US4871242A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Soft-focus optical element
Assignee: Nikon Corp
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Filing: 1988-02-26
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Granted: 1989-10-03
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Expires: 2008-02-26
Abstract
Abstract A soft-focus optical element has a light-transmitting surface formed with a plurality of low refractive index portions each in the form of a lens-like curved surface; the size of each low refractive-index portion is within the following range; 0.05 mm</= phi </=0.5 mm (1) and 0.5 mu </=h</=3 mu (2) where the diameter of the aperture of the low refractive-index portion is represented by phi and the height or depth between the light-transmitting surface and the top of the lens-shaped curved portion of the low refractive-index portion is presented by h; and the ratio S of the area of the plurality of low refractive-index portions to the area of the light-transmitting surface is defined as follows: 5%</=S</=35% (3) The soft-focus optical element may be attached on an image-focusing lens.
Inventors
- 👤 Toshio Sousa
- 👤 Koichi Wakamiya
- 👤 Hiroshi Wakabayashi
- 👤 Hachiro Kanai
- 👤 Hidenori Miyamoto
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 05:08
CPC Classifications
G; G02; G02B; G02B3/00; G02B3/0006; G02B3/0037; G02B3/0043; G02B13/00; G02B13/20
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim
97 words
A soft-focus optical element comprising a plurality of lens-shaped portions formed on a light transmitting surface of a transparent optical element, said soft-focus optical element being designed and fabricated to satisfy the following relations: 0.05 mm≦φ≦0.5 mm 0.5μ≦h≦3μ and 5%≦S ≦35% where φ: the diameter of each of said lens-shaped portions, h: the distance between said light-transmitting surface of said transparent element and the vertex of a lens-shaped surface of each of said lens-shaped portions and S: the ratio of the total area occupied by said plurality of lens-shaped portions to the area of said light-transmitting surface.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
97 words
A soft-focus optical element comprising a plurality of lens-shaped portions formed on a light transmitting surface of a transparent optical element, said soft-focus optical element being designed and fabricated to satisfy the following relations: 0.05 mm≦φ≦0.5 mm 0.5μ≦h≦3μ and 5%≦S ≦35% where φ: the diameter of each of said lens-shaped portions, h: the distance between said light-transmitting surface of said transparent element and the vertex of a lens-shaped surface of each of said lens-shaped portions and S: the ratio of the total area occupied by said plurality of lens-shaped portions to the area of said light-transmitting surface.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
24 words
A soft-focus optical element as set forth in claim 1, wherein said plurality of lens-shaped portions are randomly distributed over said light transmitting surface.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
33 words
A soft-focus optical element as set forth in claim 1, wherein said plurality of lens-shaped portions are different in density between the central portion and the outer peripheral portion of said light-transmitting surface.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
50 words
A soft-focus optical element as set forth in claim 1, wherein each of said lens-shaped portions is a lens-shaped projection extended from said light-transmitting surface, and each projection is designed and fabricated in such a manner that φ=0.15 mm and h=0.9μ and the ratio S satisfies the following condition: 16%≦S≦24%.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
45 words
A soft-focus optical element as set forth in claim 1, wherein said lens-shaped portions are lens-shaped projections extended from said light-transmitting surface, and said lens-shaped projections are designed and fabricated to have φ=0.2 mm and h=1.8μ and the ratio S satisfies the following condition: 14%≦S≦35%.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
40 words
A soft-focus optical element as set forth in claim 1, wherein said lens-shaped portions are lens-shaped projections, and said lens-shaped projections are designed and fabricated to have φ=0.35 mm and h=1.8μ and the ratio S satisfies the following condition: 16%≦S≦30%.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
126 words
A soft-focus optical element comprising: a transparent optical element having a light-transmitting surface; and a plurality of lens-shaped portions randomly distributed on said light-transmitting surface, each of said plurality of lens-shaped portions having a lens-shaped surface and being integrated with said transparent optical element; said transparent optical element and said plurality of lens-shaped portions being designed and fabricated to satisfy the following relations: 0.05 mm≦φ≦0.5 mm 0.5μ≦h≦3μ and 5%≦S ≦35% where φ: the diameter of each of said lens-shaped portions, h: the distance between said light-transmitting surface of said transparent element and the vertex of said lens-shaped surface of each of said lens-shaped portions and S: the ratio of the total area occupied by said plurality of lens-shaped portions to the area of said light-transmitting surface.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
126 words
A soft-focus optical element comprising: a transparent optical element having a light-transmitting surface; and a plurality of lens-shaped portions randomly distributed on said light-transmitting surface, each of said plurality of lens-shaped portions having a lens-shaped surface and being integrated with said transparent optical element; said transparent optical element and said plurality of lens-shaped portions being designed and fabricated to satisfy the following relations: 0.05 mm≦φ≦0.5 mm 0.5μ≦h≦3μ and 5%≦S ≦35% where φ: the diameter of each of said lens-shaped portions, h: the distance between said light-transmitting surface of said transparent element and the vertex of said lens-shaped surface of each of said lens-shaped portions and S: the ratio of the total area occupied by said plurality of lens-shaped portions to the area of said light-transmitting surface.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
33 words
A soft-focus optical element as set forth in claim 7, wherein said plurality of lens-shaped portions are different in density between the central portion and the outer peripheral portion of said light-transmitting surface.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
20 words
A soft-focus optical element as set forth in claim 7, wherein said lens-shaped portions are projections from said light-transmitting surface.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US2959105A
Cited
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