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:
Jun. 19, 2012
Filed:
Apr. 28, 2009
Hisashi Ishiwata, Tokyo, JP;
Hisashi Ishiwata, Tokyo, JP;
Sony Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image pickup apparatus includes: an in-focus operation section configured to drive a focus lens to move over a predetermined driving range in order to detect evaluation values each representing the strength of the contrast of an image signal generated based on a subject of an image pickup operation from a plurality of predetermined positions and find an in-focus position of the focus lens based on the evaluation values; a detector configured to acquire first evaluation values obtained for the predetermined positions during a first period of driving the focus lens to move over the predetermined driving range, and second evaluation values obtained for at least one of the predetermined positions during a second period between the end of the first period and a process to find the in-focus position based on the first evaluation values; and a change measurement section configured to measure a change of the evaluation value.