Acquisition of 3-D scenes with a single hand held camera

Details Acquisition of 3-D scenes with a single hand held camera Acquisition of 3-D scenes with a single hand held camera

2000-06-12

2003-11-04

Mehta, Bhavesh M. (Department: 2625)

Image analysis

Applications

3-d or stereo imaging analysis

C382S285000, C348S042000, C348S049000, C356S012000, C250S559230, C250S559310

Reexamination Certificate

active

06643396

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to the field of cameras. More particularly, the invention pertains to hand-held cameras and the acquisition of three-dimensional scenes.
2. Description of Related Art
Stereographic photography is the method of producing images which are apparently three-dimensional by recording separate left- and right-eye images. The viewer reconstructs the 3-D image by viewing the two separate 2-D images simultaneously. Stereographic photography has been known since at least the late 19th century, when stereo viewers were a popular parlor accessory.
Such stereo views have historically been created with two lenses on a single camera, spaced apart by approximately the inter-ocular distance of a human head. The Stereo Realist™ series of 35 mm still cameras, popular in the 1950's, are an example of this kind of imaging. Left and right views were recorded simultaneously through two lens/shutter sets on alternate frames of the 35 mm film. The later Nimslo™ system used four lenses for essentially the same approach.
Stereo movies appeared in the 1950's. The images were typically created either using two synchronized cameras, or a two-lens system on a single camera. Similarly, the various Stereo TV systems have typically used two cameras (see Lipton, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,117) or a single camera with two lenses (Lipton, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,226).
In the area of 3-D scene acquisition by stereo equipment, two signal processing tasks are involved: calibration of the camera pair [1] and estimation of corresponding pixels in the image pair [5].
In the area of camera calibration, there are two different techniques: fixed and self-calibration. In fixed calibration, all camera parameters are extracted off line by placing a special object with known geometry in front of the cameras and processing of the camera images [1, 2]. This method provides very accurate and complete results (all parameters are obtainable). Additionally, calibration reduces correspondence estimation from a 2-D search problem to a more efficient and reliable 1-D search [5].
However, fixed calibration suffers from a number of disadvantages. A special calibration object and user interaction is required. Each time the camera parameters change, e.g. due to zooming or change of convergence angle, the calibration has to be repeated.
Self-calibration circumvents these disadvantages. In this method, the correspondences are estimated first, in an image pair of the scene. After this, the camera parameters are extracted from the found correspondence field [4]. The price to be paid is two-fold. First, correspondence estimation is a more demanding task since no reduction from a 2-D to a 1-D search can be applied. Secondly, in self-calibration methods with normal stereo camera pairs, there is no reference to the standard SI meter. Thus the scale of the 3-D models is not obtainable by the prior art methods [3].
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The acquisition of 3-D scenes by a single hand-held camera is disclosed. The camera is preferably mounted on a lens attachment with four mirrors, enabling stereo capturing of the scene. The signal processing tasks involved, camera calibration and correspondence estimation, are each disclosed. Both fixed and self-calibration methods benefit from the use of the lens attachment to acquire a scene. Specifically, full self-calibration of the camera is enabled, without loss of absolute scale as seen in prior art stereo self-calibration methods. Accurate 3-D models are obtained with the method of the invention.


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