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Monday, March 13, 2017

Fraunhofer Presents Thin Camera Concept

CIO, PCWorld: Germany-based Fraunhofer Institute presents a 3.5mm-thin smartphone camera module that removes the need for a camera bump.

"It uses four image sensors rotated 90 degrees so they point out of the side of the phone. A set of tiny mirrors in front of the sensors reflects the image from the front or rear of the phone.

The basic concept would have worked with a single mirror, said Jacques Duparré, a senior scientist at Fraunhofer's Microoptical Imaging Systems lab in Jena, Germany.

But it faltered at close range, so a second mirror was added and the two images stitched together. But then stitching errors could be seen in the images, so engineers added a second set of sensors and mirrors so the phone could calculate and eliminate the errors.

The mirrors simply flip around so images can be taken to the front and rear of the phone.
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4 comments:

  1. I really don't understand the "thin" concept here. The one on the pictures seems like a camera as thick as any smartphone... :/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The promise to eliminate a camera bulge on the back of smartphones.

      Delete
    2. While new approaches are always interesting, I personally prefer the 1mm bulge my current phone has over this solution.

      Delete
    3. Albert Theuwissen - Harvest ImagingMarch 15, 2017 at 8:37 AM

      Once I made the same remark to the supplier of the mobile phone I had. And the answer from the phone company was : "That is your preference, but unfortunately people of your age are not the targeted market for our products".

      Delete

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