Minolta Company, Ltd.

Masahito Niikawa

Yasuhiro Morimoto

Kenji Nakamura

Toshiyuki Tanaka

Hiroaki Kubo

Katsuyuki Nanba

Toshihito Kido

Hiroshi Ueda

Gen Sasaki

Shinichi Fujii

Jun Minakuti

Toshihiro Hamamura

Kiyofumi Hashimoto

Naoki Masazumi

Kazuhiko Yukawa

Hirokazu Naruto

Daigo Yoshioka

Motoshi Yamaguchi

Yoshiharu Kobayashi

Kazumi Yukawa, Legal Representative

Izumi Hayakawa

An electronic information device which uses a memory card to which a liquid crystal display using liquid crystal with a memory effect is attached. If a command to turn off the electric power source is issued during writing of information on the liquid crystal display, a power-off process is executed after completion of the writing. This electronic information device is adapted, for example, to be used as a digital camera.

Electronic information device having a display and method and apparatus for controlling power-off of the display

In a digital camera using an ND filter to be inserted into an optical path of an optical lens system, defocus quantity of the taking lens and imbalance of white balance due to the insertion of the ND filter are previously calculated or measured. The ND filter is inserted into the optical path when user fully pushes down a shutter release switch for taking an image of an object in order to shorten supply of electric power to an actuator for driving the ND filter. The position of the taking lens is compensated just before an image pickup device is driven for taking the image. The white balance of the image signals from the image pickup device is compensated by using the previously measured compensation coefficients.

Image pickup apparatus including selective insertion of ND filter into taking lens optical path based on luminance of object to be imaged

A digital camera comprises a camera body and an image sensing unit. The image sensing unit is provided with a taking lens and an image sensing device for taking images and with an optical viewfinder. The camera body is provided with a controller for controlling the camera, signal processing circuits for processing signals from the image sensing device, a display device for displaying images taken and an interface for recording images taken onto a memory card. The display device serves as a viewfinder. In taking a image, the controller performs an AF control of the taking lens. When power supply to the camera is started, and when the display device is activated, the controller sets the taking lens at a predetermined focus position where in-focus condition is obtained for distant to close-range views, so that blurred images are not displayed on the display device.

Digital camera having controller for reducing occurrences of blur in displayed images

A camera system includes a camera for photographing an object and acquiring image data of the object, and a computer connectable to the camera. The camera is provided with a manipulation member and a camera controller for detecting an operation of the manipulation member and transmitting a signal based on the detected results to the computer. The computer is provided with a controller for controlling a screen of a display functioning together with the computer based on the signal received from the camera.

Camera system including camera and computer having inter-device control capability and camera thereof

In a digital cameraan interchangeable lensis attachable to a camera bodyand a lens ROMis provided in the interchangeable lensIn the lens ROMan ICC profile which is color compensate information particular to the interchangeable lensis recorded. When photographing is performed with the interchangeable lensattached, the ICC profile is associated with the obtained image data. Consequently, color compensate information can be set for each kind of interchangeable lens, so that color compensation reflecting the characteristic of the interchangeable lens can be appropriately performed on the image data.

Camera body and interchangeable lens of a digital camera with image-dependent color compensation

Downloading of an inspection program for an electronic device to be supported is accepted on the home page of the support center. The user executes the downloaded inspection program on the electronic device to generate inspection results. Then, uploading of the inspection results is accepted on the home page, a computer of the support center analyzes the uploaded inspection results to generate a diagnosis result, and the diagnosis result including necessity of repair is transferred to the user. Thereby, it is possible to properly and quickly diagnose the electronic device on the user's side and reduce the support cost by preventing unnecessary transport of the electronic device.

Method and apparatus for diagnosing electronic device

An image processing device gives an alarm if deletion of image is directed in a state that the image has not yet been transferred from an image recording medium into a storage medium having a larger capacity. Also, when a deletion operation is performed for image, the image processing device compresses and stores the corresponding image file in accordance with an evaluation rank based on history data for the image. Therefore, the image processing device allows effective use of the storage medium having a limited capacity by contriving compression processing of the image file.

Image processing device for processing images which are recorded in a recording medium and a method thereof

The digital camera has the function of registering a captured image or the like in an album file and includes a display such as an LCD and a switch button (QV button) for switching a display image on the display. An image to be displayed on the display is changed in response to depression of a switch button among a live view image in a capturing mode, a reproduction image regarding a data file in a reproduction mode, and an album image regarding an album file in an album reproduction mode. For example, in response to depression of the switch button, the images are sequentially displayed in the above-described order. Preferably, when a captured file is not stored, a reproduced image is not displayed. When an album file is not registered, an album image is not displayed.

Digital camera having an improved user interface

A digital camera which is an image processing apparatus is controlled so that a first image and a second image are acquired for the same subject in different timings. A plurality of correction tables for use in shading correction are prepared in advance in a shading ROM of the digital camera. When a first image and a second image are acquired, multiplication of one correction table is performed on both images by a shading correction circuit. As a result of this, a shading correction is effected on both images. The first image and the second image that have been subjected to the shading correction are taken into respective image memories, and after being subjected to a positioning process by a general controller, they are synthesized to generate a synthesized image.

Image processing apparatus for performing shading correction on synthesized images

A rotatable semitransparent mirror is arranged at an inclination above the optical path from the taking lens to the image sensing element, and the light reflected by the semitransparent mirror is directed to an optical finder provided above the mirror. The image sensed by the image sensing element is displayed on a liquid crystal display. The variation in the optical path from the taking lens to the image sensing element depending on whether or not the semitransparent mirror is set on the optical path is corrected by changing the position of the image sensing element or the taking lens, such that the impingement state of the light on the image sensing element or the optical path length from the taking lens to the image sensing element is normally rendered fixed. Both the image provided by the optical finder and the image displayed by the liquid crystal display accurately represent the image forming state on the image sensing element regardless of whether or not the semitransparent mirror is set on the optical path.

Digital camera having multiple image taking modes

Flash emission is required when image data have a low luminance value and when it is determined that flash emission is not prohibited, the built-in flash is used for autofocus (AF). An AF evaluation value is obtained under the flash emission, and the lens is driven based on this value. This operation is repeated until it is determined that the lens is focused, and accurate AF is executed even in dark conditions.

Digital camera utilizing illumination from a flash light for focus detection and control

A determination is made as to whether or not the magnification set for image sensing is greater than the upper limit of the optical finder. When the set magnification is greater, the original image is subjected to a thinness process, the LCD is automatically turned ON, and the image is displayed. When using electronic zoom, an image of the photographic object corresponding to the effective image sensing magnification is displayed on the LCD, thereby avoiding impairing the compactness of the digital camera allowing easy confirmation of the photographic object, and allowing easy framing without providing a large optical finder.

Digital camera having an electronic zoom function

An image processing system includes a photographing apparatus, and an image processing apparatus to which the photographing apparatus and a recording medium can be connected. The photographing apparatus includes a controller for executing a program recorded in the recording medium. The image processing apparatus includes a processor for creating a region accessible from the photographing apparatus, and a controller for causing the program to be stored in the region.

Image processing system, method for formatting recording medium, and program product

A digital camera comprises a camera body and an image sensing unit. The image sensing unit includes a taking lens, a driver of the taking lens and an image sensor, and is attachable to the camera body directly or by a cable. The camera body includes an image processor for processing image data from the image sensing unit, a flash for emitting flash light, a recorder for recording the image data, a display for displaying images, and other circuits. An interface for a personal computer and a video capture adaptor can be attached to the camera body instead of the image sensing unit. The camera body is provided with a power source section having power supplying portions each assigned to a specific circuit such as the lens driver, the image sensor, the flash, the image processor, the interface and the adaptor. The camera body detects what is attached thereto and whether the cable is used, and supplies power only to those circuits that should be activated in accordance with the result of the detection.

Digital camera including power supply controller responsive to connection detection

An image display system includes a photographing apparatus and an image processing apparatus connectable to the photographing apparatus. The photographing apparatus has a transmitter for transmitting prephotographed image data of an object before the object is actually photographed. The image processing apparatus has a receiver for receiving the prephotographed image data transmitted from the transmitter, and a display for displaying the received image data with the same number of pixels as the photographing apparatus.

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Sakai, Japan

Masahito Niikawa