Controllable optical sensing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9518864-B2
Application number	US-201214364727-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 13, 2012
Priority date	Dec 15, 2011
Publication date	Dec 13, 2016
Grant date	Dec 13, 2016

Abstract

An optical sensing device for using light to locate objects or features in a field of view comprises a light source; a controllable lens having two states and being controllable between them, for example a multifocal lens having two or more foci for focusing light from the light source; and a sensor able to sense light reflected from an object, to determine information of the object. The use of two or more foci adds dynamic range to optical sensing to allow for reliable detection over a wide range of distances.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical sensing device comprising:
a light source;
a multi-focal lens having a plurality of foci configured to focus light from the light source into a space at a plurality of focal points related to the plurality of foci, wherein the multi-focal lens comprises a lens surface shaped to provide an apodized surface function;
a sensor configured to sense focused light of the light source reflected from an object in the space to sense the object or features of the object; and
an adjustable shutter placed in relation to the multi-focal lens configured to be altered for controlling amounts of light from the light source falling over different regions of the shaped surface of the multi-focal lens to vary amounts of energy of light at the plurality of focal points.

2. The optical sensing device of claim 1 , further comprising a light structuring unit for adding structure to light of the light source, for recognition by the optical sensing device.

3. The optical sensing device of claim 1 , wherein the space is a three-dimensional space and the plurality of foci comprises foci at two different distances.

4. The optical sensing device of claim 3 , wherein one of the plurality of foci is a focus at infinity.

5. The optical sensing device of claim 2 , wherein the light structuring unit is one member of the group consisting of a diffractive pattern generator, an amplitude mask, a phase mask, and a patterned film.

6. The optical sensing device of claim 1 , wherein the multi-focal lens is a diffractive lens having diffractive steps, each step having a height, and wherein respective heights are varied over the surface to provide the apodized surface function.

7. The optical sensing device of claim 1 , wherein the adjustable shutter is altered to provide a beam expansion setup of the optical sensing device.

8. An optical sensing method comprising:
shining light from a light source on a multi-focal lens having a plurality of foci configured to focus light from the light source into a space at a plurality of focal points related to the plurality of foci, wherein the multi-focal lens comprises a lens surface shaped to provide an apodized surface function;
sensing focused light of the light source reflected from an object in the space to sense the object or features of the object; and
controlling amounts of light from the light source falling over different regions of the shaped surface of the multi-focal lens to vary amounts of energy of light at the plurality of focal points.

9. The optical sensing method of claim 8 , further comprising adding structure to light of the light source for sensing the focused light of the light source reflected from the object.

10. The optical sensing method of claim 8 , wherein the multi-focal lens is a diffractive lens having diffractive steps, each step having a height, and wherein respective heights are varied over the surface to provide the apodized surface function.

11. The optical sensing method of claim 8 , further comprising
directing light from the light source sequentially between the different regions of the shaped surface.

12. The optical sensing method of claim 8 , wherein one of the plurality of foci is at infinity.

Assignees

• Oculus Vr Llc
• Facebook Inc

Inventors

• Grossinger Nadav
• Romano Nitay
• Gratch Arnon

Classifications

• G01S17/46 Primary

  Indirect determination of position data · CPC title

• G02B27/4205

  having a diffractive optical element [DOE] contributing to image formation, e.g. whereby modulation transfer function MTF or optical aberrations are relevant · CPC title

• G02B5/1876

  Diffractive Fresnel lenses; Zone plates; Kinoforms (G02B5/1842, G02B5/1847 take precedence; optical systems having diffractive correction means G02B27/0037; Fresnel lenses operating by refraction G02B3/08) · CPC title

• G02B27/58

  Optics for apodization or superresolution; Optical synthetic aperture systems · CPC title

• G01N21/55

  Specular reflectivity · CPC title