Patent · US Active

Imaging device with autofocus operation

US9172864B2 · kind B2 · utility

0Cited by
2References
9Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateSep 13, 2011
Grant dateOct 27, 2015
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 13, 2031

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG03B13/36
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An imaging device that images a subject includes a focus lens group that collects a light beam from the subject and forms an image of the subject, a focus motor that drives the focus lens group in the optical axis direction, and an imaging element that performs photoelectric conversion of the light beam and outputs a video signal. The imaging device further includes a contrast signal generator that generates and outputs a lower-frequency contrast signal from a luminance component of the video signal, an AF processor that employs the lower-frequency contrast signal as an auto focus evaluation value and moves the focus lens group to the in-focus position with wobbling the focus lens group, and a histogram signal generator that generates and outputs a high-luminance pixel count of the video signal. The AF processor varies the amplitude of the wobbling of the focus lens group based on the high-luminance pixel count.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.