Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Leland Stanford Junior University

Intel Corporation

Onur Can Akkaya

Cyrus Soli Bamji

Gordon S Kino

Michel J F Digonnet

Olav Solgaard

Sergio Ortiz Egea

Onur Kilic

Satyadev Hulikal Nagaraja

Swati Mehta

Tamer Elkhatib

Michel Jf Digonnet

Michael Scott Fenton

Arrigo Benedetti

Shrestha Basu Mallick

Bernard Charles Kress

Vijay Rajasekaran

Vei-Han Chan

Oguz Hasan Elibol

Grace M Credo

Maria Esther Pace

Alfonsus Dibianto Lunardhi

Noureddine Tayebi

Jonathan S Daniels

William Qian

Venkata Satya Raghavendra Bulusu

Venkata Satya Reghavendra Bulusu

Jayachandra Gullapalli

Riaz Imdad Ali

Michel JF Digonnet

A zoned time-of-flight (ToF) arrangement includes a sensor and a steerable light source that produces an illumination beam having a smaller angular extent than the field of view (FoV) of the sensor. The illumination beam is steerable within the sensor's FoV to optionally move through the sensor's FoV or dwell in a particular region of interest. Steering the illumination beam and sequentially generating a depth map of the illuminated region permits advantageous operations over ToF arrangements that simultaneously illuminate the entire sensor's FoV. For example, ambient performance, maximum range, and jitter are improved. Multiple steering alternative configurations are disclosed, including mechanical, electro optical, and electrowetting solutions.

Illumination for zoned time-of-flight imaging

An imaging method includes acquiring one or more passive light images of a scene. A region of interest in the scene is identified based on the one or more passive light images. One or more illumination zones of a plurality of illumination zones that collectively cover the region of interest is determined. Each illumination zone is sized according to active illumination emitted from a steerable illumination source. For a determined illumination zone of the one or more illumination zones, the illumination zone is individually illuminated with the active illumination from the steerable illumination source. For a pixel of a sensor array that maps to the illumination zone, a depth value of an object locus in the scene reflecting the active illumination back to the pixel is determined.

Selective power efficient three-dimensional imaging

One example provides an optical device, comprising a light source configured to output unpolarized light, a polarizing beam splitter configured to split the unpolarized light into light of a first polarization state and light of a second polarization state and a polarization volume grating configured to receive the light of the first polarization state and the light of the second polarization state, and transmit the light of the first polarization state without changing the light of the first polarization state to a different polarization state, and convert the light of the second polarization state to the first polarization state, thereby forming polarized output light.

Polarization conversion using polarization volume grating

A camera system is configured to automatically monitor an area. Depth image(s) of the area are acquired based on active IR light emitted by the camera system and reflected from the area to a sensor array of the camera system. The depth image(s) are computer analyzed to identify a human subject. For each spectral illuminator of the camera system, spectral light image(s) of the area are acquired based on active spectral light in the spectral light sub-band of the spectral illuminator reflected from the area to the sensor array. The spectral light image(s) for the spectral illuminators are computer analyzed to identify an interaction between the human subject and an object in the area. In response to identifying the interaction between the human subject and the object in the area, an action to be performed for the object in the area is computer issued.

Monitoring activity with depth and multi-spectral camera

A camera system includes one or more spectral illuminators, a tunable optical filter, and a sensor array. Active spectral light emitted from the one or more spectral illuminators towards a scene is dynamically tuned to an illumination sub-band selected from a plurality of different illumination sub-bands. Sequentially for each of a plurality of fluorescing light sub-bands different than the selected illumination sub-band, the tunable optical filter is adjusted to block light from being transmitted from the scene to the sensor array in all but a tested fluorescing light sub-band from the plurality of different fluorescing light sub-bands, and the sensor array is addressed to acquire one or more image of the scene in the tested fluorescing light sub-band.

Multi-spectral fluorescent imaging

A camera includes one or more spectral illuminators, a tunable optical filter optically intermediate the one or more spectral illuminators and a scene, and a sensor array. The one or more spectral illuminators are configured to emit active spectral light. The tunable optical filter is dynamically adjustable to change a selected sub-band of the active spectral light that illuminates the scene. The sensor array includes a plurality of sensors each configured to measure spectral light reflected from the scene in the selected sub-band.

Tunable spectral illuminator for camera

An optical filter for a camera is switchable between a reflection state and a transmission state. The optical filter includes a first plurality of liquid crystals configured to dynamically form cholesteric phase structures in the reflection state that block right-handed circularly polarized light in a spectral light sub-band and transmit light outside of the spectral light sub-band. The first plurality of liquid crystals dynamically forms a nematic phase arrangement in the transmission state that transmits light in the spectral light sub-band. The optical filter further includes a second plurality of liquid crystals configured to dynamically form cholesteric phase structures in the reflection state that block left-handed circularly polarized light in the spectral light sub-band and transmit light outside of the spectral light sub-band. The second plurality of liquid crystals dynamically form a nematic phase arrangement in the transmission state that transmits light in the spectral light sub-band.

Camera comprising an infrared illuminator and a liquid crystal optical filter switchable between a reflection state and a transmission state for infrared imaging and spectral imaging, and method thereof

An active illumination range camera operable to determine distances to features in a scene, and comprising an illumination system and imaging system simultaneously controllable to provide a FOI and a FOV that coincide at, and are substantially coextensive with, a region of interest (ROI) in a portion of the scene and track the ROI as it moves.

Active illumination 3D imaging system

An imaging sensor array comprises an epitaxial germanium layer disposed on a silicon layer, and an electrically biased photoelectron collector arranged on the silicon layer, on a side opposite the germanium layer.

Germanium-modified, back-side illuminated optical sensor

An active illumination range camera comprising illumination and imaging systems that is operable to provide a range image of a scene in the imaging system's field of view (FOV) by partitioning the range camera FOV into sub-FOVs, and controlling the illumination and imaging systems to sequentially illuminate and image portions of the scene located in the respective sub-FOVs.

Active illumination 3D zonal imaging system

A system including reconfigurable optics for switching between different near-to-eye display modes includes a waveguide combiner and multiple focus-tunable lenses including an eye-side focus-tunable lens and a world-side focus-tunable lens positioned on opposite sides of the waveguide combiner. The waveguide combiner is positioned to receive light from an optical projection source and to direct the light through the eye-side focus-tunable lens, and the system further includes a microdisplay positioned to transmit light along an optical path sequentially through the world-side focus-tunable lens and the eye-side focus-tunable lens.

Reconfigurable optics for switching between near-to-eye display modes

Pixel arrangements in time-of-flight sensors are presented that include sensing elements that establish charges related to incident light, charge storage elements that accumulate integrated charges transferred from the sensing elements, and diffusion nodes configured to establish measurement voltages representative of the integrated charges that are dumped from the charge storage elements. The pixel arrangement includes analog domain output circuitry comprising a measurement capacitance element that stores the measurement voltage, and a reset capacitance element that stores a reset voltage established at the diffusion node during a reset phase performed prior to a measurement phase. The analog domain output circuitry subtracts the stored reset voltage from the stored measurement voltage for processing into a pixel output voltage that at least partially reduces readout voltage uncertainty of the pixel arrangement.

Readout voltage uncertainty compensation in time-of-flight imaging pixels

An eye tracking system for a NED device includes sensors that are directed toward and angularly offset from a user's eyes in a manner that causes circular features (e.g., irises and/or pupils) of the user's eyes to appear elliptical within sensor planes that correspond to the individual sensors. The eye tracking system determines parameters associated with detected ellipses and then uses these parameters to generate 3D propagations from the detected ellipses back to the user's eyes. By analyzing these 3D propagations with respect to ocular rotation models that represent how the pupils and iris rotate about the center of the eye, the eye tracking system determines pupil orientation parameters that define physical characteristics of the user's eyes. The pupil orientation parameters may then be used to determine interpupillary distance and/or vergence of the user's visual axis that extend from the user's fovea.

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Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Onur Can Akkaya