Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Randall T Crane

David Douglas Bohn

Rod G Fleck

Brian L Hastings

Steven Nabil Bathiche

John R Lewis

Jonathan Westhues

Thomas Charles Oliver

Derek L Knee

Glen C Larsen

Rajeev Badyal

David Rohn

Jedd Perry

Amar Vattakandy

Jeremiah M Pope

Justin E Forrester

In embodiments of selective illumination of a region within a field of view, an illumination system includes light sources implemented for selective illumination of a target within a field of view of an imaging system. The illumination system also includes optics that can be positioned to direct light that is generated by a subset of the light sources to illuminate a region within the field of view. An imaging application can activate the subset of the light sources and position the optics to illuminate the region within the field of view that includes the target of the selective illumination.

Selective illumination of a region within a field of view

In embodiments of selective imaging, an imaging system includes an imaging sensor implemented to capture an image of a target within a field of view of the imaging system. The imaging sensor is divided into zones of pixel arrays. The imaging system also includes optics that can be positioned to direct light of the image at a zone of the imaging sensor. An imaging application can position the optics to direct the light at the zone of the imaging sensor and activate the zone of the imaging sensor to capture the image of the target.

Selective imaging zones of an imaging sensor

A system and method are disclosed for determining a depth map using TOF with low power consumption. In order to disambiguate, or de-alias, the returned distance(s) for a given phase shift, the system may emit n different frequencies of light over n successive image frames. After n frames of data are collected, the distances may be correlated by a variety of methodologies to determine a single distance to the object as measured over n image frames. As one frequency may be emitted per image frame, the depth map may be developed while consuming low power.

Single frequency time of flight de-aliasing

In embodiments of selective illumination, an illumination system includes light sources implemented for selective illumination of a target within a field of view of an imaging system. The illumination system also includes optics that can be positioned to direct light that is generated by a subset of the light sources to illuminate a region within the field of view. An imaging application can activate the subset of the light sources and position the optics to illuminate the region within the field of view that includes the target of the selective illumination.

In embodiments, an encoded micro pattern includes segments of encoded bits that can be optically-imaged by a digitizer. The position of each segment in the encoded micro pattern can be determined from the encoded bits in a segment. Each of the segments of the encoded micro pattern also includes a fiducial marker that indicates an orientation of a segment in the encoded pattern. The encoded bits of the encoded micro pattern can be integrated into a display surface of a display device, or integrated in a display screen that is positioned over the display surface of a display device.

Encoded micro pattern

A method for displaying or capturing an image comprises directing an illumination beam onto a mirror of a highly resonant, mirror-mount system and applying a drive signal to a transducer to deflect the mirror. In this method, the drive signal has a pulse frequency approaching a resonance frequency of the mirror-mount system. The method further comprises reflecting the illumination beam off the mirror so that the illumination beam scans through an area where the image is to be displayed or captured, and, addressing each pixel of the image in synchronicity with the drive signal to display or capture the image.

Scanned beam display and image capture

A method, apparatus, and system for tracking movement of a device are described. The method includes steps of implementing a first tracking subsystem for tracking positions of a device against a surface, determining whether to implement a second tracking subsystem for tracking positions of the device against the surface, capturing data corresponding to a location on the surface, and determining a position of the device against the surface based on the captured data. The position of the device can then be transmitted to a host computer and used in an application program. The first and second tracking subsystems may be a relative and an absolute tracking subsystem respectively.

Methods and apparatuses for compound tracking systems

Cross correlation between a reference image frame and a comparison image frame determine the direction of motion relative to x and y orthogonal axes for a pointing device that uses optical imaging to monitor movement relative to a surface. Pixel data for a portion of the surface are loaded into a buffer memory that shifts the data between successive positions in the buffer memory as each pixel of a comparison frame is processed to compute cross correlation. Auto correlation is determined for positions in the reference frame and used with the cross correlation results to determine a sub-pixel interpolation for the movement of the pointing device. A new reference frame is loaded using data for the comparison frame currently being processed if the pointing device is moved sufficiently so that the next comparison frame will not overlap the existing reference frame.

Growing community of inventors

Fort Collins, CO, United States of America

Randall T Crane