# US 10,768,283 B2 · Enhanced distance data acquisition

> Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt

- Number: US 10,768,283 B2
- Document ID: US10768283B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/774,762
- Filed: 2016-11-10
- Published: 2018-11-15
- Granted: 2020-09-08
- Earliest claimed: 2015-11-11
- Assignees: ams Sensors Singapore Pte. Ltd.
- Applicants: ams Sensors Singapore Pte. Ltd.
- Inventors: Bryant Hansen; Cassian Strässle; Miguel Bruno Vaello Paños
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10768283B2

## CPC

- G01S 7/4918: {Controlling received signal intensity, gain or exposure of sensor}
- G01B 11/24: for measuring contours or curvatures
- G01B 21/045: {Correction of measurements (G01B9/02055 takes precedence)}
- G01S 7/4808: {Evaluating distance, position or velocity data}
- G01S 7/497: Means for monitoring or calibrating
- G01S 17/36: with phase comparison between the received signal and the contemporaneously transmitted signal
- G01S 17/894: 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
- G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01B: MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS

## Abstract

A distance acquisition method comprising: initializing an optical ranging system, the optical ranging system including a plurality of pixels operable to covert incident light to electrical charges; collecting electrical charges with the plurality of exposed pixels over an integration time, each pixel collecting electrical charges with an amplification and a sensitivity; correlating the electrical charges collected in each pixel to an exposure value for each pixel, the exposure value corresponding to being adequately exposed, over-exposed, or under-exposed; identifying each exposure value for each pixel as being either valid or invalid, wherein a valid exposure value corresponds to an adequately exposed pixel and an invalid exposure value corresponds to an over-exposed or under-exposed pixel; totalling the number of valid exposure value pixels; totalling the number invalid exposure value pixels; determining an exposure ratio, the ratio being the number of pixels with valid exposure values divided by the number of pixels with invalid exposure values; totalling the number of over-exposed pixels; totalling the number of under-exposed pixels; determining an invalid exposure ratio, the invalid exposure ratio being the number of over-exposed pixels divided by the number of under-exposed pixels; and determining an average valid exposure value, the average valid exposure value being the average of the valid exposure values. The method additionally comprises: using the exposure ratio, the invalid exposure ratio and the average valid exposure to optimise the integration time; using the exposure value for each pixel to optimise the amplification and sensitivity for each pixel; and determining distance data from electrical charges collected from at least one of the plurality of pixels.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A distance acquisition method comprising:
initializing an optical ranging system, the optical ranging system including a plurality of pixels operable to covert incident light to electrical charges;
directing incident light to the plurality of pixels;
collecting electrical charges with the plurality of pixels over an integration time, each pixel collecting electrical charges with an amplification and a sensitivity;
correlating the electrical charges collected in each pixel to an exposure value for each pixel, the exposure value corresponding to an adequately exposed pixel, an over-exposed pixel, or an under-exposed pixel;
identifying each exposure value for each pixel as being a valid exposure value or an invalid exposure value, wherein a valid exposure value corresponds to an adequately exposed pixel and an invalid exposure value corresponds to an over-exposed pixel or an under-exposed pixel;
totaling the number of pixels with valid exposure values;
totaling the number of pixels with invalid exposure values;
determining an exposure ratio, the ratio being the number of pixels with valid exposure values divided by the number of pixels with invalid exposure values;
totaling the number of over-exposed pixels;
totaling the number of under-exposed pixels;
determining an invalid exposure ratio, the invalid exposure ratio being the number of over-exposed pixels divided by the number of under-exposed pixels; and
determining an average valid exposure value, the average valid exposure value being the average of the valid exposure values.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 further comprising increasing the integration time when the invalid exposure ratio is less than the validity threshold value and an exposure threshold value, or decreasing the integration time when the invalid exposure ratio is less than the validity threshold value and greater than or equal to the exposure threshold value.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 further comprising:
correlating the average valid exposure value to a scaling factor when the exposure ratio is greater than or equal to a validity threshold value; and
altering the integration time with the scaling factor.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2, 3)

The method as in claim 2 or 3, further comprising:
directing incident light to the plurality of pixels;
collecting electrical charges with the plurality of pixels over the integration time, each pixel collecting electrical charges with the amplification and the sensitivity;
correlating the electrical charges collected in each pixel to the exposure
value for each pixel, the exposure value corresponding to an adequately exposed pixel, an over-exposed pixel, or an under-exposed pixel; and
increasing the amplification for each under-exposed pixel and decreasing the amplification for each over-exposed pixel.

### Claim 5 (depends on 2, 3)

The method as in claim 2 or 3, further comprising:
directing incident light to the plurality of pixels;
collecting electrical charges with the plurality of pixels over the integration time, each pixel collecting electrical charges with the amplification and the sensitivity;
correlating the electrical charges collected in each pixel to the exposure
value for each pixel, the exposure value corresponding to an adequately exposed pixel, an over-exposed pixel, or an under-exposed pixel; and
increasing the sensitivity for each under-exposed pixel and decreasing the sensitivity for each over-exposed pixel.

### Claim 6 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4 further comprising:
directing incident light to the plurality of pixels;
collecting electrical charges with the plurality of pixels over the integration time, each pixel collecting electrical charges with the amplification and the sensitivity; and
determining distance data from electrical charges collected from at least one of the plurality of pixels.

### Claim 7 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5 further comprising:
directing incident light to the plurality of pixels;
collecting electrical charges with the plurality of pixels over the integration time, each pixel collecting electrical charges with the amplification and the sensitivity; and
determining distance data from electrical charges collected from at least one of the plurality of pixels.

### Claim 8 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4 further comprising:
increasing the sensitivity for each under-exposed pixel and decreasing the sensitivity for each over-exposed pixel; and
determining distance data from electrical charges collected from at least one of the plurality of pixels.

### Claim 9 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4 further comprising:
correlating the electrical charges collected in each pixel to the exposure value for each pixel, the exposure value corresponding to an adequately exposed pixel, an over-exposed pixel, or an under-exposed pixel;
identifying each exposure value for each pixel as being a valid exposure value or an invalid exposure value, wherein a valid exposure value corresponds to an adequately exposed pixel and an invalid exposure value corresponds to an over-exposed pixel or an under-exposed pixel;
totaling the number of pixels with valid exposure values;
totaling the number of pixels with invalid exposure values;
determining the exposure ratio, the ratio being the number of pixels with valid exposure values to the number of pixels with invalid exposure values;
totaling the number of over-exposed pixels;
totaling the number of under-exposed pixels; and
determining the invalid exposure ratio when the exposure ratio is less than a second validity threshold value, the invalid exposure ratio being the number of over-exposed pixels divided by the number of under-exposed pixels.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9 further comprising increasing the integration time when the invalid exposure ratio is less than a second exposure threshold value, or decreasing the integration time when the invalid exposure ratio is greater than or equal to a second exposure threshold value.

### Claim 11 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9 further comprising:
determining an average valid exposure value when the exposure ratio is greater than or equal to the second validity threshold value, correlating the average valid exposure value to a scaling factor; and
altering the integration time with the scaling factor.

### Claim 12 (depends on 10)

The method of claim 10 further comprising:
directing incident light to the plurality of pixels;
collecting electrical charges with the plurality of pixels over the integration time, each pixel collecting electrical charges with the amplification and the sensitivity;
increasing the amplification for each under-exposed pixel and
decreasing the amplification for each over-exposed pixel;
increasing the sensitivity for each under-exposed pixel and
decreasing the sensitivity for each over-exposed pixel; and
determining distance data from electrical charges collected from at least one of the plurality of pixels.

### Claim 13 (depends on 10)

The method of claim 10 further comprising:
directing incident light to the plurality of pixels;
collecting electrical charges with the plurality of pixels over the integration time, each pixel collecting electrical charges with the amplification and the sensitivity;
increasing the amplification for each under-exposed pixel and decreasing the amplification for each over-exposed pixel;
increasing the sensitivity for each under-exposed pixel and decreasing the sensitivity for each over-exposed pixel; and
determining distance data from electrical charges collected from at least one of the plurality of pixels.

### Claim 14 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11 further comprising:
directing incident light to the plurality of pixels;
collecting electrical charges with the plurality of pixels over the integration time, each pixel collecting electrical charges with the amplification and the sensitivity;
increasing the amplification for each under-exposed pixel and decreasing the amplification for each over-exposed pixel;
increasing the sensitivity for each under-exposed pixel and decreasing the sensitivity for each over-exposed pixel; and
determining distance data from electrical charges collected from at least one of the plurality of pixels.

### Claim 15 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5 further comprising:
correlating the electrical charges collected in each pixel to the exposure
value for each pixel, the exposure value corresponding to an adequately exposed pixel, an over-exposed pixel, or an under-exposed pixel;
identifying each exposure value for each pixel as being a valid exposure value or an invalid exposure value, wherein a valid exposure value corresponds to an adequately exposed pixel and an invalid exposure value corresponds to an over-exposed pixel or an under-exposed pixel;
totaling the number of pixels with valid exposure values;
totaling the number of pixels with invalid exposure values;
determining the exposure ratio, the ratio being the number of pixels with valid exposure values to the number of pixels with invalid exposure values;
totaling the number of over-exposed pixels;
totaling the number of under-exposed pixels; and
determining the invalid exposure ratio when the exposure ratio is less than a second validity threshold value, the invalid exposure ratio being the number of over-exposed pixels divided by the number of under-exposed pixels.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15 further comprising increasing the integration time when the invalid exposure ratio is less than a second exposure threshold value, or decreasing the integration time when the invalid exposure ratio is greater than or equal to a second exposure threshold value.

### Claim 17 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15 further comprising:
determining an average valid exposure value when the exposure ratio is greater than or equal to the second validity threshold value, correlating the average valid exposure value to a scaling factor; and
altering the integration time with the scaling factor.

### Claim 18 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15 further comprising:
directing incident light to the plurality of pixels;
collecting electrical charges with the plurality of pixels over the integration time, each pixel collecting electrical charges with the amplification and the sensitivity;
increasing the amplification for each under-exposed pixel and decreasing the amplification for each over-exposed pixel;
increasing the sensitivity for each under-exposed pixel and decreasing the sensitivity for each over-exposed pixel; and
determining distance data from electrical charges collected from at least one of the plurality of pixels.

### Claim 19 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16 further comprising:
directing incident light to the plurality of pixels;
collecting electrical charges with the plurality of pixels over the integration time, each pixel collecting electrical charges with the amplification and the sensitivity;
increasing the amplification for each under-exposed pixel and decreasing the amplification for each over-exposed pixel;
increasing the sensitivity for each under-exposed pixel and decreasing the sensitivity for each over-exposed pixel; and
determining distance data from electrical charges collected from at least one of the plurality of pixels.