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US 8,760,563 B2Granted
Autofocusing optical imaging device
AssigneeHand Held Products, Inc.
InventorsThomas Koziol, Alec Epting, Stephen Patrick Deloge, Jeffrey Baker
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An optical imager includes: an image sensor for capturing images of targets and outputting image signals; a lens for focusing the target on the image sensor as a function of lens position; a memory for storing predetermined lens positions determined from predetermined target sizes; and a controller for determining current target size based on captured images and positioning the lens at a predetermined lens position by correlating current target size with predetermined target sizes.
Claims14
A method of operating an optical imager comprising:
- (a) capturing an image of a target in a set up mode with an image sensor;
- (b) determining the proper focus setting of a lens to bring a target in focus with the image sensor;
- (c) storing a position of the lens for the determined proper focus setting;
- (d) repeating steps (a) through (c) until a desired number of lens positions have been stored, wherein lens positions that have been stored include minimum and maximum recorded lens positions;
- (e) capturing an operating image in an autofocus mode;
- (f) moving the lens between the minimum and maximum previously recorded lens positions to obtain the proper focus setting for the operating image;
- (g) capturing a focused image at the proper focus setting;
- and,
- (h) processing the focused image,
- wherein the minimum and maximum recorded lens positions represents a motion range which is less than the maximum possible optical imager lens motion range.
7 more elements
An optical imager comprising:
- an image sensor for capturing images of targets and outputting image signals;
- a lens for focusing a target on the image sensor at focus points as a function of lens position;
- a memory for storing predetermined lens positions determined from the focus points, wherein the lens positions include a minimum recorded lens position and a maximum recorded lens position that define a predetermined lens motion range, the predetermined lens motion range being smaller than the actual lens motion range;
- and,
- a controller that begins lens positioning at a center of the predetermined lens motion range.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.