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Apple patent describes use of curved image sensor to design small camera module

Lars Rehm | Published: Jan 28, 2016 at 19:49 UTC

The team at Apple Insider has come across a patent that was recently granted to Apple describing how a spherical image sensor can be used to design a very compact camera module. The sensor is spherically curved and eliminates the need to correct for curvature of field, meaning a simpler, brighter (in this case F1.6) and ultimately smaller lens design can be used. The downside to the design is barrel distortion, the strength of which varies with focal length, aperture and other parameters. Apple proposes to correct for it through a software algorithm.

To boil it down, a curved lens translates to a simpler lens design, as the need to flatten the curvature of field is removed. The lens can be smaller and brighter, and will give more consistent performance across the sensor, as light is hitting each pixel straight on rather than at an angle. You can read more about the technology in our discussion of Sony's curved sensor design.

As usual, there is no way of knowing if this patent will ever see the light of day in an actual product, but given the consumer's desire for ever thinner and smaller devices, and the camera module being one of the limiting factors in this respect, it's no surprise Apple and other mobile manufacturers are looking at ways of reducing camera module dimensions without negatively impacting on image quality.

Source: USPTO | Via: Apple Insider

@larsrehm

Comments

Total comments: 78

Samsun gave us the curved screen that nobody needs, and Apple is giving us a curved sensor which everybody will need.

2 upvotes

Hold on! Prior art! This design has been used in many animals including birds and mammals for a few hundred millions years...

3 upvotes

Actually Sony holds a similar patent and makes small curved sensors already. No idea how Apple got this patent too.

2 upvotes

I haven't had time to go through the entire patent, but it looks like Apple got the patent on a specific optical layout for curved sensors. The patent in fact cites Sony's prior art on manufacture of curved sensors.

2 upvotes

Apple = lens engineer?
NO
Apple = marketing
YES

Vaporware usually, hardly news.

2 upvotes

And when it comes out you will put it down but secretly hoping some Android phone would follow Apple's lead.

Isn't that how Samsung got metal build, TouchID, True Tone flash, nano-SIM, Retina Display, Gorilla Glass?

7 upvotes

Apply employs quite a number of optical designers. They are throwing silly money (e.g. $150k starting salary) at graduating optics M.S. and PhD students.

4 upvotes

No. Your insecurities as an obvious Apple fanboy will not sway my decision. You sound as if you think Apple knows anything about imaging. Name ONE pro Apple photographer? Exactly. Show me something that is tangible or stop acting like you know the least bit about the industry. By throwing huge salaries around to entice engineers only shows their desperation in a field that they have little or no knowledge in. End of story. Unless you have some ACTUAL PRODUCT? ....exactly.. goodnight

2 upvotes

@Rutterbutter

I suppose Ming Thein is now an Apple fanboy in your eyes?

http://blog.mingthein.com/2014/05/26/mobile-photography-the-future-and-the-masses-part-ii/

2 upvotes

So your intelligent rebuttal is that Ming is a professional Apple photographer or that there is some product that they have created?
You've proven nothing other than the fact that an actual pro can use an iPhone. Stop using a straw-man argument and show me a professional that uses an iPhone professionally. @quiquae
BTW google the big words or ask your dad to explain them

0 upvotes

@Rutterbutter
You asked for "ONE pro Apple photographer." In standard English, that can be taken either "a photographer that likes Apple" or "a professional Apple photographer." I took your words to mean the former. Then you come back and insult me for my alleged lack of vocabulary. I'm just stunned.

As for "strawman," the only strawman here is your argument is that Apple knows nothing about photography because they make equipment that tend not to be used by "professionals." If that argument holds, Tesla Motors has no idea how to make electric cars because practically no "professional drivers" (i.e., taxi drivers, truckers, chauffeurs) use Teslas.

As for professional photographers, newspapers have been reducing photographers, asking journalists to shoot their own photos on iPhones instead. So professional iPhone photographers do exist.

BTW, don't bother trying the "those aren't REAL photographer" argument. In adult circles, that an invalid argument called "moving the goalpost."

0 upvotes

Sounds like an excuse for just being ignorant. The statement works in every way you say it. Who earns a living off of their Apple photos and is a professional iPhone shooter? Your argument is as thin as your grasp on intelligent thought. Show me one editor that has asked his photographers to shoot on iPhones instead of a good camera. You my friend are a little keyboard warrior. End of story. Go back to bragging to kids that you're a pro... with your iPhone... Pfffffftt !

Still no examples btw...
Zero
Zilch
Nada
0

Comment edited 2 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

Finally. I think the curved sensor is the next real breakthrough allowing better, smaller, and cheaper lenses for any size camera, not just a phone.

2 upvotes

if they are small and easy to manufacture apple could put several on a phone each with a different focal length

3 upvotes

There's nothing new about it. Maybe the lense layout because curved sensors have been around for a while, not commercially but they exist. Or is this another of apple's "We invented the round edged rectangle"?

6 upvotes

and this ticks you off because...

1 upvote

i'm surprise they don't just make a camera

0 upvotes

Because no one buys camera's anymore. OK, a bit exaggerated, but why should you invest an try to get in a declining market?

2 upvotes

Cooke Triplet, revisited.

0 upvotes

The eye has a spherical image sensor and it works fairly well for me. No zoom though. Yet.

2 upvotes

It probably will infringe the Apple patent so beware. The lawyers may be after you.

12 upvotes

Supposedly iPhone 7 will have a zoom-able camera module.

1 upvote

@Greynerd,
I am afraid Bjnr SWE is not responsible for this, but God or Mother Nature. Good luck to Apple's lawyers !

0 upvotes

The eye works pretty horrible. If you buy a lens+camera that would perform like our eyes, you would bring it back immediately. Your brain makes a nice image with a lot of trickery.

Comment edited 18 seconds after posting

2 upvotes

how many cameras have crappy cheap optics and compensate with software correction?

0 upvotes

I don't know if my eyes work pretty horrible, but these are my eyes that can see the distortion, chromatic aberration, purple fringing, softness of borders and corners of my lenses, as well as the limitation of the AWB, dynamic range and that awfull noise at high ISO of my camera,,,

0 upvotes

Do they tell how to make that sensor as this isn't something new really but failed during manufacturing in the past.

1 upvote

well at least its something , for real though, this concept only really work well for a fix focal lens with a relatively mid range aperture and not moderate wide coverage and upward. The difficulty of making the sensor anything of more substantial size also mean it will be something of typical consumer DC only .. good for phone I guess but not really too inspiring.

There is more to just distortion that needed correction.

0 upvotes

And they will name it Retina Camera.

7 upvotes

But it will be used mainly as a cRetina Camera.

3 upvotes

This is like a 1/5" sensor... not even newsworthy.

0 upvotes

Because we all know Apple invented the parabola.

2 upvotes

The only thing Apple invented is the curved corner of the iphone.

12 upvotes

Not to mention they changed the meaning of the term phone. I am an Android user, BTW.

Comment edited 7 seconds after posting

3 upvotes

Yes, and Galaxy S6 come into being from nothing. We go straight from Motorola Razr to Android smartphone just like that.

Android fanboys are so blinded sometime. They take other people's silence as sign of submission not realizing other people takes them for a fool and don't want to start an argument.

1 upvote

Ah the usual pointless fanboy trolling, what a joy.

1 upvote

Quoting from the article itself: "The downside to the design is barrel distortion".
Hey, what about the other remaining optical aberrations? There is no such thing as a silver bullet.

1 upvote

Didn't God already have the patent when he designed us. It's times like these when I think how primitive mankind is. "I found this you can't make one."

6 upvotes

God cant patent this because he isnt real.

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

13 upvotes

Which god? Zeus? Re? Allah? Manitou? Jehovah? Ahura Mazda? This allways confuses me, please,be more particular which one of the bunch do you worship.

Comment edited 26 seconds after posting

8 upvotes

I don't need no patent office for I AM THOR! GOD OF THUNDERRRRRRR!

3 upvotes

I think his point is this technology has been around longer than the species.

3 upvotes

Precisely.

1 upvote

His point was related to God's creating all things. Then you went ballistic with atheist illogic.

What caused us, and the universe? Science (us measuring stuff) and the Atheists say it all started with the "Big Bang". Well where did the "big bang" come from? Doesn't science say it also started from an infinitesimal point of nothing? UNEXPLAINED by them. If there was absolutely nothing spiritual along with nothing else at all(before); then how does nothing beget nothing? Logic much?

You can try to gloss over the fact; that ANY DNA mutation is anything but atrophy, corrupting an absolutely perfect DNA order; but science would laugh at you. So is our total body design also and all animals. Plus, we 100% requires this cradle of life; that we call Earth. All of that is inextricable intertwined with a madding order of the entire universe. According to mathematics alone; neither 3 X together is chance. RIDICULOUSLY not chance. If you'd rather go with aliens than God Almighty, NOT logic.

Comment edited 6 minutes after posting

3 upvotes

Welcome to the real world Neo(dp)

1 upvote

Neo- please don't mis represent Science. Also looking at history, there are many things "unexplained" attributed to gods that came to have explanations, so I would be more careful to use the "currently unexplained" as rather strong evidence a god or something must exist (and then which god or gods?).

Comment edited 48 seconds after posting

2 upvotes

Even if I think religious discussion is offtopic here, I must strongly oppose that we atheists worship "big bang theory" as some kind of dogma. It's something that cannot be explained for now and the "big bang" is basically a scientific token for the unknown event of beginning of the universe. If there was some more advanced being, or it was a natural phenomenon not known to us, everything is possible. We only oppose biblical (and other) fairy tales. Science can't disprove possible existence of "higher being" (call it as you like), but it pretty much disproves all the Biblical dogmas and similar superstitious tales.

2 upvotes

So, as usual does not change a thing. If you can explain to me who created the / a (G)god(s), or equivalent alien overlord than you just might convince me. Until then I'll rather follow scientific explanations.
And, by the way, none of the scientists I know worships the Big Bang Theory. And that is the important thing, there is more room for discussion than for the rather rigid (and sometimes bizarre) religious constructs that are around.

2 upvotes

You see, theirs are many false arguments sometimes with the "Big Bang" and then conveniently not. Legion, lies and many do not even know it. It's called self-deceived. They would not want to give up some sin for the truth. That might actually require changing their mind. But where is the mind that hates logic; while claiming it? Some will say they are with the Bible, kinda; but the truth is they are not. That's really all you need to know; because unlike the legion we have the One Way, His Living Word. His meaning has no flaw. Truth (who is Christ) is self evident and does not hide. This is the opposite of the "anti", whos "jesus-es" are MANY. This is because their father is the devil. The father of lies; which is death. Of course if they saw that for what it is then they would not deny deaths existence either. Really the point is you CAN PROVE God to yourself; but no one can do that for you. I love; but those who deny the Christ; are wrong. Seek and you will find.

Comment edited 3 times, last edit 2 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

Well, sure, nobody worships the Big Bang Theory but many watch it still the same ;)

1 upvote

I want to be clear . Logic is the key. Logic is truth and His other names are Life and The Way. The point is He is PERFECTLY congruent and this includes His Word and Bible MEANING. His love letter to you. Moreover it is only the in-congruence that reveals the poser. The Anti-'christ'; because that one is the opposite (in character not power by far) of your willing savior.

But then comes the question of why if God desires our salvation then why do most get His wrath? Because he made you that way. Responsible for your own choice of life or death. That's a big deal and does not mean you are a little God (false religion 101). It means you are made in the IMAGE of GOD! That's WHY you are. Why you are individual. God is... freedom. The pattern of man is only Jesus. The One LORD. We can and many do get caught unprepared. Set in death and what else would you have then? Forever. God is Life. I am not THE Truth; but I'm here with the One who has the power of His life over death. THE judge.

Comment edited 6 times, last edit 11 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

Tsk, tsk, tsk, this is not logic and congruent at all. You will have to do much better than that ... And since you point out that it is I who is responsible for my choices, well, that was an easy one :-)

1 upvote

Neodp: All I can do is imagine all the foam at the mouth of yours :-D

0 upvotes

It was patented by Chuck Norris gentlemen. More respect please.

0 upvotes

God requires volunteers. Else it can't be returning his Love. Your choice is under God's. Like a little child is not a slave; but under the choices of their parents. The problem is parents are people and people are flawed; but God isn't. Father is a relative term. You may loose your father, or mother, brother sister etc...; to accept GOD as your real father. Blood of the physical is not the link. It is the Spirit of life. The ONLY true family. We are all in the same boat currently. Some of us don't have our life preserver on. Accept Him. Best wishes.

As for the walking dead. Avoid them and have NOTHING to do with them. You can't dance with poop and not pick up stink. That is not God's choice for you. YOU matter too. Act like it. Love others *as* yourself. It's all about being true to yourself.

Have you ever seen a small child simply positive; that they are right and yet they are CLEARLY not. Until they change their mind they are living in a "true" false reality, Self-deception.

Comment edited 4 times, last edit 12 minutes after posting

1 upvote

Neodp: Your post opened my eyes! I'll let Him in my heart. He will be my guidance, my saviour. Hail Satan! Let the Dark prince of hell guide my steps. You should accept Him too!

0 upvotes

wow I'm reading a lot of God hate here folks, better be careful even quantum physicists appear to be proving the existence of God for you atheists out there lol

0 upvotes

Wow, Connect, just wow.
Where the hell do you get these people from?

0 upvotes

Look, anyone is welcome to hell if you prefer. Your choice. My point wasn't that God needs us. It was that love is by voluntary grace or it's fake love. That is why God is responsible for God, Satan is responsible for Satan and you are responsible for you. We are NOT responsible for anyone else. We are responsible for being responsible to others. Not for them.

Love without truth is fake. Truth without love is legalism. The main point is God will never make you love Him as that's not love. Either way. THAT'S why you are responsible and have real choice under God. That's why you have any value. It's why you are you. An individual man like none other. You are God's creation; so you might choose to be His child. Not play God. That's the meaning of life. All purpose rolled into one . Don't accept the lie, of the lier. Why self-deceive? It's team death vs team life. We can only serve one master and you are serving one of the two, right now. As for me and my house we will serve The LORD.

Comment edited 3 times, last edit 7 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

You suck at preaching so hard, you made an atheist a satanist. Since it's your fault, I guess we'll meet in hell. But I'll be in charge then:D

0 upvotes

John 3:16:

For God so loved the world that he remotely impregnated a child, whose baby grew up to be a wizard, then committed suicide to shield the world from the wrath of his father that so loved the world, and then he came back to life and flew away, but will return again as the flying zombie commander of an army of reanimated bones, to take over the whole planet, and whosoever worships him shall not be thrown into a pit of lava by the old man who so loved the world, as the necessary price for their great great great great great ... great grandmother listening to a talking snake, but will live forever in a custom-built house at the end of a golden cul-de-sac, on a cloud in the sky.

Like Neodp said. Logic.

Comment edited 2 minutes after posting

1 upvote

Relax people. God doesn't care about this anyway or whether anyone believes in him/her/it. Just like i don't care whether the hairs in my nose believe in me. They just need to be there.

0 upvotes

So, final post from me. That is the crux, isn't it. You expect us to be open minded and open to change our minds, whereas yourselves you just repeat the same things in rather dogmatic ways.

The good news is though: while you cling rather unchangeably to your believes, we accept (though it has to be said sadly, also not all) that there are others that do/explain things differently, and if better ways of explaining things arrive may come to accept them (even though quite some scientists react rather dogmatic themselves). I have no problem with people in my family being believers, and they have come to accept that I follow a different path. We can talk and explain things in our differing point of views, but we do not try to be obnoxious (or worse) missionaries.

The other crux is, what do you do if, let us say buddhists, are proven to be right?

1 upvote

Well God isn't greedy, He is quiet happy when we borrow from His design to design our stuff.

0 upvotes

@ShatteredSky
What would you do if Budhists were right? If Budhists are right, then you my friend are the biggest idiot of all of them.

0 upvotes

By Cameracist
"Which god? Zeus? Re? Allah? Manitou? Jehovah? Ahura Mazda? This allways confuses me, please,be more particular which one of the bunch do you worship."

What do you mean which God? Before you worry about which God created this and that, you should acknowledge first that everything is created. But if you're going to be a smart ass and muddy the waters for yourself, well, nobody can help you.

0 upvotes

Ken Ham died for your sins.

0 upvotes

bgbs: And how do you know it? (and no, "it's written in the bible" is not an answer)...

Comment edited 30 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

Tsk again, just could not resist. So now I am an idiot, am I? Well, with you people it is way too easy, you always enter the trap and prove my point exactly :-) Well, there goes nothing, at least I will enjoy my drive on the highway to hell. Which reminds me, there should be an ACDC concert in a few months time ...

1 upvote

My eye has a curved image sensor. no way I am paying Apple for rights. My eye dates from 1969.

9 upvotes

Your eye can see things, therefore you should never buy a camera.

1 upvote

I thought Sony had the curved sensor locked down.

6 upvotes

It seems as if the patent office has been issuing conflicting patents for years. My guess is that with enough money, anyone could file and obtain a patent on the same curved sensor concept as Apple, Sony and then go into the patent trolling business. The system is completely broken.

1 upvote

Difference is, Sony has a curved sensor camera already on the market.

4 upvotes

You can't patent the "shape" of a sensor any more than you can patent the "shape" of a basketball. You can get a patent for a particular way to design or produce the curved sensor. But the idea of a curved sensor is open to anyone who wants to manufacture one.

2 upvotes

I don't think this is a patent for a curved sensor. It looks like a particular configuration of optical elements and a curved sensor. I assume the lens elements are described in some detail in the patent. This looks more like a patent for a specific camera module that would use a sensor like that.

It looks a bit like all those lens patents from camera companies, only the last element is curved, not flat.

Also, did anyone notice the dimensions? 1.8mm and 1.95mm. This thing is tiny.

5 upvotes

@EthanP99
Yeah if i'm not mistaken Sony confirmed that Cybershot KW1 has 19MP 1/2.3" curved sensor with 21mm F2.0 lens.

1 upvote

Apple can only patent their method of implementing the curved sensor.

0 upvotes

Total comments: 78