IP Library Granted Patent US 11,378,660
Granted Patent B2
US 11,378,660 · App. 16/772,887 · Granted Jul 5, 2022

LIDAR receiving unit

Inventors: Ralf Beuschel (Wangen, DE); Michael Kiehn (Hamburg, DE)
Assignee: Ibeo Automotive Systems GmbH
G01S7/4816G01S7/481G01S7/4863G01S17/42G01S17/89
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,378,660
App. No.
16/772,887
Granted
Jul 5, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

LIDAR receiving unit in a focal plane array assembly, including a plurality of sensor elements arranged in macro cells and a plurality of readout elements, wherein at least two sensor elements are assigned to a macro cell, and each sensor element can be activated and deactivated individually or can be activated and deactivated in groups of sensor elements.

Claims (14)

1. LIDAR receiving unit in a focal plane array assembly, comprising

a plurality of sensor elements arranged in macro cells, and a plurality of readout elements, wherein the readout elements are designed as time-digital-converters, and wherein

at least two sensor elements are assigned to a macro cell, wherein

each sensor element can be individually activated and deactivated or can be activated and deactivated in groups of sensor elements, wherein each sensor element is connected to only one readout element, and wherein each readout element is connected to a plurality of sensor elements of different macro cells, wherein these different macro cells are active during different measurement cycles or two of these macro cells are never simultaneously active.

2. LIDAR receiving unit according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor elements of a first macro cell are connected to at least one first readout element and the sensor elements of the second macro cell ( 44 ) are connected to at least one second readout element.

3. LIDAR receiving unit according to claim 1 , wherein all sensor elements of a macro cell are connected to the same readout element.

4. LIDAR receiving unit according to claim 1 , which detects laser light emitted by a LIDAR transmitting unit having a plurality of emitter elements in the form of lasers and reflected at an object, wherein the number of sensor elements of the receiving unit is greater than the number of emitter elements of the transmitting unit.

5. LIDAR receiving unit according to claim 4 , wherein the detector surface covered by the sensor elements of a macro cell essentially corresponds to twice, three times or four times the surface area of the incident laser light or the surface area of an emitter element.

6. LIDAR receiving unit according to claim 4 , wherein a diameter of a detector surface of the macro cell is at least twice as large as a laser light diameter or a diameter of an emitter element.

7. LIDAR receiving unit according to claim 1 , which detects laser light emitted by a LIDAR transmitting unit having a plurality of emitter elements in the form of lasers and reflected at an object, comprising

a. a plurality of sensor elements,

b. wherein first sensor elements in a plane of the receiving unit have substantially the same spatial configuration as the emitter elements of the transmitting unit and

c. second sensor elements are arranged in the intermediate spaces between the first sensor elements and/or are arranged around the first sensor elements.

8. LIDAR receiving unit according to claim 7 , wherein a diameter of a detector surface of the first sensor element and the second sensor element of a macro cell is at least twice the diameter of the incident laser light or the area of the associated emitter element of the transmitting unit.

Assignments (6)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 22, 2023
From: MICROVISION GMBH
To: MICROVISION, INC.
Reel/Frame 063061/0272 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 7, 2023
From: IBEO AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS GMBH
To: MICROVISION GMBH
Reel/Frame 062973/0909 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE APPLICATION NUMBER 16/722,965 PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL: 054470 FRAME: 0063. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE ASSIGNMENT. Recorded Feb 23, 2022
From: ZF FRIEDRICHSHAFEN AG; IBEO AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS GMBH
To: IBEO AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS GMBH
Reel/Frame 059855/0923 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 3, 2021
From: ZF FRIEDRICHSHAFEN AG; IBEO AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS GMBH
To: IBEO AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS GMBH
Reel/Frame 055477/0690 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 25, 2020
From: ZF FRIEDRICHSHAFEN AG; IBEO AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS GMBH
To: IBEO AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS GMBH
Reel/Frame 054470/0063 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 28, 2020
From: BEUSCHEL, RALF; KIEHN, MICHAEL
To: IBEO AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS GMBH
Reel/Frame 053900/0124 →
Priority Claims (1)
DE 102017222971.3 · Dec 15, 2017 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20200309920A1 · Oct 1, 2020
Cited By (1)
US 12,546,867