Panasonic Corporation

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Katsuhiro Kanamori

Satoshi Sato

Hideto Motomura

Hiroyoshi Komobuchi

Kenji Kondo

Kunio Nobori

Takeo Azuma

Haruo Yamashita

Osamu Yamada

Hiroaki Kotera

Norimichi Tsumura

Yoichi Miyake

Mutsuko Nichogi

Mikiya Nakata

Makoto Oishi

Teruo Fumoto

Satoshi Kondo

Jun Ozawa

Takeshi Ito

Masao Hiramoto

Katsuji Aoki

Toshiharu Kurosawa

Toshinobu Matsuno

Tsumoru Fukushima

Hidehiko Kawakami

Ayako Komoto

Brahm Pal Singh

Tadamasa Toma

Taro Imagawa

Teruhiro Shiono

Hiroaki Okayama

Kazuyuki Murata

Norihiro Imamura

Yoshihiko Matsukawa

Shusaku Okamoto

Jun Ikeda

Masahiro Iwasaki

Shin Yamada

Tomonobu Naruoka

Motohiko Naka

Yoshimitsu Kanno

Takehisa Tanaka

Kinya Kanno

Natsuki Saito

Toshiya Nakaguchi

Kouji Taniguchi

Toshikazu Fujioka

Lorcan MacManus

Neil Dodgson

Takashi Sugaya

Rika Hashimoto

Lorcan Mac Manus

An image synthesizing apparatus includes an illuminating device that outputs linearly polarized light having a first polarization direction and linearly polarized light having a second polarization direction, a camera that captures an image in a third polarization direction including a plurality of pixels and an image in a fourth polarization direction including a plurality of pixels, and a control circuit that synthesizes, on a pixel-by-pixel basis, the image in the third polarization direction and the image in the fourth polarization direction into an authentication image for iris authentication. The first, the second, the third and the fourth polarization directions are different from one another. The camera acquires the image in the third polarization direction using the linearly polarized light in the first polarization direction and acquires the image in the fourth polarization direction using the linearly polarized light in the second polarization direction.

Image synthesizing apparatus, iris authentication system, image synthesizing method, and iris authenticating method

An authentication apparatus includes: an illumination device outputting light having a first polarization direction; a camera taking a first eyeball image, a second eyeball image, and a third eyeball image, of the user, which have a second polarization direction, a third polarization direction, a fourth polarization direction, respectively; and a control circuit. The control circuit (a) acquires cornea authentication information and iris authentication information, (b) generates an amplitude image, a phase image, and an average image, using the first eyeball image, the second eyeball image, and the third eyeball image, (c) authenticates a user ID corresponding to the average image, by referring to the iris authentication information, (d) authenticates a user ID corresponding to the amplitude image and the phase image, by referring to the cornea authentication information, and (e) determines a user ID corresponding to the user, using authentication results of the user ID in (c) and (d).

Authentication apparatus and authentication method

An embodiment of an image processing apparatus includes: an illuminating section which sequentially irradiates an object with a first and second illuminating light beams polarized in different directions. The section emits the polarized light beams sequentially so that the wavelength ranges of the light beams do not overlap with each other. The apparatus further includes: a polarization image sensor; a polarization mosaic processing section which obtains a first polarization image while the object is being irradiated with the first illuminating light beam and a second polarization image while the object is being irradiated with the second illuminating light beam; a depressed area detecting section which detects a depressed area on the surface of the object based on the polarization images; and an image forming section which forms an image representing the depressed area in an enhanced form.

Image processing apparatus and endoscope

An eye imaging apparatus includes a lighting device including a fundus illuminator and a cornea illuminator; a half mirror; an imaging device including a camera having a first objective lens; and a first polarizer. The first polarizer is disposed between the half mirror and the camera. The fundus illuminator irradiates the half mirror with first light polarized in a direction orthogonal to a transmission axis of the first polarizer. The half mirror receives the first light and outputs resulting light to an eye. A travel direction of the resulting light is in alignment with an optical axis of the first objective lens. The cornea illuminator emits light at a timing different from an emission timing of the first light, and the eye is irradiated with second light based on the light emitted by the cornea illuminator from a direction different from a direction parallel with the optical axis.

Eye imaging apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes an illumination device, a beam splitter, an imaging device, and an image forming circuit. The illumination device includes first emitters emitting first light polarized at 30&#xb0;, second emitters emitting second light polarized at 90&#xb0;, and third emitters emitting third light polarized at 150&#xb0;, and illuminates a subject with the first, second, and/or third light. The beam splitter splits returning light and outputs a first component polarized at 0&#xb0;, a second component polarized at 60&#xb0;, and a third component polarized at 120&#xb0;. The imaging device has an imaging surface that includes a first region receiving the first component, a second region receiving the second component, and a third region receiving the third component. The image forming circuit generates an image of the subject based on first, second, and third groups of images acquired when the subject is illuminated with the first, second, and third light.

Image forming apparatus

Images are formed from first and second polarized images acquired through illumination of the subject with first illumination light beams, and third and fourth polarized images acquired through illumination of the subject with second illumination light beams. Images of a subject are formed from translated first, second, third, and fourth polarized images, acquired from first and second luminous point images. The first bright spots appear on the first polarized image when the first illumination light beams are mirror-reflected off the subject. The second bright spots appear on the fourth polarized image when the second illumination light beams are mirror-reflected off the subject. The image forming circuit forms images of the subject by calculating a difference between a first average image, obtained by averaging the translated first and fourth polarized images, and a second average image, obtained by averaging the translated second and third polarized images.

Image forming device

An image processing apparatus according to the present disclosure includes an illuminating section which sequentially irradiates an object with first and second illuminating light beams polarized in first and second directions. First and second polarization images are generated based on signals representing light transmitted through polarizers having the polarization transmission axis in respective directions that are parallel to, and intersect with, the first direction while the object is being irradiated with the first illuminating light beam, and third and fourth polarization images are generated based on signals representing light transmitted through polarizers having the polarization transmission axis in respective directions that are parallel to, and intersect with, the second direction while the object is being irradiated with the second illuminating light beam. A depressed object surface region is detected based on the first and second polarization images and/or the third and fourth polarization images.

An image processing apparatus includes an illumination unit in which illumination axes of first and second illumination light substantially coincide with an imaging axis and which illuminates an object with the first and second illumination light alternately, the first and second illumination light being respectively polarized in a first direction and a second direction that crosses the first direction; a splitter that divides returning light into at least two returning light components; and first and second polarization imaging devices that receive the returning light components. The first polarization imaging device obtains first and second polarization images polarized in the first direction while the object is being illuminated with the first and second illumination light, respectively. The second polarization imaging device obtains third and fourth polarization images polarized in the second direction while the object is being illuminated with the first and second illumination light, respectively.

Image processing apparatus

The present disclosure is an optical filter which includes: a Fabry-Perot resonator equipped with a laminated structure including one sheet of first metal layer, one sheet of second metal layer, and a dielectric layer; and one sheet of plate-shaped wire grid polarizer. The second metal layer is parallel to the first metal layer, the dielectric layer is interposed between the first metal layer and the second metal layer, the one sheet of plate-shaped wire grid polarizer is embedded in the dielectric layer, the one sheet of plate-shaped wire grid polarizer comprises three or more metal wire layers, the metal wire layers are parallel to one another, and the one sheet of plate-shaped wire grid polarizer is parallel to the first metal layer. In the optical filter according to the present invention, the effective extinction ratio of the wire grid polarizer is increased.

Optical filter with Fabry-Perot resonator comprising a plate-shaped wire grid polarizer

In image capturing processor in one embodiment comprises: an image capturing section including an image sensor that captures a polarization image of an object being illuminated with an illuminating light beam; and an image processing section. The image processing section has: a light intensity image generator which generates a light intensity image based on the output of the image sensor; a polarization degree image generator which generates a polarization degree image by calculating the degree of polarization on a pixel-by-pixel basis; a retouching section which generates a retouched polarization image by enhancing the degree of polarization of the polarization degree image at depressions on a micro-geometric surface of the object and by correcting at least one of its hue, saturation and value; and an image synthesizing section which synthesizes the retouched polarization image and the light intensity image together.

Imaging device and endoscope for detecting and displaying the shape of the micro-geometric texture of a transparent structure

A polarization image processing apparatus includes an illumination unit, a splitter, first and second polarization imaging devices, and a processing unit. The illumination unit illuminates a first surface of a transparent or translucent object with first illumination light polarized in a first direction and second illumination light polarized in a second direction, which crosses the first direction, alternately. Illumination axes of the first illumination light and second illumination light substantially coincide with an imaging axis of the polarization image processing apparatus. The splitter divides returning light into at least two light components. The first and second polarization imaging devices receive the light components. The processing unit detects a condition of a second surface of the object on the basis of first and second polarization images obtained by the first polarization imaging device and third and fourth polarization images obtained by the second polarization imaging device.

Polarization image processing apparatus

A polarization image sensor includes: photodiodes arranged on an image capturing plane; a color mosaic filter in which color filters in multiple different colors are arranged to face the photodiodes; an optical low-pass filter which covers the color mosaic filter; and polarization optical elements located closer to a light source than the optical low-pass filter is. Each polarization optical element covers an associated one of the photodiodes and makes light which is polarized in a predetermined direction in a plane that is parallel to the image capturing plane incident onto the optical low-pass filter. The color filters are arranged so that light that has passed through polarization optical elements is transmitted through an associated one of the color filters in a single color. Each color filter covers multiple photodiodes.

Polarization image sensor and endoscope

An exemplary 3D image shooting apparatus comprises: a polarized light source; an image capturing section that sequentially captures an image of the object that is being illuminated with each of plane polarized light rays, and an image processor. The image capturing section includes: a lens; an image sensor; and an incoming light transmitting section which has a transparent area and a plurality of polarization filter areas. The polarization filter areas are arranged outside of the transparent area, generally have a concentric ring shape, and include left and right filter areas so that their polarization transmission axis directions define an angle &#x3b1; (0&#x3c;&#x3b1;&#x3c;90 degrees). The image processing section generates a plurality of images from light that has been transmitted through the transparent area and light that has been transmitted through the plurality of polarization filter areas.

3D image shooting apparatus and endoscope

In one embodiment, an elementtransform, with a voltage, non-polarized light into plane polarized light with an arbitrary plane of polarization. A synchronizergives the plane of polarization control elementan instruction to rotate the plane of polarization, thereby getting the plane of polarization of the illumination rotated and casting that polarized light toward the object. At the same time, the synchronizersends a shooting start signal to an image sensor, thereby getting video. The synchronizerperforms these processing steps multiple times. A captured video signal is sent to an image processing processor, where LL, RR and CC images are separately generated as images of light rays that have passed through left and right polarizing areas and the central non-polarizing area and left and right parallax signals are generated and sent to a 3D display section

Provided is an image generation device generating a high-quality image of an object under a pseudo light source at any desired position, based on geometric parameters generated from a low-quality image of the object. The image generation device includes: a geometric parameter calculation unit that calculates a first geometric parameter regarding a shape of a surface from light source position, viewpoint position, and geometric normal information regarding the shape; a high-resolution database unit that stores an exemplum indicating a mesostructure of a portion of the surface and has a spatial resolution higher than the geometric normal information; an exemplum expansion unit that increases the exempla to be spatially expanded; a geometric parameter modification unit that modifies the first geometric parameter using the increased exempla; and an image generation unit that generates an output image by applying the modified geometric parameter to a reflection model.

Image generation device and image generation method

Growing community of inventors

Nara, Japan

Katsuhiro Kanamori