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The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Patent No.:

US 10154197 B1

PDFFull Text
Date of Patent:
Dec. 11, 2018

Filed:

Jul. 06, 2016

Image capture device having light field image capture mode, 2d image capture mode, and intermediate capture mode

Applicant:

Google Llc, Mountain View, CA (US);

Inventors:

Jerome Chandra Bhat, Palo Alto, CA (US);

Brandon Elliott Merle Clarke, Sunnyvale, CA (US);

Graham Butler Myhre, San Francisco, CA (US);

Ravi Kiran Nalla, San Jose, CA (US);

Steven David Oliver, San Jose, CA (US);

Tony Yip Pang Poon, Fremont, CA (US);

William D. Houck, II, Fremont, CA (US);

Colvin Pitts, Snohomish, WA (US);

Yi-Ren Ng, Palo Alto, CA (US);

Kurt Akeley, Saratoga, CA (US);

Assignee:

GOOGLE LLC, Mountain View, CA (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:

Shan E Elahi

Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H04N 7/18 (2006.01); G02B 7/02 (2006.01); H04N 5/232 (2006.01); H04N 5/225 (2006.01); G02F 1/1337 (2006.01); H04N 13/289 (2018.01); G02B 27/00 (2006.01); G02B 7/08 (2006.01); G02B 3/12 (2006.01); H04N 13/232 (2018.01); H04N 13/296 (2018.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H04N 5/23245 (2013.01); G02B 3/12 (2013.01); G02B 7/023 (2013.01); G02B 7/08 (2013.01); G02B 27/0075 (2013.01); G02F 1/1337 (2013.01); H04N 5/2254 (2013.01); H04N 5/2257 (2013.01); H04N 5/23212 (2013.01); H04N 5/23229 (2013.01); H04N 13/232 (2018.05); H04N 13/289 (2018.05); H04N 13/296 (2018.05);
Abstract

An image capture device, such as a camera, has multiple modes including a light field image capture mode, a conventional 2D image capture mode, and at least one intermediate image capture mode. By changing position and/or properties of the microlens array (MLA) in front of the image sensor, changes in 2D spatial resolution and angular resolution can be attained. In at least one embodiment, such changes can be performed in a continuous manner, allowing a continuum of intermediate modes to be attained.

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