Wide-Angle Compound-Eye Imaging Device

• US 20090225432A1
• Filed: 03/05/2009
• Published: 09/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Imahori, Yoshimasa, Toyoda, Takashi, Nakao, Yoshizumi
• Granted Patent: US 7,974,015 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 359/626
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 13/06 Panoramic objectives; So-called "sky lenses" including panoramic objectives having reflecting surfaces

Abstract

A center lens for collecting light in a center range and left/right lenses for collecting light in left/right ranges are supported in one plane to form center and left/right unit images. A microprocessor combines the unit images into a wide-angle image. The left/right optical lenses are placed on left-right direction line parallel to the wide-angle direction, while the center lens is placed distant from the left/right lenses above the direction line. Prisms are placed in front of the left/right lenses, and a toroidal lens to vertically modify the light path for light convergence onto each lens is placed in front of the prisms. The toroidal lens has a vertically curved surface having an axis coinciding with the direction line, and a horizontally cured surface having an axis coinciding with a vertical line passing through the center lens. This device can obtain a wide-angle image with a vertically large picture angle.

Claims

1. A wide-angle compound-eye imaging device comprising multiple optical lenses for collecting light entering therein in predetermined shared angular ranges in a direction from left to right in a wide-angle capture range (such direction being hereafter referred to as wide-angle direction) so as to form unit images for the respective angular ranges, the unit images being combined into a wide-angle capture image,

wherein the wide-angle compound-eye imaging device further comprises an optical path modifying element placed on a light entrance side of the optical lenses for modifying path of the light in a direction perpendicular to the wide-angle direction so as to converge the light onto the optical lenses.

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

wherein the multiple optical lenses comprise:

left and right optical lenses placed on a line parallel to the wide-angle direction (such line being hereafter referred to as left-right direction line) for collecting light entering in left and right angular ranges in the capture range; and

an optical lens (hereafter referred to as center optical lens) placed in a position vertically distant from the left and right optical lenses for collecting light entering in a center angular range in the capture range, and

wherein the optical path modifying element is a toroidal lens comprising;

a first curved surface having a curvature with a curvature axis parallel to the left-right direction line; and

a second curved surface having a curvature with a curvature axis which is perpendicular to the left-right direction line and passes through the center optical lens.

3. The wide-angle compound-eye imaging device according to claim 2, wherein the optical path modifying element is integrally assembled with a housing of the wide-angle compound-eye imaging device so as to serve as a protecting cover for the optical lenses.

4. The wide-angle compound-eye imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the optical path modifying element is integrally assembled with a housing of the wide-angle compound-eye imaging device so as to serve as a protecting cover for the optical lenses.