US 12,373,969 B2
Specular surface mapping
Luke A Pillans, San Diego, CA (US); Aleksandr M Movshovich, Santa Clara, CA (US); Nicholas C Soldner, Mountain View, CA (US); Daniel Kurz, Boulder, CO (US); and Arthur Y Zhang, Mountain View, CA (US)
Assigned to Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed by Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed on Dec. 22, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/145,825.
Application 18/145,825 is a continuation of application No. 18/002,648, abandoned, previously published as PCT/US2021/039684, filed on Jun. 29, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/046,648, filed on Jun. 30, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0281846 A1, Sep. 7, 2023
Int. Cl. G06T 7/514 (2017.01); G01N 21/00 (2006.01); G02B 27/01 (2006.01); G06T 17/00 (2006.01); G06V 10/141 (2022.01); G06V 10/60 (2022.01); G06V 10/762 (2022.01); H04N 5/74 (2006.01); H04N 23/21 (2023.01)
CPC G06T 7/514 (2017.01) [G02B 27/0172 (2013.01); G06T 17/00 (2013.01); G06V 10/141 (2022.01); G06V 10/60 (2022.01); G06V 10/762 (2022.01); H04N 5/74 (2013.01); H04N 23/21 (2023.01); G01N 21/00 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A device, comprising:
a light source configured to emit light into an environment;
a camera configured to capture images that contain a plurality of instances of reflected light from the light source that have been reflected from a surface in the environment, wherein the camera is located proximate to the light source on the device; and
a controller comprising one or more processors configured to:
analyze the images captured by the camera to detect the instances of reflected light from the light source in the images;
project the detected instances of reflected light on to a celestial sphere as point sources;
detect a cluster of the point sources on the celestial sphere; and
identify the surface as a specular surface based on the detected cluster of point sources on the celestial sphere.