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NvidiaGranted patentAI & softwareInterest 6/10

Nvidia patents method to measure depth from cameras with different lenses

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

Nvidia describes a system that measures how far away objects are using images from cameras that have different lens properties. It converts the image data into a format that ignores these lens differences, allowing a neural network to calculate distance accurately.

Why it mattersThis could help self-driving cars or robots use a mix of standard and specialized cameras to see their surroundings more reliably.

In the filing’s own words

Apparatuses, systems, and techniques of identifying one or more distances to one or more objects. In at least one embodiment, one or more distances to one or more objects are identified based, at least in part on one or more first optical rays of a first image depicting an objects and one or more second optical rays a second images depicting the object. In at least one embodiment, one or more machine learning processes (e.g., neural network(s)) are used to identify a correspondence ray to determine distances to one or more objects.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A processor, comprising: one or more circuits to: obtain image data depicting one or more objects from two or more image sources having different optical or lens characteristics; sample portions of a virtual spherical surface based, at least in part, on the obtained image data and data representing the different optical or lens characteristics to generate encodings of rays corresponding to one or more pixels of the image data from the two or more image sources, wherein the ray-based encodings are generated to be invariant to the different optical or lens characteristics; and use one or more neural networks to identify one or more distances to the one or more objects based, at least in part, on the encodings of rays input to the one or more neural networks.

Facts

Company
Nvidia (NVIDIA Corporation)
Official title
Camera invariant depth estimation
Patent number
US12749211B1
Application number
18405273
Filed
Jan 5, 2024
Granted
Sep 29, 2026
Inventors
5
Claims
17

Classified under

G06T 7/593 Physics & computingG06T 7/70 Physics & computingH04N 13/128 Electricity & electronicsH04N 13/232 Electricity & electronicsH04N 13/268 Electricity & electronicsG06T 2207/10028 Physics & computing
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.