| US 7,612,822 B2 | ||
| Multispectral image capturing apparatus | ||
| Takeyuki Ajito, Hachioji (Japan); Toru Wada, Niiza (Japan); and Yasuhiro Komiya, Hino (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Olympus Corporation, Tokyo (Japan) | ||
| Filed on May 03, 2006, as Appl. No. 11/416,939. | ||
| Application 11/416939 is a continuation of application No. PCT/JP2004/016678, filed on Nov. 10, 2004. | ||
| Claims priority of application No. 2003-381419 (JP), filed on Nov. 11, 2003. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2006/0203100 A1, Sep. 14, 2006 | ||
| Int. Cl. H04N 9/07 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 348—336 [348/262; 348/338; 348/342; 359/629] | 5 Claims |
| 1. A multispectral image capturing apparatus, comprising:
a half mirror configured to divide light from an image capturing lens into two light paths;
a band-pass filter configured to modulate a spectral characteristic of one portion of the light divided by the half mirror;
an image capturing unit configured to receive the light modulated by the band-pass filter and capture an image of a subject;
and
a color image capturing unit configured to receive the other portion of the light divided by the half mirror as three decomposed
colors of red, blue, and green and capture a color image of the subject;
wherein the half mirror is configured to divide the light from the image capturing lens into the two light paths at an unequal
intensity ratio that is equal to or greater than two to one;
wherein the band-pass filter has a comb-like spectral shape including a plurality of transmissive wavelength bandwidths and
a plurality of non-transmissive wavelength bandwidths within a wavelength range of a visible region; and
wherein the image capturing unit configured to receive the light transmitted through the band-pass filter comprises a color
image capturing unit configured to decompose and receive light of the plurality of transmissive wavelength bandwidths transmitted
through the band-pass filter.
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