The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 25, 2007
Filed:
Oct. 09, 2003
Colin L. Smithpeter, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Eddie R. Hoover, Sandia Park, NM (US);
Bedabrata Pain, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Bruce R. Hancock, Altadena, CA (US);
Robert O. Nellums, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Colin L. Smithpeter, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Eddie R. Hoover, Sandia Park, NM (US);
Bedabrata Pain, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Bruce R. Hancock, Altadena, CA (US);
Robert O. Nellums, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Sandia Corporation, Albuquerque, NM (US);
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus is disclosed for generating a three-dimensional (3-D) image of a scene illuminated by a pulsed light source (e.g. a laser or light-emitting diode). The apparatus, referred to as a phase-sensitive 3-D imaging camera utilizes a two-dimensional (2-D) array of photodetectors to receive light that is reflected or scattered from the scene and processes an electrical output signal from each photodetector in the 2-D array in parallel using multiple modulators, each having inputs of the photodetector output signal and a reference signal, with the reference signal provided to each modulator having a different phase delay. The output from each modulator is provided to a computational unit which can be used to generate intensity and range information for use in generating a 3-D image of the scene. The 3-D camera is capable of generating a 3-D image using a single pulse of light, or alternately can be used to generate subsequent 3-D images with each additional pulse of light.