Dual Lens Digital Zoom

摘要

A camera with a pair of lens/sensor combinations, the two lenses having different focal lengths, so that the image from one of the combinations has a field of view approximately two to three times greater than the image from the other combination. As a user of the camera requests a given amount of zoom, the zoomed image provided will come from the lens/sensor combination having the field of view that is next larger than the requested field of view. Thus, if the requested field of view is less than the smaller field of view combination, the zoomed image will be created from the image captured by that combination, using cropping and interpolation if necessary. Similarly, if the requested field of view is greater than the smaller field of view combination, the zoomed image will be created from the image captured by the other combination, using cropping and interpolation if necessary.

主权项

1. A camera comprising:
a sensor that captures an image; a first optical component that can direct light to said sensor, said first optical component providing a first field of view to said sensor; a second optical component that can direct light to said sensor, said second optical component providing a second field of view to said sensor, said second field of view being narrower than said first field of view; and a zoom control configured to allow a user to request a desired field of view of a zoomed image; and wherein said first and said second optical components can be moved into and out of multiple different positions relative to said sensor such that said sensor receives light passing through said first optical component, including said first field of view, when said first and said second optical components are in a first position relative to said sensor and light passing through said second optical component, including said second field of view, when said first and said second optical components are in a second position relative to said sensor; said first optical component and said second optical component are substantially aligned to allow each to be directed toward the same subject; and said zoomed image comprises the image focused to said sensor from said first optical component if said desired field of view requested by said user is equal to said first field of view, said zoomed image is produced from the image focused to said sensor from said first optical component by cropping and interpolating the image focused to said sensor from said first optical component if said desired field of view is less than said first field of view and greater than said second field of view, said zoomed image comprises the image focused to said sensor from said second optical component if said desired field of view is equal to said second field of view, and said zoomed image is produced from the image focused to said sensor from said second optical component by cropping and interpolating the image focused to said sensor from said second optical component if said desired field of view is less than said second field of view.