Patent · US Active

Low photon count timing

US10845467B2 · kind B2 · utility

1Cited by
1References
19Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 15, 2017
Grant dateNov 24, 2020
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 16, 2038

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01S17/894
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and a device for determining a return time of a returning light pulse by a Single Photon (SPL) LiDAR scanner, the SPL scanner comprising of a low photon count detector for converting low amounts of photons or single photons to electrical signals, and a control and processing unit for processing the data and for determining the return time of the returning light pulse. The control and processing unit identify detected photons potentially representing a return pulse event and create a return pulse signal based on a criterion involving a temporal probability distribution for the detected photons, identify a rising edge and a falling edge of the return pulse signal, and determine the return time for each return pulse event based on the rising edge and the falling edge of the return pulse signal.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.