Patent ID: 8576489

Claim:
A multihybrid artificial compound eye with varied ommatidia for combining multiple aperture optics with single aperture optics, comprising: means for focusing multiple apertures of light into beams that form a first array of inverted sub-images with ommatidial chief rays oriented to adjoin the sub-images at the final image plane; means for isolating and sizing sub-images to minimize gaps and overlap at the final image plane, rigidly conformed to said means for focusing multiple apertures of light into beams that form a first array of inverted sub-images with ommatidial chief rays oriented to adjoin the sub-images at the final image plane; means for reversing the field angles of multiple light beams and orienting their ommatidial chief rays to cross and form an array of intermediate pupil planes, optically coupled to said means for isolating and sizing sub-images to minimize gaps and overlap at the final image plane; means for refocusing multiple light beams to form a second array of upright sub-images with ommatidial chief rays oriented to adjoin the sub-images at the final image plane, optically coupled to said means for reversing the field angles of multiple light beams and orienting their ommatidial chief rays to cross and form an array of intermediate pupil planes; and means for crossing multiple light beams and relaying them to transform the second array of sub-images into a substantially flat and contiguous final image, optically coupled to said means for refocusing multiple light beams while adjoining them to form a second array of upright sub-images with ommatidial chief rays oriented to adjoin the sub-images at the final image plane.