Patent ID: 8139935

Claim:
A stereoscopic camera system, comprising: a left camera and a right camera including respective left and right lenses an IOD mechanism to set an interocular distance between the left and right cameras a foreground object distance sensor that provides an output indicative of a distance to a closest foreground object a controller that causes the IOD mechanism to set the interocular distance equal to or less than a maximum interocular distance based on, in part, the output of the foreground distance sensor and a focus distance of the left and right lenses, wherein the controller determines the maximum interocular distance from the formula: IOD MAX =( FOD ×CD×MD×W)/[(CD− FOD )×FL] wherein IOD MAX =the maximum interocular distance W=a width of an image sensor within each camera FL=a focal length of the lenses FOD=the distance to the closest foreground object as indicated by the output of the foreground distance sensor MD=a predetermined maximum disparity as a fraction of the width of the scene recorded by the stereographic camera CD=a convergence distance of the stereographic camera.