Nec Corporation

Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation

Hiroaki Nishimori

Takashi Kobayashi

Ward Van Der Tempel

Manuel Amaya-Benitez

Hirataka Ukai

Kaji Nobuaki

A time-of-flight apparatus has: a light source for emitting light to a scene; a light detector for detecting light from the scene; and a control, the control being configured to: acquire a frame of detected light from the light detector, wherein the frame corresponds to a predetermined time interval, and drive the light source for emitting light during the acquisition of the frame, wherein the light energy accumulated within the frame has a predetermined value, and wherein the frame is divided into active light time intervals during which light is emitted to the scene.

Time of flight apparatus and method

The present invention is aimed at radiating a linear light beam without distortion regardless of an incident angle of the scanning light beam in an optical module that irradiates a target object with a light beam and detects the reflected light. In an optical module of the present invention, an optical scanning unit () causes the light beam to scan in a predetermined direction (perpendicular direction). An optical conversion unit () converts the scanning light beam into a linear light beam in a linear direction (horizontal direction) substantially orthogonal to the scanning direction. A light detection unit () detects reflected light, which is the linear light beam reflected from a target object. The optical conversion unit () has an optical surface (S) having a radius of curvature (rx) in the scanning direction that is substantially equal to a distance from a virtual scanning center point (Ox) in the scanning direction to a center point (A) of the optical surface (S), regardless of a position in the linear direction. The optical module of the present invention is applicable to a distance measuring device.

Optical module and distance measuring device

A semicustom made integrated circuit is fabricated from first function blocks completed before acceptance of an order from a customer, second function blocks completed after the acceptance of order, input/output buffer circuits coupled with the first function blocks, buffer circuits respectively associated with the second function blocks, and controlling circuits provided in association with the buffer circuits for shifting the associated buffer circuits between input buffer circuits, output buffer circuits, bidirectional buffer circuits and three-state buffer circuits, and the controlling circuits are instructed by the second function blocks while the manufacturer is designing the wiring arrangement of the second function blocks so that the manufacturer does not need to individually tailor the wiring arrangement between the second function blocks and the associated buffer circuits.

Semicustom made integrated circuit equipped with controller for

A semiconductor integrated circuit provided with a test circuit for testing an output buffer (11) is disclosed. The test circuit is capable of transmitting a logic signal supplied from an internal circuit in a shorter transmission time than a conventional test circuit. Essential parts of the test circuit include a three-state input buffer (13) and a three-state buffer (14). In the test mode, buffer (14) takes a high-impedance state and buffer (13) transmits a test data signal (TSTD) supplied from an external circuit to output buffer (11) to be tested. In the output mode, buffer (13) takes a high-impedance state and buffer (14) transmits a logic signal supplied from an internal logic circuit to an external circuit through output buffer (11).

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Hiroaki Nishimori