# US 12,222,423 B2 · Method and system for vehicular LIDAR and communication utilizing a vehicle head light and/or taillight and communicating with vehicle subsystems > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,222,423 B2 - Document ID: US12222423B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/809,262 - Filed: 2024-08-19 - Published: 2024-12-19 - Granted: 2025-02-11 - Earliest claimed: 2023-05-16 - Assignees: Wireless Photonics LLC - Applicants: Wireless Photonics, LLC - Inventors: Bahram Jalali; Alexandra Jalali; Mehdi Hatamian; Ahmadreza Rofougaran - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12222423B2 ## CPC - 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 17/931: of land vehicles - B60Q 1/0023: {the element being a sensor, e.g. distance sensor, camera} - G01S 7/006: {using shared front-end circuitry, e.g. antennas (G01S13/765, G01S13/825 take precedence)} - G01S 17/10: using transmission of interrupted, pulse-modulated waves (determination of distance by phase measurements G01S17/32) - G06T 7/50: Depth or shape recovery - G06T 17/05: Geographic models - H04B 10/116: Visible light communication - G01S 2013/9316: {combined with communication equipment with other vehicles or with base stations} - G01S 2013/93277: {in the lights} - 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 - B60Q: ARRANGEMENT OF SIGNALLING OR LIGHTING DEVICES, THE MOUNTING OR SUPPORTING THEREOF OR CIRCUITS THEREFOR, FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL - G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL - H04B: TRANSMISSION ## Abstract A method of measuring a distance between a vehicle and one or more objects, includes generating a modulation signal; generating a modulated light emitting diode (LED) transmission signal, via a vehicle LED driver assembly; transmitting a plurality of light beams based at least in part on the generated modulated LED transmission signal; capturing a reflection of the plurality of light beams off the one or more objects, utilizing one or more lens assemblies and a camera, the camera including an array of pixel sensors and being positioned on the vehicle; communicating a series of measurements representing the captured plurality of light beam reflections; calculating, utilizing the time-of-flight sensor module, time of flight measurements between the vehicle LED light assembly and the one or more objects and calculating distances, utilizing a depth processor module, between the vehicle LED light assembly and the one or more objects based on the time-of-flight measurements. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A communication system to communicate between a first vehicle and a second vehicle utilizing vehicle light-emitting diode (LED) light assemblies, comprising: an encoder configured to encode a vehicle data transmission from the first vehicle; a modulator configured to generate a modulation signal based on the encoded vehicle data transmission; a vehicle LED driver module, configured to generate a modulated LED data transmission signal, based at least in part on the modulation signal representative of the encoded vehicle data transmission, the modulated LED data transmission signal to modulate an intensity of light beams; a first vehicle LED light assembly, configured to transmit a plurality of light beams, based at least in part on the generated modulated LED data transmission signal; one or more light sensors configured to detect, an intensity of a response plurality of light beams transmitted from a LED light assembly on the second vehicle, generating, via the one or more light sensors, a response data transmission signal representative of the captured intensity of the plurality of light beams; a demodulator module configured to demodulate, the response data transmission signal representative of the captured intensity of the response plurality of light beams; and a decoder configured to decode the demodulated response data transmission signal to obtain a response vehicle data transmission, which is a response to the vehicle data transmission, wherein the first LED light assembly is a headlight assembly or a taillight assembly and the one or more light sensors are located on a same part of the second vehicle as a headlight assembly or a taillight assembly. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the modulation signal utilizes binary or multilevel modulation. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the modulation signal has a frequency ranging from 100 Megahertz to 300 Megahertz, or alternatively from 75 Megahertz to 600 Megahertz. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle data transmission includes information about a speed of the first vehicle or about an operating capability of the first vehicle. ### Claim 5 A system for measuring a distance between a vehicle and one or more objects and utilizing distance measurements, comprising: a modulator in the vehicle configured to generate a modulation signal; a vehicle headlight or taillight LED driver assembly configured to generate a modulated light emitting diode (LED) transmission signal, based at least in part on the modulation signal; a vehicle LED headlight or taillight assembly configured to transmit a plurality of light beams, based at least in part on the generated modulated LED transmission signal; one or vehicle lens assembly and a camera configured to capture a reflection of the plurality of light beams off the one or more objects, the camera including an array of pixel sensors and being positioned on the vehicle; the camera and the array of pixel sensors to communicate a series of measurements representing the captured plurality of light beam reflections; a time-of-flight sensor module configured to receive the series of measurements and to calculate time of flight measurements between the vehicle LED headlight or taillight assembly and the one or more objects, based at least in part on the series of measurements; and a depth processor module, configured to calculate distances between the vehicle LED headlight or taillight assembly and the one or more objects based on the time-of-flight measurements and to transmit the calculated distances to one or more vehicle subsystems or components. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The system of claim 5, wherein the one or more vehicle subsystems or components is a vehicle braking system and if the calculated distances are less than a specified distance, the vehicle braking system activates one or more vehicle brakes. ### Claim 7 (depends on 5) The system of claim 5, wherein the one or more vehicle subsystems or components is a vehicle navigation system, and generating, by the vehicle navigation subsystem, a three-dimensional (3D) map of the one or more objects with respect to the vehicle based on the calculated distances. ### Claim 8 (depends on 5) The system of claim 5, wherein the one or more vehicle subsystems or components is a vehicle transmission subsystem and if the calculated distances are less than a specified distance, the vehicle transmission subsystem deactivates or disengages a vehicle transmission. ### Claim 9 (depends on 5) The system of claim 5, wherein the one or more vehicle subsystems or components is a vehicle display system and the vehicle display subsystem configured to generate a display identifying specific distances between the vehicle LED headlight assembly and the one or more objects. ### Claim 10 (depends on 5) The system of claim 5, wherein the one or more vehicle subsystems or components is a vehicle audio system, and if the calculated distances are too small, the vehicle audio system configured to generate an audible sound identifying the vehicle is too close to the one or more objects. ### Claim 11 (depends on 5) The system of claim 5, wherein the one or more vehicle subsystems or components is a self-driving subsystem, and the self-driving subsystem configured to further analyze the calculated distances and automatically communicate instructions to other vehicle subsystems. ### Claim 12 (depends on 5) The system of claim 5, wherein the camera and the modulation signal are synchronized. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The system of claim 12, where the synchronization of the camera and the modulation signal utilizes code divisional multiple (CDMA) technology to generate a specific code and the camera including the array of pixel sensors captures the reflection of the plurality of light beam reflections. ### Claim 14 A system of communicating between a first vehicle and a second vehicle utilizing vehicle light-emitting diode (LED) headlight or taillight assemblies, comprising: a first vehicle encoder configured to encode a vehicle data transmission from a first vehicle, the vehicle data transmission including communications to one or more second vehicle subsystems; a modulator configured to generate a modulation signal based on the encoded vehicle data transmission; a first vehicle LED driver module configured to generate a modulated LED data transmission signal, based at least in part on the modulation signal representative of the encoded vehicle data transmission, the modulated LED data transmission signal to modulate an intensity of light beams; a first vehicle LED headlight or taillight assembly configured to transmit a plurality of light beams, utilizing, based at least in part on the generated modulated LED data transmission signal; one or more second vehicle light sensors positioned on the second vehicle configured to detect an intensity of the plurality of light beams transmitted from the first vehicle LED headlight or taillight assembly, the one or more second vehicle light sensors configured to generate a data transmission signal representative of the detected intensity of the plurality of light beams; a second vehicle demodulator module configured to demodulate the data transmission signal representative of the detected intensity of the plurality of light beams and generate a demodulated data transmission signal; and a second vehicle decoder configured to decode the demodulated data transmission signal to obtain or generate the vehicle data transmission of the first vehicle and to send the vehicle data transmission to the one or more second vehicle subsystems. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the modulation signal utilizes multilevel modulation and has a frequency ranging from 100 Megahertz to 300 Megahertz, or alternatively from 75 Megahertz to 600 Megahertz. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the data transmission of the first vehicle includes information about a speed of the first vehicle or an operating capability of the first vehicle. ### Claim 17 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more second vehicle subsystems is a vehicle navigation subsystem. ### Claim 18 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more second vehicle subsystems is a vehicle self-driving subsystem. ### Claim 19 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more second vehicle subsystems is a vehicle audio subsystem.