Systems, methods, and media for stochastic exposure coding that mitigates multi-camera interference in continuous wave time-of-flight imaging

A method for estimating the depth of a scene, the method comprising:

• stochastically selecting, from a plurality of slots each corresponding to a portion of a total capture time, a first subset of the plurality of slots as active slots and a second subset of the plurality of slots as inactive slots based on a probability p of activating each slot of the plurality of slots;
• causing, during each of the active slots, a light source to emit first modulated light toward the scene with modulation based on a first signal corresponding to a first modulation function;
• causing, during each of the active slots, an image sensor to generate a first value based on the light received from a portion of the scene and a second signal corresponding to a first demodulation function;
• causing, during each of the active slots, the image sensor to generate a second value based on light received from the portion of the scene and a third signal corresponding to a second demodulation function;
• causing, during each of the active slots, the image sensor to generate a third value based on light received from the portion of the scene and a fourth signal corresponding to a third demodulation function;
• inhibiting, during each of the inactive slots, the light source from emitting modulated light toward the scene;
• determining, for each of a plurality of the active slots, a depth estimate for the portion of the scene based on the first value, the second value, and the third value;
• and
• determining, for the total capture time, a depth estimate for the portion of the scene based on the depth estimates for each of the plurality of the active slots.

A non-transitory computer readable medium containing computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for estimating the depth of a scene, the method comprising:

• stochastically selecting, from a plurality of slots each corresponding to a portion of a total capture time, a first subset of the plurality of slots as active slots and a second subset of the plurality of slots as inactive slots based on a probability p of activating each slot of the plurality of slots;
• causing, during each of the active slots, a light source to emit first modulated light toward the scene with modulation based on a first signal corresponding to a first modulation function;
• causing, during each of the active slots, an image sensor to generate a first value based on the light received from a portion of the scene and a second signal corresponding to a first demodulation function;
• causing, during each of the active slots, the image sensor to generate a second value based on light received from the portion of the scene and a third signal corresponding to a second demodulation function;
• causing, during each of the active slots, the image sensor to generate a third value based on light received from the portion of the scene and a fourth signal corresponding to a third demodulation function;
• inhibiting, during each of the inactive slots, the light source from emitting modulated light toward the scene;
• determining, for each of a plurality of the active slots, a depth estimate for the portion of the scene based on the first value, the second value, and the third value;
• and
• determining, for the total capture time, a depth estimate for the portion of the scene based on the depth estimates for each of the plurality of the active slots.