Optical system and method for operating the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10440280-B2
Application number	US-201715711927-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 21, 2017
Priority date	Sep 21, 2017
Publication date	Oct 8, 2019
Grant date	Oct 8, 2019

Abstract

A system includes: (1) a sensor module configured to detect an object at a predetermined distance and obtain position information of the object relative to the sensor module; (2) a zooming module configured to move at an angle and capture an image of the object; and (3) a controller connected to the sensor module and the zooming module. The controller is configured to derive the angle in accordance with the predetermined distance and the position information of the object, and the controller is configured to control the zooming module to move in accordance with the angle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a sensor module configured to detect an object at a predetermined distance and obtain position information of the object relative to the sensor module;
a zooming module configured to move at an angle and capture an image of the object; and
a controller connected to the sensor module and the zooming module, the controller configured to derive the angle in accordance with the predetermined distance and the position information of the object, the controller configured to control the zooming module to move in accordance with the angle,
wherein the controller is configured to derive the angle in accordance with a first distance between the object and a projection image of the sensor module at the predetermined distance, and a second distance between the sensor module and the zooming module.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor module comprises:
a distance detector configured to detect whether the object is at the predetermined distance and to transmit a signal if the object is at the predetermined distance; and
an identification module configured to be triggered by the signal to obtain the position information of the object.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the first distance corresponds to a distance between the object and a central line of a projection image of the identification module at the predetermined distance, and the second distance corresponds to a distance between the central line of the identification module and a central line of the zooming module.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the distance detector comprises a radar detector, a depth sensor or a sonar detector.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the identification module comprises a dual camera module, a three-dimensional image sensing camera, or an image sensor and a lens.

6. The system of claim 2 , wherein the controller is configured to derive the angle (φ) according to

φ
=

tan

-
1

⁢

x
1

+

x
2

D

,

wherein x 1 is the first distance, x 2 is the second distance and D is the predetermined distance.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the controller is configured to derive the first distance according to
x 1 =D ×tan θ 1 ,

wherein θ 1 is an angle specified by a central line of the identification module and a line connecting the object and the identification module.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the zooming module comprises:
a zoom lens; and
a rotation mechanism connected to the zoom lens and configured to rotate the zoom lens at the angle.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein
the zooming module further comprises an image sensor comprising a sensing area and is configured to determine whether a viewed size of the object on the sensing area is less than a predetermined value, and to adjust the viewed size of the object if the viewed size is less than the predetermined value.

10. A system, comprising:
a distance detector configured to detect a presence of an object at a predetermined distance relative to the system and generate a signal responsive to detecting the presence the object;
an identification module configured to receive the signal and obtain a position of the object relative to the system; and
an zooming module comprising a lens, the zooming module configured to adjust a position of the lens according to the position of the object,
wherein the position of the lens is adjusted according to a first projection distance between the object and the identification module, and a second projection distance between the identification module and the zooming module.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the distance detector comprises a radar detector, a depth sensor or a sonar detector.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the identification module comprises a dual camera module or a three-dimensional sensing camera.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the identification module is configured to capture an image of the object and to obtain the position of the object from the image of the object.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the zooming module comprises a rotation mechanism connected to the lens and configured to rotate the lens at an angle φ, wherein φ is derived according to

φ
=

tan

-
1

⁢

x
1

+

x
2

D

,

wherein x 1 is the first projection distance between the object and the identification module, x 2 is the second projection distance between the identification module and the zooming module, and D is the predetermined distance.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the first projection distance is derived according to
x 1 =D ×tan θ 1 ,

wherein θ 1 is an angle specified by a central line of the identification module and a line connecting the object and the identification module.

16. The system of claim 10 , further comprising a controller configured to control the zooming module to adjust the position of the lens according to the position of the object.

17. A method of controlling an image-viewing system comprising a lens, the method comprising:
(a) detecting that an object is located at a predetermined distance;
(b) obtaining information corresponding to a position of the object responsive to detecting the object;
(c) determining an angle according to the position of the object and the predetermined distance;
(d) rotating the lens at the angle to capture an image of the object according to an original focal length;
(e) obtaining a number of pixels of the object from the image;
(f) deriving an adjusted focal length according to the original focal length and the number of pixels; and
(g) obtaining a viewed size of the object from the image.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
comparing the viewed size of the object with a predetermined value; and
zooming in on the object to obtained a magnified image of the object if the viewed size of the object is less than the predetermined value.

Assignees

• Advanced Semiconductor Eng

Inventors

• Liu Tien-Chia
• Wang Nien Chu
• Kuo Ping-Yen

Classifications

• H04N23/60

  Control of cameras or camera modules · CPC title

• H04N23/67

  Focus control based on electronic image sensor signals · CPC title

• G03B41/00 Primary

  Special techniques not covered by groups G03B31/00 - G03B39/00; Apparatus therefor · CPC title

• H04N23/69 Primary

  Control of means for changing angle of the field of view, e.g. optical zoom objectives or electronic zooming · CPC title

• G03B2205/00

  Adjustment of optical system relative to image or object surface other than for focusing · CPC title