公开(公告)号：US10969490B2

公开(公告)日：2021-04-06

申请号：US16209869

申请日：2018-12-04

Applicant: Ouster, Inc.

Inventor： Angus Pacala ,  Mark Frichtl ,  Marvin Shu ,  Eric Younge

IPC: G01S17/89 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G01S7/486 ,  G01S7/481 ,  B60L3/00 ,  H01S5/14 ,  H02J7/02 ,  G01S7/4863 ,  G01S7/497 ,  G01S17/931 ,  G01S17/10 ,  H01F38/14 ,  H05K1/02 ,  H05K1/14 ,  H05K1/18 ,  H05K5/00 ,  H04B10/114 ,  G02B3/00 ,  H02J50/10 ,  G05D1/02 ,  H02K11/00

Abstract: A light ranging system including a housing; a shaft defining an axis of rotation; a first circuit board assembly disposed within and coupled to the housing in a fixed relationship such that the first circuit board assembly is aligned along a first plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation, the first circuit board assembly including a plurality of first circuit elements disposed on a first circuit board; a second circuit board assembly spaced apart from the first circuit board assembly within the housing in a second plane parallel to the first plane and rotationally coupled to the shaft such that the second circuit board assembly rotates about the axis of rotation, the second circuit board assembly including a plurality of second circuit elements disposed on a second circuit board and aligned with and configured to function in wireless cooperation with at least one of the first plurality of circuit elements; and a light ranging device electrically connected to and coupled to rotate with the second circuit board assembly, the light ranging device configured to transmit light pulses to objects in a surrounding environment, to detect reflected portions of the light pulses that are reflected from the objects in the surrounding environment, and to compute ranging data based on the reflected portion of the light pulses.

公开(公告)号：US10663586B2

公开(公告)日：2020-05-26

申请号：US16245909

申请日：2019-01-11

Applicant: Ouster, Inc.

Inventor： Angus Pacala ,  Mark Frichtl ,  Eric Younge

IPC: G01C3/08 ,  G01S17/10 ,  G02B27/30 ,  G01S7/486 ,  G02B27/00 ,  G02B27/09 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G01S7/481 ,  G01S7/4863 ,  G01S7/4865 ,  H01L31/0232 ,  H01L31/0216 ,  G01S17/89 ,  G01S17/93 ,  H01L27/146 ,  H01L31/02 ,  G01S17/08 ,  H04B10/50 ,  H04B10/67 ,  H04B10/69 ,  H04B10/80 ,  H01L27/144 ,  H01L31/107 ,  G02B5/20

Abstract: Embodiments describe optical imagers that include one or more micro-optic components. Some imagers can be passive imagers that include a light detection system for receiving ambient light from a field. Some imagers can be active imagers that include a light emission system in addition to the light detection system. The light emission system can be configured to emit light into the field such that emitted light is reflected off surfaces of an object in the field and received by the light detection system. In some embodiments, the light detection system and/or the light emission system includes micro-optic components for improving operational performance.

公开(公告)号：US10527725B2

公开(公告)日：2020-01-07

申请号：US16028154

申请日：2018-07-05

Applicant: Ouster, Inc.

Inventor： Angus Pacala ,  Mark Frichtl

IPC: G01S17/08 ,  G01S17/93 ,  G01S17/89 ,  G01S7/497 ,  G01S7/481 ,  H01L31/02 ,  G01S17/88 ,  G02B27/30 ,  H01L27/146 ,  G02B26/10 ,  G06K9/00 ,  H01L25/16 ,  H01S5/183 ,  H01S5/40

Abstract: Embodiments describe a solid state electronic scanning LIDAR system that includes a scanning focal plane transmitting element and a scanning focal plane receiving element whose operations are synchronized so that the firing sequence of an emitter array in the transmitting element corresponds to a capturing sequence of a photosensor array in the receiving element. During operation, the emitter array can sequentially fire one or more light emitters into a scene and the reflected light can be received by a corresponding set of one or more photosensors through an aperture layer positioned in front of the photosensors. Each light emitter can correspond with an aperture in the aperture layer, and each aperture can correspond to a photosensor in the receiving element such that each light emitter corresponds with a specific photosensor in the receiving element.

公开(公告)号：US20170289524A1

公开(公告)日：2017-10-05

申请号：US15276532

申请日：2016-09-26

Applicant: Ouster, Inc.

Inventor： Angus Pacala ,  Mark Frichtl

IPC: H04N13/02 ,  H04N13/04 ,  G02B3/00 ,  G02B5/20 ,  G02B27/22 ,  G02B5/00

CPC classification number: H04N13/218 ,  G02B3/0056 ,  G02B5/005 ,  G02B5/208 ,  G02B27/2214 ,  G02B27/46

Abstract: An optical system for collecting distance information within a field is provided. The optical system may include lenses for collecting photons from a field and may include lenses for distributing photons to a field. The optical system may include lenses that collimate photons passed by an aperture, optical filters that reject normally incident light outside of the operating wavelength, and pixels that detect incident photons. The optical system may further include illumination sources that output photons at an operating wavelength.

公开(公告)号：US20170219426A1

公开(公告)日：2017-08-03

申请号：US15419053

申请日：2017-01-30

Applicant: Ouster, Inc.

Inventor： Angus Pacala ,  Mark Frichtl

IPC: G01J1/02 ,  G01J1/08 ,  G01J1/44

CPC classification number: G01J1/0295 ,  G01B11/026 ,  G01B11/24 ,  G01J1/0252 ,  G01J1/08 ,  G01J1/44 ,  G01J2001/086 ,  G01J2001/442 ,  G01J2001/444 ,  G01S7/481 ,  G01S7/4815 ,  G01S7/497 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G01S17/89 ,  H01L27/146

Abstract: A calibration system is provided including an aperture layer, a lens layer, an optical filter, a pixel layer and a regulator. The aperture layer defines a calibration aperture. The lens layer includes a calibration lens substantially axially aligned with the calibration aperture. The optical filter is adjacent the lens layer opposite the aperture layer. The pixel layer is adjacent the optical filter opposite the lens layer and includes a calibration pixel substantially axially aligned with the calibration lens. The calibration pixel detects light power of an illumination source that outputs a band of wavelengths of light as a function of a parameter. The regulator modifies the parameter of the illumination source based on a light power detected by the calibration pixel.

公开(公告)号：US12270950B2

公开(公告)日：2025-04-08

申请号：US17229691

申请日：2021-04-13

Applicant: Ouster, Inc.

Inventor： Angus Pacala

IPC: G01C3/08 ,  G01S7/481 ,  G01S7/4861 ,  G01S17/10 ,  G01S17/931

Abstract: A LIDAR system can automatically determine, based on analysis of data collected from the sensor channels during operation, whether fog is present. If fog is present, the LIDAR system can operate in a fog mode, and if fog is not present, the LIDAR system can operate in a “clear-air” mode. The two modes can differ from each other with respect to the emitter signals and/or the signal processing applied to the sensor data.

公开(公告)号：US12189038B2

公开(公告)日：2025-01-07

申请号：US17496583

申请日：2020-08-05

Applicant: Ouster, Inc.

Inventor： Angus Pacala ,  Marvin Shu

IPC: G01S17/89 ,  G01S7/4865 ,  G01S7/487 ,  G01S17/894 ,  G01S17/931

Abstract: An optical measurement system may improve the accuracy with which it estimates distances to surrounding objects by upgrading various aspects of its data path. Spatial resolution may be increased by subdividing histogram buckets or integration registers based on spatial location. Saturation at any point in the data path can be detected and used to stop counting photons in individual pixels, which can then be normalized after a measurement is over. Multiple peaks can be detected using recursive or iterative techniques to identify a largest remaining peak at each stage. Instead of iterating through the histogram memory multiple times, a threshold can be pre-calculated based on an estimated ambient noise level, and peaks can be detected in a single pass.

公开(公告)号：US12061261B2

公开(公告)日：2024-08-13

申请号：US17067411

申请日：2020-10-09

Applicant: Ouster, Inc.

Inventor： Angus Pacala

IPC: G01S17/00 ,  G01S7/481 ,  G01S7/497 ,  G01S7/51 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G01S17/86 ,  G01S17/89 ,  G01S17/931 ,  G06T7/50 ,  H04N23/10 ,  H04N23/73 ,  H04N23/80 ,  H04N23/698

CPC classification number: G01S17/42 ,  G01S7/4813 ,  G01S7/497 ,  G01S7/51 ,  G01S17/86 ,  G01S17/89 ,  G01S17/931 ,  G06T7/50 ,  H04N23/10 ,  H04N23/73 ,  H04N23/80 ,  H04N23/698

Abstract: Methods and systems can augment 360 degree panoramic LIDAR results (e.g., from a spinning LIDAR system) with color obtained from color cameras. A color-pixel-lookup table can specify the correspondence between LIDAR pixels (depth/ranging pixels) and color pixels, which may be done at different viewing object distances. The operation of the color cameras can be triggered by the angular positions of the LIDAR system. For example, a color image of a particular camera can be captured when the LIDAR system is at a particular angular position, which can be predetermined based on properties of the cameras (e.g., shutter speed). Alternatively or in addition, a common internal clock can be used to assign timestamps to LIDAR and color pixels as they are captured. The corresponding color pixel(s), e.g., as determined using a color-pixel-lookup table, with the closest timestamp can be used for colorization.

公开(公告)号：US11762093B2

公开(公告)日：2023-09-19

申请号：US17538816

申请日：2021-11-30

Applicant: Ouster, Inc.

Inventor： Angus Pacala ,  Mark Frichtl

IPC: G01S17/00 ,  G01S17/10 ,  H01L27/146 ,  H01L31/107 ,  G01S7/497 ,  G01S7/4865 ,  G01S7/4863 ,  G01S7/481 ,  G01S17/89 ,  G01S17/42

CPC classification number: G01S17/10 ,  G01S7/4816 ,  G01S7/4863 ,  G01S7/4865 ,  G01S7/497 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G01S17/89 ,  H01L27/14643 ,  H01L31/107

Abstract: A light ranging system can include a laser device and an imaging device having photosensors. The laser device illuminates a scene with laser pulse radiation that reflects off of objects in the scene. The reflections can vary greatly depending on the reflecting surface shape and reflectivity. The signal measured by photosensors can be filtered with a number of matched filter designed according to profiles of different reflected signals. A best matched filter can be identified, and hence information about the reflecting surface and accurate ranging information can be obtained. The laser pulse radiation can be emitted in coded pulses by allowing weights to different detection intervals. Other enhancements include staggering laser pulses and changing an operational status of photodetectors of a pixel sensor, as well as efficient signal processing using a sensor chip that includes processing circuits and photosensors.

公开(公告)号：US11754721B2

公开(公告)日：2023-09-12

申请号：US17818662

申请日：2022-08-09

Applicant: Ouster, Inc.

Inventor： Pierre Amelot ,  Daniel Lu ,  Angus Pacala ,  Kairen Wong

IPC: G01S17/894 ,  G01S17/931 ,  B60W50/14 ,  B60W40/04 ,  G01S7/51

CPC classification number: G01S17/894 ,  B60W40/04 ,  B60W50/14 ,  G01S7/51 ,  G01S17/931 ,  B60W2050/146

Abstract: Methods are provided for using a light ranging system. A computing system receives, from light ranging devices, ranging data including distance vectors to environmental surfaces. A distance vector can correspond to a pixel of a three-dimensional image stream. The system can identify a pose of a virtual camera relative to the light ranging devices. The light ranging devices are separated from the pose by first vectors that are used to translate some of the distance vectors using the first vectors. The system may determine colors associated with the translated distance vectors and display pixels of the three-dimensional image stream using the colors at pixel positions specified by the translated distance vectors. The system may use one or more models with the ranging data to provide semantic labels that describe a region that has been, or is likely to be, in a collision.