Imaging device and imaging method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10375286-B2
Application number	US-201815927951-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 21, 2018
Priority date	Apr 26, 2017
Publication date	Aug 6, 2019
Grant date	Aug 6, 2019

Abstract

An imaging device and an imaging method are provided. An incident beam is separated into a first spectroscopic beam and a second spectroscopic beam by a spectroscopic unit and the first spectroscopic beam and the second spectroscopic beam are respectively incident on a first imaging module and a second imaging module. One of a phase detection autofocus (PDAF) mode and a contrast detection autofocus (CDAF) mode of the first imaging module is activated based on a brightness of an ambient light source. The first imaging module and the second imaging module are activated to shoot at a partially overlapping field of view (FOV) to obtain a first image and a second image. The first image and the second image are superimposed to obtain a composite image.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An imaging device, comprising:
a spectroscopic unit, receiving an incident beam and splitting the incident beam into a first spectroscopic beam and a second spectroscopic beam;
a first imaging module, receiving the first spectroscopic beam to form a first image, and switching between a phase detection autofocus mode and a contrast detection autofocus mode based on a brightness of an ambient light source;
a second imaging module, receiving the second spectroscopic beam to form a second image; and
a processor, coupled to the first imaging module and the second imaging module respectively, and controlling the first imaging module and the second imaging module to shoot with partially overlapping field of views to obtain the first image and the second image captured with the partially overlapping field of views from the first imaging module and the second imaging module, wherein the first image and the second image are superimposed by the processor to obtain a composite image.

2. The imaging device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the processor comprises an image signal processor, and the image signal processor determines whether the brightness of the ambient light source is smaller than a preset value;
when the brightness of the ambient light source is determined to be smaller than the preset value, the processor drives the first imaging module to switch to the contrast detection autofocus mode; and
when the brightness of the ambient light source is determined to be not smaller than the preset value, the processor drives the first imaging module to switch to the phase detection autofocus mode.

3. The imaging device as recited in claim 1 , wherein
the first imaging module comprises:
a first lens module, receiving the first spectroscopic beam; and
a first focus sensor, coupled to the processor, having the phase detection autofocus mode and the contrast detection autofocus mode, and receiving a first beam emitted from the first lens module to form the first image by the first focus sensor;
the second imaging module comprises:
a second lens module, receiving the second spectroscopic beam; and
a second focus sensor, coupled to the processor, and receiving a second beam emitted from the second lens module to form the second image by the second focus sensor; and
wherein, the field of view of the second lens module is smaller than the field of view of the first lens module.

4. The imaging device as recited in claim 3 , wherein
the first imaging module further comprises:
a first driving circuit, coupled to the processor; and
a first actuator, coupled to the first driving circuit and the first lens module, wherein the processor controls the first actuator through the first driving circuit to adjust a position of the first lens module; and
the second imaging module further comprises:
a second driving circuit, coupled to the processor; and
a second actuator, coupled to the second driving circuit and the second lens module, wherein the processor controls the second actuator through the second driving circuit to adjust a position of the second lens module.

5. The imaging device as recited in claim 3 , wherein the first imaging module further comprises:
an image signal processor, coupled to the first focus sensor, and determining whether a brightness of the first beam that enters into the first focus sensor as the ambient light source is smaller than a preset value;
wherein, when the brightness of the first beam entering into the first focus sensor is determined to be the smaller than the preset value, the image signal processor drives the first focus sensor to switch to the contrast detection autofocus mode; and
when the brightness of the first beam entering into the first focus sensor is determined to be not smaller than the preset value, the image signal processor drives the first focus sensor to switch to the phase detection autofocus mode.

6. The imaging device as recited in claim 4 , wherein the first actuator is a voice coil motor.

7. The imaging device as recited in claim 3 , wherein the first lens module comprises a wide-angle lens, and the second lens module comprise a telephoto lens.

8. The imaging device as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
an incident unit, gathering a plurality of beams from the ambient light source to output the incident beam.

9. An imaging method, comprising:
using a spectroscopic unit to split an incident beam into a first spectroscopic beam and a second spectroscopic beam, wherein the first spectroscopic beam and the second spectroscopic beam are respectively incident into a first imaging module and a second imaging module;
activating one of a phase detection autofocus mode and a contrast detection autofocus mode of the first imaging module based on a brightness of an ambient light source;
driving the first imaging module and the second imaging module to shoot with partially overlapping field of views to obtain a first image and a second image captured with the partially overlapping field of views; and
superimposing the first image and the second image to obtain a composite image.

10. The imaging method as recited in claim 9 , wherein steps of activating one of the phase detection autofocus mode and the contrast detection autofocus mode of the first imaging module based on the brightness of the ambient light source comprise:
driving the first imaging module to switch to the contrast detection autofocus mode when the brightness of the ambient light source is determined to be smaller than a preset value; and
driving the first imaging module to switch to the phase detection autofocus mode when the brightness of the ambient light source is determined to be not smaller than the preset value.

Assignees

• Pegatron Corp

Inventors

• Lin Ying-Hsin
• Yang Ming-Jer
• Chang Kui-Hao

Classifications

• H04N23/45

  for generating image signals from two or more image sensors being of different type or operating in different modes, e.g. with a CMOS sensor for moving images in combination with a charge-coupled device [CCD] for still images · CPC title

• G03B13/36 Primary

  Autofocus systems · CPC title

• H04N23/672

  based on the phase difference signals · CPC title

• H04N23/71

  Circuitry for evaluating the brightness variation · CPC title

• H04N23/10

  for generating image signals from different wavelengths · CPC title