Spad array for intensity image capture and time of flight capture
AssigneeMicrosoft Technology Licensing, LLC
InventorsRaymond Kirk PRICE, Michael BLEYER, Christopher Douglas EDMONDS
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Abstract
A system for facilitating intensity image capture and time of flight capture. The system includes an image sensor array comprising a plurality of image sensor pixels, one or more processors, and one or more hardware storage devices storing instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to configure the system to facilitate intensity image capture and time of flight capture by configuring the system to perform interleaved intensity image capture and time of flight capture operations using the image sensor array.
Claims20
A system for facilitating temporally aligned intensity image capture and time of flight capture, comprising:
- An image sensor array comprising a plurality of image sensor pixels;
- one or more processors;
- and
- one or more hardware storage devices storing instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to configure the system to facilitate intensity image capture and time of flight capture by configuring the system to:
- perform interleaved intensity image capture and time of flight capture operations using the image sensor array, the interleaved intensity image capture and time of flight capture operations being performed with sub-frame timing within a same frame capture time period and by a same image sensor array, wherein:
- the intensity image capture operation comprises:
- for each image sensor pixel of the image sensor array, applying a shutter associated with the image sensor pixel for a first gate time period to configure the image sensor pixel to detect a photon, and
- the time of flight capture operation comprises:
- activating an illuminator to emit a pulse of light;
- and
- for each image sensor pixel of the image sensor array, applying a shutter associated with the image sensor pixel for a second gate time period to configure the image sensor pixel to detect returning light.
A method for facilitating temporally aligned intensity image capture and time of flight capture, comprising:
- performing interleaved intensity image capture and time of flight capture operations using an image sensor array comprising a plurality of image sensor pixels, the interleaved intensity image capture and time of flight capture operations being performed with sub-frame timing within a same frame capture time period and by a same image sensor array, wherein:
- the intensity image capture operation comprises:
- for each image sensor pixel of the image sensor array, applying a shutter associated with the image sensor pixel for a first gate time period to configure the image sensor pixel to detect a photon;
- and
- the time of flight capture operation comprises:
- activating an illuminator to emit a plurality of pulses of light;
- and
- for each image sensor pixel of the image sensor array, applying a plurality of separate shutters associated with the image sensor pixel, each separate shutter of the plurality of separate shutters being applied after a respective separate pulse of light of the plurality of pulses of light, and each separate shutter of the plurality of separate shutters being associated with a respective delay period following the respective separate pulse of light of the plurality of pulses of light.
One or more hardware storage devices storing instructions that are executable by one or more processors of a system to configure the system to facilitate temporally aligned intensity image capture and time of flight capture by configuring the system to:
- perform interleaved intensity image capture and time of flight capture operations using an image sensor array comprising a plurality of image sensor pixels, the interleaved intensity image capture and time of flight capture operations being performed with sub-frame timing within a same frame capture time period and by a same image sensor array, wherein:
- the intensity image capture operation comprises:
- for each image sensor pixel of the image sensor array, applying a shutter associated with the image sensor pixel for a first gate time period to configure the image sensor pixel to detect a photon;
- and
- the time of flight capture operation comprises:
- activating an illuminator to emit a plurality of pulses of light;
- and
- for each image sensor pixel of the image sensor array, applying a plurality of separate shutters associated with the image sensor pixel, each separate shutter of the plurality of separate shutters being applied after a respective separate pulse of light of the plurality of pulses of light, and each separate shutter of the plurality of separate shutters being associated with a respective delay period following the respective separate pulse of light of the plurality of pulses of light.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.