Patent ID: 7680633

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for automatically generating a computed design of a composite camera comprising a plurality digital imaging devices, comprising: obtaining a target volume to be captured by the composite camera; obtaining a target resolution for capturing said target volume; generating a representation of a view frustum of each of a plurality of digital imaging devices based on at least one characteristic of each of the digital imaging devices, wherein each of the digital imaging devices comprises at least one image capture element and a lens; organizing said plurality of digital imaging devices based on said view frusta of the digital imaging devices; selecting a set of digital imaging devices from said organized digital imaging devices based on at least one characteristic of each of the digital imaging devices in the selected set, the view frusta of said digital imaging devices in the selected set substantially covering said target volume with at least the target resolution; determining positions of said digital imaging devices in the selected set based on physical characteristics of the digital imaging devices in the selected set; and generating a computed design of said composite camera comprising said digital imaging devices in the selected set positioned in the determined positions; wherein the obtaining of the target volume, the obtaining of the target resolution, the generating of the representation of the view frustum of each of the plurality of digital imaging devices, the organizing, the selecting, the determining, and the generating of the computed design are performed by a computer.