Five-Lens Imaging System Shortening Total Length

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Solution Overview

Problem

There is a demand for imaging lenses that are both compact and capable of achieving high resolution and wide-angle views, particularly for thinner devices like smartphones and tablets, while maintaining a short total length to accommodate advancing miniaturization and increased pixel density in imaging elements.

Innovation Solution

The development of a five-lens imaging lens configuration with specific refractive powers and shapes, including a meniscus-shaped first lens, a negative refractive power second lens, a biconvex third lens, a convex fourth lens, and a concave, aspherical fifth lens, optimized by conditional formulas to achieve a short total length and improved optical performance from central to peripheral angles of view.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Length of moving object

If the total length of the lens is shortened to accommodate thinner devices, then the device thickness is reduced, but the image size becomes insufficient for high-resolution imaging elements

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetotal length of lensVSAvoidimaging performance

Core Design Contradiction:

Length of moving objectVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The lens system is divided into five distinct lens elements with specific refractive powers and shapes. Each lens element (first lens with positive power, second lens with negative power, third lens with positive power, fourth lens with positive power, and fifth lens with negative power) is optimized to contribute to overall system performance, allowing the total length to be shortened while maintaining adequate image size and high-resolution imaging capability

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies specific conditional formulas that define parameter relationships: 0.34 < f/f12 (where f is focal length and f12 is combined focal length of first and second lenses). By controlling these optical parameters and their relationships, the design achieves shortened total length while preserving sufficient image size for high-resolution imaging elements with 5 megapixels or greater

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

2Manufacturing precision

If the number of pixels in imaging elements is increased to achieve high resolution, then the imaging quality is improved, but the demand for lens performance and precision increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveimaging resolutionVSAvoidlens configuration complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Manufacturing precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

Each lens element is designed with specific local characteristics: the first lens has a meniscus shape with convex surface toward the object side, the fifth lens has a concave surface toward the image side with an inflection point on its aspherical surface. These localized quality variations in each element contribute to correcting aberrations and achieving high imaging performance for multi-megapixel sensors without requiring overly complex overall system design

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

3Manufacturing precision

If a five-lens configuration is used to achieve high performance, then the imaging quality is improved, but the total length of the lens system increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveimaging performanceVSAvoidtotal length of lens

Core Design Contradiction:

Manufacturing precisionVSLength of moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent employs aspherical surfaces, particularly on the fifth lens where the surface toward the image side is aspherical with an inflection point. This dynamic surface geometry allows for more efficient light control and aberration correction, enabling the five-lens system to achieve high imaging performance while maintaining a shortened total length that would not be possible with traditional spherical lens designs

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

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 allows for high-resolution images with a wide angle of view while significantly shortening the lens system's total length, effectively addressing the need for compactness and performance in modern imaging devices.

Implementation Method 1

a first lens having a positive refractive power and is of a meniscus shape with a convex surface toward the object side

Methodology Applied