CAPTURING GATED AND UNGATED LIGHT IN THE SAME FRAME ON THE SAME PHOTOSURFACE
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for controlling a photosurface to capture gated and ungated light from a scene in a same frame period comprising:
- a photosurface of an image sensor;
a first image capture area of the photosurface;
a second image capture area of the same photosurface;
control circuitry for controlling capture by the first image capture area of gated light as image data during a gated period within the frame period;
the second image capture area being in an OFF state in which image data is not captured during the gated period;
the control circuitry controlling capture by the second image capture area of ungated light as image data during an ungated period within the same frame period; and
the first image capture area being in an OFF state in which image data is not captured during the ungated period.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A photosensitive surface of an image sensor, hereafter a photosurface, of a gated 3D camera is controlled to acquire both gated and ungated light in the same frame on different areas of its surface. One image capture area of the photosurface acquires gated light during a gated period while another image capture area is OFF for image data capture purposes. During an ungated period, the other image capture area of the same photosurface captures ungated light as image data. Typically, the gated and ungated periods are interleaved during the same frame period.
31 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system for controlling a photosurface to capture gated and ungated light from a scene in a same frame period comprising:
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a photosurface of an image sensor; a first image capture area of the photosurface; a second image capture area of the same photosurface; control circuitry for controlling capture by the first image capture area of gated light as image data during a gated period within the frame period; the second image capture area being in an OFF state in which image data is not captured during the gated period; the control circuitry controlling capture by the second image capture area of ungated light as image data during an ungated period within the same frame period; and the first image capture area being in an OFF state in which image data is not captured during the ungated period. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for capturing interleaved gated and ungated light from a scene in a same frame period on the same photosurface comprising:
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capturing gated light as image data during a gated period within the frame period by a first image capture area of a photosurface of an image sensor; capturing ungated light as image data during an ungated period within the same frame period by a second image capture area of the same photosurface; turning the second image capture area to an OFF state in which image data is not captured by the second image capture area for the gated period; turning the first image capture area to an OFF state in which image data is not captured by the first image capture area for the ungated period; and alternating the capturing gated light and the capturing ungated light on the same photosurface within in less than 2 microseconds. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. In a three-dimensional (3D) time of flight camera system, a system for controlling a photosurface to capture gated and ungated light from a scene in a same frame period, the system comprising:
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the same photosurface comprising a first image capture area comprising a first set of lines of photopixels and image data storage media for capturing gated light as image data during a gated period within the frame period and a second image capture area comprising a second set of lines of photopixels and image data storage media for capturing ungated light as image data during an ungated period within the same frame period; and control circuitry electrically connected to the image capture areas for causing storage of image data sensed by the first set of lines of photopixels to respective image data storage media of the first capture area during the gated period, causing the second image capture area to be in an OFF state in which image data is not stored in the respective image data storage media for the second set of lines of photopixels for the entire gated period, causing storage of image data sensed by the second set of lines of photopixels to respective image data storage media of the second capture area during the ungated period, and causing the first image capture area to be in the OFF state in which image data is not stored in the respective image data storage media for the first set of lines of photopixels for the entire ungated period. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification