公开(公告)号：US20180341009A1

公开(公告)日：2018-11-29

申请号：US15586286

申请日：2017-05-04

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Cristiano L. Niclass ,  Alexander Shpunt ,  Gennadiy A. Agranov ,  Matthew C. Waldon ,  Mina A. Rezk ,  Thierry Oggier

IPC: G01S7/481 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G01S17/89 ,  G01S7/486

Abstract: An electro-optical device includes at least one laser light source and a beam steering device, which transmits and scan the at least one beam across a target scene. One or more sensing elements output a signal indicative of a time of incidence of a single photon on the sensing element from the target scene. Circuitry processes the signal in order to determine respective distances to points in the scene and controls the light source to emit the beam at the low level during a first scan, to identify, based on the first scan, the points in the scene that are located at respective distances from the device that are greater than a predefined threshold distance, and to control the laser light source during a second scan to emit the beam at the high level while the beam steering device directs the beam toward the identified points.

公开(公告)号：US20180062345A1

公开(公告)日：2018-03-01

申请号：US15250962

申请日：2016-08-30

Applicant: APPLE INC.

Inventor： Richard E. Bills ,  Andrew J. Sutton ,  Cristiano L. Niclass ,  Mina A. Rezk

IPC: H01S5/00 ,  H01S5/42 ,  H01S5/042 ,  G02B26/08 ,  G02F1/29 ,  G01S17/10 ,  G01S7/481

CPC classification number: H01S5/0071 ,  G01S7/4815 ,  G01S7/4817 ,  G01S17/10 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G02B26/0816 ,  G02B26/0891 ,  G02F1/292 ,  H01S5/042 ,  H01S5/423

Abstract: An optical apparatus includes an array of lasers, which are arranged in a grid pattern having a predefined spatial pitch and are configured to emit respective beams of pulses of optical radiation. Projection optics having a selected focal length project the beams toward a target with an angular pitch between the beams defined by the spatial pitch and the focal length. A scanner scans the projected beams over a range of scan angles that is less than twice the angular pitch. Control circuitry drives the lasers and the scanner so that the pulses cover the target with a resolution finer than the angular pitch. A receiver receives and measures a time of flight of the pulses reflected from the target.

公开(公告)号：US20180003803A1

公开(公告)日：2018-01-04

申请号：US15636566

申请日：2017-06-28

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Chandra S. Kakani ,  Alexander Shpunt ,  Mina A. Rezk ,  Robert S. Upton ,  Yuval Gerson

IPC: G01S7/481 ,  G02B9/60 ,  G02B9/62 ,  G02B13/22

CPC classification number: G01S7/4816 ,  G01S7/4815 ,  G01S17/87 ,  G01S17/89 ,  G02B9/60 ,  G02B9/62 ,  G02B9/64 ,  G02B13/004 ,  G02B13/0045 ,  G02B13/22

Abstract: Optical systems that may, for example, be used in remote sensing systems, for example in systems that implement combining laser pulse transmission in LiDAR and that include dual transmit and receive systems. A dual receiver system may include a receiver including an optical system with a relatively small aperture and wide field of view for capturing reflected light from short-range (e.g., 20 meters) objects. The optical systems may refract the reflected light to photodetectors (e.g., single photo-avalanche detectors (SPADs)) that capture the light. Light captured at the photodetectors may, for example, be used to determine range information for objects or surfaces in the environment.