Systems and methods for acquiring information from an environment

1. A system for acquiring information from an environment, comprising:

(a) a light source for generating at least one beam forming a structured light pattern;

(b) a first optical setup having at least one lens for distorting said structured light pattern into a distorted light pattern projectable onto an environment, said at least one lens is selected to have an angle of view required for covering, by said distorted light pattern, an interior of a vehicle cabin, when projected inside said vehicle cabin and to generate a pre-determined shape of distorted light pattern; and

(c) a second optical setup for converting an original view returned from said environment and comprising said distorted light pattern deformed by at least one surface of said environment into a corrected image in which said shape of distorted light pattern is corrected to a corrected pattern.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein said first optical setup converts said at least one beam into said structured light pattern and distorts said structured light pattern to generate said distorted light pattern.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein said corrected pattern is substantially identical to said structured light pattern.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein said distorted light pattern has a larger angle of view than a projection angle of said structured light pattern.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein said angle of view of said distorted light pattern is between 50 and 220 degrees.

6. The system of claim 2 , wherein said structured light pattern is radially distorted into said distorted light pattern.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein said at least one lens includes a first fisheye lens.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein said second optical setup includes a second fisheye lens; wherein said first fisheye lens and/or said second fisheye are afocal.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein said second optical setup includes a second fisheye lens, wherein optical characteristics of said second fisheye lens are substantially identical to that of said first fisheye lens.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein said first optical setup includes a diffractive optical element (DOE); wherein said DOE is positioned in an aperture plane of said first fisheye lens.

11. The system of claim 1 , further comprising an imaging sensor for capturing said corrected image generated by said second optical setup.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein said imaging sensor is configured for in-focus mapping of a speckle field formed on said surface.

13. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a processing unit for deriving at least one of contour, depth and surface vibration information from said corrected light pattern.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein said at least one beam has a wavelength longer than 800 nm.

15. The system of claim 1 , configured for mounting inside a vehicle; further comprising a processor capable of analyzing said corrected image to derive at least one of a vehicle occupant count, position and movement of occupants, posture of occupants, head and body parts position, activities of occupants, driver monitoring, presence of infant seats and their occupancy status and presence of objects on the seats, an intruder in said vehicle, forgotten infants or pets in said vehicle.

16. A system for acquiring information from an environment, comprising:

(a) a light source for generating a at least one beam; and

(b) an optical setup including a first optical component for converting said at least one beam into a structured light pattern and a second optical component having at least one lens for distorting said structured light pattern into a distorted light pattern projectable onto an environment, said at least one lens of said second optical component is selected to have an angle of view required for covering, by said distorted light pattern, an interior of a vehicle cabin, when projected inside said vehicle cabin and to generate a pre-determined shape of distorted light pattern,

wherein said distorted light pattern has a wider a projection angle of than said structured light pattern.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein said angle of view of said distorted light pattern is at least 4 times that of a projection angle of said structured light pattern.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein said distorted light pattern covers half of a sphere 1-2.5 meter in radius.

19. The system of claim 16 , wherein said distortion is radial.

20. The system of claim 16 , wherein said first optical component includes a diffractive optical element (DOE) and said second optical component includes an afocal fisheye lens; wherein said distorted light pattern is projected at an angle of 50-220 degrees.

21. A method for acquiring information from an environment, comprising:

(a) generating at least one beam by a light source;

(b) converting said at least one beam into a distorted light pattern projectable onto an environment, said distortion is generated according to a pre-determined shape of distorted light pattern; and

(c) converting an original view returned from said environment and comprising said distorted light pattern deformed by at least one surface of said environment into a corrected image in which said pre-determined shape of distorted light pattern is corrected to a corrected pattern;

wherein said distorted light pattern is generated to have an angle of view required for covering an interior of a vehicle cabin, when projected inside said vehicle cabin.