Increasing uniformity of illumination of a region of a local area by an illuminator including an array of light sources

Abstract

A depth camera assembly includes an illuminator that dynamically illuminates different regions of a local area. The illuminator comprises an array of light sources, such as a vertical-cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) array, and a lens assembly. The array of light sources may include a plurality of groups of one or more light sources, with each group being independently addressable. The lens assembly is positioned so a focus of the lens assembly is in a plane where illumination from adjacent light sources of the array at least partially overlaps. Such positioning of the lens assembly focus causes light from adjacent light sources to blur into each other, forming flood illumination for a region of the local area. In some embodiments, the flood illumination may alternatively or additionally be achieved by introducing aberration into the lens assembly, including a microlens array in the illuminator or some combination thereof.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.