Wide-Angle Compound-Eye Imaging Device
First Claim
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.
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Accused Products
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.
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Citations
4 Claims
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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.
Specification