System and method of capturing and generating panoramic three-dimensional images
AssigneeMatterport, Inc.
InventorSimon Wynn
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus comprising a housing, a mount configured to be coupled to a motor to horizontally move the apparatus, a wide-angle lens coupled to the housing, the wide-angle lens being positioned above the mount thereby being along an axis of rotation, the axis of rotation being the axis along which the apparatus rotates, an image capture device within the housing, the image capture device configured to receive two-dimensional images through the wide-angle lens of environment, and a LiDAR device within the housing, the LiDAR device configured to generate depth data based on the environment.
Claims23
An image capture device comprising:
- a housing, the housing having a front side and a back side;
- a first motor coupled to the housing at a first position between the front side and the back side of the housing, the first motor being configured to horizontally turn the image capture device substantially 270 degrees about a vertical axis;
- a wide-angle lens coupled to the housing at a second position between the front side and the back side of the housing along the vertical axis, the second position being a no-parallax point, the wide-angle lens having a field of view away from the front side of the housing;
- an image sensor coupled to the housing and configured to generate image signals from light received by the wide-angle lens;
- a mount coupled to the first motor;
- a LiDAR coupled to the housing at a third position, the LiDAR configured to generate laser pulses and generate depth signals;
- a second motor coupled to the housing;
- and
- a mirror coupled to the second motor, the second motor configured to rotate the mirror around a horizontal axis, the mirror including an angled surface configured to receive the laser pulses from the LiDAR and direct the laser pulses about the horizontal axis.
A method comprising:
- receiving light from a wide-angle lens of an image capture device, the wide-angel lens being coupled to a housing of the image capture device, the light being received at a field of view of the wide-angle lens, the field of view extending away from a front side of the housing;
- generating a first plurality of images by an image sensor of an image capture device using the light from the wide-angle lens, the image sensor being coupled to the housing, the first plurality of images being at different exposures;
- horizontally turning the image capture device by a first motor substantially 270 degrees about a vertical axis, the first motor being coupled to the housing in a first position between the front side and a back side of the housing, the wide-angle lens being at a second position along the vertical axis, the second position being a no-parallax point;
- rotating a mirror with an angled surface around horizontal axis by a second motor, the second motor being coupled to the housing;
- generating laser pulses by a LiDAR, the LiDAR being coupled to the housing at a third position, the laser pulse being directed to the rotating mirror while the image capture device horizontally turns;
- and
- generating depth signals by the LiDAR based on the laser pulses.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.