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Sony patents curved-sensor lens for wide-angle cameras

Sony has filed a patent for an imaging lens designed to work with curved camera sensors. The design uses specific mathematical ratios to keep the lens thin while capturing a very wide field of view, up to 90 degrees or more.

Why it mattersThis could lead to thinner smartphones or cameras that capture wider scenes without the image quality dropping off at the edges.

In the filing’s own words

An imaging lens and an imaging device providing a high-quality image with a maximum angle of view of 90 degrees or more at a low height. One or more lenses that form an image of an object on a curved surface shape. The maximum angle of view is 90 degrees or more. A first image height Yw where a half angle of view is 40 degrees, a second image height Y where a half angle of view is half of the maximum angle of view, an optical total length on an optical axis from an object-side surface of a lens closest to an object side to the imaging surface in the lens group is TL, a focal length of the entire imaging lens is f, and a focal length of the lens closest to the object side is f1, the following conditions are satisfied: 0.27≤(Yw/Y) 2 ≤0.7, 0.3≤TL/2Y≤0.695, −0.35≤f/f1≤0.73.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. An imaging lens, comprising a lens group including one or more lenses that form an optical image of an object on an imaging surface having a curved shape, wherein when a maximum angle of view is 90 degrees or more, a first image height that is an image height in a case where a half angle of view is 40 degrees is Yw, a second image height that is an image height in a case where a half angle of view is a maximum half angle of view that is half of the maximum angle of view is Y, an optical total length that is a distance on an optical axis from an object-side surface of a lens closest to an object side to the imaging surface in the lens group is TL, a focal length of the entire imaging lens is f, and a focal length of the lens closest to the object side is f1, the following conditions are satisfied: 0.27 ≤ ( Yw / Y) 2 ≤ 0.7, 0.3 ≤ TL / 2 ⁢ Y ≤ 0. 6 ⁢ 95, - 0.3 ⁢ 5 ≤ f / f ⁢ 1 ≤ 0.7 3.

Facts

Company
Sony (SONY SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS CORPORATION)
Official title
IMAGING LENS AND IMAGING DEVICE
Publication number
US20260267115A1
Application number
19167589
Filed
Mar 25, 2024
Published
Sep 10, 2026
Inventors
6
Claims
19

Classified under

G02B 13/0045 Physics & computingG02B 9/64 Physics & computingH04N 23/698 Electricity & electronicsH04N 25/771 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.