Lighting system and method for illuminating and detecting object

• US 7,855,376 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2006
• Issued: 12/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LeddarTech, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Institut national d'optique
• Inventors: Mimeault, Yvan, Gallant, Pascal, Cantin, Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): Le; Que T
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUI PHO, PASCAL M
• Application Number:
  US11/612,678
• Publication Number:
  US 20070228262A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,463 Days
• Field of Search: 250/206.1, 250/206.2, 250/221, 25055929-55931, 250/559.38, 356 3- 22, 362/459, 362/460, 362/464, 362/466
• US Class Current: 250/559.29
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/04 Traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 13/00 Indicating or recording presence, absence, or direction, of movement electric switches H01H; counting moving objects G06M7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/06 Systems determining position data of a target
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/42 Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates indirect measurement G01S17/46
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/481 Constructional features, e.g. arrangements of optical elements
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4814 of transmitters alone
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/04 using optical or ultrasonic detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/095 Traffic lights

Abstract

An object-detecting lighting system comprises a light source emitting visible light. A source controller is connected to the light source to drive the light source into emitting the visible light in a predetermined mode. An optical detector is positioned with respect to the light source and is adapted to detect the visible light as reflected/backscattered by an object. A data/signal processor is connected to the source controller and the optical detector to receive detection data from the optical detector. The data/signal processor produces a data output associated to the object as a function of the predetermined mode and the detection data.

Claims

1. A method for detecting an object using visible light, comprising:

providing a visible-light source emitting visible light having a first function of being visible to a person in an illumination mode;

driving the visible-light source into emitting visible light in a predetermined mode in which light has a signal form comprising mode data, with visible light in the illumination mode and the predetermined mode being visually similar to an unaided human eye whereby the light source maintains said first function while being driven;

receiving a reflection/backscatter of the emitted visible light on an object to detect the signal form; and

calculating at least a distance between the object and the visible-light source based on the mode data of the reflection/backscatter received and of the predetermined mode.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first function is at least one of illuminating an environment of the visible-light source and emitting a signal to a person in the environment.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of connecting comprises retrofitting a source controller to an existing visible-light source.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of driving the visible-light source in the predetermined mode comprises at least one of pulsating and modulating the visible light.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the reflection/backscatter comprises filtering out given light wavelengths to obtain predetermined wavelengths so as to filter out unwanted wavelengths.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of calculating a distance of the object is performed by measuring a time delay between emitting the visible light and receiving the reflection/backscatter from the object.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of triggering an action as a function of the position of the object.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein calculating at least a distance of the object comprises calculating a spatial position of the object in an environment illuminated by the visible-light source as a function of the reflection/backscatter received and of the predetermined mode.

9. An object-detecting lighting system comprising:

a light source emitting visible light and having a first function of emitting visible light in an illumination mode for at least one of illuminating an environment and emitting a signal to a person in the environment;

a source controller for driving the light source into emitting the visible light in a predetermined mode in which light has a signal form comprising mode data, with visible light in the illumination mode and the predetermined mode being visually similar to an unaided human eye whereby the light source maintains said first function while being driven;

an optical detector positioned with respect to the light source and adapted to detect the signal form of the visible light as reflected/backscattered by an object; and

a data/signal processor for receiving detection data from the optical detector, the data/signal processor producing a data output associated to the object as a function of the predetermined mode and the detected mode data from the light reflected/backscattered.

10. The object-detecting lighting system according to claim 9, wherein the optical detector involves a plurality of sub-detectors each detecting a narrow range, with each sub-detector combining to cover a wide range of emitted light of the light source.

11. The object-detecting lighting system according to claim 9, further comprising a scanning mechanism in association with the optical detector so as to cause a scanning motion of a field of view of the optical detector within a range of illumination of emitted light of the light source.

12. The object-detecting lighting system according to claim 9, wherein the optical detector has an array of sub-detectors.

13. The object-detecting lighting system according to claim 9, wherein the source controller has a pulse/modulation driver to drive the light source into emitting visible-light in the predetermined mode, and an illumination driver to drive the light source into emitting visible-light of suitable intensity to illuminate an environment.

14. The object-detecting lighting system according to claim 13, wherein the light source has a plurality of lights, with at least one of the lights of the light source being driven by the illumination driver to illuminate the environment, while at least another one of the lights of the light source is driven by the pulse/modulation driver to emit the visible light in the predetermined mode.

15. The object-detecting lighting system according to claim 9, wherein the optical detector has a filtering device to filter out given light wavelengths of the reflected/backscattered visible light so as to filter out unwanted wavelengths.