US 9,542,749 B2 · Fast general multipath correction in time-of-flight imaging

Abstract

Fast general multipath correction in time of flight imaging is described, for example, to obtain accurate depth maps at frame rate from a time of flight camera. In various embodiments accurate depth maps are calculated by looking up corrected depth values stored in a look up table. In various embodiments the corrected depth values are highly accurate as they take into account three or more possible light ray paths between the camera and a surface in a scene being imaged. In an example accurate depth maps are computed at a frame rate of a time of flight camera. In an example accurate depth maps are computed in less than 30 milliseconds for an image having over 200,000 pixels using a standard CPU.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a processor, time of flight depth camera amplitude and phase measurements depicting surfaces in a scene;
computing, via the processor, an index of a look up table from the measurements;
using the index to read, via the processor, a corrected depth value from the look up table, the corrected value being a depth of a surface from the camera having been calculated by taking into account at least three possible light ray paths between the camera and a surface in the scene and searching for values of a backscattering vector, wherein the backscattering vector values comprise weights indicating how much contribution is made to the amplitude and phase values observed at a pixel from light associated with a plurality of different distance bins, and the distance bins comprise a distance range from the time of flight camera divided into intervals.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Fast general multipath correction in time-of-flight imaging

Life of this patent

Fast general multipath correction in time-of-flight imaging

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims19