Five-Lens Optical System for Compact Surveillance Cameras
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional optical systems for portable electronic devices face challenges in capturing high-quality images in low-light environments, particularly in dark settings, and require IR cut filters that occupy space and are costly, making it difficult to design miniaturized surveillance cameras that can effectively capture both visible and infrared light.
Innovation Solution
An optical image capturing system utilizing a combination of refractive powers and convex/concave surfaces of four lenses, optimized for both visible and infrared light, to achieve a near-confocal effect without the need for IR cut filters, allowing for improved image quality and reduced system size.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional optical systems use three or four lenses with large aperture for dark environment photography, then the optical performance is improved, but the system size and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple optical functions into a five-lens system where each lens contributes to both visible and infrared light management. The lenses are designed with specific refractive powers and surface curvatures that simultaneously address aberration correction and wavelength-specific focusing, merging what would traditionally require separate optical components into a unified system.
Solution Approach 2:
The optical system is designed to handle both visible and infrared wavelengths through the same five-lens configuration, eliminating the need for separate optical paths or additional filtering mechanisms. The lens materials and surface designs are optimized to provide universal performance across different wavelength ranges, allowing the system to function effectively in both daytime and nighttime modes without requiring separate optical trains.
2Manufacturing precision
If IR cut filters are used to filter infrared light, then image fidelity is improved, but the system occupies more space and increases cost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the infrared filtering function from separate physical filter components and integrates it directly into the lens optical design. By carefully selecting lens materials with specific transmission characteristics and designing surface curvatures that create wavelength-dependent focal points, the system naturally separates visible and infrared light paths without requiring additional filter elements, thereby reducing system volume while maintaining filtering effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite material strategies by selecting lens materials with different transmission properties for visible and infrared wavelengths. The combination of materials in the five-lens system creates an effective composite optical path that selectively focuses visible light while directing infrared light to a different focal plane, achieving spectral separation through material composition rather than additional filtering components.
3Manufacturing precision
If the optical system is designed for high pixels with minimized pixel size, then imaging quality is improved, but the quantity of light entering the lens decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes aspheric surfaces on multiple lenses to optimize light gathering and distribution. The curved surfaces are specifically designed to capture oblique rays at wide angles and redirect them toward the image sensor, increasing the effective light collection area without increasing the physical aperture size. This curvature optimization ensures that even with small pixel sizes, sufficient light reaches each pixel to maintain image quality in low-light conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent optimizes multiple optical parameters including refractive indices, surface curvatures, and lens spacing to maximize light transmission efficiency. By adjusting these parameters, the system achieves high numerical aperture while maintaining compact dimensions, ensuring that the maximum quantity of light enters the lens and reaches the high-resolution sensor without requiring larger physical components.
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
The system enhances image quality by effectively capturing both visible and infrared light, reducing the need for IR cut filters and enabling the design of more compact surveillance cameras with improved performance in low-light conditions.
Implementation Method 1
The optical image capturing system includes a first lens, a second lens, a third lens, a fourth lens, and a fifth lens, from an object side to an image side, each having refractive power
Data Source
AI summary
An optical image capturing system includes, along the optical axis in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens, a second lens, a third lens, a fourth lens, and a fifth lens. At least one lens among the first to the fifth lenses has positive refractive force. The fifth lens can have negative refractive force. The lenses in the optical image capturing system which have refractive power include the first to the fifth lenses. The optical image capturing system can increase aperture value and improve the imaging quality for use in compact cameras.