Patent ID: 8913138

Claim:
A handheld magnification device for displaying a magnified representation of an object in a see-through manner, the handheld magnification device comprising: a casing having a camera face for pointing toward the object and a display face opposite to the camera face; a first and a second camera both adapted to acquire an image of the object, each camera having a corresponding field of view extending from the camera face of the casing, the first camera having a first working range proximate the handheld magnification device and the second camera having a second working range different from and extending beyond the first working range; a distance-sensitive sensor for measuring in real-time a distance parameter representative of a distance between the object and the handheld magnification device, the distance-sensitive sensor comprising a range selection module for outputting the distance parameter as a binary-valued function having a first output value when the object is identified as being in the first working range and a second output value when the object is identified as being in the second working range, the distance parameter being a hysteretic function of the distance between the object and the handheld magnification device, the hysteretic function comprising a first threshold value at which the distance parameter switches from the second to the first output value thereof as the distance between the object and the handheld magnification device decreases, and a second threshold value, separated from the first threshold value by a hysteresis width, at which the distance parameter switches from the first to the second output value thereof as the distance between the object and the handheld magnification device increases; a processing unit for receiving the distance parameter from the distance-sensitive sensor and for automatically selecting, based on the distance parameter and the first and second working ranges, one of the first and second cameras as a selected camera; and a display extending along the display face of the casing for displaying, in real-time, the magnified representation of the object based on the image acquired by the selected camera.