Optical systems and methods supporting diverse optical and computational functions

US10404908B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Rambus Inc. · US

Inventors

• David G. Stork · Stanford, US
• Patrick R. Gill · Sunnyvale, US
• Evan Lawrence Erickson · Chapel Hill, US
• Mark D. Kellam · Siler City, US
• Alexander Schneider · Munich, DE
• Jay Endsley · San Jose, US
• Salman Kabir · Santa Clara, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 15, 2016
• Grant date: Sep 3, 2019
• Expiry date: Aug 19, 2036

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G02B2005/1804
• WIPO field: Audio-visual technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

An imaging system includes multiple diffractive optical gratings disposed over a two-dimensional array of photosensitive pixels. The different gratings present different patterns and features that are tailored to produce point-spread responses that emphasize different properties of an imaged scene. The different responses are captured by the pixels, and data captured from the responses can be used separately or together to analyze aspects of the scene. The imaging systems can include circuitry to analyze the image data, and to support modes that select between point-spread responses, selections of the pixels, and algorithms for analyzing image data.