Digital camera using multiple fixed focal length lenses and multiple image sensors to provide an extended zoom range
OwnerWilbert Janson, Kenneth Parulskiinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electronic camera includes a plurality of three or more image sensors for generating three or more sensor outputs; a plurality of three or more fixed focal length lenses for forming a corresponding three or more images of the scene on the corresponding three or more image sensors, each of the lenses providing a different field of view of the scene; a control element for selecting one of the sensor outputs from one of the image sensors; and a processing section for producing the output image from the selected sensor output.
Claims13
An electronic camera for producing an output image of a scene, said electronic camera comprising:
- a plurality of three or more image sensors for generating three or more sensor outputs;
- a plurality of three or more lenses pointing in the same direction and forming a corresponding three or more images of the scene on the corresponding three or more image sensors, each of the lenses providing a different field of view of the scene;
- a control element for selecting one of the sensor outputs from one of the image sensors, thereby providing a selected sensor output;
- and
- a processing section for producing the output image from the selected sensor output.
An electronic camera for producing an output image of a scene, said electronic camera having a small width-wise dimension suitable for a small hand-held camera, said electronic camera comprising:
- a first image sensor for generating a first sensor output;
- a first lens system for forming a first image of the scene on the first image sensor;
- a second image sensor for generating a second sensor output;
- a second lens system pointing in the same direction as the first lens system and forming a second image of the same scene on the second image sensor, wherein at least one of the lens systems includes a prism for altering the angle of the optical path to its respective image sensor so as to fit the lens system within the width-wise dimension of the camera;
- a control element for selecting either the first sensor output from the first image sensor or the second sensor output from the second image sensor, thereby providing a selected sensor output;
- and
- a processing section for producing the output image from the selected sensor output.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.