Optical image recording device with small height and high resolution

1. An optical image recording device comprising

a housing having a comparatively small height and at least one comparatively broad optical image information entering surface,

an optical path unit including a light guiding element, an image forming lens array and an optical image recording device including an image sensor, while in the optical path unit the light guiding element is guiding the entering optical information to the optical axis of the image forming lens array extending substantially perpendicular to the height of the housing and the optical image information is received by the image sensor through the image forming lens array, and

the optical image recording device further including electrical means coupled to the image sensor for processing and storing the image data,

characterised in that at least two different optical path units are comprised, each of which is processing and recording at least a respective part of the entering optical information, and that combining means are provided in the optical image recording device for electrically combining the signals recorded in the respective optical image recording devices;

wherein said at least two different optical path units comprise a first optical path unit and a second optical path unit, wherein

the first optical path unit comprises a first image sensor, a first image forming lens array and a first light guiding element for guiding the perspective part of the entering optical information through the first image forming lens array to the first image sensor;

the second optical path unit comprises a second image sensor, a second image forming lens array and a second light guiding element for guiding the perspective part of the entering optical information through the second image forming lens array to the second image sensor, wherein

the first image forming lens array has an optical axis substantially perpendicular to the height to the housing and

the second image forming lens array has an optical axis substantially perpendicular to the height to the housing, and wherein the first optical path unit and the second optical path unit are arranged such that the first image forming lens array and the second image forming lens array are located between the first image sensor and the second image sensor.

2. The optical image recording device according to claim 1 , characterised in that each of the optical path units comprises a two-dimensional image sensor one dimension of which is extending along the height of the housing.

3. The optical image recording device according to claim 1 , characterised in that at least a pair of optical path units being arranged anti-parallel to each other is comprised, each of which optical path unit is processing its respective image entering along respective viewing cones allocated to the corresponding light guiding element and that the combining means are provided to composite the complete image information.

4. The optical image recording device according to claim 3 , characterised in that the viewing cones of the pair of optical path units are partially overlapping.

5. The optical image recording device according to claim 1 , characterised in that an aperture is comprised between the light guiding element and the image forming lens array.

6. The optical image recording device according to claim 5 , characterised in that the aperture is a mechanical shutter.

7. The optical image recording device according to claim 1 , characterised in that an autofocus unit is comprised in each optical path unit.

8. The optical recording device according to claim 7 , characterised in that the autofocus unit comprises a manipulating means for moving the image sensor in a direction perpendicular to the height of the housing.

9. The optical image recording device according to claim 8 , characterised in that the manipulating means for moving the image sensor include an piezoelectric actuator element.

10. The optical image recording device according to claim 9 , characterised in that the piezoelectric actuator element is engaged with a mass block.

11. The optical image recording device according to claim 7 , characterised in that the autofocus unit comprised in each optical path unit comprises a further manipulating means for moving the image forming lens array or part thereof relative to the light guiding element inside the housing.

12. The optical recording device according to claim 1 , characterised in that the light guiding element is a prism.

13. The optical image recording device according to claim 12 , characterised in that in a pair of optical path units being arranged anti-parallel to each other two different prisms are comprised.

14. The optical image recording device according to claim 13 , characterised in that the two prisms are mechanically attached as one prism unit.

15. The optical image recording device according to claim 1 , characterised in that the image forming lens array includes conventional optical lenses.

16. The optical image recording device according to claim 1 , characterised in that the image sensor is a planar sensor, particularly a CCD or CMOS sensor, comprising its electrical connections at the side extending along the height of the housing.

17. The optical image recording device according to claim 1 , characterised in that it is part of a mobile phone capable of photography.

18. Combining means to be used in an optical recording device according to claim 1 , the combining means being provided to composite the complete image information from the electrical signals recorded in the respective optical image recording device.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium stored with software program code which is configured to realize composition of complete image information from electrical signals recorded in the respective optical image recording devices according to claim 1 , when being executed by a processing unit.