US 11,879,979 B2
Method and apparatus for dynamic reconfiguration of region of interest in integrated FMCW LIDAR
Alexander Yukio Piggott, San Mateo, CA (US); Alexander Alexeevich Gondarenko, San Jose, CA (US); Steven Andrew Fortune, Wanaka (NZ); Andrew James Compston, San Francisco, CA (US); Robert Francis Wiser, San Francisco, CA (US); and Remus Nicolaescu, San Francisco, CA (US)
Assigned to Pointcloud Inc., San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed by Pointcloud Inc., San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed on Sep. 25, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/033,262.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/907,336, filed on Sep. 27, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0096259 A1, Apr. 1, 2021
Int. Cl. G01S 17/894 (2020.01); G01S 7/493 (2006.01); G01S 17/32 (2020.01)
CPC G01S 17/894 (2020.01) [G01S 7/493 (2013.01); G01S 17/32 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
generating a plurality of beams of light by a laser, the plurality of beams of light directed towards one or more objects in a field of view by a plurality of output couplers of a transmitter;
receiving a plurality of reflected beams of light that are reflected by the one or more objects, the plurality of reflected beams received by a plurality of input couplers of a receiver;
generating, by a processor, a first three-dimensional (3D) ranging image from the plurality of reflected beams;
processing, by the processor, a request from a client application for additional information for one of a plurality of segments to be segmented from the field of view;
segmenting, by the processor, the field of view into the plurality of segments in response to the request from the client application;
calculating, by the processor, a corresponding set of modified operation parameters for each segment among the plurality of segments of the field of view;
based on the calculated corresponding set of modified operation parameters for the one of the plurality of segments, modifying a transmitter parameter for a portion of the plurality of output couplers that correspond to the one of the plurality of segments, the modified transmitter parameter adjusting an optical characteristic of light generated output by the transmitter;
generating a plurality of additional beams of light by the laser using the modified transmitter parameter; and
generating, by the processor, a second 3D ranging image from the plurality of additional beams received by the receiver, the generated second 3D ranging image to be provided to the client application in fulfilment of the request.