US 12,449,544 B2
Light ranging apparatus
Teiyu Kimura, Kariya (JP)
Assigned to DENSO CORPORATION, Kariya (JP)
Filed by DENSO CORPORATION, Kariya (JP)
Filed on Dec. 30, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/138,698.
Application 17/138,698 is a continuation of application No. PCT/JP2019/025779, filed on Jun. 28, 2019.
Claims priority of application No. 2018-125939 (JP), filed on Jul. 2, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0116572 A1, Apr. 22, 2021
Int. Cl. G01S 17/894 (2020.01); G01S 7/481 (2006.01); G01S 7/4915 (2020.01); G01S 17/931 (2020.01)
CPC G01S 17/894 (2020.01) [G01S 7/4814 (2013.01); G01S 7/4816 (2013.01); G01S 7/4915 (2013.01); G01S 17/931 (2020.01)] 3 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A light ranging apparatus comprising:
a light source that emits light irradiating a predetermined range;
a light receiving unit having a plurality of light receiving elements capable of outputting a pulse signal in response to incidence of reflected light from an object irradiated by the light;
a summing unit that calculates a sum value for each respective light receiving elements by summing the number of pulses outputted by each respective light receiving elements;
a histogram generation unit that generates a histogram for each element in an image region corresponding to the predetermined range, the histogram recording the sum value for each travelling time indicating a time from when the light is emitted to a time when the light is received;
a peak detecting unit that detects a peak from the histogram, acquires the sum value of the peak to be a signal intensity and calculates a distance value based on the travelling time corresponding to the peak; and
a first low signal intensity detecting unit that detects a low signal intensity from among signal intensities acquired by the peak detecting unit, the low signal intensity being lower than a predetermined first threshold,
wherein
the histogram generation unit repeatedly acquires and accumulates the sum value for the histogram in which the low signal intensity is detected until the signal intensity becomes the first threshold or more, thereby updating the histogram; and
the peak detecting unit calculates a new distance value from the updated histogram.