CN111458693A

CN111458693A - Direct ranging TOF (time of flight) partitioned detection method and system and electronic equipment thereof

Info

Publication number: CN111458693A
Application number: CN202010425531.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 孟玉凰; 黄河; 楼歆晔; 林涛
Original assignee: Shanghai North Ocean Photonics Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai North Ocean Photonics Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-02-01
Filing date: 2020-05-19
Publication date: 2020-07-28
Also published as: CN111458692A; CN111366906A; CN111458692B

Abstract

Provided are a direct ranging TOF (time of flight) partitioned detection method, a system and electronic equipment thereof. The TOF partitioned detection method for direct ranging comprises the following steps: controlling a light source unit of a direct ranging TOF to emit light signals to a plurality of view field partitions according to a certain time sequence, wherein the view field partitions form a target view field together; and processing the optical signals respectively reflected back from the field-of-view partitions received by the receiving unit of the direct ranging TOF to determine depth information of the field-of-view partitions by measuring the time of flight of the optical signals, thereby realizing detection of the entire target field-of-view.

Description

Direct ranging TOF (time of flight) partitioned detection method and system and electronic equipment thereof

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of TOF (time of flight), in particular to a TOF (time of flight) partitioned detection method and system for direct distance measurement and electronic equipment.

Background

Currently, in the mainstream scheme of the three-dimensional sensing technology, the TOF (time of flight) technology is widely concerned and applied in industries such as smart phones and the like by virtue of the advantages of small size, low error, direct output of depth data, strong interference resistance and the like. From the technical implementation, TOF has two types: one is direct ranging TOF (dTOF for short), i.e. determining distance by emitting, receiving light, and measuring photon time of flight; the other is the well-established indirect ranging tof (ietf) in the market, i.e. the distance is determined by converting the time of flight by measuring the phase difference between the transmitted and received waveforms. The direct distance measurement method is characterized in that the light is transmitted after being subjected to high-frequency modulation, the pulse repetition frequency is very high, the pulse width can reach ns to ps magnitude, very high single pulse energy can be obtained in a very short time, the signal to noise ratio can be increased while the low power consumption of a power supply is kept, a relatively long detection distance can be realized, the influence of ambient light on the distance measurement precision is reduced, and the requirements on the sensitivity and the signal to noise ratio of a detection device are lowered. In addition, the high frequency and narrow pulse width characteristics of the direct ranging TOF enable the average energy of the TOF to be small, and eye safety can be guaranteed.

However, the detection distance of the existing direct ranging TOF is proportional to power consumption, that is, the longer the detection distance of the direct ranging TOF is, the higher the required power consumption is, so that the existing direct ranging TOF has to be configured with a light source with higher power in order to realize detection at a longer distance to meet the needs of application scenarios such as VR/AR, and the existing direct ranging TOF often performs short-distance and long-distance detection under the condition of higher power consumption, thereby causing resource waste and affecting the application and popularization of the TOF technology.

Disclosure of Invention

An advantage of the present invention is to provide a direct ranging TOF zoning detection method, a system and an electronic device thereof, which can implement long-distance detection with low power consumption, and facilitate expansion of a detection range of the direct ranging TOF.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a direct ranging TOF zoning detection method, a system and an electronic device thereof, wherein in an embodiment of the present invention, the direct ranging TOF zoning detection method can divide a target field of view into a specific field of view zone arrangement to detect different field of view zones at different times, so as to detect only a smaller field of view at the same time, which helps to reduce power consumption required for long-distance detection.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a direct ranging TOF zoning detection method, a system and an electronic device thereof, wherein in an embodiment of the present invention, the direct ranging TOF zoning detection method can adjust the number of market zones simultaneously detected according to a specific detection distance, so as to fully utilize power consumption and improve detection efficiency.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a direct ranging TOF zoning detection method, a system and an electronic device thereof, wherein in an embodiment of the present invention, the direct ranging TOF zoning detection method can implement detection on different field zones at different times by performing specific light source zoning arrangement on VCSE L light sources and lighting each light source zone according to a certain time sequence to illuminate a corresponding field zone at different times.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a TOF zoning detection method, a TOF zoning detection system and an electronic device thereof, wherein the TOF zoning detection method does not require a complicated structure and a large amount of calculation, and has low requirements on software and hardware. Therefore, the present invention successfully and effectively provides a solution to not only provide a direct ranging TOF zone detection method and system and electronic device thereof, but also increase the practicality and reliability of the direct ranging TOF zone detection method and system and electronic device thereof.

To achieve at least one of the above advantages or other advantages and objects, the present invention provides a direct ranging TOF segmented detection method, comprising the steps of:

controlling a light source unit of a direct ranging TOF to emit light signals to a plurality of view field partitions according to a certain time sequence, wherein the view field partitions form a target view field together; and

the optical signals respectively reflected back from the respective field-of-view zones received by the receiving unit of the direct ranging TOF are processed to determine depth information of the respective field-of-view zones by measuring the time of flight of the optical signals, thereby enabling detection of the entire target field of view.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the step of controlling a light source unit of a direct ranging TOF to emit light signals to a plurality of field sections according to a certain timing sequence, wherein the plurality of field sections together form a target field of view, includes the steps of:

dividing the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF into a plurality of light source partitions which are specifically arranged, wherein the light source partitions correspond to the view field partitions one by one; and

and illuminating the light source subareas according to a certain time sequence in a subarea mode so as to illuminate the corresponding view field subareas through the light source subareas.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in the step of dividing the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF into a plurality of light source partitions arranged in a specific manner, wherein the light source partitions and the field of view partitions correspond to each other in a one-to-one manner: the light source unit is uniformly divided into n × m light source partitions.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in the step of lighting the light source partitions in a time-sequential manner to illuminate the corresponding field partitions through the light source partitions: and one light source partition is separately lightened at first preset time intervals in sequence, so that different light source partitions illuminate the corresponding field of view partitions at different moments.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the first predetermined time is not less than a ratio of twice a maximum detection distance of the direct ranging TOF to a speed of light.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the step of lighting the light source partitions in a time sequence in a partitioned manner to illuminate the corresponding field partitions through the light source partitions includes the steps of:

comparing the maximum detection distance of the direct ranging TOF with the maximum depth of the target field of view by N times, wherein N is more than or equal to 2; and

and in response to that the maximum detection distance is larger than or equal to N times of the maximum depth of the target field of view, sequentially and simultaneously lightening N light source partitions at intervals of second preset time so that the N light source partitions illuminate the corresponding field of view partitions at the same time.

In an embodiment of the invention, the second predetermined time is equal to or greater than a ratio of twice the maximum depth of the target field of view to the speed of light.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the step of controlling a light source unit of a direct ranging TOF to emit light signals to a plurality of field sections according to a certain timing sequence, wherein a plurality of the field sections together form a target field, further includes the steps of:

the operating power of the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF is adjusted according to the maximum depth of the target field of view such that the maximum detection distance of the direct ranging TOF is substantially equal to the maximum depth of the target field of view.

According to another aspect of the invention, the invention further provides a direct ranging TOF zoning detection system comprising, communicatively connected to each other:

the control module is used for controlling a light source unit of a direct distance measuring TOF to emit light signals to a plurality of view field partitions according to a certain time sequence, wherein the view field partitions form a target view field together; and

and the processing module is used for processing the optical signals respectively reflected from the field partitions and received by the receiving unit of the direct ranging TOF so as to determine the depth information of each field partition by measuring the flight time of the optical signals, thereby realizing the detection of the whole target field.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the control module includes a partition module and a partition lighting module, which are communicably connected to each other, wherein the partition module is configured to partition the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF into a plurality of light source partitions arranged specifically, where the light source partitions correspond to the field of view partitions one by one; the subarea lighting module is used for lighting the light source subareas in a subarea mode according to a certain time sequence so as to illuminate the corresponding view field subareas through the light source subareas.

In an embodiment of the invention, the subarea lighting module is further configured to separately light one of the light source subareas at intervals of a first predetermined time in sequence, so that different light source subareas illuminate the corresponding field subareas at different times.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the partitioned lighting module includes a comparing module and a simultaneous lighting module, which are communicably connected to each other, wherein the comparing module is configured to compare a maximum detection distance of the direct ranging TOF with a value N times a maximum depth of the target field of view, where N ≧ 2; the simultaneous lighting module is used for responding that the maximum detection distance is larger than or equal to N times of the maximum depth of the target view field, and sequentially lighting N light source partitions at intervals of second preset time so that the N light source partitions illuminate the corresponding view field partitions at the same time.

In an embodiment of the invention, the partition lighting module further includes an individual lighting module communicably connected to the comparison module, wherein the individual lighting module is configured to, in response to the maximum detection distance being less than N times the maximum depth of the target field of view, sequentially and separately light one of the light source partitions at intervals of the second predetermined time, so that different light source partitions illuminate the corresponding field of view partitions at different times.

In an embodiment of the invention, the control module includes a power adjusting module, configured to adjust an operating power of the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF according to the maximum depth of the target field of view, so that a maximum detection distance of the direct ranging TOF is substantially equal to the maximum depth of the target field of view.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the present invention further provides an electronic device comprising:

at least one processor configured to execute instructions; and

a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the memory has at least one instruction, wherein the instruction is executable by the at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to perform some or all of the steps of a direct ranging TOF zone detection method, wherein the direct ranging TOF zone detection method comprises the steps of:

an electronic device body;

at least one direct ranging TOF, wherein the direct ranging TOF is configured on the electronic device body and is used for detecting a target field of view through the direct ranging TOF; and

at least one direct ranging TOF zone detection system, wherein said direct ranging TOF zone detection system is configured at said electronic device body or said direct ranging TOF and comprises, communicatively connected to each other:

the control module is used for controlling the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF to emit light signals to a plurality of view field partitions according to a certain time sequence, wherein the view field partitions form the target view field together; and

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be fully apparent from the ensuing description and drawings.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings and the claims.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a flow diagram of a direct ranging TOF segmented detection method according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2A and 2B show a flow chart diagram of one of the steps of the direct ranging TOF segmented detection method according to the above embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3 shows an example of zone illumination in the direct ranging TOF zone detection method according to the above embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 4 shows an example of light source partitioning in the direct ranging TOF partitioning detection method according to the above embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram schematic of a direct ranging TOF segmented detection system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram schematic of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 7 shows a schematic structural diagram of another electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

The following description is presented to disclose the invention so as to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention. The preferred embodiments in the following description are given by way of example only, and other obvious variations will occur to those skilled in the art. The basic principles of the invention, as defined in the following description, may be applied to other embodiments, variations, modifications, equivalents, and other technical solutions without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

In the present invention, the terms "a" and "an" in the claims and the description should be understood as meaning "one or more", that is, one element may be one in number in one embodiment, and the element may be more than one in number in another embodiment. The terms "a" and "an" should not be construed as limiting the number unless the number of such elements is explicitly recited as one in the present disclosure, but rather the terms "a" and "an" should not be construed as being limited to only one of the number.

In the description of the present invention, it is to be understood that the terms "first," "second," and the like are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance. In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless explicitly stated or limited otherwise, the terms "connected" and "connected" are to be interpreted broadly, and may be, for example, fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally connected; can be mechanically or electrically connected; they may be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations.

In the description herein, references to the description of the term "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "an example," "a specific example," or "some examples," etc., mean that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the invention. In this specification, the schematic representations of the terms used above are not necessarily intended to refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples. Furthermore, various embodiments or examples and features of different embodiments or examples described in this specification can be combined and combined by one skilled in the art without contradiction.

Illustrative method

Referring to fig. 1-4 of the drawings, a direct ranging TOF segmented detection method according to an embodiment of the invention is illustrated. Specifically, as shown in fig. 1, the direct ranging TOF zone detection method includes the steps of:

s100: controlling a light source unit of a direct ranging TOF to emit light signals to a plurality of view field partitions according to a certain time sequence, wherein the view field partitions together form a target view field; and

s200: and processing the optical signals respectively reflected from the field zones and received by the receiving unit of the direct ranging TOF to determine the depth information of each field zone by measuring the flight time of the optical signals, so as to realize the detection of the whole target field.

Notably, since the entire target field of view is formed by a plurality of the field of view segments, the area of each of the field of view segments is smaller than the entire target field of view; meanwhile, the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF is controlled to emit light signals to the corresponding field of view partitions according to a certain time sequence, so that the light source unit only needs to illuminate different field of view partitions at different moments so as to detect different field of view partitions at different moments, and compared with the conventional direct ranging TOF for simultaneously detecting the whole target field of view, the direct ranging TOF partition detection method disclosed by the invention can realize detection of the whole target field of view with lower power consumption, so that the direct ranging TOF partition detection method has obvious application potential in the consumer electronics field, can be used for smart phones, acquires real three-dimensional information in an external long-distance range, realizes multiple AR-level applications and creates new selling points; but also in VR/AR to meet the ever-increasing demand for motion capture and recognition. In addition, besides the consumer electronics field, the direct ranging TOF zoning detection method can also support various functions including gesture sensing or proximity detection of various innovative user interfaces, and has a wide application prospect in the fields of computers, household appliances, industrial automation, service robots, unmanned aerial vehicles, internet of things and the like. .

In other words, when the target field of view is divided into N field partitions with equal areas, compared with the existing direct ranging TOF method for simultaneously detecting the whole target field of view, the power consumption required by the direct ranging TOF partition detection method of the invention is only one N times of the existing power consumption when the same distance detection is completed; in addition, the detection distance of the direct ranging TOF partition detection method can reach N times of the existing distance when the same power consumption is consumed, namely, the direct ranging TOF partition detection method can realize long-distance detection under the condition of lower power consumption, and is beneficial to expanding the detection range of the direct ranging TOF.

More specifically, as shown in fig. 2A, the step S100 of the direct ranging TOF zone detection method of the present invention may include the steps of:

s110: dividing the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF into a plurality of light source partitions which are specifically arranged, wherein the light source partitions correspond to the field of view partitions one by one; and

s120: and illuminating the light source subareas in a subarea mode according to a certain time sequence so as to illuminate the corresponding view field subareas through the light source subareas.

Preferably, the adjacent light source regions are not overlapped with each other, and the adjacent field of view regions are not overlapped with each other, so as to avoid the occurrence of repeatedly detected regions, which contributes to further reducing power consumption. In particular, the adjacent field of view partitions are overlapped edge to edge, so that the overlapping between the adjacent field of view partitions is avoided, and meanwhile, the existence of an undetected region due to the occurrence of a gap between the adjacent field of view partitions can also be avoided, so that the whole target field of view is detected comprehensively without dead angles.

More preferably, the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF is uniformly divided into n × m light source partitions so that the areas occupied by different light source partitions are all the same; correspondingly, the areas occupied by the different field-of-view partitions are also the same, so that the depth information of the field-of-view partitions acquired at different moments is spliced at a later stage to be integrated into the complete depth information of the target field-of-view. In other words, all the light source partitions are arranged in n rows and m columns, for example, in an example of the present invention, the light source unit may be uniformly divided into 2 × 2 light source partitions; of course, in other examples of the present invention, the light source unit may also be uniformly divided into the light source partitions such as 4 × 4, 2 × 6, or 1 × 12, etc.

Exemplarily, as shown in fig. 3 and 4, taking 2 × 2 light source partitions as an example, the light source unit 10 of the direct ranging TOF includes four light source partitions 11, wherein each of the light source partitions 11 may include a plurality of point light sources 111 distributed in an array. When the four light source partitions 11 are sequentially turned on to emit light signals, the light signals emitted at different time will pass through different portions of the dodging unit 20 of the direct ranging TOF to be dodged, and then propagate to the corresponding field partition 31 in the target field 30 to be reflected back to the receiving unit (not shown in the figure) of the direct ranging TOF; finally, the optical signals reflected back from different ones of the field segments 31 are received via the receiving unit at different times to determine the distance of the corresponding field segment 31 by measuring the time of flight of the optical signals.

In particular, the light source unit 10 of the direct ranging TOF may be, but is not limited to, implemented as a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSE L), and the light uniformizing unit 20 of the direct ranging TOF may be, but is not limited to, implemented as a light uniformizing device such as a random regular microlens array or a diffractive optical element.

It is noted that, in another example of the present invention, the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF may also be non-uniformly divided into n × m light source partitions, so that the areas occupied by different light source partitions are not necessarily the same; accordingly, the areas occupied by the different field-of-view partitions are not necessarily the same, which is helpful for dividing the different field-of-view partitions according to a specific detection scene.

According to the above embodiment of the invention, in the step S120 of the direct ranging TOF zone detection method of the invention: and independently lighting one light source subarea at intervals of first preset time in sequence so as to enable different light source subareas to illuminate the corresponding view field subareas at different moments, and further detecting the depth information of the corresponding view field subarea at different moments. Therefore, after one period is finished, the whole target view field can be illuminated, and the whole target view field can be detected.

Preferably, the first predetermined time is not less than a ratio between twice the maximum detection distance and a speed of light, so as to avoid mutual interference between optical signals emitted by different light source partitions, which helps to improve detection accuracy of the direct ranging TOF.

It is worth mentioning that the length of the predetermined time is proportional to the size of the maximum detection distance, for example, the predetermined time is just equal to the ratio of 2 times of the maximum detection distance to the speed of light; in this way, when the maximum detection distance of the direct ranging TOF becomes smaller, the predetermined time also becomes smaller, so that the detection period of the direct ranging TOF becomes shorter, so that the detection of the entire target field of view is completed more quickly; when the maximum detection distance of the direct ranging TOF becomes longer, the predetermined time also becomes longer, so as to prevent mutual interference between optical signals emitted by different light source partitions. Of course, in other examples of the present invention, the predetermined time may be a value that does not change as the maximum detection distance changes.

Further, in the step S120 of the direct ranging TOF zone detection method of the present invention: all the light source partitions may be sequentially lighted in rows or columns, or may be randomly sequentially lighted, as long as all the light source partitions are lighted in one detection period.

It is noted that the power consumption of the same direct ranging TOF is proportional to the maximum detection distance, that is, the longer the maximum detection distance of the direct ranging TOF is, the larger the power consumption required by the direct ranging TOF is; whereas when the direct detection TOF detects a target field of view whose distance is smaller than the maximum detection distance, there is a portion of the power consumption of the direct detection TOF to be wasted for maintaining the maximum detection distance because the detection of the target field of view can be completed even if the maximum detection distance of the direct detection TOF becomes smaller. It is to be understood that the maximum detection distance of the direct ranging TOF is the farthest distance detected by one of the light source segments of the direct ranging TOF operating at operating power.

Therefore, in the above example of the present invention, as shown in fig. 2A, the step S100 of the direct ranging TOF zone detection method of the present invention may further include the steps of:

s130: adjusting the working power of the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF according to the maximum depth of the target field of view so that the maximum detection distance of the direct ranging TOF is substantially equal to the maximum depth of the target field of view.

Illustratively, when the maximum depth of the target field of view becomes smaller, the operating power of the light source section of the direct ranging TOF is turned down so as to reduce the power consumption of the direct ranging TOF; and when the maximum depth of the target field of view becomes larger, the working power of the light source partition of the direct ranging TOF is increased so as to ensure that the direct ranging TOF can accurately detect the whole target field of view. It is to be understood that in this example of the invention, the operating power of the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF is equal to the operating power of each of the light source segments, so that only one of the light source segments is allowed to be lit at the same time.

However, according to another example of the present invention, for the direct ranging TOF with constant power (i.e. the operating power of the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF is constant and cannot be adjusted), the direct ranging TOF zone detection method of the present invention can control two or more light source zones to be simultaneously turned on as needed, so that the sum of the operating powers of the simultaneously turned-on light source zones is equal to the operating power of the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF, thus although the overall power consumption of the direct ranging TOF is constant, the whole detection period can be greatly shortened, and the detection time can be saved. Of course, since the working power of each of the light source partitions that are simultaneously illuminated is smaller than the working power of the light source unit, the intensity of the light signal emitted by each of the light source partitions that are simultaneously illuminated will be weaker than the intensity of the light signal emitted by the light source partition that is individually illuminated, resulting in that the maximum detection distance of the direct ranging TOF will be reduced by a factor.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 2B, the step S120 of the direct ranging TOF zone detection method of the present invention may include the steps of:

s121: comparing the maximum detection distance of the direct ranging TOF with the maximum depth of the target field of view by N times, wherein N is more than or equal to 2; and

s122: and in response to that the maximum detection distance is larger than or equal to N times of the maximum depth of the target field of view, sequentially and simultaneously lightening N light source partitions at intervals of second preset time so that the N light source partitions illuminate the corresponding field of view partitions at the same time. In this way, the direct ranging TOF can simultaneously detect depth information of the corresponding field of view segment at different times.

Preferably, the second predetermined time is equal to or greater than a ratio of twice a maximum depth of the target field of view to a speed of light. It is understood that the maximum depth of the target view field may be set in advance according to a detection scene, but is not limited thereto, for example, for gesture recognition in the AR field, the maximum depth of the target view field may be set to 1 meter; for unmanned environment recognition, the maximum depth of the target field of view may then be set to 200 meters or even more.

It should be noted that, as shown in fig. 2B, the step S120 of the direct ranging TOF segmented detection method of the present invention may further include the steps of:

s123: in response to the maximum detection distance being less than N times the maximum depth of the target field of view, sequentially illuminating one of the light source zones separately at the second predetermined time interval so that different ones of the light source zones illuminate corresponding ones of the field of view zones at different times. In this way, the direct ranging TOF detects depth information of the corresponding field of view partition at different times, respectively.

Of course, in other examples of the present invention, when the maximum detection distance is less than twice the maximum depth of the target field of view, one of the light source partitions is sequentially turned on at intervals of the second predetermined time; when the maximum detection distance is more than or equal to two times and less than three times of the maximum depth of the target field of view, sequentially and simultaneously lightening two light source partitions at intervals of second preset time; when the maximum detection distance is more than or equal to three times and less than four times of the maximum depth of the target field of view, sequentially and simultaneously lightening three light source partitions at intervals of second preset time; and the like until all the light source partitions are lightened simultaneously.

It should be noted that, in some embodiments of the present invention, the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF may not be partitioned, but the overall size of the light source unit is reduced, so as to detect different field partitions according to a certain time sequence by changing the propagation angle of the optical signal emitted by the light source unit, and still achieve detection of the entire target field with lower power consumption.

It should be noted that, because the distortion is an off-axis aberration, which is an aberration that loses similarity of object images caused by the change of the vertical axis magnification along with the increase of the field of view, and whether the direct ranging TOF adopts a structural scheme of light source partition + dodging unit + collimating mirror or a structural scheme of light source partition + pre-shaper + dodging unit, according to the arrangement of the light source partitions, the off-axis amount of the point light sources of different partitions will be different, so that after the light beams of different partitions are modulated by two sets of optical elements, the central direction of the light beams will be deflected by different angles, i.e., the closer to the edge partition, the larger the deflection angle is, the larger the distortion is, and the distortion of the direct ranging TOF needs to be corrected.

Therefore, the direct ranging TOF zone detection method of the present invention can directly correct the corresponding zone depth information based on the deflection degree of the optical signal emitted by the light source zone of the direct ranging TOF. Specifically, the direct ranging TOF zone detection method may implement corresponding distortion correction in a hardware manner; for example, the dodging unit of the direct ranging TOF and the shaping lens (such as a curved lens) are combined into one to form a curved dodging unit (i.e., a curved diffuser), that is, the microstructure of the dodging unit is arranged along the curved surface of the shaping lens, so that the distortion degree of the light beam emitted by each light source partition after passing through the curved dodging unit is greatly reduced, and the individual distortion correction is not required to be performed on each partition, which is beneficial to reducing the design and adjustment difficulty of the direct ranging TOF and reducing the distortion correction difficulty of the depth information processing method.

Illustrative System

Referring to figure 5 of the drawings accompanying this specification, a direct ranging TOF segmented detection system for controlling a direct ranging TOF to perform segmented detection of the entire target field of view according to an embodiment of the invention is illustrated. Specifically, as shown in fig. 5, the direct ranging TOF zone detection system 400 includes a control module 410 and a processing module 420 communicatively connected to each other, wherein the control module 410 is configured to control a light source unit of the direct ranging TOF to emit light signals to a plurality of field zones according to a certain timing sequence, wherein the plurality of field zones together form a target field of view; wherein the processing module 420 is configured to process the light signals respectively reflected back from each of the field-of-view partitions received by the receiving unit of the direct ranging TOF to determine the depth information of each of the field-of-view partitions by measuring the flight time of the light signals, thereby implementing the detection of the entire target field-of-view.

More specifically, as shown in fig. 5, the control module 410 includes a partitioning module 411 and a partitioning lighting module 412, which are communicably connected to each other, wherein the partitioning module 411 is configured to partition the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF into a plurality of light source partitions arranged specifically, wherein the light source partitions are in one-to-one correspondence with the field of view partitions; the subarea lighting module 412 is configured to light the light source subareas in a time sequence in a subarea manner, so that the corresponding field subareas are illuminated by the light source subareas.

It is noted that in an example of the present invention, the partition lighting module 412 is further configured to individually light one of the light source partitions sequentially at a first predetermined time interval, so that different light source partitions illuminate the corresponding field of view partitions at different times.

In yet another example of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5, the segmented lighting module 412 comprises a comparing module 4121 and a simultaneous lighting module 4122, which are communicatively connected to each other, wherein the comparing module 4121 is configured to compare the magnitude between the maximum detection distance of the direct ranging TOF and N times the maximum depth of the target field of view, where N ≧ 2; the simultaneous lighting module 4122 is configured to, in response to that the maximum detection distance is greater than or equal to N times of the maximum depth of the target field of view, sequentially and simultaneously light the N light source partitions at intervals of a second predetermined time, so that the N light source partitions illuminate the corresponding field of view partitions at the same time.

Preferably, as shown in fig. 5, the subarea lighting module 412 further comprises an individual lighting module 4123 communicably connected to the comparison module 4121, wherein the individual lighting module 4123 is configured to individually light one of the light source subareas sequentially at the second predetermined time interval in response to the maximum detection distance being less than N times the maximum depth of the target field of view, so that different light source subareas illuminate the corresponding field of view at different times.

According to the above embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 5, the control module 410 may further include a power adjusting module 413, configured to adjust the operating power of the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF according to the maximum depth of the target field of view, so that the maximum detection distance of the direct ranging TOF is substantially equal to the maximum depth of the target field of view.

Illustrative electronic device

Next, an electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to fig. 6. As shown in fig. 6, the electronic device 90 includes one or more processors 91 and memory 92.

The processor 91 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or other form of processing unit having data processing capabilities and/or instruction execution capabilities, and may control other components in the electronic device 90 to perform desired functions. In other words, the processor 91 comprises one or more physical devices configured to execute instructions. For example, the processor 91 may be configured to execute instructions that are part of: one or more applications, services, programs, routines, libraries, objects, components, data structures, or other logical constructs. Such instructions may be implemented to perform a task, implement a data type, transform the state of one or more components, implement a technical effect, or otherwise arrive at a desired result.

The processor 91 may include one or more processors configured to execute software instructions. Additionally or alternatively, the processor 91 may include one or more hardware or firmware logic machines configured to execute hardware or firmware instructions. The processors of the processor 91 may be single core or multicore, and the instructions executed thereon may be configured for serial, parallel, and/or distributed processing. The various components of the processor 91 may optionally be distributed over two or more separate devices, which may be remotely located and/or configured for coordinated processing. Aspects of the processor 91 may be virtualized and executed by remotely accessible networked computing devices configured in a cloud computing configuration.

The memory 92 may include one or more computer program products that may include various forms of computer-readable storage media, such as volatile memory and/or non-volatile memory. The volatile memory may include, for example, Random Access Memory (RAM), cache memory (cache), and/or the like. The non-volatile memory may include, for example, Read Only Memory (ROM), hard disk, flash memory, etc. One or more computer program instructions may be stored on the computer readable storage medium and executed by the processor 11 to implement some or all of the steps of the above-described exemplary methods of the present invention described above, and/or other desired functions.

In other words, the memory 92 comprises one or more physical devices configured to hold machine-readable instructions executable by the processor 91 to implement the methods and processes described herein. In implementing these methods and processes, the state of the memory 92 may be transformed (e.g., to hold different data). The memory 92 may include removable and/or built-in devices. The memory 92 may include optical memory (e.g., CD, DVD, HD-DVD, blu-ray disc, etc.), semiconductor memory (e.g., RAM, EPROM, EEPROM, etc.), and/or magnetic memory (e.g., hard-disk drive, floppy-disk drive, tape drive, MRAM, etc.), among others. The memory 92 may include volatile, nonvolatile, dynamic, static, read/write, read-only, random-access, sequential-access, location-addressable, file-addressable, and/or content-addressable devices.

However, aspects of the instructions described herein may alternatively be propagated by a communication medium (e.g., electromagnetic signals, optical signals, etc.) that is not held by a physical device for a limited period of time.

In one example, as shown in FIG. 6, the electronic device 90 may also include an input device 93 and an output device 94, which may be interconnected via a bus system and/or other form of connection mechanism (not shown). The input device 93 may be, for example, a camera module or the like for capturing image data or video data. As another example, the input device 93 may include or interface with one or more user input devices such as a keyboard, mouse, touch screen, or game controller. In some embodiments, the input device 93 may include or interface with a selected Natural User Input (NUI) component. Such component parts may be integrated or peripheral and the transduction and/or processing of input actions may be processed on-board or off-board. Example NUI components may include a microphone for speech and/or voice recognition; infrared, color, stereo display and/or depth camera for machine vision and/or gesture recognition; a head tracker, eye tracker, accelerometer and/or gyroscope for motion detection and/or intent recognition; and an electric field sensing component for assessing brain activity and/or body movement; and/or any other suitable sensor.

The output device 94 may output various information including the classification result and the like to the outside. The output devices 94 may include, for example, a display, speakers, a printer, and a communication network and its connected remote output devices, among others.

Of course, the electronic device 90 may further comprise the communication means, wherein the communication means may be configured to communicatively couple the electronic device 90 with one or more other computer devices. The communication means may comprise wired and/or wireless communication devices compatible with one or more different communication protocols. As a non-limiting example, the communication subsystem may be configured for communication via a wireless telephone network or a wired or wireless local or wide area network. In some embodiments, the communications device may allow the electronic device 90 to send and/or receive messages to and/or from other devices via a network such as the internet.

It will be appreciated that the configurations and/or approaches described herein are exemplary in nature, and that these specific embodiments or examples are not to be considered in a limiting sense, because numerous variations are possible. The specific routines or methods described herein may represent one or more of any number of processing strategies. As such, various acts illustrated and/or described may be performed in the sequence illustrated and/or described, in other sequences, in parallel, or omitted. Also, the order of the above-described processes may be changed.

Of course, for simplicity, only some of the components of the electronic device 90 relevant to the present invention are shown in fig. 6, omitting components such as buses, input/output interfaces, and the like. In addition, the electronic device 90 may include any other suitable components, depending on the particular application.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an embodiment of the present invention further provides another electronic device. Illustratively, as shown in fig. 7, the electronic device includes an electronic device body 800, at least one direct ranging TOF700, and at least one direct ranging TOF zone detection system 400, wherein the direct ranging TOF700 is configured on the electronic device body 800 for detecting a target field of view through the direct ranging TOF 700; wherein the direct ranging TOF zone detection system 400 is configured to the electronic device body 800 and the direct ranging TOF zone detection system 400 comprises, communicatively connected to each other: the control module is used for controlling the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF to emit light signals to a plurality of view field partitions according to a certain time sequence, wherein the view field partitions form the target view field together; and the processing module is used for processing the optical signals respectively reflected from the field partitions and received by the receiving unit of the direct ranging TOF so as to determine the depth information of each field partition by measuring the flight time of the optical signals, thereby realizing the detection of the whole target field. It is understood that in other examples of the present invention, the direct ranging TOF zone detection system 400 can also be directly configured to the direct ranging TOF700, and the electronic device body 800 is implemented as a companion device to the direct ranging TOF700, that is, the electronic device can be directly implemented as a TOF product with a zone detection function.

Notably, the electronic device body 800 can be any device or system capable of being configured with the direct ranging TOF700 and the direct ranging TOF zone detection system 400, such as glasses, head-mounted display devices, augmented reality devices, virtual reality devices, smartphones, or mixed reality devices. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that although the electronic device body 800 is implemented as AR glasses in fig. 7, it does not limit the content and scope of the present invention.

It should also be noted that in the apparatus, devices and methods of the present invention, the components or steps may be broken down and/or re-combined. These decompositions and/or recombinations are to be regarded as equivalents of the present invention.

The previous description of the disclosed aspects is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the embodiments of the invention described above and shown in the drawings are given by way of example only and are not limiting of the invention. The objects of the invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. The functional and structural principles of the present invention have been shown and described in the examples, and any variations or modifications of the embodiments of the present invention may be made without departing from the principles.

Claims

1. The TOF partitioned detection method for direct ranging is characterized by comprising the following steps of:

2. The direct ranging TOF zone detection method of claim 1, wherein the step of controlling a light source unit of a direct ranging TOF to emit light signals to a plurality of field zones in a time sequence, wherein the plurality of field zones collectively form a target field of view, comprises the steps of:

3. The direct ranging TOF zone detecting method according to claim 2, wherein in the step of dividing the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF into a plurality of light source zones arranged in a specific manner, wherein the light source zones are in one-to-one correspondence with the field of view zones: the light source unit is uniformly divided into n × m light source partitions.

4. The direct ranging TOF zone detection method according to claim 2, wherein in said step of illuminating the light source zones in time sequence zones to illuminate the corresponding field of view zones by the light source zones: and one light source partition is separately lightened at first preset time intervals in sequence, so that different light source partitions illuminate the corresponding field of view partitions at different moments.

5. The direct ranging TOF zone detection method of claim 4, wherein the first predetermined time is not less than the ratio of twice the maximum detection distance of the direct ranging TOF to the speed of light.

6. The direct ranging TOF zone detection method according to claim 2, wherein said step of illuminating the light source zones in time sequence zones to illuminate the corresponding field of view zones by the light source zones comprises the steps of:

7. The direct ranging TOF zone detection method of claim 6, wherein the second predetermined time is equal to or greater than twice the maximum depth of the target field of view relative to the speed of light.

8. The direct ranging TOF zone detection method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said step of controlling a light source unit of a direct ranging TOF to emit light signals to a plurality of field zones in a time sequence, wherein a plurality of the field zones together form a target field of view, further comprises the steps of:

9. Direct ranging TOF zoning detection system comprising, communicatively connected to each other:

10. The direct ranging TOF zone detection system according to claim 9, wherein the control module comprises a zone dividing module and a zone lighting module communicably connected to each other, wherein the zone dividing module is configured to divide the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF into a plurality of light source zones arranged in a specific manner, wherein the light source zones are in one-to-one correspondence with the field of view zones; the subarea lighting module is used for lighting the light source subareas in a subarea mode according to a certain time sequence so as to illuminate the corresponding view field subareas through the light source subareas.

11. The direct ranging TOF zone detection system of claim 10, wherein the zone illumination module is further configured to individually illuminate one of the light source zones sequentially spaced apart by a first predetermined time such that different ones of the light source zones illuminate the corresponding one of the field of view zones at different times.

12. The direct ranging TOF zone detection system of claim 10, wherein the zone illumination module comprises a comparison module and a simultaneous illumination module communicatively connected to each other, wherein the comparison module is configured to compare a magnitude between a maximum detection distance of the direct ranging TOF and N times a maximum depth of the target field of view, wherein N ≧ 2; the simultaneous lighting module is used for responding that the maximum detection distance is larger than or equal to N times of the maximum depth of the target view field, and sequentially lighting N light source partitions at intervals of second preset time so that the N light source partitions illuminate the corresponding view field partitions at the same time.

13. The direct ranging TOF zone detection system of claim 12, wherein the zone illumination module further comprises a single illumination module communicatively coupled to the comparison module, wherein the single illumination module is configured to individually illuminate one of the light source zones sequentially spaced the second predetermined time apart in response to the maximum detection distance being less than N times the maximum depth of the target field of view such that different ones of the light source zones illuminate the corresponding one of the field of view zones at different times.

14. The direct ranging TOF zone detection system according to one of claims 9 to 11, wherein said control module comprises a power adjustment module for adjusting the operating power of the light source unit of the direct ranging TOF in accordance with the maximum depth of the target field of view such that the maximum detection distance of the direct ranging TOF is substantially equal to the maximum depth of the target field of view.

15. An electronic device, comprising:

at least one processor configured to execute instructions; and

16. An electronic device, comprising:

an electronic device body;