Patent Document ID: 20090059057
Application ID: 11850185
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. An imaging apparatus providing a composite video image having multiple focal lengths comprising: a multi-focal lens system capable of observing a scene; a drive mechanism capable of moving the multi-focal lens system through a cyclic path, wherein the multi-focal lens system forms a plurality of optical images as the multi-focal lens system moves through the cyclic path, each optical image corresponding to one of the plurality of focal lengths; an image pickup device capable of converting each of the plurality of optical images into a corresponding image signal, each image signal including a plurality of pixels representative of the scene; and an image processor operative to: divide each image signal into a plurality of image elements, each image element including at least one pixel; identify sets of corresponding image elements wherein each element corresponds to a given portion of the scene; for each set of corresponding image elements, select a preferred image element which provides preferred focus characteristics; save in computer memory the preferred image element providing the preferred focus characteristics; and combine the preferred image elements into a composite image signal.