Patent ID: 7804517

Claim:
A three-dimensional image-capturing apparatus comprising: a single solid-state image-sensing device having a plurality of image capturing regions; a plurality of optical systems for forming a different image of a subject in each image-capturing region, each one of the optical systems corresponding to a different one of the image-capturing regions and each optical system having (1) an imaging-side reflection unit located in front of the corresponding image-capturing region and directed in an obliquely outward direction, (2) a subject-side reflection unit located outward from said imaging-side reflection unit and directed in an obliquely inward direction, (3) a lens provided in an optical path between said imaging-side reflection unit and said single solid-state image-sensing device, (4) a light-limiting unit provided in an optical path between the subject-side reflection unit and the imaging-side reflection unit and closer to the subject-side reflection unit than to the imaging-side reflection unit, and (5) a light-shielding unit provided normal to the single solid-state image-sensing device and extending at least between the single solid-state image-sensing device and the imaging-side reflection unit, wherein, each image capture region is configured to simultaneously capture a different image on the single solid-state image-sensing device, the light-limiting unit is effective to only exclude rays closer to the subject side reflection unit with a greatest angle of incidence on the image sensing device, the light shielding unit is effective to prevent optical cross talk between the optical systems, and the optical systems are used to form, in the corresponding image-capturing regions, separate and different images of said subject which are captured from different viewpoints having a distance therebetween.