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US 10,761,188 B2Granted
Transmitter/receiver disparity for occlusion-based height estimation
AssigneeMicrovision, Inc.
InventorsP. Selvan Viswanathan, Jonathan A. Morarity, Alga Lloyd Nothern, III, Bin Xue
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A projection system emits light pulses in a field of view and measures properties of reflections. Properties may include time of flight and return amplitude. Foreground objects and background surfaces are distinguished, distances between foreground objects and background surfaces are determined based on reflections that are occluded by the foreground objects and other properties of the projection system.
Claims19
An apparatus comprising:
- a directional light transmitter to emit light pulses in a field of view;
- a first omni-directional light receiver to receive reflections of the light pulses from a foreground object and a background surface in the field of view and to measure first returned illumination data, the first returned illumination data including data representing a first occlusion region within the field of view in which light reflected off the background surface is occluded from reaching the first omni-directional light receiver by the foreground object;
- a second omni-directional light receiver to receive reflections of the light pulses from the foreground object and the background surface in the field of view and to measure second returned illumination data, the second returned illumination data including data representing a second occlusion region within the field of view in which light reflected off the background surface is occluded from reaching the second omni-directional light receiver by the foreground object;
- and
- an occlusion-based height estimation circuit to determine a distance between the foreground object and the background surface based on attributes of the first and second occlusion regions.
2 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a directional light transmitter to emit light pulses in a field of view;
- an omni-directional light receiver to receive reflections of the light pulses from a foreground object and a background surface in the field of view and to measure returned illumination data, wherein the light receiver is mounted on a structure that is movable with respect to the light transmitter to create a transmitter/receiver disparity on different axes;
- and
- an occlusion-based height estimation circuit to determine a distance between the foreground object and the background surface based on the returned illumination data, the returned illumination data including data representing an occlusion region within the field of view in which light reflected off the background surface is occluded from the receiver by the foreground object.
1 more element
A method comprising:
- emitting light pulses in a field of view from a directional light transmitter;
- receiving first light pulse reflections from a foreground object and a background surface at a first omni-directional light receiver;
- measuring at least one property of the first light pulse reflections received at the first light receiver to produce first returned illumination data, the first returned illumination data including data representing a first occlusion region within the field of view in which light reflected off the background surface is occluded from the first light receiver by the foreground object;
- receiving second light pulse reflections from the foreground object and the background surface at a second omni-directional light receiver;
- measuring at least one property of the second light pulse reflections received at the second light receiver to produce second returned illumination data, the second returned illumination data including data representing a second occlusion region within the field of view in which light reflected off the background surface is occluded from the second light receiver by the foreground object;
- and
- estimating a distance between the foreground object and the background surface based on attributes of the first and second occlusion regions.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.