Distance image capturing device, distance image capturing system, and distance image capturing method

A method for distance image capturing, the method comprising:

• a emitting a light pulse into a space that is an imaging target at a predetermined period;
• generating electric charge corresponding to incident light and accumulating the electric charge and dividing and accumulating the electric charge in synchronization of emission of the light pulse in a two-dimensional matrix pattern;
• acquiring a distance from a subject present in the space that is an imaging target on the basis of an electric charge amount accumulated in a measurement time interval in which accumulation of the electric charge is executed a predetermined number of electric charge division instances;
• and
• changing a length of the accumulation period such that there is no change in the length of the measurement time interval before and after change of the length of the accumulation period that is a period in which the electric charge is accumulated.

A method for distance image capturing, the method comprising:

• emitting a light pulse into a space that is an imaging target at a predetermined period;
• generating electric charge corresponding to incident light and accumulating the electric charge and dividing and accumulating the electric charge in synchronization of emission of the light pulse in a two-dimensional matrix pattern;
• acquiring a distance from a subject present in the space that is an imaging target on the basis of an electric charge amount accumulated in a measurement time interval in which accumulation of the electric charge is executed a predetermined number of electric charge division instances;
• and
• acquiring timing information to control an accumulation timing at which the electric charge capturing and the accumulation timing do not overlap each other with respect to time.

A distance image capturing method comprising:

• a process of emitting an intermittent light pulse into a space that is an imaging target at a predetermined period;
• a light receiving process of receiving light in which a plurality of pixels each generating electric charge corresponding to incident light and accumulating the electric charge and dividing and accumulating the electric charge at a predetermined accumulation timing are arranged in a two-dimensional matrix pattern;
• a distance image processing process of acquiring a distance from a subject present in the space that is an imaging target on the basis of an electric charge amount accumulated in a measurement time interval in which the light pulse is emitted in synchronization with the accumulation timing;
• and
• a timing determining process of determining the accumulation timing in the measurement time interval on the basis of an electric charge amount in an inspection time interval in which the light pulse is not emitted at the accumulation timing.