Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Processing of time-of-flight signals
- Patent Title (中): 飞行时间信号的处理
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Application No.: US14347324Application Date: 2013-01-10
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Publication No.: US09325920B2Publication Date: 2016-04-26
- Inventor: Daniel Van Nieuwenhove , Tomas Van Den Hauwe , Reimer Grootjans , Ward Van Der Tempel
- Applicant: SOFTKINETIC SENSORS NV
- Applicant Address: BE Brusells
- Assignee: Softkinetics Sensors NV
- Current Assignee: Softkinetics Sensors NV
- Current Assignee Address: BE Brusells
- Agency: Duane Morris LLP
- Agent J. Rodman Steele, Jr.; Gregory M. Lefkowitz
- Priority: EP12150687 20120110
- International Application: PCT/EP2013/050407 WO 20130110
- International Announcement: WO2013/104717 WO 20130718
- Main IPC: H04N5/357
- IPC: H04N5/357 ; G01S17/89 ; G01S7/486

Abstract:
Described herein is a method and sensor of processing time-of-flight (TOF) signals in a TOF camera system including an illumination unit and an imaging sensor. The method comprises illuminating the scene with light at a first frequency, detecting reflected light from at least one object in the scene at the first frequency, and determining a phase measurement using I and Q values. In addition, the scene is illuminated with light at a second frequency, the second frequency being 2−n of the first frequency where n=1, 2, . . . , etc., and the signs of I and Q values for both the first and second frequencies is used to determine the presence of aliasing in the phase measurement so that it can be corrected. The phase measurement is then corrected for aliasing and the effective range of the TOF camera system is extended by multiples of 2n. In addition, relative signal strength needs to be considered in accordance with the reflectivity of objects within the scene. For a reflectivity of 4% and no aliasing, the ability to detect an object decreases with distance (30). For an aliased phase measurement for an object with a reflectivity of 100%, the ability to detect the object is substantially constant (35).
Public/Granted literature
- US20140313376A1 PROCESSING OF TIME-OF-FLIGHT SIGNALS Public/Granted day:2014-10-23
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