Patent Document ID: 7834910
Application ID: 11365141
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A panoramic imaging system for capturing a full or partial panoramic image, said camera comprising: a compound camera having an orientation axis extending through said compound camera from a first axis end to a second axis end, said compound camera comprising a plurality of cameras adapted to take a plurality of images, each single camera of said plurality of cameras having an image sensor for sensing an image, said image sensor having rows, wherein a predetermined row in said image sensor is defined as row one and said image sensor is oriented so as to scan said image with vertical scan lines, starting with said row one, and wherein said image sensor of said each single camera is oriented such that said row one is closer to said first axis end than any other row in said image sensor; a memory means for storage of said plurality of images; and a controller for synchronizing a firing of said plurality of cameras according to a pre-defined firing sequence and directing storage of said plurality of images in said memory means; wherein said firing sequence first fires a first camera on a first side of said orientation axis, and then fires a second camera that is adjacent said first camera on said first side of said orientation axis, and wherein said each single camera has a field of view that is sufficiently wide that said plurality of images obtained in said firing sequence forms a contiguous panoramic image without a gap between any two images captured by adjacent cameras of said plurality of cameras.