Camera and method for composing multi-perspective images

• US 20040046885A1
• Filed: 09/05/2002
• Published: 03/11/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Monument Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
• Inventors: Parulski, Kenneth A., Regan, Michael T.
• Granted Patent: US 7,466,336 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/333.11
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 35/06 with axial movement of lens or gate between exposures
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/221 using the relative movement between cameras and objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/282 for generating image signals corresponding to three or more geometrical viewpoints, e.g. multi-view systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/286 having separate monoscopic and stereoscopic modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/305 using lenticular lenses, e.g. arrangements of cylindrical lenses
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/344 with head-mounted left-right displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/349 Multi-view displays for displaying three or more geometrical viewpoints without viewer tracking for viewing without the aid of special glasses using fly-eye lenses H04N13/307
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/351 for displaying simultaneously
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/63 by using electronic viewfinders

Abstract

A camera that is adapted to present a preview image is provided. The camera has a trigger adapted to generate a trigger pulse and an image capture system for capturing images of a scene. A viewer is adapted to present one image to a first viewing area and another image to a second viewing area. A controller is adapted to receive a first trigger pulse and to cause the image capture system to capture a first image of the scene in response to the first trigger pulse. The controller is also adapted to receive a second trigger pulse and to cause the image capture system to capture a second image of the scene in response to the second trigger pulse and to cause the viewer to simultaneously present the first image to the first viewing area and to present the second image to the second viewing area. An observer positioned with a first eye in the first viewing area and a second eye in the second viewing area can detect parallax differences between the first image and the second image.

Claims

1. A camera adapted to present a preview image, the camera comprising:

a trigger adapted to generate a trigger pulse;

an image capture system for capturing images of a scene;

a viewer adapted to present one image to a first viewing area and another image to a second viewing area; and

a controller adapted to receive a first trigger pulse and to cause the image capture system to capture a first image of the scene in response to the first trigger pulse, the controller also being adapted to receive a second trigger pulse and to cause the image capture system to capture a second image of the scene in response to the second trigger pulse and to cause the viewer to simultaneously present the first image to the first viewing area and to present the second image to the second viewing area whereby an observer positioned with a first eye in the first viewing area and a second eye in the second viewing area can detect parallax differences between the first image and the second image.

2. The camera of claim 1, wherein the viewer comprises a pair of optical systems the first optical system adapted to present one image to the first viewing area and a second optical system adapted to present another image to the second viewing area.

3. The camera of claim 2 wherein each optical system comprises a separate display.

4. The camera of claim 1, wherein said viewer comprises a display and said controller generates a preview image for presentation on the display, said preview image adapted so that an image based upon the first image is formed for presentation on first portions of the display and an image based upon of the second image is formed for presentation on second portions of the display.

5. The camera of claim 4, wherein the viewer further comprises an array of micro-lenses positioned between the display and the viewing areas with the array adapted to direct light from the first portions of the display to the first viewing area and to direct light from the second portions of the display to the second viewing area.

6. The camera of claim 4, wherein the viewer further comprises optical barrier between the display and the viewing areas with the barrier adapted to substantially prevent light from the first portion of the display from entering the second viewing area and further adapted to substantially prevent light from the second portion of the display from entering the first viewing area.

7. The camera of claim 1, wherein the controller is further adapted to receive a plurality of additional trigger pulses and to capture an image in response to each additional trigger pulse.

8. The camera of claim 7, wherein the viewer is adapted to detect a viewing angle and to present two of the captured images based on the viewing angle.

9. The camera of claim 1, wherein the camera further comprising a memory for storing at least one of the captured images and any preview images and the camera stores the captured images in the memory.

10. The camera of claim 1, wherein the camera further comprises a zoom lens which is positioned in response to a zoom lens control, and the zoom lens position is locked after the first trigger pulse is received, so that the first image and the second image are captured using the same zoom lens position.

11. The camera of claim 1, wherein the camera further comprises an adjustable focus lens which is positioned in response to an autofocus operation, and the lens focus position is locked after the first trigger pulse is received, so that the first image and the second image are captured using the same lens focus position.

12. The camera of claim 1 further comprising a second image capture system adapted to record an archival image, with said controller causing the second image capture system to record archival images representing the captured images of the scene.

13. A camera adapted to present a preview image, the camera comprising:

a trigger adapted to generate a trigger pulse;

an image capture system for capturing images;

a viewer adapted to present a first captured image to a first viewing area and to present other captured images to a second viewing area; and

, a controller adapted to receive a first trigger pulse and to cause the image capture system to capture a first image in response thereto with the controller further being adapted to cause the image capture system to capture a stream of images and the viewer to present the stream of images to the second viewing area while simultaneously presenting the first image to the first viewing area, with the controller also being adapted to receive a second trigger pulse and, in response thereto to select one of the stream of images as a second image, whereby an observer can position one eye in the first viewing area and another eye in the second viewing area to observe parallax differences between first image and the stream of images when selecting the second image.

14. The camera of claim 13, wherein further comprising a memory, wherein the controller stores the selected images in the memory.

15. The camera of claim 13, wherein said viewer comprises a pair of displays each adapted to separately confront one of the first and second viewing areas.

16. The camera of claim 13, wherein said viewer comprises a display and said controller generates a preview image for presentation on the display, said preview image being adapted so that an image based upon the first image is formed for presentation on a first portion of the display and an image based upon of the second image is formed for presentation on a second portion of the display.

17. The camera of claim 16, wherein the viewer comprises a display adapted to present a preview image and an array of micro-lenses positioned between the display and the viewing areas with the array adapted to direct light from the first portion of the display the first viewing area and to direct light from the second portion of the display to the second viewing area.

18. The camera of claim 16, wherein the viewer further comprises an optical barrier between the display and the viewing areas with the barrier adapted to substantially prevent light from the first portion of the display from entering the second viewing area and further adapted to substantially prevent light from the second portion of the display from entering the first viewing area.

19. The camera of claim 13, wherein after the second image is selected, the second image is displayed in the first viewing area and the stream of images is presented the second viewing area and wherein said controller is further adapted to receive at least one additional trigger pulse and to select at least one additional image from the stream of images in response thereto.

20. The camera of claim 19, wherein the controller is further adapted to generate a preview image for presentation on the display with the preview image adapted to contain image information representing each of the selected images and wherein the viewer comprises a display for presenting the preview image and an array of micro-lenses to direct light from the display so that the first image is presented only to the first viewing area while the second image is presented only to the second viewing area.

21. The camera of claim 13, wherein the controller is adapted to receive a plurality of trigger pulses and to select an image from the stream of images in response to each trigger pulse.

22. The camera of claim 21, wherein the controller causes the display to present an image of the last selected image to one viewing area while presenting a stream of preview images to another viewing area.

23. The camera of claim 22 wherein the controller selects viewing area to present the last selected image based upon a detected change in the perspective between the last selected image and the stream of images captured after the last selected image.

24. The camera of claim 23 further comprising a second image capture system adapted to record an archival image, with said controller causing the second image capture system to record an archival image representing each selected image of the scene.

25. The camera of claim 13, wherein the camera further comprises a zoom lens which is positioned in response to a zoom lens control, and the zoom lens position is locked after the first trigger pulse is received, so that the first image and the second image are captured using the same zoom lens position.

26. The camera of claim 13, wherein the camera further comprises an adjustable focus lens which is positioned in response to an autofocus operation, and the lens focus position is locked after the first trigger pulse is received, so that the first image and the second image are captured using the same lens focus position.

27. An imaging method for rendering a preview image, the method comprising the steps of:

capturing a first image of a scene;

presenting the first image to a first viewing area while presenting a stream of images to a second viewing area whereby an observer can detect parallax differences between the first image and the stream of images. and selecting a second image from the stream of images.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of presenting the first image to a first viewing area while presenting a stream of images to a second viewing area comprises using the first image to modulate light and directing the light modulated by the first image to the first viewing area, and using the stream of images to modulate light and directing the light modulated by the stream of images to the second viewing area.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of presenting the first image to a first viewing area comprises displaying the image and substantially preventing light from the displayed image from entering the second viewing area, and the step of presenting the stream of images to a second viewing area comprises displaying the stream of images and substantially preventing light from the displayed image from entering the first viewing area.

30. The method of claim 27, further comprising the step of selecting a second image from the stream of images.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising the steps of providing source of light modulated by a first one of the selected images and directing the light modulated by the first one of the selected images to a first viewing area, and providing a source of light modulated by a second one of the selected images and directing the light modulated by the one of the selected images to a second viewing area.

32. The method of claim 27, further comprising the step of storing the first image and the second image in at least one digital image file.

33. The method of claim 27, further comprising the step of forming a difference image using the first image and the second image and storing the difference image and at least one of the first image and the second image in at least one digital image file.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein the at least one digital image file is a single image file.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the single image file is a JPEG image file.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the difference image is stored using at least one application segment in the JPEG image file.

37. The method of claim 27 further comprising the step of selecting an additional image.

38. The method of claim 27 further comprising presenting the second image to the first viewing area and presenting the additional image t the second viewing area.

39. The method of claim 27 further comprising the step of rendering a multi-perspective image.

40. The method of claim 27 further comprising the step of storing metadata in association with the selected images indicating that the selected images are to be incorporated into a multi-perspective image.

41. The method of claim 40 further comprising the step of rendering a multi-perspective image.

42. The method of claim 30 further comprising the step of capturing an archival image of each selected image on photographic film.