Systems, methods, and media for estimating depths in a scene using single-photon detectors and binary structured light patterns

A method for estimating depths in a scene, the method comprising:

• causing a light source to emit a sequence of n binary light patterns toward the scene, each of the n binary light patterns comprising at least L columns,
• wherein each of the n binary light patterns has a minimum stripe width of 8 columns;
• and
• wherein n>log2(L);
• causing, for each of the n binary light patterns, an image sensor to capture a binary image of the scene,
• wherein the image sensor comprises an array including a plurality of single-photon detectors, and
• wherein the binary image comprises a binary value for each of the plurality of single-photon detectors indicative of whether a photon was detected such that each of the plurality of single-photon detectors generates a set of binary values corresponding to the sequence of n binary light patterns;
• and
• estimating, for each of the plurality of single-photon detectors, a depth value based on the set of binary values generated by that single-photon detector.

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 depths in a scene, the method comprising:

• causing a light source to emit a sequence of n binary light patterns toward the scene, each of the n binary light patterns comprising at least L columns,
• wherein each of the n binary light patterns has a minimum stripe width of 8 columns;
• and
• wherein n>log2(L);
• causing, for each of the n binary light patterns, an image sensor to capture a binary image of the scene,
• wherein the image sensor comprises an array including a plurality of single-photon detectors, and
• wherein the binary image comprises a binary value for each of the plurality of single-photon detectors indicative of whether a photon was detected such that each of the plurality of single-photon detectors generates a set of binary values corresponding to the sequence of n binary light patterns;
• and
• estimating, for each of the plurality of single-photon detectors, a depth value based on the set of binary values generated by that single-photon detector.