Methods and apparatus for an active pulsed 4D camera for image acquisition and analysis

A method of acquiring information about a scene using an active pulsed four-dimensional (4D) camera system, the method comprising:

• emitting light from the 4D camera system as an active sequence of pulses of light within a defined frequency range throughout a field of view of the scene;
• after a first elapsed time from a start of the emitting, detecting light by the 4D camera system within the defined frequency range for the field of view;
• converting the light from the detecting to digital information;
• and
• storing the digital information in one of K frame buffers in the 4D camera system;
• repeating the emitting, the detecting, the converting and the storing for K successive cycles with a second elapsed time between the emittings in successive cycles, wherein the first elapsed time and the second elapsed time vary between each of the K successive cycles, wherein K is greater than 4;
• and
• analyzing the digital information stored in the K frame buffers and constructing a digital representation of at least a portion of the scene based at least in part on time-of-flight (TOF) data in the digital information corresponding to the sequence of pulses received by different ones of the K frame buffers and on relative timing differences of the sequence of pulses for each of the K successive cycles.

An active-pulsed four-dimensional (4D) camera system for acquiring information from a scene comprising:

• at least one emitter configured to emit K successive cycles of a plurality of active light pulses throughout the scene, wherein a time between a start of one of the K successive cycles and a start of a next one of the K successive cycles is varied throughout the K successive cycles;
• an array of detectors configured to receive reflected light related to the active light pulses emitted in each of the K successive cycles, wherein a time between the start of emitting the light pulses and a start of receiving reflected light is varied in each of the K successive cycles;
• and
• a plurality of buffers configured to store digital information related to the reflected light received by the array of detectors;
• and
• a processing system operably coupled to the plurality of buffers and configured to:
• analyze the digital information to determine distance information and color information for the scene based at least in part on the time between the start of one of the K successive cycles and the start of the next one of the K successive cycles being varied throughout the K successive cycles, and
• construct a digital representation of the scene based on the determined distance information and the determined color information.