Systems and methods for generating depth maps using light focused on an image sensor by a lens element array

摘要

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.

主权项

1. A camera array, comprising:
a plurality of imagers configured to capture images of a scene, where the plurality of imagers are formed by:
an image sensor;a lens element array forming the optics of each of the plurality of imagers, where the optics of each imager comprises at least one lens element and at least one aperture and focuses light onto the image sensor; and a controller configured to control operation parameters of the plurality of imagers; and an image processing pipeline module comprising an address conversion module and a parallax confirmation and measurement module; wherein the address conversion module is configured to normalize a set of images captured by the plurality of imagers using calibration data stored in a storage device; wherein the parallax confirmation and measurement module is configured to measure parallax using images captured by the plurality of imagers and generate a depth map using the measured parallax by:
determining a parallax that yields the highest correlation between pixels from the set of images captured by the plurality of imagers accounting for the positions of the imagers that captured the images by:
performing redundant pair-wise measurements between pixels from different images in the set of images to determine pixel correlation for different parallax-induced shifts;keeping track of various pair-wise measurements and calculating a parallax difference that yields the highest pixel correlation ignoring pixels in the images that are in an exposed occlusion set; andgenerating a depth map using the parallax confirmation and measurement module based upon the measured parallax.