Omron Corporation

Omron Scientific Technologies, Inc.

Adam Sowul

Boris Shteynberg

Yoshiharu Tani

Fred Schleifer

Takeshi Shoji

Alejandro Ruiz Sanchez

A laser scanner apparatus emits a laser pulse and monitors for pulse reflections, with the relative timing of a reflected pulse detected by the apparatus being translated into an object distance according to Time-of-Flight (ToF) measurements performed by the apparatus. According to an example configurations or an example method of operation, the apparatus adjusts its ToF determination for reflected pulses that are characterized as merged pulses formed by two or more overlapping reflected pulses. Among other advantages, the adjusted ToF determination yields a more accurate distance determination with respect to the earliest-arriving one(s) among the overlapping reflected pulses.

Laser scanner apparatus and method of operation

According to a method and apparatus taught herein, an optical sensor uses pattern recognition in its optical detection processing to 'see' detection patterns that correspond to predefined configuration settings. In one embodiment, for example, an optical sensing system selects an operational configuration by detecting a pattern embodied in received light data and comparing the detected pattern to one or more internally stored patterns. Each stored pattern represents a different operational configuration of the optical sensing system. If the detected pattern matches one of the stored patterns, the optical sensing system adopts the operational configuration corresponding to the matched stored pattern. Further, in one or more embodiments, the optical sensing system enters a configuration mode by an external stimulus, e.g., responsive to a configuration mode input, and the aforementioned pattern detection-based configuration selection is enabled only while in the configuration mode.

Apparatus and method for pattern-based configuration of optical sensing systems

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Adam Sowul