Smartphone Imaging Lens With Folded Optical Path And Phase Structure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Smartphones face limitations in incorporating telephoto lenses due to thickness constraints, leading to bulky designs or image quality deterioration through digital zoom.
Innovation Solution
A compact imaging lens design incorporating a prism with a phase manipulation structure and multiple aspheric lens elements, which combines metalens technology with a periscope lens to achieve optical telephoto capabilities without digital zoom.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a telephoto lens with long total track length is used to achieve long focal length, then the telephoto capability is improved, but the smartphone becomes bulky
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a prism that redirects light at 90 degrees, changing the optical path from a straight linear arrangement to a folded perpendicular configuration. This dimensional change allows the optical axis to extend in a direction perpendicular to the smartphone's main body, achieving long focal length telephoto capability while keeping the smartphone's thickness compact.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent embeds multiple lens elements (first through fifth lens elements with alternating positive and negative diopters) within a compact periscope structure. The lens elements are nested in sequence along the folded optical path, with each element contributing to the overall telephoto function while maintaining a small form factor suitable for smartphone integration.
2Volume of moving object
If digital zoom is used to achieve telephoto effect, then the smartphone remains compact, but image quality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the computational approach of digital zoom (which processes and enlarges pixels through CPU computations) with an optical solution using physical lens elements and a prism. This substitution of mechanical/optical components for computational processing enables true optical telephoto imaging that preserves image quality while maintaining a compact smartphone form factor.
3Adaptability or versatility
If more than seven lens elements are used to achieve telephoto effect, then the telephoto capability is improved, but the smartphone becomes very bulky
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a prism to fold the optical path at 90 degrees, allowing five lens elements to achieve telephoto capability that would traditionally require more elements arranged in a longer linear configuration. This dimensional folding reduces the overall volume required while maintaining the necessary optical power and telephoto function.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a specific arrangement of lens elements with alternating positive and negative diopters (negative, negative, positive, positive, negative) to optimize the optical power distribution. This parameter optimization allows achieving the desired telephoto focal length with fewer elements, reducing the overall size while maintaining image quality and telephoto 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
The solution provides a small-sized imaging lens with good optical performance, effectively eliminating field curvature and distortion aberrations, enabling high-quality telephoto imaging on smartphones.
Implementation Method 1
The light incident surface includes at least one phase manipulation structure. The at least one phase manipulation structure is a circle and includes a circle center and multiple microstructures.
Implementation Method 2
The first lens element to the fifth lens element are aspheric lens elements
Implementation Method 3
The imaging lens sequentially includes a prism, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element, and a fifth lens element from an object side to an image side along an optical axis
Data Source
AI summary
An imaging lens sequentially includes a prism, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element, and a fifth lens element from an object side to an image side along an optical axis. The prism has a light incident surface. The light incident surface includes at least one phase delay structure being a circle and including a circle center and microstructures. Diopters of the first to fifth lens elements are respectively negative, negative, positive, positive, and negative. A spacing between two adjacent microstructures in a radial direction of the circle is the same. The first to fifth lens elements are aspheric lens elements. The imaging lens satisfies 3.86<TL/ImgH<9.8, where TL is a distance from an object side surface of the first lens element to an image plane on the optical axis, and ImgH is half of a diagonal of the image plane.