Patent ID: 7450781

Claim:
A method of enlarging an image field of a focal plane array camera, the image field consisting of N pixels, by combining scanned partial images, each partial image consisting of n pixels, said method comprising: forming an astroid-shaped cycloid scan pattern by means of at least two continuously rotating refractive prisms; said astroid-shaped cycloid scan pattern includes a number of vertexes corresponding to points of reversal of scan movement and corresponding to a number of partial images; respective ones of said partial images are generated during reversal of movement at said vertexes of said astroid-shaped scan pattern during said forming of said astroid-shaped cycloid scan pattern; each of said partial images is generated, during said reversal of movement at said vertexes of said astroid-shaped scan pattern, for a predeterminate recording time to limit unsharpness to less than a size of a pixel.