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Method and system for digital plenoptic imaging

  • US 6,009,188 A
  • Filed: 03/20/1996
  • Issued: 12/28/1999
  • Est. Priority Date: 02/16/1996
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A method in a computer system for generating coefficients of a plenoptic function describing light rays emanating from an object, the method comprising:

  • receiving a plurality of pictures of the object, each picture having been taken at a vantage point and having a plurality of pixels, each pixel having an actual initial intensity value, a location, and a direction, the location and direction of each pixel being derived from the vantage point at which the picture is taken;

    initializing each of the coefficients based on the location and direction of the pixels of the plurality of pictures such that the initialized coefficients represent the actual initial intensity values of the pixels, each coefficient having an initial confidence level indicating confidence that the initialization sets the coefficient to its final value;

    for each of a plurality of levels of resolution of the coefficients,for each of a plurality of coefficients at the level of resolution,combining coefficients at the next higher level of resolution based on the confidence level of the combined coefficients to generate an averaged coefficient and confidence level for the level of resolution, the averaged coefficient representing an average of the actual initial pixel intensity values represented by the combined coefficients at the next higher level of resolution; and

    for each of the plurality of levels of resolution of the coefficients,for each of a plurality of coefficients at the level of resolution,distributing the averaged coefficients and confidence levels to the coefficients and confidence levels at the next lower level of resolution based on the confidence levels at the level of resolution and the next lower level of resolution so that the representation of the actual initial pixel intensity values of the coefficients at the next lower level of resolution is adjusted.

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