Konica-minolta Holdings, Inc.

Minolta Company, Ltd.

Minolta Camera Kabushiki Kaisha

Konica Minolta Opto, Inc.

Konica Minolta Medical and Graphic, Inc.

Kazuchika Sato

Koichi Kamon

Jun Minakuti

Mutsuhiro Yamanaka

Nobuyuki Taniguchi

Toshio Norita

Hiroyuki Okada

Noriyuki Okisu

Tetsuya Katagiri

Makoto Miyazaki

Keiji Tamai

Kazuki Akaho

Hiroaki Kubo

Shinichi Fujii

Yoshihiro Tanaka

So Yano

Masaki Asano

Yasuhiro Morimoto

Tomokazu Kakumoto

Masahiro Kitamura

Hirokazu Naruto

Mitsuru Saito

Masayuki Kusuda

Junya Wakahara

Yuusuke Nakano

Satoru Hirose

Yuji Adachi

Tetuya Katagiri

An array-type ultrasonic vibrator according to the present invention has an acoustic matching layer that has a plate-like body made of a material having a lower acoustic impedance than a plurality of piezoelectric elements. Signal wiring is formed on the plate-like body of the acoustic matching layer. Accordingly, for this array-type ultrasonic vibrator, the signal wiring can be easily formed without using additional components.

Array-type ultrasonic vibrator

An image sensing apparatus includes: an image sensor which generates an electrical signal commensurate with an amount of incident light, and has a photoelectric conversion characteristic comprised of a linear characteristic area where the electrical signal is outputted after being linearly converted in relation to the amount of incident light, and a logarithmic characteristic area where the electrical signal is outputted after being logarithmically converted in relation to the amount of incident light; an exposure evaluation value detector which detects an exposure evaluation value based on luminance information acquired from a subject in sensing an image of the subject; and an exposure controller which acquires a setting value for exposure based on the exposure evaluation value detected by the exposure evaluation value detector to control exposure of the image sensing apparatus, wherein the exposure controller determines a subject luminance for exposure setting based on the exposure evaluation value, and controls the exposure in such a manner that an output of the image sensor corresponding to the subject luminance for exposure setting is obtained from the linear characteristic area of the image sensor.

Image sensing apparatus with exposure controller

An image processing device and an image processing method of the invention generate multiple images having different edge preservation performances based on an original image, and synthesize the multiple images based on edge information. In the synthesis, the generated images are synthesized in such a manner that an image of an edge portion in the generated image having a low edge preservation performance is replaced by the generated image having a high edge preservation performance.

Edge preservation image processing device and image processing method

Image sensing apparatus

An image sensing apparatus including an image sensor having a first area and a second area and a gradation converter for applying a gradation conversion to an image signal is provided with a gradation conversion LUT storage storing at least two kinds of gradation conversion information. The image sensing apparatus is also provided with a gradation conversion information rewriting section for rewriting the gradation conversion information into new gradation conversion information. There can be provided an image sensing apparatus capable of carrying out a precise gradation conversion even in the case that the inflection point between the first area and the second area of the image sensor constantly changes.

Image sensing apparatus, image sensing system, and operating program product for image sensing system

An illumination component extractor is operable to extract an illumination component from input image data by: performing a smoothing process a certain number of times to generate a plurality of smooth image data having resolutions different from one another from the input image data, the smoothing process including an operation of filtering the input image data with use of a low-pass filter having a predetermined size and an operation of downsampling the filtered input image data; and performing an inverse-smoothing process a certain number of times, the inverse-smoothing process including an operation of replacing an edge portion of a smooth image data having a lower resolution with a smooth image data having a higher resolution, and an operation of upsampling the replaced smooth image data. The input image data is color image data which has been obtained by an image sensor including a number of pixels having different spectral sensitivities.

Image processing device, image processing method, and image pickup apparatus

An image processing device includes: a frequency divider for performing a frequency division processing of dividing an input image into a plurality of frequency components each having a frequency band; a noise remover for performing a noise component removal processing of removing a noise component from a high frequency component in the frequency components each having the frequency band obtained by the frequency division processing by the frequency divider; an edge preservation information calculator for detecting an edge intensity based on a low frequency component in the frequency components each having the frequency band obtained by the frequency division processing by the frequency divider, and calculating edge preservation information relating to a degree of preserving an edge component based on the detected edge intensity; an edge preserving section for preserving the edge component in the high frequency component, based on the edge preservation information calculated by the edge preservation information calculator; and a frequency synthesizer for synthesizing the high frequency component whose noise component is removed by the noise remover and whose edge component is preserved by the edge preserving section, and the low frequency component, in each of the frequency bands.

Image processing device, image processing method, and image sensing apparatus

An object of the present invention is to provide a solid-state image sensing device configured to change a bias voltage given to the photoelectric converting section at the time of resetting so that an operative condition of the photoelectric converting section after the resetting can be maintained a constant condition regardless of an amount of the incident light. To achieve the object, an MOS transistor Tis provided. The drain of the MOS transistor Tis connected with a gate and a drain of an MOS transistor Tand the source of the MOS transistor Tconfigured to be applied a DC voltage VRS. Here, a signal &#x3a6; V is given, an MOS transistor Tis turned on, and image data is output. A signal &#x3a6; RS is given and the MOS transistor Tis turned on. As a result, a gate voltage Vg of the MOS transistor Tis maintained as a constant voltage value. Then, a reset operation for pixels is stared.

Solid-state image sensing device including reset circuitry and image sensing device including the solid-state image sensing device and method for operating the same

An image sensing apparatus is provided with an image sensor having a photoelectric conversion characteristic having a linear characteristic area where an electrical signal is outputted after being linearly converted in relation to an amount of an incident light and a logarithmic characteristic area where the electrical signal is outputted after being logarithmically converted in relation to the amount of the incident light; an evaluation value detector for detecting exposure evaluation values concerning an exposure control based on a luminance information of a subject; and a central control unit for controlling the exposure based on the exposure evaluation values detected by the evaluation value detector. The central control unit includes an exposure amount control parameter calculating section for controlling an exposure amount in accordance with the photoelectric conversion characteristic using the exposure evaluation values and a dynamic range control parameter calculating section for controlling a dynamic range in accordance with the photoelectric conversion characteristic using the exposure evaluation values. Accordingly, a subject image can be picked up while an optimal exposure is made for the subject and a specified dynamic range is attained.

Image sensing apparatus and an image sensing method comprising a logarithmic characteristic area and a linear characteristic area

An image sensing apparatus is constructed in such a manner that a calculation priority setter() sets a priority between exposure amount control by an exposure amount control parameter calculator() serving as exposure amount controller, and dynamic range control by a dynamic range control parameter calculator() serving as dynamic range controller. Exposure control is executed by performing the exposure amount control and the dynamic range control based on a photoelectric conversion characteristic, by using exposure evaluation values detected by an evaluation value detector, based on the priority set by the calculation priority setter(). This arrangement provides an image sensing apparatus capable of performing exposure control with high latitude, wherein a user is allowed to capture a subject in an optimal exposure state, with an appropriate dynamic range being secured, and control primarily based on the exposure amount control or control primarily based on the dynamic range control is performed on the priority basis.

An image sensing apparatus is provided with an image sensor having a photoelectric conversion characteristic comprised of a linear characteristic area where an electrical signal is outputted after being linearly converted in relation to an amount of an incident light and a logarithmic characteristic area where the electrical signal is outputted after being logarithmically converted in relation to the amount of the incident light. An evaluation value detector of a signal processing unit detects evaluation values concerning an image sensing control from each of the linear characteristic area and the logarithmic characteristic area upon picking up an image of a subject based on pieces of subject luminance information in the respective areas. A central control unit (image sensing controller) carries out the image sensing control based on the evaluation values corresponding to the respective areas detected by the evaluation value detector.

Image sensing apparatus comprising a logarithmic characteristic area and a linear characteristic area

A three-dimensional input apparatus for generating data specifying the shape of an object by receiving the light from the object is disclosed. The detection light is irradiated toward the object by a projector so as to scan a virtual surface. An image sensing device detects the light reflected from the object. A controller thins out data and outputs it to the image sensing device in a direction corresponding to the main scanning direction of the virtual surface of the image sensing device. The controller also controls the image sensing device such that the light-receiving signal is repeatedly read on a line along the direction of movement of the received detection light in an effective area constituting a part of the image sensing surface thereby to read the light-receiving signal in the effective area.

Three-dimensional input apparatus and image sensing control method

An image of which restoration degree is determined based on the difference between each pixel and a neighboring pixel of the pixel in a light receiving element arrayis divided into a plurality of areas based on the determined restoration degree, and the areas of the image are each restored in accordance with the determined restoration degree. By doing this, not only ringing and noise enhancement can effectively be suppressed but also the border between the areas which is conspicuous when the image is divided into two kinds of areas becomes less conspicuous, so that a natural restored image can be obtained.

Apparatus, method, program and recording medium for image restoration

An image acquired by an image sensor is recorded, and the blur amount of the recorded image is changed in accordance with a blur amount determined beforehand.

Image capture device and method of controlling blur in captured images

An image taking apparatus includes an image sensor which picks up an image of a photographic object and a selector which selects a first photographing mode or a second photographing mode and a controller. The second photographing mode is a mode for composing a plurality of picked-up images to create a composite image. The controller makes the image sensor pickup a photographic object image on the first photographing condition when the first photographing mode is selected by the selector, and makes the image sensor pick up a plurality of images of photographic objects on the second photographing condition different from said first photographing condition when the second photographing mode is selected by the selector.

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Kobe, Japan

Kazuchika Sato