Imaging arrangements and methods therefor
AssigneeThe Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
InventorsYi-Ren Ng, Patrick M. Hanrahan, Marc S. Levoy, Mark A. Horowitz
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Abstract
Image data is processed to facilitate focusing and/or optical correction. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, an imaging arrangement collects light data corresponding to light passing through a particular focal plane. The light data is collected using an approach that facilitates the determination of the direction from which various portions of the light incident upon a portion of the focal plane emanate from. Using this directional information in connection with value of the light as detected by photosensors, an image represented by the light is selectively focused and/or corrected.
Claims14
A method for digitally imaging a scene, the method comprising:
- generating photosensor image data in response to detecting light rays incident on a physical focal plane using a photosensor array, having a plurality of photosensors, wherein the plurality of photosensors simultaneously detect the light rays from the scene that are incident on a microlens array and passed to different locations on the physical focal plane;
- determining an angle of incidence of the light rays incident at different locations on the physical focal plane using the photosensor image data;
- and generating a virtual output image which corresponds to the scene by selectively combining the photosensor image data based on the angle of incidence of the light rays, such that at least a selected portion of the image is refocused via the selective combination of photosensor image data representing different ones of the light rays.
A digital imaging system for generating a virtual image of a scene, wherein the virtual image includes a plurality of pixels, the system comprising:
- a photosensor array, having a plurality of photosensors, configured to detect light including a plurality of light rays from the scene, wherein each photosensor, in response to detecting the light incident thereon, generates light data, the photosensor array further configured to detect a set of the plurality of light rays that concurrently arrive at the particular portion of the physical focal plane at different angles of incidence;
- an optics arrangement, having a physical focus, configured to direct light rays from the scene to the photosensor array via a physical focal plane;
- and
- processing circuitry to compute a pixel value of each pixel of the virtual image by combining light data from selected photosensors based on angles of incidence of the light rays detected by each photosensor, as characterized by the location of each photosensor relative to the physical focal plane, the virtual image having a virtual focus and a virtual focal plane that are respectively different from the physical focus and the physical focal plane.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.