Patent attributes
A depth camera assembly (DCA) determines distances between the DCA and objects in a local area within a field of view of the DCA. The DCA includes an illumination source that projects a known spatial pattern modulated with a temporal carrier signal into the local area. An imaging device capture the modulated pattern projected into the local area. The imaging device includes a detector that comprises different pixel groups that are each activated to captured light at different times. Hence, different pixel groups capture different phases of the temporally modulated pattern from the local area. The DCA determines times for light from the illumination source to be reflected and captured by the imaging device from the phases captured by the different pixel groups and also determines distances between the DCA and objects in the local area based on deformation of the spatial pattern captured by the imaging device.