Stereoscopic image capturing apparatus and stereoscopic image capturing system

• US 20100073463A1
• Filed: 08/04/2009
• Published: 03/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Iwanaka, Yuki, Momonoi, Yoshiharu
• Granted Patent: US 8,416,284 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/47
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/27 involving lenticular arrays
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/139 Format conversion, e.g. of frame-rate or size
• 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 13/31 using parallax barriers

Abstract

A stereoscopic image capturing apparatus includes a first image acquisition unit including a first image formation lens unit forming an image of an object, and a first image sensor having a plurality of capturing pixels to receive the image formed by the first formation lens unit, and a second image acquisition unit including a second image formation lens unit forming a image of the object, a first lens array unit having a plurality of lenses to receive the image formed by the second image formation lens, and a second image sensor having a plurality of capturing pixels to receive the formed image through the first lens array unit. The second image acquisition unit is disposed at a distance in a horizontal direction from the first image acquisition unit when viewed from the object.

Claims

1. A stereoscopic image capturing apparatus comprising:

a first image acquisition unit including a first image formation lens unit which forms a image of an object, and a first image sensor having a plurality of capturing pixels on a surface thereof to receive the image formed by the first image acquisition unit and convert the image to an electric signal; and

a second image acquisition unit including a second image formation lens unit which forms an image of the object, a first lens array unit having a plurality of lenses arranged in an array form to receive the image formed by the second image formation lens, and a second image sensor having a plurality of capturing pixels on a surface thereof to receive the formed image through the first lens array unit and convert the image to an electric signal, the second image acquisition unit being disposed at a distance in a horizontal direction from the first image acquisition unit when viewed from the object.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a first straight line coupling a center of the first image formation lens unit to a center of the first image sensor and a second straight line coupling a center of the second image formation lens unit to a center of the second image sensor are respectively perpendicular to the surface of the first image sensor.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a first straight line coupling a center of the first image formation lens unit to a center of the first image sensor and a second straight line coupling a center of the second image formation lens unit to a center of the second image sensor are respectively inclined with respect to the surface of the first image sensor.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the surface of the first image sensor is inclined to the surface of the second image sensor.

5. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the surface of the first image sensor is parallel to the surface of the second image sensor.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a distance between a center of the first image sensor and a center of the second image sensor is greater than a distance between a center of the first image formation lens unit and a center of the second image formation lens unit.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the first lens array unit includes a plurality of cylindrical lenses, and

ridgelines respectively of the cylindrical lenses are disposed in a vertical direction when viewed from the object.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first lens array unit includes a plurality of microlenses arranged in an array form.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a lens pitch of the first lens array unit is an integer times a pitch of pixels in the second image sensor.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

optical characteristics of the first image formation lens unit are equal to optical characteristics of the second image formation lens unit, and

a capturing view angle of the first image sensor is equal to a capturing view angle of the second image sensor.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a third image acquisition unit including a third image formation lens unit which forms a image of the object, a second lens array unit having a plurality of cylindrical lenses arranged in an array form to receive the image formed by the third image formation lens, and a third image sensor having a plurality of capturing pixels on a surface thereof to receive the formed image through the second lens array unit and convert the image to an electric signal,

wherein

the third image acquisition unit is disposed in a vertical direction with respect to the first image acquisition unit when viewed from the object, and

ridgelines respectively of the cylindrical lenses are arranged in a horizontal direction when viewed from the object.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a third image acquisition unit including a third image formation lens unit which forms an image of the object, and a third image sensor having a plurality of capturing pixels on a surface thereof to receive the image formed by the third image formation lens unit and convert the image to an electric signal,

wherein

the third image acquisition unit is disposed in a vertical direction with respect to the first image acquisition unit when viewed from the object.

13. A stereoscopic image capturing system comprising:

a stereoscopic image capturing apparatus according to claim 1; and

a parallax vector generation processing unit which performs parallax vector generation processing on the basis of images of the object acquired by the first image acquisition unit and the second image acquisition unit,

the parallax vector generation processing unit comprising;

a parallax vector extraction unit which extracts a parallax vector on the basis of the image acquired by the second image acquisition unit;

an associated point search unit which searches for an associated point of an image acquired by the first image acquisition unit and a parallax vector extracted by the parallax vector extraction unit; and

a parallax vector interpolation unit which interpolates a resolution of the parallax vector by using the associated point searched for by the associated point search unit and the image acquired by the first image acquisition unit.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the parallax vector generation processing unit comprises:

a first parallax vector presumption unit which presumes and assigns a parallax vector located near a pixel for which an associated point in the image has not been obtained by the associated point search unit, as a parallax vector;

a contradiction decision unit which makes a decision whether there is a contradiction between the parallax vector extracted by the parallax vector extraction unit and the parallax vector presumed by the first parallax vector presumption unit; and

a second parallax vector presumption unit responsive to the contradiction to presume a non-contradictory parallax vector having a greater depth value and assign the presumed parallax vector to the pixel.

15. The system according to claim 13, further comprising a light ray space conversion unit which converts image information of pixels in the first and second image sensors associated with respective locations and angles to a data disposed in a light ray space, by using an imaging plane of a supposed viewing distance as a reference plane.

16. The system according to claim 13, further comprising a multiple visual point image generation unit which generates a multiple visual point image formed of a given number of visual points and a given number of pixels by using the parallax vector generated by the parallax vector generation processing unit.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the multiple visual point image generation unit generates a multiple visual point image by writing in a pixel of a parallax vector on a back side and overwriting pixels on a front side.

18. The system according to claim 16, wherein the multiple visual point image generation unit searches pixels of the multiple visual point for a blank pixel on the basis of the parallax vector generated by the parallax vector generation processing unit, and fills up the blank pixel with a pixel value of a parallax vector having a greatest depth value located near the blank pixel.

19. The system according to claim 16, wherein the multipoint view image generation unit expands a parallax vector having a greater depth value, in proportion to the depth value.

20. The system according to claim 13, further comprising:

a stereoscopic image conversion unit which converts a multiple visual point image generated by the multiple visual point image generation unit to stereoscopic image data required for stereoscopic display; and

a stereoscopic display unit which displays the stereoscopic image data.