of exposure started by the driving in two adjacent pixel rows is a value other than 1/n (n is an integer greater than or equal to 1) of an exposure time in which the exposure is performed. The light emission control unit controls a light emission cycle of the auxiliary light to be a time that is m (m is an integer greater than or equal to 1) times the difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Makoto Kobayashi, Ryo Hasegawa, Hitoshi Sakurabu, Tomonori Masuda
  • Patent number: 10735656
    Abstract: A distance measurement device includes an imaging optical system, an imaging unit, an emission unit, a derivation unit which performs a distance measurement to derive a distance to a subject based on a timing at which directional light is emitted by the emission unit and a timing at which reflected light is received by a light receiving unit, a shake correction unit which performs shake correction as correction of shake of the subject image caused by variation of an optical axis of the imaging optical system, and a control unit which performs control such that the shake correction unit does not perform shake correction or performs shake correction with a correction amount smaller than a normal correction amount determined in advance in a case of performing the distance measurement and performs shake correction with the normal correction amount in a case of not performing the distance measurement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: FUJIFILM CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomonori Masuda, Hiroshi Tamayama
  • Publication number: 20200221050
    Abstract: A system control unit consecutively images a subject by driving based on a global shutter method, divides captured image data obtained by the imaging into a plurality of areas, and each time each area is generated, compares the generated area with the same area as the area in the captured image data generated by the imaging performed before the imaging, and detects a moving object from the area based on a result of the comparison. Based on a change in position of the detected moving object, the system control unit predicts a timing at which a trigger range TR set in the captured image overlaps with the moving object, and performs automatic imaging in a frame period that includes the timing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2020
    Publication date: July 9, 2020
    Applicant: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Hitoshi SAKURABU, Makoto KOBAYASHI, Ryo HASEGAWA, Tomonori MASUDA