Intel Corporation

Krishna Swaminathan

Anders Grunnet-Jepsen

Leonid Keselman

Paul Winer

A compact, low cost vcsel projector for high performance stereodepth camera is disclosed. An example apparatus includes an array of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs); an array of micro-lenses coupled to the array of VCSELs, centerlines of ones of the micro-lenses offset relative to centerlines of respective ones of the VCSELs; and a projection lens coupled to the array of micro-lenses.

Compact, low cost VCSEL projector for high performance stereodepth camera

A VCSEL projector and method for using the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) array comprising a plurality of VCSELs; a micro-lens array coupled to the VCSEL array and having a plurality of lenses, and each of the plurality of lenses is positioned over a VCSEL in the VCSEL array; and a projection lens coupled to the micro-lens array (MLA), where light emitted by the VCSEL array is projected as a sequence of patterns onto an object by the projection lens.

A failsafe pulsed laser driver and method for using the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, an apparatus comprises a laser array having a plurality of lasers; and a laser driver coupled to the laser array, wherein the laser driver comprises a current limiter to provide a maximum current at or below a threshold current of lasers in the laser array or at a current level to meet laser safety requirements under circuit failure conditions; one or more capacitors coupled to current limiter and the laser array, the one or more capacitors to be charged in response to current from the current limiter; and a switch coupled to the one or more capacitors operable to cause current from the one or more capacitors to flow through the laser array.

Failsafe pulsed laser driver

A method and apparatus for enhancing the signal to noise ratio performance of a depth camera system are described. In one embodiment, the method includes exposing a portion of a pixel array of a rolling camera sensor, and activating a portion of a rolling projector to generate a portion of a projection pattern during the exposure of the portion of the pixel array. The method may also include capturing image data for the generated portion of the projection pattern with the exposed portion of the pixel array of the rolling camera sensor. Furthermore, the method may include performing depth reconstruction based, at least in part, on the captured image data.

System and method for enhanced signal to noise ratio performance of a depth camera system

In accordance with disclosed embodiments, there are provided systems, methods, and apparatuses for implementing a stereodepth camera using a VCSEL projector with a controlled projection lens. For instance, a depth camera is described having therein a Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser projector (VCSEL projector) to emit a plurality of infrared beams; a moveable lens to control the focus of the plurality of infrared beams emitted from the VCSEL projector, in which the plurality of infrared beams are projected through the moveable lens to form a projected pattern projected onto a scene; stereoscopic image capture devices to capture stereoscopic imagery from the scene having the projected pattern projected thereupon; and processing circuitry to determine depth to an object in the scene based on the captured stereoscopic imagery from the scene having the projected pattern represented therein as projected from the VCSEL projector. Other related embodiments are disclosed.

Stereodepth camera using VCSEL projector with controlled projection lens

In accordance with disclosed embodiments, there are provided systems, methods, and apparatuses for implementing a stereo depth camera using a VCSEL projector with spatially and temporally interleaved patterns. For instance, a depth camera is described having therein a Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser projector (VCSEL projector); in which the VCSEL projector embodies a VCSEL array, the VCSEL being comprised of a plurality of VCSEL elements divided into a plurality of individually addressable subsets of the plurality of VCSEL elements; processing circuitry to activate one or more of the individually addressable subsets of the plurality of VCSEL elements to cause the VCSEL projector to emit a plurality of infrared beams through a projection lens to form a projected pattern which is projected onto a scene; stereoscopic image capture devices to capture stereoscopic imagery from the scene having the projected pattern projected thereupon; and processing circuitry to determine depth to an object in the scene based on the captured stereoscopic imagery from the scene having the projected pattern represented therein as projected from the VCSEL projector. Other related embodiments are disclosed.

Growing community of inventors

Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Krishna Swaminathan