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:
Dec. 04, 2001
Filed:
Jun. 16, 1999
Koutaro Kawabe, Sakai, JP;
Atsutaka Ito, Sakai, JP;
Satoshi Yokota, Toyonaka, JP;
Kimihiko Nakamura, Toyonaka, JP;
Minolta Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
An object follow-up mechanism, installed in a camera, which allows the camera to follow movement of a main object to be photographed. The mechanism includes an image detection device for taking an image into a photographing visual field and for extracting a feature of the image; an image recognition device for recognizing a possible candidate region, on which the main object locates, on a basis of the feature; a display device for displaying the candidate region(s); a main object region selection device for selecting at least one candidate region from the displayed candidate region(s) as a main object region in which the main object is present; and a main object region storing device for storing the feature extracted by the image detection device as a feature standard with respect to the image in the main object region thus selected.