US 11,902,497 B2
Depth measurement
Vasileios Laganakos, Cambridge (GB); and Irenéus Johannes De Jong, Cambridge (GB)
Assigned to Arm Limited, Cambridge (GB)
Filed by Arm Limited, Cambridge (GB)
Filed on Dec. 2, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/700,457.
Claims priority of application No. 19386047 (EP), filed on Nov. 28, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0168348 A1, Jun. 3, 2021
Int. Cl. H04N 13/271 (2018.01); H04N 23/67 (2023.01); H04N 13/00 (2018.01)
CPC H04N 13/271 (2018.05) [H04N 23/675 (2023.01); H04N 2013/0081 (2013.01)] 8 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
6. A system comprising:
at least a first image sensor having a first focus configuration with a first focal length characteristic, for directing light to the first image sensor, the first image sensor being configured for obtaining a first frame of image data captured at a given time, and a second image sensor having a second focus configuration with a second, different, focal length characteristic for directing light to the second image sensor, the second image sensor being configured for obtaining a second frame of image data captured at the given time; and
a processor arranged to receive the first frame of image data captured at the given time obtained by the first image sensor and the second frame of image data captured at the given time obtained by the second image sensor, the processor comprising:
an input module for obtaining the first frame of image data and second frame of image data, the first frame of image data and second frame of image data being captured, at the given time;
a determination module for determining:
a first distance of a first object in the first frame of image data captured at the given time, based on the first focus configuration and a sharpness characteristic of the first object in the first frame; and
a second distance of the second, different, object in the second frame of image data captured at the given time, based on the second focus configuration and a sharpness characteristic of the second, different, object in the second frame;
an analysis module for analysing the first frame of image data captured at the given time and the second frame of image data captured at the given time to determine whether the sharpness characteristic of the first object in the first frame and the sharpness characteristic of the second, different, object in the second frame object exceed a predetermined threshold;
an estimation module for estimating a distance of one or more further objects in the first frame of image data and second frame of image data captured at the given time, based on a difference between the sharpness characteristic of the first object in the first frame of image data captured at the given time, the sharpness characteristic of the second, different, object in the second frame of image data captured at the give time, and a sharpness characteristic of each of the further objects in the first frame of image data captured at the given time, and the second frame of image data captured at the give time;
a normalization module for normalizing depth information associated with the first distance of the at least one object, the second distance of the second, different, object, and the estimated distance of the one or more further objects; and
a generation module for generating a depth map based on the normalized depth information associated with the first distance of the first object, the second distance of the second, different, object and the estimated distance of the one or more further objects,
wherein at least one of the first image sensor, or second image sensor comprises an autofocusing focus configuration, and the autofocussing focus configuration is used to determine an area of focus within a given frame of image data, and for identifying the first or the second, different, object within the scene, based on the area of focus.