Compound Camera Depth Plane Pixel Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional compound cameras face challenges in achieving accurate 3D geometry reconstruction, especially on surfaces lacking color texture, and require densely placed cameras, leading to increased complexity and cost due to high data processing demands.
Innovation Solution
A compound camera system with multiple component cameras and a data processor that generates enhanced virtual images by selecting pixels with the least amount of blur or color variance across multiple depth planes, allowing for improved auto-focus, high-resolution, and depth-of-field functions without complex mechanical components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If densely placed cameras are used to deal with blur in light field approach, then image quality is improved, but system complexity and cost increase due to large data processing demands
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the scene into multiple depth planes and processes images from component cameras according to their respective depth ranges. By segmenting the depth space and assigning different component camera images to different depth planes, the system achieves effective blur handling without requiring densely placed cameras, thus reducing system complexity while maintaining image quality.
2Loss of information
If structure-from-motion approach is used for 3D geometry reconstruction, then depth information is obtained, but accuracy deteriorates on surfaces lacking color texture
Solution Approach 1:
The invention introduces depth planes as an intermediary structure between the component cameras and the synthesized image. Instead of relying solely on structure-from-motion algorithms that struggle with textureless surfaces, the system uses depth planes to organize and process image data from multiple cameras, enabling accurate 3D geometry reconstruction even on surfaces lacking color texture by leveraging the geometric relationships across multiple views.
3Productivity
If conventional compound camera systems are used, then image processing is achieved, but computational complexity increases due to processing large amounts of data from multiple cameras
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the image processing task by dividing the scene into multiple depth planes and processing images from component cameras according to their respective depth ranges. This segmentation allows the system to process data in a structured manner, reducing computational complexity by avoiding the need to process all data from all cameras simultaneously for the entire scene, while still maintaining comprehensive image processing capability.
Data Source
AI summary
A compound camera system for generating an enhanced virtual image having a large depth-of-field. The compound camera system comprises a plurality of component cameras for generating image data of an object and a data processor for generating the enhanced virtual image from the image data. The data processor generates the enhanced virtual image by generating a first component virtual image at a first depth plane, generating a second component virtual image at a second depth plane, and inserting first selected pixels from the first component virtual image into enhanced the virtual image and inserting second selected pixels from the second component virtual image into the enhanced virtual image.