Patent ID: 8654196
Filing Date: 2014-02-18
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. An image pickup apparatus for use in measuring a distance from an observer to a target, the image pickup apparatus comprising: a case; and a plurality of cameras configured to capture images of the target, the cameras being fixed in the case, wherein the distance from the observer to the target is measured by performing parallax computation on the captured images of the target, and wherein the image pickup apparatus is configured to alter baseline lengths for the parallax computation by combining any two of the cameras, and wherein the baseline lengths for the parallax computation are sequentially computed and the distance from the observer to the target is determined when a distance range is obtained based on a corresponding one of the computed baseline lengths, and wherein parallax computations for a first one of the baseline lengths is carried out at a first frequency, and parallax computations for a second one of the baseline lengths is carried out at a second frequency, and the first one of the baseline lengths is shorter than the second one of the baseline lengths, and the first frequency is greater than the second frequency, such that the image pickup apparatus is configured to measure a first distance from the observer more frequently than a second distance from the observer, the first distance being shorter than the second distance.