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SonyGranted patentCameras & imagingInterest 6/10

Sony patents camera lens that subtracts light waves to cut data processing

Sony describes an imaging device that uses two light beams of different colors to reduce the workload on a camera's processor. By aligning the waves so they cancel each other out optically, the sensor captures the difference between the two signals directly, rather than calculating it later in software.

Why it mattersThis approach could make cameras faster and more efficient by handling complex image calculations with glass and light instead of computer chips.

In the filing’s own words

An imaging device for reducing a processing load of signal processing using two images of different wavelengths, and a method of operating the imaging device. The phases of two incident light beams having different wavelengths are matched, the two incident light beams are polarized into the same polarization direction, a wavelength of one incident light beam of the two types of polarized incident light beams is matched with a wavelength of the other incident light beam, a phase difference is adjusted such that the phase difference between the one incident light beam and the other incident light beam is π, the two types of incident light beams being matched with the wavelength of the one incident light beam, and an imaging element simultaneously receives the two types of incident light beams adjusted such that the phase difference is π, thereby, optically acquiring the subtraction results of two types of power.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. An imaging device comprising: a phase adjustment unit configured to match phases of incident light including a light beam of a first wavelength and a light beam of a second wavelength that are different; a polarizing plate configured to polarize the incident light beams of the first wavelength and the second wavelength into a same polarization direction; a wavelength adjustment unit configured to match a wavelength of the incident light beam of the first wavelength having been polarized by the polarizing plate with a wavelength of the incident light beam of the second wavelength; a phase difference adjustment unit configured to adjust a phase difference to be π, the phase difference being between the incident light beam of the first wavelength and the incident light beam of the second wavelength, the wavelengths of which have been matched by the wavelength adjustment unit; and a first imaging element configured to simultaneously receive the incident light beams of the first wavelength and the second wavelength having been adjusted by the phase difference adjustment unit such that the phase difference is π, wherein the phase difference adjustment unit includes a first medium that is transparent and has a predetermined refractive index configured to transmit the incident light beam of the first wavelength, and has a first thickness in a transmission direction, and a second medium configured to transmit the incident light beam of the second wavelength, has a same characteristic as that of the first medium, and has a second thickness in the transmission direction, and wherein, when the first thickness is known, the second thickness is defined by d 2 =((1−n 2)d 1 −π)/(1−n 2), where d 1 is the first thickness, d 2 is the second thickness, and n 2 is a refractive index of the first medium and the second medium.

Facts

Company
Sony (Sony Group Corporation)
Official title
Imaging device and method of operating the same
Patent number
US12732675B2
Application number
18566484
Filed
Feb 8, 2022
Granted
Sep 8, 2026
Inventors
1
Claims
14

Classified under

H04N 23/16 Electricity & electronicsG01N 21/6428 Physics & computingG01N 21/6456 Physics & computingG02B 5/28 Physics & computingG01N 2021/6439 Physics & computing
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.