TWI447429B - Panoramic camera - Google Patents

Description

Panoramic camera

The present invention relates to the field of cameras, and more particularly to a panoramic camera.

Conventional cameras are mostly composed of a single lens. They are relatively stationary with the subject during imaging. The angle of view depends on the angle of view of a single lens. Normally, the angle of view of a standard lens is about 50 degrees, so it cannot be used for shooting. Scenes such as scenery and collective commemorative photos.

Wide-angle lens shooting angle will be much wider, the general wide-angle lens angle can exceed 90 degrees, the fisheye lens can exceed 180 degrees, but currently there is no 360-degree panoramic camera. If the user needs to take a 360-degree panoramic photo, then a smooth tripod horizontal rotation lens is required for shooting, and then the image is processed by the connection software, but the rotating lens requires a complicated driving device and is difficult to manufacture.

In view of this, it is necessary to provide a panoramic camera that is simple in structure and less difficult to manufacture.

A panoramic camera includes a casing and a plurality of camera modules disposed on the casing, wherein each camera module sequentially houses at least one lens, a mirror, and an image sensor from the object side to the image side. The sum of the angles of view of the lens of the plurality of camera modules is greater than or equal to 360 degrees, and the panoramic camera further includes a plurality of viewing windows corresponding to the plurality of camera modules and an image processor, and the mirror and the image sensing Between the light receiving surfaces of the device When the angle is 90 degrees, the incident light is finally incident on the image sensor. When the angle is an acute angle, the incident light is reflected by the mirror and finally enters the corresponding viewing window, and the image processor is used to The photos taken by the camera module are processed to obtain a panoramic photo.

Compared with the prior art, the panoramic camera used in the present invention simultaneously captures the images of the respective angles of view through the plurality of camera modules, and then processes the plurality of images through the image processor to obtain a panoramic photo, which eliminates the complicated need. The mechanical device for rotating the lens has a simple structure and is less difficult to manufacture.

100,200‧‧‧ panoramic camera

11‧‧‧Shell

112‧‧‧ side wall

113‧‧‧Upper floor

114‧‧‧ Lower floor

12,22‧‧‧ camera module

13,23‧‧‧View window

14‧‧‧Image Processor

126‧‧‧Image Sensor

124‧‧‧Mirror

122‧‧‧ lenses

1262‧‧‧Glossy surface

60‧‧‧ incident light

1 is a perspective view of a panoramic camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a perspective view of a panoramic camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention at another viewing angle.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of Figure 1 taken along the line III-III.

4 is a state diagram when the angle between the mirror of FIG. 3 and the light receiving surface of the image sensor is 90 degrees.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a panoramic camera according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

The embodiments of the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 4 together, a panoramic camera 100 according to a first embodiment of the present invention is provided. The panoramic camera 100 includes a housing 11 having an enclosed side wall 112 and a bottom plate 113 and a lower floor 114 connected to the side wall 112. The side wall 112 is vertically disposed between the upper bottom plate 113 and the lower bottom plate 114. Four camera modules 12 are arranged along the circumference of the enclosed side wall 112. On the lower base plate 104 and the four phases Four viewing windows 13 are disposed at corresponding positions of the machine module 12. The panoramic camera 100 also includes an image processor 14.

Each camera module 12 receives a lens 122, a mirror 124 and an image sensor 126 in sequence from the object side to the image side. The image sensor 126 has a light receiving surface 1262. The mirror 124 has an angle θ with the light receiving surface 1262 of the image sensor 126. The mirror 124 can be rotated by a motor (not shown) along a rotation axis perpendicular to the optical axis of the camera module 12, thereby achieving a change in the angle θ.

The camera module 12 has a viewing angle greater than 90 degrees, or the sum of the viewing angles of the four camera modules 12 is greater than or equal to 360 degrees. When the camera module 12 accommodates more than one lens, it is necessary to consider the angle of view of the lens composed of the plurality of lenses.

The image processor 40 is electrically connected to the image sensor 126 of each camera module 12 for processing the photos taken by each camera module 12 to obtain a panoramic photo.

The specific use of the panoramic camera 100 is such that when the shutter button (not shown) is not pressed, the angle θ is 45 degrees. At this time, the incident light 60 is reflected by the mirror 124 and finally enters the viewing window 30, so that we can see the picture to be photographed through the viewing window 30. When the shutter button (not shown) is pressed, the angle θ is adjusted to 90 degrees, that is, the mirror 124 is perpendicular to the light receiving surface 1262 of the image sensor 126, so that the light 60 can be imaged on the image sensor 126. . The imaging of each image sensor 126 is then processed by the image processor 40 to obtain a panoramic photo. Since the viewing window 30 is disposed on the bottom plate 104 below the panoramic camera 100, the photographer itself does not affect the shooting. It can be understood that the action of the mirror 124 is achieved by pressing the shutter button, thereby adjusting the angle of θ to 90 degrees. For example, the controller can be connected to the motor that drives the mirror 124 by a controller. Shutter button press The controller then controls the operation of the motor to drive the mirror 124 to rotate to an angle θ of 90 degrees. There are many technical means in the prior art for accomplishing this purpose, and details are not described herein again.

In this embodiment, the optical axes of the two camera modules 12 are on the same straight line, and the optical axes of the adjacent two camera modules 12 are perpendicular to each other. Each of the four camera modules 12 is distributed on the same circumference. Of course, the four camera modules 12 can be arranged in other forms. The lenses of the three camera modules 12 can be distributed on one circumference, and the lenses of the other camera module 12 are distributed on the circumference. On the concentric circumference, the four camera modules 12 can also be distributed on an ellipse.

Referring to FIG. 5, a panoramic camera 200 according to a second embodiment of the present invention is provided. The panoramic camera 200 includes three camera modules 22 and three viewing windows 23 corresponding to the three camera modules 22. The optical axis of the two adjacent camera modules 22 has an angle of 120 degrees. The angle of view of each of the camera modules 22 is greater than 120 degrees. Of course, the number of the camera modules is not limited to four or three in the embodiment of the present invention, and may be two or more than four, which may be selected according to the size of the camera module lens.

Compared with the prior art, the panoramic camera 100 or 200 used in the present invention simultaneously captures images of respective angles of view through four or three camera modules 12 or 22 arranged along the circumference of the side wall 102, and then passes the image. The processor 40 processes the four or three images to obtain a panoramic photo, which eliminates the complicated mechanical mechanism for rotating a single lens, has a simple structure and is less difficult to manufacture.

In summary, the present invention has indeed met the requirements of the invention patent, and has filed a patent application according to law. However, the above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and it is not possible to limit the scope of the patent application of the present invention. Anyone familiar with the skill of the case is dependent on the present invention. Equivalent modifications or variations made by the spirit are to be covered by the following patents.

11‧‧‧Shell

112‧‧‧ side wall

113‧‧‧Upper floor

114‧‧‧ Lower floor

13‧‧‧View window

14‧‧‧Image Processor

126‧‧‧Image Sensor

124‧‧‧Mirror

1262‧‧‧Glossy surface

60‧‧‧ incident light

122‧‧‧ lenses

Claims (8)

A panoramic camera includes a casing and a plurality of camera modules disposed on the casing, wherein each camera module sequentially houses at least one lens, a mirror, and an image sensor from the object side to the image side. Wherein, the sum of the angles of view of the lens of the plurality of camera modules is greater than or equal to 360 degrees, the panoramic camera further includes a plurality of viewing windows corresponding to the plurality of camera modules and an image processor, wherein the mirror and the image are When the angle between the light receiving surfaces of the sensor is 90 degrees, the incident light is finally incident on the image sensor. When the angle is an acute angle, the incident light is reflected by the mirror and finally enters the corresponding viewing window. The image processor is configured to process a photo taken by each camera module to obtain a panoramic photo. The outer casing has an upper bottom plate, a lower bottom plate, and a surrounding side wall disposed between the upper bottom plate and the lower bottom plate. The camera module is arranged along the circumference of the side wall, and the plurality of viewing windows are disposed on the lower floor. The panoramic camera of claim 1, wherein the acute angle is 45 degrees. The panoramic camera of claim 1, wherein the number of the camera modules is four. The panoramic camera of claim 3, wherein the optical axes of the two camera modules are on the same straight line, and the optical axes of the adjacent two camera modules are perpendicular to each other. The panoramic camera of claim 3, wherein the angle of view of each of the camera module lenses is greater than 90 degrees. The panoramic camera of claim 1, wherein the number of the camera modules is three. The panoramic camera of claim 6, wherein the adjacent two camera modules have an optical axis angle of 120 degrees. The panoramic camera of claim 6, wherein the camera lens of each camera module The angles are all greater than 120 degrees.