Time-of-flight camera system with scanning illuminator

1. A method, comprising:

scanning light within a time-of-flight camera's field of view to illuminate a first region within said field of view that is larger than a second region within said time-of-flight camera's field of view that is illuminated at any instant by said light, wherein said scanning of light further comprises changing said second region's location within said first region in both a horizontal direction and a vertical direction within said time-of-flight camera's field of view, wherein said horizontal direction and said vertical direction are along axes that form a two-dimensional surface that faces said time-of-flight camera; and,

determining depth profile information within said first region using time-of-flight measurement techniques.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said field of view is partitioned into different partitions and said scanning of said light is performed by illuminating and scanning multiple partitions simultaneously, each partition receiving its own respective beam of light.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said field of view is partitioned into different partitions and said scanning of said light is performed only within one of said partitions.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said scanning is disjointed.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said second region changes size during said scanning.

6. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium containing program code stored thereon that when processed by a digital processing system causes a time-of-flight camera system to performed the following method:

scanning light within a time-of-flight camera's field of view to illuminate a first region within said field of view that is larger than a second region within said time-of-flight camera's field of view that is illuminated at any instant by said light, wherein said scanning of light further comprises changing said second region's location within said first region in both a horizontal direction and a vertical direction within said time-of-flight camera's field of view, wherein said horizontal direction and said vertical direction are along axes that form a two-dimensional surface that faces said time-of-flight camera; and,

determining depth profile information within said first region using time-of-flight measurement techniques.

7. The machine readable storage medium of claim 6 wherein said field of view is partitioned into different partitions and said scanning of said light is performed by illuminating and scanning multiple partitions simultaneously, each partition receiving its own respective beam of light.

8. The machine readable storage medium of claim 6 wherein said field of view is partitioned into different partitions and said scanning of said light is performed only within one of said partitions.

9. The machine readable storage medium of claim 6 wherein said scanning is disjointed.

10. The machine readable storage medium of claim 6 wherein said second region changes size during said scanning.

11. The machine readable storage medium of claim 6 wherein said method further comprises sending commands describing said scanning to an illuminator of said time-of-flight camera system.

12. An apparatus, comprising:

a time-of-flight camera system comprising:

an illuminator, said illuminator comprising a movable optical component to scan light within said time-of-flight camera's field of view to illuminate a first region within said field of view that is larger than a second region within said time-of-flight camera's field of view that is illuminated at any instant by said light, wherein said horizontal direction and said vertical direction are along axes that form a two-dimensional surface that faces said time-of-flight camera, the movable optical component comprising any of a lens, a light source and a mirror; and,

an image sensor to determine depth profile information within said first region using time-of-flight measurement techniques.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said field of view is partitioned into different partitions and said scanning of said light is performed by illuminating and scanning multiple partitions simultaneously, each partition receiving its own respective beam of light.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said field of view is partitioned into different partitions and said scanning of said light is performable only within one of said partitions.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said scanning is able to be disjointed.

16. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said second region is able to change size during said scanning.

17. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said movable optical component is a lens.

18. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said movable optical component is a light source.

19. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said movable optical component is a mirror.

20. A computing system, comprising:

an applications processor having a plurality of processing cores and a memory controller, a system memory being coupled to said memory controller;

a time-of-flight camera system coupled to said applications processor, said time-of-flight camera system comprising:

a) an illuminator, said illuminator comprising a movable optical component to scan light within said time-of-flight camera's field of view to illuminate a first region within said field of view that is larger than a second region within said time-of-flight camera's field of view that is illuminated at any instant by said light, wherein said horizontal direction and said vertical direction are along axes that form a two-dimensional surface that faces said time-of-flight camera, the movable optical component comprising any of a lens, a light source and a mirror; and,

b) an image sensor to determine depth profile information within said first region using time-of-flight measurement techniques.

21. The computing system of claim 20 wherein said field of view is partitioned into different partitions and said scanning of said light is performed by illuminating and scanning multiple partitions simultaneously, each partition receiving its own respective beam of light.

22. The computing system of claim 20 wherein said field of view is partitioned into different partitions and said scanning of said light is performable only within one of said partitions.

23. The computing system of claim 20 wherein said scanning is able to be disjointed.

24. The computing system of claim 20 wherein said second region is able to change size during said scanning.

25. The computing system of claim 20 wherein said movable optical component is a lens.

26. The computing system of claim 20 wherein said movable optical component is a light source.

27. The computing system of claim 20 wherein said movable optical component is a mirror.

28. An apparatus, comprising:

a time-of-flight camera system comprising:

a scanning illuminator, said scanning illuminator to scan light within said time-of-flight camera's field of view to illuminate a first region within said field of view that is larger than a second region within said time-of-flight camera's field of view that is illuminated at any instant by said light, wherein said field of view is partitioned into different partitions and said scanning of said light is performed by illuminating and scanning multiple partitions simultaneously, each partition receiving its own respective beam of light; and,

an image sensor to determine depth profile information within said first region using time-of-flight measurement techniques.

29. An apparatus, comprising:

a time-of-flight camera system comprising:

a scanning illuminator, said scanning illuminator to scan light within said time-of-flight camera's field of view to illuminate a first region within said field of view that is larger than a second region within said time-of-flight camera's field of view that is illuminated at any instant by said light, wherein said second region changes size during said scanning; and,

an image sensor to determine depth profile information within said first region using time-of-flight measurement techniques.