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US 12,597,103 B2Granted
Filtering device, associated system and method
AssigneeSTMicroelectronics (Grenoble 2) SAS
InventorsCedric Tubert, Jeremie Teyssier, Gregory Roffet, Stephane Drouard
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method includes: receiving data signals from a plurality of pixels of an array of pixels; generating a plurality of signal-to-noise ratios by determining signal-to-noise ratios for each respective pixel of the plurality of pixels on the basis of the data signals received from the respective pixel; and filtering the data signals received from each pixel of the plurality of pixels by using an adaptive filter configured on the basis of the plurality of the signal-to-noise ratios to generate filtered data signals.
Claims17
A system comprising:
- a time-of-flight (ToF) sensor comprising a plurality of pixels, wherein each of the plurality of pixels is configured to generate a respective data signal, wherein data signals generated by the plurality of pixels represent an image captured by the ToF sensor;
- and
- a data filtering device coupled to the ToF sensor, wherein the data filtering device is configured to, for each data signal from a respective pixel of the plurality of pixels, generate a respective output signal for the data signal, wherein the data filtering device is configured to generate output signals by filtering the data signals based on signal-to-noise ratios of the data signals, wherein the output signals generated by the data filtering device represent the image with reduced noise, wherein the data filtering device comprises:
- a calculating module configured to calculate the signal-to-noise ratio for each data signal from the respective pixel;
- and
- an adaptive filter configured to calculate the respective output signal for each data signal based at least on the data signal from the respective pixel, the signal-to-noise ratio of the data signal, and a first plurality of data signals from pixels within a pre-determined window around the respective pixel, wherein the adaptive filter is configured to calculate the respective output signal for each data signal by computing a weighted average of the data signal and the first plurality of data signals when the signal-to-noise ratio of the data signal is above a first threshold, wherein weighting coefficients used in calculation of the weighted average are determined on the basis of the signal-to-noise ratio of the data signal and the signal-to-noise ratios of the first plurality of data signals and on the basis of data coefficients calculated based on the data signal and the first plurality of data signals.
3 more elements
A system comprising:
- a time-of-flight (ToF) sensor comprising a plurality of pixels, wherein the plurality of pixels are configured to generate data signals representing an image captured by the ToF sensor;
- and
- a data filtering device coupled to the ToF sensor, wherein the data filtering device is configured to generate output signals by filtering the data signals based on signal-to-noise ratios of the data signals, wherein the output signals generated by the data filtering device represent the image with reduced noise, wherein the data filtering device comprises:
- a calculating module configured to calculate the signal-to-noise ratios for the data signals;
- and
- an adaptive filter configured to calculate an output signal for each data signal from a respective pixel of the plurality of pixels based on the data signal, a first plurality of data signals from pixels within a pre-determined window around the respective pixel, and one or more calculated signal-to-noise ratios, wherein the adaptive filter is configured to calculate the output signal by computing a weighted average of the data signal and the first plurality of data signals when the signal-to-noise ratio of the data signal is above a first threshold, wherein weighting coefficients used in calculating the weighted average are determined by the signal-to-noise ratio of the data signal and the signal-to-noise ratios of the first plurality of data signals and determined by data coefficients calculated based on the data signal and the first plurality of data signals.
3 more elements
A system comprising:
- a time-of-flight (ToF) sensor comprising a plurality of pixels, wherein the plurality of pixels are configured to generate data signals representing an image captured by the ToF sensor;
- and
- a data filtering device coupled to the ToF sensor, wherein the data filtering device is configured to generate output signals by filtering the data signals based on signal-to-noise ratios of the data signals, wherein the output signals generated by the data filtering device represent the image with reduced noise, wherein the data filtering device comprises:
- a calculating module configured to calculate the signal-to-noise ratios for the data signals;
- an adaptive filter configured to calculate an output signal for each data signal generated by a respective pixel of the plurality of pixels based on the data signal, a first plurality of data signals from pixels within a pre-determined window around the respective pixel, and one or more calculated signal-to-noise ratios, wherein when the signal-to-noise ratio of the data signal is higher than a first threshold, the adaptive filter is configured to calculate the output signal by computing a weighted average of the data signal and the first plurality of data signals, wherein weighting coefficients used in calculating the weighted average are determined by the signal-to-noise ratio of the data signal, the signal-to-noise ratios of the first plurality of data signals, and data coefficients calculated based on the data signal and the first plurality of data signals;
- and
- a selection module configured to select the pre-determined window around the respective pixel.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.