Electronic apparatus, and light field imaging system and method with optical metasurface
AssigneeShenzhen Goodix Technology Co., Ltd.
InventorWeimin Chao
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A light field imaging system placed under a display and used as a front-facing camera in a portable electronic apparatus is provided. The light field imaging system includes a lens unit, an optical metasurface and an image sensor. The lens unit is configured to collect input light from a scene and output a light signal. The optical metasurface, disposed in an optical path of the light signal, is configured to produce an optical signal in response to the light signal. The optical metasurface has a spatially varying optical response to the light signal. The image sensor is configured to sense the optical signal to generate light field image data.
Claims20
A light field imaging system, comprising:
- a lens unit, configured to collect input light from a scene;
- an optical metasurface, disposed in an optical path of a first light signal coming from the lens unit and passing through an image plane of the lens unit, the optical metasurface being configured to receive the first light signal passing through the image plane of the lens unit, and modify optical properties of the first light signal passing through the image plane of the lens unit to generate an optical signal, the optical metasurface having a spatially varying optical response to the first light signal;
- and
- an image sensor, configured to sense the optical signal outputted from the optical metasurface to generate light field image data, wherein generation of the optical signal sensed by the image sensor and reception of the first light signal passing through the image plane of the lens unit occur at the same optical metasurface.
A light field imaging method, comprising:
- utilizing a lens unit to collect input light from a scene and direct collected light toward an optical metasurface, and accordingly producing a light signal passing through an image plane of the lens unit, the optical metasurface having a spatially varying optical response to the collected light;
- utilizing the optical metasurface to receive the light signal passing through the image plane of the lens unit to control propagation of the collected light, and accordingly modifying optical properties of the light signal passing through the image plane of the lens unit to generate an optical signal;
- utilizing an image sensor to sense the optical signal outputted from the optical metasurface to generate light field image data, wherein generation of the optical signal sensed by the image sensor and reception of the light signal passing through the image plane of the lens unit occur at the same optical metasurface;
- and
- imaging the scene according to the light field image data.
The light field imaging method of 17, wherein the step of imaging the scene according to the light field image data comprises:
- when the aperture unit uses a first size as the aperture size, obtaining a first image of the scene according to the light field image data;
- when the aperture unit uses a second size larger than the first size as the aperture size, obtaining a second image of the scene according to the light field image data;
- and
- performing aberration correction upon the second image according to the first image.
An electronic apparatus, comprising:
- a display;
- and
- a light field imaging system, placed behind the display and configured to capture a scene in front of the display, the light field imaging comprising:
- a lens unit, configured to collect input light from the scene through the display, and accordingly output a light signal;
- an optical metasurface, disposed in an optical path of the light signal, the optical metasurface being configured to produce an optical signal in response to the light signal, the optical metasurface having a spatially varying optical response to the light signal;
- and
- an image sensor, configured to sense the optical signal to generate light field image data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.