COMPOUND-EYE IMAGING DEVICE

• US 20090225203A1
• Filed: 03/02/2009
• Published: 09/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Toyoda, Takashi, Masaki, Yasuo, Nakao, Yoshizumi, Horisaki, Ryoichi, Tanida, Jun
• Granted Patent: US 8,237,841 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/262
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 3/0056 arranged along two different directions in a plane, e.g. honeycomb arrangement of lenses G02B3/0043 takes precedence; miniaturised objectives for electronic devices employing wafer level optics G02B13/0085
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/41 Extracting pixel data from a plurality of image sensors simultaneously picking up an image, e.g. for increasing the field of view by combining the outputs of a plurality of sensors

Abstract

A compound-eye imaging device comprises an imaging device body having 9 optical lenses and a solid-state imaging element for imaging unit images formed by the optical lenses. Assuming that the combination of each of the optical lenses with a corresponding divided area of the solid-state imaging element to image each of the corresponding unit images is an imaging unit, thereby forming multiple imaging units, the respective imaging units have randomly different optical imaging conditions. For example, the focal lengths of the 9 optical lenses are set to have random values in which the optical lenses are arranged to have random distances between adjacent ones thereof in a direction parallel to the major surface of the solid-state imaging element. This compound-eye imaging device substantially prevents unit images formed by respective imaging units from being the same, making it possible to easily increase the definition of a reconstructed image.

Claims

1. A compound-eye imaging device comprising:

multiple imaging units having optical lenses and a solid-state imaging element with a major surface for allowing the solid-state imaging element to image multiple unit images of a target object that are formed through the optical lenses; and

reconstructed image forming means for forming a reconstructed image from the multiple unit images respectively imaged by the multiple imaging units,

wherein the multiple imaging units are integrally arranged, and

wherein the multiple imaging units have randomly different optical imaging conditions from each other to allow the multiple unit images imaged by the multiple imaging units to be different from each other when the target object is indefinitely far.

2. The compound-eye imaging device according to claim 1,

wherein the optical lenses of the multiple imaging units are arranged to have random distances between adjacent ones thereof in a direction parallel to the major surface of the solid-state imaging element so as to allow the multiple imaging units to have different optical imaging conditions from each other.

3. The compound-eye imaging device according to claim 1,

wherein optical axes of the optical lenses of the multiple imaging units are inclined at random inclination angles in the multiple imaging units so as to allow the multiple imaging units to have different optical imaging conditions from each other.

4. The compound-eye imaging device according to claim 1,

wherein focal lengths of the optical lenses of the multiple imaging units have random values so as to allow the multiple imaging units to have different optical imaging conditions from each other.

5. The compound-eye imaging device according to claim 1,

wherein the optical lenses of the multiple imaging units have randomly different distortions so as to allow the multiple imaging units to have different optical imaging conditions from each other.

6. The compound-eye imaging device according to claim 1,

wherein the multiple imaging units have randomly different pixel arrangements of the solid-state imaging element so as to allow the multiple imaging units to have different optical imaging conditions from each other.