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US 12,120,409 B2Granted
Image capturing apparatus having a fan and foreign substance remover
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorKoji Tamura
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An image capturing apparatus includes an image capturing element, a fan, a foreign substance removal unit, and a control unit. The fan generates airflow for cooling the image capturing element. The foreign substance removal unit removes a foreign substance from an exposure surface of the image capturing element on an object side of an imaging plane. The control unit operates the foreign substance removal unit to remove a foreign substance adhered to the exposure surface after driving the fan.
Claims15
An image capturing apparatus comprising:
- an image capturing element configured to capture an image;
- a fan configured to generate airflow for cooling the image capturing element;
- a foreign substance remover having structure configured to remove a foreign substance from an exposure surface of a cover glass of the image capturing element on an object side of an imaging plane;
- and
- a controller configured to perform control,
- wherein the controller performs control to drive the fan and cause the image capturing element to capture an image while driving the fan, and then the controller performs control to turn on the foreign substance remover to remove a foreign substance adhered to the exposure surface of the cover glass after driving and then stopping the fan, and
- wherein the controller performs control to turn on the foreign substance remover in a case where the fan has a drive history and perform control not to turn on the foreign substance remover in a case where the fan does not have a drive history.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.