Multiview camera array, multiview system, and method having camera sub-arrays with a shared camera

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11310478-B2
Application number	US-202016830109-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 25, 2020
Priority date	Oct 2, 2017
Publication date	Apr 19, 2022
Grant date	Apr 19, 2022

Abstract

A multiview camera array and multiview system employ camera sub-arrays having at least one camera in common to capture a multiview image of a scene for display on a multiview display. The multiview camera array includes a first sub-array of cameras and a second sub-array of cameras. Cameras of the first and second camera sub-arrays are spaced apart from one another by a first baseline distance and a second baseline distance, respectively. The multiview system further includes a multiview display configured to display the multiview image. A method of capturing a multiview image includes capturing a first plurality of different views of the scene with the first sub-array of cameras and capturing a second plurality of different views of the scene using the second sub-array of cameras.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A multiview camera array comprising: a first sub-array of cameras spaced apart from one another by a first baseline distance; and a second sub-array of cameras spaced apart from one another by a second baseline distance, the first baseline distance being an integer multiple of the second baseline distance and at least one camera of the second sub-array of cameras being a member of the first sub-array of cameras, wherein: cameras of the first camera sub-array are configured to capture a first plurality of images of a scene representing different views of a multiview image of the scene; cameras of the second camera sub-array are configured to capture a second plurality of images of the scene representing different views of a multiview image of the scene; and the multiview camera array 1s configured to select between the first and second pluralities of images based on a distance between the multiview camera array and an object in the scene.

2. The multiview camera array of claim 1 , wherein a number of the cameras in the first sub-array of cameras is equal to a number of the cameras in the second sub-array of cameras, a number of the different views of the multiview image corresponding to the number of the cameras.

3. The multiview camera array of claim 1 , wherein each of the first sub-array of cameras and the second sub-array of cameras is a linear array, cameras of the second sub-array of cameras being interleaved with cameras of the first sub-array of cameras along a common linear axis.

4. The multiview camera array of claim 1 , wherein a camera of the multiview camera array includes an auto-focus that is configured to automatically determine the camera distance between the multiview camera array and the object in the scene.

5. A multiview system comprising: a multiview camera array having a plurality of camera sub-arrays configured to capture a multiview image of a scene, camera sub-arrays of the camera sub-array plurality being interleaved with one another and at least two of the camera sub-arrays having a camera in common; and a multiview display configured to display the multiview image, a number of different views of the multiview image corresponding to a number of cameras in the camera sub-arrays of the multiview camera array, wherein: baseline distances between adjacent cameras within different ones of the camera sub-arrays are integer multiples of one another;
cameras of each camera subarray are configured to capture a plurality of images of the scene representing different views of a multiview image of the scene;
and the multiview camera array is configured to select among the pluralities of images based on a distance between the multiview camera array and an object in the scene.

6. The multiview system of claim 5 , wherein cameras of the plurality of camera sub-arrays are arranged along a common linear axis, the multiview camera array being a linear array.

7. The multiview system of claim 5 , wherein the different views of multiview image correspond to images captured by different cameras of a selected camera sub-array of the plurality of camera.

8. The multiview system of claim 7 , wherein the distance between the multiview camera array and the object in the scene is determined by an auto-focus condition of a camera of the multiview camera array.

9. The multiview system of claim 5 , wherein each camera sub-array of the camera sub-array plurality has an equivalent number of cameras.

10. The multiview system of claim 5 , wherein the multiview display comprises: a multiview backlight comprising a light guide; an array of multibeam elements spaced apart from one another and configured to scatter out guided light from the light guide as directional emitted light having directions corresponding to view directions of the multiview image; and a light valve array configured to modulate the directional emitted light to provide the multiview image, wherein a multibeam element of the array of multibeam elements has a size comparable to a size of a light valve of the light valve array and a shape analogous to a shape of a multiview pixel associated with the multibeam element.

11. The multiview system of claim 10 , wherein the directional emitted light provided by an individual multibeam element of the array of multibeam elements comprises a plurality of directional light beams having different principal angular directions corresponding to view directions of the multiview image.

12. The multiview system of claim 10 , wherein the multibeam element of the array of multibeam elements comprises one or more of a diffraction grating, a micro-reflective element and a micro-refractive element optically connected to the light guide to scatter out the guided light as the directional emitted light.

13. The multiview system of claim 10 , further comprising a light source optically coupled to an input of the light guide of the multiview backlight, the light source being configured to provide the guided light one or both of having a non-zero propagation angle and being collimated according to a predetermined collimation factor.

14. The multiview system of claim 10 , further comprising a broad-angle backlight configured to provide broad-angle emitted light during a first mode, the multiview backlight being configured to provide the directional emitted light during a second mode, wherein the light valve array is configured to modulate the broad-angle emitted light to provide a two-dimensional image during the first mode and to modulate the directional emitted light to provide the multiview image during the second mode.

15. A method of capturing a multiview image, the method comprising: capturing a first plurality of different views of a scene using a first sub-array of cameras spaced apart from one another by a first baseline distance; capturing a second plurality of different views of a scene using a second sub-array of cameras spaced apart from one another by a second baseline distance, the first baseline distance being an integer multiple of the second baseline distance and at least one camera of the second sub-array of cameras being a member of the first sub-array of cameras; selecting between the first and second pluralities of different views based on a distance between the first sub-array of cameras and an object in the scene; and forming the multiview image from the selected first or second plurality of different views.

16. The method of capturing a multiview image of claim 15 , wherein a number of cameras in the first sub-array is equal to a number of cameras in the second sub-array of cameras, a number of the different views of the multiview image corresponding to the number of cameras.

17. The method of capturing a multiview image of claim 15 , wherein an auto-focus of a camera of the multiview camera array automatically determines the distance between the first sub-array of cameras and the object in the scene.

Assignees

• Leia Inc

Inventors

• Fattal David A

Classifications

• H04N13/282 Primary

  for generating image signals corresponding to three or more geometrical viewpoints, e.g. multi-view systems · CPC title

• H04N23/90

  Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums · CPC title

• H04N23/60

  Control of cameras or camera modules · CPC title

• H04N23/45

  for generating image signals from two or more image sensors being of different type or operating in different modes, e.g. with a CMOS sensor for moving images in combination with a charge-coupled device [CCD] for still images · CPC title

• H04N13/398

  Synchronisation thereof; Control thereof · CPC title