Abstract: A method for analyzing and optimizing the prism based singlelens stereovision system was proposed so that the pictures captured by this system were adequate for the application of stereovision. The stereovision system was firstly analyzed from the standpoint of system setup and parameters selection. Then a mathematical method was introduced to calculate the FOV of the prism based singlelens stereovision system. The proposed method used line in space to show rectilinear propagation of light. The vector calculation method of the refraction of light theorem was used to solve the equation of the straight line through the prism in order to determine FOV. By adding some restricted condition， the area of FOV was redefined and a detailed connection between FOV and capture picture was given to obtain the appropriate image pair for stereovision.

Key words: singlelens stereovision, prism, FOV, system parameters, optimization