Title of Invention

IMAGE INPUT APPARATUS AND IMAGE INPUT METHOD FOR INPUTTING AN IMAGE OF AN OBJECT WITHIN A LIVING BODY

Abstract An image input apparatus that inputs an image of an object residing within a living body is disclosed. The image input apparatus includes a light source that irradiates near infrared light on the living body, a lens array arranged at a position facing the living body and including plural lenses each having a face with zero or negative power arranged at a side facing the living body and a face with positive power arranged at a side facing an image surface, an imaging unit arranged at the image surface side of the lens array that forms a compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of ommatidium images formed by the lenses of the lens array, and a reconstruction unit that reconstructs a single image from the compound-eye image using a parallax between the ommatidium images. The reconstructed single image is input as the image of the object.
Full Text DESCRIPTION
IMAGE INPUT APPARATUS, IMAGE INPUT METHOD, PERSONAL
AUTHENTICATION APPARATUS, AND ELECTRONIC APPARATUS
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an input apparatus
and an input method suitable for inputting an image of an
object within a living body (e.g., veins of a finger,
subdermal fingerprints), and a personal authentication
apparatus that uses such the image of such an object.
BACKGROUND ART
Patent Document 1 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent No.
2004-27281) , Patent Document 2 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent No.
2005-92375) , and Patent Document 3 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent
No. 7-21373) disclose embodiments of a personal authentication
apparatus that irradiates infrared light or near infrared
light on a finger to capture an image of a vein pattern within
the finger and perform personal authentication based on the
vein pattern.
Also, Patent Document 4 (Japanese Patent No.
3705766), Patent Document 5 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent No.
2001-61109), and Non-Patent Document 1 (Rui Shogenji et al.,
"Development of Thin Image Input Apparatus using Compound-Eye

Optical System", The Journal of the Institute of Image
Information and Television Engineers, Vol. 57, No. 9, pp.
1135-1141, 2003) disclose embodiments of a thin image input
apparatus that uses a compound-eye optical system. Further,
Non-Patent Document 1 discloses an exemplary fingerprint
inputting technique to be applied to a fingerprint
authentication system.
The personal authentication apparatuses disclosed
in Patent Documents 1, 2, and 3 use single-eye optical systems
for inputting the vein pattern image so that restrictions are
imposed with respect to the object distance and imaging
distance and the apparatus may not be adequately miniaturized.
It is noted that in order to enable installation of a personal
authentication apparatus in an electronic apparatus such as a
mobile phone, a miniature information terminal such as a PDA,
or a laptop computer, the personal authentication apparatus
has to be adequately miniaturized.
To miniaturize the personal authentication
apparatus, the image input apparatus for inputting the image
of an object within a living body such the veins of a finger
or subdermal fingerprints has to be miniaturized as well. As
is noted in Patent Documents 4 and 5, in miniaturizing the
image input apparatus, it is generally advantageous to use a
compound-eye optical system. However, in the case of using
the image input apparatus for personal authentication, the

image of the object within a living body to be input and used
for personal authentication has to be captured with adequate
image quality in addition to miniaturizing the image input
apparatus.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
Aspects of the present invention are directed to
providing a miniaturized (thin) image input apparatus that may
be suitably used for inputting an image of an imaging object
such as the veins or subdermal finger prints within a living
body and a personal authentication apparatus using such an
image input apparatus.
According to one aspect of the present invention,
an image input apparatus is provided that inputs an image of
an object residing within a living body, the apparatus
including:
a light source that irradiates near infrared light
on the living body;
a lens array that is arranged at a position facing
the living body and includes plural lenses each having a face
with zero or negative power arranged at a side facing the
living body and a face with positive power arranged at a side
facing an image surface;
an imaging unit that is arranged at the image
surface side of the lens array and is configured to form a

compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of ommatidium
images formed by the lenses of the lens array; and
a reconstruction unit that is configured to
reconstruct a single image from the compound-eye image formed
by the imaging unit using a parallax between the ommatidium
images, the reconstructed single image being input as the
image of the object.
According to another aspect of the present
invention, an image input apparatus is provided that inputs an
image of an object residing within a living body, the
apparatus including:
a light source that irradiates near infrared light
on the living body;
a lens array that is arranged at a position facing
the living body and includes plural lenses each having a face
with zero or negative power at a side facing the living body
and a face with positive power at a side facing an image
surface;
an imaging unit that is arranged on the image
surface side of the lens array and is configured to form a
compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of ommatidium
images formed by the lenses of the lens array;
a correction unit that is configured to correct
image degradation caused by the lenses in the ommatidium
images of the compound-eye image formed by the imaging unit

based on optical transfer function data pertaining to the
lenses that are prepared beforehand and generate a corrected
compound-eye image; and
a reconstruction unit that is configured to
reconstruct a single image from the corrected compound-eye
image generated by the correction unit using a parallax
between the ommatidium images, the reconstructed single image
being input as the image of the object.
According to another aspect of the present
invention, an image input method is provided for inputting an
image of an object residing within a living body, the method
including the steps of:
using an imaging optical system that includes
a light source that irradiates near infrared
light on the living body;
a lens array that is arranged at a position
facing the living body and includes a plurality of lenses,
each of the lenses having a face with zero or negative power
at a side facing the living body and a face with positive
power at a side facing an image surface; and
an imaging unit that is arranged on the image
surface side of the lens array and is configured to form a
compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of ommatidium
images formed by the lenses of the lens array;
correcting image degradation caused by the lenses

in the ommatidium images of the compound-eye image formed by
the imaging unit based on optical transfer function data
pertaining to the lenses that are prepared beforehand to
generate a corrected compound-eye image;
reconstructing a single image from the corrected
compound-eye image using a parallax between the ommatidium
images; and
inputting the reconstructed single image as the
image of the object.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a first embodiment
of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a light shielding
member having a tapered opening;
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a light shielding
member having a layered structure;
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary
simulation for generating a compound-eye image;
FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams illustrating a
difference in the size of overlapping regions between adjacent
ommatidium images according to a difference in the object
distance;
FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating variations in the
sum E of squared values of the pixel luminance difference

between ommatidium images according to variations in the
parallax of the ommatidium images;
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a method of
arranging pixels in a process of reconstructing a single image
from a compound-eye image;
FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary
process steps for reconstructing a single image from a
compound-eye image;
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a second
embodiment of the present invention;
FIGS. 10A and 10B are graphs illustrating MTF
characteristics of a plano-convex lens in relation to the
object visual angle in a case where the convex face of the
plano-convex lens faces the object side and a case where the
convex face faces the image surface side;
FIG. 11 is a graph illustrating MTF characteristics
of a plano-convex lens in relation to the object distance in
the case where the convex face of the plano-convex lens faces
the image surface side;
FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a third
embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a fourth
embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 14 is a graph illustrating image sampling
timings in a case of modulating the intensity of irradiated

light into a sine wave, dividing the modulation period into
four phases, and sampling images at these phase intervals;
FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of
lowering the optical magnification and enlarging the field of
view of an imaging optical system; and
FIGS. 16A and 16B are perspective views of
exemplary electronic apparatuses each having a personal
authentication apparatus according to an embodiment of the
present invention installed therein.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
In the following, preferred embodiments of the
present invention are described with reference to the
accompanying drawings. It is noted that in the examples
described below, it is assumed that a human finger corresponds
to a living body, and the internal veins of the finger
correspond to the object to be imaged. Further, it is assumed
that the image of the veins is input so that its vein pattern
may be used to perform personal authentication. Also, in the
drawings, component elements that are similar or substantially
identical are given the same numerical references in order to
reduce overlapping descriptions.
(First Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an image input
apparatus and a personal authentication apparatus according to

a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, an
imaging optical system 100, a preprocessing unit 101, a
reconstruction operation unit 102, and a post processing unit
103 make up an image input apparatus. Also, an authentication
operation unit 104 and a registered data memory 105 make up an
authentication process part that performs a personal
authentication process based on a vein pattern. Such an
authentication process part and an image input apparatus make
up a personal authentication apparatus according to the
present embodiment.
In FIG. 1, a finger (living body) 1 is placed on a
certain location of the imaging optical system 100. The
imaging optical system 100 captures an image of a vein 2
within the finger 1 as an object, and inputs the captured
image. The imaging optical system 100 includes a light source
6, a lens array 3, a light shielding member 4, an image pickup
device 5, and an optical band pass filter 7.
The lens array 3 is for forming the image of the
object, and includes plural lenses 3a that are arranged into a
two-dimensional array within a plane that is substantially
perpendicular to the lens axis. However, the present
invention is not limited to such an arrangement and the lenses
3a may alternatively be arranged into a one-dimensional array,
for example.
According to an embodiment of the present invention,

the lenses 3a making up the lens array 3 each have a face with
a power of 0 or a negative power at the object side and a face
with a positive power at the image surface side (i.e., lower
face side). In the illustrated example of FIG. 1, a plano-
convex lens with its convex face facing the image surface side
is used as the lens 3a. It is noted that the convex face may-
be either a spherical surface or an aspheric surface. In the
case where the convex face of the lens 3a is aspheric, design
flexibility for improving the optical characteristics of the
lens 3a may be enhanced.
The light shielding member 4 is for preventing
crosstalk between light rays passing through the lenses 3a of
the lens array 3 at the image surface and preventing
generation of noise light such as ghost light and flared light.
According to one embodiment, the light shielding member 4 is
arranged to have a height extending from the lenses 3a of the
lens array 3 to the image surface and includes openings
(through holes) at the positions of the lenses 3a that are
arranged into a two-dimensional array, each of the openings
having a square cross-section. In another embodiment, the
light shielding member may be a pin hole array having openings
corresponding to the positions of the lenses 3a of the lens
array 3. In yet another embodiment, the light shielding
member may be made of a transparent parallel flat plate having
openings corresponding to the lenses 3a of the lens array

formed thereon and one or more non-transparent films deposited
through vapor deposition, for example, on the upper face
and/or lower face of the transparent parallel flat plate.
The image pickup device 5 is for forming a
compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of images
(ommatidium images) formed by the lenses 3a of the lens array
3. For example, a CCD image pickup device or a CMOS image
pickup device having photo receiving elements 5a arranged into
a two-dimensional array may be used. In one embodiment, the
image pickup device 5 may include a circuit for adjusting the
gain of a photoelectric transfer signal from the photo
receiving element 5a and converting an analogue signal into a
digital signal to be configured to output a captured image as
digital image data. It is noted that the image pickup device
5 forms an image made up of plural pixels from the ommatidium
images.
The light source 6 may be a light emitting diode
(LED), for example, that irradiates near infrared light, which
is absorbed at a relatively low absorption rate, on the finger
(living body) 1. The near infrared light irradiated on the
finger (living body) 1 by the light source 6 is absorbed by
reduced hemoglobin within the veins (imaging object) 2 of the
finger 1. However, the near infrared light is hardly absorbed
by portions of the finger 1 other than the vein 2. In this
way, the vein pattern may be visualized. Specifically, the

vein pattern may be imaged on the imaging surface of the image
pickup device 5 by the lenses 3a of the lens array 3 as a
complex-eye image.
The optical band pass filter 7 only passes light
within a predetermined wavelength range including the
wavelength of the near infrared light irradiated by the light
source 6. The optical band pass filter 7 is arranged to
remove influences of noise light from light sources other than
the light source 6. It is noted that the band pass filter 7
may not have to be included in a case where noise light does
not have to be taken into consideration, or in a case where
influences of noise light are removed by image data processing
as is described below in relation to a fifth embodiment of the
present invention. Also, in one embodiment, the optical band
pass filter 7 may be arranged on the image surface side of the
lens array 3 such as the imaging surface of the image pickup
device 5.
It is noted that in the illustrated example of FIG.
1, only one light source 6 is shown. However, in other
embodiments, plural light sources may be arranged to irradiate
light on a region of the imaging object. Also, in one
embodiment, a laser diode (LD) may be used as the light source
6. Further, it is noted that in the illustrated example of
FIG. 1, the light source 6 is arranged to irradiate light on
the finger (imaging object) 1 from a side not facing the lens

array 3 (i.e., upper side of FIG. 1). However, in other
embodiments, the light source 6 may be arranged to irradiate
light on the finger 1 from the side or the bottom, for example.
That is, since the near infrared light irradiated on the
finger 1 is diffused in all directions within the finger 1,
the vein pattern image of the finger 1 may be adequately
captured in these embodiments as well. In another embodiment,
a light conductor that guides the near infrared light
generated at the light source 6 toward the finger 1 may be
added.
The image pickup device 5 captures a compound-eye
image of the vein pattern (object image) from the images
formed by the lenses 3a of the lens array 3, and outputs the
captured image as digital image data. The digital image data
are preprocessed by the preprocessing unit 101 and transferred
to the reconstruction operation unit 102. The preprocessing
unit 101 may extract regions of the ommatidium images from the
compound-eye image by removing shade portions created by the
light shielding member 4 and performing a smoothing process or
an averaging process on the individual ommatidium images; or
extract the ommatidium images including the vein pattern and
perform an emphasizing process on the ommatidium images for
sharpening the vein pattern image, for example. The
reconstruction operation unit 102 reconstructs a single image
from the preprocessed ommatidium images by performing a

reconstruction operation process using the parallax between
the ommatidium images which is described in greater detail
below. Then, post processing such as noise removal may be
performed on the single image data by the post processing unit
103 as is necessary or desired after which the single image
data are input to the authentication operation unit 104 as
vein (object) image data. The above-described operations
correspond to exemplary image input operations of the image
input apparatus according to the present embodiment. It is
noted that the above-described preprocessing and post
processing operations correspond to processes to be performed
before and after the image reconstruction process.
Accordingly, the operations of the preprocessing unit 101 and
the post processing unit 103 may be regarded as image
reconstruction operations along with the operations of the
reconstruction operation unit 102.
The authentication operation unit 104 may extract a
characteristic amount of the vein pattern from the input vein
image data and compare the extracted characteristic amount
with a vein pattern of a registered person stored in the
registered data memory 105 to conduct personal authentication,
for example. Specifically, if the difference between the
extracted characteristic amount and the registered
characteristic amount of the registered person is less than or
equal to a predetermined value, the person subject to

authentication (i.e., owner of the finer 1) may be
authenticated as the registered person. On the other hand, if
the difference is greater than the predetermined value,
authentication is denied. Since personal authentication
techniques using a vein pattern are conventionally known,
further detailed descriptions thereof are hereby omitted.
The lens array 3 may be made of transparent resin
or glass material. The lens array 3 may be fabricated using a
processing technique such as the reflow method, the area
ration gray scale masking method, or the polishing method, for
example. Alternatively, the lens array 3 may be fabricated
through molding using a mold that is fabricated using the
above processing techniques, for example. The light shielding
member 4 may also be fabricated through similar processing
using materials such as resin, glass, or metal. However, it
is noted that the light shielding member 4 is arranged to
prevent light from passing therethrough or being reflected
thereon by using a nontransparent material or performing a
coating process on a transparent material, for example.
It is noted that in the illustrated example of FIG.
1, the opening (through hole) of the light shielding member 4
has substantially the same cross-sectional area across planes
approximately orthogonal to the lens axis from the lens 3a to
the imaging surface of the image pickup device 5. In an
alternative embodiment as is shown in FIG. 2, the cross-

sectional areas of the opening 4a may become smaller toward
the imaging surface side so that the opening 4a may be
arranged into a tapered structure. As is illustrated by the
arrows shown in FIG. 2, by arranging the opening 4a into a
tapered structure, light rays entering the opening 4a in a
diagonal direction may be prevented from being reflected
within the opening 4a and onto the imaging surface of the
image pickup device 5 so that flares and ghosts may be
prevented, for example. Also, it is noted that when the
height of the light shielding member 4 has to be relatively
high in accordance with the size of the opening 4a, processing
of the light shielding member may become difficult. In such a
case, the light shielding member 4 may be fabricated by
layering plural layers having a suitable height for easy
processing and bonding these layers together. FIG. 3
illustrates an example in which the light shielding member 4
is fabricated by layering two layers of the light shielding
member 4 having a suitable height for easy processing.
FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating a
simulation example of forming a compound-eye image with the
imaging optical system 100. FIG. 4A shows an original image
from which a compound-eye image is formed. FIG. 4B shows the
compound-eye image obtained from the original image of FIG. 4A.
In the compound-eye image shown in FIG. 4B the black portions
arranged between the ommatidium images correspond to shade

portions formed by the light shielding member 4. The
ommatidium images are formed by the lenses 3a of the lens
array 3. Specifically, different portions of the imaging
object are imaged according to the lens positions of the
lenses 3a of the lens array 3. In FIG. 1, the region
identified by the reference 2a represents the field of view of
one lens 3a corresponding to a region to be observed and
imaged as an ommatidium image by the lens 3a. Also, the
regions identified by the reference 2b represent an
overlapping portion at which the fields of view of two
adjacent lenses 3a overlap one another. This portion
corresponds to an overlapping region of adjacent ommatidium
images of the compound-eye image shown in FIG. 4B.
It is noted that the distance from the skin surface
of the finger to the vein varies depending on each person, and
therefore, the distance from the lens array 3 of to the vein 2
of FIG. 1 varies depending on the person being authenticated.
When the distance between the vein 2 and the lens array 3 is
reduced as is shown in FIG. 5A, or when the height of the
light shielding member 4 is increased, the overlapping region
between adjacent ommatidium images may not be created, for
example. On the other hand, when the distance between the
vein 2 and the lens array 3 is increased as is shown in FIG.
5B or when the height of the light shielding member 4 is
reduced, the overlapping region between adjacent ommatidium

images may be enlarged.
When there is no overlapping region between two
adjacent ommatidium images, a single image may be
reconstructed by extracting the individual ommatidium images
within the compound-eye image, reorienting the extracted
ommatidium images that are inverted by the lenses 3a to their
original orientations, and simply connecting the reverted
ommatidium images together. However, when overlapping regions
exist between two adjacent ommatidium images, one of the
overlapping regions becomes invalid so that in this case, when
a single image is reconstructed by simply connecting together
the ommatidium images, the size and the number of pixels
making up the reconstructed image may be reduced and the image
resolution may be decreased. Also, when the distance between
the vein 2 and the lens array 3 increases as in the example of
FIG. 5B, the area of overlapping regions and the number of
invalid pixels increase and the optical magnification of the
imaging optical system decreases so that the vein pattern
image becomes smaller and the image resolution is lowered.
An embodiment of the present invention is directed
to compensating for such a decrease in the image resolution
due to an increase in the number of invalid pixels and a
decrease in the optical magnification, for example, by
performing a single image reconstruction process using the
parallax between ommatidium images at the reconstruction

operation unit 102 as is described below.
It is noted that a parallax exists between the
ommatidium images due to the positional relationship between
the lenses 3a and the vein (imaging object) 2. Thus, the
ommatidium images correspond to images that are shifted
according to the parallax. In the following descriptions, a
parallax between ommatidium images refers to the shift amount
(in length units) of a given ommatidium image with respect to
a reference ommatidium image within a compound-eye image.
Using the parallax between the ommatidium images, an image of
an object structure buried in the pixels of ommatidium images
may be reproduced. In one example, the parallax between the
ommatidium images may be detected through calculating the sum
of squares of the luminance difference between the ommatidium
images using the below formula (1).

In the above formula (1), IB denotes the reference
ommatidium image of the compound-eye image that may be
arbitrarily set to be used as a reference based on which the
parallaxes of the individual ommatidium images are obtained.
Im denotes the individual ommatidium images, m denotes a number
identifying the individual ommatidium images that may be a

value ranging from 1 to N (N representing the number of lenses
3a making up the lens array 3) . Px and Py denote parallaxes in
the x and y directions, respectively, of a given ommatidium
image with respect to the reference ommatidium image.
According to the present example, the luminance difference
between the given ommatidium image and the reference
ommatidium image is obtained for all pixels making up the
ommatidium images, and the sum E of the squared values of the
luminance differences are obtained. The value E is
successively calculated while gradually changing the values of
Px and Py, and the values of Px and Py when the value E takes a
minimum value are determined as values representing the
parallaxes in the x and y directions, respectively, with
respect to the reference ommatidium image. FIG. 6 is a three-
dimensional graph illustrating the change in the value of E in
relation to the changes in the values of Px and Py, the x axis
representing the value of Px, the y axis representing the value
of Py, and the z axis representing the value of E.
As can be appreciated from the graph of FIG. 6, the
values of Px and Py when E takes a minimum value correspond to
the parallaxes in the x and y directions, respectively, for
the ommatidium image Im with respect to the reference
ommatidium image IB. In the case where the parallax dimension
may be smaller than the pixel size of the image pickup device
5, the ommatidium image may be enlarged so that the parallax

dimension corresponds to the pixel size of the image pickup
device 5 or an integer multiple thereof. That is, the number
of pixels making up the ommatidium image may be increased, and
the parallax may be obtained by determining the minimum sum of
squares of the luminance difference between the enlarged
ommatidium images. To enlarge the ommatidium images,
interpolation operation has to be implemented that involves
determining the luminance of each pixel by referring to its
adjacent pixel. As for the rate of expansion, since an
approximate value of the parallax may be estimated from the
optical magnification, the lens pitch of the lens array 3, and
the pixel size of the image pickup device 5, the rate of
expansion may be determined so that the estimated parallax may
correspond to the pixel size of the image pickup device 5. In
the case where the lens pitch processing accuracy of the lens
array 3 is adequately high, the parallax of the ommatidium
images may be geometrically calculated if the distance between
the object and the lens array 3 is known. In this respect,
according to one example, the parallax of the ommatidium
images may be obtained by detecting the parallax between one
pair of ommatidium images and calculating the below formula
(2) , in which 8 denotes the parallax of a given ommatidium
image, A denotes the parallax of the ommatidium image that is
actually detected, N denotes the distance between the center
of the ommatidium image for which the parallax has been

detected and the center of the reference ommatidium image with
respect to the x or y direction (horizontal or vertical
direction) within an image, and n denotes the distance between
the center of the given ommatidium image and the center of the
reference ommatidium image.

In a case where the distance between the imaging
object and the lens array 3 is relatively short so that the
parallax between ommatidium images is relatively large, it may
be preferable to detect parallaxes between adjacent ommatidium
images rather than fixing a reference ommatidium image. In
such a case, one of a pair of adjacent ommatidium images
becomes the reference ommatidium image and the other becomes
the ommatidium image for which the parallax is detected. As
is mentioned above, there may be one or more ommatidium images
that do not contain images of the vein pattern. Accordingly,
in one preferred embodiment, the ommatidium images containing
images of the vein pattern may be extracted in a preprocessing
operation, and parallaxes may be detected for the extracted
ommatidium images while the parallaxes for the rest of the
ommatidium images without the images of the vein pattern may
be obtained by calculating the above formula (2) using the

detected parallaxes of the extracted ommatidium images. In
another embodiment, the parallaxes of the ommatidium images
may be detected by performing cross correlation calculation
between the ommatidium images instead of calculating the sum
of squares of the luminance differences between the ommatidium
images.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a method of
reconstructing a single image. In the illustrated example of
FIG. 7, the pixel luminance is extracted from each ommatidium
image 9a of a compound-eye image 9, and the extracted pixel
luminance is arranged at a corresponding position of a
reconstructed image 8 within a virtual space which position is
determined based on the position of the ommatidium image 9a
within the compound-eye image 9 and its parallax. By
performing the above process of arranging the pixel luminance
for all the pixels of the ommatidium images, a reconstructed
image 8 may be obtained.
It is noted that when there are pixels that do not
contain luminance within the reconstructed image owing to
influences of the parallax dimension and/or shaded portions
created by the light shielding member 4, for example,
interpolation may be performed on such a pixel based on the
luminance of its adjacent pixel. Also, in a case where the
parallax is smaller than the pixel size, the reconstructed
image is enlarged so that the parallax dimension may be equal

to the pixel size or an integer multiple thereof. That is,
the number of pixels making up the reconstructed image is
increased, and the above-described process of arranging the
pixel luminance may be performed thereafter.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary
process steps that may be performed by the reconstruction
operation unit 102. According to FIG. 8, first, the
reconstruction operation unit 102 acquires a compound-eye
image (step S1). Then, a reference ommatidium image for
parallax detection is selectively set from the ommatidium
images containing images of the vein pattern that are
extracted in a preprocess (step S2), and parallaxes of
individual ommatidium images with respect to the reference
ommatidium image are detected (step S3). However, it is noted
that parallaxes may not be detected for the ommatidium images
that do not contain images of the vein pattern, and the
parallaxes of such ommatidium images may be obtained by
calculating the above formula (2) , for example. Then,
reconstruction operation is performed for constructing a
single image from the compound-eye image using the parallaxes
of the individual ommatidium images (step S4) after which the
reconstructed single image is output (step S5). By performing
such a reconstruction process, an image of an object structure
that is buried in the pixels of the ommatidium images may be
reproduced, and even when the distance between the object and

the lens array 3 is increased and the resolution is decreased,
a single image with improved resolution may be obtained.
It is noted that when the overlap between
ommatidium images is relatively small, the detected parallax
may be a very small value or an abnormal value, for example.
In this respect, a threshold value for the parallax may be set,
and the parallax to be used may be compared with the threshold
value in step S4, for example. If the parallax is less than
the threshold value, a single image may be reconstructed by
simply reorienting the ommatidium images to their original
orientations and connecting the ommatidium images together.
On the other hand, if the parallax is greater than or equal to
the threshold value, the above-described reconstruction
process using the parallax may be performed.
In order to adequately perform the above-described
reconstruction process using the parallax between ommatidium
images provided that the distance between an object and the
lens array 3 is within a predetermined permissible range, a
given pair of adjacent ommatidium images that are imaged by
the image pickup device 5 must have at least one pixel image
in common representing the same portion of the object.
Accordingly, design measures have to be implemented to ensure
that adjacent images always have overlapping regions when the
distance between the object and the lens array is within the
predetermined permissible range. For example, the height of

the light shielding member 4 and the distance between the
lenses 3a of the lens array 3 may be properly adjusted so that
adj acent ommatidium images may always have overlapping regions
even when the distance between the object and the lens array 3
is at the minimum value of the predetermined permissible range.
In another example, a transparent plate (not shown) for
adjusting the distance between the object and the lens array 3
may be arranged between the finger (living body) 1 and the
lens array 3, on the upper face of the optical band pass
filter 7, for example, in order to prevent the distance from
becoming smaller than the minimum value of the predetermined
permissible range. In yet another example, when the optical
band pass filter 7 is not provided, such a transparent plate
may be arranged in place of the optical band pass filter 7.
By implementing such measures, a compound-eye image that
includes overlapping regions may always be obtained so that
the reconstruction process may not have to be switched
according to the results comparing the parallax to the
threshold value as is described above. Also, since variations
in the distance between the object and the lens array 3 may be
reflected in the parallax, the reconstruction process
according to an embodiment of the invention that uses the
parallax may easily reflect such variations in the distance
caused by differences in the thickness of the skin, for
example.

It is noted that an exemplary case of inputting the
vein pattern of a finger and using the vein pattern to perform
personal authentication is described above. However, the
present invention is not limited to such an example, and in
other embodiments, a vein pattern of the palm or a finger
print pattern of the finger may be imaged to perform personal
authentication. In further embodiments, the present invention
may be applied to imaging techniques for obtaining biological
system image information to be used for non-invasive blood
sugar level measurement, for example.
As is shown in FIG. 15, by reducing the back focus
of the lens array 3, the optical magnification may be lowered
and a wider field of view may be secured. In a case where the
size of the object is relatively large, a general purpose
image pickup device may not be capable of adequately imaging
the object so that a dedicated image pickup device may have to
be used which may raise the overall cost of the apparatus.
Thus, in order to prevent such a cost increase, according to
one preferred embodiment, a suitable optical magnification may
be set based on the object size and the size of the general
purpose image pickup device so that the overall image of the
object may be adequately imaged using the general purpose
image pickup device. It is noted that FIG. 15 illustrates a
case where the optical magnification is reduced by adjusting
the lens array 3; however, other measures may be implemented

such as adding another optical system for de-magnifying the
object image, for example.
(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an image input
apparatus and a persona authentication apparatus according to
a second embodiment of the present invention. The apparatus
according to the present embodiment differs from that of the
first embodiment in that it includes a correction operation
unit 201 and a memory 202 as a correction processing part for
correcting (e.g., through MTF correction) image degradation
caused by the lenses 3a of the lens array 3. It is noted that
other features of the apparatus according to the present
embodiment may be substantially identical to the first
embodiment. It is noted that optical transfer function (OTF)
data pertaining to the plano-convex lens 3a having its convex
face facing the image surface are stored in the memory 202
beforehand.
FIGS. 10A and 10B are graphs illustrating the
relationship between the MTF corresponding to the gain of the
optical transfer function of a plano-convex lens and the
visual angle of an object in a case where the convex face of
the plano-convex lens faces the object side and in a case
where the convex face of the plano-convex lens faces the image
surface side.
FIG. 10A shows the MTF characteristics of a piano-

convex lens that has its convex face facing the object side,
and FIG. 10B shows the MTF characteristics of a plano-convex
lens that has its convex face facing the image surface side as
with the lens 3a used the present embodiment. It is noted
that the thin solid lines, dotted lines, and dashed lines
shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B illustrate different angles of
light rays incident to the lens; that is, the lines illustrate
different visual angles of the object. Also, the thick solid
line shown in FIG. 11B illustrates MTF characteristics after
correction.
As is shown in FIG. 10A, in the case where the
convex face of the plano-convex lens faces the object side,
although relatively high MTF values may be obtained up to a
relatively high spatial frequency band at certain visual
angles, the MTF and the cutoff frequency vary significantly
depending on the visual angle and the image may be prone to
degradation. For example, to maintain a high MTF and a high
cutoff frequency throughout a permissible visual angle range
in this case, the permissible visual angle range may have to
be very narrow and/or the lens may be required to have a
complicated structure such as a layered structure or an
aspheric structure, for example. In other words, it may be
difficult to achieve adequate performance throughout a wide
range of visual angles with a simple lens configuration in
this case. It is noted that if the MTF can be limited within

a predetermined range, the MTF characteristics may be improved
through correction operation. However, in the case of FIG.
10A, since the MTF varies significantly depending on the
visual angle, correction may have to be separately performed
for different visual angles so that the processing load for
performing the correction may be rather large. Also, since
the MTF may easily drop to 0 at certain visual angles, the
range of visual angles on which correction may be performed
may be rather limited.
On the other hand, as is shown in FIG. 10B, in a
case where the convex face of a plano-convex lens faces the
image surface side as with the lens 3a used in the present
embodiment, although the overall MTF level may be decreased,
variations in the MTF with respect to variations in the visual
angle may be reduced and variations in the cutoff frequency
may also be reduced. Thus, in the case of performing MTF
correction operation, the convex face of a plano-convex lens
is preferably arranged to face the image surface side and the
convex face configuration is preferably adjusted so that the
MTF may be uniform and limited within a predetermined range in
order to maintain MTF performance throughout a relatively wide
range of visual angles with a relatively small processing load.
For example, the MTF characteristics represented by the thick,
solid line shown in FIG. 11B may be easily achieved with the
present configuration. In addition to achieving improvements

in MTF characteristics as is described above, it is noted that
in-plane errors such as distortions and curvatures may be
reduced by arranging the convex face of a plano-convex lens to
face the image surface side. Also, the above-described
advantageous effects may be equally obtained in the case of
using a lens having a lens face with a negative power at the
object side and a lens face with a positive power at the image
surface side.
In the following, the MTF correction process
performed by the correction operation unit 201 is described.
It is noted that the correction operation unit 201 according
to the present embodiment is configured to perform a process
of extracting ommatidium images of a compound-eye image formed
by the image pickup device 5 while excluding shade portions
created by the light shielding member 4 before performing he
correction process. Thus, in the present embodiment, the
preprocessing unit 101 does not have to perform the process of
extracting the ommatidium images other than the shade portions.
The image of an object that has been degraded by
the lens 3a, that is, the intensity data of each individual
ommatidium image of a compound-eye image may be expressed by
the below formula (3) :


It is noted that in the above formula (3), x and y denote
position coordinates of an ommatidium image, I denotes the
intensity data of an ommatidium image, S denotes intensity
data of the object, OTF denotes optical transfer function data
of the lens 3a, FFT denotes a Fourier transfer operator, and
FFT-1 denotes an inverse Fourier transfer operator. It is
noted that the optical transfer function data OTF of the lens
3a may be obtained through autocorrelation of the pupil
function of the lens 3a the using wave aberration data of the
lens 3a obtained during the lens design stage.
The correction operation unit 201 uses the optical
transfer function data OTF of the lens 3a that are calculated
and stored in the memory 202 beforehand and performs
computation of the below formula (4) on each ommatidium image
of the compound image to correct image degradation caused by
the lens 3a and generate an ommatidium image with improved MTF
(and a compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of the
corrected ommatidium images). It is noted that in the below
formula (4), R denotes the intensity data of an ommatidium
image after correction, a denotes a constant for preventing
division by zero or noise amplification.


It is noted that when the optical transfer function
does not change according to the change in the light ray angle,
this means that the optical transfer function may not change
even when the lens itself is slightly tilted, for example.
Therefore, influences of lens positioning errors upon
installing the image pickup device 5 may be reduced in such as
case. Also, it is noted that when the light focusing
performance level of the lens is high, the focal point may
easily spread to cause image degradation even with a slight
deviation of the image surface position with respect to the
optical axis. However, in a case where the light focusing
performance level of the lens is relatively low as in the
example of FIG. 11B, the focal point may be prevented from
spreading very far when the image surface position is slightly
deviated from the optical axis. In this way, influences of
errors in setting the distance between the lens and the image
surface may be reduced, for example. Further, in a preferred
embodiment, the lens array 3 may be coupled to the light
shielding member 4 upon assembling the apparatus.
Specifically, the convex faces of the lenses 3a facing the
image surface side may engage corresponding openings (through
holes) of the light shielding member 4 so that alignment of
the lens array 3 and the light shielding member 4 may be
facilitated, for example.
It is noted that a correction process that involves

frequency filtering using FFT is described above as an
illustrative example. However, a similar correction process
may be performed through de-convolution using a point-spread
function pattern, for example. It is noted that a process
using a point-spread function pattern may be simpler than that
using FFT (fast Fourier transform) so that the cost of the
overall apparatus may be reduced in the case of fabricating a
dedicated processing circuit, for example. In another
preferred embodiment, optical transfer function data for
correction operation may be calculated for each of plural
visual angles and stored in the memory 202 beforehand so that
correction may be performed using corresponding optical
transfer function data for each of image regions corresponding
to the different visual angles. In a further embodiment,
correction may be performed on in-plane errors such as
curvatures and distortions by estimating their error levels
beforehand.
According to one modified example of the embodiment
shown in FIG. 9, the correction processing part for correcting
image degradation caused by the lens 3a (MTF correction) may
be arranged to come after the post processing unit 103 rather
than before the preprocessing unit 101. Specifically, a
correction operation unit may be arranged between the post
processing unit 103 and the authentication operation unit 104,
and a memory for storing optical transfer function data may be

connected to this correction operation unit so that image
degradation correction (MTF correction) • may be performed on a
reconstructed single image. It is noted that correction
process with respect to a single image may be completed by
performing one correction process sequence on the
reconstructed single image so that operation time may be
reduced compared to the case of performing correction on each
ommatidium image. However, it is noted that since the optical
transfer function data to be used in the correction process
pertain to the individual lenses 3a and are intended to be
used for correcting the individual ommatidium images, when the
correction process is performed on the single image rather
than the individual ommatidium images, correction errors may
inevitably be increased compared to the case of performing
correction on the individual ommatidium images.
(Third Embodiment)
It is noted that the optical transfer function of a
lens may vary depending on the object distance (i.e., distance
from the object 2 to the lens array 3). Particularly, in an
imaging optical system of an image input apparatus according
to an embodiment of the present invention where the object is
positioned relatively close to the lens array 3, the optical
transfer function may greatly vary in response to variations
in the object distance.
FIG. 11 is a graph illustrating exemplary

variations in MTF characteristics according to the object
distance in a plano-convex lens having its convex face facing
the image surface side as in the case of FIG. 10B.
Specifically, in FIG. 11, MTF characteristics at a
predetermined visual angle when the object distance is equal
to A, B, and C are illustrated by a thin solid line, a dotted
line, and a dashed line, respectively. As can be appreciated
from this example, in a case where variations in the object
distance cannot be disregarded (i.e., when MTF characteristics
vary depending on the object distance), correction errors may
occur when image degradation correction (MTF correction) is
performed based on optical transfer function data for a
predetermined distance. Thus, in order to reduce correction
errors, optical transfer function data for different object
distances are preferably prepared beforehand so that the
optical transfer function data to be used for image
degradation correction may be selected according to the object
distance. By performing image degradation correction
according to the object distance in the manner described above,
image degradation may be appropriately corrected to obtain
suitable MTF characteristics as is illustrated by a thick
solid line in FIG. 11, for example.
FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an image input
apparatus and a personal authentication apparatus according to
a third embodiment of the present invention. In the present

embodiment, an object distance detecting unit 301 is added for
detecting the object distance (i.e., distance from the object
2 to the lens array 3). Also, the memory 202 stores optical
transfer data for different object distances with respect to
the lenses 3a, and the correction operation unit 201: is
configured to read the optical transfer function stored in the
memory 202 that are associated with an object distance that is
closest to the object distance detected by the object distance
detecting unit 301 to perform image degradation correction
(MTF correction) on each ommatidium image of a compound-eye
image using the read optical transfer function data. It is
noted that other features of the apparatus according to the
present embodiment may be identical to those of the second
embodiment.
As is described above in relation to the first
embodiment of the present invention, the overlapping regions
between ommatidium images may vary depending on the object
distance (see FIG. 5). Accordingly, the object distance may
be calculated based on the triangulation principle using
information on the overlapping regions, namely, the detected
parallax. The object distance detecting unit 301 according to
the present embodiment employs such a method to detect the
object distance. Specifically, the object distance detecting
unit 301 detects the parallax between ommatidium images of a
compound-eye image that is captured by the image pickup device

5 and calculates the object distance based on the
triangulation principle using the detected parallax.; It is
noted that the object distance may be obtained by detecting
the parallax between two ommatidium images; that is, the
parallaxes for all the ommatidium images of the compound-eye
image are not required for obtaining the object distance.
Also, the parallax between ommatidium images may be detected
using the detection method as is described above.
According to a modified example of the embodiment
shown in FIG. 12, the correction processing part for
correcting image degradation caused by the lens 3a (MTF
correction) may be arranged to come after the post processing
unit 103 rather than before the preprocessing unit 101.
Specifically, a correction operation unit may be arranged
between the post processing unit 103 and the authentication
operation unit 104, and a memory for storing optical transfer
function data may be connected to this correction operation
unit so that image degradation correction (MTF correction) may.
be performed on a reconstructed single image using the optical
transfer function data associated with the object distance
detected by the object distance detecting unit 301.! It is
noted that correction process with respect to a single image
may be completed by performing one correction process sequence
on the reconstructed single image so that operation time may
be reduced compared to the case of performing correction on

each ommatidium image. However, it is noted that sijnce the
optical transfer function data to be used in the correction
process pertain to the individual lenses 3a and are intended
to be used for correcting the individual ommatidium images,
when the correction process is performed on the single image
rather than the individual ommatidium images, correction
errors may inevitably be increased compared to the case of
performing correction on the individual ommatidium images.
(Fourth Embodiment)
FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an image input
apparatus and a personal authentication apparatus according to
a fourth embodiment of the present invention. According to
the present embodiment, a bias component removing unit 401 and
a control unit 401 for controlling drive operations of the
light source 6 are used to obtain compound-eye image data
having bias components of external light other than the near
infrared light irradiated from the light source 6 (bias light)
removed therefrom. Also, an image pickup drive unit 403 is
j
used for driving the image pickup device 5. It is noted that
other features of the present embodiment may be identical to
any one of the previously described embodiments or
modifications thereof so that illustrations of such features
i
are omitted in FIG. 13. Also, it is noted that although a
band pass filter 7 is included in FIG. 13, such a component
may alternatively be omitted. In the case of omitting the

band pass filter 7, a transparent plate for adjusting the
object distance and/or protecting the lens array 3 may be
arranged at the position of the band pass filter 7, for
example. Also, it is noted that although the image pickup
drive unit 403 is not shown in the drawings representing the
previously-described embodiments, illustrations of such a
component are merely omitted in these drawings and means for
driving the image pickup device 5 is used in these elmbodiments
as well.
(Example 1)
According to a first exemplary implementation of
the present embodiment, the control unit 402 turns on/off a
drive current for the light source to control the light source
6 to intermittently emit light. In other words, light
emission of the light source 6 is intermittently turned on/off.
In this case, compound-eye images at emission-on time and
emission-off time of the light source 6 are captured by the
j
image pickup device 5, and timing signals in synch With the
emission on and off times of the light source 6 are supplied
to the image pickup drive unit 403 and the bias component
removing unit 401 by the control unit 402 in order to control
the bias component removing unit 401 to acquire these
compound-eye images. The bias component removing unit 401
obtains a difference between the compound-eye image captured
at the light source 6 emission-on time and the compound-eye

image captured at the light source 6 emission-off time to
remove bias components of external light and generate a
compound-eye image that is made up of light components of
light emitted from the light source 6.
i
(Example 2)
According to a second exemplary implementation of
the present embodiment, the control unit 402 modulates the
drive current for the light source 6 into a sine wave so that
the intensity of the near infrared light irradiated from the
light source 6 may be changed according to the sine wave.
Since external light (bias light) is superposed on t.he near
infrared light, provided that such lights are directly
incident on the image pickup device 5, light intensity
modulation as is shown in FIG. 9 may be successively obtained
for every pixel. It is noted that the intensity of the pixel
at a given image position (x, y) within an image may be
expressed by the below formula (5).
I(x,y) = A(x,y) + B(x,y)-cos{Φ(x,y)} (5)
In the above formula (5), I denotes the intensity
of the given pixel, A denotes the intensity of the external
light, namely, the bias light, B denotes the modulation
amplitude of the light irradiated by the light source 6, and Φ
denotes the modulation phase of the light irradiated by the

light source 6.
When the modulation period is divided into four
time intervals and images are captured at time points tl, t2,
t3, and t4 as is shown in FIG. 9, for example, the image
intensity of the images obtained at the above time points may
be expressed by the below formulae (6)-(9)

The modulation amplitude of the light irradiated by
the light source 6 may be obtained by the below formula (10)
using the above formulae (6)-(9) . Thus, by computing the
below formula (10) using the images captured at the above time
points, the bias component removing unit 401 may generate a
compound-eye image having bias components removed therefrom.


It is noted that in the above-described example,
the modulation period is divided into four and images are
sampled at the divided time intervals; however, in other
alternative implementations, the sampling frequency within the
modulation period may be increased, or discrete Fourier
transform may be used in the computation for extracting the
modulation amplitude, for example. It is noted that when the
sampling frequency is increased, bias components may be more
accurately removed.
(Fifth Embodiment)
The overall imaging optical system of a personal
authentication apparatus according to an embodiment of the
present invention may be arranged into a relatively thin
structure so that the authentication apparatus may be readily
installed in various electronic apparatuses. In this way,
operations of the electronic apparatus may be controlled
according to the authentication result obtained by the
authentication apparatus and usage of the electronic apparatus
may be limited to certain users, for example.
FIGS. 16A and 16B are diagrams showing a miniature
information terminal (e.g., PDA) and a laptop computer as
exemplary electronic apparatuses each having a personal
authentication apparatus 500 according to an embodiment of the
present invention installed therein. In the examples of FIGS.
16A and 16B, only a portion of the personal authentication

apparatus 500 on which a finger is to be placed (e.g., portion
of the optical band pass filter 7) is exposed. A person that
wishes to use the information terminal or the laptop computer
may place his/her finger on the exposed portion of the
personal authentication apparatus 500 to have the vein pattern
of his/her finger read and authenticated by the personal
authentication apparatus 500. The electronic apparatus (i.e.,
the information terminal or the laptop computer) may control
user access by allowing the person to login when the person is
authenticated as a registered user while refusing tc let the
person login when the person is not authenticated as a
registered user.
(Miscellaneous)
According to certain embodiments, the
reconstruction operation unit, the correction operation unit,
the object distance detecting unit, the bias component
removing unit, and the authentication processing unit of used
in the above-described first though fourth embodiments may be
configured, at least in part, by software.
Also, the above-described operations of the image
input apparatus according to the first through fourth
embodiments may be construed as image input methods according
to embodiments of the present invention.
In the following, overall descriptions of possible
embodiments of the present invention and their advantageous

effects are given.
According to a first aspect of the present
invention, an image input apparatus is provided that inputs an
image of an object residing within a living body, the
apparatus including:
a light source that irradiates near infrared light
on the living body;
a lens array that is arranged at a position facing
the living body and includes plural lenses each having a face
with zero or negative power arranged at a side facing the
living body and a face with positive power arranged at a side
facing an image surface;
an imaging unit that is arranged at the image
surface side of the lens array and is configured to form a
compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of ommatidium
images formed by the lenses of the lens array; and
a reconstruction unit that is configured to
reconstruct a single image from the compound-eye image formed
by the imaging unit using a parallax between the ommatidium
images, the reconstructed single image being input as the
image of the object.
According to a second aspect of the present
invention, an image input apparatus is provided that inputs an
image of an object residing within a living body, the
apparatus comprising:

a light source that irradiates near infrared light
on the living body;
a lens array that is arranged at a position facing
the living body and includes plural lenses each having a face
with zero or negative power at a side facing the living body
and a face with positive power at a side facing an image
surface;
an imaging unit that is arranged on the image
surface side of the lens array and is configured to form a
compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of ommatidium
images formed by the lenses of the lens array;
a correction unit that is configured to correct
image degradation caused by the lenses in the ommatidium
images of the compound-eye image formed by the imaging unit
based on optical transfer function data pertaining to the
lenses that are prepared beforehand and generate a corrected
compound-eye image; and
a reconstruction unit that is configured to
reconstruct a single image from the corrected compound-eye
image generated by the correction unit using a parallax
between the ommatidium images, the reconstructed single image
being input as the image of the object.
According to a third aspect of the present
invention, an image input apparatus is provided that inputs an
image of an object residing within a living body, the

apparatus including:
a light source that irradiates near infrared light
on the living body;
a lens array that is arranged at a position facing
the living body and includes plural lenses each having a face
with zero or negative power arranged at a side facir.g the
living body and a face with positive power arranged at a side
facing an image surface;
an imaging unit that is arranged at the :.mage
surface side of the lens array and is configured to form a
compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of ommatidium
images formed by the lenses of the lens array;
a reconstruction unit that is configured to
reconstruct a single image from the compound-eye image formed
by the imaging unit using a parallax between the omnatidium
images; and
a correction unit that is configured to correct
image degradation caused by the lenses in the reconstructed
single image based on optical transfer function data
pertaining to the lenses that are prepared beforehand, the
corrected single image being input as the image of the object.
According to a fourth aspect of the present
invention, the above-described image input apparatuses
according to the first through third aspects of the present
invention may further include:

an optical band pass filter that is configured to
pass light having a wavelength within a predetermined
wavelength range including a wavelength of the near infrared
light irradiated by the light source, the optical band pass
filter being arranged at the living body side or the: image
surface side of the lens array.
According to a fifth aspect of the present
invention, an image input apparatus is provided that inputs an
image of an object residing within a living body, the
apparatus including:
a light source that irradiates near infrared light
on the living body;
a control unit that controls light irradiation by
the light source to be turned on/off;
a lens array that is arranged at a position facing
the living body and includes plural lenses each having a face
with zero or negative power arranged at a side facing the
living body and a face with positive power arranged at a side
facing an image surface;
an imaging unit that is arranged at the image
surface side of the lens array and is configured to form a
compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of ommatidium
images formed by the lenses of the lens array;
a bias component removing unit that is configured
to obtain a difference between a compound-eye image formed by

the imaging unit when the light source is turned on and a
compound-eye image formed by the imaging unit when the light
source is turned off and generate a bias-removed compound-eye
image having a bias component of light other than the near
infrared light irradiated by the light source removed
therefrom; and
a reconstruction unit that is configured to
reconstruct a single image from the bias-removed compound-eye
image generated by the bias component removing unit using a
parallax between the ommatidium images, the reconstructed
single image being input as the image of the object.
According to a sixth aspect of the present
invention, an image input apparatus is provided that inputs an
image of an object residing within a living body, the
apparatus comprising:
a light source that irradiates near infrared light
on the living body;
a control unit that controls light irradiation by
the light source to be turned on/off;
a lens array that is arranged at a position facing
the living body and includes plural lenses each having a face
with zero or negative power at a side facing the living body
and a face with positive power at a side facing an image
surface;
an imaging unit that is arranged on the image

surface side of the lens array and is configured to form a
compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of ommatidium
images formed by the lenses of the lens array;
a bias component removing unit that is configured
to obtain a difference between a compound-eye image formed by
the imaging unit when the light source is turned on and a
compound-eye image formed by the imaging unit when the light
source is turned off and generate a bias-removed conpound-eye
image having a bias component of light other than tne near
infrared light irradiated by the light source removed
therefrom;
a correction unit that is configured to correct
image degradation caused by the lenses in the ommatidium
images of the bias-removed compound-eye image generated by the
bias component removing unit based on optical transfer
function data pertaining to the lenses that are prepared
beforehand and generate a corrected compound-eye image; and
a reconstruction unit that is configured to .
reconstruct a single image from the corrected compound-eye
image generated by the correction unit using a parallax
between the ommatidium images, the reconstructed single image
being input as the image of the object.
According to a seventh aspect of the present
invention, an image input apparatus is provided that inputs an
image of an object residing within a living body, the

apparatus including:
a light source that irradiates near infrared light
on the living body;
a control unit that controls light irradiation by
the light source to be turned on/off;
a lens array that is arranged at a position facing
the living body and includes plural lenses each having a face
with zero or negative power arranged at a side facing the
living body and a face with positive power arranged at a side
facing an image surface;
an imaging unit that is arranged at the image
surface side of the lens array and is configured to form a
compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of ommatidium
images formed by the lenses of the lens array;
a bias component removing unit that is configured
to obtain a difference between a compound-eye image formed by
the imaging unit when the light source is turned on and a
compound-eye image formed by the imaging unit when the light
source is turned off and generate a bias-removed compound-eye
image having a bias component of light other than the near
infrared light irradiated by the light source removed
therefrom;
a reconstruction unit that is configured to
reconstruct a single image from the bias-removed compound-eye
image formed by the bias component removing unit using a

parallax between the ommatidium images; and
a correction unit that is configured to correct
image degradation caused by the lenses in the reconstructed
single image based on optical transfer function data
pertaining to the lenses that are prepared beforehand, the
corrected single image being input as the image of the object.
According to an eighth aspect of the present
invention, an image input apparatus is provided that inputs an
image of an object residing within a living body, the
apparatus including:
a light source that irradiates near infrared light
on the living body;
a control unit that changes an intensity of the
near infrared light irradiated on the living body by the light
source into a sine wave;
a lens array that is arranged at a position facing
the living body and includes plural lenses each having a face
with zero or negative power arranged at a side facing the
living body and a face with positive power arranged at a side
facing an image surface;
an imaging unit that is arranged at the image
surface side of the lens array and is configured to form a
compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of ommatidium
images formed by the lenses of the lens array;
a bias component removing unit that is configured

to perform computation processes on plural compound-eye images
formed by the imaging unit at plural different phase points
within a sine wave change period of the intensity of the near
infrared light irradiated on the living body by the light
source and generate a bias-removed compound-eye image having a
bias component of light other than the near infrared light
irradiated by the light source removed therefrom; and
a reconstruction unit that is configured to
reconstruct a single image from the bias-removed compound-eye
image generated by the bias component removing unit using a
parallax between the ommatidium images, the reconstructed
single image being input as the image of the object.
According to a ninth aspect of the present
invention, an image input apparatus is provided that inputs an
image of an object residing within a living body, the
apparatus comprising:
a light source that irradiates near infrared light
on the living body;
a control unit that changes an intensity of the
near infrared light irradiated on the living body by the light
source into a sine wave;
a lens array that is arranged at a position facing
the living body and includes plural lenses each having a face
with zero or negative power at a side facing the living body
and a face with positive power at a side facing an image

surface;
an imaging unit that is arranged on the image
surface side of the lens array and is configured to form a
compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of ommatidium
images formed by the lenses of the lens array;
a bias component removing unit that is configured
to perform computation processes on plural compound-eye images
formed by the imaging unit at plural different phase points
within a sine wave change period of the intensity of the near
infrared light irradiated on the living body by the light
source and generate a bias-removed compound-eye image having a
bias component of light other than the near infrared light
irradiated by the light source removed therefrom;
a correction unit that is configured to correct
image degradation caused by the lenses in the ommatidium
images of the bias-removed compound-eye image generated by the
bias component removing unit based on optical transfer
function data pertaining to the lenses that are prepared
beforehand and generate a corrected compound-eye image; and
a reconstruction unit that is configured to
reconstruct a single image from the corrected compound-eye
image generated by the correction unit using a parallax
between the ommatidium images, the reconstructed single image
being input as the image of the object.
According to a tenth aspect of the present

invention, an image input apparatus is provided that inputs an
image of an object residing within a living body, the
apparatus including:
a light source that irradiates near infrared light
on the living body;
a control unit that changes an intensity of the
near infrared light irradiated on the living body by the light
source into a sine wave;
a lens array that is arranged at a position facing
the living body and includes plural lenses each having a face
with zero or negative power arranged at a side facing the
living body and a face with positive power arranged at a side
facing an image surface;
an imaging unit that is arranged at the image
surface side of the lens array and is configured to form a
compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of ommatidium
images formed by the lenses of the lens array;
a bias component removing unit that is configured
to perform computation processes on plural compound-eye images
formed by the imaging unit at plural different phase points
within a sine wave change period of the intensity of the near
infrared light irradiated on the living body by the light
source and generate a bias-removed compound-eye image having a
bias component of light other than the near infrared light
irradiated by the light source removed therefrom;

a reconstruction unit that is configured to
reconstruct a single image from the bias-removed compound-eye
image formed by the bias component removing unit using a
parallax between the ommatidium images; and
a correction unit that is configured to correct
image degradation caused by the lenses in the reconstructed
single image based on optical transfer function data
pertaining to the lenses that are prepared beforehand, the
corrected single image being input as the image of the object.
the image input apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further
comprising:
a transparent plate for adjusting a distance
between the object and the lens array which transparent plate
is arranged at the living body side of the lens array.
According to an eleventh aspect of the present
invention, the above-described image input apparatuses
according to the second, third, sixth, seventh, ninth and
tenth aspects of the present invention may further include:
a distance detecting unit that is configured to
detect a distance between the object and the lens array; and
the correction unit may select a set of optical
transfer function data from the optical transfer function data
pertaining to the lenses that are prepared beforehand
according to the distance detected by the distance detecting

unit and use the selected set of optical transfer function
data for correcting the image degradation caused by the lenses.
According to a twelfth aspect of the present
invention, in the above-described image input apparatus
according to the eleventh aspect,
the distance detecting unit may detect the distance
based on the parallax between the ommatidium images of the
compound-eye image formed by the imaging unit.
According to a thirteenth aspect of the present
invention, the above-described image input apparatuses
according to the first through twelfth aspects may further
include:
a transparent plate for adjusting a distance
between the object and the lens array which transparent plate
is arranged at the living body side of the lens array.
According to a fourteenth embodiment of the present
invention, the above described image input apparatuses
according to the first through thirteenth aspects may further
include:
a light shielding member that prevents occurrence
of crosstalk between the lenses of the lens array at the image
surface side.
According to a fifteenth aspect of the present
invention, a personal authentication apparatus is provided
that includes any one of the image input apparatuses according

to the first through fourteenth aspects of the present
invention, and an authentication unit that performs personal
authentication based on the image of the object input by the
image inputting apparatus.
According to a sixteenth aspect of the present
invention, an electronic apparatus is provided that includes
the above-described personal authentication apparatus
according to the fifteenth aspect of the present invention,
the operations of the electronic apparatus being controlled
according to an authentication result obtained by the personal
authentication apparatus.
According to a seventeenth aspect of the present
invention, an image input method is provided for inputting an
image of an object residing within a living body, the method
including the steps of:
using an imaging optical system that includes
a light source that irradiates near infrared
light on the living body;
a lens array that is arranged at a position
facing the living body and includes a plurality of lenses,
each of the lenses having a face with zero or negative power
at a side facing the living body and a face with positive
power at a side facing an image surface; and
an imaging unit that is arranged on the image
surface side of the lens array and is configured to form a

compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of ommatidium
images formed by the lenses of the lens array;
correcting image degradation caused by the lenses
in the ommatidium images of the compound-eye image formed by
the imaging unit based on optical transfer function data
pertaining to the lenses that are prepared beforehand to
generate a corrected compound-eye image;
reconstructing a single image from the corrected
compound-eye image using a parallax between the ommatidium
images; and
inputting the reconstructed single image as the
image of the object.
According to an eighteenth aspect of the present
invention, an image input method is provided for inputting an
image of an object residing within a living body, the method
including the steps of:
using an imaging optical system that includes
a light source that irradiates near infrared
light on the living body;
a lens array that is arranged at a position
facing the living body and includes a plurality of lenses,
each of the lenses having a face with zero or negative power
at a side facing the living body and a face with positive
power at a side facing an image surface; and
an imaging unit that is arranged on the image

surface side of the lens array and is configured to form a
compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of ommatidium
images formed by the lenses of the lens array;
controlling the light source to irradiate light
intermittently;
obtaining a difference between a compound-eye image
formed by the imaging unit when the light source is turned on
and a compound-eye image formed by the imaging unit when the
light source is turned off to generate a bias-removed
compound-eye image having bias components of light other than
the near infrared light irradiated by the light source removed
therefrom;
correcting image degradation caused by the lenses
in the ommatidium images of the bias-removed compound-eye
image based on optical transfer function data pertaining to
the lenses that are prepared beforehand to generate a
corrected compound-eye image;
reconstructing a single image from the corrected
compound-eye image using a parallax between the ommatidium
images; and
inputting the reconstructed single image as the
image of the object.
According to a nineteenth aspect of the present
invention, an image input method is provided for inputting an
image of an object residing within a living body, the method

including the steps of:
using an imaging optical system that includes
a light source that irradiates near infrared
light on the living body;
a lens array that is arranged at a position
facing the living body and includes a plurality of lenses,
each of the lenses having a face with zero or negative power
at a side facing the living body and a face with positive
power at a side facing an image surface; and
an imaging unit that is arranged on the image
surface side of the lens array and is configured to form a
compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of ommatidium
images formed by the lenses of the lens array;
changing the intensity of the near infrared light
irradiated by the light source into a sine wave;
performing computation processes on plural
compound-eye images formed by the imaging unit at plural
different phase points within a sine wave change period of the
intensity of the near infrared light irradiated by the light
source to generate a bias-removed compound-eye image having
bias components of light other than the near infrared light
irradiated by the light source removed therefrom;
correcting image degradation caused by the lenses
in the ommatidium images of the bias-removed compound-eye
image based on optical transfer function data pertaining to

the lenses that are prepared beforehand to generate a
corrected compound-eye image;
reconstructing a single image from the corrected
compound-eye image using a parallax between the ommatidium
images; and
inputting the reconstructed single image as the
image of the object.
According to the first through fourteenth aspects
of the present invention, the imaging optical system including
the light source, the lens array, and the imaging unit may be
arranged into a relatively thin and simple structure so that
the overall thickness of the image input apparatus may be
reduced, for example.
Also, since near infrared light, which is absorbed
at a high absorption rate by an imaging obj ect such as veins
residing within the living body but is hardly absorbed by
portions of the living body other than the imaging object, is
irradiated on the living body by the light source, a clear
image of the imaging object such as veins may be formed. Also,
it is noted that in a compound-eye optical system, normally, a
face of a lens of a lens array with positive power (e.g.,
convex face of a plano-convex lens) is arranged to face the
imaging object side. However, in embodiments of the present
invention, a lens having a face with zero or negative power
arranged at the object side and a face with positive power

arranged at the image surface side (e.g., plano-concave lens
having a concave face facing the image surface side) is used
as the lenses of a lens array so that even when the object
distance is small, variations in the MTF due to variations in
the object visual angle (angle of incidence of light incident
to the lens) may be reduced, and occurrence of in-plane errors
such as distortions and curvatures may be prevented, for
example. Further, it is noted that the object distance may
vary depending on the skin thickness of each person, for
example. However, the process of reconstructing a single
image from a compound-eye image using the parallax between
ommatidium images according to embodiments of the present
invention may easily adapt to variations in the object
distance and compensate for a decrease in the image resolution,
for example. In this way, a high quality image of an imaging
object such as veins within a living body may be input.
Further, by correcting a compound-eye image by
performing correction processes on the individual ommatidium
images of the compound-eye image based on the optical transfer
function data of the lenses as in the second, sixth, and ninth
aspects of the present invention, or correcting a single image
reconstructed from a compound-eye image based on such optical
transfer function data as in the third, seventh, and tenth
aspects of the present invention, an even higher quality image
in which image degradation caused by the lenses are corrected

may be input. Also, by enabling selection of the optical
transfer function data to be used in the image degradation
correction process according to the object distance as in the
eleventh aspect of the present invention, image degradation
correction may be accurately performed even when the object
distance varies. In this way, influences caused by
differences in the object distance may be reduced, and the
input image quality may be further improved. Also, by using a
lens having a face with zero or negative power arranged at the
object side and a face with positive power arranged at the
image surface side as the lenses of the lens array, variations
in the MTF due to variations in the object visual angle (angle
of incidence of light incident to the lens) may be reduced so
that the image degradation correction process may be
simplified, for example.
By arranging an optical band pass filter that only
passes light having a wavelength within a predetermined
wavelength range including the wavelength of the near infrared
light irradiated by the light source as in the fourth aspect
of the present invention, or by removing bias components
through light source modulation and computation processes as
in the fifth through tenth aspects of the present invention,
influences of external light, namely, light other than the
irradiation light from the light source, may be reduced, and a
stable image of the object may be input, for example.

In a case where the object is positioned too close
to the lens array so that overlapping image regions do not
exist between adjacent ommatidium images, image reconstruction
using the parallax between the ommatidium images may not be
effectively performed. Such a problem may be prevented by
arranging a transparent plate for adjusting the distance
between the object and the lens array as in the thirteenth
aspect of the present invention, for example.
Also, by including a light shielding member as in
the fourteenth aspect of the present invention, cross talk
between the lenses of the lens array at the image surface side
may be prevented so that noise such as ghosts and flares may
be reduced in the input image, for example.
According to the fifteenth aspect of the present
invention, by using a thin image input apparatus with a simple
configuration according to an aspect of the present invention,
a thin personal authentication apparatus that is suitable for
installation in an electronic apparatus may be realized, for
example.
According to the sixteenth aspect of the present
invention, by installing a personal authentication apparatus
according to an aspect of the present invention into an
electronic apparatus, enlargement of the electronic apparatus
due to installation of the personal authentication apparatus
may not be necessary, for example.

Also, login access to an electronic apparatus such
as a miniature information terminal or a laptop computer may-
be controlled according to authentication results obtained by
the personal authentication apparatus so that security of the
electronic apparatus may be improved, for example.
According to the seventeenth through nineteenth
aspects of the present invention, advantageous effects similar
to those obtained in the first through fourteenth aspects of
the present invention may be obtained. For example, by
implementing an image input method according an aspect of the
present invention, a high quality image of an object such as
veins within a living body may be input, and/or a stable image
that is not readily influenced by light other than irradiation
light from the light source may be input.
Although the present invention is shown and
described with respect to certain preferred embodiments, it is
obvious that equivalents and modifications will occur to
others skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the
specification. The present invention includes all such
equivalents and modifications, and is limited only by the
scope of the claims.
The present application is based on and claims the
benefit of the earlier filing date of Japanese Patent
Application No. 2006-278423 filed on October 12, 2006, the
entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

CLAIMS
1. An image input apparatus that inputs an image of
an object residing within a living body, the apparatus
comprising:
a light source that irradiates near infrared light
on the living body;
a lens array that is arranged at a position facing
the living body and includes a plurality of lenses, each of
the lenses having a face with zero or negative power arranged
at a side facing the living body and a face with positive
power arranged at a side facing an image surface;
an imaging unit that is arranged at the image
surface side of the lens array and is configured to form a
compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of ommatidium
images formed by the lenses of the lens array; and
a reconstruction unit that is configured to
reconstruct a single image from the compound-eye image formed
by the imaging unit using a parallax between the ommatidium
images, said reconstructed single image being input as the
image of the object.
2. The image input apparatus as claimed in claim 1,
further comprising:
an optical band pass filter that is configured to

pass light having a wavelength within a predetermined
wavelength range including a wavelength of the near infrared
light irradiated by the light source, said optical band pass
filter being arranged at the living body side or the image
surface side of the lens array.
3. The image input apparatus as claimed in claim 1,
further comprising:
a transparent plate for adjusting a distance
between the object and the lens array which transparent plate
is arranged at the living body side of the lens array.
4. The image input apparatus as claimed in claim 1,
further comprising:
a light shielding member that prevents occurrence
of crosstalk between the lenses of the lens array at the image
surface side.
5. An image input apparatus that inputs an image of
an object residing within a living body, the apparatus
comprising:
a light source that irradiates near infrared light
on the living body;
a lens array that is arranged at a position facing
the living body and includes a plurality of lenses, each of

the lenses having a face with zero or negative power at a side
facing the living body and a face with positive power at a
side facing an image surface;
an imaging unit that is arranged on the image
surface side of the lens array and is configured to form a
compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of ommatidium
images formed by the lenses of the lens array;
a correction unit that is configured to correct
image degradation caused by the lenses in the ommatidium
images of the compound-eye image formed by the imaging unit
based on optical transfer function data pertaining to the
lenses that are prepared beforehand and generate a corrected
compound-eye image; and
a reconstruction unit that is configured to
reconstruct a single image from the corrected compound-eye
image generated by the correction unit using a parallax
between the ommatidium images, said reconstructed single image
being input as the image of the object.
6. The image input apparatus as claimed in claim 5,
further comprising:
an optical band pass filter that is configured to
pass light having a wavelength within a predetermined
wavelength range including a wavelength of the near infrared
light irradiated by the light source, said optical band pass

filter being arranged at the living body side or the image
surface side of the lens array.
7. The image input apparatus as claimed in claim 5,
further comprising:
a distance detecting unit that is configured to
detect a distance between the object and the lens array;
wherein the correction unit selects a set of
optical transfer function data from the optical transfer
function data pertaining to the lenses that are prepared
beforehand according to the distance detected by the distance
detecting unit and uses the selected set of optical transfer
function data for correcting the image degradation caused by
the lenses.
8. The image input apparatus as claimed in claim 7,
wherein
the distance detecting unit detects the distance
based on the parallax between the ommatidium images of the
compound-eye image formed by the imaging unit.
9. The image input apparatus as claimed in claim 5,
further comprising:
a transparent plate for adjusting a distance
between the object and the lens array which transparent plate

is arranged at the living body side of the lens array.
10. The image input apparatus as claimed in claim 5,
further comprising:
a light shielding member that prevents occurrence
of crosstalk between the lenses of the lens array at the image
surface side.
11. An image input method for inputting an image of
an object residing within a living body, the method comprising
the steps of:
using an imaging optical system that includes
a light source that irradiates near infrared
light on the living body;
a lens array that is arranged at a position
facing the living body and includes a plurality of lenses,
each of the lenses having a face with zero or negative power
at a side facing the living body and a face with positive
power at a side facing an image surface; and
an imaging unit that is arranged on the image
surface side of the lens array and is configured to form a
compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of ommatidium
images formed by the lenses of the lens array;
correcting image degradation caused by the lenses
in the ommatidium images of the compound-eye image formed by

the imaging unit based on optical transfer function data
pertaining to the lenses that are prepared beforehand to
generate a corrected compound-eye image;
reconstructing a single image from the corrected
compound-eye image using a parallax between the ommatidium
images; and
inputting the reconstructed single image as the
image of the object.

An image input apparatus that inputs an image of an
object residing within a living body is disclosed. The image
input apparatus includes a light source that irradiates near
infrared light on the living body, a lens array arranged at a
position facing the living body and including plural lenses
each having a face with zero or negative power arranged at a
side facing the living body and a face with positive power
arranged at a side facing an image surface, an imaging unit
arranged at the image surface side of the lens array that
forms a compound-eye image corresponding to a collection of
ommatidium images formed by the lenses of the lens array, and
a reconstruction unit that reconstructs a single image from
the compound-eye image using a parallax between the ommatidium
images. The reconstructed single image is input as the image
of the object.

Documents:

02111-kolnp-2008-abstract.pdf

02111-kolnp-2008-claims.pdf

02111-kolnp-2008-correspondence others.pdf

02111-kolnp-2008-description complete.pdf

02111-kolnp-2008-drawings.pdf

02111-kolnp-2008-form 1.pdf

02111-kolnp-2008-form 3.pdf

02111-kolnp-2008-form 5.pdf

02111-kolnp-2008-international publication.pdf

02111-kolnp-2008-international search report.pdf

02111-kolnp-2008-pct priority document notification.pdf

02111-kolnp-2008-pct request form.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(09-10-2013)-ABSTRACT.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(09-10-2013)-ANNEXURE TO FORM 3.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(09-10-2013)-CLAIMS.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(09-10-2013)-CORRESPONDENCE.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(09-10-2013)-DESCRIPTION (COMPLETE).pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(09-10-2013)-DRAWINGS.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(09-10-2013)-FORM-1.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(09-10-2013)-FORM-2.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(09-10-2013)-OTHERS.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(10-01-2014)-CORRESPONDENCE.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(18-06-2014)-CORRESPONDENCE.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(21-03-2013)-CORRESPONDENCE.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(21-03-2013)-FORM 3.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(29-05-2014)-ABSTRACT.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(29-05-2014)-ANNEXURE TO FORM 3.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(29-05-2014)-CLAIMS.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(29-05-2014)-CORRESPONDENCE.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(29-05-2014)-DESCRIPTION (COMPLETE).pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(29-05-2014)-DRAWINGS.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(29-05-2014)-FORM-1.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(29-05-2014)-FORM-13.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(29-05-2014)-FORM-2.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(29-05-2014)-OTHERS.1.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(29-05-2014)-OTHERS.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-(29-05-2014)-PETITION UNDER RULE 137.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-ASSIGNMENT-1.1.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-ASSIGNMENT.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-CANCELLED PAGES.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-CORRESPONDENCE 1.1.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-CORRESPONDENCE.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-EXAMINATION REPORT.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-FORM 13.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-FORM 18-1.1.pdf

2111-kolnp-2008-form 18.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-FORM 3.1.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-GRANTED-ABSTRACT.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-GRANTED-CLAIMS.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-GRANTED-DESCRIPTION (COMPLETE).pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-GRANTED-DRAWINGS.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-GRANTED-FORM 1.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-GRANTED-FORM 2.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-GRANTED-FORM 3.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-GRANTED-FORM 5.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-GRANTED-SPECIFICATION-COMPLETE.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATION.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-INTERNATIONAL SEARCH REPORT & OTHERS.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-OTHERS.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-PA.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-PETITION UNDER RULE 137.pdf

2111-KOLNP-2008-REPLY TO EXAMINATION REPORT.pdf

abstract-2111-kolnp-2008.jpg


Patent Number 263378
Indian Patent Application Number 2111/KOLNP/2008
PG Journal Number 44/2014
Publication Date 31-Oct-2014
Grant Date 24-Oct-2014
Date of Filing 26-May-2008
Name of Patentee RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
Applicant Address 3-6, NAKAMAGOME 1-CHOME, OHTA-KU TOKYO
Inventors:
# Inventor's Name Inventor's Address
1 MORITA NOBUHIRO 11-16-504, MINAMIRINKAN 2-CHOME, YAMATO-SHI, KANAGAWA 242-0006
2 ISEKI TOSHIYUKI 4-1, AIZAWA 2-CHOME, SEYA-KU, YOKOHAMA-SHI, KANAGAWA 246-0013
3 NASUKAWA, TOSHIMICHI C/O RICOH OPTICAL INDUSTRIES CO., LTD., 10-109, OHHATA, HANAMAKI-SHI, IWATE 025-0303
4 KOSUGA SHINICHI C/O RICOH OPTICAL INDUSTRIES CO., LTD., 10-109, OHHATA, HANAMAKI-SHI, IWATE 025-0303
5 TAKAHASHI HIROAKI C/O RICOH OPTICAL INDUSTRIES CO., LTD., 10-109, OHHATA, HANAMAKI-SHI, IWATE 025-0303
6 TAKAHASHI AKIRA C/O RICOH OPTICAL INDUSTRIES CO., LTD., 10-109, OHHATA, HANAMAKI-SHI, IWATE 025-0303
7 YAMANAKA YUJI 5-8-109, SAIWAICHO, ATSUGI-SHI, KANAGAWA 243-0012
PCT International Classification Number G06T 1/00,A61B 1/117
PCT International Application Number PCT/JP2007/070025
PCT International Filing date 2007-10-05
PCT Conventions:
# PCT Application Number Date of Convention Priority Country
1 2006-278423 2006-10-12 Japan