Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Kiyoharu Nishiyama

Kunikazu Tsuda

A system for delivering contents includes a center system which delivers the contents, a plurality of terminal systems which receive the contents from the center system and displays the contents, and communication lines connecting the center system to the plurality of terminal systems. The center system includes a delivery-schedule setting unit which sets a schedule of delivery, and a contents-delivery unit which delivers the contents to the terminal systems according to the schedule of delivery during a time period when a load on the terminal systems is lower than a predetermined level.

Multi-media data automatic delivery system

A focusing method and apparatus which changes the shutter speed and/or the focusing sampling frequency in order to increase the speed at which an image is brought into focus while at the same time, preventing the influence of flicker from artificial light powered by an AC power source. As the focus evaluation value is based on the brightness of a signal, shutter speeds and frequencies are set in order to avoid the influence of flicker on the focusing process. A shutter speed of {fraction (1/100)}th of a second with a sampling frequency of 60 Hz can be used in environments which are sufficiently bright in order to increase the focusing speed. Also, the focusing sampling frequency may be set to be large when the focus is far from the focusing point in order to quickly bring the image into focus and the sampling frequency subsequently decreases as the focusing position is approached in order to reduce the chances that the focusing position will be passed. Another feature is to record images as the focus position is being approached so that when the in-focus position is passed, there is no need to back up the focusing lens to the in-focus position to obtain the still image as the still image will have been previously recorded. The other frames which have been recorded may then be discarded.

Focus controlling method and camera which sets different focus sampling frequencies when recording still images and when recording a series of consecutive images

A focusing method and apparatus which changes the shutter speed and/or the focusing sampling frequency in order to increase the speed at which an image is brought into focus while at the same time, preventing the influence of flicker from artificial light powered by an AC power source. As the focus evaluation value is based on the brightness of a signal, shutter speeds and frequencies are set in order to avoid the influence of flicker on the focusing process. A shutter speed of 1/100th of a second with a sampling frequency of 60 Hz can be used in environments which are sufficiently bright in order to increase the focusing speed. Also, the focusing sampling frequency may be set to be large when the focus is far from the focusing point in order to quickly bring the image into focus and the sampling frequency subsequently decreases as the focusing position is approached in order to reduce the chances that the focusing position will be passed. Another feature is to record images as the focus position is being approached so that when the in-focus position is passed, there is no need to back up the focusing lens to the in-focus position to obtain the still image as the still image will have been previously recorded. The other frames which have been recorded may then be discarded.

Focus controlling method and apparatus which uses different focusing

An image data store device for storing image data in a memory includes a memory gauging unit for gauging an amount of unused space remaining in the memory, a comparison unit for making a comparison of the noted amount with a memory volume needed to store one image in the memory and for providing information on the comparison, and a display unit for displaying the information.

Image data store device

In a focal controller of a camera, two brightness components in different frequency bands are obtained by two band pass filters from a video signal obtained by image pickup. Integral values a and b of the respective brightness components are detected by integrating circuits. When both a ratio a/b and a value a calculated by an arithmetic circuit are increased, a CPU judges this increase as an unfocusing position of a focusing lens. In contrast to this, when an increasing degree of the ratio a/b is decreased or tends to be decreased, the CPU judges this decrease as a position near a focusing position of the focusing lens. Thus, the driving speed of a focusing motor is set to a high speed in the unfocusing position and is set to a low speed in the position near the focusing position. For example, a microcomputer obtains a focal evaluation value at an interval of three fields (k+2 after k-1) in the vicinity of a focusing position and compares this focal evaluation value with reference data.

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Saitama, Japan

Kiyoharu Nishiyama