IMAGING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING RANGE FROM FOCUS AND FOCUS INFORMATION

摘要

A camera having an image plane (AC) which is adjustable with respect to the optical axis (OA) is used to determine range information from focus. This imaging geometry eliminates the usual focusing need of image plane movement by replacing the two standard mechanical actions of focusing and panning by panning alone. Range estimation or generation of a focused image of a scene can therefore be performed substantially at the speed of panning.