Transflective Film for Inconspicuous Imaging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional imaging devices used in surveillance, transportation, and robotics are conspicuous, making them unsuitable for inconspicuous monitoring and affecting design flexibility and image clarity, especially when using half mirrors or smoke plates.
Innovation Solution
An imaging device with an image pickup element and a transflective film, including a cholesteric liquid crystal layer or multi-layer polymer film, where the transflective film reflects incident light and covers the imaging unit and peripheral region, ensuring the device is inconspicuous and allows clear image capture.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a half mirror is disposed on the front surface of the imaging device to make it inconspicuous, then the imaging device becomes less visible, but the external appearance looks like a mirror and design flexibility is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies a transflective film with specific optical properties that can change its appearance characteristics. The film includes a cholesteric liquid crystal layer that reflects circularly polarized light of one rotation direction and transmits light of the other rotation direction, enabling the imaging device to be inconspicuous while allowing diverse design applications without the mirror-like appearance limitation.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a smoke plate is disposed on the front surface to make the imaging device inconspicuous, then visibility is reduced, but the color of the smoke plate is transferred to the obtained image reducing image clarity
Solution Approach 1:
The transflective film uses circularly polarized light separation properties rather than simple color filtering. The cholesteric liquid crystal layer selectively reflects and transmits based on polarization rotation direction, not wavelength, thereby making the imaging device inconspicuous without transferring color to the captured image, thus maintaining image clarity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the optical parameter from wavelength-based filtering (smoke plate) to polarization-based separation (transflective film with cholesteric liquid crystal). This parameter change enables the film to be inconspicuous while allowing full-color light transmission for clear image capture without color distortion.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the imaging device is made inconspicuous using conventional methods, then visibility is reduced, but the peripheral region surrounding the imaging unit does not satisfy the required luminance condition
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the transflective film specifically to the peripheral region surrounding the imaging unit with controlled luminance characteristics. The film's selective polarization properties create local quality differences that satisfy the luminance condition (L*≤50 in CIE-Lab color space) in the peripheral region while maintaining overall inconspicuous appearance and proper light transmission for imaging.
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 allows for an inconspicuous imaging device that can easily integrate into various designs and provides clear images without the limitations of half mirrors or smoke plates, maintaining image quality across different applications.
Implementation Method 1
a transflective film that is disposed on a side of the imaging unit where light is incident into the image pickup element and reflects a part of the incident light
Implementation Method 2
the transflective film includes a cholesteric liquid crystal layer... reflects circularly polarized light of one rotation direction and transmits light of the other rotation direction
Implementation Method 3
the transflective film includes a multi-layer polymer film... transmits light of a specific wavelength range
Data Source
AI summary
Provided are an imaging device that is inconspicuous from the outside, can easily apply design, and can obtain a clear image, and a laminate. The imaging device includes: an imaging unit that includes an image pickup element; and a transflective film that is disposed on a side of the imaging unit where light is incident into the image pickup element and reflects a part of the incident light, in which the transflective film includes at least one of a cholesteric liquid crystal layer or a multi-layer polymer film, when seen from a direction perpendicular to a surface of the image pickup element where light is incident, a peripheral region surrounding the imaging unit satisfies L*≤50 in a CIE-Lab (D50) color space, and when seen from the direction perpendicular to the surface of the image pickup element where light is incident, the transflective film is disposed to cover at least the imaging unit and the peripheral region.