WIDE-ANGLE IMAGING DEVICE

• Main Authors: NAKAICHI JUN, IGUCHI SERIYA, NAKAJO HIDEKI, TANAKA MASAYUKI, HOSOKAWA HAYAMI
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 08.09.2014
• Subjects: ACCESSORIES THEREFOR; APPARATUS OR ARRANGEMENTS EMPLOYING ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USINGWAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; APPARATUS OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS OR FORPROJECTING OR VIEWING THEM; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHYSICS; PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wide-angle imaging device that allows use of a dioptric system to thin a thickness in front and rear directions of a field of view change-over optical system, and is high in reliability with inexpensive costs.SOLUTION: A wide-angle imaging device 21 comprises: a camera 22 that has an image pickup element 26 and a lens 27 built in; a field of view change-over optical system 23; and an optical system driving mechanism 28. The field of view change-over optical system 23 is composed of a first prism 24 and a second prism 25, and both prisms 24 and 25 are arranged with both thereof vertically stacked. The prism 24 (25) causes light incident from a field of view in a left (right) direction with respect to an optical axis direction to be reflected and converged on the image pickup element. The optical system driving mechanism 28 changes over to a state where one of the prisms 24 and 25 is located at a position in front of the camera 22 and a state where the prisms 24 and 25 deviate from the position in front of the camera 22 by ascending and descending the field of view change-over optical system 23. In this way, by changing over positions of the prisms 24 and 25, images from a field of view in the left direction, a front field of view and a field of view in the right direction can be sequentially photographed by the image pickup element 26.