Methods and apparatus to generate three dimensional (3D) point clouds based on spatiotemporal light patterns

A controller comprising:

• memory configurable to store instructions;
• and
• processor circuitry coupled to the memory, the processor circuitry configurable to execute the instructions to:
• determine a series of light patterns, each light pattern of the series of light patterns determined based on a different spatial arrangement of light pattern tiles, each comprised of an array of pixels, wherein among any two light pattern tiles, there are a greater number of correspondingly located pixels having different values than correspondingly located pixels having the same value;
• instruct a spatial light modulator to project the series of light patterns;
• instruct an image sensor to capture a series of images of reflections of the series of light patterns;
• and
• determine a three-dimensional point cloud responsive to the series of captured images.