Patent ID: 7697750

Claim:
An imaging device comprising: a camera for capturing an image, a distance scanner with a known positional relationship to the camera for acquiring the distance to portions of the camera's field of view, a processor having access to the data from the camera and the distance scanner, and software associated with the processor for matching portions of the camera image to a corresponding distance scanner measurement, calculating spatial attributes of portions of the camera image and calculating paths of light that could emanate from them; and a display for displaying a selected one of the group comprising (1) a two-dimensional image representative of light following paths similar to those calculated paths through an area of observation and (2) a plurality of two-dimensional images representative of light following paths similar to those calculated paths through areas of observation and (3) light, corresponding to the calculated paths of light perceivable as a three-dimensional image; (4) any combination of (1), (2) and (3); whereby an image capture assembly can be constructed to provide a selected one of the group comprising: (a) still images, (b) moving images, (c) multi-perspective images, (d) three-dimensional images, and (e) any combination of a, b, c, and d.