Abstract:
A modulation technique for 3D time-of-flight (TOF) cameras allows the operation of fully autonomous operated 3D TOF cameras. The method subdivides the exposure time into several sub-exposure intervals, for which the signal control unit adds a preferably pseudo-random common phase delay to the illumination and the sensor.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit under 35 USC 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/405,859, filed on Oct. 22, 2010, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Three dimensional (3D) time-of-flight (TOF) cameras are active-type optical depth measurement imaging systems. In general, TOF cameras are based on the phase-measurement technique of emitted intensity-modulated light, which is reflected by the scene. The reflected light is imaged onto a sensor comprising a two-dimensional array of pixels. The photo-generated electrons are synchronously demodulated in the sensor, and based on the phase information, the distance for each pixel is deduced. A more detailed description is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 7,884,310, which is incorporated herein by this reference in its entirety. 
         [0003]    A major problem of the state-of-the-art 3D TOF cameras is that cameras operating with the same modulation frequency interfere with each other. Different technologies are known to overcome this interference issue, however. 
         [0004]    If more than one camera is operated, the cameras can be multiplexed in time (time-division multiplexing). In that case, the cameras a) need to be synchronized with one another and b) are slowed down in their individual frame rates. 
         [0005]    Space-division multiplexing (SDMA) just separates the different cameras spatially, which is not an option for many applications. 
         [0006]    Frequency multiplexing (FDMA) is another well-known method to avoid interference between cameras. Applying different modulation frequencies to the different cameras solves the problem of interference, but adds complexity in production and calibration and the cameras&#39; resolution is different dependant on the applied modulation frequency. 
         [0007]    The wavelength division multiplexing technique (WDMA) assigns a unique optical emission and detection wavelength to each camera. WDMA would restrict the number of cameras that can be used, however. It also increases challenges in manufacturing the different cameras. 
         [0008]    Code division multiplexing (CDMA) is another common approach to avoid interference. By equally coding the emitted light and the receiver, the camera can unambiguously detect its own “light,” and interference is generally reduced. However, practical implementation so far have shown that the power budget of cameras applying a CDMA modulation technique is always worse compared to the pure sine modulation. The theoretical derivation of a TOF camera using pseudo-noise modulation as well as the practical results have been presented in B. Büttgen et al, “Pseudo-noise Optical Modulation for Real-Time 3-D Imaging With Minimum Interference”, IEEE transaction on circuits and systems, VOL. 55, NO. 6, July 2008. 
         [0009]    All these possible modulation techniques and drawbacks are described in B. Büttgen, “Extending Time-of-Flight Optical 3D-Imaging to Extreme Operating Conditions”, Ph.D. thesis, University of Neuchatel, 2006. 
         [0010]    More recently, a method to reduce camera interferences was described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,405,812. The method proposes to vary the frequency during the exposure (frequency hopping), add temporarily imperfections (waveform, periodicity), and include clock noise. All those propositions promise good multi-camera operability but require either highly complex clocking circuitry or risk unstable behavior. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0011]    In general according to one aspect, the invention features a time of flight imaging system comprising multiple time of flight cameras imaging a scene in which different phase delays are applied in subexposures by each of the cameras. 
         [0012]    In general according to one aspect, the invention features a time of flight imaging method comprising applying the same phase delay to a sensor and an illumination unit of a camera that is changed between subexposures. 
         [0013]    The above and other features of the invention including various novel details of construction and combinations of parts, and other advantages, will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the claims. It will be understood that the particular method and device embodying the invention are shown by way of illustration and not as a limitation of the invention. The principles and features of this invention may be employed in various and numerous embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0014]    In the accompanying drawings, reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale; emphasis has instead been placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. Of the drawings: 
           [0015]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of a time-of-flight (TOF) camera and its operation; 
           [0016]      FIG. 2A  is a plot of intensity as a function of time showing the emitted and received signals; 
           [0017]      FIG. 2B  is a plot of intensity showing the demodulation of the received signal; 
           [0018]      FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram illustrated multi camera operation; and 
           [0019]      FIG. 4  is a timing diagram showing the exposure and delays provided in each subexposure according to the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0020]      FIG. 1  illustrates the basic principle of a 3D-measurement camera system  10  based on a sensor  90  comprising the two-dimensional array of demodulation pixels  100 . 
         [0021]    Modulated illumination light ES emitted from an illumination module or light source  20  of the camera  10  is sent to the object  30  of a scene. A fraction of the total optical power sent out is reflected (see reference RS) and received back at the camera  10 , through the optics  40  and detected by the 3D imaging sensor  90 . 
         [0022]    The sensor  90  comprises a two dimensional pixel matrix of the demodulation pixels  100 . Each pixel  100  is capable of demodulating the impinging light signal RS. An electronics control unit  60  controls the timing of the illumination  20  and sensor  90 . The phase values of all pixels  100  correspond to the particular distance information of the corresponding point in the scene. The two-dimension gray scale image with the distance information is converted into a three-dimensional image  72  by image processor  70 . This can be displayed to a user via a display or used as a machine vision input. 
         [0023]    The distance R for each pixel  100  is calculated by: 
         [0000]      R=(c*TOF)/2, 
         [0024]    with c as light velocity and TOF corresponding to the time-of-flight. Intensity-modulated light is sent out by the illumination module or light source  20 , reflected by the object  30  and detected by the sensor  90 . With each pixel  100  of the sensor  90  being capable of demodulating the optical signal RS at the same time, the sensor  90  is able to deliver 3D images in real-time, i.e., frame rates of up to 30 Hertz (Hz), or even more, are possible. Continuous sine modulation delivers the phase delay (P) between the emitted signal ES and the received signal RS, which corresponds directly to the distance R: 
         [0000]      R=(P*c)/(4*pi*fmod), 
         [0025]    where fmod is the modulation frequency of the emitted optical signal ES. Typical state-of-the-art modulation frequencies range from a few MHz up to a few hundreds of MHz or even GHz. 
         [0026]      FIGS. 2A and 2B  show the relationship between signals for the case of continuous sinusoidal modulation and the signal sampling. 
         [0027]      FIG. 2A  shows both the modulated emitted illumination signal ES and received signal RS. The amplitude A, offset B of the received signal RS and phase P between both signals are unknown, but they can be unambiguously reconstructed with at least three samples of the received signal. B represents the received signal part due to background light. 
         [0028]    In  FIG. 2B  shows a sampling with four samples per modulation period being depicted. Each sample is an integration of the electrical photo-signal in the integration gates or diffusion regions in each pixel  100  over a duration dt that is a predefined fraction of the modulation period. Typically, in demodulation pixels  100  with four integration sites, dt corresponds to a quarter of the period. In order to increase the signal to noise ratio of each sample the photo-generated charges may be accumulated over several—up to more than 1 million—modulation periods in the integration sites. 
         [0029]    The electronic control unit  60 , employing for example a field programmable gate array (FPGA), generates the signals for the synchronous channel activation in the demodulation stage. 
         [0030]    Using these four samples, the three decisive modulation parameters amplitude A, offset B and phase shift P of the modulation signal can be extracted by the equations 
         [0000]      A=sqrt[(A3−A1)̂2+(A2−A0)̂2]/2
 
         [0000]      B=[A0+A1+A2+A3]/4 
         [0000]      P=arctan[(A3−A1)/(A0−A2)]
 
         [0031]      FIG. 3  illustrates the application of the present invention. Here two cameras  10 - 1 ,  10 - 2  observe the same object or scene  30 . Each camera has its own illumination unit  20  and sensor  90  that are controlled by separate electronics control units  60 - 1 ,  60 - 2 . 
         [0032]    As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , each camera  10 - 1 ,  10 - 2  operates by subdividing its exposures E into several sub-exposures SEa-SEe. For each of the sub-exposures SEa-SEe, the phase of the illumination  20  and the sensor  90  is changed by electronics control units  60 - 1 ,  60 - 2 . A common phase delay D 1 , D 2  is added to the illumination module  20  and the sensor  90  for each of the sub-exposures in the emitted signals ES 1 , ES 2  for each of the cameras  10 - 1 ,  10 - 2 . These phase delays D 1 , D 2  are different for the different cameras  10 - 1 ,  10 - 2 , however. 
         [0033]    Since for each camera its sensor  90  and the illumination unit  20  receive the same phase delay change, the phase delay between the illumination and the sensor is kept constant during the exposure for each camera. On the other hand, the phase delay is different between the cameras in each of the subexposures SE. Usually, the electronics control units  60 - 1 ,  60 - 2  each compute the phase change independently of each other and generate the corresponding signals for their respective illumination unit  20  and the sensor  90 . 
         [0034]    The phase change is preferably computed in a random or pseudo-random way and is different for each camera  10 - 1 ,  10 - 2 . Moreover, the cameras  10 - 1 ,  10 - 2  will typically be unsynchronized as to their respective exposure and subexposure timing. 
         [0035]    For the ease of implementation, a smaller set of possible phase delays might be applied, e.g. 0°, 90°, 180° and 270°, while the selection of the added phase delay is preferably random or pseudo-random. 
         [0036]    Furthermore, to reduce impacts due to any camera mismatches, it is advantageous that a phase change of n° during a sub-exposure of duration t is followed by a sub-exposure with phase change of n°+180° with the same duration of t. 
         [0037]    The sensors  90  preferably integrate over all sub-exposures SEa-SEe and only need to be read out after completing the full exposure. 
         [0038]    To further reduce the probability of possible interference with other cameras, the duration of each sub-exposure might be varied in a random or pseudo-random way as well. 
         [0039]    A possible extension of this “phase hopping” method is to combine it with the so-called harmonic cancellation as described in A. Payne et al., “Improved linearity using harmonic error rejection in a full-field range imaging system”, Proc. SPIE Vol. 6805 and therefore not only improve multi-user operability but also reduce effects due to the harmonics. 
         [0040]    While this invention has been particularly shown and described with references to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention encompassed by the appended claims.