US 6,757,109 · Granted 2004-06-29
The Plastic Lens That Gave Cars Their Wide-Angle Vision
Car cameras need to see a really wide area—like 100 degrees or more—to help with parking, collision detection, or autonomous features. This patent describes a smart way to do it using just four plastic lenses with special etched patterns, making the whole system cheap and compact enough to fit in a vehicle.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a camera lens system for vehicles made entirely from plastic materials, containing exactly four optical elements, with at least two of those elements featuring diffractive (light-bending etched) patterns on their surfaces. What's protected here is the specific arrangement of these plastic lenses, their diffractive surfaces, and the aperture stop positioned between them—all engineered to capture a field of view of 100 degrees or wider and focus it onto an imaging sensor.
Why it matters
This patent matters because it solved a real engineering problem: getting a super-wide field of view from a camera system without using expensive glass optics or too many optical elements. By using plastic and diffractive surfaces, Donnelly created a design that's cheaper to manufacture, lighter, and compact enough for vehicles. This technology became foundational for modern automotive camera systems used in backup cameras, surround-view systems, and driver-assistance features.
Real-world use
When you shift into reverse and your car's backup camera displays that wide, distortion-corrected view of everything behind you, the plastic lens system capturing that image likely uses this patented design.
Original USPTO abstract
An optical or lens system for use with an imaging system of a vehicle includes a plurality of optical elements. The optical elements include less than five optical elements and, preferably, include four optical elements. Each of the optical elements is formed of a plastic material. At least two of the optical elements include a diffractive element. Preferably, a diffractive element is formed on an outer surface of two of the optical elements. The optical system provides and focuses a field of view of a targeted area of at least approximately 100 degrees to an imaging plane. The imaging plane is at an imaging sensor or camera or other imaging device operable to receive the image from the optical system. The optical system further includes an aperture stop between two of the optical elements.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 6,757,109
- Filing date
- 2001-12-06
- Grant date
- 2004-06-29
- Assignee
- Donnelly Corporation
- Inventor(s)
- BOS BRENT J.
- CPC class
- G02B13/04
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