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:
Apr. 24, 2007
Filed:
Apr. 06, 2004
Hiroshi Nishimura, Tokyo, JP;
Osamu Sakata, Tokyo, JP;
Sakiko Yamaguchi, Kawasaki, JP;
Rikako Sakai, Hino, JP;
Hiroshi Nishimura, Tokyo, JP;
Osamu Sakata, Tokyo, JP;
Sakiko Yamaguchi, Kawasaki, JP;
Rikako Sakai, Hino, JP;
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An object of this invention is to provide an image recording unit, which can pivot an image recording unit main body having a photographing optical system, which includes at least a photographing lens and an image pickup element, like the behavior of an eyeball, can realize a compact camera as a whole, and can reduce noise. In order to achieve this object, an image recording unit of this invention includes an image recording unit main body which accommodates at least a photographing lens and photographing apparatus in a case, and has a spherical surface portion for defining a driving surface at least on the outer surface of the case, support means for rotatably supporting the image recording unit main body to have a crossing point of at least two orthogonal axes as a center of rotation of the spherical portion, and frictional driving apparatus for frictionally driving the image recording unit main body independently in arbitrary directions by a frictional force generated between the driving surface and the support mechanism.