Asymmetric Camera Sensor Positioning for Face Capture
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Solution Overview
Problem
Handheld mobile devices' built-in cameras often fail to capture the entire user's face when the user is not positioned directly in front of the device, leading to potential authentication failures due to symmetrical field of view limitations.
Innovation Solution
The camera's image sensor is positioned asymmetrically relative to the objective optics, with its center point displaced by at least ten rows from the optical center, and microlenses are shifted to optimize the field of view, ensuring the entire face is captured by tilting the central axis downward.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the camera uses a symmetrical field of view with the image sensor centered on the optical axis, then the optical system remains simple and manufacturing is easier, but the camera fails to capture the entire user's face when the user is positioned at an angle
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies asymmetry by deliberately displacing the image sensor's active area center from the optical axis of the objective lens. This asymmetric positioning creates an asymmetric field of view that is optimized to capture the user's face when held at typical viewing angles, resolving the contradiction between maintaining simple optics and achieving versatile face coverage.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the image sensor is displaced transversely by at least ten rows from the optical center, then the entire face is captured at angled positions, but the field of view becomes asymmetric and may reduce coverage in other directions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by optimizing the field of view distribution non-uniformly. The asymmetric sensor positioning concentrates the effective field of view in the direction where face capture is most needed (when the device is held at typical angles), while accepting reduced coverage in other directions. This resolves the contradiction by making the field of view area distribution match the specific application requirements.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach allows for effective face recognition without the need for larger sensors or more complex optics, maintaining image quality and ensuring the entire face is captured, even when the user is at an angle.
Implementation Method 1
the sensor elements include respective pixel electrodes and microlenses, and in at least some of the sensor elements, the microlenses are shifted transversely relative to the pixel electrodes
Data Source
AI summary
An imaging device includes objective optics configured to form an image at a focal plane and having an optical axis that intersects the focal plane at an optical center. An image sensor, which includes an array of sensor elements arranged in a matrix of rows and columns, is positioned in the focal plane with a center point of the matrix displaced transversely by at least ten rows relative to the optical center.