Methods and apparatus for implementing and/or using a camera device
First Claim
1. A camera device, the camera device comprising:
- a camera housing including a front surface and a rear surface having a thickness D where D is a distance between said front surface and said rear surface;
a first optical chain, including;
i) a first light redirection device mounted in said housing, said first light redirection device being a first rectangular mirror having an edge extending along the first rectangular mirror'"'"'s longest length at a first angle relative to a bottom of the camera housing, said longest length being greater than D, ii) a first non-circular aperture, and iii) a first sensor, said first non-circular aperture having a length less than or equal to D in a first direction and a length larger than D along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, said second direction being at said first angle relative to the bottom of said camera housing; and
a second optical chain, including i) a second light redirection device mounted in said housing, said second light redirection device being a second rectangular mirror having an edge extending along the second rectangular mirror'"'"'s longest length at a second angle relative to the bottom of the camera housing, ii) a second non-circular aperture, and iii) a second sensor, said second non-circular aperture having a length larger than D along a third direction, said third direction being at said second angle relative to the bottom of said camera housing, said first and second angles being different.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for implementing a camera having a depth which is less than the maximum length of the outer lens of at least one optical chain of the camera are described. In some embodiments a light redirection device, e.g., a mirror, is used to allow a relatively long optical chain with a relatively large non-circular outer lens. In some embodiments the light redirection device has a depth, e.g., front of camera to back of camera dimension, which is less than the maximum length of the aperture of the outer lens in the aperture'"'"'s direction of maximum extent. Multiple optical chains with non-circular outer lenses arranged in different directions may and in some embodiments are used to capture images with the captured images being combined to generate a composite image.
77 Citations
8 Claims
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1. A camera device, the camera device comprising:
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a camera housing including a front surface and a rear surface having a thickness D where D is a distance between said front surface and said rear surface; a first optical chain, including;
i) a first light redirection device mounted in said housing, said first light redirection device being a first rectangular mirror having an edge extending along the first rectangular mirror'"'"'s longest length at a first angle relative to a bottom of the camera housing, said longest length being greater than D, ii) a first non-circular aperture, and iii) a first sensor, said first non-circular aperture having a length less than or equal to D in a first direction and a length larger than D along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, said second direction being at said first angle relative to the bottom of said camera housing; anda second optical chain, including i) a second light redirection device mounted in said housing, said second light redirection device being a second rectangular mirror having an edge extending along the second rectangular mirror'"'"'s longest length at a second angle relative to the bottom of the camera housing, ii) a second non-circular aperture, and iii) a second sensor, said second non-circular aperture having a length larger than D along a third direction, said third direction being at said second angle relative to the bottom of said camera housing, said first and second angles being different. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification