SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETECTING AND ANALYZING OBJECTS
First Claim
1. A system for detecting and analyzing objects, the system comprising:
- a plurality of reflective walls defining an enclosed region of interest;
a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) unit positioned to transmit laser pulses over a plurality of emittance angles within the enclosed region of interest, the LIDAR being configured to calculate the round trip time of flight of each return laser pulse associated with each of a given emittance angle to provide polar data in the form of a distance and emittance angle of an object within the enclosed region of interest for each laser pulse over the plurality of emittance angles; and
a data analyzer that assigns laser pulses that reflect directly from the object based on a determined round trip time of flight within an enclosed region of interest to a physical rangefinder and that assigns laser pulses that reflect from one or more of the plurality of reflective walls indirectly from the object based on a determined round trip time of flight with the enclosed region of interest to an Nth order virtual rangefinder, where N is the number of reflections of a given transmitted laser pulse off of the plurality of reflective walls prior to contact with the object.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided that employ one or more mirrors to harvest laser beams emitted by a physical rangefinder within a region of interest that would otherwise not intersect an object within the region of interest. The mirrors redirect the harvested beams back within the region of interest, creating one or more virtual rangefinders that supplement the physical rangefinder. The location of the virtual rangefinders is symmetric to the position of the physical rangefinder about the plane of the mirror and along the line normal to the mirror passing through the physical rangefinder. The virtual rangefinders, which operate synchronously with the physical rangefinder, thus provide a view of the object(s) from an angle different from that of the physical rangefinder.
20 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system for detecting and analyzing objects, the system comprising:
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a plurality of reflective walls defining an enclosed region of interest; a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) unit positioned to transmit laser pulses over a plurality of emittance angles within the enclosed region of interest, the LIDAR being configured to calculate the round trip time of flight of each return laser pulse associated with each of a given emittance angle to provide polar data in the form of a distance and emittance angle of an object within the enclosed region of interest for each laser pulse over the plurality of emittance angles; and a data analyzer that assigns laser pulses that reflect directly from the object based on a determined round trip time of flight within an enclosed region of interest to a physical rangefinder and that assigns laser pulses that reflect from one or more of the plurality of reflective walls indirectly from the object based on a determined round trip time of flight with the enclosed region of interest to an Nth order virtual rangefinder, where N is the number of reflections of a given transmitted laser pulse off of the plurality of reflective walls prior to contact with the object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system for detecting and analyzing objects, the system comprising:
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a plurality of reflective walls defining an enclosed region of interest; a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) unit positioned to transmit laser pulses over a plurality of emittance angles within the enclosed region of interest, the LIDAR being configured to calculate the round trip time of flight of each return laser pulse associated with each of a given emittance angle to provide polar data in the form of a distance and emittance angle of an object for each laser pulse over the plurality of emittance angles; and a data analyzer that determines which of a plurality of virtual regions of interest associated with the enclosed region of interest that the object is detected for each of a given laser pulse and employs this determination to determine a location and an angle that the given laser pulse contacted the object within the enclosed region of interest. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for detecting and analyzing objects, the method comprising:
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arranging a plurality of reflective walls to define an enclosed region of interest; transmitting laser pulses over a plurality of emittance angles within the enclosed region of interest; calculating the round trip time of flight of each return laser pulse associated with each of a given emittance angle to provide polar data in the form of a distance and emittance angle of an object for each laser pulse over the plurality of emittance angles; converting the polar data for each laser pulse to Cartesian coordinate position data; determining which of a plurality of virtual regions of interest associated with the enclosed region of interest that the object is detected for each of a given laser pulse; and subtracting the number of virtual regions of interest in both a X coordinate direction and a Y coordinate direction to determine a location that the given laser pulse contacted the object within the enclosed region of interest for each of a given laser pulse. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification