Apparatus and method for obtaining image

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017122731-A1
Application number	US-201615081407-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 25, 2016
Priority date	Oct 29, 2015
Publication date	May 4, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

An apparatus and method for obtaining a depth image are provided. The apparatus may include a light source configured to emit first light to a first region of an object for a first time period and emit second light to a second region of the object for a second time period, the first light and the second light respectively being reflected from the first region and the second region; and an image obtainer configured to obtain a first partial depth image based on the reflected first light, obtain a second partial depth image based on the reflected second light, and obtain a first depth image of the object based on the first partial depth image and the second partial depth image.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus for obtaining an image, the apparatus comprising:
a light source configured to emit first light to a first region of an object for a first time period and emit second light to a second region of the object for a second time period, the first light and the second light being reflected from the first region and the second region, respectively; and an image obtainer configured to obtain a first partial depth image based on the reflected first light, obtain a second partial depth image based on the reflected second light, and obtain a first depth image of the object based on the first partial depth image and the second partial depth image.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least parts of the first time period and the second time period do not overlap each other.

3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the second time period is subsequent to the first time period.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first time period is less than a reciprocal of a reference frame rate of an image sensor included in the image obtainer.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first time period is less than or equal to a value obtained by multiplying a ratio of a size of the first region to a size of the object by a reciprocal of a reference frame rate.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein an amount of the first light emitted to the first region is greater than a reference amount of light.

7 . The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the amount of the first light emitted to the first region is greater than or equal to a value obtained by multiplying a ratio of a size of the object to a size of the first region by the reference amount of light.

8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least parts of the first region and the second region do not overlap each other.

9 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the first region is an upper region of the object, and the second region is a lower region of the object.

10 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first light emitted from the light source comprises a plurality of pieces of light with different phases.

11 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein a phase difference between adjacent two pieces of light from among the plurality of pieces of light is 90°.

12 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first partial depth image is obtained from a plurality of partial images with different phases.

13 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the light source is further configured to emit third light to the first region of the object for a third time period, the third light being reflected from the first region, and
the image obtainer is further configured to obtain a third partial depth image of the first region based on the reflected third light, and obtain a second depth image of the object based on the second partial depth image and the third partial depth image.

14 . The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein at least parts of the second time period and the third time period do not overlap each other.

15 . The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the third time period is subsequent to the second time period.

16 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein a time interval exists between the second time period and the third time period.

17 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the image obtainer comprises:
an image sensor configured to obtain a plurality of first partial images based on the first light reflected from the first region and obtain a plurality of second partial images based on the second light reflected from the second region; and a processor configured to obtain the first partial depth image from the plurality of first partial images, obtain the second partial depth image from the plurality of second partial images, and obtain the first depth image of the object based on the first partial depth image and the second partial depth image.

18 . The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the image sensor is further configured to modulate a plurality of pieces of the reflected first light into signals with different gain waveforms.

19 . A method of obtaining an image, the method comprising:
emitting first light to a first region of an object for a first time period, the first light being reflected from the first region; emitting second light to a second region of the object for a second time period, the second light being reflected from the second region; obtaining a first partial depth image based on the reflected first light; obtaining a second partial depth image based on the reflected second light; and obtaining a first depth image of the object based on the first partial depth image and the second partial depth image.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein at least parts of the first time period and the second time period do not overlap each other.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the second time period is subsequent to the first time period.

22 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the first time period is less than a reciprocal of a reference frame rate of an image sensor configured to receive the reflected first light and the reflected second light.

23 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the first time is less than or equal to a value obtained by multiplying a ratio of a size of the first region to a size of the object by the reciprocal of the reference frame rate.

24 . The method of claim 19 , wherein an amount of the light emitted to the first region is greater than a reference amount of light.

25 . The method of claim 24 , wherein the amount of the light emitted to the first region is greater than or equal to a value obtained by multiplying a ratio of a size of the object to a size of the first region by the reference amount of light.

26 . The method of claim 19 , wherein at least parts of the first region and the second region do not overlap each other.

27 . The method of claim 26 , wherein the first region is an upper region of the object and the second region is a lower region of the object.

28 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the emitting the first light comprises emitting a plurality of pieces of the first light to the first region, and the plurality of pieces of the first light have different phases from each other.

29 . The method of claim 28 , wherein a phase difference between adjacent two pieces of light from among the plurality of pieces of light is 90°.

30 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
emitting third light to the first region of the object for a third time period, the third light being reflected from the first region; obtaining a third partial depth image of the first region based on the reflected third light reflected; and obtaining a second depth image of the object based on the second partial depth image and the third partial depth image.

31 . The method of claim 30 , wherein at least parts of the second time period and the third time period do not overlap each other.

32 . The method of claim 31 , wherein the third time period is subsequent to the second time period.

33 . The method of claim 31 , wherein a time interval exists between the second time period and the third time period.

34 . A method of obtaining an image by a depth image sensor, the method comprising:
altern

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• You Jangwoo
• Park Yonghwa
• Yoon Heesun
• Jeon Myungjae

Classifications

• G01C3/08 Primary

  Use of electric radiation detectors · 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

• G01S17/89

  for mapping or imaging · CPC title

• G01S17/36 Primary

  with phase comparison between the received signal and the contemporaneously transmitted signal · CPC title