US 12,000,929 B2
Detecting user presence
Octavio Ponce Madrigal, Mountain View, CA (US); and Patrick M. Amihood, Palo Alto, CA (US)
Assigned to Google LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Appl. No. 17/639,545
Filed by Google LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
PCT Filed Dec. 23, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/066935
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 1, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/139837, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 30, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2023/0350059 A1, Nov. 2, 2023
Int. Cl. G01S 15/04 (2006.01); G01S 5/18 (2006.01); G01S 15/88 (2006.01)
CPC G01S 15/04 (2013.01) [G01S 5/18 (2013.01); G01S 15/88 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of operating an ultrasonic sensor, the method comprising:
receiving an ultrasonic receive signal using a first transducer of the ultrasonic sensor, the ultrasonic receive signal comprising a version of an ultrasonic transmit signal;
detecting that a second transducer of the ultrasonic sensor is occluded, the detecting that the second transducer is occluded comprising:
failing to receive, by the second transducer, a second ultrasonic receive signal that includes a version of the ultrasonic transmit signal; or
determining, in response to receiving the second ultrasonic receive signal by the second transducer, that an amplitude of a version of the ultrasonic transmit signal in the second ultrasonic receive signal is less than a threshold; and
determining, responsive to the reception of the ultrasonic receive signal using the first transducer and the detection that the second transducer of the ultrasonic sensor is occluded, that an object is present.