Real time calibration for time-of-flight depth measurement

1. A time-of-flight (TOF) imaging system, comprising:

an illuminator to transmit light pulses to illuminate a target object for determining a distance to the target object;

an image sensor having a light-sensitive pixel array to receive optical signals from the light pulses, the pixel arrays including an active region and a feedback region;

an optical feedback device for directing a portion of the light from the illuminator to the feedback region of the pixel array, the optical feedback device including a preset reference depth;

wherein the imaging system is configured to:

transmit light pulses to illuminate a target object;

sense, in the feedback region of the pixel array, light from the optical feedback device, using a sequence of shutter windows that includes delay times representing a range of depth;

calibrate time-of-flight (TOF) depth measurement reference information based on the sensed light in the feedback region of the pixel array;

sense, in the active region of the light-sensitive pixel array, light reflected from the target object; and

determine the distance of the target object based on the sensed reflected light and the calibrated TOF measurement reference information.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the feedback region is in an edge region of light-sensitive pixel array.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein light-sensitive pixel array further comprises an isolation region separating the active region and the feedback sensing region.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the feedback region of the pixel array comprises from one to 10×10 pixels.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the optical feedback device comprises a reflector.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the optical feedback device comprises an optical fiber.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the optical fiber is configured to couple light from inside an illuminator housing to the feedback region at a corner of the pixel array.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the TOF measurement reference information comprises a look-up table correlating distance of an object to a ratio between two sampled light signals using two shutters with different time delays.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein sensing light reflected from the target object comprises sensing the light using two shutters with different time delays.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the calibration takes about 1/300 of a frame period.

11. The system of claim 1 , further comprising multiple illumination sources and corresponding optical feedback regions.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the imaging system is configured to calibrate time-of-flight (TOF) depth measurement reference information after sensing, in the active region of the light-sensitive pixel array, light reflected from the target object.

13. In a digital camera characterized by a preset frame rate, a method comprising: in a single frame period,

transmitting light pulses to illuminate a target object;

sensing, in a first region of a light-sensitive pixel array, light provided from an optical feedback device that receives a portion of the transmitted light pulses, the feedback optical device including a preset reference depth, wherein the light from the optical feedback device is sampled using a sequence of shutter windows that includes delay times representing a range of distance;

calibrating time-of-flight (TOF) depth measurement reference information based on the sensed light in the first region of the pixel array;

sensing, in a second region of the light-sensitive pixel array, light reflected from the target object from the transmitted light pulses; and

determining a distance of the target object based on the sensed reflected light and the calibrated TOF measurement reference information.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the optical feedback device comprises an optical fiber.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the optical fiber is configured to couple light from inside an illuminator housing to the first region at a corner of the pixel array.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein, wherein the TOF measurement reference information comprises a look-up table correlating distance of an object to a ratio between two sampled light signals using two shutters with different time delays.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein sensing light reflected from the target object comprises sensing light using two shutters with different time delays.

18. A method for calibrating a time-of-flight (TOF) camera system, comprising:

transmitting light pulses to illuminate a target object for determining a distance to the target object;

sensing, in a first region of a light-sensitive pixel array, light provided from a feedback optic device that receives a portion of the transmitted light pulses, the feedback optical device including a preset reference depth;

sensing, in a second region of the light-sensitive pixel array, light reflected from the target object from the transmitted light pulses, using a sequence of shutter windows that includes delay times representing a range of depth;

calibrating time-of-flight depth measurement information based on the light provided from the feedback optical device; and

determining the distance of the target object based on light reflected from the target object and the calibrated time-of-flight depth measurement information.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein sensing light reflected from the target object comprises sensing light using two shutters with different time delays.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the TOF measurement reference information comprises a look-up table correlating distance of an object to a ratio between two sampled light signals using two shutters with different time delays.