22nd week of 2011 patent applcation highlights part 21 |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20110128338 | MODULAR MEDIA TRANSPORT SYSTEM - A digital printing system for printing on a continuous web of print media includes a first module and a second module that guide a continuous web of print media under tension through the printing system. At least one of the first module and the second module include a digital printhead for placing marks on the print media as it travels through the module. The first module includes a first support structure. A first mechanism is affixed to the first support structure and includes structure that positions the print media in a cross track direction. A second mechanism is affixed to the first support structure and includes structure that sets a tension of the print media. The second module includes a second support structure and is positioned downstream from the first module. A mechanism that kinematically connects the continuous web of print media traveling through the first module to the continuous web of print media traveling through the second module is affixed to the support structure of the at least one of the first module and the second module. A third mechanism includes structure that sets an angular trajectory of the print media and is affixed to the support structure of the at least one of the first module and the second module. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128339 | INK JET RECORDING APPARATUS - An ink jet recording apparatus may include a conveying device configured to move a conveying belt including a conveying surface to convey a recording medium. The ink jet recording apparatus may include a recording head configured to discharge ink onto the recording medium. The ink jet recording apparatus may include an attraction device including first and second electrodes facing a surface opposite the conveying surface and configured to apply a voltage between the first and second electrodes. The ink jet recording apparatus may include a contact member which comes into contact with the conveying surface. The first and second electrodes may be disposed at a distance from each other in the width direction of the conveying belt. A contacting area of the conveying surface with which the contact member comes into contact may not extend over the first and second electrodes in the width direction. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128340 | Thermal head, manufacturing method therefor, and printer - Provided is a thermal head with enhanced strength and improved thermal efficiency including a cavity portion formed therein at a position corresponding to a heating resistor. Employed is a thermal head ( | 2011-06-02 |
20110128341 | Thermal printer - Provided is a thermal printer in which positioning precision between a platen roller and a thermal head is enhanced, thereby being capable of positively arranging heating elements within a heating element allowable range. A positioning mechanism ( | 2011-06-02 |
20110128342 | OPTICAL SCANNING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An optical scanning apparatus includes a polygonal mirror configured to deflect a light beam emitted from a light source such that the laser beam scans a member to be scanned, a drive motor configured to rotate the polygonal mirror, aboard on which the polygonal mirror and the drive motor are mounted, an installation portion where the board is installed, a rubber member provided between the board and the installation portion, and an adjustment unit configured to position on the board with respect to the installation portion and to adjust inclination of the board with respect to the installation portion by deforming the rubber member. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128343 | SURFACE-EMITTING LASER ELEMENT, SURFACE-EMITTING LASER ARRAY, OPTICAL SCANNER DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A disclosed surface-emitting laser element includes a resonator structure having an active layer, a first semiconductor multilayer mirror and a second semiconductor multilayer mirror configured to sandwich the resonator structure having the active layer, an electrode provided around an emission region of a light-emitting surface, and a dielectric film provided in a peripheral portion within the emission region and outside a central portion of the emission region to make a reflectance of the peripheral portion lower than a reflectance of the central portion. In the surface-emitting laser element, an outer shape of a portion where the electrode provided around the emission region of the light-emitting surface is in contact with a contact layer includes corners. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128344 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of light sources that emits a plurality of light beams arrayed in the sub-scanning direction via an optical system, a filter calculation unit that performs filter calculation of increasing or reducing a density of image data according to wideness or narrowness between a plurality of scanning lines formed on a photosensitive member when the light beams from the plurality of light sources are scanned on the photosensitive member, and a drive circuit that causes light beam emission from the plurality of light sources based on the image data that has undergone the filter calculation by the filter calculation unit. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128345 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR WRITING A FLIP IMAGE STRUCTURE - The invention relates to an apparatus for writing a flip image structure on a base. Said apparatus comprises a laser light source that has a control device for specifically modifying an angle at which the laser light emerges from the laser light source, and a holder for the base. According to the invention, two deflection elements for the laser light are provided in the beam range of the laser light source. Said deflection elements are arranged such that laser light of the laser light source that is deflected, especially reflected by the deflection elements is incident on the flip image structure of the base accommodated on the holder at a different angle of incidence. The invention further relates to a method that can be carried out especially by means of a disclosed apparatus. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128346 | System of deploying videophone and early warning - A device and method for surveillance and early warning detection of undesired activity comprising local videophone and a remote videophone for the purposes of surveying a predetermined area with the local videophone and sending images of the captured information to the remote videophone for real time observation. The method also comprises at will surveillance of the predetermined area by calling the local videophone from the remote videophone to turn the local videophone on, conducting surveillance, and transmitting the captured information, in real time, to the remote videophone. The captured information may be recorded on the remote videophone, by a service provider, or by an emergency response team. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128347 | Miniature Camera Module - A camera module having a housing having a predetermined periphery with a plurality of cameras secured within the periphery of the housing, each camera having a lens positioned to have a desired field of view to the exterior of the housing and electrical communication elements within the housing for providing electrical communication between the cameras to the exterior of the housing. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128348 | Method of Providing Camera Views About an Object or Area - A method of providing an omnidirectional view about an object by providing at least two camera modules, each module having a plurality of cameras disposed about the periphery of each module with each camera having a predetermined field of view. The modules are directly attached to a respective predetermined position on a surface of the object to provide up to a 360 degree view about the object when the fields of view of each camera are combined from each module. Electrical communication is enabled between the plurality of cameras and at least one position external to the modules to enable viewing about the object from the external position. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128349 | System for Providing Camera Views - A camera system having at least one self-contained, universally mountable camera module having a housing and a plurality of cameras disposed within the confines of the housing, each camera having a predetermined field of view to the exterior of the housing that when combined provide at least a 180 degree view about the housing. The system also includes communication elements within the housing to provide electrical communication between the plurality of cameras and a position external to the module and at least one receiver that receives the camera views from the module that is operable by a user to view one or more camera views at a time as individual views as well as a composite view of at least two or more camera views. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128350 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CHOOSING A DESIRED FIELD OF VIEW FROM A WIDE-ANGLE IMAGE OR VIDEO - A wide-angle camera will collect wide-angle images. A portion of the wide-angle image (desired field of view) will be selected based on accelerometer readings. More particularly, to keep the desired field of view of a camera in an appropriate position, a correction is made to the tilt and roll of the desired field of view by using motion sensors to determine the horizon based on measuring the direction of gravity. A correction is also made to the yaw of the desired field of view using motion sensors to determine a forward facing position when the user is in motion. Because the desired field of view is corrected for variations resulting from user activity, any image collected from the camera is more likely to be pointed at a desired position. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128351 | 3D DISPLAY HANDLING OF SUBTITLES - A method of creating a three-dimensional image signal comprises receiving a first image component, receiving a second component for creating a three-dimensional image in combination with the first image component, receiving a text component for including in the three-dimensional image, receiving a data component comprising location information describing the location of the text component within the three-dimensional image, and creating a three-dimensional image signal comprising the first image component, the second component, the text component, and the data component. The signal is rendered by rendering a three-dimensional image from the first image component and the second component, the rendering including rendering the text component in the three-dimensional image, the rendering of the text component including adjusting three-dimensional parameters of the three-dimensional image in the location of the rendered text component. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128352 | FAST 3D-2D IMAGE REGISTRATION METHOD WITH APPLICATION TO CONTINUOUSLY GUIDED ENDOSCOPY - A novel framework for fast and continuous registration between two imaging modalities is disclosed. The approach makes it possible to completely determine the rigid transformation between multiple sources at real-time or near real-time frame-rates in order to localize the cameras and register the two sources. A disclosed example includes computing or capturing a set of reference images within a known environment, complete with corresponding depth maps and image gradients. The collection of these images and depth maps constitutes the reference source. The second source is a real-time or near-real time source which may include a live video feed. Given one frame from this video feed, and starting from an initial guess of viewpoint, the real-time video frame is warped to the nearest viewing site of the reference source. An image difference is computed between the warped video frame and the reference image. The viewpoint is updated via a Gauss-Newton parameter update and certain of the steps are repeated for each frame until the viewpoint converges or the next video frame becomes available. The final viewpoint gives an estimate of the relative rotation and translation between the camera at that particular video frame and the reference source. The invention has far-reaching applications, particularly in the field of assisted endoscopy, including bronchoscopy and colonoscopy. Other applications include aerial and ground-based navigation. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128353 | ROBUST IMAGE ALIGNMENT FOR DISTRIBUTED MULTI-VIEW IMAGING SYSTEMS - Disclosed is a method of image coding for joint decoding of images from different viewpoints using distributed coding techniques. The method receives a first set of features ( | 2011-06-02 |
20110128354 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OBTAINING CAMERA PARAMETERS FROM MULTIPLE IMAGES AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS THEREOF - Systems and methods for obtaining camera parameters from images are provided. First, a sequence of original images associated with a target object under circular motion is obtained. Then, a background image and a foreground image corresponding to the target object within each original image are segmented. Next, shadow detection is performed for the target object within each original image. A first threshold and a second threshold are respectively determined according to the corresponding background and foreground images. Each original image, the corresponding background image, the first and second threshold are used for obtaining silhouette data and feature information associated with the target object within each original image. At least one camera parameter is obtained based on the entire feature information and the geometry of circular motion. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128355 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD - An image processing apparatus includes: a coding means for encoding image data of multi-view images forming a stereoscopic image to generate a coded stream; and a transmission means for connecting output time information indicating output time of a decoded result of an image only to coded data of any one of the multi-view images in the coded stream. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128356 | Method for displaying image information and autostereoscopic screen - The invention relates to a method for displaying image information in which pixels of a matrix screen ( | 2011-06-02 |
20110128357 | STEREOSCOPIC GLASSES, DISPLAY DEVICE AND DRIVING METHOD OF THE SAME - Disclosed are a display device and a driving method of the same, the display device including: a receiver; a signal processor which processes a video signal; a display unit which displays a stereoscopic image based on the video signal; a sync signal output unit which outputs a sync signal to stereoscopic glasses so that left eye shutter and right eye shutter are opened and closed corresponding to left eye image and right eye image displayed on the display unit; a power supply; and a controller which outputs the sync signal at an initial mode, controls the sync signal output unit so that a power saving mode and a check mode are alternately repeated, and controls the power supply to stop supplying power to the sync signal output unit during the power saving mode, so the sync signal can be selectively output to stereoscopic glasses, thereby reducing power consumption. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128358 | Apparatus having "small" and "large" x-ray scintillation images each approximately at full camera resolution - Unused camera pixel locations are recovered when shifting from photographing an x-ray scintillation image of a larger subject to that of a substantially smaller one by using a suitably shorter optical path combined with appropriate changes in focus. The optical path for large subjects involves a first mirror followed by a second mirror. The camera receives light from the second mirror, and is in a fixed and unchanging physical relationship to that second mirror, forming a unitary mirror-camera assembly. To shorten the optical path that unitary assembly is rotated about an axis from a position where it was in the optical path downstream from the first mirror to one where the second mirror is interposed between the scintillation screen and the first mirror, and also such that the camera looks in a different direction along the shortened optical path length. Focus adjustment to accommodate the different optical paths may be accomplished by changing the spacing of elements internal to the lens, or, the entire lens assembly can be moved a bit closer to or further away from the camera body. The scintillation image may be replaced with a glass plate carrying a document illuminated from within a housing carrying the unitary mirror-camera assembly. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128359 | IMAGING APPARATUS, IMAGING SYSTEM, METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE APPARATUS AND THE SYSTEM, AND PROGRAM - An imaging apparatus includes a detector including multiple pixels arranged in a matrix. The detector performs an image capturing operation whereby light or radiation incident on the pixels is converted into an image signal. The imaging apparatus also includes a bias light source and a control unit. The image capturing operation includes a first image capturing operation in which the detector is scanned in a scanning area A and a second image capturing operation in which the detector is scanned in a scanning area B larger than the scanning area A. The control unit controls the bias light source to emit bias light on the basis of a control signal indicative of an amount of integration of accumulation times in the first image capturing operation during a period between the first and second image capturing operations in accordance with switching from an irradiation field A to an irradiation field B. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128360 | SYSTEM FOR TEMPLATE BASED EXTRACTING INFORMATION FROM AN IDENTITY CARD - The present invention provides a unique and novel system for acquiring digital image frames of identification documents such as driver's license, passports, or medical insurance records using a digital camera so as to establish a high resolution image frame and extracting data automatically with machine vision tools so as to acquire accurate data. The present invention teaches also a system that acquires multi-spectral image frames of both sides of the identification document. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128361 | IMAGE PICKUP APPARATUS - In one example embodiment, an authentication apparatus determines whether to emit an imaging light to a target of authentication based on a detected position of the target of authentication. In one example embodiment, when the imaging light is emitted, the imaging light permeates a display plane. In one example embodiment, the authentication apparatus authenticates based on data obtained from the emitted imaging light. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128362 | DUAL-CAMERA FACE RECOGNITION DEVICE AND METHOD - A dual-camera face recognition device and method are disclosed. The device includes: a first camera, for capturing a face image; a second camera, arranged at a different position from the first camera, for capturing a face image; a face recognition processing unit, for receiving and recognizing the face image captured by the first camera and obtaining a first candidate set, and for receiving and recognizing the face image captured by the second camera and obtaining a second candidate set. The face recognition processing unit is also adapted to select from the first candidate set and the second candidate set a candidate object whose similarity complies with a predetermined rule as a recognition result. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128363 | WORK RECOGNITION SYSTEM, WORK RECOGNITION DEVICE, AND WORK RECOGNITION METHOD - A work recognition device that recognizes processes in user's work includes: a whole-state observation time determination unit ( | 2011-06-02 |
20110128364 | HEAD MOUNTED DISPLAY APPARATUS AND IMAGE SHARING SYSTEM USING THE SAME - A head mounted display external objects includes: an imaging unit imaging external objects; a first image acquiring unit configured acquiring a first image which shows first information of the work being done by the user; a second image acquiring unit acquiring a plurality of second images which are relevant to specific parts of the first image, the second images showing second information relevant to the first information of the work shown by the first image; a determining unit determining whether or not the plurality of second images are relevant to the work being done by the user, based on the image of external objects; an image forming unit forming, by an image beam, the first image and at least one of the second images determined by the determining unit to be relevant to the work being done by the user. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128365 | TIME-OF-FLIGHT SENSOR-ASSISTED IRIS CAPTURE SYSTEM AND METHOD - A method of identifying a living being includes using a time-of-flight sensor to determine a location of a face of the living being. An image of an iris of the living being is produced dependent upon the location of the face as determined by the time-of-flight sensor. The produced image is processed to determine an identity of the living being. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128366 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, METHOD AND COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIUM - In one example embodiment, an information processing apparatus causes a display device to display a first image in a display range. In this embodiment, the first image is from images associated with an observation target object. The images include a first image, a second image, and a third image. In response to a request to change the display range, the information processing apparatus changes the display range at a first speed, and causes the display range to display the second image. In response to a request to terminate the change of the display range, the information processing apparatus changes the display range at a deceleration speed, and causes the display range to display the third image. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128367 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, METHOD, AND COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIUM - In one example embodiment, an information processing apparatus displays a first image associated with an observation target object. In this example embodiment, the first image has a first zoom magnification and a first display range which has a first center position. In one example embodiment, the information processing apparatus enables a user to change the first zoom magnification by selecting a first position of the displayed first image. In response to the first position being selected, the information processing apparatus displays a second image associated with the observation target image. In this example embodiment, the second image has a second zoom magnification which is different from the first zoom magnification. The second image also has a second display range which has a second center position which is different from the first center position. In this example embodiment, the second center position corresponds to the selected position. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128368 | Hole Inspection Method and Apparatus - An inspection apparatus initially involves an illuminator for directing an illuminating light beam towards a hole having two extremities and an internal surface extending between the two extremities. The inspection apparatus also involves a lens assembly for imaging the internal surface of the hole into the flat image. The lens assembly has a cylindrical field of view as well as a cylindrical depth of view. The cylindrical depth of field extends at least between the two extremities of the hole. The inspection apparatus further involves an image capturing device for capturing the flat image, and an image processing unit for performing inspection of the flat image to thereby inspect the internal surface of the hole. More specifically, the internal surface of the hole between the two extremities thereof is substantially in-focus along the flat image. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128369 | Pressure-Bonded Ball Diameter Detecting Apparatus and Pressure-Bonded Ball Diameter Detecting Method - Improving detectability of a diameter of a pressure-bonded ball bonded by a bonding apparatus by calculating the diameter of the pressure-bonded ball by obtaining a first tentative radius by subtracting a distance between a line representing an outline of a pad short side and a curving line representing an outline of a pressure-bonded ball from a distance between the line representing the outline of the pad short side and a bonding-control-center position of the pressure-bonded ball; obtaining a second tentative radius by subtracting a distance between a line representing an outline of a pad short side that faces toward the pad with which the first tentative radius is calculated and an outline of a pressure-bonded ball from a distance between the line representing the outline of the pad short side and a bonding-control-center position of the pressure-bonded ball; and averaging the same number of the first and the second tentative radii. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128370 | Multi-Camera Skin Inspection System For Extruded Ceramic Honeycomb Structures - A multi-camera skin inspection system for inspecting the outer skin and the skin perimeter of extruded ceramic honeycomb structures is disclosed. The system has a camera that captures first digital line images of a line-illuminated portion of the outer skin as the ceramic honeycomb structure rotates to form a scanned digital image of the outer skin. The system also has second and third cameras that respectively capture second and third digital line images of illuminated first and second endfaces, including the corresponding first and second skin perimeters, as the ceramic honeycomb structure rotates to form scanned digital images of the ceramic honeycomb structure perimeters. The system also forms a composite image from the three scanned images and identifies at least one defect in the ceramic honeycomb structure from the composite image. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128371 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR INSPECTING SEMICONDUCTOR WAFERS - Semiconductor wafer inspection device comprising a wager transport arm provided with at least one wafer support element, a wafer gripper, the gripper having two distant branches designed to take hold of the opposed edges of the wafer, the gripper being mounted so as to rotate on a shaft in order to be able to rotate the wafer between an approximately horizontal position and an approximately vertical position, and at least two inspection systems placed on one side of the wafer and on the other, in an approximately vertical position symmetrically with respect to the plane passing through the wafer. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128372 | System and Method for Determining an Orientation and Position of an Object - A system for determining an orientation and position of an object can include a computation device having an input module adapted to receive data defining a two dimensional image, an image analyzing module configured to receive the data and analyze the two dimensional image to determine a two dimensional orientation representative of a three dimensional orientation and position, a position calculating module configured to receive the two dimensional orientation from the image analyzing module and determine the three dimensional orientation and position of the object, and an output module adapted to send information relating to the three dimensional orientation and position of the object. A method for determining an orientation and position of an object is also disclosed. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128373 | Determining Meat Tenderness - The present methods and systems relate to the automated determination of meat tenderness through the use of high-resolution imaging of meat surfaces. This imaging is performed at a resolution such that the ultra-structural organization of muscle fibers can be observed. Features are extracted from these images, which feature extraction can be aided by the use of texture analysis or wavelet analysis algorithms. In addition, observation of the colors of different areas or constituents of the muscle fibers can provide features. A laser scanner can be used instead of imaging methods, wherein data obtained from such scanner can be analyzed as linear waveforms, rather than two-dimensional arrays of information. These features are then used to estimate tenderness using decision algorithms. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128374 | DETECTION OF ABNORMAL BEHAVIOUR IN VIDEO OBJECTS - Disclosed herein are a method, system, and computer program product for classifying a behaviour of a detected object in a video frame, wherein the video frame includes a plurality of blocks and the detected object is associated with a subset of the plurality of blocks and a set of parameters. The method includes the step of associating a behaviour model with each of the plurality of blocks, wherein each behaviour model ( | 2011-06-02 |
20110128375 | PARTICLE MEASURING INSTRUMENT, IN PARTICULAR FOR THE ANALYSIS OF GRAIN SIZES OF FINE AND VERY FINE BULK MATERIALS - Particle measuring instrument and method for the analysis of particles comprising a dosing device which dosing device can be set into vibrations by means of a vibration generator for conveying, while segregating, particles present in the dosing chute to at least one outlet of the dosing device. Other than a first vibration generator a second, different vibration generator is provided for segregating the particles present in the dosing device. The second vibration generator generates vibrations of a higher frequency compared to the first vibration generator. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128376 | System and Method For Monitoring and Capturing Potential Traffic Infractions - The present invention refers to a system and method for monitoring and supervising potential traffic infractions, comprising the detection of potential traffic infractions and the capture of the images thereof, wherein the images preferentially relate to a sequence of images of the pre and post events, further comprising a multi-thread module which enables the capture of images of one or more potential traffic infractions occurring in the same or in different lanes of the road, with almost simultaneous pre-event and post-event sequences. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128377 | Lens Distortion Method for Broadcast Video - A method, apparatus, and computer program product are described to improve a lens distortion curve which roughly approximates distortion caused by a camera lens to capture an event onto video. The present invention selects a generic lens distortion curve that roughly approximates the distortion caused by the camera lens while capturing the event onto the video. The video as well as information from the generic lens distortion curve is used to generate a camera model. This camera model is used to integrate virtual insertions into the video. If the camera model is sufficiently accurate to present a realistic appearance of the virtual insertions to the remote viewer, this camera model is then used to integrate more virtual insertions into the video. However, if the camera model is not sufficiently accurate, an iterative process is employed to refine this camera model. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128378 | Modular Electronic Display Platform - A modular touchscreen platform enables dynamic reconfiguration of the touchscreen for different functions. The touchscreen platform includes the touchscreen display and one or more removeable and replaceable modules that each enable different functions in the touchscreen platform. The modules provide different functionality through the touchscreen depending on needs of the user. The touchscreen platform can be used as an in-home consumer touchscreen with uses including home management, energy management, security, surveillance, health monitoring, elder care and other consumer applications. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128379 | REAL-TIME OPTICAL FLOW SENSOR DESIGN AND ITS APPLICATION TO OBSTACLE DETECTION - The present disclosure relates generally to optical flow algorithms. Section 1 of the present disclosure describes an optical flow algorithm with real-time performance and adequate accuracy for embedded vision applications. This optical flow algorithm is based on a ridge estimator. Sections 2 and 3 describe an obstacle detection algorithm that utilizes the motion field that is output from the optical flow algorithm. Section 2 is focused on unmanned ground vehicles, whereas section 3 is focused on unmanned aerial vehicles. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128380 | CAMERA CONTROL APPARATUS AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING A CAMERA - A camera control apparatus which controls an exposure time of a camera that takes a moving image, the camera includes a memory for storing the moving image taken by the camera, an image capturing unit for capturing the moving image from the camera and storing the moving image into the memory, a first candidate generator for generating the first candidate of the exposure time on the basis of a speed of the movable body, a second candidate generator for generating a second candidate of the exposure time on the basis of the moving image stored in the memory, and, a setting unit for selecting a shorter time between the first candidate and the second candidate, and for setting the selected candidate as the exposure time. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128381 | Quick Pass Exit/Entrance Installation and Monitoring Method - A quick pass exit/entrance installation and method is particularly adaptable for controlling and monitoring the exit and return of vehicles to and from a secured area. The identification of the driver and the vehicle is automatically determined and the exiting transaction is undertaken while the driver remains seated in the vehicle. The vehicle VIN and the image of the license plate may be automatically obtained at both the exit and entrance lanes. An image of substantially all four sides of the vehicle may be automatically obtained on both exiting and entering the facility. The information is processed and receipts are issued while the driver remains seated in the vehicle. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128382 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR GAMING DATA ANALYSIS - A system for analyzing data generated by surveillance of a casino is provided. The system includes a plurality of cameras. Each camera is positioned with respect to a corresponding section of the casino and configured to digitally record a video segment upon detection of at least one defined trigger within the corresponding section and generate a signal indicative of the recorded video segment. A video surveillance center is in signal communication with each camera and includes a database configured to store a plurality of defined behaviors and a plurality of defined indicators that are each associated with at least one trigger. The video surveillance center is configured to receive content including the recorded video segment from at least one camera and analyze the content to identify the at least one defined trigger. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128383 | MONITORING SYSTEM - In a monitoring system, a plurality of monitoring devices for performing a sequence operation of sequentially switching images output from a plurality of cameras are connected. Each of the monitoring devices includes: an address information collection unit configured to collect address information of other cascaded monitoring devices when the sequence operation of an own device is started; a storage unit configured to store the address information collected by the address information collection unit; and a command transmission unit configured to determine a next address from the address information stored in the storage unit and to transmit a command for starting the sequence operation to one of the other monitoring devices which has the determined next address when the sequence operation of the own device is terminated. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128384 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR RECEIVING INFRARED DATA WITH A CAMERA DESIGNED TO DETECT IMAGES BASED ON VISIBLE LIGHT - Systems and methods for receiving infrared data with a camera designed to detect images based on visible light are provided. A system can include a camera and image processing circuitry electrically coupled to the camera. The image processing circuitry can determine whether each image detected by the camera includes an infrared signal with encoded data. If the image processing circuitry determines that an image includes an infrared signal with encoded data, the circuitry may route at least a portion of the image (e.g., the infrared signal) to circuitry operative to decode the encoded data. If the image processing circuitry determines that an image does not include an infrared signal with encoded data, the circuitry may route the image to a display or storage. Images routed to the display or storage can then be used as individual pictures or frames in a video because those images do not include any effects of infrared light communications. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128385 | MULTI CAMERA REGISTRATION FOR HIGH RESOLUTION TARGET CAPTURE - A multi-camera arrangement for capturing a high resolution image of a target. A first camera may be for capturing a wide field of view low resolution image having a target. The target or a component of it may be border-boxed with a marking. The target may be a human being component, such as a face, having approximately the same size among virtually all humans. A distance of the target may be determined from a known size of a component of the target. The target may be other items of similar size. Coordinates of pixels of the image portion containing the target may be mapped to a pan, tilt and zoom (PTZ) camera. The pan and tilt of the PTZ camera may be adjusted according to image information from the wide field of view camera. Then the PTZ camera may zoom in on the target to obtain a high resolution image of the target. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128386 | INTERACTIVE DEVICE AND METHOD FOR USE - The interactive device comprises image capture means, at least one interaction space and means for producing an infrared light beam, comprising at least one light source emitting in the near-infrared range, directed towards the interaction space. The capture means comprise at least two infrared cameras covering said interaction space, and a peripheral camera covering the interaction space contained in an external environment. The device further comprises a transparent panel delineating on the one hand the interaction space included in the external environment and on the other hand an internal space in which the light source and capture means are arranged. It comprises at least one support element supporting said light source and/or the infrared cameras and at least one partially reflecting complementary element, the support element and complementary element being separated by the transparent panel. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128387 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MAINTAINING MULTIPLE OBJECTS WITHIN A CAMERA FIELD-OFVIEW - In one embodiment, a system and method for maintaining objects within a camera field of view include identifying constraints to be enforced, each constraint relating to an attribute of the viewed objects, identifying a priority rank for the constraints such that more important constraints have a higher priority that less important constraints, and determining the set of solutions that satisfy the constraints relative to the order of their priority rank such that solutions that satisfy lower ranking constraints are only considered viable if they also satisfy any higher ranking constraints, each solution providing an indication as to how to control the camera to maintain the objects within the camera field of view. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128388 | CAMERA CALIBRATION SYSTEM AND COORDINATE DATA GENERATION SYSTEM AND METHOD THEREOF - A camera calibration system including a coordinate data generation device and a coordinate data recognition device is provided. The coordinate data generation device generates a plurality of map coordinate data corresponding to a plurality of real positions in a real scene. The coordinate data recognition device receives an image plane of the real scene from a camera to be calibrated and receives the map coordinate data from the coordinate data generation device. Besides, the coordinate data recognition device recognizes image positions corresponding to the real positions in the image plane and calculates image coordinate data corresponding to the image positions. Moreover, the coordinate data recognition device calculates a coordinate transform matrix corresponding to the camera according to the image coordinate data and the map coordinate data. Thereby, the camera calibration system can finish the calibration of the camera quickly. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128389 | ELECTRONIC CAMERA AND SERVER DEVICE - An electronic camera, which captures an image and transmits the image via wireless network to a server, comprises a transmitting person information registration means that registers transmitting person information entered by a user, and a transmission inhibit means that inhibits image transmission to the server if transmitting person information is not registered by the transmitting person information registration means. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128390 | Zero Delay Photographic Synchronization System and Method - A method of synchronizing a remote device to image acquisition by a camera body including detecting a voltage change of the camera body that occurs prior to shutter opening. The detected voltage change is used to determine a time to synchronize the remote device to image acquisition via wireless communication. For example, the detected voltage change may be used to predict when the shutter of the camera will be open. A wireless communication system for synchronizing a remote device to a camera body may include a memory having information used to synchronize the remote device to image acquisition based on the detection of the change in voltage occurring prior to a shutter opening. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128391 | DATA REPRODUCING APPARATUS, CONTENT MANAGEMENT METHOD, PROGRAM, AND STORAGE MEDIUM - A data reproducing apparatus comprises: a reproducing unit adapted to read out data from a plurality of recording media; a list generating unit adapted to generate a content list which describes storage location information in association with contents stored in the plurality of recording media; and a communication unit adapted to communicate with an external device and sending the content list to the external device, wherein the list generating unit checks if the contents stored in the plurality of recording media include identical contents, and if the identical contents are detected, the list generating unit generates the content list including information indicating that the storage location information of the identical contents are integrated. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128392 | IMAGE CAPTURING APPARATUS, IMAGE CAPTURING METHOD AND IMAGE CAPTURING PROGRAM - Disclosed herein is an image capturing apparatus including, an optical zoom lens, an actuator for driving said optical zoom lens, an imaging device, a jiggling detection section, an optical jiggling correction section, an electronic jiggling correction section, and an optical zoom magnification change rate modulation section. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128393 | DIGITAL IMAGING - An apparatus, method and computer program, in which there is provided an apparatus with a body, which apparatus has a set of camera modules mounted on the body, each camera module configured to take images with a first field of view and an adjustment mechanism configured to move the camera modules between a first configuration and a second configuration. In the first configuration, each camera module shares a substantially common field of view that covers a first view area. In the second configuration, the fields of view of the camera modules collectively form a second view area that is continuous and covers a second view area. A zoom-in image is formed in the first configuration using super-resolution combining of the images taken by the camera modules. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128394 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GENERATING A HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGE - A method for generating an image is provided. The method includes estimating a high resolution image from a plurality of low resolution images and downsampling the estimated high resolution image to obtain estimates of a plurality of low resolution images. The method also includes generating a desired high resolution image based upon comparison of the downsampled low resolution images and the plurality of low resolution images. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128395 | MOBILE TERMINAL AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE OPERATION OF THE MOBILE TERMINAL - A mobile terminal and a method of controlling the operation of the mobile terminal are provided. The method includes setting a first image as a reference image; if an image comparison mode is selected, operating a camera in a close-up photography mode; displaying a preview image currently being provided by the camera on a display module; and if the preview image is chosen to be captured, displaying a comparison result screen showing differences between the first image and a second image obtained by capturing the preview image on the display module. Therefore, it is possible for a user to easily identify the differences between the first and second images from the comparison result screen. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128396 | Position detection apparatus, image taking apparatus and position detection method - Disclosed herein is a position detection apparatus including: a signal line along which a bit array including a plurality of bits used for expressing information on one of absolute positions in a direction determined in advance is created repeatedly in the direction determined in advance; and an information reading-out section which is capable of making a movement relative to the signal line in the direction determined in advance in accordance with a driving operation carried out by driving means determined in advance and is used for reading out the information expressed by the bits from the signal line. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128397 | APPARATUS AND METHOD OF CAPTURING JUMP IMAGE - A method of capturing an image of a subject jumping performed by an apparatus for processing digital images with a first and a second display is disclosed. The method includes displaying a notification for the subject to jump on the second display unit; and capturing the image of the subject jumping after the displaying of the notification has indicated that the subject should jump. An apparatus for capturing an image of a subject jumping, the apparatus including a first display unit disposed on a rear of the apparatus; a second display unit disposed on a front of the apparatus; and a digital signal processor configured to display a notification for the subject to jump on the second display unit, and configured to capture the image of the subject jumping after the display of the notification to jump has ended. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128398 | Image Processing Apparatus, Image Processing Method, and Computer Program - In the case of executing image processing on a multivalued image obtained by picking up an image of an imaging object with a camera, the invention calculates a predetermined projective transformation parameter for projectively transforming a multivalued image before image processing, calculates a projected area obtained by projectively transforming an area where pixels of the multivalued image before image processing exist to an output area where pixels of a multivalued image after image processing exist based upon the calculated projective transformation parameter, specifies as an effective area an area in which the calculated projected area is overlapped with the output area where the pixels of the multivalued image after image processing exist, and performs coordinate transformation based upon the specified effective area and the calculated projective transformation parameter, to generate the multivalued image after image processing from the multivalued image before image processing. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128399 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING BONDED SUBSTRATE, BONDED SUBSTRATE, METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SOLID-STATE IMAGING APPARATUS, SOLID-STATE IMAGING APPARATUS, AND CAMERA - Disclosed herein is a method of manufacturing a bonded substrate, including the steps of: forming a first bonding layer on a surface on one side of a semiconductor substrate; forming a second bonding layer on a surface on one side of a support substrate; adhering the first bonding layer and the second bonding layer to each other; a heat treatment for bonding the first bonding layer and the second bonding layer to each other; and thinning the semiconductor substrate from a surface on the other side of the semiconductor substrate to form a semiconductor layer. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128400 | SOLID STATE IMAGING DEVICE AND ELECTRONIC APPARATUS - Provided is a solid state imaging device including: a pixel portion where pixel sharing units are disposed in an array shape and where another one pixel transistor group excluding transfer transistors is shared by a plurality of photoelectric conversion portions; transfer wiring lines which are connected to the transfer gate electrodes of the transfer transistors of the pixel sharing unit and which are disposed to extend in a horizontal direction and to be in parallel in a vertical direction as seen from the top plane; and parallel wiring lines which are disposed to be adjacent to the necessary transfer wiring lines in the pixel sharing unit and which are disposed to be in parallel to the transfer wiring lines as seen from the top plane, wherein voltages which are used to suppress potential change of the transfer gate electrodes are supplied to the parallel wiring lines. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128401 | DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME - A digital photographing apparatus and a method of controlling the same. The digital photographing apparatus includes: a first display unit disposed on a rear surface of the digital photographing apparatus; a second display unit disposed on a front surface of the digital photographing apparatus; and a digital signal processing unit for turning on the second display unit if a face is detected in an input image. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128402 | IMAGE PICKUP APPARATUS, FLASH APPARATUS USABLE WITH IMAGE PICKUP APPARATUS, AND CONTROL METHOD OF IMAGE PICKUP APPARATUS - An image pickup apparatus includes a main body having an image sensor, a flash apparatus having a flash unit installed to the main body to selectively protrude from the main body and to rotate in the protrusion, and a controller to determine whether to protrude the flash unit by determining whether the main body is disposed in an indoor location or in an outdoor location through an image sensor and locating a face of a person in a subject captured by the image sensor, and to control a flash direction by rotating the flash unit in accordance with surroundings of the face of the person in the subject image after protruding the flash unit. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128403 | Digital Camera Device Providing Improved Methodology for Rapidly Taking Successive Pictures - An in-camera two-stage compression implementation is described that reduces the latency between snapshots to a fraction of that otherwise required by other systems that either process complete compression following each snapshot or that incorporate heavy, bulky, and expensive RAM hardware capable of maintaining several raw luminosity records (unprocessed file containing a digital image). In the 1st stage compression the raw luminosity record is quickly, yet partially, compressed to available RAM buffer space to allow a user to expeditiously capture a succeeding image. When the higher-priority processes, the user shooting pictures, and stage one compression subside, a 2nd stage compression, which is slower but more effective, decompresses the earlier partially-compressed images, and re-compresses them for saving in flash memory until they are distributed to a remote platform to be finally converted to the JPEG2000 format. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128404 | IMAGING APPARATUS, IMAGE PROCESSING PROGRAM, IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD - Image processing capable of improving bright and dark part gradation is performed while maintaining apparent contrast by providing an imaging unit generating image data, a selecting unit selecting either a first mode not performing a correction on a dark part gradation of the image data or a second mode performing the correction, a gradation conversion processing unit performing gradation conversion processing according to a first characteristic when the first mode is selected and performing the gradation conversion processing according to a second characteristic which includes a characteristic achieving, for a same input level, an output level lower than the first characteristic and includes a characteristic changing contrast when the second mode is selected, and a correcting unit performing the correction to improve a lightness in the dark part gradation of the image data according to the second characteristic by the gradation conversion processing unit when the second mode is selected. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128405 | OPTICAL ELEMENT, IMAGE SENSOR INCLUDING THE OPTICAL ELEMENT, AND IMAGE PICKUP APPARATUS INCLUDING THE IMAGE SENSOR - An optical element includes a plurality of optical filters having different characteristics. The element includes a first optical filter including a first metal structure group including first metal structures periodically arranged in an in-plane direction of a substrate surface and a second optical filter including a second metal structure group including second metal structures periodically arranged in the in-plane direction, the second metal structure group exhibiting a plasmon resonance condition different from that of the first metal structure group. The optical distance between the first metal structures adjacent to each other is in a range of 0.75 to 1.25 times the optical distance between the second metal structures adjacent to each other. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128406 | IMAGE PICKUP APPARATUS CAPABLE OF CORRECTING IMAGE QUALITY DEGRADATION DUE TO OPTICAL MEMBER, METHOD OF CONTROLLING IMAGE PICKUP APPARATUS, AND NONVOLATILE STORAGE MEDIUM - An image pickup apparatus capable of forming a corrected image which does not give a feeling of wrongness to a user. In the apparatus, an image pickup element photoelectrically converts an optical image to output the same as image data. A target correction value is calculated for correcting image quality degradation due to a lens unit, based on lens characteristic information and a status of the lens unit. A system controller sets a rate of change to stepwise make the current correction value closer to the target correction value, and repeatedly calculates the correction value according to the target correction value and the rate of change. The image data is corrected based on the repeatedly calculated correction value. The rate of change is changed depending on the relationship between a preceding value of the correction value calculated in the past and the target correction value. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128407 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMAGE RESTORATION - Systems and methods are provided for focus recovery of multi-channel images. Control circuitry of an imaging system can restore an image by removing image blurring introduced by the lens, sensor noise introduced by the sensor, and a signal offset between multiple channels of the image. In some embodiments, the control circuitry can calculate one or more estimates of a signal offset of multiple observed signals. Using statistics generated from offset-removed signals, the control circuitry can generate one or more recovery kernels which can be applied to offset-removed signals to generate recovered signals. In other embodiments, instead of explicitly removing a signal offset from each observed signal, the control circuitry can implicitly remove the signal offset when calculating the first and second order statistics of one or more observed signals. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128408 | IMAGING APPARATUS - An imaging apparatus, including an optical system forming an image of an optical image of an object; an imaging element imaging the optical image and producing image data at a frame frequency Ffs out of a frame frequency Ffr of NTSC system; a frame memory storing the image data; and a controller progressively writing the image data in the frame memory and interlacedly reading out the image data from the frame memory at the frame frequency Ffr of NTSC system. The frame memory is divided into at least three areas comprising a writing-in area and a read-out area, wherein the controller sequentially switches the areas of the frame memory and progressively writes one frame of image data in each area and interlacedly reads out one frame of image data from each area in sequence. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128409 | Information input apparatus and method - An electronic camera is capable of recording image, voice, text, line-drawn information and the like. A release switch in the electronic camera is operated to photograph a subject image. When recording voice with the electronic camera, shutter sound effects are not output with the recorded voice. Further, the photographic operation can be indicated to the user by lighting a light-emitting diode in a finder when the release switch is operated. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128410 | Apparatus for and method of taking image of mobile terminal - A method of and an apparatus for taking an image of a mobile terminal. A shooting direction of the mobile terminal is recognized. When the recognized shooting direction is not a reference direction and an image is taken, a direction of an image stored in a storage unit is matched with a direction of a preview image. Therefore, since an image displayed on a preview screen, desired by a user, is stored, additional editing of the image is not required and user convenience is improved. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128411 | IMAGE CAPTURING APPARATUS AND IMAGE CAPTURING METHOD - There is provided an image capturing device including a compression unit for lossless-compressing a video signal outputted from an imaging element, a storage unit for accumulating the video signal that is compressed, a decompression unit for decompressing the video signal that is compressed and accumulated in the storage unit, and a combining unit for combining a plurality of frame images based on the decompressed video signal into one frame image. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128412 | Actively Addressable Aperture Light Field Camera - An actively addressable aperture disposed ahead of the rear surface of a camera lens allows the camera to capture a full-resolution, five-dimensional (5D) light field that describes every possible view from every possible angle of the scene being imaged. Shifting the aperture over the entire aperture plane and acquiring an image at each step yields a 2D grid of 2D images of the scene, otherwise known as a 4D parameterized light field. Estimating the 3D depth of the objects in the imaged scene yields a 3D model with 2D surface irradiance patterns, which is the full, non-parameterized 5D light field. The 5D light field can be used to display perspective changes in a way that mimics cognitive processing of the same scene or object. 5D light fields can also be used to create high-precision, 3D depth maps suitable for 3D movies, interactive displays, machine vision, and other applications. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128413 | OBJECT IMAGE CROPPING METHOD, OBJECT IMAGE CROPPING SYSTEM AND DIGITAL IMAGE DEVICE - An image cropping method adapted to a digital image device with a first shooting parameter set to take a digital image of an object with a predetermined image size is provided. The method comprises performing an object detection to obtain a first object image size of the object. Then, according to the first object image size and the predetermined image size, the first shooting parameter set is changed to a second shooting parameter set so that the first image size is changed to a second image size under the second shooting parameter set, wherein the second image size is substantially equal to the predetermined image size. The digital image device with the second shooting parameter set takes a preliminary image of the object. The preliminary image is cropped into the digital image of the object. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128414 | Method and apparatus for automatically capturing and managing images - According to one embodiment of the invention, a camera determines whether to acquire an image (e.g., automatically), determines whether to store the acquired image, and determines how to store the acquired image. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128415 | IMAGE PROCESSING DEVICE AND IMAGE-SHOOTING DEVICE - The image processing device comprises a background/subject identification portion which identifies respectively, for each of a plurality of burst-shot images shot successively over time, a background area which is an area representing a background, and a subject area which is an area representing a subject; a background image generation portion which generates a background image which is an image representing a background, on the basis of the background area identified by the background/subject identification portion; a subject image generation portion which generates a subject image which is an image representing a subject, on the basis of the subject area identified by the background/subject identification portion; a correction portion which derives a direction of motion of a subject on the basis of the subject area identified by the background/subject identification portion, and which performs correction of the background image to create blur along the direction of motion of the subject; and a synthesis portion which synthesizes the subject image with the background image corrected by the correction portion. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128416 | Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus equipped with same - A zoom lens includes, in order from the object side, an object side lens group having a negative refracting power at the wide angle end and including at least one negative lens unit, and an image side lens group having a positive refracting power at the wide angle end and including at least one positive lens unit including a cemented doublet lens component. The distance between the two lens groups is smaller at the telephoto end than at the wide angle end. The cemented doublet lens component includes, in order from the object side, a negative object side lens having a concave surface facing the image side, and positive image side lens having a meniscus shape with a concave surface facing the image side. The cemented doublet lens component is located closest to the image side in the positive lens unit. The zoom lens satisfies specific conditions. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128417 | IMAGE PICK-UP APPARATUS AND IMAGE PICK-UP METHOD - An apparatus includes a processing portion having a first mode in which one piece of pixel information is output per m-square light receiving portion(s) among light receiving portions in a first region and a second mode in which one piece of pixel information is output per light receiving portions as many as a number calculated by multiplying a square of m by a square of n among light receiving portions in a second region which is a similar figure to the first region at a scaling factor of n times. The apparatus accepts an operation to switch between wide-angle and telephoto, switches the processing portion to the second mode when an operation to switch to wide-angle is accepted and the processing portion to the first mode when an operation to switch to telephoto is accepted, and outputs image information based on the pixel information output from the processing portion. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128418 | ZOOM LENS SYSTEM, IMAGING DEVICE AND CAMERA - A zoom lens system, in order from an object side to an image side, comprising a first lens unit having negative optical power, a second lens unit having positive optical power, a third lens unit having positive optical power, and a fourth lens unit having positive optical power, wherein in zooming, the intervals between the respective lens units vary, and the condition (I-1): 2ω | 2011-06-02 |
20110128419 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR X-DROOP CORRECTION IN SOLID STATE IMAGE SENSOR - A method and system is for limiting the x-droop effect in the digital image captured with solid state image sensors with a correction mechanism which instead of using only correction values from the same column to which the correction is applied, also takes the neighboring pixels into account to provide an averaged value to aid in the reduction of temporal and fixed noise contributions associated with the readout of a single pixel. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128420 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR REPEATED FIXED PATTERN NOISE CORRECTION - Repeated Fixed Pattern Noise (FPN) in solid state image sensors for a digitally encoded image captured with a sensor is corrected by exploits the periodicity of FPN pattern. In this way FPN is compensated by using a repeating pattern that is associated with repeating blocks of layout. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128421 | IMAGE CAPTURING APPARATUS AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD - An image capturing apparatus includes an image obtaining unit adapted to obtain a captured image of an object captured by an imaging optical system, a parameter value setting unit adapted to set a value of a parameter indicating a factor determining optical characteristics of the imaging optical system, an optical characteristics obtaining unit adapted to obtain optical characteristics of the imaging optical system during capture of the captured image, a recovery filter deciding unit adapted to decide a recovery filter for correcting deterioration of the image quality of the captured image due to optical characteristics of the imaging optical system, based on the obtained optical characteristics and the value of the parameter, and an image recovery unit adapted to perform recovery processing applying the recovery filter, on the captured image. The factor determining optical characteristics cannot be decided based on only an optical design parameter of the imaging optical system. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128422 | IMAGE CAPTURING APPARATUS AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD - An image capturing apparatus calculates the frequency component of each pixel of a captured image and divides the pixels into pixels in a recovery region, whose frequency components are equal to or more than a predetermined threshold, and other pixels in a non-recovery region. A recovery unit performs recovery processing for each pixel in the recovery region to correct the degradation of image quality caused by the optical characteristics of the image capturing unit. The recovery processing unit does not perform recovery processing for the pixels in the non-recovery region. The image capturing apparatus reconstructs the captured image by combining the pixels in the recovery region for which the recovery processing has been performed with the pixels in the non-recovery region. This makes it possible to suppress degradation of image quality in a region which does not match a recovery filter in terms of focal length. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128423 | IMAGE SENSOR AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME - An image sensor includes a plurality of color sensors, a plurality of depth sensors, a near-infrared cut filter, a color filter, a pass filter and a rejection filter. The color sensors and depth sensors are formed on a substrate. The near-infrared cut filter and the color filter are formed on the color sensors. The pass filter is formed on the depth sensors, and is adapted to transmit light having a wavelength longer than an upper limit of a visible light wavelength. The pass filter has a multi-layer structure wherein a semiconductor material and a semiconductor oxide material are alternately stacked. The rejection filter is formed over the near-infrared cut filter, the color filter and the pass filter, and is adapted to transmit light having a wavelength shorter than an upper limit of a near-infrared light wavelength. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128424 | SOLID-STATE IMAGING APPARATUS - A solid-state imaging apparatus which performs a global exposure operation, in a determined imaging region, for performing exposure as matching respective start times and respective end times of all rows, comprises: plural unit pixels arranged in two-dimensional matrix and each comprising a photoelectric converting unit for generating a pixel signal by photoelectric conversion, a holding unit for holding the generated pixel signal, and a first gate for transferring the generated pixel signal to the holding unit; a first controlling line connected commonly to the first gates in the unit pixels on the same row; a vertical controlling circuit for resetting the unit pixel; and a first driving line connected to the first controlling line, and not connected to and thus independent of the vertical controlling circuit, thereby enabling to reduce a current flowing in a power supply of the vertical controlling circuit when driving electrodes of the holding units. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128425 | CMOS IMAGE SENSOR WITH SELECTABLE HARD-WIRED BINNING - A CMOS image sensor allows for selectively outputting one of two vertical resolutions, e.g. 1080 to 720 lines. The scan conversion is implemented completely on the image sensor chip by using smaller sub-pixel cores, which can be electrically combined via switch transistors. A basic circuit of the CMOS image sensor has a number of pixel cells arranged in lines and columns. Each pixel cell has a photosensitive element that converts impinging light into electric charge and a first transfer element. The first transfer elements of m pixel cells arranged consecutively in the same column are arranged for transferring the charge generated in the respective m photosensitive elements during exposure to a single first charge storage element provided for the respective group of m pixel cells. In an exemplary embodiment the switching scheme allows for combining the signal information of either two or three vertically adjacent sub-pixel cores. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128426 | SOLID-STATE IMAGING APPARATUS - A solid-state imaging apparatus according to an embodiment includes pixels, horizontal control lines, vertical signal lines, a vertical scan circuit and a signal processing circuit; the horizontal control lines selecting the pixels in the row direction, the vertical signal lines having n lines (n is integer of 2 or larger) thereof arranged for each column so as to mutually intersect and being connected separately to pixels divided into n groups for each column, the vertical scan circuit selecting the horizontal control lines, and signal processing circuit processing pixel signals read out via the vertical signal lines simultaneously. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128427 | FOCUS APPARATUS OF IMAGE MEASURING SYSTEM - A focus apparatus comprises a first illuminator for emitting light onto an object, an optical apparatus, an image capture apparatus for receiving an image of the object through the optical apparatus, and converting the image into electronic signals, a spectroscope, a coaxial light apparatus and a patterned light apparatus. The coaxial light apparatus and the patterned light apparatus are perpendicularly mounted to a spectroscope. The coaxial light apparatus is perpendicular to the patterned light apparatus. The spectroscope refracts patterned light from the patterned light apparatus and coaxial light from the coaxial light apparatus to the optical apparatus. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128428 | SENSOR DEVICE, METHOD OF DRIVING SENSOR ELEMENT, DISPLAY DEVICE WITH INPUT FUNCTION, ELECTRONIC UNIT AND RADIATION IMAGE PICKUP DEVICE - A sensor device includes sensor elements two-dimensionally arranged and a sensor driving section driving the sensor elements. Each of the sensor elements includes a photoelectric conversion element generating electric charge according to an amount of received light, a charge storage section connected to one end of the photoelectric conversion element and storing electric charge generated by the photoelectric conversion element, a readout section reading either a voltage value resulted from the electric charge in the charge storage section or the stored electric charge, to output the read voltage value or the read electric charge and a reset section resetting the electric charge in the charge storage section through supplying a predetermined reset voltage to the charge storage section. The sensor driving section controls the reset section so that the predetermined reset voltage is continuously or intermittently supplied to the charge storage section over a period exceeding one horizontal scan period. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128429 | SOLID-STATE IMAGING DEVICE, METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME, IMAGE CAPTURING APPARATUS, SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME - A solid state imaging device including a semiconductor substrate; at least one light sensing portion with a charge accumulating portion in the semiconductor substrate; and a dielectric layer over an induced layer of the semiconductor substrate adjacent to the charge accumulation portion, the induced layer being induced by the dielectric layer | 2011-06-02 |
20110128430 | Image Sensors Having Multiple Photoelectric Conversion Devices Therein - Image sensors include a second photoelectric conversion device disposed in a lower portion of a substrate and a first photoelectric conversion device extending between the secondary photoelectric conversion device and a light receiving surface of the substrate. Electrical isolation between the first and second photoelectric conversion devices is provided by a photoelectron barrier, which may be an optically transparent electrically insulating material. MOS transistors may be utilized to transfer photoelectrons generated within the first and second photoelectric conversion devices to a floating diffusion region within the image sensor. These transistors may represent one example of means for transferring photoelectrons generated in the first and second photoelectric conversion devices to a floating diffusion region in the substrate, in response to first and second gating signals, respectively. The first and second gating signals may be active during non-overlapping time intervals. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128431 | DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF, AND COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIUM - A method for controlling a digital photographing apparatus, which includes first and second display units, includes the operations of mapping at least one function to the second display unit, and performing the at least one function in response to a gesture input. The method may further include the operation of displaying a hotkey image, which represents the at least one function, on the second display unit. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128432 | IMAGING DEVICE, IMAGING METHOD, AND IMAGING PROGRAM - An imaging device is provided for generating image data on the basis of light received by an imaging element. The imaging device includes a display unit which displays an image, a focus unit which detects a focus deviation, and a display controller which causes the display unit to display a composite image in which a first image of a region of at least a portion of a second image of the image data, and the second image are superposed and combined. The region is in a position in accordance with the focus deviation. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128433 | IMAGING DEVICE, IMAGING METHOD AND IMAGING PROGRAM - An imaging device produces images on the basis of signals, transmitted from an imaging element. The device includes a display controller which selectively carries out either a first or a second display process, based on a user's selection. The first display process includes obtaining a first portion of the signals from a first area of the imaging element at a first frame rate, and displaying a first through-the-lens image on the display unit on the basis of the first portion of the signals. The second display process includes obtaining the first portion of the signals from the first area of the imaging element at a second, lower frame rate; obtaining a second portion of the signals from a second area of the imaging element at the lower frame rate; and displaying a second through-the-lens image on the display unit on the basis of both portions of the signals. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128434 | LENS DRIVE DEVICE, IMAGE-CAPTURING DEVICE, AND ELECTRONIC APPARATUS - An image-capturing device includes a detector which detects that a resistance value of an actuator, made of shape memory alloy, is maintained within a predetermined range. The image-capturing device moves a lens step by step from a place corresponding to a first field in order to obtain image data from each one of the fields provided in a focus region. The image-capturing device also calculates a target place, where the lens should be finally positioned, by using the obtained image data, and then positions the lens at the calculated target place. The foregoing structure allows obtaining reliable and stable data. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128435 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD - An image processing apparatus includes a distribution detection unit configured to detect whether a luminance distribution on the screen changes to a hill-shaped form, based on a result of adding photometric values of each of divided photometry areas by rows and by columns, a difference calculation unit configured to calculate a luminance value difference between one portion of the screen and the peripheral portion thereof, a ratio calculating unit configured to calculate a ratio of pixels having a luminance value higher than or equal to a threshold value in the one portion, and a spotlight determination unit configured to determine whether a scene of the captured image is a spotlight scene according to a detection result of the distribution detection unit, calculation result of the difference calculation unit, and a calculation result of the ratio calculation unit. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128436 | IMAGING APPARATUS - An imaging apparatus includes a semiconductor light-emitting device functioning as a strobe light having a current limitation unit for limiting current to flow to the semiconductor light-emitting device. The current limitation unit limits current to flow to the semiconductor light-emitting device under a predetermined condition for increasing a current consumption amount. | 2011-06-02 |
20110128437 | IMAGE SIGNAL PROCESSING APPARATUS FOR DETACHING A PLURALITY OF MODULES AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - Provided are an image signal processing apparatus and a controlling method thereof. The image signal processing apparatus includes a signal decoder, an image signal processor, a display, a controller, a memory, and a power interface. The signal decoder decodes input signals, and the image signal processor processes signals decoded by the signal decoder so that they are outputable. The display outputs the signals processed by the image signal processor, and the controller allows a list of modules recognized by the connector to be displayed, and controls driving of the module selected by a user. The memory stores a program transmitted from the selected module, and the power interface supplies power to the module. | 2011-06-02 |