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SamsungGranted patentCameras & imagingInterest 6/10

Samsung patents lensless camera using patterned masks to bend light

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

This patent describes a camera system that captures images without traditional glass lenses. Instead, it uses a special mask with specific patterns that bend incoming light onto a sensor to form a picture.

Why it mattersRemoving lenses could make cameras thinner and cheaper, which is interesting for anyone who wants slimmer phones or cameras.

In the filing’s own words

A lensless imaging system includes a coded mask including at least one domain, and an image sensor configured to receive light that passes through the coded mask and generate an electrical signal for image generation based on the received light, where each of the at least one domain includes a plurality of sub-domains provided in a first pattern, each of the plurality of sub-domains includes a second pattern, and the plurality of sub-domains are configured to deflect incident light based on a combination of the first pattern and the second pattern.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A lensless imaging system comprising: a coded mask comprising at least one domain; and an image sensor configured to: receive light that passes through the coded mask; and generate an electrical signal for image generation based on the received light, wherein each of the at least one domain comprises a plurality of sub-domains provided in a first pattern, wherein each of the plurality of sub-domains comprises a second pattern, wherein the plurality of sub-domains are configured to deflect incident light based on a combination of the first pattern and the second pattern, and wherein the second pattern comprises a number of gratings that vary in proportion to a distance of an individual sub-domain from a center of a respective domain of the at least one domain.

Facts

Company
Samsung (SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.)
Official title
Lensless imaging system, method of manufacturing lensless imaging system, and electronic apparatus
Patent number
US12748246B2
Application number
18658609
Filed
May 8, 2024
Granted
Sep 29, 2026
Inventors
6
Claims
20

Classified under

G02B 5/1871 Physics & computingG02B 5/1847 Physics & computingH04N 23/55 Electricity & electronics
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.