Accumulating charge from multiple imaging exposure periods

• Main Authors: Larry Eli, Felzeshtein Shlomo, Cohen David
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 26.12.2017
• Subjects: ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES; COLORIMETRY; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION ORRERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; MEASUREMENT OF INTENSITY, VELOCITY, SPECTRAL CONTENT,POLARISATION, PHASE OR PULSE CHARACTERISTICS OF INFRA-RED,VISIBLE OR ULTRA-VIOLET LIGHT; MEASURING; PHYSICS; PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION; RADIATION PYROMETRY; RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; TESTING

Embodiments related to accumulating charge during multiple exposure periods in a time-of-flight depth camera are disclosed. For example, one embodiment provides a method including accumulating a first charge on a photodetector during a first exposure period for a first light pulse, transferring the first charge to a charge storage mechanism, accumulating a second charge during a second exposure period for the first light pulse, and transferring the second charge to the charge storage mechanism. The method further includes accumulating an additional first charge during a first exposure period for a second light pulse, adding the additional first charge to the first charge to form an updated first charge, accumulating an additional second charge on the photodetector for a second exposure period for the second light pulse, and adding the additional second charge to the second charge to form an updated second charge.