US 11,885,878 B2
Method for gating an output of a single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) cluster based on an ambient count of ambient light events generated by the SPAD cluster in a region of interest of a time of flight (TOF) ranging array
Stuart McLeod, Edinburgh (GB)
Assigned to STMICROELECTRONICS (RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT) LIMITED, Marlow (GB)
Filed by STMICROELECTRONICS (RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT) LIMITED, Marlow (GB)
Filed on Sep. 26, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/952,540.
Application 17/952,540 is a continuation of application No. 16/722,923, filed on Dec. 20, 2019, granted, now 11,500,092.
Prior Publication US 2023/0009376 A1, Jan. 12, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G01S 7/486 (2020.01); G01S 17/18 (2020.01); G01S 7/484 (2006.01); G01S 7/4863 (2020.01)
CPC G01S 17/18 (2020.01) [G01S 7/484 (2013.01); G01S 7/4863 (2013.01); G01S 7/4868 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method, comprising:
receiving reflected radiation pulses with a plurality of single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) in a region of interest of a time-of-flight (ToF) ranging array;
determining an ambient count of ambient light events generated by a SPAD cluster of a plurality of SPAD clusters; and
gating an output of the SPAD cluster based on the ambient count.