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US 2001/0019664 A1Published application
Camera projected viewfinder
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Company
InventorMaurizio Pilu
Life of this patent
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AssigneeHewlett-Packard Company
InventorMaurizio Pilu
Estimating the term…
The present invention relates to a camera (1) that projects a pattern of visible light (28) onto an object such as a document (10) to be photographed to indicate to a photographer the area of the object within view of the camera. The camera comprising image capture means (18), a lens (2) arranged to image the document (10) in an object plane onto the image capture means (18), an image framing projector (2,20,22) operable to project visible optical radiation (24,26) onto the object plane to indicate to a user of the camera (1) the bounds (28) of the document (10) imaged onto the image capture means (18), and a camera attitude sensor system (9,15) for sensing the attitude of the camera (1). The image framing projector (2,20,22) is operable in response to the attitude sensor system (9,15) to project the optical radiation (24,26) onto the object plane only when the attitude sensor system (9,15) senses that the camera (1) is oriented so that the optical radiation (24,26) will be projected downwards.
A camera comprising image capture means, a lens arranged to image an object in an object plane onto the image capture means, a light projector operable to project visible optical radiation onto the object plane to indicate to a user of the camera the field of view imaged onto the image capture means, and a camera attitude sensor system for sensing the attitude of the camera, wherein the image framing projector is operable in response to the attitude sensor system to project the optical radiation onto the object plane only when the attitude sensor system senses that the camera is oriented so that the optical radiation will be projected downwards.
A camera as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the attitude sensor system senses the rate of change of the attitude of the camera, the light projector being operable in response to the attitude sensor system to project the optical radiation onto the object plane only when the attitude sensor system senses that the rate of change of camera attitude is below a predetermined threshold.
A camera as claimed any preceding claim, comprising a timer that times a predetermined time delay in response to the camera attitude sensor when the camera has been oriented so that the optical radiation would be projected downwards, the optical radiation automatically being projected downwards following the predetermined time delay.
A camera as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the camera includes a manually operable control which when activated by a user of the camera causes the optical radiation to be projected when the attitude sensor system senses that the camera is oriented so that the optical radiation will be projected downwards.
A camera as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the camera has at least two modes of operation, one of the modes of operation being a document-capture mode, the camera being automatically configured in the document-capture mode when the attitude sensor system senses that the camera is oriented so that the optical radiation will be projected downwards.
A camera as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the source of optical radiation is projected onto the object plane independently of the lens.
A camera as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the image capture means includes a detector array.
A camera, substantially as herein described with reference to or as shown in the accompanying drawings.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.