LiDAR device and method of operating the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11867811-B2
Application number	US-202117458660-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 27, 2021
Priority date	Aug 22, 2017
Publication date	Jan 9, 2024
Grant date	Jan 9, 2024

Abstract

Provided are a LiDAR device and a method of operating the LiDAR device. The LiDAR device includes a light-emitting unit configured to emit modulated light onto an object, a light-receiving unit configured to receive the modulated light reflected by the object, a computation unit configured to calculate a distance to the object based on a reception signal of the modulated light provided by the light-receiving unit, a modulation unit configured to provide a modulation signal to the light-emitting unit to generate the modulated light, and a controller configured to control operations of at least one of the light-emitting unit, the light-receiving unit, the computation unit, and the modulation unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A light detection and ranging (LiDAR) device comprising:
a light emitter configured to emit light onto an object, the light being modulated based on a width modulation signal before being emitted to the object;
a light receiver configured to receive the light reflected by the object and generate a first reception signal based on the received light; and
a processor comprising a time-to-digital converter (TDC) configured to measure a time delay based on the first reception signal, in response to a pulse width of the received light corresponding to pulse width information included in the width modulation signal, wherein the processor is configured to calculate a distance to the object based on the time delay measured by the TDC.

2. The LiDAR device of claim 1 , wherein the emitted light comprises a modulated single light pulse.

3. The LiDAR device of claim 1 , further comprising a light modulation device configured to generate the modulated light.

4. The LiDAR device of claim 1 , wherein the emitted light comprises a modulated light pulse group, and the modulated light pulse group comprises a plurality of modulated single light pulses.

5. The LiDAR device of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of modulated single light pulses comprises a first single light pulse having a first width, a second single light pulse having a second width, different from the first width, and a third single light pulse having a third width, different from the first width and the second width, wherein a ratio of the first width to the second width is equal to a ratio of the second width to the third width.

6. The LiDAR device of claim 5 , wherein a gap between the first single light pulse and the second single light pulse is equal to a gap between the second single light pulse and the third single light pulse.

7. The LiDAR device of claim 5 , wherein a gap between the first single light pulse and the second single light pulse is different from a gap between the second single light pulse and the third single light pulse.

8. An autonomous device comprising a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) device,
wherein the LiDAR device includes:
a light emitter configured to emit modulated light onto an object, the modulated light being modulated to have a first modulation characteristic;
a light receiver configured to receive the modulated light reflected by the object and a plurality of other lights without having the first modulation characteristic, generate a first reception signal based on the modulated light, and generate a plurality of other reception signals based on the plurality of other lights; and
a processor configured to identify the first reception signal as the modulated light that is emitted from the light emitter, based on the first modulation characteristic, and calculate a distance to the object based on the first reception signal without using the plurality of other reception signals.

9. An autonomous device comprising a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) device,
wherein the LiDAR device includes:
a light emitter configured to emit modulated light onto an object, the light being modulated based on a width modulation signal before being emitted to the object;
a light receiver configured to receive the light reflected by the object and generate a first reception signal based on the received light; and
a processor comprising a time-to-digital converter (TDC) configured to measure a time delay based on the first reception signal, in response to a pulse width of the received light corresponding to pulse width information included in the width modulation signal, wherein the processor is further configured to calculate a distance to the object based on the time delay measured by the TDC.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yoon Heesun
• Kim Jungwoo
• Otsuka Tatsuhiro
• Hwang Inoh

Classifications

• G01S17/10 Primary

  using transmission of interrupted, pulse-modulated waves (determination of distance by phase measurements G01S17/32) · CPC title

• G01S7/484 Primary

  Transmitters · CPC title