Patent ID: 7253832
Filing Date: 2007-08-07
Classification: G06T,H04N

Abstract:
1. A 3-D information acquisition apparatus comprising: a photographing module which photographs an image of an object; a background module which has a specific optical characteristic and which is provided behind said object and becomes the background of said object in photography; a relative movement module which moves said object and said photographing module relatively and continuously in such a manner that said photographing module can photograph images of said object from a plurality of viewpoints; a relative position sensing module which senses the relative position of said object and said photographing module at each of the viewpoints at which images of said object are photographed by said photographing module from a plurality of viewpoints; and a 3-D shape estimating module which recognizes the areas occupied by said object in the images photographed by said photographing module from the plurality of viewpoints by using the images of said object photographed by said photographing module from the plurality of viewpoints and information about the relative position sensed by said relative position sensing module and which estimates a 3-D shape of said object by using the areas occupied by said object, wherein said 3-D shape estimating module carries out a recognition and estimation process of not only recognizing the area occupied by said object on the basis of the image photographed with a visual line from a first viewpoint among the images photographed by said photographing module from a plurality of viewpoints but also estimating a 3-D shape of said object, and then carries out a recognition and estimation process of not only recognizing the area occupied by said object on the basis of the image photographed with a visual line from a second viewpoint opposing said first viewpoint but also estimating the 3-D shape of said object, and thereafter repeats said recognition and estimation process using the image from said viewpoint which corresponds to said image not to be used in said recognition and estimation process, and which is sandwiched between visual lines producing the largest angle difference corresponding to the two images used in said recognition and estimation process, and which is closest to the angle being interpolated in the largest angle difference.