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:
Feb. 11, 2014
Filed:
May. 11, 2009
Daniel Van Nieuwenhove, Hofstade, BE;
Ward Van Der Tempel, Muizen, BE;
Maarten Kuijk, Antwerp, BE;
Softkinetic Sensors NV, Brussels, BE;
Abstract
A method for measuring time of flight of radiation includes emitting modulated radiation () in response to a first modulation signal, projecting the modulated radiation () onto a scene (), and receiving radiation, the received radiation including at least modulated radiation reflected by the scene (). The received radiation () is converted into a radiation induced electrical signal. The radiation induced electrical signal is mixed with a second modulation signal, thus generating a mixed signal, which is integrated, thus generating an integrated signal. When the integrated signal exceeds a threshold value (V), charge is injected into the integrated signal. The method includes applying changes to the first and/or second modulation signal at one or more moments in time, and measuring the integrated signal at one or more moments in time, thus obtaining at least one TOF pair difference signal (). The measuring includes using a single detector node () and associated memory element (), to obtain a TOF pair difference signal (). The method furthermore includes using one or more TOF pair difference signals to determine time of flight of radiation.