DE102017117212A9 - System and method for stereotriangulation - Google Patents

Abstract

A system for detecting an object (130) comprises a substantially collimated scanning light source (120, 234, 300) configured to output source light; a first camera (110) configured to receive a first reflected light, wherein the first reflected light is the source light reflected from the object (130) to the first camera (110); a second camera (112) configured to receive a second reflected light, wherein the second reflected light is the source light reflected from the object (130) to the second camera (112), and wherein the second camera (112) of the first camera is spatially separated; and one or more processors (210) configured to control the scanning light source (120, 234, 300), the first camera (110), and the second camera (112); and process the first reflected light and the second reflected light to detect the object (130).

Description

Related Application (s)

This application claims the benefit of US Provisional Application 62 / 369,879, filed on Aug. 2, 2016, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

background

The present disclosure relates to distance measurement, and more particularly to stereotriangulation. A variety of efforts are being made for stereo vision systems to measure distances and 3-D imaging, but these efforts are time-consuming and may require expensive equipment.

Various limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to those skilled in the art by comparing such system with some aspects of the present disclosure as illustrated in the remainder of the application with reference to the drawings.

Summary

A system and / or method for stereotriangulation, substantially as depicted in and / or in conjunction with at least one of the drawings, is described.

Various advantages, aspects, and novel features of the present disclosure, as well as details of an illustrated embodiment thereof, will be better understood from the following description and drawings.

Brief description of the drawings

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

1A FIG. 4 is an illustration of stereotriangulation according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG.

1B FIG. 12 is an illustration of stereotriangulation on a vehicle platform according to one embodiment of the disclosure. FIG.

2 is a high level block diagram of stereotriangulation in a vehicle platform according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

3 Figure 12 is an illustration of an RGB scanner for use in stereo triangulation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

4A is a diagram of a processing plan for a total exposure camera.

4B FIG. 12 is a diagram of a processing plan for a rolling shutter camera according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG.

Detailed description

The present embodiments should not be construed as limited to the descriptions set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided as examples, so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and the concept of the present embodiments will be conveyed to one of ordinary skill in the art. The appended claims illustrate some of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification. All terms used herein that include descriptive or technical terms should be construed to have meanings that are obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art. When an expression has ambiguous meaning due to evolving language, precedents or the advent of new technologies, the meaning of an expression used in this disclosure should be clarified, first by its use and / or definition in this disclosure. The term should then be clarified as one of ordinary skill in the art would have understood the term at the time of this disclosure.

If a part "contains" or "comprises" an element, the part may further contain other elements, unless there is an indication to the contrary. The term "unit" in the embodiments of the present disclosure means a software component or a hardware component that performs a specific function. The hardware component could include, for example, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC).

Software, or software component, could refer to executable code and / or data used by the executable code in an addressed storage medium. Consequently For example, software could be object-oriented software components, class components, and task components, and could include processes, functions, attributes, procedures, subroutines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware, application programs, microcode / circuits, data, a database, data structures, tables, arrays, or Contain variables.

A function provided by a "unit" could be divided into additional components and "units".

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In this regard, the present embodiments may have different forms and should not be construed as limited to the descriptions set forth herein.

In the following description, well-known functions and constructions will not be described in detail so as not to obscure the embodiment with unnecessary detail.

1A FIG. 12 is an illustration of stereotriangulation according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. It will open 1A Referring, there is shown a platform 100 with cameras 110 and 112 , a scanner 120 that provides source light for exposing an object, and an object 130 that is being recorded. The cameras 110 and 112 could be any type of suitable camera including, for example, CMOS cameras. The scanner 120 could be any type of suitable light source that can illuminate an area in a rastering process, such as a light scanner with a MEMS scanning technology that outputs laser illumination in a sequence of horizontal lines. Accordingly, the scanner could 120 in one embodiment, output 1080 horizontal lines per frame. In various embodiments of the disclosure, the scanner could 120 provide substantially collimated light that could reduce scattering of the emitted light. Various embodiments of the disclosure could be the scanner 120 as a point source for the emitted light.

Various embodiments could provide a different horizontal and / or vertical resolution for specific purposes. For example, some embodiments could have 1080 pixel lines with 1920 pixels per line. To simplify various descriptions in this disclosure, an assumption of 1080 lines per frame and 1920 pixels per line will be made, with the full understanding that this does not limit the scope of the disclosure to any specific number of lines per frame or pixel per line ,

Also, given the distance between the cameras 110 and 112 and the scanner 120 It is known that the respective pixels of each camera are matched to each other to provide distance information from each camera, and thus a 3-D image display is possible. There could also be three separate triangulations for the configuration with the scanner 120 and the cameras 110 and 112 to be possible. The first triangle consists of the camera 110 the scanner 120 and the object 130 as vertices. The second triangle consists of the camera 112 the scanner 120 and the object 130 as vertices. The third triangle points the camera 110 , the camera 112 and the object 130 as cornerstones. Information received from one or more of the triangles could be processed to optimize various types of imaging.

A structured light sequence, such as the Bruijn sequence, could be used for imaging in general, including for 3-D imaging, to optimize image capture. However, various embodiments of the disclosure are not limited to using structured light sequences. In addition, various embodiments of the disclosure could make it easier for the scanner 120 allow you to vary the output intensity. This could be for example the cameras 110 and 120 allow you to capture images from further away.

Various embodiments could include the horizontal movement 121 of the scanner 120 Taxes. For example, to get more detail on a scan, the scanner could 120 be controlled so that he at the same time a shorter horizontal movement 121 as in a normal scan. This could make it possible to illuminate a smaller area of the image more to get more detail. In other cases, the scanner could 120 be controlled, in the same period of time a longer horizontal movement 121 as in a normal scan. This could allow coverage of a larger area, possibly with less detail. The scanner 120 could also be controlled with respect to the scanned horizontal lines.

In addition, the scanner could 120 be controlled with respect to the scanned horizontal position and the scanned vertical position. For example, the scanned horizontal position could indicate a horizontal start position and a horizontal end position to get more detail from a specific area of an object or environment. Likewise it could be for the sampled vertical position indicate the starting line and the end line. In this way, the scanned area can be narrowed and thus provide a zoom effect. Another control of the scanner 120 could also include the intensity of the output beam to scan the reduced area in the normal time period or at the normal scanning speed, but effectively have more "frames" per second because the frames are smaller.

In this way, various embodiments of the disclosure may allow for specifying a start of a horizontal sweep and a horizontal sweep range. Similarly, the start of the vertical sweep could be specified, as well as the vertical sweep range.

The cameras 110 and 120 could be controlled to read out specific horizontal lines by exposing some lines (rows) of pixels to the scanner 120 which is a different number of lines than the number of rows of pixels in the camera 110 or 112 could scan. Some embodiments could do it the cameras 110 and 112 also allow to specify a start pixel to be read from a row and an end pixel to continue with the scanner 120 to synchronize. This could allow pixels to be read out and edited from the desired portion of the frame.

In addition, some embodiments may allow the cameras to be controlled to pivot a certain amount. This could, for example, allow every single camera 110 and 112 Captured images of different areas. As a result, the cameras could 110 and 112 be controlled to take a picture of the object 130 which could be a 3-D image, or any camera 110 and 112 could provide images of overlapping or non-overlapping areas. That's why the cameras could 110 and 112 be configured to take individual pictures from the left side of the area in front of the camera 110 and the right side of the area in front of the camera 112 provide. In addition, in the event that one of the cameras 110 and 112 is disabled, or that editing circuitry / software for one of the cameras 110 and 112 disabled, the other of the cameras 110 and 112 can be used to capture frames from the area in front of them by the scanner 120 is lit to provide. In some cases, the remaining camera could 110 or 112 Pan horizontally and / or vertically to provide a wider field of view.

Various embodiments of the disclosure could also allow the scanner 120 is controlled to pan. This could be, for example, to the camera 110 and or 112 which could be panned to provide a better light pattern. The pivoting of the scanner 120 Any suitable technique could be used by the scanner 120 and / or individual parts of the scanner 120 controls, use. The direction of movement of the emitted light could also be within the scanner 120 or outside the scanner 120 to be controlled. The direction of movement could be controlled, for example, by using an optical lens (s).

While 1A the scanner in the middle between the cameras 110 and 112 shows, the disclosure need not be limited thereto. For example, the scanner 120 in the direction of one of the cameras 110 or 112 be twisted, or the scanner 120 could be right of both cameras 110 and 112 , or left of both cameras 110 and 112 to be localized.

Besides, the cameras could 110 and 112 and the scanner 120 use different parts of the light spectrum, such as visible light, infrared light, etc. While the cameras 110 and 112 of the same type, various embodiments of the disclosure need not be limited thereto. For example, the camera could 110 be sensitive to the RGB spectrum while the camera 112 sensitive to the infrared spectrum. Other types of cameras that could be used, for example, could be sensitive to visible light and infrared light. Accordingly, the disclosure does not limit a camera used in one embodiment to any specific spectrum of the electromagnetic field. Every camera 110 and 112 could also have optical zoom capability in addition to software zoom capability and effective zoom capability by specifying the horizontal / vertical scan areas of the scanner 120 and the same receiving pixel areas for the cameras 110 and 112 ,

Also, while it has been described that the sampler 120 Raster output lines that are horizontal and parallel to each other, various embodiments of the disclosure provide control of the scanner 120 allow to allow different light patterns. Accordingly, the light could be output in a pattern having non-parallel horizontal lines. Different patterns could be used, such as diagonal lines that are parallel, different lines output at different angles, etc. Parallel lines could also be output with the line starting from the right side, or where the parallel lines are vertical , Accordingly, the scanner could 120 he can be controlled Outputs lines of light, where the lines do not necessarily start on the left side or are non-parallel, horizontal lines.

Various embodiments of the disclosure could be the scanner 120 and the cameras 110 and 112 provide at an epipolar level.

1B FIG. 12 is an illustration of stereotriangulation on a vehicle platform according to one embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. It will open 1B With reference, there will be a vehicle platform 150 shown the platform 100 from 1 could be. Accordingly, the vehicle platform 100 cameras 110 and 112 and a scanner 120 on. The vehicle platform 150 can, as described above, still recognize the environment even if one of the cameras 110 and 112 is disabled.

In addition, as described above, the cameras could 110 and 112 to some extent, compensate for the functionality of another sensor that might have broken by adding more of the front right area and the front left area to the cameras, respectively 110 and 112 is considered by giving up the 3-D imaging to the front. This could be an adaptation of the scanning range by the scanner 120 as well as possibly adjusting an angle of the cameras 110 and or 112 entail. Some embodiments could be configured, even in this situation, limited 3-D imaging near the central front of the vehicle platform 150 provide.

Various embodiments could also be a scanner 120 in a headlamp, and the scanned light can be output by the headlamp so that the total light emitted from the headlamp does not exceed any local regulations that might regulate a headlamp. For example, US regulations for these devices intended for use in the US will be followed, EU regulations will be followed for these devices intended for use in the EU, Chinese regulations will apply to these devices be followed for use in China, etc. The emitted total light in a given band (visible, IR, etc.) can be controlled, whether the scanner 120 in a headlight or other part of a vehicle is to meet the various regulations that regulate these bands.

Accordingly, the cameras could 110 and 112 be more sensitive to the wavelength of the scanning light emitted by the scanner 102 is spent in the headlight, as for a wavelength of light, which is intended to illuminate the street in front of it. The light from the scanner 120 in the headlight could also, as described earlier, structured (patterned) or not structured. In addition, a scanner could 120 in both headlights, or in several lights, and every scanner 120 could provide non-structured light or provide structured light. Therefore, a camera might have the ability to use structured light from one camera or structured lights from multiple cameras.

A scanner 120 could also be tuned to project structured light, which allows better differentiation of horizontal details, and another scanner 120 could be tuned to project structured light, which allows a better differentiation of vertical details. The scanners 120 could also be controlled to turn on / off the patterning of the emitted light as well as provide structured light for horizontal discrimination and vertical discrimination. An embodiment could be a scanner 120 , which provides structured light for vertical discrimination, and another scanner 120 , which provides structured light for horizontal discrimination. One or more cameras could then be synchronized with the one or more scanners to receive light, whether structured or not.

Various embodiments of the disclosure, while the scanner has been described in the headlamp with respect to a vehicle platform, could use the scanner in a headlamp embodiment in any vehicle (land, air, water, space, etc.), as well as other types of vehicles Light, such as a flash, which is synchronized with a receiving camera (s) on a person. An embodiment of the disclosure may be used in as many scenarios as one of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate.

2 5 is a high-level block diagram of stereotriangulation in a vehicle platform according to an embodiment of the disclosure. On 2 Referring, there will be a platform 200 that are similar to the platform 100 or the vehicle platform 150 could be shown. The platform 200 includes a processor 210 , a store 220 and sensors 230 , The processor 210 could be one or more of any type of processors that can execute instructions. The memory 220 could be volatile memory 222 , non-volatile memory 224 and / or mass storage 226 exhibit. The mass storage 226 could be magnetic for example Hard drives, optical media, flash memory, etc. Data and executable instructions could be in memory 220 be saved. The sensors 230 could cameras 232 and scanner 234 as well as other sensors coming from the platform 200 could be used. If the platform 200 For example, a vehicle platform may include other sensors, radar, lidar, sonar, etc.

The processor 210 could be independent of the sensors 230 or a processor integrated with other parts. The processor 210 For example, with a vision module, logically the cameras 232 and the scanner 234 has, be integrated, or he is a processor, which logically part of the sensors 230 is, and accordingly the sensors 230 control and data to / from the sensors 230 could handle. The processor 210 could be an independent processor used in conjunction with one or more processors, including a processor (s), the part of the sensors 230 could be, works, or independently data from the sensors 230 processed and / or the various sensors 230 controls.

The processor 210 could the cameras 232 and the scanner 234 as described above, allowing them to work together, for example, to shape 3-D images or compensate for a failure of one or more of the other sensors. The processor 210 could also be the cameras 232 and the scanner 234 for imaging at different distances, resolutions, different covered image areas, and / or close-ups control. Various embodiments could while the processor 210 a single processor, including those of the cameras 232 received information processed, could be multiple processors 210 have one or more processors 210 the information from the cameras 232 could handle.

3 FIG. 12 is an illustration of an RGB scanner for use in stereo triangulation according to one embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. On 3 Referring, there is a scanner 300 shown configured to output three different illumination lights red, green, and blue (RGB). While RGB is commonly used and therefore cost effective, other colors could be used in various embodiments. By using the scanner 300 , which outputs RGB light, can be the receiving cameras, such as camera 110 and 112 To generate a complete color image, for example, a driver and / or passenger in the vehicle platform 150 is shown.

A using two cameras 110 and 112 generally provides a higher accuracy and possibly a more realistic color than with a single camera because data from the two cameras are relatively close together. For example, with a single camera, the projected light sequence is compared with the light sequence received on the single camera. The received light sequence intensity is a function of the distance and reflectivity of the object. Therefore, the received light intensities can be very different from the projected light entities, resulting in a less robust comparison. In the case of the two cameras, however, sequences with similar intensities are compared, which is more robust. In addition, determination of depth, detail and / or color accuracy / intensity by light received by a camera could be adversely affected due to occlusion or other effects, but light to the second camera could not be much, if any, affected or in the same manner For example, the separate data sets could be processed and correlated to form a more accurate image than if only one camera had been used.

The present disclosure does not limit the number of cameras that can be used with a single scanner, nor the ratio of cameras to scanner, nor the number of scanner / camera (s) configurations that can be used on a given platform. The scanner / camera (s) configurations could be used independently or to manipulate a similar object (s) or areas of the environment. For example, one or more scanner (s) / camera (s) configurations may be used to generate 360-degree (or less) 3-D outputs. In some cases, the output may be 2-D.

While it was described that the scanner 300 and the cameras 110 and 120 Using three colors, different embodiments could use more than three colors and the colors used could include a number of different colors, including red, green and / or blue, or none of red, green and blue.

4A Fig. 10 is a diagram of a processing plan for a total exposure camera. On 4A Referring to Figure 1, there is shown a graph with pixel rows on the vertical axis and a time for detecting and processing the pixel rows on the horizontal axis. As can be seen, a whole frame of image data 402 detected before any processing of the data is performed. Since all pixels receive T light during the same period of time, there could be more incoming light exposure than if there were one Single row of pixels receiving the incoming light for a shorter period of time T '. In addition, the processing of the received pixels can not begin until the time T elapses, resulting in a longer latency due to the delayed readout 404 the pixel leads. If the exposure time is limited to 1 ms per frame, 50 Hz frame rate reduces the ambient light by a factor of 20.

4B FIG. 10 is a diagram of a processing schedule for a rolling shutter camera according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. On 4B Referring to Figure 1, there is shown a graph with pixel rows on the vertical axis and a time for detecting and processing the pixel rows on the horizontal axis. By using a rolling shutter camera process, only one line of the image data is captured at a time. Since the time T 'for acquiring image data of a single line is shorter than the time necessary to acquire data from an entire frame, the image data of the exposed line may be read out earlier than image data for the whole frame exposure as in 4A shown. Since the next line can be exposed while the image data is being read out and edited, the rolling shutter camera can result in faster processing of the image data. In addition, when the exposure time is limited to 20 μs per line, ambient light is reduced by a factor of 1000 at a 50 Hz frame rate, resulting in significantly less noisy image capture. This results in an ambient light reduction by a factor of 50 with respect to 4A described overall exposure camera.

This allows for higher frame rates and good low light output, for example through the cameras 110 and 112 , By the scanning light of, for example, the scanner 120 , with the rolling shutter method for the cameras 110 and 112 In addition, there is significantly less data to correlate for image processing, including for 3-D imaging. The series are read out row by row and the 3-D data can be generated by using triangulation simultaneously for one row or simultaneously for a limited number of rows. This simplifies processing of the data from the cameras 110 and 112 in that only a smaller number of pixels have to be handled, since only the pixels for a row are processed simultaneously, for example when only a row of pixels is exposed simultaneously.

For example, a rolling shutter camera process could be color coded by the scanner 120 use to simplify pixel processing.

In addition, by using, for example, the scanner 120 that could output RGB laser lights, and the cameras 110 and 112 that can detect RGB lights, no sensor fusion of 2-D sensors and 3-D sensors required, which in turn simplifies a complex process and a potential source of data conflict.

While the above description relates to the rolling shutter camera process for a series of pixels being processed simultaneously, various embodiments of the disclosure need not be so limited. For example, a smaller number of pixels could be exposed simultaneously. The number of exposed pixels could be as little as, for example, one pixel at a time. Accordingly, it can be seen that the ambient light input to a pixel can be reduced even more when the image is processed pixel by pixel. There could be various methods of controlling the light-illuminated pixels, including, for example, controlling each pixel or a group of pixels to receive light at an appropriate time. The scanner 120 . 234 . 300 could also be controlled for tightness of the light beam (or photons) emitted to an object. For example, the narrower the light beam, the smaller the area of the object that reflects the light beam. The number of pixels exposed at a given time could depend on various parameters, such as the ambient light, a sensitivity of the individual light detectors (pixels), a processor (s) used to process the pixel information, one of a quantity of light emitted to a scanner, etc.

However, if correlation of information from the reduced number of pixels becomes more difficult for the two cameras, the number of pixels could be increased periodically or as required to synchronize the information received from the various cameras.

When one pixel after another is processed, they could be considered as voxels, where the time encoding could give each voxel its third dimension of depth. Since coding or decoding is not necessary for each voxel due to the time coding, the processing can be simplified. Accordingly, the latency due to the processing can be alleviated.

Therefore, it can be seen that one embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a method and system for stereotriangulation that can also be used for 3D imaging of the environment, and that has roll-exposure RGB cameras, where RGB Row data is read from each row after the exposure time for that row is completed while exposing the next row to the light, and the RGB row data is processed after reading the RGB row data. As noted above, the number of simultaneously exposed pixels may be less than one row. Accordingly, it can be seen that the roll exposure (or rolling shutter) method provides a significant advantage to the number of cameras used, be it one or two or more cameras.

The use of a scanner greatly reduces the amount of processing overhead for images received from the cameras, and the use of the rolling exposure technique allows extremely low latency since it is possible to read triangulation data row by row. If the pixels are read out one at a time (or a few pixels at a time) with each pixel time-coded as a voxel, the processing latency can be significantly reduced or eliminated. Accordingly, 3-D images could be generated with a fraction of the processing required when no scanner and / or roll exposure is used.

While various embodiments have been described for functional uses of the present disclosure, it should be understood that the uses are not limited to the disclosed examples. In addition, while it has been described that the roll exposure cameras expose a single row simultaneously, different embodiments could simultaneously expose more than one row. For example, two or more rows could be exposed simultaneously, or a subset of pixels in a row could be exposed simultaneously, which subset could consist of only one pixel or more than one pixel, depending on different designs and / or environmental conditions.

While the disclosure so far has described a (multiple) scanner used with one or more cameras, other embodiments could use the scanner / camera (s) system with, for example, other devices such as radar, lidar, sonar, etc. Accordingly, various embodiments could each include one or more transmitters that project a signal that may or may not correspond to structured sequences, and one or more receivers that receive the signal, and one or more processors that process the received signals. In some cases, the transmitter and the receiver could be separate devices. In other cases, the transmitter and the receiver could be part of the same device, such as a radar antenna, which transmits a signal and receives a reflection of that signal.

These various embodiments may be used by any platform to take notice of their surrounding environment. Accordingly, any vehicle, whether under the full control of a local or remote driver / operator, semi-autonomously or fully autonomously, could use any of the embodiments described herein. The vehicle may be, for example, an automobile, boat, aircraft, spacecraft, aerial, land and / or water-based drone, robot, etc., and may include a robotic vacuum cleaner, a robotic lawnmower, etc.

In addition, each stationary platform could use the various embodiments. For example, a lighthouse could use one or more of the various embodiments to monitor and control traffic (possibly air traffic, land transport, and / or water traffic), as well as provide a warning signal (light, electronics, sound, etc.) to watercraft or others Warn types of vehicles from danger. In addition, air traffic control systems and / or traffic control systems could use various embodiments of the disclosure.

Additionally, various embodiments of the present disclosure could be used for other purposes. For example, embodiments could be used for games that capture surrounding objects (game players to be included as part of the game display, etc.) or by people carrying a device that includes various embodiments of the disclosure. An example of a user-carried device could be, for example, augmented reality headsets, virtual reality headsets, etc. Various embodiments of the disclosure could also be used to guide the visually impaired. In this matter, non-visually impaired persons could also carry a device that incorporates an embodiment of the disclosure to warn them of obstacles, hazards, etc., if they are not aware of their surroundings while being mobile (walking / jogging / running, cycling, Inline skating, horseback riding, Segway etc.) or stationary. Accordingly, it can be seen that various embodiments of the disclosure may be used for all vehicle types, user-worn devices (headsets, goggles, etc.), and various devices that need to detect and / or map an area. The disclosure does not limit the various embodiments to any specific use.

Therefore, it can be seen that various embodiments of the disclosure may be used in many applications to detect the surrounding area, analyze the detected signals, and generate responses as needed. For example, the answer might be to make evasive maneuvers, notify other platforms / devices / people of what has been collected / analyzed / responded, as well as receiving other similar information. Thus, the effective range covered for the Acquire / Analyze / Reply scheme can be greatly increased over what can be achieved by a single platform by sharing information with at least one other platform. The various information can be shared directly or through third-party platforms or the Internet / Cloud. Accordingly, various objects (mobile and stationary), a condition of the roads, a traffic on the streets, in the air, and / or the water could be tracked over time, and correct answers can be made as needed.

An embodiment of the disclosure could be a system for detecting an object having a substantially collimated scanning light source configured to output source light. A first camera could be configured to receive the first reflected light, wherein the first reflected light is the source light reflected from the object to the first camera. A second camera could be configured to receive the second reflected light, wherein the second reflected light is the source light reflected from the object to the second camera, and the second camera is spatially separated from the first camera. One or more processors may be configured to control the collimated scanning light source, the first camera and the second camera and process the first reflected light and the second reflected light to detect the object. The first camera, the second camera and the collimated scanning light source could be configured to be at an epipolar plane.

The collimated scanning light source could be configured to change its horizontal sweep range and / or vertical sweep range. The first camera and / or the second camera may be able to pan horizontally and / or vertically. The collimated scanning light source could be configured to vary an intensity of the source light. The collimated scanning light source could output the source light as a raster output.

Another embodiment of the disclosure could be a method of detecting an object comprising outputting source light through a substantially collimated scanning light source, receiving first reflected light through a first camera, wherein the first reflected light reflects from the object to the first camera Is source light, and receiving a second reflected light through a second camera, wherein the second reflected light is the source light reflected from the object to the second camera, and the second camera is spatially separated from the first camera. At least one processor could control the collimated scanning light source, the first camera, and the second camera and process one or both of the first reflected light and the second reflected light to detect the object. The first camera, the second camera and the collimated scanning light source are on an epipolar plane. The sweep range of the collimated scanning light source could be varied horizontally and / or vertically, and an intensity of the source light of the collimated scanning light source could also be varied.

The first camera and the second camera could receive the first reflected light and the second reflected light, respectively, through a rolling shutter camera process. At least one processor could concurrently process a series of pixels or simultaneously a portion of a series of pixels (including a single pixel) from the first camera and / or the second camera. If the pixels are processed pixel by pixel, each pixel could be time coded. The object could be triangulated by using a triangle, where the vertices are the object, the first camera, and the second chamber.

Another embodiment of the disclosure could be a system for detecting an object comprising a substantially collimated scanning light source configured to output source light, the source light having three discrete lights in red, green and blue. A first camera could be configured to receive a first reflected light with a rolling shutter camera process, wherein the first reflected light is the source light reflected from the object to the first camera. A second camera configures to receive a second reflected light using the rolling shutter camera process, wherein the second reflected light from the object to the second camera is reflected source light, and the second camera is spatially separated from the first camera. At least one processor could be configured to control the collimated scanning light source, the first camera, and the second camera and to process the first reflected light and the second reflected light to detect the object.

The first camera, the second camera, and the collimated scanning light source could be on an epipolar plane. The first camera and / or the second camera could receive the first reflected light and the second reflected light, respectively, by a rolling shutter camera process. At least one processor could be configured to process a series of pixels or a portion of a series of pixels (including a pixel) simultaneously from a respective one or both of the first camera and the second camera. If one pixel after another is processed, each pixel could be time-coded. At least one processor could triangulate the object by using the object, the first camera, and the second camera as vertices of a triangle.

The first camera and / or the second camera may be configured to receive the first reflected light and the second reflected light, respectively, through a rolling shutter camera process. At least one processor could be configured to simultaneously process a series of pixels or simultaneously a portion of a series of pixels (including a single pixel) from the first camera and / or the second camera. If the processing is done one pixel at a time, each pixel could be time coded.

The object could be triangulated using a triangle, where the vertices are the object, the first camera, and the second camera.

Various portions of the various embodiments of the disclosure could be written as computer programs and could be implemented with processors executing the programs using a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium.

Non-transitory computer-readable recording media could include, for example, magnetic storage media (e.g., ROM, floppy disks, hard drives, etc.), optical recording media (e.g., CD-ROMs or DVDs), FLASH drives, etc.

While various embodiments of the disclosure have been described with reference to the figures, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure according to the following claims , Accordingly, the above embodiments and all aspects thereof are only examples and are not restrictive.

Claims (23)

System for detecting an object ( 130 ), comprising: a substantially collimated scanning light source ( 120 . 234 . 300 ) configured to output a source light; a first camera ( 110 ) configured to receive a first reflected light, wherein the first reflected light received from the object (16) 130 ) is source light reflected to the first camera; a second camera ( 112 ) configured to receive a second reflected light, the second reflected light coming from the object ( 130 ) to the second camera ( 112 ) is reflected source light, and wherein the second camera ( 112 ) is spatially separated from the first camera; and one or more processors ( 210 ) configured: the scanning light source ( 120 . 234 . 300 ), the first camera ( 110 ) and the second camera ( 112 ) to control; and process the first reflected light and the second reflected light to form the object ( 130 ) capture. The system of claim 1, wherein the first camera ( 110 ), the second camera ( 112 ) and the scanning light source ( 120 . 234 . 300 ) are at an epipolar level. A system according to claim 1, wherein the scanning light source ( 120 . 234 . 300 ) is configured to change its sweep range horizontally and / or vertically. The system of claim 1, wherein one or both of the first camera and the second camera ( 112 ) horizontally and / or vertically. A system according to claim 1, wherein the scanning light source ( 120 . 234 . 300 ) is configured to change an intensity of the source light. The system of claim 1, wherein one or both of the first camera (10) 110 ) and the second camera ( 112 ) are configured to receive, by a rolling shutter camera process, the first reflected light and the second reflected light, respectively. The system of claim 6, wherein at least one of the one or more processors ( 210 ) is configured to process a number of pixels simultaneously. The system of claim 6, wherein at least one of the one or more processors ( 210 ) is configured to process a portion of a series of pixels simultaneously. The system of claim 6, wherein at least one of the one or more processors ( 210 ) is configured to always process one pixel at a time from the pixels generated by either or both of the first reflected light and the second reflected light. The system of claim 9, wherein each of the pixels generated from one or both of the first reflected light and the second reflected light is time encoded The system of claim 1, wherein the processor ( 210 ) is configured, a triangulation of the object ( 130 ), the object ( 130 ), the first camera ( 110 ) and the second camera ( 112 ) are used as endpoints of a triangle. A system according to claim 1, wherein the scanning light source ( 120 . 234 . 300 ) is configured to output the source light as a raster output. Method for detecting an object ( 130 ), comprising outputting source light through a substantially collimated scanning light source ( 120 . 234 . 300 ); Receiving a first reflected light by a first camera ( 110 ), wherein the first reflected light from the object ( 130 ) to the first camera ( 110 ) is reflected source light; Receiving a second reflected light by a second camera ( 112 ), wherein the second reflected light from the object ( 130 ) to the second camera ( 112 ) is reflected source light, and wherein the second camera ( 112 ) from the first camera ( 110 ) is spatially separated; Taxes, by one or more processors ( 210 ), the scanning light source ( 120 . 234 . 300 ), the first camera ( 110 ) and the second camera ( 112 ); and processing one or both of the first reflected light and the second reflected light to detect the object ( 130 ). Method according to claim 13, wherein the first camera ( 110 ), the second camera ( 112 ) and the scanning light source ( 120 . 234 . 300 ) are at an epipolar level. The method of claim 13, comprising changing one or both of the horizontal and vertical sweep ranges of the scanning light source (10). 120 . 234 . 300 ). A method according to claim 13, comprising changing an intensity of the source light of the scanning light source ( 120 . 234 . 300 ). The method of claim 13, wherein one or both of the first camera ( 110 ) and the second camera ( 112 ), by a rolling shutter camera process, receive the first reflected light and second reflected light, respectively. The method of claim 17, comprising, concurrently processing, by at least one of the one or more processors ( 210 ), a series of pixels from a respective one or both of the first camera ( 110 ) and the second camera ( 112 ). The method of claim 17, comprising, concurrently processing, by at least one of the one or more processors ( 210 ), a part of a row of pixels from a respective one or both of the first camera ( 110 ) and the second camera ( 112 ). The method of claim 19, comprising time-encoding the single pixel when the portion of a row of pixels is a single pixel. Method according to claim 13, comprising triangulation of the object ( 130 ), where the object ( 130 ), the first camera ( 110 ) and the second camera ( 112 ) are used as vertices of a triangle. System for detecting an object ( 130 ), comprising: a scanning light source ( 120 . 234 . 300 ) configured to output a source light, the sample light source ( 120 . 234 . 300 ) has at least two discrete lights that are substantially collimated; a first camera ( 110 ) configured to receive a first reflected light with a rolling shutter camera process, the first reflected light being from the object (1). 130 ) to the first camera ( 110 ) is reflected source light; a second camera ( 112 ) configured to receive a second reflected light with the rolling shutter camera process, wherein the second reflected light is that of the object (2). 130 ) to the second camera ( 112 ) is reflected source light, and wherein the second camera ( 112 ) from the first camera ( 110 ) is spatially separated; and one or more processors ( 210 ) configured: the scanning light source ( 120 . 234 . 300 ), the first camera ( 110 ) and the second camera ( 112 ) to control; and the first reflected light and the second reflected light, in a series of pixels simultaneously to process the object ( 130 ) capture. The system of claim 22, wherein the at least one of the one or more processors ( 210 ) is configured that object ( 130 ), where as vertices of a triangle the object and two of: the scanning light source ( 120 ), the first camera ( 110 ) and the second camera ( 112 ), be used.

Images