Depth camera compatibility

1. An interchangeability system to enable different depth cameras to each provide usable depth imagery to a connected depth image consumer, the system comprising:

a capture module to receive a native depth image from a depth camera connected to a depth image consumer, the native depth image being unusable by the depth image consumer;

a virtualization module to convert the native depth image to a virtual depth image of reduced or modified content relative to the native depth image, the virtual depth image usable by the depth image consumer; and

an output module to output the virtual depth image to the depth image consumer.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising an initialization module configured to receive an indication of supported virtual depth camera parameters from the depth image consumer.

3. The system of claim 2 , where the indication of the supported virtual depth camera parameters specifies a view frustum of a virtual depth camera, and wherein the virtual depth image is configured as an output of the virtual depth camera.

4. The system of claim 2 , where the indication of the supported virtual depth camera parameters specifies a resolution of a virtual depth camera, and wherein the virtual depth image is configured as an output of the virtual depth camera.

5. The system of claim 2 , where the indication of the supported virtual depth camera parameters specifies a depth camera model, and wherein the virtual depth image emulates output of the depth camera model.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising an initialization module configured to generate aiming instructions to facilitate aiming the depth camera for compatibility with the depth image consumer.

7. The system of claim 6 , where the initialization module is further configured to send the aiming instructions to the depth camera.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the reduced or modified content includes a narrower or contracted field of view.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the reduced or modified content includes a lower resolution.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the capture module, the virtualization module, and the output module are implemented as part of an application programming interface.

11. A method to enable different depth cameras to each provide usable depth imagery to a connected depth image consumer, the method comprising:

receiving a native depth image from a time-of-flight depth camera connected to a depth image consumer, the depth image consumer configured for use with a structured-light depth camera, the native depth image being unusable by the depth image consumer;

converting the native depth image to a virtual depth image of reduced or modified content relative to the native depth image, the virtual depth image usable by the depth image consumer; and

outputting the virtual depth image to the depth image consumer.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising receiving an indication of supported virtual depth camera parameters specifying a view frustum of a virtual depth camera.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising receiving an indication of supported virtual depth camera parameters specifying a resolution of a virtual depth camera.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising receiving an indication of supported virtual depth camera parameters specifying a depth-camera model, and wherein converting the native depth image to the virtual depth image includes emulating an output of the depth-camera model.

15. The method of claim 11 , where converting the native depth image to the virtual depth image includes clipping a view frustum of the native depth image.

16. The method of claim 11 , where converting the native depth image to the virtual depth image includes decreasing a resolution of the native depth image.

17. A machine-readable storage device holding instructions executable by a logic device to provide an application programming interface (API) enabling different depth cameras to each provide usable depth imagery to a connected depth image consumer, the API comprising:

a capture module configured to receive a native depth image from a depth camera connected to a depth image consumer, the native depth image being unusable by the depth image consumer;

a virtualization module configured to convert the native depth image to a virtual depth image of reduced or modified content relative to the native depth image, the virtual depth image usable by the depth image consumer; and

an output module to output the virtual depth image to the depth image consumer.