Capturing and processing of images including occlusions focused on an image sensor by a lens stack array

• US 10,694,114 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2019
• Issued: 06/23/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: FotoNation Limited (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: FotoNation Limited (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Venkataraman, Kartik, Jabbi, Amandeep S., Mullis, Robert H., Duparre, Jacques, Hu, Shane Ching-Feng
• Primary Examiner(s): Lam, Hung H
• Application Number:
  US16/529,522
• Publication Number:
  US 20190356863A1
• Time in Patent Office: 327 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 13/0015 characterised by the lens design
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 3/0056 arranged along two different directions in a plane, e.g. honeycomb arrangement of lenses G02B3/0043 takes precedence; miniaturised objectives for electronic devices employing wafer level optics G02B13/0085
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 3/0062 Stacked lens arrays, i.e. refractive surfaces arranged in at least two planes, without structurally separate optical elements in-between
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/20 Filters polarising elements G02B5/30
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/201 in the form of arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/20 Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/04 involving 3D image data
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10028 Range image; Depth image; 3D point clouds
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10052 Images from lightfield camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20221 Image fusion; Image merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/50 Depth or shape recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/557 from light fields, e.g. from plenoptic cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/128 Adjusting depth or disparity
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/239 using two 2D image sensors having a relative position equal to or related to the interocular distance H04N13/243 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/257 Colour aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2013/0081 Depth or disparity estimation from stereoscopic image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/11 for generating image signals from visible and infrared light wavelengths
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/13 with multiple sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/16 Optical arrangements associated therewith, e.g. for beam-splitting or for colour correction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/45 : for generating image signals from two or more image sensors being of different type or operating in different modes, e.g. with a CMOS sensor for moving images in combination with a charge-coupled device [CCD] for still images
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/54 : Mounting of pick-up tubes, electronic image sensors, deviation or focusing coils
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/55 : Optical parts specially adapted for electronic image sensors; Mounting thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/60 : Control of cameras or camera modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/69 : Control of means for changing angle of the field of view, e.g. optical zoom objectives or electronic zooming
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 : for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/88 : for colour balance, e.g. white-balance circuits or colour temperature control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/90 : Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/951 : by using two or more images to influence resolution, frame rate or aspect ratio
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/131 : including elements passing infrared wavelengths
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/133 : including elements passing panchromatic light, e.g. filters passing white light
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/135 : based on four or more different wavelength filter elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/41 : Extracting pixel data from a plurality of image sensors simultaneously picking up an image, e.g. for increasing the field of view by combining the outputs of a plurality of sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/48 : Increasing resolution by shifting the sensor relative to the scene
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/581 : acquired simultaneously
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/60 : Noise processing, e.g. detecting, correcting, reducing or removing noise
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/67 : applied to fixed-pattern noise, e.g. non-uniformity of response
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/705 : Pixels for depth measurement, e.g. RGBZ
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/79 : Arrangements of circuitry being divided between different or multiple substrates, chips or circuit boards, e.g. stacked image sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/262 : Studio circuits, e.g. for mixing, switching-over, change of character of image, other special effects ; Cameras specially adapted for the electronic generation of special effects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/265 : Mixing

Abstract

Systems and methods for implementing array cameras configured to perform super-resolution processing to generate higher resolution super-resolved images using a plurality of captured images and lens stack arrays that can be utilized in array cameras are disclosed. An imaging device in accordance with one embodiment of the invention includes at least one imager array, and each imager in the array comprises a plurality of light sensing elements and a lens stack including at least one lens surface, where the lens stack is configured to form an image on the light sensing elements, control circuitry configured to capture images formed on the light sensing elements of each of the imagers, and a super-resolution processing module configured to generate at least one higher resolution super-resolved image using a plurality of the captured images.

Claims

1. A camera array, comprising:

a plurality of cameras configured to capture a plurality of images of a scene;

control circuitry configured to control the plurality of cameras;

an image processor configured to process at least a subset of images captured by the plurality of cameras;

wherein the plurality of cameras comprises at least three cameras, wherein a first camera is equipped with a lens at a first zoom level providing a widest-angle view, a second camera is equipped with a lens at a second zoom level, and a third camera is equipped with a telephoto lens at a third zoom level providing a greatest magnification view to provide at least three distinct zoom magnifications;

wherein cameras in the plurality of cameras are configured to operate with at least one difference in operating parameters;

wherein the image processor is configured to generate at least one higher resolution super-resolved image using a plurality of the captured images;

wherein the image processor is configured to;

measure parallax within the processed images by detecting parallax-induced changes taking into account the position of the cameras that captured the images;

generate a depth map using the measured parallax;

synthesize images having different levels of zoom; and

synthesize an image at a zoom level between the zoom level of the first camera and the zoom level of the third camera using the images captured by the plurality of cameras and the depth map; and

wherein the second camera provides a zoom level between the widest-angle view and the greatest magnification view.

2. The camera array of claim 1, further comprising:

a display;

wherein the image processor is configured to synthesize images that smoothly transition from one zoom level to another zoom level when displayed.

3. The camera array of claim 2, wherein the transition is from the first zoom level corresponding to the widest-angle view to the third zoom level corresponding to the greatest-magnification view.

4. The camera array of claim 1, wherein the image processor is configured to synthesize an image using the images captured by the plurality of cameras and the depth map by mapping pixels from the images captured by the plurality of cameras onto an output image with a size and resolution corresponding to a specific amount of zoom.

5. The camera array of claim 1, wherein the image processor is configured to select at least one distance as an “

in best focus”

distance and blur an image produced by the camera array based upon estimated distance information.

6. The camera array of claim 1, wherein the image processor is further configured to perform zooming by discarding pixels at the periphery of an image and increasing the sampling of the pixels nearest the center of the image.

7. The camera array of claim 1, wherein the image processor is configured to synthesize images having different levels of zoom by smoothly interpolating pixel information in lower resolution regions of images captured by the first camera providing the widest-angle view across a larger number of pixels in the synthesized image.

8. The camera array of claim 1, wherein the image processor is configured to measure parallax for pixels within the processed images by calculating a parallax difference that yields the highest pixel correlation.

9. The camera array of claim 8, wherein the parallax difference that yields the highest pixel correlation is determined by keeping track of various pair-wise measurements.

10. The camera array of claim 1, wherein the measured parallax is measured with sub-pixel precision.

11. The camera array of claim 1, wherein the image processor is configured to computationally correct color differences between the captured images.

12. The camera array of claim 1, wherein each camera comprises:

optics comprising at least one lens element and at least one aperture; and

a sensor comprising a two dimensional array of pixels and control circuitry for controlling imaging parameters.

13. The camera array of claim 1, wherein the plurality of cameras comprises at least three cameras having different imaging characteristics including different resolutions.

14. The camera array of claim 1, wherein the plurality of cameras comprises an array of camera arrays.

15. The camera array of claim 1, wherein the cameras having different imaging characteristics are configured to operate with at least one difference in operating parameters selected from the group consisting of exposure time, gain, and black level offset.

16. The camera array of claim 1, wherein the camera array is a monolithic camera array assembly comprising:

a lens element array forming the optics of each camera; and

a single semiconductor substrate on which pixels and control circuitry for each camera are formed.

17. The camera array of claim 1, wherein at least one camera from the plurality of cameras having a higher magnification lens is configured with the same center of view as at least one camera from the plurality of cameras having a lower magnification lens such that a center area of the image synthesized by the image processor has a higher resolution than an outer area.

18. The camera array of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of cameras includes a spectral filter configured to pass a specific spectral band of light selected from the group consisting of a Bayer filter, one or more Blue filters, one or more Green filters, one or more Red filters, one or more shifted spectral filters, one or more near-IR filters, and one or more hyper-spectral filters.

19. The camera array of claim 1, wherein the plurality of cameras are formed on separate semiconductor substrates.