The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 14, 1997
Filed:
Dec. 04, 1996
Shigemasa Sato, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Nikon Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A user-friendly camera with a visual line detection system simplifies the operation by making manual selection possible for establishing an auto focus region directly without going through time consuming procedures, even when the camera is selecting an auto focus region based on visual line information. An auto selection mode, a visual line selection mode, and a manual selection mode are available for establishing an auto focus region with mode selection being made by an auto focus region switching system. When selection of the auto focus region is being executed in the visual line selection mode, signals from the auto focus region manual selection system may be entered so that the manual selection input takes priority and the intention of the photographer becomes the priority. The change of mode is temporarily executed easily during the visual line selection mode operation.