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. 20, 1998
Filed:
Mar. 06, 1996
Applicant:
Inventors:
Junko Nagahata, Osaka, JP;
Hiroshi Ueda, Habikino, JP;
Akio Kinba, Suita, JP;
Tsuyoshi Kishimoto, Hannan, JP;
Tatsuo Nakashima, Matsubara, JP;
Assignee:
Minolta Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01B / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
2502018 ; 396 80 ; 396104 ; 396128 ;
Abstract
Where a person is being photographed, for example, both light from the person located at closer range and light from the background located farther away enter the photodetector elements. Where the contrast of the background is high, the rate at which the information from the background contributes to the focus detection becomes larger, which hinders accurate focus detection with regard to the person. In this case, the focus detection device divides a predetermined focus area into smaller areas and detects focus condition in each smaller area.