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Systems and methods for parallax measurement using camera arrays incorporating 3 x 3 camera configurations

  • US 8,896,719 B1
  • Filed: 07/30/2014
  • Issued: 11/25/2014
  • Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2008
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A camera array, comprising:

  • a plurality of cameras configured to capture images of a scene, where 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; and

    at least one spectral filter located within the camera, where each spectral filter is configured to pass a specific spectral band of light; and

    a controller configured to control operation parameters of the plurality of cameras;

    an image processing pipeline module;

    wherein one of the plurality of cameras is a central camera and the plurality of cameras forms a two dimensional array of cameras incorporating at least a 3×

    3 configuration of cameras comprising;

    a camera having a green filter at the center of a 3×

    3 configuration of cameras;

    two cameras having red filters located on opposite sides of the 3×

    3 configuration of cameras;

    two cameras having blue filters located on opposite sides of the 3×

    3 configuration of cameras; and

    four cameras having green filters surrounding the central camera having a green filter; and

    wherein images captured by the plurality of cameras include different occlusions sets, where the occlusion set of a first camera is the portion of a scene visible to a second camera in the plurality of cameras that is occluded from the view of the first camera; and

    wherein the image processing pipeline module comprises a parallax confirmation and measurement module configured to measure parallax using images captured by the plurality of cameras by;

    detecting parallax-induced changes that are consistent across all of the cameras in the two dimensional array of cameras taking into account the position of the cameras; and

    ignoring pixels in the images captured by the plurality of cameras that are in the occlusion set of the central camera.

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