3D depth point cloud from timing flight of 2D scanned light beam pulses
US9285477B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 21, 2014 |
| Grant date | Mar 15, 2016 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 21, 2034 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01S17/36
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system has an emitter which produces a sequence of outgoing pulses of coherent collimated light that transmitted in a given direction, a mirror system having a scanning mirror that is positioned to deflect the outgoing pulse sequence towards a scene, and a detector collocated with the emitter and aimed to detect a sequence of incoming pulses being reflections of the outgoing pulses that are returning from said given direction and have been deflected by the scanning mirror. An electronic controller communicates with the emitter and the detector and controls the scanning mirror, so that the outgoing pulses scan the scene and the controller computes a radial distance or depth for each pair of outgoing and incoming pulses and uses the computed radial distance to provide a scanned 3D depth map of objects in the scene. Other embodiments are also described.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.