Patent · US Active

ToF system

US11977186B2 · kind B2 · utility

1Cited by
10References
28Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 7, 2021
Grant dateMay 7, 2024
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 10, 2042

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06T7/70
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

In an embodiment, a method includes: resetting respective count values of a plurality of analog counters to an initial count value, each analog counter of the plurality of analog counters corresponding to a histogram bin of a time-of-flight (ToF) histogram; after resetting the respective count values, receiving a plurality of digital addresses from a time-to-digital converter (TDC); during an integration period, for each received digital address, selecting one analog counter based on the received digital address, and changing the respective count value of the selected one analog counter towards a second count value by a discrete amount, where each analog counter has a final count value at an end of the integration period; and after the integration period, determining an associated final bin count of each histogram bin of the ToF histogram based on the final count value of the corresponding analog counter.

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