Pelican Imaging has announced that it has developed the first prototype array camera for mobile devices.
Pelican Imaging has developed a computational camera array architecture and fundamental intellectual property with 12 pending patent applications in array optics, sensors and image reconstruction algorithms.
Pelican’s camera improves upon image and video quality while allowing for thinner smartphones. New applications are also enabled by introducing features such as 3-D depth, gesture control, and the ability for users to interact with the image before and after capturing the shot.
Features
# Ability for users to interact with the image before and after capturing the shot
# It allows users to adjust the focus to sharpen or blur one part of the image.
# It also allows digital image processing techniques like foveal imaging – where image resolution varies according to fixation points – and programmable frame rates.
“We have been investigating these aspects of computational photography in our laboratory at Stanford for a number of years, through the Stanford Multi-Camera Array, which is big, slow and expensive,” says Professor Marc Levoy of Stanford University.
What Pelican has developed represents a paradigm shift in imaging and video that has the potential to overcome many of the inherent limitations of mobile cameras,” said Professor Shree Nayar of Columbia University. “Pelican’s expertise in optics, architecture and software algorithms uniquely positions the company to bring computational imaging applications to the mass market.”
Pelican Imaging has so far raised $7 Million in Series A Financing and $10 Million in Series B Financing for the product.
