Imaging apparatuses and a time of flight imaging method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016112696-A1
Application number	US-201514887400-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 20, 2015
Priority date	Oct 21, 2014
Publication date	Apr 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The imaging apparatus includes an image sensor circuit comprising a time of flight sensor pixel. The imaging apparatus further includes a first light emitter having a first spatial offset relative to the time of flight sensor pixel. The imaging apparatus further includes a second light emitter having a second spatial offset relative to the time of flight sensor pixel. The imaging apparatus further includes an image processing circuit configured to produce an image of a region of an object based on first sensor pixel image data and second sensor pixel image data generated by the time of flight sensor pixel. The first sensor pixel image data is based on received light emitted by the first light emitter and reflected at the object's region and wherein the second sensor pixel image data is based on received light emitted by the second light emitter and reflected at the object's region.

First claim

1 . An imaging apparatus, comprising:
an image sensor circuit comprising a time of flight sensor pixel; a first light emitter having a first spatial offset relative to the time of flight sensor pixel; a second light emitter having a second spatial offset relative to the time of flight sensor pixel; and an image processing circuit configured to produce an image of a region of an object based on first sensor pixel image data and second sensor pixel image data generated by the time of flight sensor pixel, wherein the first sensor pixel image data is based on received light emitted by the first light emitter and reflected at the object's region and wherein the second sensor pixel image data is based on received light emitted by the second light emitter and reflected at the object's region.

2 . The imaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first light emitter and the second light emitter are arranged at different equidistant positions relative to the image sensor circuit.

3 . The imaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first light emitter and the second light emitter are arranged symmetrically with respect to at least one axis of symmetry of the image sensor circuit.

4 . The imaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first light emitter is configured to emit light during a first time interval and the second light emitter is configured to emit light during a second time interval.

5 . The imaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first light emitter and the second light emitter are configured to simultaneously emit differently polarized light.

6 . The imaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the time of flight sensor pixel comprises a photonic mixing device configured to generate the first sensor pixel image data and the second sensor pixel image data based on a respective cross-correlation measurement based on received modulated light and a reference modulation signal.

7 . The imaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first light emitter and the second light emitter respectively comprise a light emitting portion of a light transmitter.

8 . The imaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first light emitter and the second light emitter respectively comprises one or more light emitting diodes or lasers.

9 . The imaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the image processing circuit is configured to determine first sub-image data of a first sub-region of the object's region and second sub-image data of a second sub-region of the object's region, wherein a number of sub-regions corresponds to a number of light emitters having different spatial offsets, wherein the image processing circuit is configured to determine the first sub-image data and the second sub-image data based on the first sensor pixel image data and the second sensor pixel image data.

10 . The imaging apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the image processing circuit is configured to produce the first sub-image data and the second sub-image data based on a linear combination of phase-shifted versions of the first sensor pixel image data and the second sensor pixel image data.

11 . The imaging apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the image processing circuit is configured to determine the first sub-image data based on a first linear combination of phase-shifted versions of the first sensor pixel image data and the second sensor pixel image data and to determine the second sub-image data based on a second linear combination of phase-shifted versions of the first sensor pixel image data and the second sensor pixel image data.

12 . The imaging apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the image processing circuit is configured to obtain the phase-shifted versions of the first sensor pixel image data and the second sensor pixel image data based on a combination of the first sensor pixel image data and the second sensor pixel image data with a set of time of flight offsets, wherein a first time of flight offset, of the set of time of flight offsets, is associated with the first light emitter and the first sub-region, a second time of flight offset, of the set of time of flight offsets, is associated with the first light emitter and the second sub-region, a third time of flight offset, of the set of time of flight offsets, is associated with the second light emitter and the first sub-region, and a fourth time of flight offset, of the set of time of flight offsets, is associated with the second light emitter and the second sub-region.

13 . The imaging apparatus of claim 12 , wherein
the first time of flight offset denotes an offset between a reference time of flight of received light emitted by a reference light emitter and reflected at the object's first sub-region and a time of flight of received light emitted by the first light emitter and reflected at the object's first sub-region, the second time of flight offset denotes an offset between a reference time of flight of received light emitted by the reference light emitter and reflected at the object's second sub-region and a time of flight of received light emitted by the first light emitter and reflected at the object's second sub-region, the third time of flight offset denotes an offset between the reference time of flight of received light emitted by the reference light emitter and reflected at the object's first sub-region and a time of flight of received light emitted by the second light emitter and reflected at the object's first sub-region, and the fourth time of flight offset denotes an offset between the reference time of flight of received light emitted by the reference light emitter and reflected at the object's second sub-region and a time of flight of received light emitted by the second light emitter and reflected at the object's second sub-region.

14 . The imaging apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the image processing circuit is configured to determine the first sub-image data and the second sub-image data corresponding to

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Assignees

• Infineon Technologies Ag

Inventors

• Dielacher Markus
• Flatscher Martin
• Mark Michael
• Prainsack Josef

Classifications

• G01S7/4865

  Time delay measurement, e.g. time-of-flight measurement, time of arrival measurement or determining the exact position of a peak (peak detection in noise, signal conditioning G01S7/487) · CPC title

• G01S7/4863

  Detector arrays, e.g. charge-transfer gates · CPC title

• G01S7/499

  using polarisation effects · CPC title

• G01S17/894

  Three-dimensional [3D] imaging with simultaneous measurement of time-of-flight at a two-dimensional [2D] array of receiver pixels, e.g. time-of-flight cameras or flash lidar · CPC title

• G01S7/4815

  using multiple transmitters · CPC title