Patent Document ID: 9648233
Application ID: 14394210
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A system for recording panoramic images, comprising: a device for recording panoramic images, the panoramic images being formed using a plurality of partial images, the device comprising: a frame; and a plurality of optical pairs, each optical pair comprising a light directing element and an optical camera having an entrance pupil, wherein the light directing element of each optical pair is arranged at a point on a respective parabola, perpendicular to a tangent thereof, the respective parabola having an axis of symmetry and a focus point, the light directing element and optical camera of each optical pair being connected to the frame in such a manner that the optical camera records an image obtained via the light directing element as if it were positioned with its entrance pupil at the respective focus point; wherein each optical pair defines a field of view (FOV) representing a segment of an environment of the device from which light can be captured via directing thereof by the light directing element onto the entrance pupil of the respective optical camera; wherein the respective focus points of the plurality of optical pairs substantially overlap each other; wherein the axes of symmetry of the respective parabolas of at least two optical pairs of the plurality of optical pairs are substantially parallel, and wherein the FOVs defined by the at least two optical pairs are adjacent in a direction parallel to the substantially parallel axes of symmetry; and wherein respective focus points of optical pairs corresponding to adjacent FOVs are slightly offset relative to each other for allowing a slight overlap between the adjacent FOVs to improve stitching of the plurality of partial images into the panoramic image; the system further comprising: a controller to individually and independently trigger each optical camera to record a partial image; a motion calculator to calculate a distance travelled by the system in a movement direction; and a processing unit to calculate a timing difference between optical cameras based on the relative offset of their focus points in the direction of movement; wherein the controller is arranged to trigger the optical cameras using the calculated timing difference in a manner such that the optical cameras record partial images as if their entrance pupils were at substantially the same position in the direction of movement at the time of recording the partial image.