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US 9,518,864 B2Granted
Controllable optical sensing
AssigneeFacebook, Inc.
InventorsNadav Grossinger, Nitay Romano, Arnon Gratch
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An optical sensing device for using light to locate objects or features in a field of view comprises a light source; a controllable lens having two states and being controllable between them, for example a multifocal lens having two or more foci for focusing light from the light source; and a sensor able to sense light reflected from an object, to determine information of the object. The use of two or more foci adds dynamic range to optical sensing to allow for reliable detection over a wide range of distances.
Claims12
An optical sensing device comprising:
- a light source;
- a multi-focal lens having a plurality of foci configured to focus light from the light source into a space at a plurality of focal points related to the plurality of foci, wherein the multi-focal lens comprises a lens surface shaped to provide an apodized surface function;
- a sensor configured to sense focused light of the light source reflected from an object in the space to sense the object or features of the object;
- and
- an adjustable shutter placed in relation to the multi-focal lens configured to be altered for controlling amounts of light from the light source falling over different regions of the shaped surface of the multi-focal lens to vary amounts of energy of light at the plurality of focal points.
2 more elements
An optical sensing method comprising:
- shining light from a light source on a multi-focal lens having a plurality of foci configured to focus light from the light source into a space at a plurality of focal points related to the plurality of foci, wherein the multi-focal lens comprises a lens surface shaped to provide an apodized surface function;
- sensing focused light of the light source reflected from an object in the space to sense the object or features of the object;
- and
- controlling amounts of light from the light source falling over different regions of the shaped surface of the multi-focal lens to vary amounts of energy of light at the plurality of focal points.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.