Patent Document ID: 20150319422
Application ID: 14647492
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. A method for producing N images of a three-dimensional scene where each image of rank i, i=1 to N, represents points of a scene located at a respective distance from an image sensor, this method using a pulsed light source, the image sensor comprising pixels able to accumulate, in a respective charge storage node of each pixel, charge generated by light, the method comprising emitting N successive trains of light pulses from the light source and under control of a reference clock, and, iteratively for each pulse train of rank i from the N successive trains of light pulses: a) emitting the i th train of light pulses, the pulses being emitted at instants determined using the reference clock and at intervals determined using said reference clock; a1) integrating charge for each light pulse of the i th train in a short integration time slot of length T int starting with a temporal offset t 1 relative to the pulse, this temporal offset representing a journey time of the light pulse between the light source and the sensor after reflection from a point located at the respective i th distance (d i ) from the sensor, the temporal offset t i being the same for all the light pulses of the i th pulse train and the values of the temporal offsets t i for the N trains being different from one another in order to correspond to various distances relative to the sensor and being spaced apart from one another by a time increment larger than the integration time T int ; b1) transferring the charge integrated for each light pulse of the i th train to the charge storage node of each pixel, and accumulating this charge with the charge resulting from the preceding light pulses of the same train; and b) reading the charge contained in the charge storage node of each pixel after the end of the i th pulse train, resetting the charge storage node, and delivering a respective image of rank i representing the points of the scene located at the i th distance (d i ) from the sensor.