Camera phone using multiple lenses and image sensors to provide an extended zoom range

• US 20060187338A1
• Filed: 02/18/2005
• Published: 08/24/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Monument Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
• Inventors: May, Michael J., Parulski, Kenneth A., Janson, Wilbert F. Jr., Ludington, Paul D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,561,191 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/375
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/52 including functional features of a camera constructional features concerning the integration of cameras in portable phones H04M1/0264
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/25 using two or more image sensors with different characteristics other than in their location or field of view, e.g. having different resolutions or colour pickup characteristics; using image signals from one sensor to control the characteristics of another sensor
• 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 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture

Abstract

A camera phone includes a phone stage for generating voice signals, a first image sensor for generating a first sensor output, a first fixed focal length wide angle lens for forming a first image of the scene on the first image sensor, a second image sensor for generating a second sensor output, and a second fixed focal length telephoto lens pointing in the same direction as the first lens and forming a second image of the same scene on the second image sensor. A control element selects either the first sensor output from the first image sensor or the second sensor output from the second image sensor. A processing section produces the output image signals from the selected sensor output, and a cellular stage processes the image and voice signals for transmission over a cellular network.

Claims

1. A camera phone for processing voice signals and producing output image signals of a scene, said camera phone comprising:

a phone stage for generating voice signals;

a first image sensor for generating a first sensor output;

a first fixed focal length wide angle lens for forming a first image of the scene on the first image sensor;

a second image sensor for generating a second sensor output;

a second fixed focal length telephoto lens pointing in the same direction as the first lens and forming a second image of the same scene on the second image sensor;

a control element for selecting either the first sensor output from the first image sensor or the second sensor output from the second image sensor, thereby providing a selected sensor output;

a processing section for producing the output image signals from the selected sensor output; and

a cellular stage for processing the image and voice signals for transmission over a cellular network.

2. The camera phone as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a keypad that allows a user to select a lens and wherein the control element is responsive to the user control for selecting a corresponding sensor output.

3. The camera phone as claimed in claim 1 wherein the processing section includes an electronic zooming capability for electronically zooming up from the focal length of the first wide angle lens over at least a portion of the focal length gap between the two lens.

4. The camera phone as claimed in claim 3 wherein the first image sensor is a high resolution image sensor that provides a high quality source image for the electronic zooming.

5. The camera phone as claimed in claim 1 wherein the first and second image sensors are differently sized and an optical path distance between each lens and its image sensor is substantially the same, thereby providing a pair of lens systems which have different effective focal lengths for the same optical path distances.

6. The camera phone as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a cellular optical image capture assembly, wherein said assembly includes an integrated packaging of the first and second lenses and the first and second image sensors on a common substrate.

7. The camera phone as claimed in claim 6 wherein the cellular image capture assembly has a z dimension from the front of the lenses to the back of the substrate, and wherein said z dimension is constrained to a hand-held dimension of the cellular camera phone.