Patents by Inventor Charles Patrick Saunders

Charles Patrick Saunders has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 12585021
    Abstract: A projector for illuminating a target area is presented. The projector includes an array of emitters having a plurality of subarrays and an optical assembly. Each subarray includes one or more independently addressable channels emitting light in accordance with emission instructions. At least two of the subarrays are adjacent to each other and do not overlap. The optical assembly is configured to tile portions of the emitted light to form a light pattern for projection to a target area. The light pattern has a first plurality of sections and a second plurality of sections. Each section of the first plurality represents a first respective portion of the light pattern emitted from a corresponding subarray. Each section of the second plurality represents a second respective portion of the light pattern formed by tiling light emitted from two or more of the subarrays.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2026
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Zhaoming Zhu, Michael Hall, Augusto Ronchini Ximenes, Shuochen Su, Charles Patrick Saunders, Gregory Cohoon
  • Publication number: 20230280468
    Abstract: A projector for illuminating a target area is presented. The projector includes an array of emitters having a plurality of subarrays and an optical assembly. Each subarray includes one or more independently addressable channels emitting light in accordance with emission instructions. At least two of the subarrays are adjacent to each other and do not overlap. The optical assembly is configured to tile portions of the emitted light to form a light pattern for projection to a target area. The light pattern has a first plurality of sections and a second plurality of sections. Each section of the first plurality represents a first respective portion of the light pattern emitted from a corresponding subarray. Each section of the second plurality represents a second respective portion of the light pattern formed by tiling light emitted from two or more of the subarrays.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 19, 2022
    Publication date: September 7, 2023
    Inventors: Zhaoming Zhu, Michael Hall, Augusto Ronchini Ximenes, Shuochen Su, Charles Patrick Saunders, Gregory Cohoon
  • Patent number: 11637978
    Abstract: A depth camera assembly (DCA) includes a direct time of flight system for determining depth information for a local area. The DCA includes an illumination source, a camera, and a controller. In some embodiments, the controller uses previous image frames to determine confidence measurements, and selectively adjusts a number of pulses from the illuminator in a subsequent frame based on the determined confidence values. In some embodiments, the sensor uses autonomous gating, and the depth system includes a depth recovery pipeline which provide depth map estimates from the autonomous gated measurements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2023
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Charles Patrick Saunders, Michael Hall, Augusto Ronchini Ximenes