Ams International Ag

Ams Sensors Singapore Pte. Ltd.

David Stoppa

Miguel Bruno Vaello Paños

Stephan Beer

Markus Rossi

Radoslaw Marcin Gancarz

Manfred Lueger

Daniele Perenzoni

Thomas Jessenig

Kang Seok Joo

Bryant Hansen

Mitchell Sterling Martin

Qiang Zhang

Pablo Jesus Trujillo Serrano

Ian Kenneth Mills

Ioannis Tolios

Doug Nelson

Miguel Bruno Vaello PAÑOS

A time of flight sensor includes at least one demodulation pixel. Each demodulation pixel includes a semiconductor substrate; a charge generation region in the semiconductor substrate, the charge generation region having a lateral extent, the charge generation region being configured to convert light into charge carriers; a light directing element in the charge generation region of the semiconductor substrate, the light directing element being configured to direct light through at least a portion of the lateral extent of the charge generation region; a collection region in the semiconductor substrate, the collection region being configured to collect the charge carriers generated in at least a portion of the lateral extent of the charge generation region, and a readout component in electrical communication with the collection region, the readout component being operable to control an electrical coupling between the charge generation region and the collection region.

Time of flight sensors with light directing elements

Illuminator modules having improved safety features are described. In some implementations, light to be emitted from a module is produced by a light source, and light reflected by an optical component disposed over the light source is detected by a photodetectors. A distribution of the reflected light detected by the photodetectors is monitored, and an optical output power of the light source is regulated if it is determined, based on the monitored distribution of light, that an unsafe level of light may be emitted from the module.

Light emitting module including enhanced eye-safety feature

A method for operating a 3D sensor system includes by an array of pixels of an imaging sensor of the 3D sensor system, generating first image data representative of reflected light from an environment, the image data having a first resolution. The method includes by processing circuitry of the 3D sensor system, generating second image data based on the first image data, the second image data having a second resolution less than the first resolution; and by the processing circuitry of the imaging sensor, determining that the second image data indicates that an object is present in the environment. The method includes responsive to the determining, providing the first image data from the 3D sensor system to one or more processors configured to generate a three-dimensional image of the environment based on the first image data.

Presence detection in time of flight sensing systems

A method of using an optical TOF module to determine distance to an object. The method includes acquiring signals in the TOF module indicative of distance to the object, using a first algorithm to provide an output indicative of the distance to the object based on the acquired signals, using at least one second different algorithm to provide an output indicative of the distance to the object based on the acquired signals, and combining the outputs of the first and at least one second algorithms to obtain an improved estimate of the distance to the object. In some implementations, each of the first and at least one second algorithms further provides an output representing a respective confidence level indicative of how accurately distance to the object has been extracted by the particular algorithm.

Time-of-flight module and method to determine distance to object

An apparatus includes a time-of-flight (TOF) sensor system that has an illuminator operable to emit pulses of light toward an object outside the apparatus. The illuminator is operable in a first mode in which the illuminator emits pulses having a first width and a second mode in which the illuminator emits pulses having a second width longer than the first width. The TOF sensor system further includes a photodetector operable to detect light produced by the illuminator and reflected by the object back toward the apparatus. An electronic control device is operable to control emission of light by the illuminator and is operable to estimate a distance to the object based on a time elapsed between an emission of one or more of the pulses by the illuminator and detection of the reflected light by the photodetector.

Optical ranging system having multi-mode operation using short and long pulses

A method for operating a time-of-flight sensor system includes by an array of pixels of a time-of-flight sensor of the time-of-flight sensor system, generating signal data representative of reflected light from an environment; generating an intensity representation of an object in the environment based on the signal data representative of the reflected light from the environment; determining that the intensity representation indicates that an object in the environment includes a target object; and responsive to the determining, generating a three-dimensional representation of the environment based on the data representative of the reflected light.

Three dimensional imaging with intensity information

The current disclosure describes a stereo imaging system that is configured to use Time-of-Flight ('Tof') techniques to aid in stereoscopic image processing. One process disclosed uses ToF to aid in identifying the same elements (e.g., pixel clusters) in stereo image pairs by narrowing down search areas for matching. Another process uses ToF to aid in identifying the same elements in stereo image pairs where there a small amount texture making it difficult to find a match.

Growing community of inventors

Eindhoven, Netherlands

David Stoppa