| 摘要 |
A number of optical fiber cords 11 are bundled together to constitute an image fiber 12a. One end of the image fiber 12a is incorporated within and covered by a cylindrical member 14 to constitute an imaging section 15a, which in turn constitutes one of a plurality of imaging sections. The other end of the image fiber 12a is incorporated within a fiber bundling unit 16 so that an image pickup device is able to simultaneously read images captured by the plurality of imaging sections and transmitted via optical means. In the fiber bundling unit 16 are provided a plurality of cylindrical holes 17 including a cylindrical hole 17a in an orderly fashion and in a lattice pattern, and into the cylindrical hole 17a is inserted one end of the image fiber 12a that constitutes the imaging section 15a. At the same time, all of the end faces of a plurality of image fibers including the image fiber 12a are aligned in the same plane to thereby form a flattened surface. A plurality of imaging sections including the imaging section 15a are radially disposed in a spherical and omnidirectional imaging unit taking into account the latitude and longitude of the imaging sections. This allows omnidirectional images with no distortions to be transmitted to an image capture unit. <IMAGE>
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