THREE-MIRROR PANORAMIC CAMERA
First Claim
1. An apparatus adapted for producing an image of objects in an ultra-wide field of view angle, comprising:
- an optical subsystem comprising;
a first convex aspheric mirror defining a central aperture and an optical axis;
a second aspheric mirror defining a central aperture, the second aspheric mirror disposed along the optical axis relative to the first convex aspheric mirror; and
a third aspheric mirror also disposed along the optical axis at or near the first convex aspheric mirror central aperture;
wherein the image of objects in the ultra-wide field of view angle is correctable by a standard optical element, to produce on an image plane the image having an optical resolution approximately equal or exceeding the Nyquist sampling criterion for the image sensor captured the optical image and adjusted to the image plane.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for obtaining images having an ultra-wide field of view angle. A panoramic camera includes two subsystems: an optical subsystem and an image sensor. The optical subsystem includes at least a three-aspheric mirrors for producing an image of objects in the ultra-wide field of view. The produced images are correctable by a standard optical element to produce on an image plane an image having an optical resolution approximately equal or exceeding the Nyquist sampling criterion for the image sensor. A first mirror provides a sharp, compressed, virtual image using a convex paraboloidal or hyperboloidal mirror. Second and third mirrors redirect light onto the correction element through a folded optical path. The standard optical element projects a virtual image onto the image sensor. Image processing software can be used to decompress and unwrap the ultra-wide angle image captured by the image sensor.
-
Citations
32 Claims
-
1. An apparatus adapted for producing an image of objects in an ultra-wide field of view angle, comprising:
-
an optical subsystem comprising; a first convex aspheric mirror defining a central aperture and an optical axis; a second aspheric mirror defining a central aperture, the second aspheric mirror disposed along the optical axis relative to the first convex aspheric mirror; and a third aspheric mirror also disposed along the optical axis at or near the first convex aspheric mirror central aperture; wherein the image of objects in the ultra-wide field of view angle is correctable by a standard optical element, to produce on an image plane the image having an optical resolution approximately equal or exceeding the Nyquist sampling criterion for the image sensor captured the optical image and adjusted to the image plane. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. A method of projecting onto an image sensor plane an image of one or more objects in an ultra-wide field of view, comprising:
-
(a) reflecting by a convex aspheric reflective surface one or more objects in the ultra-wide field of view to provide a first virtual image; (b) reflecting the first virtual image with a second aspheric mirror to form a second image, wherein reflecting the first virtual image comprises correcting one or more of a first image field curvature and a first image compression; (c) reflecting the second image with a third aspheric mirror to form a third image, wherein reflecting the second image comprises correcting one or more of a second image field curvature and a second image compression; and (d) focusing the third image with an optical correction element to project a diffraction limited image having an optical resolution approximately equal to or exceeding the Nyquist sampling criterion of a digital sensor. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
-
-
30. An apparatus adapted for producing an approximately undistorted image of objects in an ultra-wide field of view angle, comprising:
-
means for reflecting by a convex aspheric reflective surface one or more objects in the ultra-wide field of view to provide a first virtual image; means for reflecting the first virtual image with a second aspheric mirror to form a second image, wherein reflecting the first virtual image comprises correcting one or more of a first image field curvature and a first image compression; means for reflecting the second image with a third aspheric mirror to form a third image, wherein reflecting the second image comprises correcting one or more of a second image field curvature and a second image compression; and means for focusing the third image with an optical correction element to project a diffraction limited image having an optical resolution of approximately equal to or exceeding the Nyquist sampling criterion of an image detector.
-
-
31. A panoramic camera capturing an ultra-wide field of view, comprising:
-
a convex aspheric mirror disposed along an optical axis; at least one other aspheric mirror also disposed along the optical axis; an image detector positioned in an image plane; and an optical correction element receiving rays reflected at least once by each of the convex aspheric mirror and the at least one other aspheric mirror, producing on the image plane an image having an optical resolution approximately equal to or exceeding the Nyquist sampling criterion of an image detector. - View Dependent Claims (32)
-
Specification