Array cameras incorporating independently aligned lens stacks

摘要

Array cameras, and array camera modules incorporating independently aligned lens stacks are disclosed. Processes for manufacturing array camera modules including independently aligned lens stacks can include: forming at least one hole in at least one carrier; mounting the at least one carrier relative to at least one sensor so that light passing through the at least one hole in the at least one carrier is incident on a plurality of focal planes formed by arrays of pixels on the at least one sensor; and independently mounting a plurality of lens barrels to the at least one carrier, so that a lens stack in each lens barrel directs light through the at least one hole in the at least one carrier and focuses the light onto one of the plurality of focal planes.

主权项

1. An array camera, comprising: a processor; memory containing an image capture application; an array camera module, comprising: at least one carrier in which at least one window is formed; at least one sensor mounted relative to the at least one carrier so that light passing through the at least one window in the at least one carrier is incident on a plurality of focal planes formed by at least one array of pixels on the at least one sensor; a plurality of lens barrels mounted to the at least one carrier, so that a lens stack in each lens barrel directs light through the at least one window in the at least one carrier and focuses the light onto one of the plurality of focal planes; and a module cap mounted over the lens barrels, where the module cap includes at least one opening that admits light into the lens stacks contained within the plurality of lens barrels; wherein the image capture application directs the processor to: trigger the capture of image data by the array camera module; obtain and store image data captured by the array camera module, where the image data forms a set of images captured from different viewpoints; select a reference viewpoint relative to the viewpoints of the set of images captured from different viewpoints; normalize the set of images to increase a similarity of corresponding pixels within the set of images; determine depth estimates for pixel locations in an image from the reference viewpoint using at least a subset of the set of images, wherein generating a depth estimate for a given pixel location in the image from the reference viewpoint comprises: identifying pixels in the at least a subset of the set of images that correspond to the given pixel location in the image from the reference viewpoint based upon expected disparity at a plurality of depths; comparing the similarity of the corresponding pixels identified at each of the plurality of depths; and selecting the depth from the plurality of depths at which the identified corresponding pixels have the highest degree of similarity as a depth estimate for the given pixel location in the image from the reference viewpoint.