The dedicated companion LSI of the “TCM9518MD” measures and appends depth data to objects in the image. These data can be used for a wide variety of applications, including focus and defocus, and even to extract and erase objects from the picture. Used in combination with customers’ applications, the module supports the creation of new functions.
The companion LSI generates 13MP images by upscaling images taken by the twin 5MP cameras, realizing a lower module height than that of conventional 13MP camera modules. The TCM9518MD brings high resolution and computational camera functionalities to the CMOS image sensor market for smartphones, tablets and mobile devices.
The pixel size is 1.4um and the camera module measures 8.0 x 12.0 x 4.65 mm according to the PR (or 18 (W) × 12 (D) × 4.65 (H) mm according to the company's product page):
Dimensions are actually 18.0 x 12.0 x 4.65 mm (not 8 x 12 x 4.65mm).
ReplyDeleteActually, I copied this from the PR. Now I see that Toshiba's product page shows 18 instead of 8. Thank you for the correction, I've added it to the post!
DeleteIf it's fixed focus and it has to otherwise registration is not possible then the minimal working distance will be too high for mobile as the blur at close distances will be bad. That's why they invented AF
ReplyDeleteFor reliable depth you need more than 2 cameras to cover horizontal and vertical parallax. Using stereo gives very lousy results. I doubt it can be used for depth of field post capture manipulations
ReplyDeleteWhere do you get the idea that both horizontal and vertical disparity need to be extracted in order to get good depth? The human visual system seems to do fine just extracting only horizontal disparity. In reality, it is rare for a spot in the scene to contain disparity purely in one direction. There are existing solutions that only use only stereo to capture depth with good results. Toshiba's is just a more compact solution than anything else on the market. Dozens of papers have been written on this topic.
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