Canon Patent To Recognize Vertical Mode Through Eye Sensor

November 19, 2021
Canon Patents
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Not sure I get how this Canon patent application might be useful. But who am I to tell? Patent application to recognize vertical use mode through the eye sensor.

Canon patent application 2021-180437 (Japan, spotted by asobinet.com) discusses methods to recognize the vertical use mode through data delivered by the eye sensor in addition to the gyro sensor, to avoid false detection. If I got it right, this should work to change the orientation in live view. From the patent literature:

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image pickup device having excellent operability, which can perform suitable control when a user looks into an electronic viewfinder and takes a picture.
Conventionally, there are known image pickup devices that detect the position of a user’s face and perform various functions based on the detected position of the face. For example, in Patent Document 1, the position information of a face element is detected from a face image taken by an in-camera, the vertical direction of the face image is determined, and the display direction of the image information in the display unit is determined according to the vertical direction of the face image. A portable terminal device to be controlled has been proposed.
However, in the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 1, in a camera provided with an electronic viewfinder, when a user looks into the electronic viewfinder and takes a picture, a face image cannot be acquired and the face cannot be acquired.The vertical direction of the image cannot be determined.
Therefore, when the direction in which the user holds the camera or the direction of the user’s face with respect to the camera is changed, the image information is displayed in the display unit in a display direction different from the direction desired by the user. Operability is reduced. Further, other controls such as control according to a voice input for instructing a direction cannot be suitably performed, and control is performed in a direction different from the direction intended by the user, resulting in poor operability.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an image pickup device having excellent operability, which can perform suitable control when a user looks into an electronic viewfinder and takes a picture.
The image pickup apparatus of the present invention includes an electronic viewfinder that displays an captured image, a detection means that detects the posture of the image pickup device, and an acquisition means that acquires information on the eyes of a user who sees the electronic viewfinder. Based on the information acquired by the acquisition means, the determination means for determining the orientation of the user’s face with respect to the image pickup device, the detection result of the detection means, and the determination result of the determination means. It is characterized by having a control means for changing the control of the image pickup apparatus.

More Canon patent applications are listed here. Some particularly interesting patent applications we think might get into production are these: