Failsafe pulsed laser driver
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorsPaul Winer, Krishna Swaminathan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A failsafe pulsed laser driver and method for using the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, an apparatus comprises a laser array having a plurality of lasers; and a laser driver coupled to the laser array, wherein the laser driver comprises a current limiter to provide a maximum current at or below a threshold current of lasers in the laser array or at a current level to meet laser safety requirements under circuit failure conditions; one or more capacitors coupled to current limiter and the laser array, the one or more capacitors to be charged in response to current from the current limiter; and a switch coupled to the one or more capacitors operable to cause current from the one or more capacitors to flow through the laser array.
Claims21
An apparatus comprising:
- a laser array having a plurality of lasers;
- and
- a laser driver coupled to the laser array, wherein the laser driver comprises
- a current limiter to provide a maximum current at or below a threshold current of lasers in the laser array or at a current level to meet laser safety requirements under circuit failure conditions;
- one or more capacitors coupled to current limiter and the laser array, the one or more capacitors to be charged in response to current from the current limiter;
- a switch coupled to the one or more capacitors operable to cause current from the one or more capacitors to flow through the laser array.
An apparatus comprising:
- a projector configured to project a dot pattern on an object, wherein the projector comprises
- a laser array having a plurality of lasers;
- and
- a laser driver coupled to the laser array, wherein the laser driver comprises
- a current limiter to provide a maximum current at or below a threshold current of lasers in the laser array or at a current level to meet laser safety requirements under circuit failure conditions;
- one or more capacitors coupled to current limiter and the laser array, the one or more capacitors to be charged in response to current from the current limiter;
- a switch coupled to the one or more capacitors operable to cause current from the one or more capacitors to flow through the laser array;
- first and second cameras configured to simultaneously capture a pair of images of the object illuminated with the dot pattern;
- and
- a processing unit to receive the captured pair of images and reconstruct depth information using the captured pair of images.
A method comprising:
- charging one or more one or more capacitors coupled to a laser array;
- and
- controlling a switch to cause the one or more capacitors to discharge a current pulse into the laser array to cause the laser array to emit light.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.