Method and Apparatus for Motion-Coded Imaging

Conventional imaging technologies often struggle with achieving high-resolution and wide-field-of-view imaging simultaneously. This challenge is compounded when high sensitivity is required, making it difficult to effectively capture scenes. There's a requirement for systems that can successfully combine these aspects for a better imaging experience. Current systems often rely on large amounts of data storage and costly sensor arrays to achieve high-resolution and wide-field-of-view images, presenting significant limitations in affordability and data management. Furthermore, most existing systems do not use the principle of spatial filtering, missing the opportunity to maximize image resolution and sensitivity.

Technology Description

The present invention is an imaging apparatus and process that facilitates high-resolution, extensive field-of-view, and high-sensitivity imaging. This camera system works on the principle of movement of an optical element, such as a spatial filtering mask or even the camera, to apply different spatial filtering functions to a scene needing imaging. The features of the spatial filtering mask implementing the filtering functions are adjacent along an axis of the mask, and the pitch of these features is smaller than the pitch of the sensor elements. This technology is differentiated by its use of an imaging reconstructor aware of the filtering functions. This reconstructor can generate a high-resolution image from the corresponding low-resolution coded imaging data captured by the imaging system. This approach offers notable benefits over conventional high-resolution, wide-field imaging, including the ability to utilize large-pitch, more cost-effective sensor arrays and consequently to transfer and store substantially less data.