APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ESTIMATING RANGE

Range or distance to points is estimated within a scene, while simultaneously imaging the scene. The range to various points within the scene is estimated by imaging at least a first color of light from the scene through an optical mask and a lens onto a CCD, and then digitally processing the first color light intensity values stored in the CCD. At least a second color of light passes through the mask essentially unchanged and is separated from the first color of light before reaching the CCD and used for imaging the scene. The optical mask is designed such that the optical system transformation matrix for the first color of light is rank deficient for a particular set of object ranges. In this way, linear functions can be found to annihilate given sampled image data at a plurality of ranges, independent of the intensity of the light received from the object. A statistical detector is used to determine the closest associated range to the actual range of the point within the scene.