Fast scanning with dynamic voxel probing
First Claim
1. A method for measuring a range of one or more objects, the method comprising:
- employing a scanner to scan a continuous light beam at the one or more objects;
employing continuous light reflected by the one or more objects to determine a coarse range between the scanner and the one or more objects;
employing the scanner to scan a pulsed light beam at the one or more objects;
employing pulses of light reflected by the one or more objects to determine a refined range between the scanner and the one or more objects;
employing a lens that is configured to widen the reflected continuous light and the reflected pulses of light that are incident on a plurality of pixels of a receiver, wherein the reflected light incident on the pixels is employed to determine the determined range and the refined range; and
iteratively redetermining the refined range based on subsequent reflected pulses of light over time generated by other scans of the pulsed of light beam at the one or more objects.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A LIDAR system includes a scanner; a receiver; and one or more processor devices to perform actions, including: scanning a continuous light beam over the field of view in a first scan pass; detecting photons of the continuous light beam that are reflected from one or more objects; determining a coarse range to the one or more objects based on times of departure of the photons of the continuous light beam and times of arrival of the photons at the receiver; scanning light pulses over the field of view in a second scan pass; detecting photons from the light pulses that are reflected from the one or more objects; and determining a refined range to the one or more objects based on times of departure of the photons of the light pulses and times of arrival of the photons at the receiver.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method for measuring a range of one or more objects, the method comprising:
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employing a scanner to scan a continuous light beam at the one or more objects; employing continuous light reflected by the one or more objects to determine a coarse range between the scanner and the one or more objects; employing the scanner to scan a pulsed light beam at the one or more objects; employing pulses of light reflected by the one or more objects to determine a refined range between the scanner and the one or more objects; employing a lens that is configured to widen the reflected continuous light and the reflected pulses of light that are incident on a plurality of pixels of a receiver, wherein the reflected light incident on the pixels is employed to determine the determined range and the refined range; and iteratively redetermining the refined range based on subsequent reflected pulses of light over time generated by other scans of the pulsed of light beam at the one or more objects. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system to measure a range of one or more objects, comprising:
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a scanner configured to scan light over a field of view; a receiver that comprises a plurality of pixels configured to detect light; one or more memory devices that store instructions; and one or more processor devices that execute the stored instructions to perform actions, including; employing the scanner to scan a continuous light beam at the one or more objects; employing continuous light reflected by the one or more objects onto the pixels of the receiver to determine a coarse range between the scanner and the one or more objects; employing the scanner to scan a pulsed light beam at the one or more objects; employing pulses of light reflected by the one or more objects onto the pixels of the receiver to determine a refined range between the scanner and the one or more objects; employing a lens that is configured to widen the reflected continuous light and the reflected pulses of light that are incident on a plurality of pixels of a receiver, wherein the reflected light incident on the pixels is employed to determine the determined range and the refined range; and iteratively redetermining the refined range based on subsequent reflected pulses of light over time generated by other scans of the pulsed of light beam at the one or more objects. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A non-transitory processor readable storage media that includes instructions for measuring a range to one or more objects, wherein execution of the instructions by one or more processor devices cause the one or more processor devices to perform actions, comprising:
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employing a scanner to scan a continuous light beam at the one or more objects; employing continuous light reflected by the one or more objects to determine a coarse range between the scanner and the one or more objects; employing the scanner to scan a pulsed light beam at the one or more objects; employing pulses of light reflected by the one or more objects to determine a refined range between the scanner and the one or more objects; employing a lens that is configured to widen the reflected continuous light and the reflected pulses of light that are incident on a plurality of pixels of a receiver, wherein the reflected light incident on the pixels is employed to determine the determined range and the refined range; and iteratively redetermining the refined range based on subsequent reflected pulses of light over time generated by other scans of the pulsed of light beam at the one or more objects. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification