Imaging apparatus including a first imaging system and a second imaging system

• US 9,071,753 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2013
• Issued: 06/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Ishida, Minoru
• Primary Examiner(s): Moe, Aung S
• Assistant Examiner(s): COWAN, EUEL K
• Application Number:
  US14/036,741
• Publication Number:
  US 20140028790A1
• Time in Patent Office: 643 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/90 Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/745 Circuitry for generating timing or clock signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/75 Circuitry for providing, modifying or processing image signals from the pixel array

Abstract

An imaging apparatus includes: an imaging unit that respectively generates, with imaging devices different from one another, a first captured image with a specific direction of a subject set in a longitudinal direction, a second captured image with an orthogonal direction orthogonal to the specific direction set in a longitudinal direction and including a subject adjacent to one side of the orthogonal direction of the subject included in the first captured image, and a third captured image with the orthogonal direction set in a longitudinal direction and including a subject adjacent to the other side of the orthogonal direction of the subject included in the first captured image; a detecting unit that detects a state of the imaging apparatus; and a control unit that determines, based on the detected state, a range of a target image as a target of display or recording among the first to third captured images.

Claims

1. An imaging apparatus comprising:

an output unit including a first output unit being a display unit configured to display images, and a second output unit configured to record or transmit images;

a first imaging system including a first lens and a first imaging device configured to generate a first captured image;

a second imaging system including a second lens and a second imaging device configured to generate a second captured image;

an imaging unit including the first and second imaging systems;

an image combining unit configured to combine at least parts from the first and second captured images in order to generate a combined image;

a housing including said imaging unit and said display unit;

a detecting unit configured to detect whether the housing is set in a horizontal direction or a vertical direction as a state of the imaging apparatus; and

a control unit configured to control a size of an output image output by said output unit on the basis of said detected state, wherein

the control unit is configured to switch, on the basis of the detected state, a compound-eye imaging operation performed by using the plural imaging devices and a single-eye imaging operation performed by using the first imaging device, and

the control unit is configured to determine that, when the single-eye imaging operation is switched to the compound-eye imaging operation, a clock of a predetermined frequency is used for the compound-eye imaging operation and, when the compound-eye imaging operation is switched to the single-eye imaging operation, a clock of a frequency lower than the predetermined frequency is used for the single-eye imaging operation.

2. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detecting unit is configured to detect, as the state of the imaging apparatus, a first specific state in which the housing, that includes said display unit, is set in the vertical direction, and the control unit configured to determine an output range of the output image within a captured range of the first captured image, when the first specific state is detected.

3. The imaging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the control unit is configured to determine an output range of the output image as an entire captured range of the first captured image, when the first specific state is detected.

4. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detecting unit is configured to detect, as the state of the imaging apparatus, a second specific state in which the housing, that includes said display unit, is set in the horizontal direction, and the control unit is configured to determine an output range of the output image within a range of the combined image, when the second specific state is detected.

5. The imaging apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the control unit is configured to determine the output image to have a wider aspect ratio than the first and second captured images, when the second specific state is detected.

6. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein lenses respectively corresponding to the imaging devices included in the imaging unit are arranged side by side on one surface of the housing, and the display unit is provided on a surface on the opposite side of the one surface of the housing.

7. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to stop operation of the second imaging device, when the compound-eye imaging operation is switched to the single-eye imaging operation.

8. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a third imaging system including a third lens and a third imaging device configured to generate a third captured image.