US 2022/0276356 A1Published application

Indirect time of flight sensor and method

AssigneesSTMicroelectronics (Grenoble 2) SAS, STMicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS

InventorsCedric Tubert, Pierre Malinge, Matteo Maria Vignetti

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Abstract

The present description concerns a sensor and method. Each pixel of the sensor comprises assemblies each including a memory area and a transfer device coupling the memory area to a photoconversion area, and a device for resetting the memory areas. The sensor includes a first circuit controlling the transfer devices and a second circuit controlling the reset devices. During each integration phase, the second circuit orders the end of a phase of reset of the memory areas of first pixels at the beginning of the integration phase and the end of a phase of reset of the memory areas of second pixels at a time subsequent to the beginning of the integration phase.

Claims20

Dependent claims

An indirect time-of-flight sensor comprising:

an array of pixels organized in rows and in columns, each pixel comprising:
a photoconversion area;
at least two assemblies, each comprising a memory area and a transfer device coupling the memory area to the photoconversion area;
and
a device for resetting the memory areas of the pixel;
a first circuit configured to control the transfer devices of the pixels;
and
a second circuit configured to control the devices for resetting the memory areas of the pixels;
wherein the second circuit is configured, during each integration phase implemented by the sensor, to order an end of a phase of reset of the memory areas of first pixels of the array at a beginning of the integration phase, and to order an end of a phase of reset of the memory areas of second pixels of the array at a first time subsequent to the beginning of the integration phase.

6 more elements

A method of operating an indirect time-of-flight sensor comprising an array of pixels organized in rows and in columns, each pixel comprising a photoconversion area, at least two assemblies, each comprising a memory area and a transfer device coupling the memory area to the photoconversion area, and a device for resetting the memory areas of the pixel, the method comprising:

controlling, by a first circuit, the transfer devices of the pixels;
controlling, by a second circuit, the devices for resetting the memory areas of the pixels;
and
during each integration phase implemented by the sensor:
ordering, by the second circuit, an end of a phase of reset of the memory areas of first pixels of the array at a beginning of the integration phase;
and
ordering, by the second circuit, an end of a phase of reset of the memory areas of second pixels of the array at a first time subsequent to the beginning of the integration phase.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 17/652,177Filed 23 Feb 2022
Priority: FR 210191426 Feb 2021
Published: 1 Sep 2022
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification10 codes

G01S 7/4863
Circuits for detection, sampling, integration or read-out: detector arrays, e.g. charge-transfer gates
G01S 7/4865
Receivers: time delay measurement, e.g. time-of-flight measurement, time of arrival measurement or determining the exact position of a peak
G01S 7/4861
Receivers: circuits for detection, sampling, integration or read-out
G01S 17/894
For mapping or imaging: three-dimensional [3D] imaging with simultaneous measurement of time-of-flight at a two-dimensional [2D] array of receiver…

Family

US 12,650,498 B2Related patent
US 2022/0276356 A1This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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