IP Library › Granted Patent US 10,866,321
Granted Patent B2
US 10,866,321 · App. 15/762,631 · Granted Dec 15, 2020

Imaging device

Inventor: Hideshi Yamada (Tokyo, JP)
Assignee: Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation
G01S17/89G01C3/06G01C3/085G01S7/4814G01S11/12G01S17/08G01S17/10G01S17/46
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,866,321
App. No.
15/762,631
Granted
Dec 15, 2020
Kind
B2
Abstract

To improve a distance measurement accuracy by combining a plurality of distance measuring methods while avoiding interference of projection light. A light source projection unit projects intensity-modulated spatial pattern light. A time-of-flight distance measurement camera measures a distance to an object on the basis of a time of flight of a modulated component included in reflected light of the spatial pattern light from the object. A spatial information distance measurement camera measures a distance to the object on the basis of spatial information included in the reflected light. A depth synthesizing unit synthesizes measurement results of the distances in the time-of-flight distance measurement camera and the spatial information distance measurement camera to determine a depth value of each pixel position of an image imaged by the time-of-flight distance measurement camera or the spatial information distance measurement camera.

Claims (20)

1. An imaging device comprising:

a light source projection unit configured to project intensity-modulated spatial pattern light;

a first time-of-flight distance measurement camera configured to measure a distance to an object on the basis of a time of flight of a modulated component included in reflected light of the spatial pattern light from the object;

a spatial information distance measurement camera configured to measure a distance to the object on the basis of spatial information included in the reflected light;

a depth synthesizing unit configured to synthesize measurement results of the distances in the first time-of-flight distance measurement camera and the spatial information distance measurement camera to determine a depth value of each pixel position of an image imaged by the first time-of-flight distance measurement camera or the spatial information distance measurement camera; and

a second time-of-flight distance measurement camera configured to measure a distance to the object on the basis of the time of flight of the modulated component included in reflected light of the spatial pattern light from the object, wherein

the first time-of-flight distance measurement camera and the second time-of-flight distance measurement camera are operated with the spatial information distance measurement camera; wherein

each of the first time-of-flight distance measurement camera and the second time-of-flight distance measurement camera generates a depth value of each pixel position and reliability of the depth value as the measurement result,

the first time-of-flight distance measurement camera and the second time-of-flight distance measurement camera generate a depth value of each pixel position and reliability of the depth value as the measurement result as the spatial information distance measurement camera, and

the depth synthesizing unit selects a depth value having highest reliability in the measurement results of the first time-of-flight distance measurement camera and the second time-of-flight distance measurement camera and the measurement result as the spatial information distance measurement camera, for each pixel, to determine the depth value of each pixel position.

2. The imaging device according to claim 1 , wherein

the light source projection unit includes

a light source generation unit configured to generate an intensity-modulated light source according to a predetermined modulation signal and a predetermined vertical synchronization signal, and

an optical element configured to deform the light source according to a spatial position to generate the spatial pattern light.

3. The imaging device according to claim 1 , wherein

the depth synthesizing unit determines the depth value of each pixel position on the basis of magnitude of the reliability in the measurement result.

4. The imaging device according to claim 3 , wherein

the depth synthesizing unit selects a depth value having highest reliability in the measurement results, for each pixel, to determine the depth value of each pixel position.

5. The imaging device according to claim 1 , wherein

the first time-of-flight distance measurement camera and the spatial information distance measurement camera are an integrated camera that measures a distance to the object on the basis of the time of flight of the modulated component included in reflected light, and measure a distance to the object on the basis of triangulation calculation regarding the spatial information included in the reflected light.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 3, 2018
From: YAMADA, HIDESHI
To: SONY SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 045421/0291 →
Priority Claims (1)
JP 2016-171048 · Sep 1, 2016 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20180275278A1 · Sep 27, 2018
Cited By (1)
US 12,456,211