Patent ID: 7013040

Claim:
A 3D image acquisition apparatus comprising: a pattern projection section which projects a predetermined pattern on an object; an imaging section which is positioned at a predetermined distance from said pattern projection section and which images the object having the predetermined pattern projected thereon; and a depth calculation section which detects an image pattern based on an image acquired by said imaging section, collates the detected image pattern and the predetermined pattern, and calculates a depth of respective parts of the object based on the collation; wherein the predetermined pattern includes patterns of a plurality of color components, and the pattern of each of the plurality of color components includes local maximum areas with local maximum luminance values and local minimum areas with local minimum luminance values, wherein in the pattern of each of the plurality of color components a total number of the local maximum luminance values and the local minimum luminance values is at least three, and wherein the local maximum areas are arranged alternately with the local minimum areas to encode the pattern of each of the plurality of color components based on the arrangement of the local maximum areas and the local minimum areas and the luminance values corresponding to the respective local maximum areas and the respective local minimum areas; and wherein in the patterns of each of the plurality of color components, positions of the local maximum areas and positions of the local minimum areas are the same.