Stereoscopic camera, system and network

摘要

The present invention provides a new and improved stereoscopic camera, system and network of such for acquiring stereoscopic image data and, in particular, stereoscopic images of a location or points and objects within a location. Some of the benefits of these include simultaneous left/right view acquisition, a system where the display is remote from the stereoscopic camera, stereoscopic digital zoom wherein a subset of pixels is displayed, pan-tilt-zoom choice of the displayed image, interactive adjustment of images, and a network of stereoscopic cameras with a common image processing unit. The invention is capable of producing high resolution, real-time stereoscopic image data while avoiding or mitigating the deleterious effects of spurious parallax.

主权项

1. A stereoscopic camera comprising:
at least one image sensor comprising pixel cells configured to generate pixel data; at least one optical instrument comprising at least one channel comprising an optical path and at least one optical component wherein said at least one optical component is configured to illuminate at least a portion of the pixel cells of the at least one image sensor, wherein the at least one optical instrument is capable of providing a plurality of optical views corresponding to a left view and a right view of a stereoscopic image of a location; an acquisition controller configured to: generate at least one data stream corresponding to at least one pixel data for each view of the plurality of optical views from the instrument wherein at least one first data stream corresponding to the left view is simultaneously generated with at least one second data stream corresponding to the respective right view; combine the at least one first and second data streams into a third, single data stream wherein timing among the first and second data streams is known and maintained, wherein the single data stream is effective to represent the stereoscopic image of the location in real time; and transmit the single data stream.