Patent ID: 7551771

Claim:
A method for acquiring three-dimensional range information of a scene, the method comprising: (a) obtaining a plurality of pixel-shifted images of a scene, at least one of the images being shifted by a non-integer pixel value with respect to another of the images, wherein obtaining each of the pixel-shifted images includes: (i) generating electromagnetic radiation that is reflected from target objects in the scene about which range information is desired; (ii) collecting, using a sensor array of at least two dimensions, images of the reflected electromagnetic radiation, wherein each image includes an array of simultaneously-captured pixels; and (iii) determining a data value for each captured pixel based on analysis of the collected electromagnetic radiation; (b) creating a super-resolution image of the scene by combining the data values from the plurality of pixel-shifted images; and (c) determining a three-dimensional location for each pixel of the super-resolution image based on analysis of the data values of the super-resolution image.