Canon Patent Application: IBIS Improvements

In this patent application (2024-071858) Canon looks to improve the operation of IBIS on your cameras near and dear to your heart. While we'll never know if this patent will end up in the R1 or the R5 Mark II, all these types of patents silently make the little improvements that ultimately add up to big improvements upon release.

The general concept of this patent application is to compensate for the small vibrations from the IBIS unit from the camera's movement sensor. I could see this type of movement compounding using IBIS during the video, as it could cause undesirable effects if the control logic were not written correctly. This patent was written with the background of a shutter movement, so I suspect Canon is looking at this to improve the IBIS functionality during stills, but any improvement for stills should also carry over to video.

How Canon breaks down this patent application is as follows. This is machine-translated Japanese AND a patent application, so the wording is awkward. Canon mentions the background of this problem is with hybrid IS + IBIS camera operation as mentioned in the forward of the patent application. Interesting to note that the Camera knows the vibrations caused by the shutter and how to handle them specifically.

As imaging devices have become more sophisticated, many imaging devices and photographing lenses are equipped with a blur correction mechanism. The blur correction mechanism enables users to reduce the effect of blur on a photographed image when using an imaging device to take a photograph. Several types of blur correction mechanisms have been proposed for use in imaging devices, including a method of performing blur correction by driving a part of a lens in a photographing optical system and a method of performing blur correction by driving an image sensor. In lens-interchangeable imaging devices, the former is a method of performing blur correction by driving a part of a lens in a photographing optical system in an interchangeable lens barrel, and the latter is a method of performing blur correction by driving an image sensor in a camera body. A method of performing blur correction by combining the two and driving both a part of a lens in a photographing optical system and an image sensor is also known. In imaging devices using such a blur correction mechanism, there is a problem in that vibrations generated by driving a drive unit in the imaging device, such as a shutter are transmitted to a blur detection means provided to detect camera shake, and the blur correction mechanism operates regardless of camera shake.

In response to such problems, a technique is known in which the signal processing of the shake detection means is changed while the drive unit in the imaging device is operating, thereby reducing the effects of vibration.

But Canon goes on to say, that this type of compensation is not done for vibrations that occur because of the IBIS Unit.

However, [it] does not mention that vibrations generated by the movement of the shake correction mechanism may act on the shake detection means.

On another note, isn't translated Japanese fun?

We normally don't see and appreciate these efforts, but it makes using the cameras simpler and less error-prone. Canon's research is never fully completed and is an ongoing effort. So while none of this may make it into an R1 or an R5 Mark II, any improvements no matter how insignificant, the better we are for it.

Source: Japan Patent Application 2024-071858

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