Qualcomm Incorporated

Kalin Mitkov Atanassov

James Wilson Nash

Sergiu Radu Goma

Albrecht Johannes Lindner

Stephen Michael Verrall

Hasib Siddiqui

Vikas Ramachandra

Hsiang-Tsun Li

Hau Hwang

Ruben Manuel Velarde

Shandon Campbell

Volodimir Slobodyanyuk

Htet Naing

Milivoje M Aleksic

Szepo Robert Hung

Xiaoyun Jiang

Shuxue Quan

Judit Martinez Bauza

Karthikeyan Shanmugavadivelu

Babak Forutanpour

Evgeni Petrovich Gousev

Russell Wayne Gruhlke

Todor Georgiev Georgiev

Chinchuan Andrew Chiu

Biay-Cheng Hseih

Venkata Ravi Kiran Dayana

Magdi Mohamed

Jingqiang Li

Ying Noyes

Khurshid Syed Alam

John Michael Wyrwas

Liang Liang

Narayana Karthik Sadanandam Ravirala

Sami Khawam

Ioannis Nousias

Robert Mitchell Kleiman

Bob R Hung

Mark Ian Roy Muir

Ovidiu Cristian Miclea

Adrian Giura

Jason Chung

Hasib Ahmed Siddiqui

Stephen Michael Verral

Hsiang-Tsu Li

Systems and techniques are provided for wireless communication. For example, a process can include obtaining a first image of an environment, the first image including a pattern of light. The process can further include determining a pixel window for a pixel of the first image; determining a set of transform pixels based on the pattern of light, wherein the set of transform pixels are a subset of pixels from the pixel window; performing a census transform based on the pixel and the set of transform pixels to obtain census transform information for the first image; and generating depth data based on the census transform information for the first image and census transform information for a second image.

Stereo vision with census transform

A method performed by an electronic device is described. The method includes obtaining a first image from a first camera, the first camera having a first focal length and a first field of view. The method also includes obtaining a second image from a second camera, the second camera having a second focal length and a second field of view disposed within the first field of view. The method further includes aligning at least a portion of the first image and at least a portion of the second image to produce aligned images. The method additionally includes fusing the aligned images based on a diffusion kernel to produce a fused image. The diffusion kernel indicates a threshold level over a gray level range. The method also includes outputting the fused image. The method may be performed for each of a plurality of frames of a video feed.

Systems and methods for fusing images

An electronic imaging device and method for image capture are described. The imaging device includes a camera configured to obtain image information of a scene and that may be focused on a region of interest in the scene. The imaging device also includes a LIDAR unit configured to obtain depth information of at least a portion of the scene at specified scan locations of the scene. The imaging device is configured to detect an object in the scene and provides specified scan locations to the LIDAR unit. The camera is configured to capture an image with an adjusted focus based on depth information, obtained by the LIDAR unit, associated with the detected object.

Systems and methods for depth map sampling

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods for structured light depth systems. An example active depth system may include a receiver to receive reflections of transmitted light and a transmitter including one or more light sources to transmit light in a spatial distribution. The spatial distribution of transmitted light may include a first region of a first plurality of light points and a second region of a second plurality of light points. A first density of the first plurality of light points is greater than a second density of the second plurality of light points when a first distance between a center of the spatial distribution and a center of the first region is less than a second distance between the center of the spatial distribution and the center of the second region.

Light distribution for active depth systems

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods for active depth sensing. An example apparatus configured to perform active depth sensing includes a projector. The projector is configured to emit a first distribution of light during a first time and emit a second distribution of light different from the first distribution of light during a second time. A set of final depth values of one or more objects in a scene is based on one or more reflections of the first distribution of light and one or more reflections of the second distribution of light. The projector may include a laser array, and the apparatus may be configured to switch between a first plurality of lasers of the laser array to emit light during the first time and a second plurality of laser to emit light during the second time.

Alternating light distributions for active depth sensing

A method and device is provided that compensates for different reflectivity/absorption coefficients of objects in a scene/object when performing active depth sensing using structured light. A receiver sensor captures an image of a scene onto which a code mask is projected. One or more parameters are ascertained from the captured image. Then a light source power for a projecting light source is dynamically adjusted according to the one or more parameters to improve decoding of the code mask in a subsequently captured image. Depth information for the scene may then be ascertained based on the captured image based on the code mask. In one example, the light source power is fixed at a particular illumination while an exposure time for the receiver sensor is adjusted. In another example, an exposure time for the receiver sensor is maintained/kept at a fixed value while the light source power is adjusted.

Dynamic adjustment of light source power in structured light active depth sensing systems

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods for determining one or more depths. An example system includes a time-of-flight receiver configured to sense pulses from reflections of light from a structured light transmitter. An example method includes sensing, by a time-of-flight receiver, pulses from reflections of light from a structured light transmitter.

Time of flight range finder for a structured light system

Techniques are disclosed for depth map generation in a structured light system where an optical transmitter is tilted relative to an optical receiver. The optical transmitter has a transmitter optical axis around which structured light spreads, and the optical receiver has a receiver optical axis around which a reflection of the structured light can be captured. The transmitter optical axis and the receiver optical axis intersect one another. A processing circuit compensates for the angle in the tilt in the reflected pattern to generate the depth map.

Depth map generation in structured light system

A method and electronic device for selectively obtaining depth information at locations within a scene are described. Image content analysis is performed on a received image of the scene. Locations within the image to obtain depth information within the scene are determined based on the image analysis. The locations are provided to a LIDAR (light+radar) unit to selectively obtain depth information at the scene locations. The depth information is received from the LIDAR unit and a second image analysis is performed on a second image. The second image analysis is based on the image content of the second image and the received depth information. Updated locations based on the second image analysis may be provided to the LIDAR unit to obtain updated depth information.

Aspects relate to processing captured images from structured light systems. An example device may include one or more processors and a memory. The memory may include instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the device to receive a captured image of a scene from a structured light receiver, analyze one or more first portions of the captured image at a first scale, and analyze one or more second portions of the captured image at a second scale finer than the first scale. The analysis of the one or more second portions may be based on the analysis of the one or more first portions. The instructions further may cause the device to determine for each of the one or more second portions a codeword from a codeword distribution and determine one or more depths in the scene based on the one or more determined codewords.

Multiple scale processing for received structured light

A device for image processing includes an optical receiver configured to receive a reflection of a coded pattern from an object to generate an image, and processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to determine an estimated position of zero order light in the image, determine a spatial region of the coded pattern that corresponds to a position of the zero order light in the coded pattern, map the spatial region to the estimated position of the zero order light in the image to generate a corrected image, and generate a depth map for the coded pattern based on the corrected image.

Zero order light removal in active sensing systems

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods for time-of-flight ranging. An example time-of-flight system includes a transmitter including a plurality of light emitters for transmitting focused light, the plurality of light emitters including a first group of light emitters for transmitting focused light with a first field of transmission and a second group of light emitters for transmitting focused light with a second field of transmission. The first field of transmission at a depth from the transmitter is larger than the second field of transmission at the depth from the transmitter. The time-of-flight system also includes a receiver to receive reflections of the transmitted light.

Time of flight ranging with varying fields of emission

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to active depth sensing. An example device may include a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. The processor may be configured to determine an amount of ambient light for a scene to be captured by a structured light receiver and adjust an exposure time for frame capture of a sensor of the structured light receiver based on the determined amount of ambient light. The exposure time of the sensor of the structured light receiver is inversely related to the determined amount of ambient light. The processor further may be configured to receive a plurality of captured frames from the structured light receiver based on the adjusted exposure time and generate an aggregated frame, including aggregating values across the plurality of captured frames.

Adjustable receiver exposure times for active depth sensing systems

Methods and systems disclosed provide improved depth sensing for an imaging device. In some aspects, a plurality of transmitters including a first transmitter are configured to generate a structured light pattern with a first depth of field at a first resolution and a second structured light pattern with a second depth of field at the first resolution, wherein the second depth of field is wider than the first depth of field. A receiver, such as an imaging sensor, is configured to focus within the first depth of field to receive the first structured light pattern and capture a first image representing the first structured light pattern and to focus within the second depth of field to receive the second structured light pattern and capture a second image representing the second structured light pattern. An electronic hardware processor is configured to generate a depth map of the scene based on the first image and the second image.

Systems and methods for improved depth sensing

Growing community of inventors

San Diego, CA, United States of America

Kalin Mitkov Atanassov