Television – Stereoscopic
Patent
1998-03-26
2000-06-06
Rao, Andy
Television
Stereoscopic
250213, 250367, 250368, 369106, 369121, 128664, 128665, H04N 1300
Patent
active
060725230
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to the art of imaging and more particularly to a system and method of three-dimensional imaging.
BACKGROUND ART
Three-dimensional imaging is a widely used technique for any applications in everyday life. The systems and methods that are used so far, however, either request many input samples and computer reconstruction of the image such as in Computerized Tomography or in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, or many independent probes together with sophisticated and expensive electronics such as in particle-radiation detectors.
Artificial vision is very important in robotics and automatic control. The problematic issue in the known techniques is that the pictures which are seen by the robot are only two-dimensional, making the handling of volume object and position determination difficult. Hence, most of the research and development on artificial vision is focused on how to reconstruct the 3-D picture by pattern recognition and similar methods which are problematic and slow.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a broad object of the present invention to overcome the above, and other disadvantages of the known three-dimensional imaging devices and to provide a simple and fast three-dimensional imaging system based on known technology.
According to the present invention there is provided a three-dimensional imaging system, comprising a first camera and a second camera, both facing a field of view of two-dimensional images and a normally open, fast gating device interposed between said second camera and said field of view, a frame grabber connected to said first and said second camera, and a computer for receiving signals representing, pixel by pixel, light intensities of an image during a predetermined period of time and signals representing same pixel by pixel of light intensities arriving at said second camera until said fast gating device is closed, and for determining three-dimensional imaging signals therefrom to eventually be displayed.
The invention further provides a method for producing three-dimensional imaging, comprising receiving, by a first camera, signals representing, pixel by pixel, light intensities of two-dimensional images displayed on an electroluminescent screen of a known decay time, receiving said signals representing, pixel by pixel, light intensities of two-dimensional images displayed on said screen by a second camera facing said screen through a fast gating device, closing said gating device and noting the gating time, and determining, pixel by pixel, signals representing a three-dimensional image by dividing signals representing light intensities of said first camera, by signals representing light intensities of said second camera until the closing of said gating device, in consideration of said decay time and gating time.
The invention also provides a method for producing three-dimensional imaging, comprising receiving, by a first camera, signals representing, pixel by pixel, light intensities of two-dimensional images constituted by an incoming or reflected radiation emanating from a pulsed light source of a known time dependency, receiving through a fast gating device by a second camera, said signals representing, pixel by pixel, light intensities of two-dimensional images constituted by an incoming or reflecting radiation emanating from a pulsed light source of a known time dependency, closing said gating device and noting the gating time, and determining, pixel by pixel, signals representing a three-dimensional image by dividing signals representing light intensities of said first camera, by signals representing light intensities of said second camera until the closing of said gating device, in consideration of said time dependency and gating time.
The invention will now be described in connection with certain preferred embodiments with reference to the following illustrative figures so that it may be more fully understood.
With specific reference now to the figures in detail, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by
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Herber Oded
Vager Zeev
Zajfman Daniel
An Shawn
Rao Andy
Yeda Research and Development Co. Ltd.
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