Capturing and processing of images using non-monolithic camera arrays
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A camera array, comprising:
- a plurality of cameras configured to capture images of a scene, where each camera is formed on a separate semiconductor substrate and comprises;
optics comprising at least one lens element and at least one aperture where the optics are configured so that each camera has a field of view that captures a sub-pixel shifted view of the same scene; 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;
a controller configured to control operation parameters of the plurality of cameras; and
an image processing pipeline module;
wherein the plurality of cameras comprises a plurality of different types of camera, where cameras of a given type share the same imaging characteristics and different types of cameras have different imaging characteristics including using different types of filters; and
wherein the plurality of cameras includes a central camera and the plurality of cameras forms;
at least one row of cameras above the central camera;
at least one row of cameras below the central camera;
at least one column of cameras to the left of the central camera; and
at least one column of cameras to the right of the central camera;
wherein cameras having the same imaging characteristics and filter are located in locations selected from the group consisting of;
locations including at least one row in the camera array above the central camera and at least one row in the camera array below the central camera; and
locations including at least one column in the camera array to the left of the central camera and at least one column in the camera array to the right of the central camera.
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Abstract
A camera array, an imaging device and/or a method for capturing image that employ a plurality of imagers fabricated on a substrate is provided. Each imager includes a plurality of pixels. The plurality of imagers include a first imager having a first imaging characteristics and a second imager having a second imaging characteristics. The images generated by the plurality of imagers are processed to obtain an enhanced image compared to images captured by the imagers. Each imager may be associated with an optical element fabricated using a wafer level optics (WLO) technology.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A camera array, comprising:
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a plurality of cameras configured to capture images of a scene, where each camera is formed on a separate semiconductor substrate and comprises; optics comprising at least one lens element and at least one aperture where the optics are configured so that each camera has a field of view that captures a sub-pixel shifted view of the same scene; 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; a controller configured to control operation parameters of the plurality of cameras; and an image processing pipeline module; wherein the plurality of cameras comprises a plurality of different types of camera, where cameras of a given type share the same imaging characteristics and different types of cameras have different imaging characteristics including using different types of filters; and wherein the plurality of cameras includes a central camera and the plurality of cameras forms; at least one row of cameras above the central camera; at least one row of cameras below the central camera; at least one column of cameras to the left of the central camera; and at least one column of cameras to the right of the central camera; wherein cameras having the same imaging characteristics and filter are located in locations selected from the group consisting of; locations including at least one row in the camera array above the central camera and at least one row in the camera array below the central camera; and locations including at least one column in the camera array to the left of the central camera and at least one column in the camera array to the right of the central camera. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A camera array, comprising:
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a plurality of cameras configured to capture images of a scene, where each camera is formed on a separate semiconductor substrates and comprises; optics comprising at least one lens element and at least one aperture where the optics are configured so that each camera has a field of view that captures a sub-pixel shifted view of the same scene; 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; a controller configured to control operation parameters of the plurality of cameras; an image processing pipeline module comprising a parallax confirmation and measurement module and a super-resolution processing module; wherein the plurality of cameras comprises a plurality of different types of camera, where cameras of a given type share the same imaging characteristics and different types of cameras have different imaging characteristics including using different types of filters; and wherein the plurality of cameras includes a central camera and the plurality of cameras forms; at least one row of cameras above the central camera; at least one row of cameras below the central camera; at least one column of cameras to the left of the central camera; and at least one column of cameras to the right of the central camera; wherein cameras having the same imaging characteristics and filter are located in locations selected from the group consisting of; locations including at least one row in the camera array above the central camera and at least one row in the camera array below the central camera; and locations including at least one column in the camera array to the left of the central camera and at least one column in the camera array to the right of the central camera; and wherein the parallax confirmation and measurement module is 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; wherein the parallax confirmation and measurement module is further configured to generate a depth map using images captured by the plurality of cameras; and wherein the super-resolution processing module is configured to generate at least one higher resolution super-resolved image using images captured by the plurality of cameras and parallax measurements from the parallax confirmation and measurement module to compensate for parallax in the captured images.
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14. A linear camera array, comprising:
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a plurality of cameras that form a linear array of cameras configured to capture images of a scene, where each camera is formed on a separate semiconductor substrate and comprises; optics comprising at least one lens element and at least one aperture where the optics are configured so that each camera has a field of view that captures a sub-pixel shifted view of the same scene; 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 filler is configured to pass a specific spectral band of light; and an image processing pipeline module; wherein the plurality of cameras comprises a plurality of different types of camera, where cameras of a given type share the same imaging characteristics and different types of cameras have different imaging characteristics including using different types of filters; wherein the linear array of cameras includes a central camera; and wherein cameras having the same imaging characteristics and filter are located on either side of the central camera; a controller configured to control operation parameters of the linear camera array; and an image processing pipeline module comprising a parallax confirmation and measurement module; 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 parallax confirmation and measurement module is 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 linear 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. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification