U.S. patent application number 16/141730 was filed with the patent office on 2019-01-17 for wide-field of view (fov) imaging devices with active foveation capability.
This patent application is currently assigned to Magic Leap, Inc.. The applicant listed for this patent is Magic Leap, Inc.. Invention is credited to Chunyu Gao, Hong Hua.
Application Number | 20190018249 16/141730 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 49301051 |
Filed Date | 2019-01-17 |
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United States Patent
Application |
20190018249 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Gao; Chunyu ; et
al. |
January 17, 2019 |
WIDE-FIELD OF VIEW (FOV) IMAGING DEVICES WITH ACTIVE FOVEATION
CAPABILITY
Abstract
The present invention comprises a foveated imaging system
capable of capturing a wide field of view image and a foveated
image, where the foveated image is a controllable region of
interest of the wide field of view image.
Inventors: |
Gao; Chunyu; (Tucson,
AZ) ; Hua; Hong; (Tucson, AZ) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Magic Leap, Inc. |
Plantation |
FL |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Magic Leap, Inc.
Plantation
FL
|
Family ID: |
49301051 |
Appl. No.: |
16/141730 |
Filed: |
September 25, 2018 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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16006717 |
Jun 12, 2018 |
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16141730 |
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15811543 |
Nov 13, 2017 |
10061130 |
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16006717 |
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13856847 |
Apr 4, 2013 |
9851563 |
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15811543 |
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61620581 |
Apr 5, 2012 |
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61620574 |
Apr 5, 2012 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G02B 27/144 20130101;
G02B 25/001 20130101; G02B 13/06 20130101; G02B 2027/0145 20130101;
G02B 2027/015 20130101; H04N 5/23238 20130101; H04N 5/2258
20130101; G06T 19/006 20130101; G03B 37/02 20130101; G02B 5/04
20130101; G02B 27/0172 20130101; G02B 27/283 20130101; G03B 37/04
20130101; G02B 27/1066 20130101; G02B 2027/0118 20130101 |
International
Class: |
G02B 27/01 20060101
G02B027/01; G02B 27/28 20060101 G02B027/28; G02B 27/14 20060101
G02B027/14; G02B 27/10 20060101 G02B027/10; G02B 13/06 20060101
G02B013/06; G02B 25/00 20060101 G02B025/00; G02B 5/04 20060101
G02B005/04; H04N 5/232 20060101 H04N005/232; H04N 5/225 20060101
H04N005/225 |
Claims
1. A foveated imaging system, configured to capture a wide field of
view image and a foveated image, where the foveated image is a
controllable region of interest of the wide field of view image,
the system comprising: an objective lens, facing an external scene,
configured to receive incoming light from an external scene and to
focus the light upon a beamsplitter; a beamsplitter, configured to
split the incoming light from the external scene into a first
portion on a wide field of view imaging path and second portion on
a foveated imaging path; the wide field of view imaging path
comprising: a first stop, separate from the objective lens, which
limits the amount of the first portion received in the wide field
of view path from the beamsplitter; a wide field of view imaging
lens, different from the objective lens and configured to receive
the first portion from the first stop and focus a wide field of
view image on a wide field of view imaging sensor; the wide field
of view imaging sensor, configured to record the first portion
focused from the wide field of view imaging lens as a wide field of
view image; the foveated imaging path consisting of: a second stop,
which limits the second portion received in the foveated imaging
path from the beamsplitter; a scanning mirror, the scanning mirror
being a multi-axis movable mirror configured to tilt about a Y axis
and rotate about a Z axis and reflect a selected region of interest
within the second portion from the beamsplitter back towards the
beamsplitter; a reflective surface, disposed upon the beamsplitter,
configured to direct the second portion reflected by the scanning
mirror; a foveated imaging lens, configured to receive the second
portion, associated with a region of interest of the external
scene, from the scanning mirror, and focus a foveated image on a
foveated imaging sensor; and the foveated imaging sensor,
configured to record the region of interest from the foveated
imaging lens as a higher resolution foveated image; wherein the
foveated image system is configured to display the higher
resolution foveated image within the wide field of view image.
2. A foveated imaging system, configured to capture a wide field of
view image and a foveated image, where the foveated image is a
controllable region of interest of the wide field of view image,
the system comprising: an objective lens, facing an external scene,
configured to receive incoming light from an external scene and to
focus the light upon a beamsplitter; a beamsplitter, configured to
split the incoming light from the external scene into a first
portion on a wide field of view imaging path and second portion on
a foveated imaging path; the wide field of view imaging path
comprising: a first stop, separate from the objective lens, which
limits the amount of the first portion received in the wide field
of view path from the beamsplitter; a wide field of view imaging
lens, different from the objective lens and configured to receive
the first portion from the first stop and focus a wide field of
view image on a wide field of view imaging sensor; the wide field
of view imaging sensor, configured to record the first portion
focused from the wide field of view imaging lens as a wide field of
view image; the foveated imaging path consisting of: a second stop,
which limits the second portion received in the foveated imaging
path from the beamsplitter; an electronically controlled
piezoelectric scanning mirror, the electronically controlled
piezoelectric scanning mirror being a multi-axis movable mirror
configured to tilt about a Y axis and rotate about a Z axis and
reflect a selected region of interest within the second portion
from the beamsplitter back towards the beamsplitter; a reflective
surface, disposed upon the beamsplitter, configured to direct the
second portion reflected by the scanning mirror; a foveated imaging
lens, configured to receive the second portion, associated with a
region of interest of the external scene, from the scanning mirror,
and focus a foveated image on a foveated imaging sensor; and the
foveated imaging sensor, configured to record the region of
interest from the foveated imaging lens as a higher resolution
foveated image; wherein the foveated image system is configured to
display the higher resolution foveated image within the wide field
of view image.
3. A foveated imaging system, configured to capture a wide field of
view image and a foveated image, where the foveated image is a
controllable region of interest of the wide field of view image,
the system comprising: an objective lens, facing an external scene,
configured to receive incoming light from an external scene and to
focus the light upon a beamsplitter; a beamsplitter, configured to
split the incoming light from the external scene into a first
portion on a wide field of view imaging path and second portion on
a foveated imaging path; the wide field of view imaging path
comprising: a first stop, separate from the objective lens, which
limits the amount of the first portion received in the wide field
of view path from the beamsplitter; a wide field of view imaging
lens, different from the objective lens and configured to receive
the first portion from the first stop and focus a wide field of
view image on a wide field of view imaging sensor; the wide field
of view imaging sensor, configured to record the first portion
focused from the wide field of view imaging lens as a wide field of
view image; the foveated imaging path consisting of: a second stop,
which limits the second portion received in the foveated imaging
path from the beamsplitter; an electronically controlled
micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) scanning mirror, the
electronically controlled micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS)
scanning mirror being a multi-axis movable mirror configured to
tilt about a Y axis and rotate about a Z axis and reflect a
selected region of interest within the second portion from the
beamsplitter back towards the beamsplitter; a reflective surface,
disposed upon the beamsplitter, configured to direct the second
portion reflected by the scanning mirror; a foveated imaging lens,
configured to receive the second portion, associated with a region
of interest of the external scene, from the scanning mirror, and
focus a foveated image on a foveated imaging sensor; and the
foveated imaging sensor, configured to record the region of
interest from the foveated imaging lens as a higher resolution
foveated image; wherein the foveated image system is configured to
display the higher resolution foveated image within the wide field
of view image.
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 16/006,717, filed on Jun. 12, 2018, which is a
continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/811,543, filed
on Nov. 13, 2017 now U.S. patent Ser. No. 10/061,130, which is a
continuation U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/856,847, filed on
Apr. 4, 2013 now U.S. Pat. No. 9,851,563, which claims priority to
U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/620,581, filed on Apr. 5, 2012,
and U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/620,574, filed on Apr. 5,
2012, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference
in their entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates generally to wide-Field of
View (FOV) imaging devices, and more particularly, but not
exclusively, to dual resolution wide FOV imaging system which is
capable of simultaneously capturing a large FOV and a small FOV
inside the said large FOV with much higher resolution.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Real-time acquisition of high-resolution, wide field of view
(FOV) and high dynamic range (HDR) images is essential for many
military and civilian surveillance applications. For instance,
there is an urgent need for an omnidirectional imaging system in
many surveillance applications where the system, with sufficient
resolution and frame rate, can monitor the activities in all
directions simultaneously across a very large operating field (e.g.
spherical or complimentary hemispherical coverage) while being able
to rapidly zoom into one or multiple objects of interest for
reliable identification and characterization of the objects. Such a
sensor needs to provide both excellent situational awareness and
adequate detail resolvability. This type of sensors, if available,
can find myriads of applications in both military and commercial
markets.
[0004] However, when designing an optical imaging system, finite
sensor resolution and data bandwidth impose limits on the spatial
resolution and FOV achievable in state-of-the-art imaging systems.
There is a well-known inherent tradeoff between the FOV and the
resolving power for most conventional imaging techniques with a
fixed number of pixels: the wider the FOV, the lower the resolving
power. Using the traditional cluster-based omnidirectional cameras
as an example, in order to achieve a 1 arc minute (-300 micro-rad)
angular resolution, it requires at least 50 small FOV cameras (e.g.
FOV: 33.degree..times.25.degree.) with a 5-Mega pixel sensor on
each to cover a spherical field of 360.degree..times.360.degree.,
which results in a minimum of 250 Mega pixels to be captured,
stored and transmitted for a single spherical panoramic image,
barring any pixel loss and FOV overlap. To achieve an angular
resolution of 2 arc seconds requires a prohibitive number of
cameras in the order of thousands to cover a spherical field. As a
result, the cost and size of a camera-cluster-based system will be
unacceptable for many surveillance applications, not mentioning
that clustering over thousands of high-resolution cameras imposes
great challenges to the state-of-the-art data management and image
processing technologies.
[0005] Foveation techniques can actively track and capture a region
of interest with high resolution sensor without losing the imaging
capability of the peripheral area, similar to the foveation
properties of the human vision system. Various imaging systems have
been developed to explore the potential of applying the foveation
technique in imaging applications. For example, Sandini et al.
developed a retina-like CMOS sensor with spatially-variant
resolution to mimic the human retina (G. Sandini, P. Questa, D.
Scheffer and A. Mannucci, "A Retina-like CMOS sensor and its
applications," Proceedings of IEEE Workshop on Sensor Array and
Multichannel Signal Process. (2000), pp. 514-9). Martinez and Wick
proposed to use a liquid crystal spatial light modulator to
dynamically correct the aberrations at the foveated region inside a
wide FOV of imaging system (T. Martinez, D. V. Wick and S. R.
Restaino, "Foveated, wide field-of-view imaging system using a
liquid crystal spatial light modulator," Opt. Express 8, 555-60
(2001); D. V. Wick, T. Martinez, S. R. Restaino and B. R. Stone,
"Foveated imaging demonstration," Opt. Express 10, 60-5 (2002)).
The aforementioned approaches use only single-sensor to capture
both the peripheral region and the foveated region which limits the
overall information throughput of the system. Alternatively, Hua
and Liu proposed a dual-sensor approach to the foveation imaging
technology where two separate sensors are used to capture the
peripheral region and the foveated region (Hong Hua and Sheng Liu,
"Dual-Sensor foveated imaging system," APPLIED OPTICS, Vol. 47, No.
3, 317-327, 2008). Comparing with the single sensor approach, the
dual sensor approach uses two different sensors which can be in
different size and different resolution, which has potential to
yield high information throughput with low-cost detectors. The main
dis-advantage of the dual-sensor approach is that the system
employs an afocal system structure which usually has a limited
ability to achieve large peripheral FOV and often results in a
bulky system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The present invention concerns a dual-sensor wide-FOV
foveated imaging technique which is capable of acquiring wide-FOV
videos of a surrounding space in real time and simultaneously
obtaining very high resolution, high-magnification foveated images
of multiple targets at high frame rate. The wide-FOV video, with
appropriate resolution and frame rate, enables the real-time
capability of simultaneously observing a surrounding space for
acquiring, detecting, and tracking imminent threats posed by
objects, while the high resolution foveated videos are focused on
multiple small portions of the wide FOV in real time with
substantially higher resolution to enable crucial target
recognition and characterization. The region of interest (RoI) of
the foveated view can be steered in real time to any part of the
wide FOV image. These capabilities are analogous to the searching,
tracking, and foveation functions of the human visual system. By
integrating the foveation capability into a wide-FOV imaging
system, the present invention is able to capture a wide viewing
field up to 360.degree..times.360.degree. with high angular
resolution.
[0007] The present invention typically contains two subsystems: the
wide-FOV imaging subsystem and the foveated imaging subsystem; and
two subsystems are integrated as one system, where two imaging
subsystems share the same objective lens, which may result in a
compact and lightweight system design. The stop in the foveated
imaging subsystem is optically conjugate with the stop in the
wide-FOV imaging subsystem through the beamsplitter. For the
present invention, the wide-FOV imaging subsystem captures a wide
view field while the foveated imaging subsystem captures one or a
few selected portions of the said wide view field and yields very
high resolution videos to enable accurate target recognition.
Compared with state-of-the-art surveillance systems, the present
invention has the advantages of being relatively low-cost, compact,
low power consumption, low data bandwidth demand as well as
uncompromised high performance in terms of FOV, resolution, and
real-time acquisition.
[0008] The objective lens of the present invention may utilize the
rotationally symmetric refractive optical elements to capture an
umbrella-like FOV or utilize a curved mirror along with necessary
rotationally symmetric refractive optical elements to capture a
ring-like panoramic FOV. The scanning mirror of the present
invention may be a dual-axis scanning mirror to sample the wide-FOV
using two tilting motions or may be a single-axis scanning mirror
to sample the wide-FOV using a combined motion of tilting and
rotation.
[0009] In one aspect of the present invention, the exemplary system
may integrate multiple wide-FOV foveated imaging units to achieve a
FOV much larger than that of a single unit. The integrated system
may or may not possess single viewpoint properties. When a single
viewpoint property is desired, a multi-faceted mirror may be used
to virtually co-locate the viewpoints of all the imaging units in
the integrated system to a single viewpoint.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] The foregoing summary and the following detailed description
of exemplary embodiments of the present invention may be further
understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings, in
which:
[0011] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an exemplary optical system
in accordance with the present invention.
[0012] FIGS. 2a and 2b schematically illustrates two types of
motions of the scanning mirror used in accordance with the present
invention.
[0013] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an exemplary design of the
aforementioned optical system in accordance with the present
invention.
[0014] FIG. 4 schematically illustrates another exemplary design of
the aforementioned optical system in accordance with the present
invention containing a curved mirror surface.
[0015] FIG. 5 depicts a block diagram of an example of an image
processing pipeline in accordance with the present invention.
[0016] FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a design layout of an
exemplary optical system containing multiple imaging units in
accordance with the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0017] The embodiments according to the present invention will be
fully described with respect to the attached drawings. The
descriptions are set forth in order to provide an understanding of
the invention. However, it will be apparent that the invention can
be practiced without these details. Furthermore, the present
invention may be implemented in various forms. However, the
embodiments of the present invention described below shall not be
constructed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather,
these embodiments, drawings and examples are illustrative and are
meant to avoid obscuring the invention.
[0018] A primary embodiment of the present invention comprises, a
foveated imaging system (100), capable of capturing a wide field of
view image and a foveated image, where the foveated image is a
controllable region of interest of the wide field of view image,
the system comprising: [0019] a. an objective lens (110), facing an
external scene, configured to receive the incoming light from the
external scene and to focus the light upon a beamsplitter; [0020]
b. a beamsplitter (120), configured to split incoming light from an
external scene into a wide field of view imaging path (125) and a
foveated imaging path (135); [0021] c. a wide field of view imaging
path (125), the wide field of view imaging path comprising: [0022]
i. a first stop (127), which limits the amount of light received in
the wide field of view path from the beamsplitter (120); [0023] ii.
a wide field-of-view imaging lens (130), configured to receive
light from the stop (127) and form a wide field view image on a
wide field of view imaging sensor; [0024] iii. a wide field-of-view
imaging sensor (140), configured to receive light from the wide
field of view imaging lens (130); [0025] d. a foveated view Imaging
path (135), the foveated view imaging path comprising: [0026] i. a
second stop (137), which limits the amount of light received in the
foveated imaging path from the beamsplitter (120); [0027] ii. a
scanning mirror (150), capable of being controlled to reflect the
light from the beamsplitter (120); [0028] iii. a foveated imaging
lens (160), configured to receive a portion of the light,
associated with a region of interest of the external scene, from
the scanning mirror (150) and form a foveated image on a foveated
imaging sensor; and [0029] iv. a foveated imaging sensor (170),
configured to receive light from the foveated imaging lens
(160);
[0030] In some embodiments, the incoming light from the external
scene passes through the objective lens (110) to the beamsplitter
(120), where the beamsplitter (120) divides the light into the two
optical paths, a wide field of view imaging path (125) and a
foveated imaging path (135). In the wide field of view path, the
light passes through the first stop (127) to the wide field of view
imaging lens (130) along the wide field of view imaging path (125).
The lens focuses the wide field of view image upon the wide field
of view imaging sensor (140). On the foveated view imaging path,
the light passes through the second stop (137) to the scanning
mirror (150) along the foveated imaging path (135), where the
scanning mirror (150) reflects a region of interest toward the
foveated imaging lens (160) through the beam splitter (120), The
foveated imaging lens (160) focuses the foveated image upon the
foveated imaging sensor (170).
[0031] In some embodiments, the objective lens (110) is disposed on
the front of the system. The beamsplitter (120) is disposed
adjacent to objective lens receiving light from the objective lens.
The beamsplitter (120) divides the light into the two optical
paths, a wide field of view imaging path (125) and a foveated
imaging path (135). The first stop (127) is in optical
communication with the beamsplitter (120) along the wide field of
view imaging path (125) and the second stop (137) is in optical
communication with the beamsplitter (120) along the foveated
imaging path (135). The scanning mirror (150) is disposed near or
at the position of the second stop (137), where it receives light
from the beamsplitter (120) along the foveated imaging path (135)
and reflects the light back to the beamsplitter (120). The
wide-field of view imaging lens (130) is disposed to face the first
stop (127) along the wide field of view imaging path (125), where
it receives light from the beamsplitter (120) through the first
stop (127) along the wide field of view path (125). The foveated
imaging lens (160) is disposed to face the beamsplitter (120),
where it receives light from the beamsplitter (120) reflected from
the scanning mirror (150) along the foveated imaging path (135).
The wide.-field of view imaging sensor (140) is disposed to face
the wide field of view imaging lens (130). The foveated imaging
sensor (170) is disposed to face the foveated imaging lens (160).
The two images are recorded by the sensors, a wide field of view
image and a high resolution image of the region of interest within
it.
[0032] In some embodiments, the objective lens (110) is located on
the front of the system. The beam splitter (120) is located between
the objective lens and the stop (137) facing the objective lens
(110) and the scanning mirror (150) so that it receives light from
the objective lens. The scanning mirror (150) is located behind the
beam splitter, where it receives light from the foveated image path
of the beamsplitter (120) and reflects it back to the beamsplitter
(120). The wide-field of view imaging lens (130) faces the wide
field of view image path of the beam splitter, while the foveated
imaging lens (160) faces the foveated image optical path of the
beam splitter (120). The wide-field of view imaging sensor (140)
faces the wide-field-of-view imaging lens (130), and the foveated
imaging sensor (170) is faces the foveated imaging lens (160).
[0033] In some embodiments, the incoming light from the external
scene passes through the objective lens (110) to the
beamsplitter.sub.; whereupon the beam splitter (120) transmits one
copy of the light to the wide field of view lens (130) and a second
copy of the light to the scanning mirror (150). The scanning mirror
(150) reflects a region of interest back to the beam splitter
(120), and the beam splitter reflects the light to the foveated
imaging lens (160). Meanwhile, the wide field of view imaging lens
(130) transmits the light in the wide field of view imaging path
(125) to the wide field of view image sensor (140). The foveated
imaging lens (160) transmits the light in the foveated imaging path
(135) to the foveated imaging sensor (170). Thus the two images are
recorded by the sensors, a wide field of view image and a high
resolution image of the region of interest within it.
[0034] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system layout 100 in
accordance with the present invention for a dual-sensor wide-FOV
foveated imaging system. The system contains two subsystems: the
wide-FOV imaging subsystem and the foveated imaging subsystem. The
wide-FOV imaging subsystem contains an objective lens 110, a
beamsplitter 120, a stop 127, a wide-FOV imaging lens 130, and an
imaging sensor 140. The foveated imaging subsystem contains an
objective lens 110, a beamsplitter 120, a scanning mirror 150, a
stop 137, a foveated imaging lens 160, and an imaging sensor 170.
In this exemplary layout 100, the two imaging subsystems share the
same objective lens 110, as well as the optical path 115. The light
within the FOV 105 is captured by the objective lens 110. After the
light passes through the objective lens 110, the optical path 115
is split into two different paths by the beamsplitter 120: the
wide-FOV imaging path 125 and the foveated imaging path 135. In the
wide-FOV imaging path 125, the wide-FOV imaging lens 130 images the
entire visual field within the FOV 105 captured by the objective
lens 110 on wide FOV imaging sensor 140. in the foveated imaging
path 135, the scanning mirror 150 placed at or near the position of
the stop 137 and reflects some rays within the FOV 105 captured by
the objective lens 110. By tilting the scanning mirror 150
instantaneously towards the direction of interest, rays from the
interested sub-FOV of the FOV 105 are redirected to the
beamsplitter 120 and reflected toward the foveated imaging lens 160
and imaged on the foveated imaging sensor 170.
[0035] In this exemplary layout 100, the objective lens 110 may be
a group of rotationally symmetric lenses to capture a continuous
umbrella-like FOV, or near-hemispherical-shape FOV, or
near-spherical-shape FOV, The objective lens 110 could also contain
a curved mirror surface along with necessary rotational symmetric
lenses to capture a ring-like panoramic FOV. The curved mirror
could be a spherical mirror, a parabolic mirror, a hyperbolic
mirror, a conical mirror, an elliptical mirror, or aspherical
mirror with or without symmetry or alike. The imaging sensors 140
and 170 can be any light sensing device containing an array of
light sensing units (pixels) that converts photons into electronic
signals, including, but not limited to, a charge-couple device
(COD), or a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) or other
type of light sensing devices. The scanning mirror 150 can be any
type of fast moving mirror devices whose scanning motion can be
electronically controlled, including, but not limited to, voice
coil mirror, piezoelectric mirror, Micro-Electro-Mechanical System
(MEMS) mirror or other type of scanning mirrors. The beamsplitter
120 could be in form of a cube or a plate and could be a
non-polarized beamsplitter or a polarized beamsplitter. When a
polarized beamsplitter is used, a quarter-wave plate may be used
along with the beamsplitter to increase the light efficiency. The
quarter-wave plate may be positioned in the space between the
beamsplitter 120 and the stop 137. Additional polarizers may be
used in both the foveated imaging path 135 and the wide-FOV imaging
path 125 to reduce the crosstalk between two paths.
[0036] As one of its benefits, the present invention combines two
imaging subsystems into one integrated system, where two imaging
subsystem share the same objective lens, which may result in a
compact and lightweight system. The stop 137 in the foveated
imaging subsystem is optically conjugate with the stop 127 in the
wide-FOV imaging subsystem through the beamsplitter 120. For the
present invention, the wide-FOV imaging subsystem captures a wide
view field while the foveated imaging subsystem captures one or a
few selected portions of the said wide view field and yields very
high resolution videos to enable accurate target recognition.
Compared with state-of-the-art surveillance systems, the present
invention has the advantages of being relatively low-cost, compact,
low power consumption, low data bandwidth demand as well as
uncompromised high performance in terms of FOV, resolution, and
real-time acquisition.
[0037] In one aspect of the present invention, the scanning mirror
may be a dual axis scanning unit 252 for continuously sampling the
wide-FOV through tilting motions 253 and 254 along X and Y axes as
illustrated in FIG. 2a. The scanning mirror may also be a single
axis scanning unit 255 mounted on a rotational stage 256 or with
ability of rotating along the Z axis as show in FIG. 2b, in which
the mirror samples the wide-FOV through a tilt motion 257 along the
Y axis and a rotation motion 258 along the Z axis.
[0038] Compared to the dual sensor approach in the prior arts, the
present invention uses a regular imaging system structure where the
optical stop is inside the imaging system with a group of lenses
are in front of the stop and a group of lenses are behind the stop.
The advantages of using the regular imaging system structure over
the afocal system in the prior art are: [0039] a. Allowing a more
compact system and easier to design given that certain optical
aberrations may be corrected by using lenses at both side of the
stop; [0040] b. Capable of achieving a much bigger FOV than that of
an afocal system while maintaining a compact form factor.
[0041] In another significant aspect, the present invention uses a
pair of optical conjugated stops which are inside the imaging
system and created through a beamsplitter and located in the wide
field of view and foveated view optical paths, respectively. In the
prior art, the stop is placed at the entrance to an afocal system,
and the image of the stop created through the afocal system is on
the other side of the afocal system.
[0042] The yet another significant aspect, in the prior art, the
scanning mirror is controllable only through X and Y tilt axes. In
the present invention the scanning mirror may also be configured to
use an X or Y tilt and Z rotation instead.
[0043] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an exemplary design 300 of
the present invention utilizing only the rotationally symmetric
lens to capture an umbrella-like FOV 305. In this exemplary design
300, the objective lens 310 contains only a planar-concave lens
element. A three-element lens is used as the wide-FOV imaging lens
330. A dual-axis high-speed scanning mirror 350, which scans in
both X and Y directions, is placed near the stop 337 for sampling a
Region of Interest (ROI) in the FOV 305. The beamsplitter 320 is a
wire-grid type polarized beamsplitter. A quarter-wave plate 380 is
placed between the beamsplitter 320 and the scanning mirror 350 to
change the polarization of the light after passing through the wave
plate two times. In one of exemplary implementations, the foveated
imaging lens 360 may use a cemented doublet. To further improve the
system optical performance, more lens elements may be added in both
the foveated imaging path and the wide-FOV imaging path before or
after the stops.
[0044] FIG. 4 schematically illustrates an exemplary design 400 of
the present invention utilizing a curved mirror to capture a
ring-like panoramic FOV 405. In this exemplary design 400, the
objective lens 410 contains 5 optical elements. The first element
in the objective lens 410 is a curved mirror 412. The optical
surface of the curved mirror 412 is a rotational symmetric mirror
surface whose surface profile may be described by a 1-dimensional
polynomial swept 360 degree along its rotational axis 414. A
four-element lens is used as the wide-FOV imaging lens 430. A
single-axis high-speed scanning mirror 450 is mounted on a rotation
stage and is placed near the stop 437 to scan the panoramic FOV 405
through a tilting motion and a rotating motion as described in
connect to FIG. 2b . The beamsplitter 420 may utilize a polarized
beamsplitter. A quarter-wave plate 480 is placed between the
beamsplitter 420 and the scanning mirror 450 to change the
polarization of the light after passing through the wave plate two
times. In one of exemplary implementation, the foveated imaging
lens 460 may use a cemented doublet. To further improve the system
optical performance, more lens elements may be added in both the
foveated imaging path and the wide-FOV imaging path before or after
the stops.
[0045] FIG. 5 depicts a block diagram of an example of an image
processing pipeline 500 necessary for the present invention.
Firstly; an event/object detection algorithm is necessary to
process the wide-FOV image 502 to find the region(s) of interest
(ROI) 504. Once a region of interest is identified; a signal along
with the position (angle) information of the ROI is sent to the
fast scanning mirror 506/508 to resample the region of interest
with the foveated imaging sensor 510. An image analysis algorithm
is then applied to the foveated image to collect detail information
regarding the ROI 512. The analysis result will determine whether
it is necessary to track the region and/or take further actions
514. Sometimes, one or a few images may not be sufficient to
characterize an ROI 514, it is then necessary to continue tracking
the ROI in the panoramic view, additional to the tracking with the
scanning mirror 504.
[0046] FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a design layout 600 of an
exemplary optical system containing multiple imaging units for
extending system FOV. The exemplary system comprises at least two
wide-FOV foveated imaging devices clustered together to capture a
designated FOV larger than that of a single unit. In the design
layout 600, 4 wide-FOV foveated imaging devices 682, 684, 686, 688
are used to extend the overall FOV to 360 degree. The imaging units
are mounted together with their FOV pointing away from each other.
To eliminate the blind spot in the overall FOV of the system 600,
it is desired that the imaging units are mounted in such a way that
there is FOV overlap between any two neighboring units. Using units
682 and 684 as an example, the FOV boundary 692 of the unit 682
must intersect with the FOV boundary 694 of the unit 684 at a
certain distance from the imaging units to ensure there is no FOV
gap between two units beyond said distance from the imaging
units.
[0047] In one aspect of the present invention related to FIG. 6,
the exemplary system of Hg. 6 does not possess a single viewpoint.
A single viewing point means that all the imaging units in the
duster effectively capture the entire visual field from a common
viewing position, while the imaging units in a multi-viewing-point
duster capture the imaging field from displaced viewing positions.
For certain applications, it is desired that the entire imaging
field must be captured from a single viewing point. To achieve
single viewpoint property, a multi-faceted mirror may be used to
virtually co-locate the viewpoints of all the imaging units in the
cluster system to a single viewpoint.
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