JP2012028915A - Imaging device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform 3D photographing using one photographic optical system and right and left optical systems for parallax measurement.SOLUTION: An imaging device, comprising a first imaging lens 12 and a left and right pair of a second distance measurement lens 13 and a third distance measurement lens 14 positioned on both sides of the first imaging lens 12, calculates a subject distance according to a parallax by use of image information on two images captured with the second distance measurement lens 13 and the third distance measurement lens 14. The 3D image is generated by image processing such that the subject image within the image captured with the first imaging lens 12 is horizontally shifted to the right and left on the basis of the subject distance.

Description

  The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus that captures stereoscopic imaging using one imaging optical system and right and left parallax measurement optical systems.

  A stereoscopic imaging apparatus that captures a stereoscopic image forms a stereoscopic image by parallax of right eye information and left eye information of a subject image. As one of the methods, the right eye information and left eye information are separated by separate imaging optical systems. There is a method of capturing and forming an image on one imaging element. Various methods have been proposed for capturing the right eye information and the left eye information. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a first photographing in which a polarizing plate having a polarization axis in a first direction is provided on an optical path. The same number of optical systems and second imaging optical systems in which a polarizing plate having a polarization axis in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction is provided on the optical path are arranged alternately. And an imaging device that forms an image of each subject of the second imaging optical system and that reads out the image data from the imaging device to form two left and right image data to form a stereoscopic image is proposed. Yes.

JP 2010-56865 A

  However, since the subject image capturing method shown in Patent Document 1 is a method of forming right eye information and left eye information using two photographing optical systems, in order to form a stereoscopic image without a sense of incongruity, It is necessary to strictly match various characteristics (focal length, sensitivity, etc.) of the optical system. In order to realize this, there is a problem that the adjustment of the optical system has to be performed carefully, resulting in an increase in cost. In addition, it is necessary to form orthogonal polarization axes between adjacent pixels on the image sensor, which also causes a cost increase.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an imaging apparatus capable of performing stereoscopic shooting using one shooting optical system and two parallax measurement optical systems. To do.

  The imaging apparatus according to claim 1 is a first imaging optical system that is located in a central portion and photographs a subject, and a second distance measurement that is located on both sides of the first photographing optical system and measures a distance to the subject. Optical system and third distance measuring optical system, a first image sensor for capturing an image formed by the first photographing optical system, and an image formed by the second distance measuring optical system A second image sensor for capturing the image, a third image sensor for capturing an image formed by the third distance measuring optical system, a second distance measuring optical system, and a third distance measuring device. A first image processing means for measuring a distance to a specific subject using an image formed by an optical system for use, and obtained by the first imaging device according to the distance to the specific subject. Second image processing means for processing the captured image, And generates two left and right image data for forming a three-dimensional image from the formed image by the imaging optical system.

  The imaging apparatus according to claim 1 generates the left and right image data forming a stereoscopic image by the following procedure.

  First, images from the first imaging optical system, the second distance measuring optical system, and the third distance measuring optical system are respectively obtained by a first imaging element, a second imaging element, and a third imaging element. take in. Since the second distance measuring optical system and the third distance measuring optical system are separated from each other by the base line length L with the optical axis of the photographing optical system interposed therebetween, the subject for a specific object in the field of view is determined. Depending on the distance up to, there is a difference in position on the screen (so-called parallax occurs).

  The parallax δ, the base line length L, and the distance d from the photographing apparatus to the subject are expressed by the following formula 1.

  After the capture, a subtraction process is performed between the image information of the second image sensor and the image information of the third image sensor, and the difference is output. At the same time as performing contour extraction from the difference image, pattern matching is performed to identify the extracted image, and parallax between the two images is detected. The distance d from this parallax to the object is obtained using the above equation 1. This distance d is called a subject distance.

  With the processing so far, marking of the subject (specific subject) in the field of view of the second distance measuring optical system and the third distance measuring optical system and distance measurement are completed. This information is input to the second image processing means, and the subject image in the image obtained by the first photographing optical system is laterally shifted according to the subject distance d, and a right image for forming a three-dimensional image , Forming the left image. That is, since the relationship of the lateral shift amount of the subject distance d is obtained by the equation 1, the lateral shift amount corresponding to the amount obtained by the equation 1 is given.

  In the image after the lateral shift, a blank portion generated by the lateral shift remains, but this portion uses image information obtained by the second distance measuring optical system and the third distance measuring optical system. To perform complement processing.

  According to the imaging apparatus of the present invention, the second imaging element for capturing an image by the second distance measuring optical system and the third distance measuring optical system arranged in parallel to the first imaging optical system. And the subject distance is detected from the third imaging element, the lateral shift amount of the right side image and the left side image according to the parallax corresponding to the subject distance is calculated, and the image captured by the first imaging optical system based on this data is calculated. Image processing can be performed to generate left and right image data.

  Thereby, it is possible to generate a stereoscopic image with a simple configuration without using an imaging optical system or a complicated imaging device in which a plurality of characteristics completely match.

It is the schematic explanatory drawing seen from the plane direction which shows the 3D camera by this invention. It is the schematic explanatory drawing seen from the side direction which shows a 3D camera same as the above. It is a block diagram of a 3D camera same as the above.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a 3D camera (imaging device) 10 according to the present invention is provided with an imaging lens 12 constituting a first imaging optical system at the front center of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped camera body 11, A pair of left and right second distance measuring lenses 13 (second distance measuring optical system) and a third distance measuring lens 14 (third distance measuring optical system) located on both sides of the imaging lens 12. Is arranged. A zoom button 19 for zooming by swinging the power button 15, the photographing button 16, and the first photographing lens 12 back and forth is disposed on the upper surface of the camera body 11, and an image is displayed on the side surface of the camera body 11. An operation button 20 is provided for selecting a shooting / playback switching button 18 which is a display means to be selected and other shooting conditions from a menu displayed on the LCD panel 17 and for saving and deleting a shot image. Further, a slot (not shown) in which a memory card 21 in which image data is stored is detachably loaded is provided on the bottom surface of the camera body 11, and the captured image data is written into the memory card 21.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the electrical configuration of the 3D camera 10 is a color CCD 22 that is a first imaging device that captures an image from the first imaging lens 12, and a second distance measuring optical system. A color CCD 23 that is a second image sensor that captures an image from the lens 13, a color CCD 24 that is a third image sensor that captures an image from the lens 14 that is a third distance measuring optical system, a CPU 30, an amplifier circuit 31, A / A D image conversion circuit 32, a first image signal processing circuit 33 (first image processing means) for performing arithmetic processing between the images obtained by the color CCD 23 and the color CCD 24, and a stereoscopic image from the image obtained by the color CCD 22. Second image signal processing circuit 34 (second image processing means) for generating right and left images to be formed, compression / decompression processing circuit 35, AF / AF Sense circuit 36, ROM37, RAM38, SDRAM39, LCD driver 40 and the media controller 41 is connected to the data bus 50.

  The CPU 30 reads out and executes the sequence program stored in the ROM 37 into the RAM 38 which is a work memory. The imaging signals output from the second color CCD 23 and the third color CCD 24 are stored in the CDS (correlated double sampling circuit, not shown), and the accumulated charge amount of each light receiving element of the second color CCD 23 and the third color CCD 24. Are converted into red, green, and blue image data corresponding to, and then amplified by the amplification circuit 31 and converted into digital image data by the A / D conversion circuit 32. The image data output from the A / D conversion circuit 32 is temporarily stored in the SDRAM 39 via the data bus 50. The first image signal processing circuit 33 reads the image data from the SDRAM 39, performs gradation conversion, γ correction processing, etc., then performs division processing and stores it again in the SDRAM 39. The image obtained by performing the division processing stored in the SDRAM 39 is read by the third image signal processing circuit 43, subjected to contour extraction and pattern matching processing, and subject image extraction and identification are performed. Further, a distance between images identified as the same subject is obtained by pattern matching, and the distance information is stored in the SDRAM 39.

  On the other hand, the imaging signal output from the first color CCD 22 is a CDS (correlated double sampling circuit, not shown), and images of red, green, and blue corresponding to the accumulated charge amount of the light receiving element of the first color CCD 22 are obtained. After being converted to data, it is amplified by the amplifier circuit 31 and converted to digital image data by the A / D converter circuit 32. The image data output from the A / D conversion circuit 32 is temporarily stored in the SDRAM 39 via the data bus 50. The second image signal processing circuit 34 reads the image data from the SDRAM 39, performs gradation conversion, γ correction processing, etc., and then performs contour extraction to label a specific subject. After labeling, the distance information stored in the SDRAM 39 is read, and a lateral shift process is performed on each of the labeled subjects. Further, the image formed from the second color CCD 23 is read out from the SDRAM 39, and the region that is left blank by lateral shifting is filled in with a complementary process. This process is performed twice with the lateral shift direction reversed to form a right image and a left image. The two types of images subjected to the lateral shift process and the complement process are stored in the SDRAM 39 again. The SDRAM 39 has a plurality of memory areas for storing a plurality of images and distance information, and can write to the other while calling from one. The compression / decompression processing circuit 35 performs image compression on the image data subjected to the image compression processing by the third image signal processing circuit 42 in a predetermined compression format (for example, JPEG format). The compressed image data is stored in the memory card 21 via the media controller 41.

  In the 3D camera 10 according to the present embodiment configured as described above, the second distance measuring lens 13 and the third distance measuring lens 14 arranged on the left and right sides of the first imaging lens 12 are only the base line length L. Since the first photographic lens 12 is spaced apart from the optical axis, the parallax varies depending on the distance from the second distance measuring lens 13 and the third distance measuring lens 14 to the specific subject. This parallax is detected based on the image information of the two images taken by the second distance measuring lens 13 and the third distance measuring lens 14, and the subject distance d is determined from the parallax by the above equation 1, that is, d = fL. / Δ (f: focal length of the second distance measuring optical system and the third distance measuring optical system), and the subject image in the image obtained by the imaging lens 12 based on this information is 3D image by applying lateral shift processing according to subject distance d To generate.

  As a result, it is possible to easily generate a stereoscopic image without using a photographing optical system or a complicated imaging device in which a plurality of characteristics completely match. In addition, a blank portion generated by the lateral displacement remains in the image after lateral displacement, and this blank portion is complemented by using image information obtained from the second and third distance measuring lenses 13 and 14. By performing the processing, a stereoscopic image without a sense of incongruity is obtained.

  As mentioned above, although the Example of this invention was explained in full detail, this invention is not limited to the said Example, A various deformation | transformation implementation is possible within the range of the summary of this invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the CCD is shown as the image sensor, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a CMOS image sensor may be used for a part or all of the image sensor. The basic configuration of the 3D camera 10 may be selected as appropriate.

10 3D camera (imaging device)
12 First imaging lens (first imaging optical system)
13 Second ranging lens (second ranging optical system)
14 Third ranging lens (third ranging optical system)
22 First color CCD (first image sensor)
23 Second color CCD (second image sensor)
24 3rd color CCD (3rd image sensor)
33 First image signal processing circuit (first image processing means)
34 Second image signal processing circuit (second image processing means)

Claims (1)

A first photographing optical system for photographing a subject located in the center;
A second distance measuring optical system and a third distance measuring optical system which are located on both sides of the photographing optical system and measure the distance to the subject;
A first image sensor for capturing an image formed by the first photographing optical system;
A second image sensor for capturing an image formed by the second distance measuring optical system;
A third image sensor for capturing an image formed by the third distance measuring optical system;
First image processing means for measuring a distance to a specific subject using an image formed by the second distance measuring optical system and the third distance measuring optical system;
A second image processing means for processing an image obtained by the first image sensor according to a distance to the specific subject,
An imaging apparatus, comprising: left and right image data forming a stereoscopic image from an image formed by the first imaging optical system.

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