Image Capturing Device with Dislocated Optical Axis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional panoramic camera devices have limited image sensing coverage, particularly in actual monitoring environments, as they fail to capture sufficient information from the ceiling and walls due to the alignment constraints and properties of fisheye lenses, leading to wasted image data and suboptimal image sensor usage.
Innovation Solution
An image capturing device with an image sensing unit and optical lens component where the central optical axis of the imagery circle does not align with the central point of the sensing region, allowing for a field of view greater than or equal to 180 degrees by overlapping the image sensing unit and optical lens component in a central dislocating manner, enabling increased image sensing coverage and preferred image resolution through image stitching.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the central optical axis of the imagery circle is aligned with the central point of the sensing region, then the device structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the image sensing coverage rate is limited and cannot capture sufficient information from ceiling and walls
Solution Approach 1:
The patent intentionally misaligns the central optical axis of the imagery circle with the central point of the sensing region, creating an asymmetric configuration. This asymmetric arrangement allows the imagery circle to extend toward the edges of the sensing region, thereby increasing the field of view and capturing more image information from ceiling and wall areas without complicating the manufacturing process
2Device complexity
If conventional fisheye lenses are used with aligned configuration, then the device complexity is low, but the field of view is insufficient to cover 180 degrees or more
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes the edge alignment configuration where the imagery circle aligns with the edges of the sensing region, effectively utilizing the dimensional space available. By positioning the imagery circle to align with the longer lateral side and extending toward shorter lateral sides, the system achieves 180 degrees or more field of view coverage while maintaining a simple single-lens configuration without adding multiple lenses or complex mechanical structures
3Device complexity
If the image sensing unit is fully overlapped with the optical lens component in a aligned manner, then the hardware resource usage is simple, but the usage region of the image sensor is not maximized
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by having the imagery circle align specifically with the edges of the sensing region rather than being uniformly distributed. This localized alignment strategy ensures that the image sensor's active region is fully utilized, with the imagery circle extending to the edges to maximize the usage region and capture efficiency, thereby improving productivity without increasing device complexity
Data Source
AI summary
An image capturing device with high image sensing coverage rate is applied by a related image capturing method. The image capturing device includes a base, an image sensing unit and an optical lens component. The image sensing unit is disposed on a lateral surface of the base, and has a sensing region. The optical lens component is overlapped with the image sensing unit, and has an imagery circle. A central optical axle of the imagery circle does not align with a central point of the sensing region; wherein the image capturing device captures an image via the optical lens component and the imaging sensing unit.