Apple's patents Lytro-like refocusable camera

Apple has won a patent for a camera system that uses a microlens adaptor which helps in letting a user refocus on an image after the initial shot has been taken. The system is very similar to the one we’ve come to see with Lytro light-field cameras.

Apple Insider reports that the patent had been filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office back in 2011 and has finally been granted to Apple. Patent number 8,593,564 is for a “Digital camera including refocusable imaging mode adaptor,” and talks about a method using which a user will first be allowed to click images at a certain resolution, allowing them to refocus within the image later. What needs to be noted here also is that the patent includes possibility of such a system within portable devices like the iPhone.

Apple goes the Lytro way

The camera described can take two types of images – low resolution ones that can be refocused later and high-res ones that cannot be refocused again. The camera will include an adaptor with a “microlens array” that will fit snugly between the camera’s lens and its sensor when a refocusable image is clicked. While clicking a normal image with a higher resolution, this array will shrink away.

Lytro cameras that allow you to refocus on images later as well make use of this array in the form of an integrated component while Apple’s camera uses it as merely an adaptor and therein lies the difference. Apple’s patent cites the Lytro as “prior art” but also says improvements can be made with regards to picture quality and resolution.

The patent notes that in some embodiments, Apple’s camera displays smartphone like features of connecting to a wireless network and making phone calls while another part shows it to be an add-on accessory for an existing camera. Apple may even be looking at adding this camera to a future version of the iPhone but this is all speculation currently. It would, however, be a boon for iPhone users to have such a feature within their phones.