US 12,085,648 B2
High dynamic range LiDAR
Yunpeng Song, San Ramon, CA (US)
Assigned to Liturex (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., Guangzhou (CN)
Filed by Liturex (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd, Guangzhou (CN)
Filed on Jan. 7, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/144,040.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/958,235, filed on Jan. 7, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2021/0208276 A1, Jul. 8, 2021
Int. Cl. G01S 17/32 (2020.01); G01S 7/484 (2006.01); G01S 17/04 (2020.01); G01S 17/89 (2020.01)
CPC G01S 17/32 (2013.01) [G01S 7/484 (2013.01); G01S 17/04 (2020.01); G01S 17/89 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of increasing a dynamic range of a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) device, comprising:
emitting a high illumination towards a scene at a first time, the scene including a high-reflectivity object and a low-reflectivity object;
emitting a reduced illumination towards the scene at a second time;
obtaining a first image frame of the scene captured at the high illumination, wherein the first image frame includes a first image of the high-reflectivity object and a first image of the low-reflectivity object;
obtaining a second image frame of the scene captured at the reduced illumination, wherein the second image frame includes a second image of the high-reflectivity object, and does not include any image of the low-reflectivity object; and
combining the first image frame and the second image frame to generate a composite image frame, wherein the composite image frame includes the second image of the high-reflectivity object and the first image of the low-reflectivity object.