Time-of-flight sensor with configurable phase delay

• US 9,739,609 B1
• Filed: 03/25/2014
• Issued: 08/22/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lewis, Isabella Talley
• Primary Examiner(s): Ratcliffe, Luke
• Application Number:
  US14/225,260
• Time in Patent Office: 1,246 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/36 with phase comparison between the received signal and the contemporaneously transmitted signal
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/894 3D imaging with simultaneous measurement of time-of-flight at a 2D array of receiver pixels, e.g. time-of-flight cameras or flash lidar
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4915 Time delay measurement, e.g. operational details for pixel components signal extraction and conditioning G01S7/493; Phase measurement
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/497 Means for monitoring or calibrating

Abstract

Techniques to determine a distance associated with a surface using time-of-flight (ToF) of pulses of light occurring at a predetermined frequency. A ToF camera may include a light emitter that emits light according to one or more phase delays relative to the configured of a first storage device of multiple storage devices of the ToF camera to receive light, convert to current, and store a charge corresponding to current. For instance, a light emitter may emit pulses at a 0° phase delay (i.e., simultaneously with the opening of the first storage device), a 90° phase delay, a 180° phase delay, and a 270° phase delay. Light captured and stored as energy in the storage devices may be then be analyzed to estimate a distance to a surface of an object in an environment. After estimating a distance between the ToF camera and a surface, the ToF camera may optimize its phase delay to reduce the error associated with a subsequent distance measurement.

Claims

1. A time-of-flight (ToF) camera, comprising:

a light emitter configured to emit light in pulses within an environment;

a photodiode to receive light that has been emitted from the light emitter and has reflected off of an object in the environment, and convert the received light into an electrical current;

a first storage element configured to receive a first amount of the electrical current and to store an amount of charge corresponding to the first amount of the electrical current;

a second storage element configured to receive a second amount of the electrical current and to store an amount of charge corresponding to the second amount of the electrical current;

a controller configured to alternate between directing the electrical current to the first storage element and directing the electrical current to the second storage element; and

one or more processors configured to;

calculate a first distance between a portion of the ToF camera and the object based at least in part on a first amount of charge stored in the first storage element and a second amount of charge stored in the second storage element;

determine a phase delay based at least in part on the first distance, the phase delay corresponding to a delay between emitting of light by the light emitter and at least one of directing the electrical current to the first storage element or directing the electrical current to the second storage element by the controller;

configure the light emitter to emit light in pulses according to the phase delay; and

calculate a second distance between the portion of the ToF camera and the object based at least in part on a third amount of charge stored in the first storage element and a fourth amount of charge stored in the second storage element.

2. The ToF camera of claim 1, further comprising memory, the memory storing a mapping between respective estimated distances and respective phase delays to implement, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the phase delay with reference to the mapping.

3. The ToF camera of claim 1, further comprising a memory, the memory storing a function for use in calculating a phase delay to implement based on a calculated distance, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the phase delay with use of the function.

4. The ToF camera of claim 1, further comprising a clock, and wherein the controller references the clock for determining when to alternate between directing the electrical current to the first storage element and directing the electrical current to the second storage element.

5. The ToF camera of claim 1, further comprising a clock, and wherein the controller references the clock for implementing the phase delay.

6. A method implemented at least in part by a time-of-flight (ToF) camera, the method comprising:

emitting a first set of light pulses from a light emitter of the ToF camera within an environment, the ToF camera implementing a first phase delay between the light emitter and a controller directing current between a first storage element and a second storage element of the ToF camera;

receiving light of the first set of light pulses that has reflected off an object in the environment;

converting the light into current;

alternating between directing the current to the first storage element and directing the current to the second storage element;

determining a distance between a portion of the ToF camera and the object based at least in part on an amount of charge stored in the first storage element and an amount of charge stored in the second storage element;

determining, based at least in part on the distance, a second phase delay to implement, the second phase delay different from the first phase delay; and

emitting a second set of light pulses from the light emitter according to the second phase delay.

7. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the first phase delay comprises an amount of time between:

(i) the first storage element beginning to receive a portion of the current, and (ii) emission of a first light pulse of the first set of light pulses from the light emitter.

8. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the current comprises first current and the distance comprises a first distance, and further comprising:

receiving light of the second set of light pulses that has reflected off an object in the environment;

converting the received light of the second set of light pulses into second current;

alternating between directing the second current to the first storage element and directing the second current to the second storage element;

determining a second distance between the portion of the ToF camera and the object based at least in part on an amount of charge stored in the first storage element from the second current and an amount of charge stored in the second storage element from the second current.

9. A method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

determining, based at least in part on the second distance, a third phase delay to implement, the third phase delay different from the second phase delay; and

emitting a third set of light pulses from the light emitter according to the third phase delay.

10. A method as recited in claim 6, further comprising:

creating a depth map of the environment at least in part using data gathered by the ToF camera;

identifying the object from the depth map; and

tracking the object at least partly in response to the identifying.

11. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the determining of the second phase delay comprises referencing a predetermined mapping of distances to corresponding phase delays.

12. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the determining of the second phase delay comprises using the distance as a variable in a predefined function for calculating the second phase delay.

13. An apparatus, comprising:

a light emitter configured to emit light in pulses within an environment;

a photodetector to receive reflected light of the emitted light and convert the reflected light into current;

a first storage element configured to;

(i) receive a first amount of the current, and (ii) store a first amount of charge;

a second storage element configured to;

(i) receive a second amount of the current, and (ii) store a second amount of charge;

a controller for alternating between directing the current to the first storage element and directing the current between the second storage element; and

one or more processors configured to;

(i) determine a distance between at least a portion of the apparatus and the object based at least in part on the first amount of charge and the second amount of charge, and (ii) determine, based at least in part on the distance, a phase delay between the light emitter emitting the light in pulses relative to at least one of the directing of the current to the first storage element or the directing of the current to the second storage element by the controller.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are configured to periodically or continuously determine a distance between the portion of apparatus and the object and periodically or continuously determine the phase delay.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a clock, and wherein controller is further configured to implement the phase delay by referencing the clock and instructing the light emitter to emit light pulses based at least in part on the referencing.

16. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

instructing a light emitter of a time-of-flight (ToF) camera to emit light pulses in an environment, the ToF camera implementing a first phase delay;

determining a distance between a portion of the ToF camera and an object in the environment based at least in part on light of the light pulses reflected off of the object; and

determining, based at least in part on the distance, a second phase delay of the ToF camera.

17. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 16, wherein the distance comprises a first distance, and the acts further comprising:

instructing the light emitter of the ToF camera to emit light pulses in the environment, the ToF camera implementing the second phase delay; and

determining a second the distance between the portion of the ToF camera and the object.

18. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 16, the acts further comprising:

determining, based at least in part on the distance, not to adjust the first phase delay to the second phase delay;

instructing the light emitter of the ToF camera to emit light pulses in the environment, the ToF camera implementing the first phase delay; and

determining the another distance between the portion of the ToF camera and the object.

19. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 16, the acts further comprising:

comparing the distance to one or more distances in a mapping of the one or more distances to corresponding phase delays; and

selecting an amount to adjust the first phase delay to the second phase delay based at least in part on the comparing.

20. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 16, the acts further comprising:

identifying the object as an object of interest within the environment; and

tracking the object as least partly in response to the identifying.