US 11,789,130 B2
Detection pixels and pixel systems
John Liobe, New York, NY (US); and Rui Zhu, Princeton, NJ (US)
Assigned to Sensors Unlimited, Inc., Princeton, NJ (US)
Filed by Sensors Unlimited, Inc., Princeton, NJ (US)
Filed on Feb. 13, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/790,520.
Prior Publication US 2021/0255288 A1, Aug. 19, 2021
Int. Cl. G01S 7/487 (2006.01); G01S 7/4861 (2020.01); G01S 7/4865 (2020.01); G01S 17/10 (2020.01); G01S 17/89 (2020.01)
CPC G01S 7/4873 (2013.01) [G01S 7/4861 (2013.01); G01S 7/4865 (2013.01); G01S 17/10 (2013.01); G01S 17/89 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A pixel system for an imaging device, comprising:
one or more pixels, at least one pixel of the one or more pixels comprising a pulse trigger assembly configured to detect a pulse at two or more threshold voltages;
a timer system forming part of and/or connected to the one or more pixels, the timer system comprising one or more trigger switches, wherein the pulse trigger assembly is configured to activate the one or more trigger switches in response to detecting the pulse at the two or more threshold values; and
a time-of-flight (TOF) module operatively connected to the one or more pixels and/or the timer system to determine a TOF based on an output from the timer system.