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. 12, 2002
Filed:
Feb. 08, 2000
Applicant:
Inventor:
Toshiaki Ishimaru, Hino, JP;
Assignee:
Olympus Optical Co., Ltd., , JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G03B 1/316 ; G03B 1/720 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G03B 1/316 ; G03B 1/720 ;
Abstract
A camera has a finder device. A liquid crystal element is arranged in the finder device and has an image area and at least one of an index area indicating an image range and an index area indicating information relating to photographing. A control circuit switches modes between a first mode in which the image area is set into a light transmitting state and a second mode in which the image area is set into a light shielding state according to a voltage applied to the liquid crystal element. The index areas always provide index display irrespective of application of the voltage to the liquid crystal element.