Generation of uniquely encoded light patterns for range data acquisition

A method is presented for generating an encoded pattern which may be used for a special structured lighting system. This pattern consists of a matrix of colored circles which is projected onto a scene by backlighting. A single camera is used to image the projected colored light beams, and range data for the object are obtained. Because the light pattern is encoded, the correspondence between the projected beams from the pattern and imaged beams is easily determined, and hence range data may be solved for quickly. Further, this method may be used in dynamic environments.