Digital imaging system and method using multiple digital image sensors to produce large high-resolution gapless mosaic images
First Claim
1. A digital imaging system comprising:
- at least two optic modules having respective optical axes parallel to and offset from each other; and
for each of said optic modules respectively a corresponding set of at least one digital image sensor(s), each sensor spatially arranged relative to the optical axis of the corresponding optic module to image a portion of a target region that is substantially different from other portions of the target region imaged by the other sensor(s) of the system, so that all of said imaged portions together produce a seamless mosaic image of the target region.
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Abstract
A digital imaging system and method using multiple cameras arranged and aligned to create a much larger virtual image sensor array. Each camera has a lens with an optical axis aligned parallel to the optical axes of the other camera lenses, and a digital image sensor array with one or more non-contiguous pixelated sensors. The non-contiguous sensor arrays are spatially arranged relative to their respective optical axes so that each sensor images a portion of a target region that is substantially different from other portions of the target region imaged by other sensors, and preferably overlaps adjacent portions imaged by the other sensors. In this manner, the portions imaged by one set of sensors completely fill the image gaps found between other portions imaged by other sets of sensors, so that a seamless mosaic image of the target region may be produced.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A digital imaging system comprising:
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at least two optic modules having respective optical axes parallel to and offset from each other; and for each of said optic modules respectively a corresponding set of at least one digital image sensor(s), each sensor spatially arranged relative to the optical axis of the corresponding optic module to image a portion of a target region that is substantially different from other portions of the target region imaged by the other sensor(s) of the system, so that all of said imaged portions together produce a seamless mosaic image of the target region. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A digital imaging system comprising:
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at least four coplanar optic modules having respective optical axes parallel to and offset from each other; and for each of said optic modules respectively a corresponding set of at least four rectangular pixellated image sensors selected from a group consisting of visible, IR, UV, microwave, x-ray, photon, image intensified night vision, and radar imaging digital image sensors and arranged in a matrixed array having at least two rows and at least two columns, each sensor non-contiguously arranged relative to the other sensors in the respective set and coplanar with all other sensors of the system to image a portion of a target region that is substantially different from other portions of the target region simultaneously imaged by the other image sensors of the system but which partially overlaps with adjacent portions of the target region, so that all of said portions together produce a seamless mosaic image of the target region.
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10. A digital imaging system comprising:
at least two cameras, each camera comprising; a lens having an optical axis parallel to and offset from the optical axes of the other camera lens(es) so that an image circle thereof does not overlap with other image circle(s) of the other camera(s); and a digital image sensor array having at least two digital image sensors each non-contiguously arranged relative to each other to digitally capture a portion of a target region which is substantially different from other portions of the target region digitally captured by the other sensors in the system but which partially overlaps with adjacent portions of the target region so that all of said portions together optically produce a gapless mosaic image of said target region. - View Dependent Claims (11)
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12. A multi-camera alignment method for producing gapless mosaiced images comprising:
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aligning at least two optic modules coplanar to and laterally offset from each other so that respective optical axes thereof are parallel to each other; and for each of said optic modules respectively, spatially arranging on a common focal plane a corresponding set of at least one pixelated digital image sensor(s) relative to the optical axis of the corresponding optic module to image a portion of a target region that is substantially different from other portions of the target region imaged by the other sensor(s) of the system so that all of said portions together produce a seamless mosaic image of the target region. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A multi-camera alignment method for producing gapless mosaiced images comprising:
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aligning at least four optic modules coplanar to and laterally offset from each other so that respective optical axes thereof are parallel to each other; and for each of said optic modules respectively, spatially arranging a corresponding set of at least four rectangular pixellated image sensors selected from a group consisting of visible, IR, UV, microwave, x-ray, photon, image intensified night vision, and radar imaging digital image sensors in a matrixed array having at least two rows and at least two columns, so that each sensor is spaced from the other sensors in the respective set and coplanar with all other sensors of the system to image a portion of a target region that is substantially different from other portions of the target region simultaneously imaged by the other image sensors of the system but which partially overlaps with adjacent portions of the target region, so that all of said portions together produce a seamless mosaic image of the target region.
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21. A digital imaging method comprising:
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providing at least two optic modules having respective optical axes parallel to and offset from each other, and for each of said optic modules respectively a corresponding set of at least one digital image sensor(s), each sensor spatially arranged relative to the optical axis of the corresponding optic module to image a portion of a target region that is substantially different from other portions of the target region imaged by the other sensor(s) of the system so that all of the portions together image all of the target region without gaps therein; shuttering the at least two optic modules to digitally capture image data of all the portions of the target region on said sensors; and processing the digitally captured image data to mosaic all the imaged portions of the target region into a seamless mosaic image thereof.
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22. A digital imaging method comprising:
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providing at least four coplanar optic modules having respective optical axes parallel to and offset from each other, and for each of said optic modules respectively a corresponding set of at least four rectangular pixellated image sensors selected from the group consisting of visible, IR, UV, microwave, x-ray, photon, image intensified night vision, and radar imaging digital image sensors and arranged in a matrixed array having at least two rows and at least two columns, each sensor non-contiguously arranged relative to the other sensors in the respective set and coplanar with all other sensors of the system to image a portion of a target region that is substantially different from other portions of the target region simultaneously imaged by the other image sensors of the system but which partially overlaps with adjacent portions of the target region, so that all of said portions together image all of the target region without gaps; simultaneously shuttering the at least four coplanar optic modules to digitally capture image data of all the portions of the target region on said sensors; and processing the digitally captured image data to mosaic all the imaged portions of the target region into a seamless mosaic image thereof.
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Specification