Active brightness-based strategy for invalidating pixels in time-of-flight depth-sensing
First Claim
1. A method for sensing an environment using a time-of-flight depth-sensing device, comprising, for a particular sensing element of a sensor of the time-of-flight depth-sensing device:
- receiving instances of radiation having plural respective frequencies, each instance of radiation having a given frequency, originating from an illumination source, and being reflected from the environment;
generating frequency-specific sensor readings in response to receiving the instances of radiation;
generating a set of active brightness measurements for the plural frequencies, each active brightness measurement being based on frequency-specific sensor readings made by the particular sensing element that are associated with a particular frequency;
generating a variation measure that reflects an extent of variation within the set of active brightness measurements; and
invalidating a pixel associated with the particular sensing element if the variation measure satisfies a prescribed invalidation condition.
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Abstract
A computer-implemented technique is described herein for invalidating pixels in a time-of-flight depth-sensing device based on active brightness (AB) measurements. In one implementation, the technique involves, for each sensing element of a sensor: generating frequency-specific sensor readings in response to receiving instances of radiation having plural frequencies (e.g., frequencies f1, f2, and f3); generating a set of active brightness measurements (ABf1, ABf2, and ABf3) associated with the respective frequencies; generating a variation measure that reflects an extent of variation within the set of active brightness measurements; and invalidating a pixel associated with the particular sensing element if the variation measure satisfies a prescribed invalidation condition.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for sensing an environment using a time-of-flight depth-sensing device, comprising, for a particular sensing element of a sensor of the time-of-flight depth-sensing device:
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receiving instances of radiation having plural respective frequencies, each instance of radiation having a given frequency, originating from an illumination source, and being reflected from the environment; generating frequency-specific sensor readings in response to receiving the instances of radiation; generating a set of active brightness measurements for the plural frequencies, each active brightness measurement being based on frequency-specific sensor readings made by the particular sensing element that are associated with a particular frequency; generating a variation measure that reflects an extent of variation within the set of active brightness measurements; and invalidating a pixel associated with the particular sensing element if the variation measure satisfies a prescribed invalidation condition. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A time-of-flight depth-sensing device, comprising:
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a sensor having a plurality of sensing elements, a particular sensing element operating to; receive instances of radiation having plural respective frequencies, each instance of radiation having a given frequency, originating from an illumination source, and being reflected from an environment; and generate frequency-specific sensor readings in response to receiving the instances of radiation; and a depth-generating engine configured to; generate a set of active brightness measurements for the plural frequencies, each active brightness measurement being based on frequency-specific sensor readings made by the particular sensing element that are associated with a particular frequency; generate a variation measure that reflects an extent of variation within the set of active brightness measurements; and invalidate a pixel associated with the particular sensing element if the variation measure satisfies a prescribed invalidation condition. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer-readable storage medium for storing computer-readable instructions, the computer-readable instructions, when executed by one or more processor devices, performing a method that comprises:
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receiving frequency-specific sensor readings from a particular sensing element of a sensor of a time-of-flight depth-sensing device, the frequency-specific sensor readings being received, in turn, in response to receiving instances of radiation having plural respective frequencies by the particular sensor element, each instance of radiation having a given frequency, originating from an illumination source, and being reflected from an environment; representing the frequency-specific sensor readings associated with each frequency as a vector within a complex domain having real and imaginary axes, the vector having a magnitude, corresponding to active brightness, and a phase, corresponding to a candidate depth value, overall, said representing producing; a set active brightness measurements for the plural frequencies for the particular sensing element; and a set of phase measurements for the plural frequencies for the particular sensing element; generating a variation measure that reflects an extent of variation within the set of active brightness measurements; when the variation measure satisfies a prescribed invalidation condition, invalidating a pixel associated with the particular sensing element; and when the variation measure does not satisfy the prescribed invalidation condition, providing a depth value for the particular sensing element based on the set of phase measurements. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification