Three-dimensional imaging device

A signal processing method for processing the output signal of an image capture device, the device comprising:

• a light-transmitting plate with first, second and third transmitting areas that have mutually different transmission wavelength ranges, the first and second transmitting areas being surrounded by the third transmitting area, the first transmitting area being made of a member that transmits a light ray falling within one of the cyan, yellow and magenta wavelength ranges, the second transmitting area being made of a member that transmits a light ray falling within another one of the cyan, yellow and magenta wavelength ranges, the third transmitting area being made of a transparent member or a member that transmits a light ray falling within a red, green or blue wavelength range, the third transmitting area being larger than the first and second transmitting areas;
• a solid-state image sensor that includes a photosensitive cell array and that is arranged so as to receive the light that has been transmitted through the light-transmitting plate, the photosensitive cell array being made up of a number of unit blocks, each said unit block including R, G and B sensing cells that respectively output first, second and third photoelectrically converted signals representing the quantities of light falling within red, green and blue wavelength ranges, respectively;
• and
• an optical system that produces an image on an imaging area of the solid-state image sensor based on the light that has been transmitted through the light transmitting plate,
• the signal processing method comprising:
• performing processing, including addition and subtraction, on the first, second and third photoelectrically converted signals, thereby generating cyan, yellow and magenta color image signals with parallax;
• and
• estimating the parallax between the cyan, yellow and magenta images,
• wherein the first photoelectrically converted signal is identified by Rs, the second photoelectrically converted signal is identified by Gs, and the third photoelectrically converted signal is identified by Bs, the generating comprising:
• generating the cyan color image signal by performing processing including a calculation of (Gs+Bs−Rs);
• generating the Yellow color image signal by performing processing including a calculation of (Rs+Gs−Bs);
• and
• generating the Magenta color image signal by performing processing including a calculation of (Rs+Bs−Gs);
• wherein the light-transmitting plate includes a fourth transmitting area surrounded by the third transmitting area, and the fourth transmitting area is made of a member that transmits a light ray falling within the other one of the cyan, yellow and magenta wavelength ranges.