Patents by Inventor Matthew Tancik

Matthew Tancik 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: 11457132
    Abstract: In illustrative implementations, an imaging system may comprise a lens, an optical cavity and a time-of-flight camera. The imaging system may capture an image of a scene. The image may be formed by light that is from the scene and that passes through the optical cavity and the lens. In some cases, the lens is in front of the optical cavity, enabling the Euclidean distance between the lens and the camera sensor to be less than the nominal focal length of the lens. In some cases, the lens is inside the optical cavity, enabling the camera to acquire ultrafast multi-zoom images without moving or changing the shape of any optical element. In some cases, the lens is behind the optical cavity, enabling the system to perform ultrafast multi-spectral imaging. In other cases, an optical cavity between the scene and time-of-camera enables ultrafast ellipsometry measurements or ultrafast spatial frequency filtering.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2022
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Barmak Heshmat Dehkordi, Matthew Tancik
  • Patent number: 10752158
    Abstract: A pulsed laser may illuminate a scene that is obscured by dense, dynamic and heterogeneous fog. Light may reflect back to a time-resolved camera. Each pixel of the camera may detect a single photon during each frame. The imaging system may accurately determine reflectance and depth of the fog-obscured target, without any calibration or prior knowledge of the scene depth. The imaging system may perform a probabilistic algorithm that exploits the fact that times of arrival of photons reflected from fog have a Gamma distribution that is different than the Gaussian distribution of times of arrival of photons reflected from the target. The probabilistic algorithm may take into account times of arrival of all types of measured photons, including scattered and un-scattered photons.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2020
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Guy Satat, Matthew Tancik, Ramesh Raskar
  • Publication number: 20200081169
    Abstract: In illustrative implementations, an imaging system may comprise a lens, an optical cavity and a time-of-flight camera. The imaging system may capture an image of a scene. The image may be formed by light that is from the scene and that passes through the optical cavity and the lens. In some cases, the lens is in front of the optical cavity, enabling the Euclidean distance between the lens and the camera sensor to be less than the nominal focal length of the lens. In some cases, the lens is inside the optical cavity, enabling the camera to acquire ultrafast multi-zoom images without moving or changing the shape of any optical element. In some cases, the lens is behind the optical cavity, enabling the system to perform ultrafast multi-spectral imaging. In other cases, an optical cavity between the scene and time-of-camera enables ultrafast ellipsometry measurements or ultrafast spatial frequency filtering.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 19, 2019
    Publication date: March 12, 2020
    Inventors: Barmak Heshmat Dehkordi, Matthew Tancik
  • Patent number: 10514483
    Abstract: In illustrative implementations, an imaging system may comprise a lens, an optical cavity and a time-of-flight camera. The imaging system may capture an image of a scene. The image may be formed by light that is from the scene and that passes through the optical cavity and the lens. In some cases, the lens is in front of the optical cavity, enabling the Euclidean distance between the lens and the camera sensor to be less than the nominal focal length of the lens. In some cases, the lens is inside the optical cavity, enabling the camera to acquire ultrafast multi-zoom images without moving or changing the shape of any optical element. In some cases, the lens is behind the optical cavity, enabling the system to perform ultrafast multi-spectral imaging. In other cases, an optical cavity between the scene and time-of-camera enables ultrafast ellipsometry measurements or ultrafast spatial frequency filtering.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2019
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Barmak Heshmat Dehkordi, Matthew Tancik
  • Publication number: 20190241114
    Abstract: A pulsed laser may illuminate a scene that is obscured by dense, dynamic and heterogeneous fog. Light may reflect back to a time-resolved camera. Each pixel of the camera may detect a single photon during each frame. The imaging system may accurately determine reflectance and depth of the fog-obscured target, without any calibration or prior knowledge of the scene depth. The imaging system may perform a probabilistic algorithm that exploits the fact that times of arrival of photons reflected from fog have a Gamma distribution that is different than the Gaussian distribution of times of arrival of photons reflected from the target. The probabilistic algorithm may take into account times of arrival of all types of measured photons, including scattered and un-scattered photons.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 7, 2019
    Publication date: August 8, 2019
    Inventors: Guy Satat, Matthew Tancik, Ramesh Raskar
  • Publication number: 20180106936
    Abstract: In illustrative implementations, an imaging system may comprise a lens, an optical cavity and a time-of-flight camera. The imaging system may capture an image of a scene. The image may be formed by light that is from the scene and that passes through the optical cavity and the lens. In some cases, the lens is in front of the optical cavity, enabling the Euclidean distance between the lens and the camera sensor to be less than the nominal focal length of the lens. In some cases, the lens is inside the optical cavity, enabling the camera to acquire ultrafast multi-zoom images without moving or changing the shape of any optical element. In some cases, the lens is behind the optical cavity, enabling the system to perform ultrafast multi-spectral imaging. In other cases, an optical cavity between the scene and time-of-camera enables ultrafast ellipsometry measurements or ultrafast spatial frequency filtering.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 21, 2017
    Publication date: April 19, 2018
    Inventors: Barmak Heshmat Dehkordi, Matthew Tancik