US 9,544,574 B2Granted

Selecting camera pairs for stereoscopic imaging

AssigneeGoogle Inc.

InventorsRyan Geiss, Roman Lewkow

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Abstract

An example method involves: (a) determining an indication of distance to an object in a scene, wherein the computing device comprises three or more image-capture devices that provide two or more baselines for stereoscopic imaging, wherein at least two pairs of image-capture devices from the three or more image-capture devices are operable for stereoscopic imaging, wherein each pair provides one of the baselines, and wherein a first of the baselines is non-parallel to a second of the baselines, (b) selecting, by the computing device, a first pair from the at least two pairs of image-capture devices, wherein the first pair is selected based on the indication of distance and the baseline provided by the first pair, and (c) operating the first pair of image-capture devices to capture stereoscopic image data.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A method for image capture comprising:

determining, by a computing device, an indication of distance to an object in a scene, wherein the computing device comprises three or more image-capture devices that provide two or more baselines for stereoscopic imaging, wherein at least two pairs of image-capture devices from the three or more image-capture devices are operable for stereoscopic imaging, wherein each pair provides one of the baselines, and wherein a first of the baselines is non-parallel to a second of the baselines;
determining, by the computing device, one or more pairs of image-capture devices, from among the at least two pairs of image-capture devices, that each respectively provide a baseline in a plane substantially parallel to a ground;
selecting, by the computing device, a first pair from the determined one or more pairs of image-capture devices that each respectively provide a baseline in a plane substantially parallel to the ground, wherein the first pair is selected based on the indication of distance and the baseline provided by the first pair;
and
operating the first pair of image-capture devices to capture stereoscopic image data.

2 more elements

An apparatus comprising:

three or more image-capture systems, wherein lenses of the image-capture systems are all arranged on a first surface of the apparatus and oriented in substantially the same direction, wherein the three or more image-capture systems provide two or more baselines for stereoscopic imaging, wherein at least two pairs of image-capture devices from the three or more image-capture devices are operable for stereoscopic imaging, wherein each pair provides one of the baselines, and wherein a first of the baselines is non-parallel to a second of the baselines;
and
a control system configured to:
(a) determine an indication of distance to an object in a scene;
(b) determine one or more pairs of image-capture devices, from among the at least two pairs of image-capture devices, that each respectively provide a baseline in a plane substantially parallel to a ground;
(c) select a first pair from the determined one or more pairs of image-capture devices that each respectively provide a baseline in a plane substantially parallel to the ground, wherein the first pair is selected based on the indication of distance and the baseline provided by the first pair;
and
(d) operate the first pair of image-capture devices to capture stereoscopic image data.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.