The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 03, 2024
Filed:
Dec. 26, 2020
Waymo Llc, Mountain View, CA (US);
Blaise Gassend, East Palo Alto, CA (US);
Jason Watson, San Jose, CA (US);
Waymo LLC, Mountain View, CA (US);
Abstract
The present disclosure relates to systems and methods that utilize an internal optical path in lidar applications. An example method includes causing at least one light-emitter device to emit a plurality of light pulses toward a rotatable mirror. The rotatable mirror (i) reflects at least a first light pulse of the plurality of light pulses into an external environment; and (ii) reflects at least a second light pulse of the plurality of light pulses into an internal optical path. The method also includes receiving, by a photodetector, (i) a reflected light pulse comprising a reflection of the first light pulse caused by an object in the external environment; and (ii) the second light pulse received via the internal optical path. The internal optical path is defined at least in part by one or more internal reflectors that reflect the second light pulse toward the rotatable mirror such that the rotatable mirror reflects the second light pulse toward the photodetector.