US 12,339,570 B2
Image capturing apparatus
Tomohiro Kitaura, Sakai (JP); Kota Nakamura, Sakai (JP); Ryunosuke Makino, Sakai (JP); Yuuki Okamoto, Sakai (JP); Osamu Shimizu, Sakai (JP); and Hiroshi Mizuno, Sakai (JP)
Assigned to SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Sakai (JP)
Filed by SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Sakai (JP)
Filed on Nov. 21, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/515,590.
Claims priority of application No. 2022-188311 (JP), filed on Nov. 25, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2024/0176216 A1, May 30, 2024
Int. Cl. G03B 17/55 (2021.01); H04N 23/54 (2023.01); F24C 15/04 (2006.01)
CPC G03B 17/55 (2013.01) [H04N 23/54 (2023.01); F24C 15/04 (2013.01)] 5 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An image capturing apparatus attachable to a heating cooker that heats food, the image capturing apparatus comprising:
an image capturing unit configured to perform image capturing; and
a blower unit supported by the heating cooker, the blower unit being freely attachable to and detachable from the heating cooker,
wherein the blower unit supports the image capturing unit and disposes the image capturing unit at a position facing the heating cooker,
the blower unit is configured to generate an air current that flows through a gap between the heating cooker and the image capturing unit,
the air current generated by the blower unit is a first air current,
the image capturing unit includes a wall contacting the blower unit,
the wall includes a contact region in which the wall contacts the blower unit and a non-contact region outside the contact region,
the wall includes a first air passage in the contact region and a second air passage in the non-contact region,
the first air current flows from the blower unit into the first air passage, through the first air passage, and then out of the first air passage toward the gap between the heating cooker and the image capturing unit, and
due to a suction force caused by the first air current flowing through the gap between the heating cooker and the image capturing unit, air outside the image capturing apparatus flows into the second air passage to generate a second air current that flows through the second air passage and then out of the second air passage toward the gap between the heating cooker and the image capturing unit.