Apparatus for measuring distance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9429652-B2
Application number	US-201114345175-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 21, 2011
Priority date	Oct 21, 2011
Publication date	Aug 30, 2016
Grant date	Aug 30, 2016

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring a distance, the apparatus including a light transmitter including a light source configured to emit a light, and a collimator lens configured to emit a light by converting the light emitted from the light source to a collimation light, and a light receiver including a first mirror configured to reflect the collimation light emitted from the collimator lens to an object, a lens configured to concentrate a light reflected or dispersed from the object to a spot, and a photo-detector configured to form a spot concentrated with light on the lens, wherein an optical axis of the light source matches a rotation shaft of the photo-detector, the light transmitter is fixed and the light receiver rotates about the optical axis of the light source.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for measuring a distance, the apparatus comprising:
a light transmitter including a light source configured to emit a light, and a collimator lens configured to emit a light by converting the light emitted from the light source to a collimation light; and
a light receiver including a first mirror configured to reflect the collimation light emitted from the collimator lens to an object, a lens configured to concentrate a light reflected or dispersed from the object to a spot, and a photo-detector on which a spot is formed,
wherein an optical axis of the light source matches a rotation shaft of the photo-detector, the light transmitter is fixed, and the light receiver rotates about the optical axis of the light source, and
wherein the first mirror rotates according to rotation of the light receiver.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the light source is a laser diode, or a light emitting diode.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the photo-detector is an image sensor arranged in an ‘n×m’ matrix, and the photo-detector is formed with a plurality of unit pixels configured to convert an optical signal to an electric signal.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the spot is formed on unit pixels of a line of the image sensor.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the light receiver includes a second mirror configured to reflect the light from the object or to reflect the dispersed light, and the lens concentrates the light reflected from the second mirror to a spot.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the lens is interposed between the second mirror and the photo-detector.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the first mirror is configured to tilt.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the photo-detector is an image sensor including a plurality of unit pixels arranged in an ‘n×m’ matrix to convert an optical signal to an electric signal.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the spot is configured to be formed on the unit pixels of a plurality of lines of the image sensor.

10. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising an MCU (Micro Control Unit) configured to process a signal relative to a distance to an object measured by the photo-detector and to determine an object distance data or presence/absence of an object.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the MCU is embedded in a case of the light receiver.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a housing embedding the light transmitter and the light receiver.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a case in which the light receiver is embedded inside;
a first power transmission structure connected with the case;
a second power transmission structure connected with the first power transmission structure; and
a rotary unit configured to rotate the second power transmission structure.

Assignees

• Lee Gyeongeon
• Cho Sungjin
• Cha Sunghoon
• Kim Hyunjoon
• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Lee Gyeongeon
• Cho Sungjin
• Cha Sunghoon
• Kim Hyunjoon

Classifications

• G01S7/4817

  relating to scanning · CPC title

• G01C3/08

  Use of electric radiation detectors · CPC title

• G01S17/48 Primary

  Active triangulation systems, i.e. using the transmission and reflection of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves · CPC title