Volume dimensioning system and method employing time-of-flight camera

摘要

Volume dimensioning employs techniques to reduce multipath reflection or return of illumination, and hence distortion. Volume dimensioning for any given target object includes a sequence of one or more illuminations and respective detections of returned illumination. A sequence typically includes illumination with at least one initial spatial illumination pattern and with one or more refined spatial illumination patterns. Refined spatial illumination patterns are generated based on previous illumination in order to reduce distortion. The number of refined spatial illumination patterns in a sequence may be fixed, or may vary based on results of prior illumination(s) in the sequence. Refined spatial illumination patterns may avoid illuminating background areas that contribute to distortion. Sometimes, illumination with the initial spatial illumination pattern may produce sufficiently acceptable results, and refined spatial illumination patterns in the sequence omitted.

主权项

1. A dimensioning system operable to dimension a target object, comprising
an illumination subsystem operable to successively emit a number of sequences of spatial patterns of illumination toward the target object, each of the sequences including at least an initial spatial illumination pattern and at least one refined spatial illumination pattern subsequent to the respective initial spatial illumination pattern, the refined spatial illumination pattern spatially different than the respective initial spatial illumination pattern; a sensor positioned to detect illumination returned from at least the target object; and a control subsystem communicatively coupled to the sensor and communicatively coupled to the illumination subsystem, and which determines an approximate boundary of at least a portion of the target object based at least in part of the detected illumination, determines the refined spatial illumination pattern based at least in part on the determined approximate boundary, causes the illumination subsystem to emit the at least one refined spatial illumination pattern, and determines an at least approximate volume of the target object based at least in part on illumination returned from at least the target object when illuminated by the at least one refined spatial illumination pattern.