Structured light 3D scanner with refractive non-absorbing pattern forming element

Abstract

A structured light 3D scanner consisting of a pattern projector; a digital imaging camera; and a controlling and processing circuitry is disclosed. Several novel variants of pattern projector are claimed. One embodiment comprises one or more transparent refractive pattern forming element, and two or more independently switchable light sources. Another embodiment comprises an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs), grown on the same semiconductor substrate, and an optical lens projecting the image formed by the said diode array. Sequential acquisition of video frames with synchronous switching between the light sources in the pattern projector produces a sequence of images obtained under different illumination patterns. Processing these images produces a sequence of 3D scans of the scene.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.