High-definition real-time depth-mapping TV camera: HDTV axi-vision camera

We have developed a field-worthy, high-definition, real-time depth-mapping television camera called the HDTV Axi-Vision Camera. The camera can simultaneously capture both an ordinary HDTV color image and a depth image of objects on more than 1280 x 720 pixels at a frame rate of 29.97 Hz, or on 853 x 480 pixels at a frame rate of 59.94 Hz. The number of detectable pixels per unit time was increased by about 5 times that of the prototype camera by improving the sensitivity and resolution of the depth-mapping camera. Short video clips demonstrate how depth information from the camera can be used to create a virtual image in actual television program production. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.