Image sensing device
First Claim
1. An image sensing device comprising:
- a two-dimensional image sensor which captures an image projected thereon to generate image data;
an optical unit having at least two focal lengths, said optical unit projecting an image on said image sensor;
a focal length control unit which changes the focal length of said optical unit;
a direction control unit which controls the direction of the optical axis of said optical unit;
an image combining unit which combines a plurality of images captured by said image sensor to form a composite image;
a mode selector which selects either a standard image sensing mode or a high resolution image sensing mode; and
an operation control unit which controls said focal length control unit, said direction control unit, said image sensor, and said image combining unit in accordance with the image sensing mode selected by said mode selector;
wherein, when said standard image sensing mode is selected by said mode selector, said operation control unit controls said focal length control unit to set the focal length of said optical unit at a first focal length, and captures the entire target via said image sensor; and
wherein, when said high resolution mode is selected by said mode selector, said operation control unit controls said focal length control unit to set the focal length of said optical unit at said first focal length and captures a reference image of the entire target, and controls said focal length control unit to set the focal length of said optical unit at a second focal length longer than said first focal length, and controls said direction control unit to sequentially move the direction of the optical axis of said optical unit toward the center of each area of a target image capture range which has been divided into a plurality of areas, and captures the image of each said area via said image sensor, and combines said plurality of captured images with reference to said reference image via said image combining unit to produce a high resolution composite image of the entire target image.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
High resolution composite images and ultra wide composite images are produced in a digital camera which combines a plurality of images to form a composite image on a single sheet. An image sensing unit includes a movable image sensing optical unit having a first and second focal lengths and a two-dimensional image sensing device. The image sensing unit is driven to control the optical axis of the image sensing optical unit so as to capture a plurality of images via the two-dimensional image sensing device. The plurality of images are combined to produce a composite image. An ultra wide composite image at standard resolution is produced by setting the focal length of the image sensing optical unit at a first focal length on the wide angle side, and a high resolution composite image is produced by setting the focal length of the image sensing optical unit at a second focal length on the telephoto side.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. An image sensing device comprising:
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a two-dimensional image sensor which captures an image projected thereon to generate image data;
an optical unit having at least two focal lengths, said optical unit projecting an image on said image sensor;
a focal length control unit which changes the focal length of said optical unit;
a direction control unit which controls the direction of the optical axis of said optical unit;
an image combining unit which combines a plurality of images captured by said image sensor to form a composite image;
a mode selector which selects either a standard image sensing mode or a high resolution image sensing mode; and
an operation control unit which controls said focal length control unit, said direction control unit, said image sensor, and said image combining unit in accordance with the image sensing mode selected by said mode selector;
wherein, when said standard image sensing mode is selected by said mode selector, said operation control unit controls said focal length control unit to set the focal length of said optical unit at a first focal length, and captures the entire target via said image sensor; and
wherein, when said high resolution mode is selected by said mode selector, said operation control unit controls said focal length control unit to set the focal length of said optical unit at said first focal length and captures a reference image of the entire target, and controls said focal length control unit to set the focal length of said optical unit at a second focal length longer than said first focal length, and controls said direction control unit to sequentially move the direction of the optical axis of said optical unit toward the center of each area of a target image capture range which has been divided into a plurality of areas, and captures the image of each said area via said image sensor, and combines said plurality of captured images with reference to said reference image via said image combining unit to produce a high resolution composite image of the entire target image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An image forming device comprising:
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an optical unit;
a two-dimensional image sensor which captures an image projected thereon by said optical unit to generate image data;
a direction control unit comprising a drive mechanism for driving a housing accommodating said optical unit and said two-dimensional image sensor in a predetermined direction to a predetermined angle, to thereby control the direction of the optical axis of said optical unit;
an image combining unit which combines a plurality of images captured by said two-dimensional image sensor to form a composite image of a target image;
an image plane format setting unit which sets the target image sensing range to be captured; and
an operation control unit which calculates the number of images captured by said two-dimensional image sensor and the direction of the optical axis of said optical unit capturing said images from a target image sensing range set by said image plane format setting unit, and controls said direction control unit, said two-dimensional image sensor, and said image combining unit based on said calculation results. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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10. An image forming device comprising:
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an optical unit;
a two-dimensional image sensor which captures an image projected thereon by said optical unit;
a direction control unit which controls the direction of the optical axis of said optical unit;
an image combining unit which combines a plurality of images captured by said two-dimensional image sensor to form a composite image of a target image; and
an operation control unit which controls said direction control unit, said two-dimensional image sensor, and said image combining unit, wherein said operation control unit controls said direction control unit to sequentially move the direction of the optical axis of said optical unit toward the center of each area of a target image divided into a plurality of areas, so as to capture the image of each area by said two-dimensional image sensor, and captures an a separate image near the adjacent area of at least two mutually adjacent areas among the areas of said divided target image as a reference image, and combines a plurality of captured images by said image combining unit while referring to said separate reference image to produce a composite image of the entire target image. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for sensing an image, comprising the steps of:
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projecting an image on a two-dimensional image sensing device by means of an optical unit having at least two focal lengths;
selecting either a standard image sensing mode or a high resolution image sensing mode;
setting the focal length of said optical unit at a first focal length, and capturing the entire image via said sensing device when said standard image sensing mode is selected by said mode selector; and
when the high resolution image sensing mode is selected, capturing a reference image of the entire target image sensing range with the focal length of said optical unit set at said first focal length, and setting the focal length of said optical unit at a second focal length longer than said first focal length, sequentially moving the direction of the optical axis of said optical unit toward the center of each area of a target image capture range which has been divided into a plurality of areas, capturing the image of each said area via said sensing device, and combining said plurality of captured images with reference to said reference image to produce a high resolution composite image of the entire target image. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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19. A method for forming an image, comprising the steps of:
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capturing an image projected on a two-dimensional image sensing device by an optical unit;
sequentially moving the direction of the optical axis of said optical unit toward the center of each area of a target image divided into a plurality of areas, so as to capture the image of each area by said two-dimensional image sensing device;
capturing a separate image near the adjacent area of at least two mutually adjacent areas among the areas of said divided target image as a reference image; and
combining a plurality of captured images while referring to said separate reference image to produce a composite image of the target image. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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23. An image forming device comprising:
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an optical unit having at least two focal lengths;
a focal length control unit which changes the focal length of said optical unit;
a two-dimensional image sensor which captures an image projected thereon by said optical unit to generate image data;
a direction control unit which controls the direction of the optical axis of said optical unit;
an image combining unit which combines a plurality of images captured by said two-dimensional image sensor to form a composite image of a target image;
an image plane format setting unit which sets the target image sensing range to be captured; and
an operation control unit which controls said focal length control unit, said direction control unit, said two-dimensional image sensor, and said image combining unit based upon a target image capturing range set by said image plane format setting unit to produce an image plane exceeding the image sensing region at a first focal length on the short focal length side. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
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26. A method for forming an image, comprising the steps of:
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projecting an image on a two-dimensional image sensor by means of an optical unit having at least two focal lengths;
setting a target image sensing range to be captured;
setting the focal length of said optical unit;
controlling the direction of the optical axis of said optical unit based on said target image sensing range;
capturing each of said images in said target image sensing range; and
combining the images captured by said two-dimensional image sensor to produce an image plane exceeding the image sensing region at a first focal length on a short focal length side. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28)
setting the number of images captured by said two-dimensional image sensor and the direction of the optical axis of said optical unit in accordance with said first focal length.
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28. The method claimed in claim 26, further comprising the step of:
setting the number of images captured by said two-dimensional image sensor and the direction of the optical axis of said optical unit in accordance with a second focal length longer than said first focal length.
Specification