Miniature long range imaging engine with auto-focus, auto-zoom, and auto-illumination system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11790197-B2
Application number	US-202117498421-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 11, 2021
Priority date	Oct 11, 2021
Publication date	Oct 17, 2023
Grant date	Oct 17, 2023

Abstract

Methods and systems to implement a miniature long range imaging engine with auto-focus, auto-zoom, and auto-illumination are disclosed herein. An example method includes detecting, by a microprocessor, a presence of an aim light pattern within the FOV; determining, by the microprocessor and in response to the detecting, a target distance of an object in the FOV based on a position of the aim light pattern in the FOV, the target distance being a distance from the imaging engine to the object; causing, by the microprocessor, a variable focus optical element to focus on the object based on the target distance; responsive to making a first determination, by the microprocessor, selecting, based on the target distance, one of a plurality of zoom operation modes; and responsive to making a second determination, by the microprocessor, selecting, based on the target distance, one of a plurality of illumination modes.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for range finding and for detecting and imaging objects using an imaging engine having an imaging assembly having a field of view (FOV), the method comprising:
detecting, by a microprocessor, a presence of an aim light pattern within the FOV;
determining, by the microprocessor and in response to the detecting, a target distance of an object in the FOV based on a position of the aim light pattern in the FOV, the target distance being a distance from the imaging engine to the object;
causing, by the microprocessor, a variable focus optical element to focus on the object based on the target distance;
responsive to making a first determination, by the microprocessor, selecting, based on the target distance, one of a plurality of zoom operation modes; and
responsive to making a second determination, by the microprocessor, selecting, based on the target distance, one of a plurality of illumination modes.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of zoom operation modes includes at least two of: (i) an image binning mode, (ii) an image cropping mode, and (iii) an image interleaving mode.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein selecting one of the plurality of zoom operation modes includes:
responsive to determining the target distance to be less than a lower threshold value, selecting the image binning mode;
responsive to determining the target distance to be greater than an upper threshold value, selecting the image cropping mode; and
responsive to determining the target distance to be between the lower threshold value and the upper threshold value, selecting the image interleaving mode.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the lower threshold value is at most 12 inches and the upper threshold value is at least 24 inches.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of illumination operation modes includes at least two of: (i) a power saving mode, (ii) a near illumination mode, and (iii) a far illumination mode.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein selecting one of the plurality of illumination operation modes includes:
responsive to determining the target distance to be less than a lower threshold value, selecting the power saving mode;
responsive to determining the target distance to be greater than an upper threshold value, selecting the far illumination mode; and
responsive to determining the target distance to be between the lower threshold value and the upper threshold value, selecting the near illumination mode.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the lower threshold value is at most 24 inches and the upper threshold value is at least 24 inches.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the microprocessor transmits a signal to cause the imaging engine to change to one of the plurality of illumination operation modes after a predetermined delay period elapses after making the determination.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the microprocessor changes to a different one of the plurality of illumination operation modes during the predetermined delay period, further comprising:
changing the signal based on the different one of the plurality of illumination operation modes before transmitting the signal; and
resetting the predetermined delay period in response to the updating.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the variable focus optical element is a ball-bearing motor lens.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the object is a barcode, further comprising:
cropping a region of interest (ROI) including the barcode; and
decoding the barcode.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying, to a user, the target distance on a display communicatively coupled to the microprocessor.

13. An imaging engine for range finding and detecting objects, the imaging engine having an imaging assembly having a field of view (FOV) and comprising:
a variable focus optical element disposed along an optical axis to receive light from an object;
an imaging sensor disposed along the optical axis to receive light from the variable focus optical element;
a digital zoom module configured to modify an image received from the imaging sensor;
an aiming module configured to generate and direct an aim light pattern;
an illumination module configured to provide first illumination along a first illumination axis and second illumination along a second illumination axis, the second illumination axis not coaxial with the first illumination axis; and
a microprocessor and computer-readable media storing machine readable instructions that, when executed, cause the imaging engine to:
detect a presence of the aim light pattern in the FOV;
responsive to the detecting, determine a target distance of the object in the FOV based on a position of the aim light pattern in the FOV, the target distance being a distance from the imaging engine to the object;
responsive to making a first determination, select, based on the target distance, one of a plurality of zoom operation modes; and
responsive to making a second determination, select, based on the target distance, one of a plurality of illumination operation modes;

wherein the variable focus optical element, the digital zoom module, the aiming module, and the illumination module are communicatively coupled to the microprocessor.

14. The imaging engine of claim 13 , wherein selecting one of the plurality of zoom operation modes includes:
responsive to determining the target distance to be less than a lower threshold, selecting an image binning mode;
responsive to determining the target distance to be greater than an upper threshold value, selecting an image cropping mode; and
responsive to determining the target distance to be between the lower threshold value and the upper threshold value, selecting an image interleaving mode.

15. The imaging engine of claim 14 , wherein the digital zoom module is configured to, responsive to selecting the image binning mode, bin pixels of the image using at least one of: 2×2 pixel binning, 3×3 pixel binning, or 4×4 pixel binning.

16. The imaging engine of claim 14 , wherein the digital zoom module is configured to, responsive to selecting the image cropping mode, crop a portion of the image sized to at least one quarter of the image.

17. The imaging engine of claim 13 , wherein the digital zoom module receives the image with a resolution of at least 3 megapixels and zooms on the image with a resolution in a range of 0.5 to 2 megapixels.

18. The imaging engine of claim 13 , wherein selecting one of the plurality of illumination modes includes:
responsive to determining the target distance to be less than a lower threshold, selecting reduced power mode;
responsive to determining the target distance to be greater than an upper threshold value, selecting a far illumination mode; and
responsive to determining the target distance to be between the lower threshold value and the upper threshold value, selecting a near illumination mode.

19. The imaging engine of claim 13 , wherein selecting the zoom operation mode includes:
responsive to determining the target distance to be less than a first lower threshold, selecting an image binning mode;
responsive to determining the target distance to be greater than a first upper threshold value, selecting an image cropping mode; and
responsive to determining the target distance to be between the first lower threshold value and the first upper threshold value, selecting an image interleaving mode; and
wherein selecting the illumination operation mode includes:
responsive to det

Assignees

• Zebra Tech Corp

Inventors

• Gurevich Vladimir
• Brock Christopher W
• Shi David Tsi
• Goren David P
• Wittenberg Carl D

Classifications

• H04N23/69

  Control of means for changing angle of the field of view, e.g. optical zoom objectives or electronic zooming · CPC title

• H04N23/671

  in combination with active ranging signals, e.g. using light or sound signals emitted toward objects · CPC title

• H04N23/667

  Camera operation mode switching, e.g. between still and video, sport and normal or high- and low-resolution modes · CPC title

• H04N23/633

  for displaying additional information relating to control or operation of the camera · CPC title

• H04N23/56

  provided with illuminating means · CPC title