Systems and methods for performing high speed video capture and depth estimation using array cameras

Abstract

High speed video capture and depth estimation using array cameras is disclosed. Real world scenes typically include objects located at different distances from a camera. Therefore, estimating depth during video capture by an array camera can result in smoother rendering of video from image data captured of real world scenes. One embodiment of the invention includes cameras that capture images from different viewpoints, and an image processing pipeline application that obtains images from groups of cameras, where each group of cameras starts capturing image data at a staggered start time relative to the other groups of cameras. The application then selects a reference viewpoint and determines scene-dependent geometric corrections that shift pixels captured from an alternate viewpoint to the reference viewpoint by performing disparity searches to identify the disparity at which pixels from the different viewpoints are most similar. The corrections can then be used to render frames of video.