Patent ID: 8619126

Claim:
A device for three-dimensional (3-D) imaging comprising: a lens; a mask; a central aperture located along an optical axis for passing a non-defocused image of a target object; at least two defocusing apertures located off of the optical axis for passing at least two defocused images of the target object, wherein the central aperture and the at least two defocusing apertures are located in the mask; a single sensor operable for capturing electromagnetic radiation transmitted from the target object through the lens and the central aperture in the form of a non-defocused image of the target object and for capturing electromagnetic radiation transmitted from the target object through the lens and the at least two defocusing apertures in the form of at least two defocused images of the target object, the sensor further operable to output the non-defocused image and the at least two defocused images as sensor information; and a processor communicatively connected with the sensor that processes the sensor information, determines depth information by measuring a distance between the at least two defocused images, and produces a 3-D image of the object.