Patent Document ID: 8514268
Application ID: 12454707
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for determining a change in pose of a moving sensor of a high-resolution three-dimensional (3-D) imaging device, wherein the device comprises the sensor, a lens, and a mask having at least one set of off-axis apertures, the mask being positioned to obstruct the lens, the method using a defocusing technique comprising acts of: capturing, at an initial time, an initial plurality of defocused images of a substantially stationary object with a sensor, from an initial sensor pose, the initial plurality of images being formed from light having passed through the lens and the at least one set of off-axis apertures in the mask; extracting three-dimensional (3-D) locations of three or more object features from the relative locations of the object features in the initial plurality of defocused images on the sensor; capturing, at a subsequent time, a subsequent plurality of defocused images of the object from a subsequent sensor pose, the subsequent plurality of images being formed from light having passed through the lens and the at least one set of off-axis apertures in the mask; extracting 3-D locations of three or more object features from the relative locations of the object features in the subsequent plurality of defocused images on the sensor; matching the object features from the initial plurality of defocused images with corresponding object features from the subsequent plurality of defocused images using a technique selected from the group consisting of: a feature matching algorithm; and an error minimization method; and calculating a change in pose of the sensor between the initial and subsequent times using the 3-D locations extracted from the initial and subsequent pluralities of defocused images, whereby the change in pose of the moving sensor is determined.