OPTICAL MODULES THAT REDUCE SPECKLE CONTRAST AND DIFFRACTION ARTIFACTS

摘要

An optical module, for use in a depth camera, includes a plurality of laser emitting elements, each of which emits a corresponding laser beam, and a micro-lens array (MLA) that includes a plurality of lenslets. Laser beams emitted by adjacent laser emitting elements at least partially overlap one another prior to being incident on the MLA For each lenslet of at least a majority of the lenslets of the MLA, the lenslet is at least partially filled by light corresponding to laser beams emitted by at least two of the laser emitting elements. The inclusion of the plurality of laser emitting elements is used to reduce speckle contrast. The overlap of the laser beams, and the at least partially filling of the lenslets of the MLA with light corresponding to laser beams emitted by multiple laser emitting elements, is used to reduce diffraction artifacts.

主权项

1. A depth camera system for use in obtaining a depth image of a capture area, comprising:
an optical module that outputs light that illuminates the capture area; and an image pixel detector array that detects a portion of the light, output by the optical module, that has reflected off one or more objects within the capture area and is incident on the image pixel detector array; wherein the optical module includes
a plurality of laser emitting elements each of which is operable to emit a corresponding laser beam; anda micro-lens array including a plurality of lenslets;wherein adjacent ones of the laser emitting elements are configured to emit laser beams that at least partially overlap one another prior to being incident on the micro-lens array; andwherein for each lenslet of at least a majority of the lenslets of the micro-lens array, the lenslet is configured to be at least partially filled by light in response to emission of the laser beams by at least two of the laser emitting elements.