Methods and systems for processing plenoptic images

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10417779-B2
Application number	US-201715634533-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 27, 2017
Priority date	Jun 29, 2016
Publication date	Sep 17, 2019
Grant date	Sep 17, 2019

Abstract

Methods and systems are disclosed for deriving quantitative measurements of an imaged material using plenoptic imaging. In one or more embodiments, image data is generated by a plenoptic camera having a filter configured to transmit a plurality of different spectra in different regions of the filter. A set of plenoptic image data is produced by determining respective sets of pixels in the image data corresponding to the different regions of the filter and determining light intensities of the plurality of different spectra for respective super-pixel groups of the pixels in the image data. One or more additional quantitative measurements of an imaged material are then derived from a comparison of the determined light intensities of two or more of the plurality of different spectra.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a first processing circuit configured to, in response to receiving image data from a plenoptic camera having a filter configured to transmit light with a plurality of different characteristics in respective regions of the filter, produce a set of plenoptic image data by:
determining respective sets of pixels in the image data corresponding to the different regions of the filter; and
determining intensities of the light with the plurality of different, characteristics for respective super-pixel groups of the pixels in the image data; and

a second processing circuit coupled to the first processing circuit and configured to derive one or more additional quantitative measurements of an imaged material or media from a comparison of the determined light intensities for one, or more of the plurality of different characteristics.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second processing circuit is further configured to, in deriving the one or more additional quantitative measurements, performing geometric analysis of an imaged material depicted by the pixels based on angular resolution of the different regions of the filter.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second processing circuit is further configured to, in deriving the one or more additional quantitative measurements, perform spectroscopic analysis of the light of one or more of the plurality of different characteristics to determine physical temperatures of portions of materials depicted by the pixels.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second processing circuit is further configured to, in denying the one or more additional quantitative measurements, perform spectroscopic analysis of the light of the one or more of the plurality of different characteristics to determine atomic or chemical composition or concentration of an imaged sample depicted by the pixels through natural emission spectroscopy, absorption spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy or laser-induced fluorescence or other laser based and non-laser based measurement techniques.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the plurality of different characteristics includes a plurality of different spectra; and
the set of plenoptic image data produced by the first processing circuit includes a plurality of images for respective frequencies of the plurality of different spectra.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first processing circuit is further configured to perform one or more processes to improve image quality of image frames in the set of plenoptic image data.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the one or more processes includes artifact removal, background subtraction, non-linearization correction, or a combination thereof.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising the plenoptic camera.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the plenoptic camera includes:
a lens arrangement including at least the filter, a primary lens, and an array of secondary lenses;
a camera sensor positioned to sample respective super pixel images focused by the secondary lenses;
the first processing circuit,
the second processing circuit; and
a camera body coupled to the lens arrangement and enclosing the camera sensor, the first processing circuit, and the second processing circuit.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the filter includes an etalon filter, a gaseous filter, or a combination thereof.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein further comprising a data storage having a plurality of pixel maps stored therein;
wherein each pixel map corresponds to a respective one of a plurality of filters and
maps a respective sets of pixels in the image data to he different regions of the one of the plurality of filters; and
wherein the first processing circuit is configured to determine the respective sets of pixels in the image data by:
determining one of the plurality of filters currently attached to the plenoptic camera; and
retrieving, from the data storage, one of the plurality of pixel maps corresponding to the determined one of the plurality of filters.

12. A method, comprising:
in response to receiving image data from a plenoptic camera having a filter configured to transmit light of a plurality of different characteristics in respective regions of the filter, produce a set of plenoptic image data by:
determining respective sets of pixels in the image data corresponding to the different regions of the filter; and
determining intensities of light of the plurality of different characteristics for respective super-pixel groups of the pixels in the image data; and

deriving one or more additional quantitative measurements of an imaged material from a comparison of the determined intensities for light of two or more of the plurality of different characteristics.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the deriving of the one or more additional quantitative measurements includes performing geometric analysis based on angular resolution of the respective regions, of the filter to determine distances to portions of an imaged material depicted by the pixels.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein:
the plurality of different characteristics includes a plurality of different spectra; and
the deriving of the one or more additional quantitative measurements includes performing spectroscopic analysis of the two or more of the plurality of different spectra to determine physical temperatures of portions of materials or media depicted by the pixels.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of different characteristics includes a plurality of different spectra; and
the deriving of the one or more additional quantitative measurements includes performing spectroscopic analysis of the two or more of the plurality of different spectra to determine atomic or chemical composition or concentration of an imaged sample or media depicted by the pixels using natural emission spectroscopy, absorption spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, laser-induced fluorescence, other laser based and non-laser based measurement techniques, or a combination thereof.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the spectroscopic analysis includes determining absorption of at least one frequency by an imaged sample.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the spectroscopic analysis includes determining emissions by an imaged sample of at least one frequency.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the spectroscopic analysis includes illuminating the imaged sample with a light of the at least one frequency.

19. The method of claim 12 , further comprising improving image quality of one or more images in the image data by performing artifact removal, background subtraction, non-linearization correction, or a combination thereof.

20. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
determining which filter of a set of filters is attached to the plenoptic camera;
identifying and retrieving one of set of pixel maps corresponding to the determine filter, wherein each pixel map of the set of pixel maps corresponds to a respective one of a plurality of filters; and
wherein the respective sets of pixels in the image data corresponding to the respective regions of the filter are determined from the retrieved one of the set of pixel maps.

Assignees

• The Us Administrator Of The Nasa
• Auburn Univ Office Of Innovation Advancement And Commercialization
• Nasa

Inventors

• Danehy Paul M
• Thurow Brian S

Classifications

• H04N23/957 Primary

  Light-field or plenoptic cameras or camera modules · CPC title

• G06T7/60 Primary

  Analysis of geometric attributes · CPC title

• H04N5/2254

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04N9/045

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G06K9/2027

  Physics · mapped topic