Stereoscopic imaging apparatus and method

A camera for acquiring data on a distance between the camera and an object, comprising:

• a first optical image forming unit having a single optical axis, which image-forms the object;
• a first light receiving unit in which a plurality of light receiving elements are arranged and the object is image-formed by said first optical image forming unit;
• a light passing portion including first and second openings through which light having passed through first and second regions in said first optical image forming unit is irradiated to said first light receiving unit;
• an optical separation portion which simultaneously images both a first image having passed through the first opening and a second image having passed through the second opening, on the different light receiving elements of said first light receiving unit;
• and
• a distance calculating unit which calculates a distance between said optical image forming unit and at least a point on the object, based on the first and second images.

A stereoscopic imaging apparatus for imaging a plurality of stereoscopic images obtained when an object is viewed from different points, the apparatus comprising:

• an optical image forming unit having a single optical axis, which image-forms the object;
• a light receiving unit in which a plurality of light receiving elements are arranged and the object is image-formed by said optical image forming unit;
• a light passing portion including first and second openings through which light having passed through first and second regions in said optical image forming unit is irradiated to said light receiving unit;
• an imaging unit which simultaneously images both a first image that image-forms the object after passing through the first opening and a second image that image-forms the object after passing through the second opening, on said light receiving unit;
• and
• a distance calculating unit which calculates a distance between said optical image forming unit and at least a point on the object, based on the image imaged on said light receiving unit.

A stereoscopic imaging method for imaging a plurality of stereoscopic images acquired when an object is viewed from different points, the method comprising:

• picking up an image of the object at a light receiving unit via a light passing portion which restricts a passage of light in a region other than the different points;
• extracting an edge image of the image imaged in the light receiving unit;
• calculating correlation between the edge image of a specific region and a reference image acquired by shifting the edge image in a stereoscopic direction connecting the different points while a shifted amount is varied by a predetermine amount;
• obtaining a stereoscopic amount of the edge image of the specific region and the reference image based on the shifted amount at which the level of the correlation becomes minimum;
• and
• calculating a distance between an optical image forming unit and the object imaged at the specific region.

A stereoscopic imaging method for imaging a plurality of stereoscopic images acquired when an object is viewed from different points, the method comprising:

• picking up an image of the object at a light receiving unit via a light passing portion which restricts a passage of light in a region other than the different points;
• extracting an edge image on a specific region in the image imaged by the light receiving unit;
• putting values of pixel data of coordinates (x, y) of the edge image in the specific region, as F(i, j) and initializing variables such that a stereoscopic amount η is initialized to 0, an optimum value η* of the stereoscopic amount is initialized to a predetermined value, a correlation value Φ is initialized to 0 while a minimum value Φmin of the correlation value is initialized to a predetermined value;
• incrementing the stereoscopic amount η by 1 and calculating the correlation value Φ by
• Φ(η, ξ)=ΣiΣj[F(i, j)−F(i−η, j)]{circumflex over ( )}2;
• substituting the correlation value Φ into the minimum value Φmin of the correlation value and substituting the stereoscopic amount η into the optimum value η* of the stereoscopic amount in the event that the correlation value Φ is less than the minimum value Φmin;
• returning to said incrementing and calculating if the stereoscopic amount η is not greater than a predetermined amount;
• outputting the optimum value η* of the stereoscopic amount if the stereoscopic amount η is greater than the predetermined amount;
• and
• calculating the distance of the object based on the optimum value η*.