Digital Camera Image Mover for Earth Rotation Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing digital cameras require an equatorial mount with an auto-tracking system for long-exposure astrophotography, which is expensive, heavy, and difficult to handle, and result in inferior image registration accuracy and slow image processing speeds when used for tracking astrophotography without an equatorial mount.
Innovation Solution
A digital camera equipped with an image mover that calculates and follows the movement path of celestial bodies relative to the Earth's rotation using location, azimuth, and altitude information, allowing for stationary image capture without an equatorial mount, utilizing a controller, image sensor mover, and gyro sensors to compensate for camera shake.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If an equatorial mount with auto-tracking system is used for long-exposure astrophotography, then image stability is improved, but device complexity, weight, and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the tracking function from the complex equatorial mount system and implements it within the digital camera itself using an image mover and control unit. The camera calculates celestial body movement based on location, azimuth, and altitude information, then compensates by moving the image sensor or lens, eliminating the need for external equatorial mounting equipment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an image mover as an intermediary mechanism between the fixed camera body and the image sensor. This intermediary component performs the tracking function by moving the image sensor or lens in response to calculated celestial body positions, providing image stability without requiring the entire camera system to be mounted on complex equatorial equipment.
2Device complexity
If multiple images are synthesized without an equatorial mount, then device complexity is reduced, but image registration accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary calculation of the celestial body's movement path using location, azimuth, and altitude information before capturing the long-exposure image. The control unit pre-determines the tracking trajectory, allowing the image mover to accurately follow the celestial body throughout the exposure period, ensuring high image registration accuracy without synthesizing multiple images afterward.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback control system where the control unit continuously monitors the calculated position of the celestial body and adjusts the image mover's position accordingly. This real-time feedback mechanism ensures that the image remains centered and properly registered throughout the long exposure, maintaining high accuracy without requiring post-processing image synthesis.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple images are synthesized to track celestial bodies, then tracking capability is achieved, but image processing speed deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the post-processing image synthesis approach with a real-time mechanical/optical tracking system. The image mover physically tracks the celestial body during the exposure, eliminating the need for complex image processing and synthesis algorithms. This substitution of mechanical tracking for computational processing significantly improves image processing speed while maintaining tracking capability.
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
Enables high-accuracy, long-exposure astrophotography without the need for an equatorial mount, improving image registration and processing speed while maintaining image stability through precise celestial body tracking.
Implementation Method 1
the controller calculates a movement path of the image of the celestial body, which moves relative to an initial position of an image circle of the photographing optical system due to the rotation of the earth
Implementation Method 2
the assignee of the present invention has proposed an image shake corrector which detects camera shake with a gyro sensor
Data Source
AI summary
A digital camera having an image mover includes a controller, a location information inputter, an orientation information inputter, a focal length information inputter, and an exposure time setter which sets an exposure time for which a celestial body image is exposed to an image sensor. The controller calculates a movement path of the celestial body image, which moves relative to the photographing optical system due to the rotation of the earth within the exposure time, using the location information that is input to the controller via the location information inputter, and the azimuth information and the altitude information that are input to the controller via the orientation information inputter. The controller drives the image mover in accordance with the calculated movement path to move the image sensor in a manner such that the image of the celestial body remains at a stationary position on the image sensor.