DEPTH-OF-FOCUS IMAGING PROCESS METHOD

An improved-focus 2-D image is derived from an assemblage of M separately focused 2-D images of the same 3-D scene by (1) employing the Burt Pyramid image analyzing technique to separately analyze each of the M separately focused images into N similar sets of pixel samples, (2) selecting, on a pixel-by-pixel basis from each group of M corresponding sets of the assemblage, the best focused pixel, to derive a single analyzed image of N sets of improved-focus pixels, and (3) employing the Burt Pyramid image synthesizing technique to synthesize the improved-focus 2-D image from the single analyzed image of N sets.