Patent ID: 6603876
Filing Date: 2003-08-05
Classification: G03B,H04N

Abstract:
A stereoscopic picture obtaining device for obtaining a stereoscopic picture by combining a first picture of a subject viewed from a first viewpoint and a second picture of the subject viewed from a second viewpoint having parallax with respect to the first viewpoint, said stereoscopic picture obtaining device comprising:first and second objective lenses adapted to simultaneously capture the first picture of the subject viewed from the first viewpoint and the second picture of the subject viewed from the second viewpoint, respectively; picture rotating means for rotating the first and second pictures about respective optical axes of said first and second objective lenses by 90 degrees in a state where the first and second pictures are disposed on a same plane before and after rotation; picture merge means for merging the first and second pictures rotated by said picture rotating means into a single picture through an optical operation so that an upper side of the first picture viewed from the first viewpoint before rotation coincides with a lower side of the second picture viewed from the second viewpoint before rotation; picture reducing means for reducing the single picture obtained by said picture merge means at a predetermined reduction ratio, and projecting the reduced picture onto a predetermined projection plane; and an image pickup device operable convert the picture projected onto a pickup plane which is arranged on the projection plane into image data.