US 12,462,518 B2
Flexible illumination for imaging systems
Martin Haller, Mountain View, CA (US); Harihar Narasimha-Iyer, Santa Clara, CA (US); and Tom Sengelaub, Oakland, CA (US)
Assigned to Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Appl. No. 18/027,910
Filed by Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
PCT Filed Sep. 22, 2021, PCT No. PCT/US2021/051611
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 22, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/066813, PCT Pub. Date Mar. 31, 2022.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/083,718, filed on Sep. 25, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0377302 A1, Nov. 23, 2023
Int. Cl. G06V 10/141 (2022.01); G06F 3/01 (2006.01); G06F 21/32 (2013.01); G06T 7/00 (2017.01); G06T 7/70 (2017.01)
CPC G06V 10/141 (2022.01) [G06F 3/013 (2013.01); G06F 21/32 (2013.01); G06T 7/0002 (2013.01); G06T 7/70 (2017.01); G06T 2207/30168 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30201 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system, comprising:
a camera configured to capture images of an object;
a controller comprising one or more processors; and
an illumination source comprising a plurality of light-emitting elements, wherein individual ones of the light-emitting elements are configured to be controlled independently of the other light-emitting elements to emit light towards the object to be imaged by the camera; and
wherein the controller is configured to:
select one of a plurality of different lighting configurations for the illumination source;
direct the illumination source to emit light according to the selected lighting configuration;
select one or more objective criteria for analyzing the images captured by the camera from a plurality of objective criteria for different applications to use images from the camera, wherein the objective criteria is selected based on a current application to use the images;
process one or more images of the object captured by the camera as illuminated by the illumination source according to the selected lighting configuration, wherein the one or more images are processed according to the selected one or more objective criteria for the current application; and
select a different one of the plurality of different lighting configurations for the illumination source based on processing the one or more images according to the selected one or more objective criteria for the current application.