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:
Feb. 03, 1998
Filed:
Jan. 16, 1997
Fumiaki Ishito, Sakai, JP;
Minolta Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A camera is equipped with a finder having a field-of-view frame switching mechanism that is provided with, in addition to a stationary frame plate disposed in an optical path, two rotatable frame plates each of which moves in the optical pass to overlap with the stationary frame plate, to define three fields of different sizes. The stationary frame plate has a window of a standard size, one of the rotatable frame plates has a window of a classic size and the other has a window of panoramic size. Each of the fields of view is defined by a single frame plate. When the rotatable frame members are at their retracted positions, they substantially overlap with each other and are pushed by a spring in a direction to move in the optical path. Their movement is controlled by a cam member, which is moved in accordance with a user's operation to switch the size of a picture taken by the camera.