Range estimation from focus using a non-frontal imaging camera

This paper is concerned with active sensing of range information from focus. It describes a new type of camera whose sensor plane is not perpendicular to the optical axis as is standard. This special imaging geometry eliminates sensor plane movement usually necessary for focusing. Camera panning, required for panoramic viewing anyway, in addition enables focusing and range estimation. Thus panning integrates the two standard mechanical actions of focusing and panning, implying range estimation is done at the speed of panning. An implementation of the proposed Non-frontal Imaging Camera (NICAM) design is described. Experiments on range estimation are also presented.

[1]  Arthur C. Sanderson,et al.  Implementation of Automatic Focusing Algorithms for a Computer Vision System with Camera Control. , 1983 .

[2]  G. Sperling.  Binocular Vision: A Physical and a Neural Theory , 1970 .

[3]  Narendra Ahuja,et al.  Active Surface Estimation: Integrating Coarse-to-Fine Image Acquisition and Estimation from Multiple Cues , 1996, Artif. Intell..

[4]  Trevor Darrell,et al.  Pyramid based depth from focus , 1988, Proceedings CVPR '88: The Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.

[5]  Steven A. Shafer,et al.  Depth from focusing and defocusing , 1993, Proceedings of IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.

[6]  Eric Krotkov,et al.  Focusing , 2004, International Journal of Computer Vision.

[7]  A. Lynn Abbott,et al.  Active Stereo: Integrating Disparity, Vergence, Focus, Aperture and Calibration for Surface Estimation , 1993, IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell..

[8]  Jay Martin Tenenbaum,et al.  Accommodation in computer vision , 1971 .

[9]  Shree K. Nayar,et al.  Shape from focus: an effective approach for rough surfaces , 1990, Proceedings., IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[10]  Narendra Ahuja,et al.  Multiresolution image acquisition and surface reconstruction , 1990, [1990] Proceedings Third International Conference on Computer Vision.

[11]  J. Goodman.  Introduction to Fourier optics , 1969 .

[12]  Narendra Ahuja,et al.  Performance Analysis of Stereo, Vergence, and Focus as Depth Cues for Active Vision , 1995, IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell..

[13]  A. Lynn Abbott,et al.  Surface Reconstruction By Dynamic Integration Of Focus, Camera Vergence, And Stereo , 1988, [1988 Proceedings] Second International Conference on Computer Vision.

[14]  M. Turk,et al.  A simple, real-time range camera , 1989, Proceedings CVPR '89: IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.

[15]  Peter Lawrence,et al.  A matrix based method for determining depth from focus , 1991, Proceedings. 1991 IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.

[16]  Alex Pentland,et al.  A New Sense for Depth of Field , 1985, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence.

[17]  Narendra Ahuja,et al.  Use of a nonfrontal camera for extended depth of field in wide scenes , 1993, Other Conferences.

[18]  N. Ahuja,et al.  A comparative study of stereo, vergence, and focus as depth cues for active vision , 1993, Proceedings of IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.

[19]  Eric Paul Krotkov,et al.  Active Computer Vision by Cooperative Focus and Stereo , 1989, Springer Series in Perception Engineering.

[20]  A. Lynn Abbott,et al.  Active surface reconstruction by integrating focus, vergence, stereo, and camera calibration , 1990, [1990] Proceedings Third International Conference on Computer Vision.