Range from translational motion blurring

Lateral camera motion produces image blur inversely proportional to object range. Such an image, coupled with an unblurred image of the same scene (designated a blur-acute pair), has been studied to determine its usefulness for object ranging. It is demonstrated that a straightforward deconvolution process yields range when the scene is isoplanatic or can be approximated by a set of isoplanatic patches. It is also shown that a blur-acute pair contains more information than a stereo pair, permitting solutions in situations that are ambiguous for binocular stereo. A rotating mirror scheme is discussed which is capable of producing controlled lateral motion blur without the need for motion of the camera itself