EP3055735A1

EP3055735A1 - Optical device for capturing images in a 360° horizontal field of view

Info

Publication number: EP3055735A1
Application number: EP14790215.9A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Richard Ollier
Original assignee: GIROPTIC
Current assignee: GIROPTIC
Priority date: 2013-10-07
Filing date: 2014-10-01
Publication date: 2016-08-17
Also published as: US20160252805A1; WO2015052410A1; FR3011645B1; FR3011645A1

Abstract

The present invention concerns an optical device (1) for capturing images, in a 360° field, by digital stitching of three images, comprising three optical groups (2, 3, 4) with a longitudinal axis for acquiring said three images respectively, each optical group comprising a head lens (21, 31, 41), followed on the same longitudinal axis of said optical group by a plurality of lenses in order to project the transmitted rays to an image sensor (22, 32, 42), said three optical groups (2, 3, 4) being arranged about an imaginary rotational axis (5) and, in the direction of said imaginary rotational axis, the optical groups are positioned in a geometric triangular configuration, said optical groups (2, 3, 4) being arranged so as not to overlap with each other, and the tilt angle between the longitudinal axis of each optical group (2, 3, 4) and the orthogonal plane of said imaginary rotational axis (5) being greater than or equal to 0° and strictly less than 15°.

Description

OPTICAL DEVICE FOR CAPTURING IMAGES

ACCORDING TO A 360 ° HORIZONTAL VISION FIELD

Technical field and prior art

The invention relates to an optical device for capturing images in a field of 360 °, by digital recollection of three images.

The present invention thus has many advantageous applications, especially in the field of sport by allowing the acquisition of 360 ° video especially for downhill sports or gliding such as for example skiing, surfing, or even cycling.

Other advantageous applications may also be envisaged in the context of the present invention, for example the acquisition of 360 ° aerial video by drones.

In the field of image capture, it is known to acquire a 360 ° horizontal field of view by juxtaposition and digital recollement of images obtained using several optics.

The Applicant, and in particular WO2012 / 032236A1, is thus known, an optical device for capturing 360 ° images, by digital recollection of three images.

Such a device comprises three optical groups of longitudinal axis for the respective acquisitions of said three images; according to such a device, each optical group has a head lens followed, on the same longitudinal axis of the optical group, of several lenses in order to project the transmitted rays to an image sensor.

In this anteriority, the optical groups are positioned in a geometric configuration in a triangle around a fictitious axis of rotation (see FIG. 1 appended to the present description).

By imaginary axis of rotation, it is meant that the position of one of the optical groups can be obtained from one of the other two optical groups of the device after a transformation of rotation in the space having for axis this axis of fictional rotation.

Typically, the relative positions of the three optical groups are obtained by successive rotations of 120 °, the triangle formed by the three optical groups being an equilateral triangle.

According to the optical device described in this document, the three optical groups are necessarily entangled with each other around this imaginary axis of rotation.

Thus, the longitudinal axis of each optical group is inclined relative to a plane orthogonal to the imaginary axis of rotation, so as to allow the entanglement of the optical groups (see Figures 2 and 3 appended to this description). Such entanglement makes it possible to bring the optical groups closer together, and thus to reduce the distance between the nodal points of each optical group between them.

The reduction of the distance between the nodal points allows a good juxtaposition of the three images after gluing.

In the field of panoramic photography, it may be recalled here that the nodal point (or non-parallax point) is considered as the point of convergence of the incident light rays which pass through the head lens, if they had not not deviated by it; this is here the center of the entrance pupil.

The good juxtaposition of the images acquired after gluing requires therefore a reduction of this distance between the nodal points; in WO 2012/032236 A1, this reduction necessarily entails entanglement which is made possible by inclination of the optical groups; in fact, the optical groups used up to now are too bulky.

According to the example of FIG. 2 of document WO 2012/032236 A1 and as illustrated in FIG. 1 appended to the present description, the distance difference between any two of the nodal points is 22 mm, such a difference does not could be reduced so far.

Furthermore, the angle of inclination between the longitudinal axis of each optical group and the plane orthogonal to said imaginary axis of rotation, allowing the entanglement of the optical groups, is typically between 15 ° and 30 °.

It is noted here that the size of the optical groups "wide angle" used so far has not reduced this inclination.

Such a device, portable, is marketed by the Applicant under the name

"GIROCAM" (http://www.girocam.com/) and allows a 360 ° image acquisition and a digital recollement of very good quality.

However, because of the inclination of the groups to allow entanglement, the inventor has found that with such a device it is not possible to acquire a vertical field of view over the entire height, namely an elevation of the optical field that extends from

+ 90 ° to -90 °.

Indeed, in the best case, for an angle of inclination between the axis of the optical group and the plane orthogonal to said imaginary axis of rotation of 15 °, after gluing the three images, the elevation extends only between -50 ° and + 90 °, ie a vertical field of view of 140 ° (see Figure 5 appended to this description), which represents a significant loss of information. This is not entirely satisfactory: the acquisition of a vertical field of view of up to 180 ° is preferable to capture the entire scene, and thus avoid a loss of information in the captured scene.

To enlarge the acquired vertical field of view, it would be necessary to be able to reduce the angle of inclination.

However, because of the necessary entanglement of the optical groups between them (for the juxtaposition of images after gluing), it is not possible to further reduce this angle of inclination.

As can be seen in Figure 3 appended to this description, reduce this angle is impossible given the mechanical blocking between the adjacent ends of two successive optical groups; in fact, as illustrated in this FIG. 3, the head lens of a first optical group is blocked by the image sensor of a second group, which prevents the inclination of the optical group.

The Applicant therefore observes that the current configuration of the optical device described above does not make it possible to obtain a satisfactory vertical field of view.

Summary and object of the present invention

The present invention aims to improve the situation described above.

Thus, one of the objectives of the present invention is to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks by proposing a device for capturing images according to a horizontal field of view of 360 ° and whose vertical field of vision is improved with respect to the state of the art. the technique.

Another objective of the present invention is also to reduce the current bulk of the optical device described in WO 2012/032236 A1.

Other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description which is given for information only and which in no way presents a limiting character.

The present invention thus relates, according to a first aspect, to an optical device for capturing images, according to a field of 360 ° (that is to say a field whose horizontal section covers the 360 °), by digital recollection of three images.

According to the present invention, the optical device comprises three optical groups of longitudinal axis for the respective acquisitions of the three images.

Preferably, each optical group comprises a head lens, followed on the same longitudinal axis of the optical group of several lenses in order to project the transmitted rays to an image sensor; said three optical groups are arranged around a fictitious axis of rotation and, in the direction of this imaginary axis of rotation, the optical groups are positioned in a geometric configuration in a triangle.

This triangle configuration (seen from above) makes it possible to reduce the distance between the nodal points.

To reduce this distance between the nodal points is characteristic of the present invention; this makes it possible to have a good juxtaposition of the images during the gluing.

According to the invention, the optical groups are arranged without entanglement with each other and the angle of inclination between the longitudinal axis of each optical group and the plane orthogonal to said imaginary axis of rotation is:

- greater than or equal to 0 °, and

less than 15 °.

This advantageous configuration without entanglement with optical groups of reduced size and having a reduced angle of inclination significantly widens the vertical field of view, which was not possible until now in the state of the technical, and in particular in the document WO 2012/032236A1.

According to optional features of the invention, taken alone or in combination:

the angle of inclination between the longitudinal axis of each optical group and the plane orthogonal to said imaginary axis of rotation is substantially between about 1 ° to 14 °, preferably between 6 ° and 12 ° (optionally between 8 ° and 10 °):

each image sensor has a lower active surface or included in a surface of 4 mm by 3 mm;

for each optical group, the distance between the front face of the head lens and the image sensor associated with said optical group is less than or equal to 25 mm; the distance difference between the nodal points of any two of said optical groups is less than or equal to 20 mm, preferably less than or equal to 15 mm; the relative positions of the three optical groups are obtained by successive rotations of 120 °, along the imaginary axis of rotation;

the device according to the present invention is portable, and has a face on which the device can rest on a horizontal surface by positioning said imaginary axis of rotation vertically.

According to a first embodiment, the pixels of the image sensors are rectangular surfaces of 5 μm to 7 μιη side, for example square surfaces of 6 μιη side, and the focal length of each optical group is less than 2.5 mm and the gap of distance between the nodal points of any two of said optical groups is less than or equal to 15 mm.

Alternatively, according to a second embodiment, the pixels of the image sensors are rectangular surfaces of 2 μιη to 4 μιη of side, for example square surfaces of 3 μιη of side, and the focal length of each optical group is smaller. at 3 mm and the difference in distance between the nodal points of any two of said optical groups is less than or equal to 10 mm.

Alternatively, according to a third embodiment, the pixels of the image sensors are rectangular surfaces, in particular square, with a side strictly smaller than 2 μιη, and the difference in distance between the nodal points of any two of said optical groups is smaller than or equal to 10 mm.

Thus, thanks to the various structural features described above, the present invention allows the acquisition of images in a horizontal field of view of 360 °, and in a vertical field of view greater than 140 °.

Brief description of the attached figures

Other features and advantages of the present invention will emerge from the description below with reference to FIGS. 4 to 9 which illustrate several variant embodiments devoid of any limiting character and on which:

Figure 4 schematically shows a top view of an optical assembly of an optical device according to an advantageous embodiment of the invention.

Figures 5 and 6 each respectively show a detailed schematic view of one of the three optical groups of Figure 4.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the vertical field of view of a 360 ° image after digital recoiling of three images obtained by means of a device according to FIG. 1, according to the state of the art, for an inclination between longitudinal axis of each of the optical groups and the plane perpendicular to said fictitious axis of rotation of 15 °.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the vertical field of view of a 360 ° image after digital recoiling of three images obtained by means of a device according to FIG. 3, according to the invention for an inclination between the longitudinal axis of each of the optical groups and the plane perpendicular to said fictitious axis of rotation of 0 °. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the vertical field of view of a 360 ° image after digital recoiling of three images obtained by means of a device according to FIG. 3, according to the invention for an inclination between the longitudinal axis of each of the optical groups and the plane perpendicular to said fictitious axis of rotation of 9 °.

Detailed description of an embodiment of the invention

An optical device according to the present invention will now be described in the following with reference to Figures 4 to 9.

Designing an optical device allowing the acquisition of images according to a horizontal field of vision of 360 ° and according to a vertical field greater than 140 ° (that is to say between 140 ° and 180 °) is one of the objectives of the present invention.

Indeed, as explained above in the description, the document WO2012 / 032236A1 discloses an optical device that allows a 360 ° image acquisition and a digital recollement of very good quality, but whose vertical field of view is not satisfactory: it is indeed less than 140 °.

The present invention aims to remedy this problem, and thus relates to an optical device 1 for capturing images.

In a known manner, in the example described here, and as illustrated in FIG. 4, the optical device 1 according to the present invention comprises three optical groups 2, 3 and 4 making it possible to acquire each respectively an image at a given instant.

In the example described here, and as illustrated in FIG. 4, each optical group 2, 3 and 4 comprises a head lens 21, 31, 41; each head lens 21, 31, 41 is followed on the same longitudinal axis A ₂ , A ₃ and A ₄ of the optical group 2, 3 and 4 of a plurality of lenses.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, this arrangement for each optical group 2, 3 and 4 of a head lens 21, 31, 41, called a wide angle lens, followed by a plurality of lenses makes it possible to project the transmitted rays towards a sensor. images respectively bearing the reference 22, 32 and 42.

More particularly, in the example described here, each optical group 2, 3 and 4 is composed of an assembly of lenses with flat, spherical or aspherical surfaces whose material choices, thicknesses, curvatures and position are determined by optimization. an optical design composed of 2 lens subgroups:

the front group (or front), divergent nature to collect the light rays on a wide angle of field, the rear group, of convergent nature focusing the light rays on the image sensor and forming the image thereon.

The properties of Optical Group 2, 3 and 4 optical design are of the "Fish-eye" type and are distinguished by:

a very large angle of object field,

a focal length approaching a millimeter,

a front group with negative power (diverging), and back group with positive power (converging),

a short optical path (here of the order of 13mm) with a short backward pull (of the order of 3.5 mm),

a small frontal optical diameter (of the order of 20 mm),

the rear optical diameter of the same order (of the order of 10mm).

Thus, in the example described here, the optical performance in terms of wavefront quality is 0.6 lambda all positions in the useful field of the image sensor ce giving an optical FTM ensuring more than 50% of contrast to Nyquist / 2 Spatial Frequency for Bayer Filters Mosaic Color Image Sensor Technologies with a pixel size of 1.4um or near giving a spatial frequency of Nyquist / 2 at 125 line pairs / mm.

In the example described here, and as illustrated in FIG. 4, the three optical groups 2, 3 and 4 are arranged around a fictitious axis of rotation 5, and have a triangular (equilateral) geometric configuration around this axis. .

In other words, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the so-called longitudinal axes of each of the three optical groups 2, 3 and 4 form a triangle. Such a configuration is characteristic of the present invention. It makes it possible to reduce the distance between the nodal points.

The use of such an arrangement of optical groups 2, 3 and 4 in a triangle with head lenses 21, 31 and 41 wide angle thus makes it possible to acquire a scene according to a horizontal field of view at 360 °.

Preferably, the active surface of each image sensor 22, 32 and 42 is smaller or included in a surface area of 4 mm by 3 mm, which makes it possible to have a good definition in the images acquired.

According to a first characteristic of the present invention, the optical groups 2, 3 and 4 are arranged without entangling them; in other words, optical groups 2, 3 and 4 do not overlap each other, as can be seen in the state of the art illustrated in FIG. 2 of the present description.

Moreover, according to a second characteristic of the present invention, the angle of inclination α between the longitudinal axis A ₂ , A ₃ and A ₄ respectively optical groups 2, 3 and 4 and the plane P, which is the plane orthogonal to the axis of rotation 5, is greater than or equal to 0 ° and strictly less than 15 °.

In the example described, this angle of inclination a is between 6 ° and 12 °, preferably between 8 ° and 10 °.

Choosing a tilt angle value within this range provides sufficient coverage with 175 ° optics (simpler to manufacture than 180 ° optics).

The arrangement described above is characteristic of the present invention.

Thus, in the example described here, and as illustrated in FIG. 4, thanks to this arrangement, it is possible to obtain an optical device 1 which has a distance difference δ between the nodal points of any two substantially equal optical groups. at 10 mm (compared with 22 mm in the state of the art).

Such a difference is particularly advantageous because it allows the optical device 1 to be miniaturized to limit its size and integrate it for example into a drone.

Maximizing the vertical field of view is one of the objectives of the present invention. Thus, in the example described here and illustrated in FIG. 7, when the angle of inclination a is equal to 0 °, the vertical field of view is substantially equal to 180 °, which makes it possible to have a complete acquisition of the scene in both the vertical field of view and the horizontal field of view.

Alternatively, as illustrated in FIG. 8, when the angle of inclination a is equal to 9 °, the vertical field of view is substantially equal to 160 °, which remains quite satisfactory, in comparison with the 140 ° field of view. vertical vision obtained with the optical device according to the state of the art (illustrated in Figure 9).

In the example described here, and as illustrated in FIG. 6, for each optical group 2, 3 and 4, the distance d between the front face of the head lens 21, 31 and 41 and the associated image sensor 22, 32 and 42 is less than or equal to 25 mm; such a frontal distance makes it possible to avoid the entanglement of the optical groups while allowing a good juxtaposition of the images after gluing.

There is thus a direct relation between this frontal distance d and the distance δ between the nodal points, such a relation making it possible to avoid entanglement while guaranteeing a good juxtaposition of images after gluing, which was not possible until now in the state of the art.

There is also a mathematical relationship between the focal length of the lens of each optical group and the distance between the nodal point and the axis of symmetry to determine the parallax error in number of pixels; such a relation is written according to the following formula:

^■ mwk> fmal d es mif

focal length of lens

distance msdaS point - syroe axis & fe

pixie size

angle of paraitsxs eri radian

Thus, the present invention, thanks to the various structural features described above, overcomes the various disadvantages above the state of the art, which improves the optical performance of the device while reducing its size. Such improvements open accordingly the field of possible applications for the present invention, particularly with the integration of the device into drones.

Of course, other advantageous applications can be retained.

It should be observed that this detailed description relates to a particular embodiment of the present invention, but in no case this description is of any nature limiting to the subject of the invention; on the contrary, its purpose is to remove any imprecision or misinterpretation of the claims that follow.

Claims

1. An optical device (1) for capturing images, in a field of 360 °, by digital recollection of three images, comprising three optical groups (2,3,4) of longitudinal axis

(A _{2 to} A ₃ , A ₄ ) for the respective acquisitions of said three images, each optical group (2,3,4) comprising a head lens (21,31,41), followed on the same longitudinal axis (A ₂ A , A ₄ ) of said optical group (2,3,4), of a plurality of lenses for projecting the transmitted rays to an image sensor (22,32,42), said three optical groups (2,3,4) being arranged around a fictitious axis of rotation (5),

in which, in the direction of said imaginary axis of rotation (5), the optical groups (2,3,4) are positioned in a geometric configuration in a triangle,

wherein said optical groups (2,3,4) are arranged without entanglement with each other, and wherein the angle of inclination (a) between the longitudinal axis (A ₂ A ₃ , A ₄ ) of each optical group ( 2,3,4) and the orthogonal plane (P) to said imaginary axis of rotation (5) is greater than or equal to 0 ° and strictly less than 15 °.

2. Device (1) according to claim 1, wherein said angle of inclination (a) between the longitudinal axis (A ₂ A, A ₄ ) of each optical group (2,3,4) and the orthogonal plane ( P) to said imaginary axis of rotation (5) is substantially in the range of 1 ° to 14 °.

3. Device (1) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said angle of inclination (a) between the longitudinal axis (A ₂ A, A ₄ ) of each optical group (2,3,4) and the plane orthogonal (P) to said fictitious axis of rotation (5) is substantially between the order of 6 ° to 12 °.

4. Device (1) according to one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said angle of inclination (a) between the longitudinal axis (A ₂ Α ^, Α- each optical group (2,3,4) and the orthogonal plane (P) to said imaginary axis of rotation (5) is substantially in the range of 8 ° to 10 °.

5. Device (1) according to one of claims 1 to 4, wherein each image sensor (22; 32; 42) has a lower active surface or included in a surface of 4 mm by 3 mm.

6. Device (1) according to one of claims 1 to 5, wherein for each optical group (2,3,4), the distance (d) between the front face of the head lens (21,31, 41) and the associated image sensor (22,32,42) to said optical group (2,3,4) is less than or equal to 25 mm.

7. Device (1) according to one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the distance difference (δ) between the nodal points of any two of said optical groups (2,3,4) is less than or equal to 20 mm preferably less than or equal to 15mm.

8. Device (1) according to claim 7, wherein the pixels of the image sensors (22,32,42) are rectangular surfaces of 5 μιη to 7 μιη side, for example square surfaces of 6 μιη side , and wherein the focal length of each optical group (2,3,4) is less than 2.5 mm, and the distance difference (δ) between the nodal points of any two of said optical groups (2,3,4) is less than or equal to 15 mm.

9. Device (1) according to claim 7, wherein the pixels of the image sensors are rectangular surfaces of 2 μιη to 4 μιη side, for example square surfaces of 3 μιη side, and in which the focal length of each optical group (2,3,4) is less than 3 mm, and the distance difference (δ) between the nodal points of any two of said optical groups (2,3,4) is less than or equal to 10 mm .

10. Device (1) according to claim 7, wherein the pixels of the image sensors (22,32,42) are rectangular surfaces, in particular square, strictly less than 2 μιη side, and in which the difference of distance (δ) between the nodal points of any one of said optical groups (2,3,4) is less than or equal to 10 mm.

11. Device (1) according to one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the relative positions of the three optical groups (2,3,4) are obtained by successive rotations of 120 °, along the axis of imaginary rotation.

12. Device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 11, portable and having a face on which said device (1) can rest on a horizontal surface by positioning said imaginary axis of rotation vertically.

13. Drone comprising an optical device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

14. Use of an optical device (1) according to one of claims 1 to 12 for obtaining at least one 360 ° image by digital recollection of three images acquired respectively by the three optical groups (2,3, 4) of said optical device (1).