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:
Jan. 13, 1998
Filed:
Sep. 20, 1996
Applicant:
Inventor:
Masamichi Ishibashi, Tokyo, JP;
Assignee:
Niles Parts Co., Ltd., , JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G02B / ; G03B / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
396 21 ; 396323 ; 396332 ; 396351 ; 396429 ; 348118 ; 348148 ; 359843 ;
Abstract
A multi-direction camera comprising a mirror 3 having a plurality of reflecting surfaces 31 and 32 disposed in front of a lens 4. The lens 4 receives light reflected from the mirror 3 from a plurality of directions and forms an image by the image sensor 7. The mirror 3 can be moved linearly by an actuator 8. The arrangement of the mirror 3 and lens 4 allows the camera to image road conditions of multiple directions at the same time. The camera can also image a road condition in a single direction with a wider scope manually or automatically when the road condition in that direction needs to be confirmed preponderantly.