Curved Detector Optical Arrangement for Mobile Device
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge in mobile device optics is to achieve high-quality imaging with a large detector size within the limited installation space of 6 mm to 8.5 mm, which restricts the design of powerful optics and complicates image field flattening due to extreme field angles and limited mechanical constraints.
Innovation Solution
An optical arrangement with a curved detector surface and a displaceable lens configuration, allowing for a reduced object-side half field angle and chief ray angle, facilitating image field flattening and light coupling, while enabling a longer focal length within a short installation space by using a combination of crown and flint materials for lens elements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a planar detector surface is used, then the structure is simple, but image field flattening becomes significantly more difficult due to extreme field angles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies curvature to the detector surface by using a spherical or aspherical lens element that focuses light onto a curved image plane. This curvature matching allows the detector surface to conform to the natural focal surface of the optical system, thereby simplifying image field flattening while maintaining manufacturing feasibility through standard curved detector technologies.
2Length of moving object
If the installation length is restricted to 6-8.5 mm, then the mobile device thickness is reduced, but the design of powerful optics with large detector size becomes extremely difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a movable lens assembly that can shift along the optical axis to adjust the focal plane position. This dynamic adjustment mechanism allows the optical system to accommodate variations in detector positioning and achieve proper focus within the constrained installation length, thereby maintaining optical design flexibility despite the thin form factor requirement.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent integrates multiple optical components including lens elements, aperture stops, and focusing mechanisms within a compact nested structure. The lens assembly is housed within a cavity that allows for precise positioning while minimizing the overall installation length, enabling powerful optics to be packed into a thin mobile device form factor.
3Area of stationary object
If the object-side half field angle is large, then the image field coverage is improved, but image field flattening and chief ray angle control become significantly more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the optical system into multiple lens elements with different optical powers and functions. By segmenting the optical path into objective lens, intermediate lens, and detector assembly components, each with optimized field angles, the system achieves wide image field coverage while controlling chief ray angles through progressive refraction across the segmented optical train.
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 configuration simplifies image field flattening, reduces material usage, and allows for a higher packing density of lens elements, achieving improved imaging performance with a larger number of lens elements in a compact space, enhancing the optical arrangement's efficiency and flexibility.
Implementation Method 1
The lens typically includes a plurality of lens elements. The first lens element vertex is understood to mean the lens element vertex of the first lens, counted from an object side.
Data Source
AI summary
An optical arrangement for a mobile device includes a lens and an image receiver, the installation length L0 of the optical arrangement being no more than 10 millimeters. The image receiver has a curved detector surface. The lens is typically arranged to be displaceable along a center axis relative to the image receiver between a compressed state and an operating state.