An Apple patent granted and published
on Tuesday, titled 'Digital camera with
Light Splitter', indicates that the
company may use the newly patented
technology on its upcoming iPhone to
give it better optical image stabilisation,
colour accuracy, and even a 'true zoom
lens'.
The patent is now listed on the US Paten
and Trademark Office's site , and points
to a new light-splitting camera sensor
system. Apple is seen to be employing a
three-sensor prism-based camera
module that splits light into component
red, green and blue (RGB) colours,
picking up these individually with each
sensor before combining them. Other
colour sets like CYGM and RGBE also
described.
Apple Insider points out that the
company's design uses the light-splittin
technology that are commonly seen on
products from major camera companies
such as Canon, Panasonic, and Philips
among others.
The abstract from the official Patent pag
reads, "A digital camera component is
described that has a light splitter cube
having an entrance face to receive
incident light from a camera scene. The
cube splits the incident light into first,
second, and third colour components
that emerge from the cube through a firs
face, a second face, and a third face of
the cube, respectively."
The patent goes on to describe the
advantages of the new light-splitting
design, such as improved colour
accuracy, polarised space for a zoom
lens, polarisation without brightness los
and extraction of image data.
"First, second, and third image sensors
are provided, each being positioned to
receive a respective one of the colour
components that emerge from the first,
second, and third faces of the cube.
Other embodiments are also described
and claimed," it adds.
The patent document also explains that
the colour splitting cube architecture can
be used in polarisation imaging stressin
that it won't "throw away 50 percent of
the light" as is the case in conventional
polarisation imaging techniques
employing filters.
The document also adds that the colour
splitting cube might help in "improve
contrast and enhance visibility of targets
in scattering media and assist in
improved detection and feature
extraction of targets in scattering media"
Notably, the true zoom lens feature is
referred to in patent document. "The
zooms lens may be a true zoom lens tha
can also maintain focus when its
magnification or focal length is changed
These are also referred to as parfocal
lenses," it notes.
TechCrunch reports that the light-
splitting technology might be costly to
implement on iPhones, if compared to th
current iPhone camera arrays. It adds
that the component will also take more
space in phone's chassis, something
Apple is unlikely to allow. "More accurat
colours and better low-light performanc
might balance out those downsides,
depending on how much Apple can
minimize the parts required," it notes.
Apple every year introduces a new
iteration of its iPhone with some
advancements and upgrades. Last year,
Apple launched the iPhone 6 Plus with
OIS (optical image stabilisation), which i
one of the most notable differences
between the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
Apple however had to face some criticis
for using a protruding camera . It's wort
noting that the current flagships from
Samsung - the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S
Edge , and even the HTC One M9 , also
include protruding cameras.
http://m.gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/apple-patent-tips-3-sensor-camera-true-zoom-lens-on-next-iphone-674345
