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:
Mar. 15, 2016
Filed:
Jul. 11, 2013
Applicant:
Panasonic Corporation, Osaka, JP;
Inventor:
Koji Shibuno, Osaka, JP;
Assignee:
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H04N 5/228 (2006.01); G03B 13/36 (2006.01); H04N 5/232 (2006.01); G02B 7/36 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G03B 13/36 (2013.01); G02B 7/36 (2013.01); H04N 5/23212 (2013.01); G03B 2217/005 (2013.01);
Abstract
An image pickup apparatus including an imaging unit configured to capture an image of a subject to output image data, an optical system that includes a focus lens and is configured to form an image of the subject on the imaging unit, a finder that allows a user to view the subject, a proximity sensor configured to sense proximity of an object to the finder, and a controller configured to perform a focus operation to drive the focus lens to focus on the image of the subject when the proximity sensor senses proximity of an object, and fix the position of the focus lens after completion of the focus operation until a predetermined condition is satisfied.