538 results about "Stereo cameras" patented technology

A sentient system combines detection, tracking, and immersive visualization of a cluttered and crowded environment, such as an office building, terminal, or other enclosed site using a network of stereo cameras. A guard monitors the site using a live 3D model, which is updated from different directions using the multiple video streams. As a person moves within the view of a camera, the system detects its motion and tracks the person's path, it hands off the track to the next camera when the person goes out of that camera's view. Multiple people can be tracked simultaneously both within and across cameras, with each track shown on a map display. The track system includes a track map browser that displays the tracks of all moving objects as well as a history of recent tracks and a video flashlight viewer that displays live immersive video of any person that is being tracked.

A stereo camera supporting apparatus of the present invention comprises a joining member constituted in such a manner as to support a stereo camera on a vehicle, and a control device which controls posture or position of the stereo camera supported on the vehicle by the joining member. The control device controls the posture or position of the stereo camera with respect to video obtained by the stereo camera in such a manner that a contour portion present in the highest level position in a contour of a noted subject in the video is positioned in a frame upper end of the video or its vicinity irrespective of a change of the posture or position of the vehicle.

A blind spot monitoring system for a vehicle includes two pairs of stereo cameras, two displays and a controller. The stereo cameras monitor vehicle blind spots and generate a corresponding pair of digital signals. The display shows a rearward vehicle view and may replace, or work in tandem with, a side view mirror. The controller is located in the vehicle and receives two pairs of digital signals. The controller includes control logic operative to analyze a stereopsis effect between each pair of stereo cameras and the optical flow over time to control the displays. The displays will show an expanded rearward view when a hazard is detected in the vehicle blind spot and show a normal rearward view when no hazard is detected in the vehicle blind spot.

The present invention provides a system (method and apparatus) for creating photorealistic 3D models of environments and / or objects from a plurality of stereo images obtained from a mobile stereo camera and optional monocular cameras. The cameras may be handheld, mounted on a mobile platform, manipulator or a positioning device. The system automatically detects and tracks features in image sequences and self-references the stereo camera in 6 degrees of freedom by matching the features to a database to track the camera motion, while building the database simultaneously. A motion estimate may be also provided from external sensors and fused with the motion computed from the images. Individual stereo pairs are processed to compute dense 3D data representing the scene and are transformed, using the estimated camera motion, into a common reference and fused together. The resulting 3D data is represented as point clouds, surfaces, or volumes. The present invention also provides a system (method and apparatus) for enhancing 3D models of environments or objects by registering information from additional sensors to improve model fidelity or to augment it with supplementary information by using a light pattern projector. The present invention also provides a system (method and apparatus) for generating photo-realistic 3D models of underground environments such as tunnels, mines, voids and caves, including automatic registration of the 3D models with pre-existing underground maps.

The present invention relates to a face recognition and / or iris recognition system and method using a mobile device equipped with a stereo camera, which acquire a stereo image of a user's face using at least two cameras or a method corresponding thereto and, even when the size of the stereo image is varied according to distance, correct the size of the stereo image. The stereo camera uses a single-focus lens with a long depth of focus to acquire a focused iris image over a wider range. When the user is not located at a position suitable for iris recognition, a message is sent to the user such that an iris image suitable for recognition is acquired. Furthermore, an iris image correction process according to distance is performed to prevent recognition rate from decreasing even when the size of the iris image is changed.

A method and apparatus for interactive TV camera based games in which position or orientation of points on a player or of an object held by a player are determined and used to control a video display. Both single camera and stereo camera pair based embodiments are disclosed, preferably using stereo photogrammetry where multi-degree of freedom information is desired. Large video displays, preferably life-size may be used where utmost realism of the game experience is desired.

When 3D viewing means become much more available and common, it will be very sad that the many great movies that exist today will be able to be viewed in 3D only through limited and partial software attempts to recreate the 3D info. Films today are not filmed in 3D due to various problems, and mainly since a normal stereo camera could be very problematic when filming modern films, since for example it does not behave properly when zooming in or out is used, and it can cause many problems when filming for example smaller scale models for some special effects. For example, a larger zoom requires a correspondingly larger distance between the lenses, so that for example if a car is photographed at a zoom factor of 1:10, the correct right-left disparity will be achieved only if the lenses move to an inter-ocular distance of for example 65 cm instead of the normal 6.5 cm. The present invention tries to solve the above problems by using a 3D camera which can automatically adjust in a way that solves the zoom problem, and provides a solution also for filming smaller models. The angle between the two lenses is preferably changed according to the distance and position of the object that is at the center of focus, and changing the zoom affects automatically both the distance between the lenses and their angle, since changing merely the distance without changing the convergence angle would cause the two cameras to see completely different parts of the image. The patent also shows that similar methods can be used for example for a much better stereoscopic telescope with or without a varying zoom factor. In addition, the patent shows various ways to generate efficiently a 3D knowledge of the surrounding space, which can be used also for example in robots for various purposes, and also describes a few possible improvements in 3d viewing.

A virtual three-dimensional presentation in accordance with the present invention includes three stereoscopic layers, a stereoscopic background layer, a stereoscopic video insert layer, and a stereoscopic three-dimensional foreground layer. A surface, the Z-sphere, is defined in the virtual three-dimensional space of the three-dimensional scene with reference to the aim point, the distance between the cameras, and the distance from the camera of the video scene, of a virtual stereoscopic camera looking at the three-dimensional scene being created. The separation of the virtual stereoscopic camera lens and distance to the aim point are set based on the stereoscopic cameras that are creating the video insert layer. The stereoscopic three-dimensional foreground layer scene may include a key which defines the transparency of objects in the foreground layer. The stereoscopic video insert layer may be generated by positioning a presenter, or other object, in a chroma-key set which is captured with a stereoscopic camera. The stereoscopic video insert layer may be distorted before being composited with the background and foreground such that elements of the stereoscopic video appear to move across a three-dimensional floor of the stereoscopic three-dimensional scene.

A stereo camera includes a pair of photographing optical systems arranged in a common plane so that a common photographing coverage occurs between a pair of photographing areas taken by the pair of photographing optical systems, an object distance measuring device, a convergence angle adjustment mechanism adapted to vary an angle of convergence defined by, and between, the optical axes of the pair of photographing optical systems, so as to adjust an amount of common photographic coverage of the pair of photographing optical systems, and a controller adapted to control the convergence angle adjustment mechanism in accordance with object distance data obtained by the object distance measuring device.

A blind spot monitoring system for a vehicle includes two pairs of stereo cameras, two displays and a controller. The stereo cameras monitor vehicle blind spots and generate a corresponding pair of digital signals. The display shows a rearward vehicle view and may replace, or work in tandem with, a side view mirror. The controller is located in the vehicle and receives two pairs of digital signals. The controller includes control logic operative to analyze a stereopsis effect between each pair of stereo cameras and the optical flow over time to control the displays. The displays will show an expanded rearward view when a hazard is detected in the vehicle blind spot and show a normal rearward view when no hazard is detected in the vehicle blind spot.

A system and method are provided for autonomously navigating a vehicle. The method captures a sequence of image pairs using a stereo camera. A navigation application stores a vehicle pose (history of vehicle position). The application detects a plurality of matching feature points in a first matching image pair, and determines a plurality of corresponding object points in three-dimensional (3D) space from the first image pair. A plurality of feature points are tracked from the first image pair to a second image pair, and the plurality of corresponding object points in 3D space are determined from the second image pair. From this, a vehicle pose transformation is calculated using the object points from the first and second image pairs. The rotation angle and translation are determined from the vehicle pose transformation. If the rotation angle or translation exceed a minimum threshold, the stored vehicle pose is updated.

The present invention provides a collision avoidance apparatus and method employing stereo vision applications for adaptive vehicular control. The stereo vision applications are comprised of a road detection function and a vehicle detection and tracking function. The road detection function makes use of three-dimensional point data, computed from stereo image data, to locate the road surface ahead of a host vehicle. Information gathered by the road detection function is used to guide the vehicle detection and tracking function, which provides lead motion data to a vehicular control system of the collision avoidance apparatus. Similar to the road detection function, stereo image data is used by the vehicle detection and tracking function to determine the depth of image scene features, thereby providing a robust means for identifying potential lead vehicles in a headway direction of the host vehicle.

A system for capturing live-action three-dimensional video is disclosed. The system includes pairs of stereo cameras and a LIDAR for generating stereo images and three-dimensional LIDAR data from which three-dimensional data may be derived. A depth-from-stereo algorithm may be used to generate the three-dimensional camera data for the three-dimensional space from the stereo images and may be combined with the three-dimensional LIDAR data taking precedence over the three-dimensional camera data to thereby generate three-dimensional data corresponding to the three-dimensional space.

A stereo imaging system comprises a stereoscopic camera having left and right image capturing elements for capturing stereo images; a stereo viewer; and a processor configured to modify the stereo images prior to being displayed on the stereo viewer so that a disparity between corresponding points of the stereo images is adjusted as a function of a depth value within a region of interest in the stereo images after the depth value reaches a target depth value.

A robot is made to recognize and manipulate different types of cable harnesses in an assembly line. This is achieved by using a stereo camera system to define a 3D cloud of a given cable harness. Pose information of specific parts of the cable harness are determined from the 3D point cloud, and the cable harness is then re-presented as a collection of primitive geometric shapes of known dimensions, whose positions and orientations follow the spatial position of the represented cable harness. The robot can then manipulate the cable harness by using the simplified representation as a reference.

A method of and apparatus for detecting people using a stereo camera. The method includes: calculating three-dimensional information regarding a moving object from a pair of image signals received from the stereo camera using stereo matching and creating a height map for a specified discrete volume of interest (VOI) using the three-dimensional information; detecting a people candidate region estimated as including one or more persons by finding connected components from the height map using a predetermined algorithm; and generating a histogram with respect to the people candidate region, detecting different height regions using the histogram, and detecting a head region by analyzing the different height regions using a tree structure.

A video signal produced through a shooting operation of a camera is sent to a motion detecting unit which detects a motion included in the video signal to set an area of the motion as a space motion area and inputs information of the area to a distance determination circuit which calculates distance between the motion area and the camera by use of a parallax signal produced from stereo cameras disposed in the camera to send information of the space motion area and the distance to a mask determination circuit. The mask determination circuit conducts a comparison between the space motion area information and the space mask area information and between the distance information of the motion area and that of the space mask area, and resultantly compares three-dimensional positions between the detected motion and the mask to determine a position relationship therebetween.

A calibration method of a stereo camera includes controlling a left eye image capture unit and a right eye image capture unit of the stereo camera to execute an image capture operation on a calibration pattern with a plurality of feature points to generate a left eye image and a right eye image, respectively; extracting a plurality of first feature points and a plurality of second feature points corresponding to the plurality of feature points from the left eye image and the right eye image, respectively; calculating camera calibration parameters corresponding to extrinsic parameters of the stereo camera according to the plurality of first feature points, the plurality of second feature points, and intrinsic parameters of the stereo camera; and executing an camera calibration process on the left eye image capture unit and the right eye image capture unit according to the camera calibration parameters, respectively.

The invention relates to a method and a device for determining an object property of an object with the aid of images that have been recorded with the aid of a camera. Further, the invention relates to a method for determining a calibration parameter for a stereo camera. For determining the object property of an object, the object is defined in a first image recorded with the aid of the camera. Further, the brightness of a defined object is determined. Each time after a preset time interval, a further image is recorded with the aid of the camera. The object is defined in each of the further images and each time, the brightness of the defined object of each image is determined. Dependent on the brightness curve, an object property is assigned to the object.

The location of an object in a physical scene is identified with a stereo camera. A virtual surface is identified in the physical scene, and an approximate disparity set is constructed for the virtual surface. A main and a reference image of the scene are acquired by the stereo camera. The reference image is warped according to the disparity set, and subtracted from the main image to determine a set of depth residual values. Pixels having a substantially non-zero residual are identified with a surface of the object not coincident with the virtual surface.

An obstacle detection system using stereo cameras mounted on a vehicle, to detect an obstacle existing on a ground plane at a high speed and in a high precision even with the stereo cameras being uncalibrated and with a vibration during a traveling and a change in the inclination of the ground plane. The obstacle detection system comprises: a plurality of uncalibrated TV cameras for inputting stereo images; an image storage unit 2 for storing a plurality of images inputted from the TV cameras; a feature extraction unit 3 for extracting a plurality of mutually parallel lines existing on the ground plane; a parameter computation unit 4 for determining a relation to hold between the projected positions of an arbitrary point of the ground plane upon the individual images, from the plurality of lines extracted by the feature extraction unit 3; and a detection unit 5 for detecting an object having a height from the ground plane, by using the relation determined by the parameter computation unit 4.

An object of the present invention is to enable performing height recognition processing by setting a height of an arbitrary plane to zero for convenience of the recognition processing. A parameter for three-dimensional measurement is calculated and registered through calibration and, thereafter, an image pickup with a stereo camera is performed on a plane desired to be recognized as having a height of zero in actual recognition processing. Further, three-dimensional measurement using the registered parameter is performed on characteristic patterns (marks m1, m2 and m3) included in this plane. Three or more three-dimensional coordinates are obtained through this measurement and, then, a calculation equation expressing a plane including these coordinates is derived. Further, based on a positional relationship between a plane defined as having a height of zero through the calibration and the plane expressed by the calculation equation, a transformation parameter (a homogeneous transformation matrix) for displacing points in the former plane into the latter plane is determined, and the registered parameter is changed using the transformation parameter.

A smart necklace includes a body defining at least one cavity and having a neck portion and first and a second side portions. The necklace includes a pair of stereo cameras that is configured to detect image data including depth information corresponding to a surrounding environment of the smart necklace. The necklace further includes a positioning sensor configured to detect positioning data corresponding to a positioning of the smart necklace. The necklace includes a non-transitory memory positioned in the at least one cavity and configured to store map data and object data. The smart necklace also includes a processor positioned in the at least one cavity, coupled to the pair of stereo cameras, the positioning sensor and the non-transitory memory. The processor is configured to determine output data based on the image data, the positioning data, the map data and the object data.

A method and apparatus for detecting obstacles in off-road applications. A stereo camera and specific image-processing techniques enable a vehicle's vision system to identify drivable terrain in front of the vehicle. The method uses non-drivable residuals (NDR), where the NDR is zero for all terrain that can be easily traversed by the vehicle and greater than zero for terrain that may not be traversable by the vehicle. The method utilizes a depth map having a point cloud that represents the depth to objects within the field of view of the stereo cameras. The depth map is tiled such that the point cloud data is represented by an average (smoothed) value. The method scans pixels in the smoothed depth map to find sequences of “good” points that are connected by line segments having an acceptable slope. Points that lie outside of the acceptable slope range will have an NDR that is greater than zero. The vehicle control system can use the NDRs to accurately make decisions as to the trajectory of the vehicle.

A method and / or system for tracking objects, such as humans, over a wide area (that is, over an area that is delineated by a large spatial domain and / or a long-duration temporal domain) is provided. Such tracking is facilitated by processing, in real-time, near real-time or otherwise contemporaneous with receiving, images captured by each of a plurality or network of slightly overlapping stereo sensors, such as stereo cameras. The method includes and the apparatus is adapted for obtaining a plurality of local-track segments, wherein the plurality of local-track segments correspond to an object captured in images taken by a respective plurality of stereo sensors; and combining the local-track segments to form a global track.

The invention relates to a method and a device for determining an object property of an object with the aid of images that have been recorded with the aid of a camera. Further, the invention relates to a method for determining a calibration parameter for a stereo camera. For determining the object property of an object, the object is defined in a first image recorded with the aid of the camera. Further, the brightness of a defined object is determined. Each time after a preset time interval, a further image is recorded with the aid of the camera. The object is defined in each of the further images and each time, the brightness of the defined object of each image is determined. Dependent on the brightness curve, an object property is assigned to the object.

An image processing apparatus includes stereo cameras and detects a distance to a target around a vehicle. The image processing apparatus includes sensors installed in the vehicle; determines a vehicle situation by combining detection signals of the sensors and switches from image data of a stereo camera for driving assistance to image data of a stereo camera for door opening / closing assistance; carries out distortion corrections that are unique to the plural stereo cameras respectively on the selected image data so that correlation calculation common to the plural stereo cameras can be carried out; carries out the correlation calculation on two sets of image data of the single stereo camera; and detects the distance to the target by using a calculation result of the correlation calculation.

The invention relates to a method and a device for shooting stereo images by automatically correcting a parallax error. The method comprises the following steps of: acquiring scenery distance information; calculating parallax error correcting data; automatically adjusting space or an angle of a camera lens; completing automatic focus and shooting; and synthesizing the stereo images. The method and the device make shooting equipment shoot high-quality stereo images in various situations by automatically correcting the parallax error during shooting, and avoid the defects that unreasonable parallax errors exist in the shot stereo images because of over short scenery distance or overlarge lens focus of the conventional stereo image shooting technology so as to generate feelings of dizziness and eye discomfort. The invention particularly provides the following three kinds of schemes for correcting the parallax error: automatically adjusting space, automatically adjusting angle by using single lenses, and automatically adjusting the angle by using double lenses. The device for implementing the scheme can be arranged in stereo shooting mobile phones, stereo cameras and stereo video cameras to shoot the stereo images by automatically correcting the parallax error.