Adaptive processing in time of flight imaging

A time of flight system, comprising:

• a light source;
• an image sensor comprising a plurality of pixels;
• memory comprising instructions stored thereon;
• and
• a processor configured to execute the instructions to:
• emit amplitude-modulated light from the light source toward an object;
• acquire via the image sensor a plurality of image frames capturing light emitted from the light source that is reflected by the object, wherein the plurality of image frames are acquired at two or more different frequencies of the amplitude-modulated light and collectively form a multifrequency frame;
• and
• for each pixel of a plurality of pixels of the multifrequency frame,
• determine a brightness level;
• apply an adaptive denoising process by setting a kernel size based on the brightness level;
• and
• perform a phase unwrapping process to determine a depth value for the pixel.

A time of flight depth imaging system, comprising

• a light source;
• an image sensor;
• memory comprising instructions stored thereon;
• and
• a processor configured to execute the instructions to:
• emit amplitude-modulated light from the light source toward an object,
• acquire via the image sensor a plurality of image frames capturing light emitted from the light source that is reflected by the object, wherein the plurality of image frames are acquired at two or more different frequencies of the amplitude-modulated light and collectively form a multifrequency frame, and
• for each pixel of a plurality of pixels of the multifrequency frame,
• determine a brightness level;
• apply an adaptive denoising process by setting a kernel size based on the brightness level;
• and
• perform an adaptive complex domain phase unwrapping based on the brightness level to determine a depth value for the pixel.