Segmentation and range sensing using a moving-aperture lens

This paper is concerned with the use of a novel motorized lens to perform segmentation of image sequences. The lens has the effect of introducing small, repeating movements of the camera center, so that objects appear to translate in the image by an amount that depends on distance from the plane of focus. For a stationary scene, optical flow magnitudes and direction are therefore directly related to three-dimensional object distance from the observer. We describe a segmentation-procedure that exploits these controlled observer movements, and we present experimental results that demonstrate the successful extraction of objects at different depths. Potential applications of this approach include video compression, compositing, and passive range sensing.