Range sensing by projecting multi-slits with random cuts

A method is described for acquiring range data by projecting a single pattern of multiple slits. To obtain three-dimensional data by projecting a single pattern, certain codes for identifying each slit must be contained in the pattern. In addition, if the characteristics of the code embedded in the pattern are not affected by the change of relations between a position of a camera and that of a pattern projector, arbitrariness in positions of both the camera and the projector can be allowed. Random dots are used to identify each slit. The random dots are given as randomly distributed cuts on each slit. Thus, each slit is divided into many small line segments, and, using these segments as features, stereo matching is carried out to obtain three-dimensional data. Using adjacent relations among slit segments, segment pairs, whose adjacent segments also correspond to each other, are extracted and considered to be correct matches. From the resultant matches, the correspondence is propagated by utilizing the adjacency relationships to get an entire range image