Image capturing device and image capturing system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9531963-B2
Application number	US-201314031388-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 19, 2013
Priority date	Oct 9, 2012
Publication date	Dec 27, 2016
Grant date	Dec 27, 2016

Abstract

The image capturing device includes an optical system that focuses lights from an object to generate optical information, a filter provided near a diaphragm position of the optical system, the filter having a plurality of types of spectral characteristics, a sensor that converts the optical information of the object to electronic data, the sensor providing a plurality of spectral transmittance values that sequentially and spatially change, and a lens array having a plurality of lenses being arranged in substantially parallel in a direction of a two-dimensional surface of the sensor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image capturing device, comprising:
an optical system configured to focus lights from an object to generate optical information, the optical system including a diaphragm position along a center line of the optical system;
a filter provided along the center line of the optical system, the filter having a plurality of types of spectral characteristics;
a sensor configured to convert the optical information of the object to electronic data, the sensor having a plurality of spectral transmittance values that sequentially and spatially change; and
a lens array provided between the optical system and the sensor and configured to have a plurality of lenses being arranged in substantially parallel in a direction of a two-dimensional surface of the sensor,
wherein the lights from the object pass through the respective positions of the sensor to simultaneously form a plurality of types of spectral image of the object on an image plane of the sensor,
wherein the filter includes a transparent substrate and a thin film formed on the transparent substrate,
wherein the thin film formed on the transparent substrate has a wedge-shape thickness such that a first side area of the thin film has a first thickness, and a second side area of the thin film has a second thickness, wherein the second thickness is greater that the first thickness, and
wherein the wedge-shaped thickness of the thin film changes in a non-stepwise manner from the first side area to the second side area.

2. The image capturing device of claim 1 , wherein the filter includes a plurality of filter areas each having spectral characteristics different from one another.

3. The image capturing device of claim 1 , wherein the filter includes a plurality of filters, each filter including at least a part having a wavelength range different from a wavelength range of at least a part of another filter.

4. The image capturing device of claim 1 , wherein the optical system includes a diaphragm having a rectangular shape.

5. The image capturing device of claim 1 , wherein the spectral transmittance values on the filter sequentially change in a concentric manner from a center of the filter.

6. The image capturing device of claim 1 , wherein the spectral transmittance values on the filter sequentially change in an ultraviolet or an infrared range.

7. The image capturing device of claim 1 ,
wherein a change in thickness of the thin film corresponds to a change in spectral transmittance of the filter.

8. The image capturing device of claim 7 , wherein the thin film is made of niobium pentoxide.

9. An image capturing system, comprising:
the image capturing device of claim 1 ; and
a spectrum calculator configured to calculate a spectrum for each pixel, using the plurality of types of spectral image obtained from the image capturing device.

10. The image capturing device of claim 1 , wherein the first side area is a short-wavelength side area made of niobium tantalum.

11. The image capturing device of claim 1 , wherein the first side area of the thin film corresponds to a short-wavelength section of the filter, and the second side area of the thin film corresponds to a long-wavelength section of the filter.

Assignees

• Yamanaka Yuji
• Masuda Kensuke
• Maruyama Go
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yamanaka Yuji
• Masuda Kensuke
• Maruyama Go

Classifications

• G03B7/00 Primary

  Control of exposure by setting shutters, diaphragms or filters, separately or conjointly (control of exposure in television cameras by means of circuitry influencing the optical part of the camera H04N23/75) · CPC title

• H04N23/55 Primary

  Optical parts specially adapted for electronic image sensors; Mounting thereof · CPC title

• H04N5/30 Primary

  Transforming light or analogous information into electric information (scanning details H04N3/00; cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors, or control thereof H04N23/00; circuitry of solid-state image sensors [SSIS] or control thereof H04N25/00) · CPC title

• H04N5/2254

  Electricity · mapped topic