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DENSO Develops Three-Dimensional Microscopic System With Dynamic Focusing Lens

11 April 2000

DENSO Develops Three-Dimensional Microscopic System With Dynamic Focusing Lens

    SOUTHFIELD, Mich., April 11 DENSO Corporation, parent
company of Southfield-based DENSO International America, Inc. has developed a
new three-dimensional microscopic system that obtains an omnifocal image by
focusing on all points of an object.
    This breakthrough was made possible by the adoption of a dynamic focusing
lens, which provides, in real time, data on the height of every point of an
object and thus a three-dimensional image.
    "This new three-dimensional microscopic system synthesizes an image with
all points focused," said Dr. Kunihiko Hara, director of DENSO Corporation's
Research Laboratories and Corporate Research & Development.  "It captures
multiple images of different focal points by moving the dynamic focusing lens
at high speed and extracting only the focused points.  DENSO's unique high-
speed image processing computation technique has made it possible to extract
only the focused points in real time."
    The dynamic focusing lens that this systems employs is structurally
similar to that of the human eye and can vary its focal distance by changing
its shape.  The mechanism that changes the lens shape is made of a
piezoelectric ceramic actuator.  Voltage applied to the actuator changes the
focal distance.
    These focal point adjustments take place very rapidly, as very little
mechanical movement is required for adjusting focal distance.
    As the voltage applied to the dynamic focusing lens enables the system to
determine the focal distance at which the focused pixel is shot, it also
indicates the distance from the lens to the object.
    The system can be applied to factory automation vision systems,
microscopes and endoscopes as it can obtain information on both omnifocal
image and distance.
    Part of the research on this system was conducted by DENSO's Research
Laboratories, as part of the "Research and Development of Micro-Machine
Technology" program, sponsored by the Science and Technology Agency of the
Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
    DENSO's research was done on a subcontract basis from the Micro-Machine
Center Foundation sponsored by the New Energy Development Organization (NEDO).
    DENSO Corporation, global supplier of advanced technology, systems and
components, employs more than 72,000 people in 26 countries with global sales
of $14.5 billion.
    In North America, DENSO employs 13,000 at 21 companies, including five
engineering centers.  North American consolidated sales totaled $3.6 billion
for 1999.  DENSO International America serves as North American headquarters.