Phase emulator for a time-of-flight (tof) device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020142063-A1
Application number	US-201816182286-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 6, 2018
Priority date	Nov 6, 2018
Publication date	May 7, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

An example time-of-flight device may include an emitter component configured to emit a plurality of modulated signals toward an object during a transmission window, wherein the plurality of modulated signals emitted during the transmission window are to be used to determine a single distance measurement associated with the object and the time-of-flight device. The time-of-flight device may include a control component configured to cause, via the emitter component, emission of a first modulated signal and emission of a second modulated signal, of the plurality of modulated signals, toward the object, wherein the first modulated signal is emitted during a first portion of the transmission window and has a first phase of a plurality of preconfigured phases, and wherein the second modulated signal is emitted during a second portion of the transmission window and has a second phase of the plurality of preconfigured phases; and cause, using the emission of the first modulated signal and the emission of the second modulated signal during the transmission window, an emulation of a transmission of a measurement signal that has a measurement phase defined based on the first phase and the second phase, wherein the measurement phase is different from the first phase and the second phase.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A time-of-flight device, comprising:
an emitter component configured to emit a plurality of modulated signals toward an object during a transmission window,
wherein the plurality of modulated signals emitted during the transmission window are to be used to determine a single distance measurement associated with the object and the time-of-flight device;
a control component configured to:
cause, via the emitter component, emission of a first modulated signal and emission of a second modulated signal, of the plurality of modulated signals, toward the object,
wherein the first modulated signal is emitted during a first portion of the transmission window and has a first phase of a plurality of preconfigured phases, and
wherein the second modulated signal is emitted during a second portion of the transmission window and has a second phase of the plurality of preconfigured phases; and

cause, using the emission of the first modulated signal and the emission of the second modulated signal during the transmission window, an emulation of a transmission of a measurement signal that has a measurement phase defined based on the first phase and the second phase,
wherein the measurement phase is different from the first phase and the second phase.

2 . The time-of-flight device of claim 1 , wherein the control component is to:
determine the measurement phase; select the first phase and the second phase based on the measurement phase; and calculate a first duration of the first portion of the transmission window and a second duration of the second portion of the transmission window based on the first phase and the second phase.

3 . The time-of-flight device of claim 1 , wherein the measurement phase is between the first phase and the second phase.

4 . The time-of-flight device of claim 1 , wherein the measurement phase based on a weighted average of the first phase and the second phase,
wherein the weighted average is weighted based on a first duration of the first portion of the transmission window and a second duration of the second portion of the transmission window.

5 . The time-of-flight device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a sensor component to detect a plurality of reflected signals from the object during a reflection window; wherein the control component is further to:
receive information concerning the plurality of reflected signals;
determine a reflected phase of the plurality of reflected signals; and
determine a distance associated with the object based on the measurement phase and the reflected phase.

6 . The time-of-flight device of claim 5 , wherein the distance is determined based on a difference between the measurement phase and the reflected phase.

7 . The time-of-flight device of claim 1 , wherein the control component is further to:
cause the emitter component to transmit a plurality of calibration signals during a calibration window using a first calibration setting,
wherein the first calibration setting uses a first set of preconfigured phases for the plurality of calibration signals;
receive information concerning a plurality of reflected calibration signals from a calibration object at a known distance from the time-of-flight device; determine a measured distance associated with the calibration object based on a measured phase shift of the plurality of reflected calibration signals; and adjust the first calibration setting to a second calibration setting of the emitter component based on the measured distance and the known distance,
wherein the second calibration setting adjusts the first set of preconfigured phases to a second set of preconfigured phases for the plurality of modulated signals.

8 . The time-of-flight device of claim 7 , wherein the control component is further to:
determine a target phase associated with the known distance; and determine the second calibration setting based on the target phase and the measured phase shift.

9 . The time-of-flight device of claim 7 , wherein phase shift outputs used in the first set of preconfigured phases are same phase shift outputs used in the second set of preconfigured phases and corresponding durations of transmitting the plurality of calibration signals during the calibration window are different than durations of transmitting the plurality of modulated signals during the transmission window.

10 . The time-of-flight device of claim 1 , wherein the control component is further configured to:
cause, via the emitter component, emission of a third modulated signal, of the plurality of signals, toward the object,
wherein the third modulated signal is emitted during a third portion of the transmission window and has a third phase of the plurality of preconfigured phases,
wherein the measurement phase is defined based on the first phase, the second phase, and the third phase,
wherein the measurement phase is different from the third phase.

11 . An imaging system comprising:
a modulation component to provide a plurality of modulation signals,
wherein the modulation component is to generate the plurality of modulation signals to include phase shifts using a threshold number of preconfigured phase shift outputs;
an emitter component to emit a plurality of modulated signals toward an object during a transmission window according to the plurality of modulation signals; a sensor component to detect a plurality of reflected modulation signals from the object during a reflection window; and a control component to:
configure the modulation component to generate a first portion of the plurality of modulation signals using a first preconfigured phase shift output of the threshold number of preconfigured phase shift outputs;
configure the modulation component to generate a second portion of the plurality of modulation signals using a second preconfigured phase shift output of the threshold number of preconfigured phase shift outputs; and
instruct the emitter component to emit the plurality of modulated signals during the transmission window to emulate a measurement phase associated with the plurality of modulated signals based on the first portion of the plurality of modulation signals and the second portion of the plurality of modulation signals,
wherein the measurement phase is different from the first preconfigured phase shift output and the second preconfigured phase shift output; and

determine a distance to the object based on the measurement phase and a reflected phase associated with the plurality of reflected modulation signals.

12 . The imaging system of claim 11 , wherein the control component is to:
determine the reflected phase associated with the plurality of reflected modulation signals based on an average of respective phases of the plurality of reflected modulation signals; and determine the distance to the object based on a difference between the measurement phase and the reflected phase.

13 . The imaging system of claim 11 , wherein the control component is further to:
cause distance information associated with the determined distance to be displayed on a user interface that is communicatively coupled to the imaging system.

14 . The imaging system of claim 11 , wherein the control component is further to:
determine that the distance is within a threshold range; and transmit an alert to a system based on determining that the object is within the threshold range.

15 . The imaging system of claim 11 , wherein the threshold number of preconfigured phase shift outputs comprises at least two preconfigured phase shift outputs and

Assignees

• Infineon Technologies Ag

Inventors

• Dielacher Markus
• Flatscher Martin
• Gansinger Stefan
• Lobnik Robert

Classifications

• G01S17/26 Primary

  wherein the transmitted pulses use a frequency-modulated or phase-modulated carrier wave, e.g. for pulse compression of received signals · CPC title

• G01S7/497

  Means for monitoring or calibrating · CPC title

• G01S7/4915

  Time delay measurement, e.g. operational details for pixel components (signal extraction and conditioning G01S7/493); Phase measurement · CPC title

• G01S7/484

  Transmitters · CPC title

• G01S17/36

  with phase comparison between the received signal and the contemporaneously transmitted signal · CPC title