Image correction using individual manipulation of microlenses in a microlens array

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9348123-B2
Application number	US-201314108003-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 16, 2013
Priority date	Dec 16, 2003
Publication date	May 24, 2016
Grant date	May 24, 2016

Abstract

A system constructs a composite image using focus assessment information of image regions.

First claim

We claim:

1. A system comprising:
at least one of a lens or a microlens array;
a controller configured to at least position at least one of the lens or at least a portion of the microlens array at least at a primary and another position and to cause an image capture signal at least at the primary and the other position; and
an image construction unit configured to at least construct one or more images using at least one in-focus portion of a first image captured at the primary position and at least one out-of-focus portion of another image captured at the other position.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the image construction unit configured to at least construct one or more images using at least one in-focus portion of a first image captured at the primary position and at least one out-of-focus portion of another image captured at the other position comprises:
an image construction unit configured to construct the one or more images using the at least one in-focus portion of a first image captured at the primary position and the at least one out-of-focus portion of another image captured at the other position, the first image captured at the primary position captured substantially simultaneously with the another image captured at the other position.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a photo-detector array,
wherein the controller configured to at least position at least one of the lens or at least a portion of the microlens array at least at a primary and another position and to cause an image capture signal at least at the primary and the other position comprises a controller configured to at least position at least one of the lens or at least a portion of the microlens array at least at a primary and another position relative to the photo-detector array and to cause an image capture signal at least at the primary and the other position.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the image construction unit configured to at least construct one or more images using at least one in-focus portion of a first image captured at the primary position and at least one out-of-focus portion of another image captured at the other position comprises:
an image construction unit configured to generate at least one composite image at least partially based on the at least one in-focus portion of a first image captured at the primary position and the at least one out-of-focus portion of another image captured at the other position.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of a lens or a microlens array and the controller configured to at least position at least one of the lens or at least a portion of the microlens array at least at a primary and another position and to cause an image capture signal at least at the primary and the other position comprise:
a lens having at least one deviation that exceeds a first tolerance from a target optical property, and a controller configured to position the lens at a primary and another position and to cause an image capture signal at the primary and the other position.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of a lens or a microlens array and the controller configured to at least position at least one of the lens or at least a portion of the microlens array at least at a primary and another position and to cause an image capture signal at least at the primary and the other position comprise:
a microlens array having at least one microlens deviation that exceeds a first tolerance from a target optical property, and a controller configured to position at least one microlens of the microlens array at a primary and another position and to cause an image capture signal at the primary and the other position.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of a lens or a microlens array and the controller configured to at least position at least one of the lens or at least a portion of the microlens array at least at a primary and another position and to cause an image capture signal at least at the primary and the other position comprise:
a microlens array having at least one microlens deviation that exceeds a first tolerance from a target optical property, and a controller configured to position the microlens array at a primary and another position and to cause an image capture signal at the primary and the other position.

8. A system, comprising:
a photo-detector array;
a lens having at least one deviation that exceeds a first tolerance from a target optical property;
a controller configured to position the lens at a primary and another position relative to the photo-detector array and to cause an image capture signal at the primary and the other position;
an image construction unit configured to construct at least one out-of-focus region of a first image captured at the primary position with a more in-focus region of another image captured at the other position; and
an enclosure, the enclosure housing at least the photo-detector array, the lens, the controller, and the image construction unit.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the controller configured to position the lens at a primary and another position relative to the photo-detector array and to cause an image capture signal at the primary and the other position comprises:
a transducer system having a control signal input operably coupled with the controller and a motion output operably coupled with the lens.

10. The system of claim 9 , further comprising:
an electric motor operably coupled to move the lens.

11. The system of claim 9 , further comprising:
an electric motor operably coupled to distort the lens.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the image construction unit configured to construct at least one out-of-focus region of a first image captured at the primary position with a more in-focus region of another image captured at the other position comprises:
circuitry for constructing at least one out-of-focus region of a first image captured at the primary position with a more in-focus region of another image captured at the other position the circuitry including at least one of electrical circuitry having at least one discrete electrical circuit, electrical circuitry having at least one integrated circuit, electrical circuitry having at least one application specific integrated circuit, electrical circuitry having a general purpose computing device configured by a computer program, electrical circuitry having a memory device, or electrical circuitry having a communications device.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the lens having at least one deviation that exceeds a first tolerance from a target optical property comprises:
at least one of a Fourier lens or a Fresnel lens.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the lens having at least one deviation that exceeds a first tolerance from a target optical property comprises:
at least one transforming optic.

15. The system of claim 8 , wherein the lens having at least one deviation that exceeds a first tolerance from a target optical property comprises:
a lens system including at least one lens.

16. The system of claim 8 , further comprising:
a mobile device, including at least the enclosure, wherein the mobile device is at least one of a personal digital assistant (PDA), a personal entertainment device, a mobile phone, a laptop computer, a tablet personal computer, an iPhone, a smartphone, a digital still camera, or a digital video camera.

17. The system of claim 8 , wherein the controller configured to position the lens at a primary and another position relative to the photo-detector

Assignees

• Searete Llc
• Invention Science Fund I Llc

Inventors

• Hillis W Daniel
• Myhrvold Nathan P
• Wood Jr Lowell L

Classifications

• H04N23/951

  by using two or more images to influence resolution, frame rate or aspect ratio · CPC title

• H04N25/61

  the noise originating only from the lens unit, e.g. flare, shading, vignetting or "cos4" · CPC title

• H04N23/673

  based on contrast or high frequency components of image signals, e.g. hill climbing method · CPC title

• G06T2207/20221

  Image fusion; Image merging · CPC title

• G02B15/14 Primary

  by axial movement of one or more lenses or groups of lenses relative to the image plane for continuously varying the equivalent focal length of the objective · CPC title