Coded-array technique for obtaining depth and other position information of an observed object

Filing Information

• Publication Number: US20040005092
• Application Number: US10600744
• Filing date: 06/19/2003
• Publication date: 01/08/2004
• Predicted expiration date: 06/19/2023

• U.S. Classifications: 382/154  ·
• International Classifications: G06K009/00 ·
• Related U.S. Application Data:
  RELATED APPLICATIONS
  0001 This application claims benefit of priority to Provisional U.S. Patent Application No. 60/390,232, filed Jun. 19, 2002, entitled “A Coded-Grid Depth Sensor,” and naming Carlo Tomasi as an inventor. The aforementioned priority application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
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Patent Family

Abstract

A projection array is provided that comprises a plurality of discrete projection elements. An image array is obtained of a scene with the light projected onto it that is coded using the projection array. Correspondence information is determined for each element in the image array, where the correspondence information can be used to determine which of the plurality of elements in the projection array corresponds to a particular image element. The determination of correspondence information for each element in the image array can be made independently of correspondence information for other elements in the image array.

Independent Claims | See all claims (37)

1. 1. A method for detecting characteristics of an object, the method comprising: identifying a projection array used to project coded light onto a scene containing the object, wherein the projection array comprises a plurality of projection elements; obtaining an image of the scene with the coded light projected onto it; identifying a plurality of image elements forming an image array from the image; and for each image element, determining correspondence information that can be used to determine which projection element in the plurality of projection elements corresponds to that image element, wherein determining correspondence information for each element is performed independently of knowing correspondence information for any other image element.
2. 26. A method for creating a light pattern on a scene, the method comprising: creating a sequence of values comprising a plurality of subsequences, wherein each subsequence identifies one or more elements of a projection array independent of any other element in the projection array; assigning a value to a characteristic in a set of optically distinguishable characteristics; projecting light in a pattern in order to create at least a portion of the pattern on the scene, wherein the sequence is encoded into the pattern based on the value assigned to each characteristic in the set.
3. 35. A system for detecting characteristics of an object, the system comprising: a projector configured to project coded light that is created from a projection array onto a scene containing the object, wherein the projection array comprises a plurality of projection elements; a camera system to capture an image of the scene with the coded light; and a processor coupled to the processor and configured to: determine correspondence information that can be used to determine which projection element in the plurality of projection elements corresponds to a particular image element.