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 operated by a user, comprising:
a sensor that captures an image; a first lens that can direct light to the sensor, the first lens having a first focal length, wherein the combination of the sensor and first lens has a first field of view; a second lens that can direct light to the sensor, the second lens having a second focal length that is shorter than the first focal length, wherein the combination of the sensor and second lens has a second field of view, wherein the combination of the first field of view and the second field of view comprises a field of view that is greater than the first field of view; and a zoom control operable by the user to allow the user to request a desired field of view to produce a zoomed image; and wherein the first and second lenses can be moved into and out of optical alignment with the sensor so that the sensor receives light passing through the first lens including the first field of view when the first lens is aligned with the sensor and light passing through the second lens including the second field of view when the second lens is aligned with the sensor at various focal distances; wherein the combination of the sensor and the first lens are aligned with the combination of the sensor and the second lens to allow the camera to focus from a same focus distance at said first field of view through said first lens according to said first focal length and at said second field of view through said second lens according to said second focal length, respectively; wherein the zoomed image comprises the image focused to the sensor from the first lens if the requested field of view is equal to the first field of view, the zoomed image is produced from the image focused to the sensor from the first lens by cropping and interpolating the image focused to the sensor from the first lens if the requested field of view is within but less than the first field of view, and wherein the zoomed image comprises the image focused to the sensor from the second lens if the requested field of view is equal to the second field of view, and the zoomed image is produced from the image focused to the sensor from the second lens by cropping and interpolating the image focused to the sensor from the second lens if the requested field of view is within but less than the second field of view and greater than the first field of view; and wherein the depth of field for the combination of the sensor and the first lens is the same as the depth of field for the combination of the sensor and the second lens.