Observability of Shape from Accommodation Cues
People
 A. Mennucci, S. Soatto.
References
  • On observing shape from defocused images (in Proc. of the IEEE. Conf. on Image Analysis and Processing, 1999)
  • Observability of Shape from Focus (Prof. of the IEEE Conf. on Decision and Control, 1998)
  • The Accommodation Cue in Vision, Part I: Modeling (ESSRL Technical Report, 1998).
Synopsis
 Accommodation cues are measurable properties of an image that are associated with a change in the geometry of the imaging device. Humans have long been known to exploit accommodation, along with other pictorial and parallax cues, to construct a sensory-based representation of the environment that is suited to perform tasks crucial towards survival.

There is a vast body of relevant literature relevant to Accommodation in Physics, Mathematics, Biology and Engineering; however, some of the most fundamental questions concerning accommodation cues are still unanswered: is accommodation really a cue to 3-D shape? to what extent does it allow distinguishing different shapes? do there exist provably correct and efficient algorithms to estimate shape from accommodation information, to the extent possible? do the answers to all these questions depend upon the particular imaging device used, let it be the human eye, a video camera or a microscope? 

Answering the above question is not just an academic exercise in response to a basic scientific curiosity. There are important applications, some with a vast potential impact, in the area of imaging and visualization, microscopy, image restoration, shape recognition, signal processing and communications.