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:
Mar. 20, 2018
Filed:
Jan. 29, 2015
Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc., Mayfield Heights, OH (US);
Innovaciones Microelectrónicas S.l., Seville, ES;
Richard Galera, Nashua, NH (US);
Anne Bowlby, Milwaukee, WI (US);
Derek W. Jones, Galloway, GB;
Nilesh Pradhan, Milwaukee, WI (US);
Francis L. Leard, Sudbury, MA (US);
Rafael Dominguez Castro, Benacazón, ES;
Sergio Morillas Castillo, Seville, ES;
Rafael Romay Juárez, Seville, ES;
Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc., Mayfield Heights, OH (US);
Innovaciones Microelectrónicas S.L., Sevilla, ES;
Abstract
A time-of-flight (TOF) sensor device is provided that is capable of accurately recovering waveforms of reflected light pulses incident on the sensor's photo-receiver array using a low sampling rate. A number of samples for a received light pulse incident on a given photo-receiver are obtained by emitting a light pulse to the viewing field, integrating the electrical output generated by the photo receiver over an integration period, and adding the integral values for respective integration cycles to yield an accumulation value. This process is repeated for multiple accumulation cycles; however, for each consecutive accumulation cycle the start of the integration period is delayed relative the start time of the integration period for the previous cycle by a delay period. Sampled values for the waveform are obtained by determining the difference values between consecutive accumulation values for the respective accumulation cycles.