Patent ID: 7583442

Claim:
An imaging system characterized at least by an ambiguity function and a point spread function (PSF), which ambiguity function is a function of a normalized spatial frequency parameter u and a vertical variable v related to a misfocus parameter ψ, and which PSF is at least a function of the misfocus parameter ψ, the imaging system comprising: an image recording device for converting light imaged thereon into a stored image; an optical arrangement for imaging light from an object to the image recording device to generate the stored image, which light is characterized by at least phase; and a post processor for processing the stored image from the image recording device, in accordance with the PSF, to render an in-focus electronic image over a range of object distances between the object and the optical arrangement, wherein the optical arrangement is configured for altering the phase such that a main lobe of the ambiguity function is broader in v for a given value of u over an optical bandpass of the imaging system, and the PSF has a functionally different form for a given value of ψ, in comparison to a main lobe of an ambiguity function, a PSF and the optical bandpass, respectively, characterizing the imaging system when the optical arrangement does not alter the phase for those given values of u and ψ over the range of object distances.