Light emitting apparatus, drive device, and distance measurement apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024345227-A1
Application number	US-202418585027-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 22, 2024
Priority date	Apr 17, 2023
Publication date	Oct 17, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

A light emitting apparatus includes: a light emitting unit that has plural regions configured to individually emit light; a drive unit that drives a predetermined region among the plural regions of the light emitting unit to perform pulse light emission; and an acquisition unit that acquires a light reception result obtained by receiving reflected light of the light emitted from the light emitting unit toward a target object, in which in one acquisition acquired by the acquisition unit, the drive unit drives the predetermined region such that the pulse light emission of the predetermined region is performed plural times with time intervals.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A light emitting apparatus comprising:
a light emitting unit that has a plurality of regions configured to individually emit light; a drive unit that drives a predetermined region among the plurality of regions of the light emitting unit to perform pulse light emission; and an acquisition unit that acquires a light reception result obtained by receiving reflected light of the light emitted from the light emitting unit toward a target object, wherein in one acquisition acquired by the acquisition unit, the drive unit drives the predetermined region such that the pulse light emission of the predetermined region is performed a plurality of times with time intervals.

2 . The light emitting apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the drive unit drives another region, which is a region other than the predetermined region, to emit light in a period that does not overlap with a light emitting period of the pulse light emission of the predetermined region.

3 . The light emitting apparatus according to claim 2 ,
wherein during the time interval, the drive unit drives the other region such that the other region performs at least one pulse light emission among the plurality of times the pulse light emission is to be performed.

4 . The light emitting apparatus according to claim 2 ,
wherein the other region is included in a second row aligned in a direction intersecting with one direction of a first row in which regions including the predetermined region are arranged in the one direction.

5 . The light emitting apparatus according to claim 3 ,
wherein the other region is included in a second row aligned in a direction intersecting with one direction of a first row in which regions including the predetermined region are arranged in the one direction.

6 . The light emitting apparatus according to claim 4 ,
wherein the drive unit drives the first row and the second row such that the pulse light emission to be performed the plurality of times in the first row and the second row is performed in a row unit.

7 . The light emitting apparatus according to claim 5 ,
wherein the drive unit drives the first row and the second row such that the pulse light emission to be performed the plurality of times in the first row and the second row is performed in a row unit.

8 . The light emitting apparatus according to claim 4 ,
wherein each of the first row and the second row has a plurality of regions that emit light at a same time in the light emitting period and a region that does not emit light at the same time.

9 . The light emitting apparatus according to claim 5 ,
wherein each of the first row and the second row has a plurality of regions that emit light at a same time in the light emitting period and a region that does not emit light at the same time.

10 . The light emitting apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein in a case where regions including a plurality of predetermined regions having a same light emitting period of the pulse light emission are arranged in a predetermined direction, the plurality of predetermined regions are not adjacent to each other in the predetermined direction.

11 . The light emitting apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the time interval is longer than a time for the acquisition unit to acquire the light reception result.

12 . The light emitting apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the acquisition of the light reception result by the acquisition unit is set to be performed in a case where a total of light emitting times for each of the plurality of times of the pulse light emission in the predetermined region exceeds a predetermined value.

13 . The light emitting apparatus according to claim 12 ,
wherein the predetermined value is the same for each of the plurality of regions.

14 . The light emitting apparatus according to claim 12 ,
wherein the predetermined value is determined according to the plurality of regions.

15 . The light emitting apparatus according to claim 14 ,
wherein the plurality of regions are arranged such that a row in which the regions are arranged in one direction is aligned in a direction intersecting with the one direction, and the predetermined value is determined in a row unit.

16 . A drive device comprising:
a drive unit that drives a predetermined region among a plurality of regions configured to individually emit light to perform pulse light emission; and an acquisition unit that acquires a light reception result obtained by receiving reflected light of the light emitted from the plurality of regions toward a target object, wherein in one acquisition acquired by the acquisition unit, the drive unit drives the predetermined region such that the pulse light emission of the predetermined region is performed a plurality of times with time intervals.

17 . A distance measurement apparatus comprising:
a light emitting unit that has a plurality of regions configured to individually emit light; a drive unit that drives a predetermined region among the plurality of regions of the light emitting unit to perform pulse light emission; an acquisition unit that acquires a light reception result obtained by receiving reflected light of the light emitted from the light emitting unit toward a target object; and a calculation unit that calculates a distance to the target object based on the light reception result acquired by the acquisition unit, wherein in one acquisition acquired by the acquisition unit, the drive unit drives the predetermined region such that the pulse light emission of the predetermined region is performed a plurality of times with time intervals.

Assignees

• Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp

Inventors

• Hayakawa Junichiro
• Takeyama Kei
• Iguchi Daisuke

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

• G01S7/4865

  Time delay measurement, e.g. time-of-flight measurement, time of arrival measurement or determining the exact position of a peak (peak detection in noise, signal conditioning G01S7/487) · CPC title

• G01S7/4815

  using multiple transmitters · CPC title

• G01S7/4808

  Evaluating distance, position or velocity data · CPC title