WO2019127251A1 - Imaging device and imaging method - Google Patents

Abstract

An imaging device and an imaging method. The imaging device comprises: a micro-lens arrays (2) that is used for converging all light rays of incident light (L) on an oscillating mirror (3); the oscillating mirror (3) that rotates to reflect all of the light rays of the incident light (L) to an optical splitter (4); the optical splitter (4) that is used for splitting all of the light rays of the incident light (L) and sending the same to an RGB sensing unit (5); and the RGB sensing unit (5) that is used for outputting all of the light rays of the incident light (L) as digital signals. The oscillating mirror (3) and the optical splitter (4) are used by the imaging device to replace an existing charge-coupled device (CCD) or complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) and a color filter so as to guarantee to the furthest degree that the initial energy of incident light is not lost while real color information of each pixel point may be accurately acquired, thus improving photographing image quality.

Description

Imaging device and imaging method

[Technical Field]

The present invention relates to the field of imaging technologies, and in particular, to an imaging device and an imaging method.

 【Background technique】

At present, there are two core imaging components of a digital camera: one is a CCD (Charge-coupled Device), and the other is a CMOS. (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor). Although the working principle of CCD and CMOS is very different, there is one thing in common: photodiodes are used as conversion components of optical-electrical signals. The pixel points of each of the photosensitive elements respectively correspond to one image point in the image sensor. Since the photosensitive element can only sense the intensity of light and cannot capture color information, the color CCD/CMOS image sensor must cover the color filter above the photosensitive element. . In recent years, CCD and CMOS have developed to varying degrees, such as stacked CMOS, which solves the reflection of incident light passing through the micro-lens and color filter after passing through the metal wiring layer on the basis of the conventional CMOS. The problem of incident light energy loss.

However, 2/3 of the original incident energy of the incident light passing through the color filter is absorbed by the color filter. For example, the R sensor of the RGB sensor can receive the red light portion of the incident light, but the green light of the incident light itself. And the blue light part will be absorbed. Therefore, the color filter itself also causes energy loss, greatly reducing the photographic performance.

Moreover, whether in a CCD or CMOS sensor structure, the color arrangement of the color filter and the RGB sensing unit is such that only one of the three primary colors can be recorded per unit pixel point, and the other two colors can only pass. Obtaining the color information of other pixels around a pixel and combining the data of the pixel itself to restore the color of the environment, and finally forming a real pixel in the digital photo, such a "guess color" process leads to a decrease in the true resolution of the image, affecting Shooting quality.

 [Summary of the Invention]

The invention mainly provides an imaging device and an imaging method, aiming at solving the problem that the existing image sensor has large loss of incident light energy and low image resolution.

In order to solve the above technical problem, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is to provide an imaging device, including: a microlens array, a galvanometer, a beam splitter, and an RGB sensing unit;

The microlens array is configured to gather all the light of the incident light onto the galvanometer;

The galvanometer rotates to reflect all light of the incident light to the beam splitter;

The beam splitter is configured to split all the light of the incident light and send the light to the RGB sensing unit;

The RGB sensing unit is configured to output all the light of the incident light as a digital signal.

In order to solve the above technical problem, another technical solution adopted by the present invention is to provide an imaging method, wherein the method includes:

Causing incident light through the microlens array to the galvanometer;

Rotating the galvanometer to receive all of the light of the incident light and reflect it to the beam splitter,

All the light of the incident light is split by the beam splitter and sent to the RGB sensing unit to output the incident light as a digital signal.

The invention has the beneficial effects that the combination of the galvanometer and the beam splitter replaces the existing CCD or the combination of the CMOS and the color filter, thereby ensuring that the original energy of the incident light is not lost and the pixel can be accurately collected. Point to the true color information to improve the quality of the shooting.

 [Description of the Drawings]

1 is a schematic structural view of an image forming apparatus of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a schematic view showing the rotational axis of the galvanometer in the image forming apparatus of the present invention;

3 is a schematic view showing the principle of scanning a microlens by a galvanometer in the image forming apparatus of the present invention;

4 is a schematic flow chart of an image forming method of the present invention.

【Detailed ways】

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic structural view of an image forming apparatus of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1 , the imaging apparatus in this embodiment includes a microlens array 2 composed of a plurality of rows of microlenses 1 and a plurality of columns of microlenses 1 , a galvanometer 3 , a beam splitter 4 , an RGB sensing unit 5 , and a laser 6 . Synchronous sensor 7. Among them, several rows and a plurality of columns of microlenses 1 are arranged in a spherical or cylindrical surface to gather incident light L.

The microlens array 2 gathers all the rays of the incident light L to the galvanometer 3, and the galvanometer 3 rotates to receive all the rays of the incident light L and is reflected to the beam splitter 4, and the light is dispersed when passing through the beam splitter 4, and then transmitted to the RGB transmission. The sensing unit 5 collects the color information of all the rays of the incident light L by the RGB sensing unit 5, and finally outputs the incident light L as a digital signal. Wherein, the RGB sensing unit 5 includes an R sensor 51, a G sensor 52, and a B sensor 53, the R sensor 51 is for receiving red light, and the G sensor 52 is for receiving green light, B The sensor 53 is for receiving blue light.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention may further include an infrared sensor 54 (hereinafter referred to as an IR sensor) for receiving infrared rays, which constitutes an RGB-IR sensing unit 5A with the RGB sensing unit 5. The digital signal outputted by the RGB sensing unit 5 or the RGB-IR sensing unit 5A is processed by a signal amplifier, a digital-to-analog converter or the like to form a final complete image, which is the same as the prior art and will not be described herein. The beam splitter 4 can be a triangular prism or a diffractive optical element.

Referring to Figure 2, a schematic view of the axis of rotation of the galvanometer in the imaging device of the present invention. When the galvanometer 3 rotates to reflect all the rays of the incident light L, the first direction of rotation is performed centering on the vertical plane L1, and the angle α of the first direction of rotation is 60 to 70 degrees; the galvanometer 3 is along the horizontal plane L2. The rotation in the two directions, and the angle β of the rotation in the second direction is 40 to 50 degrees; the rotation of the galvanometer 3 in the first direction and the second direction alternates.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention further comprises a laser 6 and a synchronizing sensor 7, which emits light to the galvanometer 3, and the galvanometer 3 reflects the light onto the synchronizing sensor 7 to monitor the rotation of the galvanometer 3 in the first direction and the second direction. Turn.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention further includes a main lens 8 disposed between the object plane and the microlens array 2, and the microlens array 2 is located on the focal plane of the main lens 8, and the main lens 8 can be a set of lenses for Initially gather the incident light.

Please refer to FIG. 3 , which is a schematic diagram of the principle of the galvanometer reflecting the microlens in the imaging device of the present invention. In FIG. 3, the microlens array 2 is arranged in a spherical arrangement, and all the rays of the incident light L are collected by the microlens array 2 to the galvanometer 3, and the galvanometer 3 reflects each microlens in the microlens array 2 one by one, that is, a point When reflected, the incident light L passes through the microlens array 2, is gathered by each microlens to form a light beam, and is projected onto a point on the surface of the galvanometer 3, the light beam including a plurality of rays. Because the microlens array 2 includes several rows and a plurality of columns of microlenses and is arranged in a spherical plane, wherein several rows of m rows and a plurality of columns of n columns, it is possible to receive light incident at different angles, when the galvanometer 3 receives the first row first After illuminating the light of the microlens A11 and reflecting it to the spectroscope 4, the galvanometer 3 is rotated in the first direction centering on the vertical plane L1 to receive the light of the first row and the second column of the microlens A12 and reflect it to the spectroscopic 4, that is, the light rays are reflected one by one in the order of the microlenses A11, A12, A13, ... until the light of the first row of the nth microlens A1n is reflected, the light of the first row of microlenses is completely reflected, and the galvanometer 3 is returned. To the initial position. Then, the galvanometer 3 is rotated in the second direction along the horizontal plane L2 to receive the light of the second row and the first column of the microlenses A21 and is reflected to the spectroscope 4, after which the galvanometer 3 is rotated in the first direction centering on the vertical plane L1. Receiving the light of the second row and the second column of the microlens A22 and reflecting it to the beam splitter 4, that is, reflecting the light one by one in the order of the microlenses A21, A22, A23, ... until the light of the second row of the nth microlens A2n is reflected, The light of the two rows of microlenses is completely reflected, and the galvanometer 3 returns to the initial position before the second row of microlenses starts to reflect, and then the galvanometer 3 performs the second direction of rotation along the horizontal plane L2 to continue to reflect the remaining rows of microlenses in the same manner. All light is reflected until all the light rays of the last row of microlenses (ie, the mth line of microlenses) are completely reflected. After the galvanometer 3 reflects the light of the first row of microlenses A11 to A1n, the light of the second row of microlenses may be reflected in the order of the second row of microlenses A2n to A21, and then the third row of microlenses A31 to A3n The sequence reflects the light of the third row of microlenses, so that it reciprocates until all of the rows of microlenses are reflected. Specifically, the driving circuit (not shown) of the galvanometer 3 is adjusted according to actual conditions. In this embodiment, m and n are natural numbers. Moreover, the galvanometer 3 can also reflect light in a different order, for example, the two diagonal lines of the rectangle are the first direction and the second direction, and the principle of reflecting light is also the same as that of the embodiment.

When the microlens array 2 is arranged in a spherical direction, the galvanometer 3 performs point reflection, and the galvanometer 3 reflects only one light to the optical splitter 4 at a time, and the optical splitter 4 splits only one light at a time, so only the imaging device needs to be set. An RGB sensing unit 5, that is, an R sensor 51, a G sensor 52, a B sensor 53, and an IR sensor 54 may be included if necessary, when the galvanometer 3 reflects the light one by one to the beam splitter 4 The splitter 4 also splits the light one by one to the R sensor 51, the G sensor 52, and the B sensor 53 of the RGB sensing unit 5, When the IR sensor 54 is used, the spectroscope 4 also splits the light one by one to the IR sensor 54, and the RGB sensing unit 5 or the RGB-IR sensing unit 5A analyzes only the color information of each light at a time point.

When the microlens array 2 is arranged in a cylinder, all the rays of the incident light L are collected by the microlens array 2 to the galvanometer 3, and the galvanometer 3 can also be reflected simultaneously through each row or column of the microlenses 1 in the microlens array 2. When the light is reflected by the line, the incident light L passes through the microlens 1 and is gathered by each row or column of microlenses to form a light beam, which is projected onto the galvanometer 3 to form a line, each of which contains a plurality of rays, and at this time, the galvanometer 3 simultaneously Receiving the light of the same row or column of the microlenses 1, the galvanometer 3 does not need to rotate in the first direction centering on the vertical plane L1, but only needs to rotate in the second direction centering on the horizontal plane L2 to receive the different rows of the microlenses 1 Light. As shown in FIG. 3, the galvanometer 3 simultaneously receives the light of the first row of microlenses A11 to A1n and reflects it to the beam splitter 4, after which the galvanometer mirror 3 is rotated in the second direction centering on the horizontal plane L2 to simultaneously receive the second line. The light rays of the microlenses A21 to A2n are reflected to the spectroscope 4, and then the galvanometer mirror 3 is rotated in the second direction centering on the horizontal plane L2 to simultaneously receive the light of the third row of the microlenses A31 to A3n and reflect it to the spectroscopic light. The ray 4 continues to reflect all of the rays of the remaining rows of microlenses in the same manner until the light rays of all of the rows of microlenses are reflected. It should be noted that when the galvanometer 3 is reflected in rows, it can be focused in the horizontal direction, in the vertical direction, or in any direction on the surface of the galvanometer 3, and the reflection principle is the same as the above principle.

When the microlens array 2 is arranged in a cylindrical direction, the galvanometer 3 performs line reflection, and the galvanometer 3 reflects one line or one column of light each time to the beam splitter 4, and the beam splitter 4 splits one line or one column of light each time, so the galvanometer 3 When reflecting in a row, a set of RGB sensing units 5 needs to be provided in the imaging device to simultaneously analyze and collect the color information of each line of light. A set of RGB sensing units 5 includes a number of RGB sensing units 5, wherein the number of RGB sensing units 5 is greater than or equal to the number of microlenses per row in the microlens array 2. Each of the sensing units 5 includes an R sensor 51, a G sensor 52, and a B sensor 53. If necessary (as applied in the medical, military, aerospace, and transportation fields), the sensor unit 5 may further include an R sensor 51 and a G sensor 52. The B sensor 53 has the same number of IR sensors 54. When there is an IR sensor 54, the spectroscope 4 simultaneously splits the light into a plurality of RGB-IR sensing units 5A, and the RGB-IR sensing unit 5A simultaneously analyzes the color information of each row or column of rays.

Please refer to FIG. 4, which is a schematic flow chart of the imaging method of the present invention. The method includes the following steps:

Step S1: concentrating all the light of the incident light L through the microlens array 2 onto the galvanometer 3;

Step S2: rotating the galvanometer 3 to receive all the light of the incident light L and reflected to the beam splitter 4;

Step S3: All the rays of the incident light L are split by the beam splitter 4 and sent to the RGB sensing unit 5 to output the incident light L in digital form.

The galvanometer 3 rotates in the first direction centering on the vertical plane L1, and the angle of rotation in the first direction is 60 to 70 degrees; and/or the galvanometer 3 rotates in the second direction centering on the horizontal plane L2, and the second direction The angle of rotation is 40 to 50 degrees. In order to ensure the accuracy of the light reflected by the galvanometer 3, a laser 6 and a synchronizing sensor 7 are provided in the imaging device, the laser 6 emits light to the galvanometer 3, the galvanometer 3 reflects the light onto the synchronizing sensor 7, and the synchronizing sensor 7 verifies the laser 6 The uniformity of the light reflected by the galvanometer 3 is to monitor the rotation of the galvanometer 3 in the horizontal direction and the rotation in the vertical direction.

It should be noted that when the microlens array 2 is arranged in a curved surface different from the spherical surface or the cylindrical surface, the galvanometer 3 can correspondingly reflect the plurality of microlenses or the plurality of rows of microlenses in the microlens array 2, In this case, it is necessary to adjust the number of settings corresponding to the RGB sensing unit 5 or the RGB-IR sensing unit 5A accordingly. When the galvanometer 3 reflects the plurality of microlenses in the microlens array 2, the incident light L passes through the microlens array 2, is gathered by each microlens to form a light beam, and is projected onto a plurality of points on the surface of the galvanometer 3 The galvanometer 3 reflects the reflection of each point in the same manner as the galvanometer 3 reflects each microlens in the microlens array 2 one by one, and the plurality of points are reflected in a certain position order, and the corresponding number needs to be set. A plurality of RGB sensing units 5 or RGB-IR sensing units 5A simultaneously acquire and analyze color information of reflected light. When the galvanometer 3 reflects the plurality of rows of microlenses in the microlens array 2, the incident light L passes through the microlens array 2, is gathered by each microlens to form a light beam, and is projected onto a plurality of lines on the surface of the galvanometer 3 The galvanometer 3 reflects each line in the same manner as the galvanometer 3 simultaneously reflects each row of microlenses in the microlens array 2. The plurality of lines are reflected in a certain position order; The plurality of sets of RGB sensing units 5 or RGB-IR sensing units 5A simultaneously analyze the color information of the reflected light. The reflection mode of the galvanometer 3 for each line is the same as that of the galvanometer 3 for simultaneously reflecting each row of microlenses in the microlens array 2, and the reflection of the remaining lines is performed in a certain logical sequence. When the IR sensor 54 is required, the IR sensor 54 having the same number as the R sensor 51, the G sensor 52, and the B sensor 53 is provided, and the RGB sensor 5 constitutes the RGB-IR sensor 5A.

It should also be noted that the microlens array 2 can be replaced with other lens arrays having a curved focusing effect, which is capable of achieving the effect of the microlens array collecting light.

The invention replaces the color filter in the existing CCD or CMOS by the combination of the galvanometer and the beam splitter, and ensures that the original energy of the incident light is not lost, and the true color information of each pixel can be accurately collected. Improved shooting quality.

The above is only the embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, and the equivalent structure or equivalent process transformation made by the specification and the drawings of the present invention may be directly or indirectly applied to other related technical fields. The same is included in the scope of patent protection of the present invention.

Claims (20)

1. An imaging device, comprising: a microlens array, a galvanometer, a beam splitter, and an RGB sensing unit;

   The microlens array is configured to gather all the light of the incident light onto the galvanometer;

   The galvanometer rotates to reflect all light of the incident light to the beam splitter;

   The beam splitter is configured to split all the light of the incident light and send the light to the RGB sensing unit;

   The RGB sensing unit is configured to output all the light of the incident light as a digital signal.
2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said microlens array comprises a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns of microlenses, said plurality of microlenses being arranged in a spherical or cylindrical manner to gather all of said incident light rays to the same On the mirror.
3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the number of said RGB sensing units is one to output all the rays of said incident light one by one as a digital signal.
4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the number of the RGB sensing units is greater than or equal to the number of microlenses per row or column to output all of the light of the incident light row by row or column by column as a digital signal. .
5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said RGB sensing unit comprises an R sensor for receiving red light, said G sensor for receiving green light, said G sensor The B sensor is used to receive blue light.
6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus further comprises an infrared sensor for receiving infrared rays.
7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said galvanometer rotates in a first direction centering on a vertical plane, and an angle of rotation in the first direction is 60 to 70 degrees; and/or said galvanometer is along a horizontal plane The second direction of rotation is performed, and the angle of rotation in the second direction is 40 to 50 degrees to receive and reflect all of the light of the incident light.
8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image forming apparatus further comprises a laser and a synchronizing sensor, said laser emitting light to said galvanometer, said galvanometer reflecting said light to said synchronizing sensor To monitor the rotation of the galvanometer in the first direction and the rotation in the second direction.
9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the spectroscope is a triangular prism or a diffractive optical element.
10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image forming apparatus further comprises a main lens disposed between the object plane and said microlens array, and said microlens array is located at said main lens On the focal plane.
11. An imaging method, wherein the method comprises:

    Causing incident light through the microlens array to the galvanometer;

    Rotating the galvanometer to receive all of the light of the incident light and reflect it to the beam splitter,

    All the light of the incident light is split by the beam splitter and sent to the RGB sensing unit to output the incident light as a digital signal.
12. The image forming method according to claim 11, wherein said microlens array comprises a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns of microlenses, said plurality of microlenses being arranged in a spherical or cylindrical manner to collectively gather said incident light to said vibration mirror.
13. The image forming method according to claim 12, wherein said microlens array is arranged in a spherical shape, and one of said RGB is set when said galvanometer and said beam splitter reflect and illuminate all of said light of said incident light one by one The sensing unit is configured to output all of the light of the incident light one by one as a digital signal.
14. The image forming method according to claim 12, wherein said microlens array is arranged in a cylindrical direction, and when said galvanometer and said beam splitter are reflected row by row or column by column and splitting all rays of said incident light, A set of the RGB sensing units are arranged to output all of the light of the incident light as a digital signal row by row or column by column; the number of the RGB sensing units is greater than or equal to the number of each row or column of microlenses.
15. The image forming method according to claim 11, wherein said RGB sensing unit comprises an R sensor for receiving red light, said G sensor for receiving green light, said G sensor B The sensor is used to receive blue light.
16. The image forming method according to claim 11, wherein an infrared sensor is provided to receive infrared rays.
17. The image forming method according to claim 11, wherein the galvanometer rotates in a first direction centering on a vertical plane, and the angle of rotation in the first direction is 60 to 70 degrees; and/or the galvanometer is along a horizontal plane The second direction of rotation is performed, and the angle of rotation in the second direction is 40 to 50 degrees to receive and reflect all of the light of the incident light.
18. The image forming method according to claim 11, wherein a laser and a synchronizing sensor are disposed such that said laser emits light to said galvanometer, said galvanometer reflecting said light to said synchronizing sensor to monitor The rotation of the galvanometer in the first direction and the rotation in the second direction.
19. The image forming method according to claim 11, wherein the spectroscope is a triangular prism or a diffractive optical element.
20. The image forming method according to claim 11, wherein a main lens is disposed between the object plane and the microlens array, and the microlens array is located on a focal plane of the main lens.