Patent ID: 6639625
Filing Date: 2003-10-28
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
An image sensing device comprising:a two-dimensional image sensor which captures an image projected thereon to generate image data; an optical unit having at least two focal lengths, said optical unit projecting an image on said image sensor; a focal length control unit which changes the focal length of said optical unit; a direction control unit which controls the direction of the optical axis of said optical unit; an image combining unit which combines a plurality of images captured by said image sensor to form a composite image; a mode selector which selects either a standard image sensing mode or a high resolution image sensing mode; and an operation control unit which controls said focal length control unit, said direction control unit, said image sensor, and said image combining unit in accordance with the image sensing mode selected by said mode selector; wherein, when said standard image sensing mode is selected by said mode selector, said operation control unit controls said focal length control unit to set the focal length of said optical unit at a first focal length, and captures the entire target via said image sensor; and wherein, when said high resolution mode is selected by said mode selector, said operation control unit controls said focal length control unit to set the focal length of said optical unit at said first focal length and captures a reference image of the entire target, and controls said focal length control unit to set the focal length of said optical unit at a second focal length longer than said first focal length, and controls said direction control unit to sequentially move the direction of the optical axis of said optical unit toward the center of each area of a target image capture range which has been divided into a plurality of areas, and captures the image of each said area via said image sensor, and combines said plurality of captured images with reference to said reference image via said image combining unit to produce a high resolution composite image of the entire target image.