Optical system, electronic device, camera, method and computer program

• US 10,539,763 B2
• Filed: 03/09/2017
• Issued: 01/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kamm, Markus, Schaschek, Fabian, Tanabe, Norihiro, Nomura, Yoshikuni
• Primary Examiner(s): Dinh, Jack
• Application Number:
  US15/454,032
• Publication Number:
  US 20170285307A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,048 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 13/0065 having a beam-folding prism or mirror
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 13/009 having zoom function
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/106 for splitting or combining a plurality of identical beams or images, e.g. image replication
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/1066 for enhancing image performance, like resolution, pixel numbers, dual magnifications or dynamic range, by tiling, slicing or overlapping fields of view
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/283 used for beam splitting or combining
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 17/12 with means for supporting objectives, supplementary lenses, filters, masks, or turrets
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 17/17 with reflectors arranged in beam forming the photographic image, e.g. for reducing dimensions of camera
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 2205/0046 Movement of one or more optical elements for zooming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1686 the I/O peripheral being an integrated camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0264 for a camera module assembly
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/45 for generating image signals from two or more image sensors being of different type or operating in different modes, e.g. with a CMOS sensor for moving images in combination with a charge-coupled device [CCD] for still images
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/69 Control of means for changing angle of the field of view, e.g. optical zoom objectives or electronic zooming
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/951 by using two or more images to influence resolution, frame rate or aspect ratio

Abstract

An electronic device including an optical system that combines a first lens and a second lens by means of a beam splitter.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a first image sensor;

a second image sensor;

an optical system including a first lens placed before the first image sensor, a second lens placed before the second image sensor, and a beam-splitter;

a housing including the first image sensor, the second image sensor, and the optical system, wherein

the first lens and the second lens have a coincident optical axis at a side of the beam-splitter which receives incident light from a light entrance in the housing,

an optical axis of the first lens is folded by less than or equal to 90 degrees by a surface of the beam-splitter,

the beam-splitter is placed adjacent to the light entrance in the housing, and the incident light first hits the beam-splitter when the incident light enters the housing from the light entrance,

the light entrance is extending parallel to a wall of the housing,

the second lens and the second image sensor are extending parallel to the light entrance, and

the first lens and the first image sensor are tilted with respect to the coincident optical axis.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a mirror placed at a face of the beam-splitter that reflects light back into the beam-splitter.

3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the beam-splitter comprises a polarizing beam-splitter surface.

4. The electronic device of claim 3, further comprising a quarter-wave retarder plate arranged between the beam-splitter and the mirror.

5. The electronic device of claim 4, further comprising a second quarter-wave plate placed in front of a face of the beam-splitter in a direction of the light entrance in the housing of the electronic device.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first lens is a tele lens that creates a magnified or zoomed image on the first image sensor, and the second lens is a wide-angle lens that creates a wide field-of-view image on the second image sensor.

7. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein the tele lens is a telephoto lens.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first lens and the second lens have the same focal length.

9. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising circuitry configured to digitally combine an image obtained by the second image sensor with an image obtained by the first image sensor.

10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the first lens is a tele lens and the second lens is a wide-angle lens, and the circuitry is configured to digitally embed an image obtained by the first image sensor into an image obtained by the second image sensor.

11. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein

a first surface of the beam-splitter facing the first lens is tilted with respect to the coincident optical axis, and

a second surface of the beam-splitter facing the second lens is perpendicular to the coincident optical axis.