The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 06, 2025
Filed:
Dec. 04, 2020
Sony Group Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Shinichiro Gomi, Tokyo, JP;
Teppei Kurita, Tokyo, JP;
SONY GROUP CORPORATION, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An imaging device includes an imaging unit, a signal separating unit, a normal line calculating unit, and a distance estimation unit. The imaging unit includes a plurality of polarization lights having different polarization directions of light emitted to a subject and a polarization sensor that captures an image of the subject that is simultaneously irradiated with the light from the plurality of polarization lights. The signal separating unit separates pixel signals corresponding to each of the polarization directions from the image captured by the imaging unit and generates an image for every polarization direction. The normal line calculating unit calculates a normal line on a surface of the subject from the image for each of the polarization directions by photometric stereo. The distance estimation unit estimates the shape of the subject based on the normal line calculated by the normal line calculating unit.