Optical time-of-flight system

摘要

Time-of-flight technology may be combined with optical detection technology identifying an angle of a light pulse emitted from a transmitter and reflected off an object based on a proportion of the reflected light pulse detected at each of at least two light sensors. The optical detection technology may include a light detector with two or more light sensors arranged at different orientations with respect to an aperture in the detector so that each sensor is able to detect a different subset of the light passing through the aperture. The effective angle of the light passing through aperture may then be calculated from the proportion of light detected at the each of the sensors. The effective angle information may be combined with a calculated time-of-flight of the light pulse to accurately identify a position of the object relative to the detector in two or three dimensions.

主权项

1. A time-of-flight system comprising:
a transmitter emitting a pulse of light; a lens-less detector having: a plurality of light sensors, each accepting light from any angle and detecting a different portion of the light pulse that passes through an aperture in the detector after being emitted from the transmitter and reflected off an object; a periphery having a plurality of non-intersecting slit apertures, at least two of which are oriented orthogonally to each other; and a calculation device coupled to the transmitter and the detector for calculating a time-of-flight of the light pulse and a position of the object relative to the detector based on the calculated time-of-flight and a calculated proportion of the portions of the reflected light pulse detected at the light sensors.