Time of flight-based three-dimensional sensing system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11698441-B2
Application number	US-202016820252-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 16, 2020
Priority date	Mar 22, 2019
Publication date	Jul 11, 2023
Grant date	Jul 11, 2023

Abstract

A light shaping optic may include a substrate. The light shaping optic may include a structure disposed on the substrate, wherein the structure is configured to receive one or more input beams of light with a uniform intensity field and less than a threshold total intensity, and wherein the structure is configured to shape the one or more input beams of light to form one or more output beams of light with a non-uniform intensity field and less than the threshold total intensity.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A light shaping optic, comprising:
a structure,
wherein the structure is configured to receive one or more input beams of light with a uniform intensity field and less than a threshold total intensity;
wherein the structure is configured to shape the one or more input beams of light to form one or more output beams of light with a non-uniform intensity field and less than the threshold total intensity, and
wherein the threshold total intensity is a threshold at one or more of a particular divergence angle, a particular pulse duration, or a particular exposure direction.

2. The light shaping optic of claim 1 , wherein the non-uniform intensity field comprises a set of areas of higher intensity light and a set of areas of lower intensity light.

3. The light shaping optic of claim 1 , wherein the non-uniform intensity field is at least partially illuminated.

4. The light shaping optic of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the non-uniform intensity field is not illuminated.

5. The light shaping optic of claim 1 , wherein the non-uniform intensity field forms a pattern, and
wherein the pattern is at least one of:
a dot pattern,
a grid pattern,
a ring pattern,
an interference pattern,
a stepwise pattern,
a sawtooth pattern,
a continuous pattern,
a sine-based pattern.

6. The light shaping optic of claim 1 , wherein the one or more input beams of light are a uniform scanning line for a lidar system and the one or more output beams of light forms a non-uniform scanning line for the lidar system.

7. The light shaping optic of claim 1 , wherein the non- uniform intensity field is a grid pattern, a stepwise pattern, or a sawtooth pattern.

8. A system, comprising:
an optical transmitter to provide a beam directed toward an object, wherein the beam is associated with a constant intensity across a field of view;
a light shaping optic to concentrate the beam into one or more areas of concentration,
wherein the one or more areas of concentration of the field of view are associated with a higher concentration of light than one or more other areas of the field of view, and
wherein a total intensity of the one or more areas of concentration satisfies a threshold at one or more of a particular divergence angle, a particular pulse duration, ora particular exposure direction; and

an optical receiver to receive a reflection of the beam reflected from the object and perform a plurality of time-of-flight measurements on the beam.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the light shaping optic is an engineered diffuser.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the system is configured to illuminate the object using the beam such that the object is non-uniformly illuminated by the one or more areas of concentration.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the optical receiver is configured to perform a time-of-flight measurement for each area of concentration of the field of view of the one or more areas of concentration of the field of view.

12. The system of claim 8 , further comprising:
a processor configured to generate a depth point cloud of the object using the plurality of time-of-flight measurements.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the one or more areas of concentration of the field of view form a plurality of intensity dots, and
wherein the plurality of intensity dots is associated with a threshold density.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the system is configured to determine the plurality of time-of-flight measurements at greater than a threshold distance of the system relative to the object.

15. The system of claim 8 , further comprising:
a processor to generate a three-dimensional representation of the object based on the plurality of time-of-flight measurements and an imaging measurement of another beam provided by the optical transmitter,
wherein the other beam is associated with a constant intensity and is directed toward the object without being shaped into one or more areas of concentration.

16. The system of claim 8 , wherein the optical receiver is a sensor array including a plurality of sensor elements, and
wherein each sensor element, of the plurality of sensor elements, is configured to generate a time-of flight measurement of the plurality of time-of-flight measurements.

17. An optical element, comprising:
a substrate; and
a light shaping optic to provide a non-uniform patterned intensity beam,
wherein the non-uniform patterned intensity beam includes a set of first areas with a first intensity and a set of second areas with a second intensity,
wherein the second intensity is between 10% and 90% of the first intensity, and
wherein a total intensity of the non-uniform patterned intensity beam is less than a threshold at one or more of a particular divergence angle, a particular pulse duration, ora particular exposure direction.

18. The optical element of claim 17 , wherein the optical element is a component of a lidar system.

19. The optical element of claim 17 , further comprising:
a sensor element array disposed on the substrate.

20. The optical element of claim 19 , wherein the sensor element array is configured to determine a plurality of time-of-flight measurements of the non- uniform patterned intensity beam to determine a plurality of distances associated with and object.

Assignees

• Viavi Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Rowlands Scott
• Bilger Markus
• Houck William D

Classifications

• G01S17/894 Primary

  Three-dimensional [3D] imaging with simultaneous measurement of time-of-flight at a two-dimensional [2D] array of receiver pixels, e.g. time-of-flight cameras or flash lidar · CPC title

• G01S7/4814 Primary

  of transmitters alone · CPC title

• G01S7/4817 Primary

  relating to scanning · CPC title

• G01S7/486

  Receivers · CPC title