title: Range estimation by optical differentiation.
abstract: We describe a novel formulation of the range recovery problem based on computation of the differential variation in image intensities with respect to changes in camera position. This method uses a single stationary camera and a pair of calibrated optical masks to measure this differential quantity directly. We also describe a variant based on changes in aperture size. The subsequent computation of the range image involves simple arithmetic operations and is suitable for real-time implementation. We present the theory of this technique and show results from a prototype camera that we have constructed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139, USA. farid@psyche.mit.edu
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Farid
authors.forename: E P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Simoncelli
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D010781:Photography / Q000295:instrumentation