Generating structured light

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10928642-B2
Application number	US-201816630918-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 18, 2018
Priority date	Jul 18, 2017
Publication date	Feb 23, 2021
Grant date	Feb 23, 2021

Abstract

Structured light projection system includes an array of light emitting devices, which is configured to emit a pattern of light. A projection lens is configured to receive and project the pattern of light from the array to a first optical element. The first optical element alters the pattern of light to generate a first emitted pattern of light that is irregular. The first emitted pattern of light is transmitted to a second optical element that is configured to receive the first pattern of light and reproduce the first emitted pattern along a second emitted pattern, which comprises multiple instances of the first emitted pattern arranged in a tiled pattern.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A structured light projection system comprising:
an array of light emitting devices that emits a pattern of light, wherein the array includes a grid of one or more individual clusters of light emitting devices, the individual clusters of light emitting devices including one or more light emitting devices arranged in a non-uniform pattern;
a first optical element configured to alter the pattern of light emitted by the array of light emitting devices to generate a first emitted pattern of light, the first emitted pattern of light being irregular; and
a second optical element configured to receive the first pattern of light generated by the first optical element and reproduce the first emitted pattern along a second emitted pattern, the second emitted pattern including multiple instances of the first emitted pattern arranged in a tiled pattern.

2. The structured light projection system of claim 1 , wherein the pattern of light emitted by the array is a regular, uniform, grid-like, undisrupted, repeated, consistent, or uniformly distributed pattern.

3. The structured light projection system of claim 1 , wherein the first emitted pattern is randomized, non-uniform, non-grid, disrupted, unevenly spaced, partially obstructed, partially blocked, or non-equally distributed.

4. The structured light projection system of claim 1 , wherein the first emitted pattern is tiled, distributed, or duplicated along the second emitted pattern.

5. The structured light projection system of claim 1 , wherein the second emitted pattern is a uniform, regular, or uniformly distributed pattern.

6. The structured light projection system of claim 1 , wherein the structured light projection system further comprises a projection lens system configured to receive the pattern of light emitted from the array and project the pattern of light to the first optical element.

7. The structured light projection system of claim 1 , wherein the tiled pattern comprises one or more adjacent instances of the first emitted pattern at least partially overlapping with one another.

8. The structured light projection system of claim 1 , wherein the light emitting devices comprise one or more VCSELs.

9. The structured light projection system of claim 1 , wherein the individual clusters of light emitting devices including one or more light emitting devices are arranged in a sequence of differing non-uniform patterns, the sequence being reproduced at least once.

10. A method of generating a structured light pattern, the method comprising:
emitting a pattern of light from an array of light emitting devices,
wherein the array includes a grid of one or more individual clusters of light emitting devices, the individual clusters of light emitting devices including one or more light emitting devices arranged in a non-uniform pattern;
receiving the pattern of light emitted from the array of light emitting devices and projecting the pattern of light with a projection lens;
altering the pattern of light emitted by the array of light emitting devices using a first optical element to generate a first emitted pattern of light, the first emitted pattern of light being irregular; and
receiving the first emitted pattern generated by the first optical element using a second optical element and reproducing the first emitted pattern along a second emitted pattern, the second emitted pattern including one or more instances of the first emitted pattern arranged in a tiled pattern.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the array includes one or more columns and one or more rows of light emitting devices are arranged generally perpendicular relative to one another.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the array includes one or more columns and one or more rows of light emitting devices, the one or more rows arranged at a non-perpendicular angle with respect to the one or more columns.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the array projects a regular pattern of a sub pattern of lights that can have one or more commonly shaped clusters in a first direction of the regular pattern and one or more differently shaped clusters in a second direction of the regular pattern.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the projection lens comprises a lens element that is telecentric on an object side of the projection lens.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first optical element is a diffractive optical element.

16. A method of creating an irregular structured light pattern from a regular array of light emitting elements, the method comprising:
generating a regular pattern of light from a VCSEL array, wherein the VCSEL array includes a grid of one or more individual clusters of VCSELs, the individual clusters of VCSELs including one or more VCSELs arranged in a non-uniform pattern;
altering the regular pattern of light emitted using a first diffractive optical element to generate an irregular representation of light; and
reproducing the irregular representation of light along multiple instances arranged relative to one another.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the irregular representation of light is reproduced using a second diffractive optical element.

18. A method of manufacturing a structured light emitting device, the method comprising:
forming an array of light emitting devices configured to emit a pattern of light, wherein the array includes a grid of one or more individual clusters of light emitting devices, the individual clusters of light emitting devices including one or more light emitting devices arranged in a non-uniform pattern;
disposing a first optical element within an illumination field of the array of lighting devices, the first optical element being configured to alter the pattern of light emitted by the array of light emitting devices to generate a first emitted pattern of light, the first emitted pattern of light being irregular; and
disposing a second optical element within an illumination path of the first emitted pattern of light, the second optical element being configured to receive the first pattern of light generated by the first optical element and reproduce the first emitted pattern along a second emitted pattern, the second emitted pattern including multiple instances of the first emitted pattern arranged in a tiled pattern.

Assignees

• Ams Sensors Singapore Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Bakin Dmitry
• Rossi Markus

Classifications

• G02B27/4277

  being separated by an air space · CPC title

• G01B11/2513 Primary

  with several lines being projected in more than one direction, e.g. grids, patterns · CPC title

• G02B27/425 Primary

  in illumination systems (mask illumination systems in photolithographic systems G03F7/70158) · CPC title

• G02B27/0905

  Dividing and/or superposing multiple light beams · CPC title

• G02B13/22

  Telecentric objectives or lens systems · CPC title