Three-dimensional image sensor, optical radar apparatus, and processing apparatus

An optical radar apparatus comprising:

• a light emitting element configured to emit pulsed light to illuminate an object to be detected;
• and
• a three-dimensional image sensor,
• wherein the three-dimensional image sensor comprises:
• a light receiving unit including a plurality of pixels each including an avalanche photodiode configured to detect, in Geiger mode, a photon of incident light including reflected light from an object to be detected;
• a plurality of accumulating units provided for the respective pixels in a one-to-one manner, each accumulating unit being configured to accumulate pulse signals output from a corresponding one of the pixels as a result of detecting photons for each of temporally successive time intervals;
• and
• a calculation unit configured to calculate distance information regarding a distance between the light receiving unit and the object for each pixel by using a time series of groups of accumulated values accumulated by the accumulating units, wherein
• the accumulating units are disposed outside the light receiving unit,
• wherein the avalanche photodiode in the three-dimensional image sensor detects a photon of reflected light of the pulsed light reflected from the object, and the accumulating units each includes a plurality of binary counters for accumulating the pulse signals for each time interval.

An optical radar apparatus comprising:

• a light emitting element configured to emit pulsed light to illuminate an object to be detected, and
• a three-dimensional image sensor,
• wherein the three-dimensional image sensor comprises:
• a light receiving unit including a plurality of pixels each including an avalanche photodiode configured to detect, in Geiger mode, a photon of incident light including reflected light from an object to be detected;
• a plurality of accumulating units provided for the respective pixels in a one-to-one manner, each accumulating unit being configured to accumulate pulse signals output from a corresponding one of the pixels as a result of detecting photons for each of temporally successive time intervals;
• and
• a calculation unit configured to calculate distance information regarding a distance between the light receiving unit and the object for each pixel by using a time series of groups of accumulated values accumulated by the accumulating units, wherein
• the accumulating units are disposed outside the light receiving unit,
• wherein the optical radar apparatus can output the distance information in middle of a frame in addition to the distance information at the end of the frame.