Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Corporation

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America

Sony Corporation

Teruyuki Takizawa

Kozo Ezawa

Kuniko Nakata

Hironori Okazawa

Masahiro Inata

Yoshito Saji

Hironori Tomita

Masayuki Misaki

Masao Hiramoto

Yoshito Sazi

Yoshihiro Ikawa

Takeshi Nakazawa

Masaaki Suzuki

Takashi Yumiba

Koichi Morioka

Hideki Shirane

Jiro Seki

Kenji Akimaru

Mitsuaki Oshima

Tohru Nakamura

Mitsuro Moriya

Yoshihiro Mushika

Takeo Santo

Yoshiaki Sugitani

Akihiko Nishioka

Yasumori Hino

Norio Miyatake

Masanari Mohri

Toshiyuki Shimada

Kiyoshi Uchida

Hidetsugu Kawabata

Kazuhisa Yamamoto

Tetsuro Mizushima

Yasunori Ishii

Taro Imagawa

Naoki Inoue

Shinji Uchida

Kanji Wakabayashi

Yoshikazu Goto

Hiroya Kusaka

Kenichi Kasazumi

Shinichi Kadowaki

Tomoya Sugita

Hiroshi Yamamoto

Takeshi Shimamoto

Manabu Obata

Yukio Nishino

Ichiro Kawamura

Hitoshi Fujii

Shigeto Ueno

Tsutomu Shimomura

Mitsunori Matsumura

Yukio Morioka

Eiichi Hanakawa

Yuji Nakamura

Masakazu Kobayashi

Masuo Maruyama

Tetsuji Yoshii

Goro Naoki

Hirohide Ichihashi

Minoru Kumahara

Tadashi Kuroda

Kazutaka Furuta

Koji Miyata

Shuji Iwasaki

Yasuaki Kameyama

Takuya Mori

In an actuator (camera driver) according to the present invention, when a movable unit is in a neutral position in which the movable unit has rotated around neither an axis nor an axis, a first synthetic vector and a second synthetic vector are directed toward an object to be driven with respect to a plane including the both axes. The first synthetic vector is defined by synthesizing together two first vectors, pointing toward a pair of magnetic yokes, of magnetic attraction forces between a pair of first driving magnets and the pair of magnetic yokes. The second synthetic vector is defined by synthesizing together two second vectors, pointing toward a pair of magnetic yokes, of magnetic attraction forces between a pair of second driving magnets and the pair of magnetic yokes.

Actuator and coil unit

An input/output operation device includes an actuator detection circuit part, a drive circuit part, a drive control calculation processing part that controls the drive circuit part, and a rotation body on which the actuator is installed. The actuator includes a movable unit freely rotatable independently about two axes orthogonal to each other, a fixed unit supporting the movable unit for free rotation, and a drive part driving the movable unit with respect to the fixed unit. The detection circuit part outputs a position signal corresponding to a position of an operation part. The drive circuit part controls the drive part. The rotation body rotates about a rotation axis, in which the control calculation processing part controls the drive of the operation part through use of a coordinate system stationary with respect to a reference rotation angle of the rotation body at different rotation angles of the rotation body.

Input/output operation device

Provided is an input/output operation device including: an operation unit, which is operated by an operator; a detection unit, which detects a position of the operation unit to generate a position signal corresponding to the position of the operation unit; a control circuit, which receives the position signal to generate a speed control signal; and a drive circuit, which receives the speed control signal to drive the operation unit, in which the control circuit: (a) causes the position signal to pass through a first filter circuit to generate a speed signal; (b) causes the position signal to pass through a second filter circuit, which has a frequency transmission characteristic that is different from that of the first filter circuit, to generate a correction signal; and (c) adds at least the speed signal and the correction signal together to generate the speed control signal.

An input/output operation device () includes: an operation part (); a movable unit () including a loosely fitted space inside, a main body supporting the operation part () and including a first loosely fitted surface () exposed in the loosely fitted space, and at least one drive magnet (); a fixed unit including a second loosely fitted surface () in point- or line-contact with the first loosely fitted surface of the movable unit, a holder () supporting the movable unit for free rotation, a base () including a space for accommodating at least a part of the movable unit and supporting the holder, and at least one drive coil (); a drive part to rotate the movable unit with respect to the fixed unit; and a detector to detect a position of the operation part in the fixed unit. One of the first and second loosely fitted surfaces includes an inner peripheral surface formed into a recessed portion, and another one of the first and second loosely fitted surfaces includes at least one protruded spherical surface.

A selector includes a lever guide, an operating lever, and a stopper. The lever guide has first and second movable-path slits therein. The first movable-path slit extends from a first position to a second position along a first direction. The second movable-path slit extends along a second direction different from the first direction as to intersect the first movable-path slit at an intersection position. The second movable-path includes a third position. The operating lever is movable in along the first and second movable-path slits. The operating lever is configured to move to the first position through the first and second movable-path slits. The stopper slides and contacts the operating lever when the operating lever moves from the third position to the first position. The stopper slides and contacts the operating lever when the operating lever moves from the first position to the third position. The stopper opens and closes an opening-and-closing target path out of the first movable-path slit between the second position and the intersection position in conjunction with a movement of the operating lever.

Selector

An input and output operation device includes an actuatorincluding an operation unit; a movable unit having the operation unit and at least one attraction magnet mounted thereon and including a concaved portion in a part thereof; a secured unit including a convexed spherical surface loosely engageable with at least one magnetic member and the concaved portion of the movable unit, the convexed spherical surface being point-contactable or line-contactable with the concaved portion of the movable unit by a magnetic attraction force, the secured unit supporting the movable unit such that the movable unit is freely rotatable as centered around a spherical center of the convexed spherical surface; a first driving unit rotating the operation unit as centered around an X-axis passing the spherical center; a second driving unit rotating the operation unit as centered around a Y-axis perpendicular to the X-axis; a third driving unit rotating the movable unit as centered around a Z-axis that is perpendicular to the X-axis and the Y-axis and is a central axis of the operation unit; and a detector detecting a first rotation angle and a second rotation angle of the operation unit around the X-axis and the Y-axis; and also includes a detection circuit unitgenerating first and second rotation angle signals; a control computation processing unitgenerating first and second target rotation angle signals; and a driving circuit unitgenerating a signal usable to drive the first and second driving units.

Input and output operation device

A zoom magnification calculation device associates a plurality of delay times with a plurality of zoom magnifications. The zoom magnification calculation device inputs, from the image-capturing device, i) an instruction for capturing the image of the object with one of the plurality of zoom magnifications, ii) a first relative distance from the object to the transportation vehicle at a time, iii) a moving speed of the transportation vehicle. The zoom magnification calculation device calculates, based on the inputting of the instruction using i) one of the plurality of the delay times associated with the one of the plurality of the zoom magnifications, ii) the first relative distance, and iii) the moving speed, a second relative distance in which the transportation vehicle becomes closer to the object than the first relative distance, and calculates an adjusted zoom magnification corresponding to the second relative distance.

Image-capturing device for moving body

A camera driving apparatus according to the present invention includes: a camera section with an imaging plane; a movable unit which houses the camera section inside and includes an attracting magnet and a convex partial sphere on its outer surface; a fixed unit which has a depressed portion in which a magnetic body and the movable unit are loosely fit, which brings the convex partial sphere of the movable unit into a point or line contact with the depressed portion under magnetic attractive force of the attracting magnet to the magnetic body, and which allows the movable unit to rotate freely on the spherical centroid of the first convex partial sphere; a panning driving section; a tilting driving section; a rolling driving section; a lens driving section; an image sensor driving section; a first detector which detects the tilt angles of the camera section in the panning and tilting directions with respect to the fixed unit; a second detector which detects the angle of rotation of the camera section that is rotating in the rolling direction; and a third detector which detects the magnitudes of shift of the image sensor along the panning rotation axis and the tilting rotation axis.

Camera drive device

This camera driving apparatus includes: a camera section with an imaging plane; a movable unit which houses the camera section inside and includes an attracting magnet and a convex partial sphere on its outer surface; a fixed unit which has a depressed portion in which a magnetic body and the movable unit are loosely fit, which brings the convex partial sphere of the movable unit into a point or line contact with the depressed portion under magnetic attractive force of the attracting magnet to the magnetic body, and which allows the movable unit to rotate freely on the spherical centroid of the first convex partial sphere; a panning driving section; a tilting driving section; a rolling driving section; a camera driving section which shifts either the entire camera section or just its lens or image sensor in an optical axis direction with respect to the movable unit; a first detector which detects the tilt angles of the camera section in the panning and tilting directions with respect to the fixed unit; a second detector which detects the angle of rotation of the camera section that is rotating in the rolling direction; and a third detector which detects the magnitude of shift of either the camera section or its lens or image sensor in the optical axis direction.

A camera driving apparatus according to the present invention includes: a camera section with an imaging plane; a movable unit which houses the camera section inside and includes an attracting magnet and a convex partial sphere on its outer surface; a fixed unit which has a depressed portion in which a magnetic body and the movable unit are loosely fit, which brings the convex partial sphere of the movable unit into a point or line contact with the depressed portion under magnetic attractive force of the attracting magnet to the magnetic body, and which allows the movable unit to rotate freely on the spherical centroid of the first convex partial sphere; a panning driving section; a tilting driving section; a rolling driving section; a camera driving section which shifts an image sensor two-dimensionally in a plane that intersects with the optical axis at right angles and which rotates the image sensor on the optical axis; a first detector which detects the tilt angles of the camera section in the panning and tilting directions; a second detector which detects the angle of rotation of the camera section that is rotating in the rolling direction; and a third detector which detects the magnitudes of shift of the image sensor along the panning rotation axis and the tilting rotation axis.

An imaging device includes: a movable lens unit including at least one lens for converging light from a subject and a lens holder supporting the at least one lens; a body base supporting the movable lens unit so as to be capable of moving along a first direction and a second direction which are orthogonal to each other on a plane perpendicular to an optical axis of the at least one lens and along a third direction which is parallel to the optical axis of the at least one lens; an imager being supported by the body base for converting light transmitted through the movable lens unit to an electrical signal; a driving mechanism being provided on the movable unit and/or body base for driving the movable lens unit along the first, second, and third directions; and a plurality of strain detectors provided between the movable unit and the body base.

Image pickup device

A camera driving apparatus includes a camera section including an imaging plane; a movable unit having the camera section built therein, having an attracting magnet therein, and having a convex partial spherical surface along an outer surface thereof; a fixed unit having a magnetic member therein and having a recess loosely fitted with the movable unit, wherein a magnetic attracting force of the attracting magnet with respect to the magnetic member puts the convex partial spherical surface of the movable unit into point or line contact with the recess and thus the movable unit is freely rotatable around a sphere center of the first convex partial spherical surface; a panning driving section; a tilting driving section; a rolling driving section; a first detector for detecting a tilt angle of the camera section in the panning and tilting directions with respect to the fixed unit; and a second detector for detecting a rotation angle of the camera section in the rolling direction. The second detector is provided in the vicinity of the sphere center of the first convex partial spherical surface.

Camera drive device with a moveable unit that is freely rotatable relative to a fixed unit

The present invention provides an image capturing technique for obtaining, at the same time, multiple images with parallax and an image that would cause no sensitivity problem even without mechanically operating any part of its image capturing system. The 3D image capture device of this invention includes: a light transmitting memberhaving a polarizing area A that transmits only a light ray polarized in a particular direction and a non-polarizing area C that transmits any light ray irrespective of its polarization direction; a solid-state image sensorarranged to receive the light ray transmitted through the light transmitting member; an imaging sectionfor producing an image on the imaging areaof the solid-state image sensor; and an image generating section for generating images based on signals supplied from the image sensor, which includes a filter array including a polarization filter. The image generating section generates images based on the light rays that have entered the polarizing area A and the non-polarizing area C, respectively.

Three-dimensional image capture device

A 3D image capture device includes: a light transmitting memberwith polarizing areas and a non-polarizing area; a solid-state image sensorfor receiving the light transmitted through the member; an imaging sectionfor producing an image on the imaging areaof the sensor; and an image generating section. The memberhas n polarizing areas P(), P(), . . . and P(n) (where n is an integer and n&#x2267;2), each of which transmits only a light ray polarized in a particular direction, and a non-polarizing area P(n+1) that transmits any light ray irrespective of its polarization direction. Those n polarizing areas have mutually different transmission axis directions. The sensorincludes a pixel array, divided into pixel blocks each consisting of (n+1) pixels, and a filter array including n polarization filters arranged so as to face n out of the (n+1) pixels and having different transmission axis directions. The image generating section generates images based on the light rays that have entered the n polarizing areas and the non-polarizing area using pixel signals supplied from those pixels.

An image capture device includes: an array of pixelsincluding a plurality of pixelswhich are arranged two-dimensionally on an imaging area; a pixel signal reading sectionfor reading a pixel signal from each pixel; and an image generating sectionfor generating an image based on the pixel signals having been read by the pixel signal reading section. The array of pixels is divided into M unit pixel blocks(where M is an integer of 2 or more) each containing N pixels (where N is an integer of 2 or more). The pixel signal reading section reads the pixel signals from the N pixelscontained in each unit pixel blockat every time interval T, with respectively different timings.

Imaging device, solid-state imaging element, image generation method, and program

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Teruyuki Takizawa