# US 10,321,033 B2 · Light field camera > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,321,033 B2 - Document ID: US10321033B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/094,489 - Filed: 2016-04-08 - Published: 2016-08-04 - Granted: 2019-06-11 - Earliest claimed: 2013-10-10 - Assignees: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. - Applicants: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. - Inventors: Jing Xu; Cong Zhao - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10321033B2 ## CPC - H04N 23/957: Light-field or plenoptic cameras or camera modules - G02B 3/0037: {characterized by the distribution or form of lenses} - G02B 27/0075: {with means for altering, e.g. increasing, the depth of field or depth of focus} - G02F 1/133526: {Lenses, e.g. microlenses or Fresnel lenses} - G02F 1/135: Liquid crystal cells structurally associated with a photoconducting or a ferro-electric layer, the properties of which can be optically or electrically varied {(G02F1/133348 takes precedence)} - H04N 23/54: Mounting of pick-up tubes, electronic image sensors, deviation or focusing coils - H04N 23/698: for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture - H04N 23/95: Computational photography systems, e.g. light-field imaging systems - H10F 39/8027: {Geometry of the photosensitive area} - H10F 39/806: {Optical elements or arrangements associated with the image sensors} - G02F 1/294: {Variable focal length devices} - G02F 2203/12: spatial light modulator - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION - G02B: OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS - G02F: OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS - H10F: INORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES SENSITIVE TO INFRARED RADIATION, LIGHT, ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION OF SHORTER WAVELENGTH OR CORPUSCULAR RADIATION ## Abstract Disclosed herein is a light field camera, where both a curved shape of a curved microlens array and a curved shape of a curved image sensor are the same as a curved shape of a wide-angle main lens, and a sum of a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the curved microlens array and the curved image sensor and a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the curved microlens array and a virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens is equal to a reciprocal of a focal length of the curved microlens array, which resolves a problem of poor image quality such as blurring and distortion that is caused when a wide-angle main lens is used in a light field camera and a flat microlens array and a flat image sensor cannot match a curved virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A light field camera, comprising: a wide-angle main lens, configured to acquire an image signal and image the acquired image signal, wherein, on a virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens, a distance between an image point and an optical axis is directly proportional to a distance between an object point corresponding to the image point and the optical axis; and a curved imaging array comprising a curved microlens array and a curved image sensor, wherein the curved microlens array is configured to reimage an image formed through imaging by the wide-angle main lens, and record, on the curved image sensor, an image formed by means of reimaging, wherein a first side of the curved microlens array facing the wide-angle main lens is concave, and wherein a first side of the curved image sensor facing the wide-angle main lens is concave; wherein both a curved shape of the curved microlens array and a curved shape of the curved image sensor are the same as a curved shape of the virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens, and wherein a sum of a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the curved microlens array and the curved image sensor and a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the curved microlens array and the virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens is equal to a reciprocal of a focal length of the curved microlens array. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The light field camera according to claim 1, wherein the wide-angle main lens is one of a zoom wide-angle main lens or a prime wide-angle main lens. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The light field camera according to claim 1, wherein a shape of the virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens is one of a sphere, a hyperboloid, or a curved surface. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The light field camera according to claim 1, wherein the curved microlens array comprises at least one sequentially connected microlens, wherein the curved image sensor comprises at least one component image sensor, wherein a quantity of component image sensors is the same as a quantity of microlenses, and wherein each microlens corresponds to one component image sensor; and wherein, for any microlens, a sum of a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the respective microlens and a component image sensor corresponding to the respective microlens and a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the respective microlens and the virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens is equal to a reciprocal of a focal length of the respective microlens. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The light field camera according to claim 4, wherein the component image sensor is one of a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) light sensing component. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The light field camera according to claim 1, wherein the curved microlens array comprises at least one sequentially connected microlens, and the curved image sensor is shared by the at least one microlens; and for any microlens, a sum of a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the microlens and the curved image sensor and a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the microlens and the virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens is equal to a reciprocal of a focal length of the microlens. ### Claim 7 A light field camera, comprising: a wide-angle main lens, configured to acquire an image signal and image the acquired image signal, wherein, on a virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens, a distance between an image point and an optical axis is directly proportional to a distance between an object point corresponding to the image point and the optical axis, and wherein the virtual image plane has a first portion that is curved concavely on a side facing the wide-angle main lens; and a curved imaging array comprising a curved microlens array and a curved image sensor, wherein the curved microlens array is configured to reimage an image formed through imaging by the wide-angle main lens, and record, on the curved image sensor, an image formed by the reimaging, wherein a first side of the curved microlens array facing the wide-angle main lens is concave, wherein a first side of the curved image sensor facing the wide-angle main lens is concave; wherein both a curved shape of the curved microlens array and a curved shape of the curved image sensor are the same as a curved shape of the virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens; and wherein a sum of a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the curved microlens array and the curved image sensor and a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the curved microlens array and the virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens is equal to a reciprocal of a focal length of the curved microlens array. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The light field camera according to claim 7, wherein the wide-angle main lens is one of a zoom wide-angle main lens or a prime wide-angle main lens. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The light field camera according to claim 7, wherein a shape of the virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens is one of a sphere, a hyperboloid, or a curved surface. ### Claim 10 (depends on 7) The light field camera according to claim 7, wherein the curved microlens array comprises at least one sequentially connected microlens, wherein the curved image sensor comprises at least one component image sensor, wherein a quantity of component image sensors is the same as a quantity of microlenses, and wherein each microlens corresponds to one component image sensor; and wherein, for any microlens, a sum of a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the respective microlens and a component image sensor corresponding to the respective microlens and a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the respective microlens and the virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens is equal to a reciprocal of a focal length of the respective microlens. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The light field camera according to claim 10, wherein the component image sensor is one of a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) light sensing component. ### Claim 12 (depends on 7) The light field camera according to claim 7, wherein the curved microlens array comprises at least one sequentially connected microlens, and the curved image sensor is shared by the at least one microlens; and wherein, for any microlens, a sum of a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the microlens and the curved image sensor and a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the microlens and the virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens is equal to a reciprocal of a focal length of the microlens. ### Claim 13 A light field camera, comprising: a wide-angle main lens, configured to acquire an image signal and image the acquired image signal, wherein, on a first virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens, a distance between an image point and an optical axis is directly proportional to a distance between an object point corresponding to the image point and the optical axis; and a curved imaging array comprising a curved microlens array and a curved image sensor, wherein the curved microlens array is configured to reimage, onto a second virtual image plane that coincides, an image formed through imaging by the wide-angle main lens, and wherein the curved microlens array is further configured to record, on the curved image sensor, an image formed by the reimaging, wherein a first side of the curved microlens array facing the wide-angle main lens is concave, and wherein the second virtual image plane coincides with a surface at the first side of the curved image sensor; wherein both a curved shape of the curved microlens array and a curved shape of the curved image sensor are the same as a curved shape of the first virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens, and wherein a sum of a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the curved microlens array and the curved image sensor and a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the curved microlens array and the first virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens is equal to a reciprocal of a focal length of the curved microlens array. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The light field camera according to claim 13, wherein the wide-angle main lens is one of a zoom wide-angle main lens or a prime wide-angle main lens. ### Claim 15 (depends on 13) The light field camera according to claim 13, wherein a shape of the first virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens is one of a sphere, a hyperboloid, or a curved surface. ### Claim 16 (depends on 13) The light field camera according to claim 13, wherein the curved microlens array comprises at least one sequentially connected microlens, wherein the curved image sensor comprises at least one component image sensor, wherein a quantity of component image sensors is the same as a quantity of microlenses, and wherein each microlens corresponds to one component image sensor; and wherein, for any microlens, a sum of a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the respective microlens and a component image sensor corresponding to the respective microlens and a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the respective microlens and the first virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens is equal to a reciprocal of a focal length of the respective microlens. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The light field camera according to claim 16, wherein the component image sensor is one of a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) light sensing component. ### Claim 18 (depends on 13) The light field camera according to claim 13, wherein the curved microlens array comprises at least one sequentially connected microlens, and the curved image sensor is shared by the at least one microlens; and for any microlens, a sum of a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the microlens and the curved image sensor and a reciprocal of a vertical distance between the microlens and the first virtual image plane of the wide-angle main lens is equal to a reciprocal of a focal length of the microlens.